The Chaosbringer 13 12

Vice opened his eyes in alarm as he felt a buzzing from within his spatial pouch. Frantically he pushed his hand into the pouch by his side and removed the golden card within it, which was s.h.i.+ning brightly. Wisps of arcana that could only be seen by a cultivator escaped the card, and Vice was able to hear Anne's voice from within the card.

"Vice pick up already, it's really important," Anne shouted.

"Hey I'm awake, what's going on Anne? Are you out of breath?" Vice asked into the golden card. The card increased in size until it became bigger than his hand after he put his mana into it. Vice could now see Anne through the card, and noticed the dark circles under her yellow eyes.

"Come over to mine now please, it's easier if I explain it to you in person," she replied before cutting the call.

Vice jumped off his bed, and after freshening himself up with a quick bath and brus.h.i.+ng his teeth, he left the villa. He darted through the dark streets of Restok, using his mana to augment his speed. A short while later he was already at the front door of Anne's home.

"I'm here, can you tell me what's going on Anne?" Vice asked as he entered without knocking. A putrid smell entered his nostrils as he walked closer to Anne who had streaks of a black tar-like liquid on her sundress. "What the h.e.l.l is that smell? I can't stand it," Vice said as he covered his nose, and immediately walked out into the orchard. The fresh breeze that was filled with a sweet scent from the fruits helped to cleanse his nostrils.

"I used my magic to track back the arcana in the Black Water back to its source. It was weird, the person resembled you, a lot. I wasn't sure if it was really you or not at first, but I noticed they wore a wolf fang earring on their left ear. The person had horns just like you, and eyes just like you as well. Except for that the person was too blurry and tried their best to cover their tracks," Anne said hurriedly.

"Whoa slow down, they looked like me?" Vice asked. He rubbed his chin for a while as he was deep in thought. 'What do you think this means Favian?'

'No clue, it's not my problem either. Just get powerful enough so that I can finally leave your d.a.m.ned body, I don't wanna stay here forever you know that right?' Favian replied.

'You really are the worst sometimes,' Vice thought and gave a long sigh. "Are you able to track where this person is right now?" he asked.

Anne shook her head before saying, "As of right now, no. I'm going to need a lot of resources that aren't exactly cheap. I'm trying to find an expert here who covered his tracks really well. I am certain the person knows that I'm looking for them as well."

"s.h.i.+t. I've got enough money for whatever resources you need. If they know you're looking for them, I think it's best if you stick with me for now. Over my dead body will something happen to you," Vice said, clenching his fists hard until they turned white. He stared at Anne with resolve and said, ��� No isn't an option. You're staying close to me until we find this a.s.shole."

"Oh I-" Anne said as her face turned bright red. "s.h.i.+t, I'm messy right now. Wait here I'm going to take a shower," she said as she frantically sprinted into her house.

Vice heard a loud thump from within the house, and immediately ran into the house. "What happened? Are you okay?" he shouted as he reached the stairs.

"I-I'm fine, I just tripped, hahaha," Anne replied, and continued her ascent without looking back at Vice.

'What is wrong with her? Did her tracking spell hurt her or something?' Vice thought to himself.

'An actual idiot. My student is an actual idiot. At least he's good at studying magic, or else I'd be doomed to die on this s.h.i.+t planet,' Favian mumbled.

Vice ignored the rumbling of his teacher, and instead waited for Anne outside, as he still was unable to stomach the stench inside the building. Instead of waiting idly by he decided to meditate as he waited for Anne, and about half an hour later she came downstairs.

Vice stared at her in awe as she wore a skin-tight black leather dress along. Her black hair that he presumed she'd just washed glistened unnaturally in the moonlight, and for the first time Vice's heart skipped a beat. His eyes were drawn to her pink lips which were bigger than almost any person in Restok, however were perfect in size despite them not being the norm.

"Is that lipstick?" Vice asked sheepishly as he stood up.

"Yea, I've had it for ages but didn't really feel like wearing it until now," she replied. "Like it?"

"It looks good on you," Vice said as he touched his own lips, circling around them for a moment.

"Oh, I-I'm glad you like it. So where are we going to go now?" Anne asked as she walked closer to Vice.

"Hmm, I rented out a villa in the city, so we should go there for-"

[DING! Tracking Initialized. Widowmaker has been found, coordinates are being transfered to the host] Virtue buzzed.

Vice fell onto his knees and clutched his head. The pain was as bad as the last time the system had transfered the live coordinates to him, however it didn't last as long. Vice was able to get back to his senses after a couple of seconds.

"Are you okay?" Anne asked as she rushed over to him. Her hair waved about with a mind of its own.

"It's nothing, there's something we need to sort out in the Gwabu area. You might want to tie your hair up, we've got a lot of running to do," Vice said. He waited for Anne to quickly do as he asked, and took off, sprinting away into the night. The heads up display from his system displayed the directions he should take, and just like the last time he was able to take the shortest path to his destination.

Despite her small stature, Anne was able to keep up with Vice with ease, and ran side by side with him. "What's wrong in the Gwabu area? Isn't that just a residential place where all the married couples live?" she asked, raising her eyebrows in curiosity.

"There's something stalking the people there, it's killing all of the married men. If we don't get there quickly enough, another man will die tonight," Vice replied hurriedly.

"Why haven't you told Paul and the police force about this yet? And how do you know that we need to leave now?" Anne asked, but Vice simply ignored the questions and continued running at his fastest speed.

After about half an hour of running at their top speeds, Vice and Anne arrived at the Gwabu area. Despite running for such a long distance, neither person was tired, displayed by the calm breathing displayed by them both.

The residential district was deathly quiet, as they carefully jogged through it. 'Something is not right,' Vice thought. "This is too quiet, even at a time like this there'll always be a light on somewhere or maybe even some animal noises. Something is off here," Vice said. He looked around vigilantly, his eyes focusing on anything that seemed out of th ordinary.

"Vice, look at this," Anne said in a shrill voice as she pointed to the ground where there was a small fork in the path they were on. A bloodied black spider leg was on the floor. What was most appalling, however, was that a decapitated head was laying next to it, it's eyes long having been gouged out.

"This is too big for a spider leg, what is going on here?" Vice said quietly as he walked forward to the mess on the floor. As he got closer, the smell of rotten flesh entered his nostrils, however he didn't budge one bit because of it. The head on the floor looked to be that of man, but it was already decomposed beyond recognition. The only features that Vice could make out were the unnaturally chiseled jawline of the individual.

'Huh? What's this?' Vice thought as he saw a rather strange sigil on the wall the head was laying by. A rune in the shape of a twelve legged spider was glowing in a red light, taking up only a small portion of the wall.

"Hey Anne, do you know what this is?" Vice asked as he touched the sigil.

"s.h.i.+t, get your hand away from th-" she screamed, but before the words could leave her mouth a blinding light engulfed the pair, followed by a crackling sound similar to thunder.