A.N. (4/17/23) - Missed a chapter last Friday, but also released one on Tuesday if you haven't read it yet. My post schedule is really falling apart these past few weeks.


Atlas (20) - Killers

Keeping his weapons ready, Marcus warily asked the faunus man a question. "How long were you following us?"

"How long?" Tyrian smiled. "Why for quite some time now, ever since the two of you met one another. I'm glad that I managed to evade your senses for so long, although I suspect it was because you were caught up with other matters."

It took him a second to place the name, but he realized who Tyrian was after going through his memories. Even with his secluded nature, Marcus heard about the various crimes that Tyrian had committed across Anima, including murder, assault, and kidnapping. He was considered so dangerous that his capture necessitated a joint operation between Atlas and Mistral officers as well as a seasoned huntsman. Even then, he was somehow able to escape later while being transported to prison and has disappeared from the public eye since then.

Facing such a dangerous individual, Marcus weighed his chances. On one hand, the possibility of death was growing the longer he stayed here. He did not doubt in his mind that if the two of them were to come to blows, he would be hard-pressed to gain the upper hand.

This wasn't a judgment based on what he knew about Tyrian's past crimes, but something else. It was a feeling born from past experience, an instinct that he honed to judge dangerous foes and targets out of his league.

No society could exist for regular people without some degree of common sense. That kind of mindset was something that made social life possible, which also made an individual's behavior predictable. For Marcus, he could predict the mindset of normal people with ease because of that common sense. It was what made him such a successful assassin due to being able to understand how his target thought, even though he was someone who discarded his own common sense long ago.

That meant that those with distorted mindsets were always people to be wary of. Individuals who discarded their common sense, or even those that never had it to begin with. Those kinds of targets were always more dangerous than others, especially those that had a predisposition for violence. Trying to apply common sense to individuals like that was an exercise in futility, and it was easier to simply avoid those kinds of people rather than take them on.

Only in this case, Marcus doubted that his opponent would be willing to simply let him go.

"Is that so," he began. "Then I suppose I should praise your skills for hid–"

He was almost too late. There was no warning as Tyrian shot forward with incredible speed and closed the distance between them in an instant. Marcus ducked underneath his bladed bracers right as they sailed over his head, the sharp edges only a few inches away from his nose.

Bringing his leg up, his body swiveled almost unnaturally as he struck in a snapping motion with his shin. Marcus felt resistance as his leg met Tyrian's tail, and the two exchanged moves as leg fought tail in a flurry of blows.

"Too bad!"

Tyrian raised his arms and started spewing gunfire to distract him. Marcus blocked the ones that would have hit him directly but ignored those that only grazed or missed him.

Then Marcus flicked his wrist and something flew from his hand.

A miniature explosion erupted right as Tyrian attempted to charge forward, forcing him instead to block the next few attacks while Marcus threw several more knives filled with Dust. Tyrian's body was soon encrusted with ice, pausing his movements long enough for Marcus to make his next move.

He threw another knife to the ceiling.

The temple had structural weak points that he noted earlier in case an accident occurred, but now, he was causing them to collapse on purpose. Right as his knife impacted the ceiling, the weapon detonated and made the roof explode as a burst of destruction followed the blade. Even as Tyrian finally broke out of the ice keeping him restrained, the rain of debris and rubble was too much for him. Collapsing under the weight, his Aura briefly flickered but still held even as he was trapped underneath the pile of rocks.

Dust filled the place, the only source of light coming from a sunbeam illuminating the center of the room.

"Don't move." Tyrian ceased struggling when a blade was pressed against his neck. Marcus stared at him deeply into his eyes. "Now, I don't necessarily believe in the saying about an eye for an eye. But since you just tried to kill me without warning, I suppose it's only fair that I hold your life in my hands."

Rather than being afraid, Tyrian only giggled dementedly. "I knew it. That aura around you was a clue, but that bout of ours confirmed it. You're not just some random bystander caught up in all of this. You're a killer like me, aren't you?"

