Jakky's eyes widened in a mix of amusement, intrigue, and fear as he stepped back, gripping a couple of knives between his fingers in his right hand while holding a club in the other. *Wowy, as usual Laticia's more of a bitch than a witch, forcing us to fight monsters like these. That Albert Erecus was more tricky than I thought, and that quiet little missy with the headphones… who knew she had such a weird power? Of course it's music!* he cursed in his thoughts.
In front of him, Kiera stood straight, slightly more confident than before and no longer afraid, as she gripped her instrument tightly—a combination of an electric guitar and a harp.
Behind her, Albert struggled to his feet as he pulled out the knives thrust into his right wrist and right shoulder. He grunted as a bit of blood spilled, but suddenly a wisp of steam could be seen from his wounds as his bleeding began to slow. A smirk grew on his face as his silver hair flowed.
"So, Miss Kiera, you're passionate about music, hm? That's the same with many people in the world, yet Vesterious gifted *you* specifically the Mark of the Musician. That must mean you have the purest and cleanest musical interest," Albert said as he offered a calm smile.
Kiera flinched, her face flushing red in embarrassment before she shook her head.
Albert smirked as he limped forward, his expression hardening as he glared at Jakky. "You don't stand a chance against two Marked Mercenaries. Surely you understand your position by now," he said with a cold glare, something that made Jakky's creepy grin widen.
"Oh, don't be so gloomy!! I'm sure I can make y'all laugh even more! LET'S TRY THAT AGAIN!!!" Jakky yelled as he dramatically raised his arms. In an instant, groans of pain could be heard as the slaves, clad in clown outfits, stood back up from the devastating shockwave attack from Kiera, the part of the stage they stood on still shattered and uneven. Two of them were clearly bleeding, yet they were forced to obey commands, as made clear by the collars on their necks.
"I see, so he's making us choose between hurting the innocent to get him, or being pummeled by them. A complete sadist down to his very core," Albert said, though it didn't seem to worry Kiera as she stepped forward, gripping her instrument.
*What could she be planning? She's far from the type to sacrifice people we came to save. Could it be that she's capable of different things with her Passion Mark? All I saw was the shockwave generated from her playing heavy metal on that electric guitar, but then what could be the point of that harp attached to its end?* Albert thought as a sweat bead ran down his head, though he stayed focused. "What do you plan on doing?" Albert asked, forgetting Kiera's muteness.
However, Kiera continued to walk toward the five slaves who were moments from charging at her with their clubs. Her eyes displayed a mix of sadness and pity as her soft and delicate fingers slowly began to trail across her harp, playing it carefully. The electric guitar part touched the ground, providing support on one end, while the harp rested on the other end, still attached, as Kiera played it.
Her Passion Mark glowed purple once again as she closed her eyes in soft focus, her ears twitching as she carefully listened to the soft melody being played by her own fingers.
Albert's eyes focused as he thought: *She's playing another tune? This time from her harp, and it's far softer. The music's almost heavenly to a point… and very relaxing.* Albert's thoughts were interrupted by his sudden realization that he was growing sluggish every second he listened to the melody. He shook his head to keep focus.
Kiera continued to play the strange yet soothing melody from her harp as the music reached the slaves. Within seconds, their weapons dropped as they collapsed, asleep—incapacitated safely.
"W-w-what??!!!!! What the fuck was that?! You—you put them to sleep?!" Jakky questioned in frustration while clutching his leg, which still had a gaping wound from the shard of glass inflicted by Albert earlier.
Kiera stepped back as she gripped her instrument again, her Mark's color fading as she deactivated it.
Albert could hardly believe what he was looking at, but he quickly came to a conclusion, an intrigued smirk growing on his face. "I see, so you're capable of creating supernatural music that can have effects based on the theme. For example, that heavy and explosive rock jam you spectacularly played earlier created a shockwave-type attack to repel the clown slaves, and then you just used that relaxing harmonic melody from your harp to incapacitate them. That melody seems to induce sluggishness and tiredness—I found myself almost slipping into sleep, too," he said as he stood, his wounds already mostly healed, leaving only red scars that were repairing themselves.
He then looked forward at Jakky, who seemed to be shaking slightly. He noted the fresh open wound on Jakky's left ankle, created by the glass shard from his desperate attack earlier, was still open and bleeding—rightfully so, as Jakky wasn't a Marked One. "And your physical pain must've been what you used as a distraction to avoid succumbing to that sleep-inducing ability," Albert accused.
Jakky's breaths grew ragged, but he forced a grin. This was only the beginning, after all.
---
**In the upper levels of Laticia's underground fortress**
The wooden and golden extravagant walls could be seen being ignited and reduced to ashes as a fiery arsonist dashed through, sustaining a burn on his own hand—Rennet.
"Infernal Tornado!" he mentioned, naming his technique as his Passion Mark glowed a vibrant reddish orange. Untamed fire raged out of his hands in a spiraling motion, racing toward a couple of Laticia's henchmen. Their screams faded as they were encompassed by the fire, burned to ash.
