69 Identity 5 - Suspicious Individuals (1/2)
”Apologies, he was but a nuisance, shall we continue....”
....
Right at the moment he finished his words, the beheaded body started to release a large amount of blood, forming into a small fountain as both of them side stepped to dodge the incoming droplets, not allowing even a drop to land on them and ruin their attire.
”A pleasure to meet young man, how do you do, would you mind if we have a chat for a bit....”
...
The one who gave Stigma a pleasant greeting was a tall individual with a voice of a man, he had a medium built with a bald head, a golden mask was worn with the design of wide smile similar to the smiling theater mask. His attire was mainly a white robe with one sleeve longer than the other and his right arm was the only one visible which held the sword.
Contrary to his voice of sincerity, the act of beheading without hesitation was far too merciless to be ignored, even to the others watching they can only declare the Golden mask was dangerous as he appeared without warning while they were all focused on Stigma's ability.
The one who stood behind him was opposite to his appearance, being a head shorter with two daggers in each hand, the individual also wore the weeping theater mask painted in silver. The silver mask's attire was also wearing a white robes with a gray scarf covering his neck, but others could tell he was as dangerous as the Golden one.
The one who almost chopped Stigma in with an ax stayed in the same position before had completely disappeared as if he was an illusion. But Stigma new that wasn't a spirit as he did not feel anything but Zen energy disappearing, and it would not explain the ground being cleaved it it was an illusion.
While the golden mask casually swung his sword to remove the blood, he ignored the glare Stigma was sending to him as his associates came closer the corpse as he used the knives to chop off not the finger or but the entire hand.
What was weird was that not only silver mask grabbed the fox mask's space ring, the head was also recovered and was put inside a sac after letting the blood empty then disappeared inside his space ring, leading to the assumption of hiding their identities was vital.
What also happened was the figure that Stigma fought fell to the ground, like a puppet with its strings cut off not even caring for his partners death. What confused Stigma more was that even after it fell down the clattering noises didn't end until he lay still in the ground, but his main focus was not the two dead men but the one who held the sword.
'....Both are suspicious individuals, though assassins may be ruthless, they should have killed me instead of him...But what the hell is this smell their giving off...dead bodies.....dried blood?'
The identities of the two before him was making Stigma feel uneasy, but he didn't let his guard down for even a moment. Stigma had confidence in his high-tend senses from his multiple Beast souls absorbed, yet the figures just appeared out of thin air without releasing a sound much less leaving a scent behind.
Which made him believe the theater mask pair were skilled Cultivators or even veteran assassin's like the three he was with, but Stigma had a feeling these two were more than they led on.
Stigma secretly used his skill 'Essence Reader' and found out their profile, stats, along with checking their skills. If Stigma remembers correctly, the Demon had explained that the stages were based on how much Zen energy the Cultivators have reserved.
Cultivators can freely use their reserves to replenish the amounts to use or save it for a life saving moment. Someone who has about thirty percent and below were still in the early stage, Mid stages are within the forty to seventy five range, Late stage are eighty percent above.
Therefore, those in the Late stage have a greater chance of a breakthrough as they have less risk. While those still in the Mid stage have fifty fifty chance of getting weaker if they force a breakthrough. Early stage Cultivators are basically draining their life force and committing a eighty to ninety percent chance of suicide.
Stigma survival was because of the Imp aiding him with the force breakthrough, but that was another matter.
Though facts about the reserves were useless as his skills would show their stages directly, yet Stigma didn't complain and remembered it and made it into a rating measure for how strong a cultivator will be.
As it turned out, the one in the golden mask was the strongest Cultivators he had met until now.
*Bing!*
[Name: Jose Moskvin
Age: 50
Rank: Rare(IV)(Mid stage)
3600 / 6000
Strength: 400
Agility: 220
Vitality: 300
Zen Reserves: 4000 / 5000
Affinity: Dark, Metal
Skills: Swords Mastery, Ax Mastery, Puppet Mastery Art]
[Name: Ivan (Moskvin)
Age: 16
Rank: Uncommon(I)(Early stage)
1000 / 4000
Strength: 150
Agility: 190
Vitality: 200
Zen Reserves: 1000 / 1500
Affinity: Wind
Skills: Knife Mastery, Puppet Mastery Art]
'So their related, but why is the younger one's name gray?...Must not have been accepted to the family. The soul represents the truth, if the bearer accepts the fact even by a third party like rumors, then it won't change until he/she accepts the new reality....Looks like what the Imp said was true.'
'As for the skills, it only show that they have the talent, like being a genius in Sword or Spear Arts. It technically only shows they have the ability to further develop it by learning a type of style, though the actual technique they used can't be shown much less their levels of mastery....Unless I absorb it my self.'