"So what if I am?" He pressed his knife deeper into Tyrian's neck, causing his Aura to flicker. "If you can tell that about me, then you know that this isn't a bluff."

"That just makes it more exciting!" Tyrian guffawed. "Oh, if only I was here for you. Alas, my true mission compels me to finish what I came here to do. Truly, it is quite a shame."

"Mission?"

His eyes flickered past him, and Marcus realized that Tyrian was looking at Emilia. So he was here for her, but what was so important about her that someone like him would be sent after her?

Marcus was about to speak again when he felt a tingling sensation wash over him. It was a type of dread that he never experienced before as all of his instincts roared out to him at that instant.

He jumped.

His foot grazed a hand that suddenly sprouted out of the ground from where he was previously. Landing a small distance away, he watched in shock as several figures started to emerge from the ground. Bones knitted themselves together as multiple skeletons began to piece themselves together into a small army before him.

"The Temple of the Sunderer," Tyrian said. "A resting place for a zealous ruler who sought the impossible. Whether it was a coincidence or not, his tomb was built in one of the few places left that contained crystallized remnants of mystery. Naturally, such a place would have protections to stop any intruders from desecrating the temple."

It was unbelievable, and yet, there was no denying the reality before him.

A bone soldier swung a rusted weapon at him, and his body moved of its own accord. Raising his weapon to block the attack, Marcus was surprised by the force behind the blow. His arm almost buckled, and he was forced to parry it to the side instead of facing it head-on.

"Wha–?" He heard Emilia gasp behind him. "Spirit Origin… no, that's not it. Leftover thoughts are manifesting using fallen warriors as a medium. And yet, the resulting enemies are at least Phantom-grade in power level."

Marcus had no time to process what she meant by that as he blocked another attack.

"Interesting observation, little lady." Tyrian seemed content to watch the chaos unfold. "But I should clarify that this is the result of my Queen's work of adjusting the parameters of Geists to better bring out the strength of their possessed bodies. Then again, I don't understand the exact inner workings of how her majesty does things, so you could be right."

Geists.

"These are Grimm?" Marcus asked. "So you're somehow able to order these Grimm around."

"Not me." The rubble started to quiver. "I simply leave them to their own desires while I try not to interfere."

He's getting free, he realized. These bastards are only meant as a distraction.

Not only was his Aura already low from the earlier fight, but these skeleton soldiers were almost impossible to put down. Even without Aura protecting them, there were no conventional weak spots he could target. A wrong blow would see to their bones simply reattaching, and the force needed to break the bones apart far surpassed what he estimated.

But then he noticed something.

Although the room continued to fill up with more skeletons, they only seemed to go after him. There were two other people in the room that should have been targeted as well. The trapped Tyrian and the other being Emilia standing to the side unsure what to do.

"Hey, how did you make it this far anyway? There's no way some random person can survive in a place like this without knowing how to deal with a few Grimm."

"I'm not sure. The furthest I can recall is waking up in the middle of nowhere and walking for a long time. During that time, Grimm never seemed to bother me until I met you."

That conversation came back to him at that moment, and he came to a realization.

Right as another skeleton soldier swung at him, he dodged and quickly fled in the direction where Emilia was. Marcus ignored her surprise as he pulled her body closer to his chest, brandishing a knife against her neck and showing her off to the others in the room.

Everyone froze.

"Back off," he yelled. "You're here for her, aren't you? Then I'll say this only once. Leave us alone or her life is forfeit."

"H-Huh?"

Poor Emilia had no idea what was going on. Even Tyrian stopped struggling as he watched the scene before him.

"Whoever you're working for sure seems intent that she makes it out of here alive," Marcus continued. "Even your pet skeletons aren't willing to put her in harm's way. I suppose they're following orders to make sure that they won't attack this girl. Force my hand, and I'll make sure that everyone loses here."