Rennet bit his lip, a single tear escaping his left eye as he let the burn on his arm calm so it could heal.
"What? Ya gotta problem or something?" Rennet asked, a small hint of annoyance in his voice as he looked behind to see Riko standing there, looking at the burning ashes that were once people not too long ago. His brown sleeveless outer jacket flowed with his dark brown hair as he grit his teeth.
"You just killed them. They were people. What the hell was that?" he replied, looking up to meet Rennet's eye with his own.
An hour earlier, they had landed on a bridge connecting the underground fortress to the Auction Hall above. Shortly after the fall, however, the drawbridge was purposefully left with a broken mechanism, and the way up collapsed from rubble—likely purposeful by the enemy. This had left Riko and Rennet stranded for a bit until Riko figured out the components of the pulley by reverse-engineering the mechanism and creating a new one. Although they survived the fall and were thriving, they had made far less progress than any of their peers at this point.
Rennet's right eye twitched a little at Riko's words, his orangish hair almost as bright as the fire he created. "We're mercenaries, ya know! That's our goddamn job!" he shouted.
The response was a grueling reminder to Riko, who clenched his fist. Despite his lifetime goal of tracking down and eventually killing the one who took Zephyr, he was still new to the concept and had clean hands—a fact that made him stand out even more in the Marked Mercenaries' ranks. He was the only one who had never killed another person, and this fact unnerved him at this point.
However, the earlier scene of Laticia's depraved mockery of human life suddenly flashed in his eyes. He narrowed them before looking up, determined. "Yeah, you're right. Let's keep going. That Laticia bitch has it coming to her," he said with a cocky but brighter smirk.
Rennet grinned. "Now you're talking," he replied before the two advanced through the chambers hastily.
Riko's expression shifted to excitement as he activated his power. The Passion Mark on his left cheek, depicting the symbol of a gear, glowed sky blue as his right arm transformed—bolts and screws arranged with metal and wire as it shifted into a cyborg arm with opening blasters on the palm. He released his palm and charged the weapon, pointing it at the wall before firing a concentrated beam of plasma energy, accelerated explosively. The contact created a small explosion but left a large hole going through each of the chambers. His smile remained.
"We'll just have to bust through!" he declared.
*He's just like me! I like this guy! Maybe Felix wasn't wrong to let this guy pass—this style's fun!* Rennet thought with excitement as he followed Riko.
---
**The lower levels of the fortress**
Jetore and Seracore ran through the empty halls, past a dining room and quarters. At this point, the injuries Jetore sustained from the Clortisax had mostly healed.
"That stupid Architect must've been through here! Why else would it look like this?!" said Jetore, staring at reorganized rooms they passed. Some were destroyed and contorted, while some had furniture split into pieces and reorganized; one even had carefully removed floorboards.
The claim came across as confusing to Seracore, who still didn't get along with Jetore, but couldn't deny they made a good team. "That annoying silver-haired freak? I thought he was just a brat that got lucky," Seracore commented, his large shield held up by his right arm as he kept his pace.
Jetore noted to himself how Seracore seemed to wear a bit of armor on his right side, which accompanied his shield, before answering: "D-don't get me wrong, idiot! I could beat him no problem, but… he's strong. I don't really get it, but his Passion Mark lets him control and shift his surroundings, or some shit like that."
Before Seracore could reply, one of Laticia's henchmen pointed a large firearm at the pair—a rocket launcher. He fired, and a missile shot forward, smoke and exhaust trailing behind it.
Acting instantly, Seracore smirked with confidence as his Passion Mark glowed. He grabbed his shield and pointed it forward. "Shell Shelter!" he shouted, naming his technique as a blue shield projected out of his physical shield, layering and forming a defensive field forward.
The missile crashed into it, causing a large explosion. Part of the ceiling collapsed from the impact, as did the walls and floor, which shattered and broke apart, the foundation slowly crumbling.
"N-NO! AHHHH!!!!" the assailant screamed as he was crushed under debris of his own causing, a pool of blood spilling out from underneath the rubble.
---
**With Riko and Rennet, at the upper levels**
"It sounds like there's a pretty serious fight goin' on down there," Riko said as the two felt shaking and the sound of explosions below.
Rennet's eyes widened, and before he could react, the flooring they stood on crumbled as they fell down. "The hell is this?!" Rennet shouted as they plummeted downward.
Riko focused. "This is probably someone's fight we just got dragged into," he said. It was obvious to him, after all.
---
**Back at the mid levels**
Out of the rubble, Jetore and Seracore appeared, having been successfully protected from both the rocket launcher missile and the rubble caused by it, thanks to Seracore's power.
"Tck, I owe you one," Jetore said, knowing he would've died without Seracore.
Before Seracore could reply with a snarky comment aimed to get on Jetore's nerves, they heard a familiar voice from above say, "MOVE IT!!!"
