The city itself, Morium, was a place of lawlessness. The brochure described it as bloody, uncivilized, and wrecked, which I must say was an understatement. There wasn't a single building I could see that wasn't creaking and crumbling from being partially destroyed somehow. The best way I could put it was if Gotham was a four on a scale of public safety, Morium was a two. Out of ten.
Morium was apparently a neutral ground for klevonians from the Klevonian Army, too.
Those that lived there – approximately 10 pneumarians, 300 klevonians, and 196 million civilians – were described as degenerates of the nation who caused trouble everywhere they went. The crest made their money by serving as a galactic mercenary house where those who wanted someone found or their life extinguished could hire bounty hunters or assassins.
Their reputation showed they weren't trustworthy and didn't like following the law, but they stayed out of the way for the most part so long as they weren't bothered.
"A billion spendil...who knew starting a mercenary guild would be so lucrative?" Za'Fia commented as we walked the streets.
"It's heartbreaking that this isn't illegal here," I replied as we received several sketchy looks from creeps in alleys.
There was a random brush of wind as several people rushed past us in a blur.
"Ow!" I said as I felt something nick my arm.
"Outta the way! If I lose this bounty, I'm coming back to kill you!" Someone yelled behind them. I think they were klevonians.
Apparently, the Crest Head didn't regulate structure or care about public safety. Unless it was a nationwide law, like the 200mph flight regulation, it wasn't upheld there. So, despite the tunnel lanes, others didn't seem to care about where they super sped.
"What a minacious environment," Avarice said with an underlying interest.
I side-glanced him but didn't say anything, then chose to fly the rest of the way to avoid any more kill-happy individuals before meeting the Crest Head.
We arrived at a large ruined manor that had an eerie presence despite the sunlit sky. Strangely, the front doors stood open with no guards. I didn't sense many others inside either.
Most are likely out on contracts, Viraa suggested.
The inside of the manor was dank and so empty that we could hear rodents rustling somewhere within its walls. My head snapped up at the sound of movement above us. A couple of creatures flew in through an open window that was high up. At a closer inspection, I realized they were gargoyles, but they looked fleshy until they stopped moving and became inconspicuous stone statues.
When we rose to the third floor and landed softly before what we assumed was the throne room, Avarice opened the door without knocking. Again. I immediately noticed a klevonians with a missing arm and leg lying in a corner, bleeding out. Despite others being present in the room with him, no one tried to tend to his wounds.
There were two guards nearby, watching us silently.
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One was a girl casually perched on a scaffold 40 feet up. She was dressed in all black with her face hidden, but her eyes glowed orange. Her name was Theia, also infamously known as the Mirror Assassin. She was a 3-star threat with an EQN of 43,187,960. As for her cintracies, she was the second klevonian we'd met with two eutierric cintracies: Blaze and Suna, giving her control over fire and sand.
Perched on the edge of an entrance 50 feet over the throne was another klevonian. She was well-toned and wore ragged, thin, assassin-like clothes. She had long, menacing hair that seemed to move to her will and released a purple gas. Unlike the other, this one was in her hybrid form, having razor laws, fangs, elongated ears, and glowing, yellow eyes with slit, snake-like pupils. Her name was Gorga "The Bristle". She was a 2.5-star threat with a bestial EQN of 429,857,400. She possessed the eutierric Bio Toxin cintracy, and a temp cintracy called Chaeto Control that Viraa said gave her the ability to harden and manipulate the hair on her body.
I looked around. Those were clearly personal guards, but where was the Crest Head? Shouldn't they be guarding them?
I looked at the wounded klevonian in the corner. Was that him?
Gorga hissed at us aggressively, her hair extending threateningly, as we approached the throne. There was a calm and collected chuckle that echoed through the room.
"Don't worry, Gorga, they're all good," said a masculine voice as someone was suddenly sitting on the throne.
How...
His sacred gift is called Sensory Veil. After a period of inactivity, our senses will naturally overlook his presence, making it easy to forget he is there. It is not as strong as invisibility, but I am sure he makes excellent use of the power, Viraa shared.
His name was Crete, aka The Garden Killer. He was dressed in a ragged, dark suit, a matching overcoat, and a distinct scar on his forehead. He had dreads loosely tied in a ponytail and had reddish-brown skin like a klevonian despite being a pneumarian. He was a 3-star with an EQN of 517,650,000. He had two cintracies. One was a temp cintracy named Petrify, that gave him the ability to turn others to stone by touching them. Apparently, he kept a hidden garden of statues where he stored his victims, but anyone who ventured to find it somehow vanished. Guess that's where he got his epithet. His other cintracy was a mystic cintracy called Clot. It was a terrifying power to transfigure blood from his spirit energy and manipulate it at will. He could also transfigure the blood of someone less powerful than him and use it to control his target.
We've met plenty of Crest Heads so far, but I think this guy's powers have to be the worst.
Fitting for the leader of an assassin guild, I guess, Za'Fia replied.
He wasn't there the entire time, was he? No, we would've noticed that.
I eyed the unconscious klevonian in the corner again. So that's not the Crest Head. Then what happened to him?
"Don't worry bout'em," Crete callously flung a knife into the klevonian's open wound, causing him to writhe in pain. "See. He's fine. Got full of'em self earlier. He's bein' taught a lesson 'bout respect. I'm all for a lil havoc, but there's one rule I enforce: Ya don't mess wit the chain of command. There's me. There are my guards. Then the pneumarians..."
There was sudden hooting and hollering in unison as more pneumarians and klevonians flew in from the upper windows.
"Then there's the rest of the klevonians. And then those not lucky enough to be part of the crest."
He shrugged nonchalantly.
"Every now and then I gotta remind'em, ya know?"