After seeing the pair's stats, Stigma turned his head towards the corpse, the fox mask had no other relation to the pair other than having the same Puppet Mastery Arts technique, as it turned out he but a twenty year old man with physical weak standards and only had the Puppet Mastery Art.
When Stigma looked at the one he fought, his mind immediately froze the moment he saw the notification.
[Name: Wooden Puppet - Pawn
Rank: Common
Effect: Strengthens material's durability and defense by the amount Zen energy stored within, time of usage depends on the users stored amount. Functions will cease when the user breaks connection or concentration.
Amount: 200
Defense: 100 + 200]
'....So it was made of wood huh, no wonder the impact felt familiar....'
Each time Stigma struck the figure, the sensation or sound of breaking can be heard and felt, but Stigma had no idea whether he was breaking bones or armor plating.
Nevertheless, the notification answered Stigma's suspicion as to why the figure kept on standing up and continued attacking even when he delivering so many blows to the head and chest. He only assumed it was wearing a full body armor that absorbed impacts, but that didn't matter as Stigma had another problem to deal with right now.
'Essence Reader!'
*Bing!*
[Name: Stigma Falsus
Age: 10
Rank: Unique (I)(Early stage)
0 / 10000
Strength: 150
Agility:170
Vitality: 250
Zen Reserves: 1200 / 1700
Skills:
Essence Reader(V) 15%, Poltergeist (III) (1) 75%, Soul Eater (V) 0%,Taboo(III)45%, Demon's Soul 5%
.....
'Looks like my method of minimizing my reserves was the right call, but as expected my techniques is still incomplete as my reserves are being drained due to sloppy control on my part.'
After looking at his reserves, Stigma could at least deal with the Silver if he played it safe, but had no chance in dealing with the Golden one. But Stigma took the opportunity to recover his reserves and delay them from getting near him.
With a poker face of anger, Stigma had continued to glare at the fallen puppet believing it was a comrade weeping silently for his fallen companion. If Stigma broke his facade to soon, the Gold and Silver pair will notice his reaction then grow suspicious of him.
Veil, Hans and the leader were about to move when they noticed Stigma's movement. Before they would notice a change, Stigma slowly glared at the Golden one and pointed at him with his finger.
”Hey! Why did you kill him, was he not your comrade?”
...Hearing such a question, the pair looked at each other and they nodded but they were about to speak but Stigma did not allow them, while raising his voice he was planning to draw attention under the market with many witnesses to prevent them from doing anything else under the gazes of too many witnesses.
”Well answer!! Are you just a heartless bastard that only uses his subordinates like puppets then throws then away like trash, you goddamn monster!”
All Stigma could do was gather as much information and figure out his next move, though he was confident he could handle the fox mask, but that was under the assumption he was like him at first when he relied on Dusk for combat.
With the recent murders, Stigma assumed he might have been involved or took the opportunity to do random murders and steal valuables under the disorder of the market. But he lost when Stigma found out he was easy to kill and broke a few of his bones.
However, the fox mask started calling him Senior which verified their connection, but before he had a chance to speak he was silenced, preventing anymore information leaks such as his name, the organization or clan they belong too, so Stigma had to figure out as much as he can.
Right now, Stigma was facing two Cultivators and one was stronger than Wade, he would be dead if the Golden one took the opportunity to strike first like using that trick he used, but had the confidence in beating the Silver one despite his diminished reserves.
Nevertheless, Stigma noticed that the Golden one wanted to converse with him rather than kill him, so he took the opportunity under the guise of an argument to tell between lies.
He was about to insult throw another insult to gain more information from any slip ups, yet the Silver one replied with a voice of anger.
”You little bastard show your respect to -!!” The silver mask was about to speak when a sword was facing him, they both looked and found the golden one was gesturing him to be silent and let him speak which he reluctantly agreed.
”Hmm. Quite the heart of gold we have here, admirable, well to answer your question it is a yes and a no. To explain we have to tell you about this boy.” the golden masked one was pointing at the corpse with his sword and continued.
”This boy was overbearing and arrogant, caring only about himself and believed he was the strongest, but only experienced easy wins on individuals who could not fight back like woman and children, never daring to venture through danger so he targeted those who appear weak in the gist of not wasting his strength on huge targets.”
The Golden one was about to speak but the Silver masked one was the one who continued with a voice of disdain, it was obvious he never had a good impression on the fox mask.
”Humph, his ego blinded him and got in the way of his better judgment, believing he was some sort of genius from heaven along with being gifted despite his age. He gained success in his frequent battles without gaining an injury and got over his head until now, you could say he followed us to try to make a name for himself on the journey, but ignored every warning we gave him. He was obviously weak as you confronted him, also his.....'partner' was doing most of the work, it was a given he was going to die for being trash. By the way, we're much stronger than that piece of garbage, so don't compare us to him...”