"You…" Tyrian started to cackle. "Oh my, so you believe that holding her life hostage will be enough to stop us?"

"Like you said, I'm a killer. Risking her life is worth it if it means that I'll be able to escape with my own."

"Truly, such a wonderful thought process. It's a shame that you're misunderstanding one thing…"

"Hm?"

His head leaned forward. "The life of that doll means nothing in the grand scheme of things. Rather, it is her death that we are interested in."

Right as he said that, the pile of debris exploded and Tyrian shot out of the rubble. Marcus tried to pull back, but there was no stopping Tyrian as he stabbed the point of his tail straight through Emilia's chest.

She gasped.

"And to think that you were under the assumption that this doll was a regular girl." Tyrian saw the look of shock on Marcus' face. "Look closely, do you really believe that this girl is actually a living being?"

"W-What the fuck are you talking about?"

"See for yourself."

Marcus realized what Tyrian meant a moment later as Emilia's entire body seemed to melt away into shadows. His surprise didn't last long before he was forced to move away as something began to spread from the spot where her body had disappeared.

Mud.

It was a never-ending pool of black tar that was quickly filling up the room. The skeletons that were closest to the mud broke apart the instant they came into contact with the black substance.

"She was never a real person," Tyrian continued. "Just the pus of a broken mind made manifest as a memory of what it once was. That girl is merely the latest of a dozen other dolls who were drawn to places like this thinking that they were normal beings. You could call this temple a lure for the severed desires of memories, or simply bait for the unsuspecting. And as my Queen's loyal servant, it is my duty to see to the process of transitioning these dolls into their true nature."

Emilia… she was gone.

Marcus wasn't sure what to feel about that. Even though they only interacted for a brief moment, he found himself feeling fond of her despite how hard it was for him to connect with others. And yet, her life was taken away without warning. Almost like a candle losing its flame from a slight breeze.

She was dead.

Rage enveloped him. Call it hypocritical for feeling emotions like this when he too took the lives of so many people who had others close to them feeling the same way, but that did not matter to him. Right there and then, all Marcus wanted was to push his knife deeply between the ribs of the man who killed her.

He lunged forward.

"Ah, ah, ah!" Tyrian jumped out of the way and landed on the edge of the hole in the ceiling. "If you don't escape, the mud will consume you as well. Terrible things await those who aren't ready to douse themselves within it. I suggest you leave before such a fate befalls you."

"You bastard!"

"Until we meet again, killer."

Marcus tried to chase after him, but Tyrian had a head start. Cursing all the while he escaped the temple, he was forced to come to terms with the fact that the faunus was already long gone. Not only that but as he turned around and stared at the remnants of the temple, his anger soon shifted into shock as he watched the scene before him.

The temple was sinking into the ground. Rather than the sand swallowing the entire structure, it was as if a lake of black mud had suddenly appeared underneath it and was taking it away to another world. Even as the pool of mud grew, the surrounding vegetation and plants began to wither away at the edges of the ever-growing black mud. It was as if all life was being taken in by the unnatural substance.

He had no clue how much larger the pool would grow, and he wasn't interested in finding out. Gritting his teeth, he turned his back on the place where Emilia died and started fleeing before things got worse.

Because of that, he did not notice the lone figure following him as he fled.


Sorry for missing another chapter last week. Things got hectic over the weekend, what with multiple midterms, babysitting duty, a last-minute substitution for presenting to several guests along with a few other students, freaking out on the highway as I realized that my gas tank was getting dangerously low, etc.

Basically, life gets in the way sometimes.

Moving on to the chapter. I was considering wrapping Marcus' POV in this chapter, but I'm still thinking about whether I should write one last one connecting him to the Crown before I do so. Right now, I'm halfway decided on either switching back to Rin and Ironwood's perspective or continuing the backstory with Marcus leading to his meeting with the Crown.