As they looked up, they saw Riko and Rennet falling down. Riko's legs quickly shifted and transformed into jet-powered boosters, firing exhaust and catching his fall mid-air as he jumped down.
Rennet, however, crashed straight into Seracore as the two fell to the ground.
"NghhhAAa!! Watch it, you bastard! The fuck were you tryna pull?!" Seracore yelled as he pushed Rennet off.
"Me?! What the fuck were *you* tryna pull?! Why the hell did our floor break down? HUH?!!!!" Rennet snapped back in retaliation.
---
**In Jakky's Murder Circus**
Albert smiled softly with revelation. "I should've known. Music is attuned with emotion and feelings—feelings of excitement, happiness, sadness, anger, wrath… even sluggishness is a theme. The realm of music is near boundless after all. So that's how your power works—the Mark of the Musician, hm?," he said.
Kiera blinked exactly three times before quickly nodding, a bit embarrassed.
Jakky's face twitched in frustration despite his large smile. He knew he was at a disadvantage now. He clicked his finger as suddenly, more slaves clad in circus attire rode onto the stage on unicycles, pointing guns and shooting at Albert and Kiera.
Acting quickly, however, Albert's Passion Mark glowed as he envisioned the layout of the room like a blueprint in his mind. A smirk appeared on his face as chunks of the wall twisted around, separating into blocks and creating a barrier around the pair to shield from the gunfire.
Kiera flinched but then straightened as she jumped up, twisting in mid-air before playing the same soft tune from her harp, causing the other slaves to fall asleep, too.
Little by little, Jakky's sweat increased as he stepped back.
Suddenly, one of Laticia's henchmen—a man wearing a neat tuxedo and holding a pistol—jumped out, pointing at Kiera. "FOR THE MISTRESS!!" he shouted.
But before he could pull the trigger, Albert flashed forward, spinning and kicking him in the stomach, launching the assailant into the wall.
"Goddammit!!! I won't be taken down by a bunch of brats! I need my funding for my gorgeous traps and circus from Laticia!!!" Jakky shouted, breaking down with irritation.
The words made Albert's right eye twitch for a moment as he landed back down on the stage. The thought was simply sickening to him. "You're a depraved man, through and through," he said.
"SHUT IT!!! YOU DON'T KNOW ME!!! ONLY I APPRECIATE TRUE ECSTASY AND FUN!!! I'll show you what happens when you take my hilarious performance away!" Jakky replied with raging malice.
Albert's eyes widened for a moment as he looked down at the part of the stage he and Kiera stood on. Something felt off to him.
Suddenly, the henchman of Laticia who had tried to shoot Kiera struggled up, shaking as he pointed his pistol at Albert, coughing blood. The damage sustained from Albert's merciless kick to his stomach meant his fate was sealed. He forced a smile.
"I'M TAKIN' YOU WITH ME!!! ALBERT ERECUS!!!! DIE, MOTHERFUCKER!!!!" he shouted.
Albert looked back at him and flinched. Jakky smirked, thinking it was over for Albert. After all, the firearms they used were not normal—the bullets were designed specially with different material and a rough outer shell to pierce even the biologically enhanced outer shell of Marked Ones.
*Shit! I forgot about him!* Albert thought as he turned a little too late.
However, just as the henchman was about to pull the trigger, Kiera jumped forward toward him, playing a fiery and explosive soundtrack from her electric guitar as her Mark glowed. The assailant's desperate, forced smile faded as he heard it. Suddenly, blood exploded from his earholes and nose as he fell lifeless, a small explosion occurring behind him.
Albert's eyes widened as he looked at Kiera, who had just jumped down. "Another soundtrack ability? So this one ruptures anything it lands on," he said.
Kiera nodded before pointing her instrument at Jakky, who was shaking.
"HEY! WOW, WOW, WOW!! CALM DOWN, GIRL!!!" he pleaded.
Kiera hesitated for a moment before playing the same soundtrack loudly. Albert covered his ears. It seemed like this was it for Jakky, but she smiled.
Suddenly, Jakky jumped and flipped through the air, his hand grabbing onto a rope swing before launching himself to a pillar above. The place he was originally standing at ruptured and exploded. Kiera gasped silently in surprise.
*So… he can dodge it, huh? That attack of Kiera's is strong but relies on the opponent being unaware of how her power works. But then…* Albert was in the middle of his thoughts before he looked shocked with realization, then looked at Kiera, resolute.
"Try it again, that one. I have a plan. Please trust me," he said.
Kiera flinched, about to shake her head in refusal, but remembered how Riko seemed to trust Albert, calling him "Al" even. She slowly nodded as her uncertain expression turned to a focused one. Her hair whipped around as she played the music. Parts of the circus where Jakky was standing began to rupture and explode as he was forced on the defensive, jumping and dodging, escaping from the deadly explosive but hype soundtrack Kiera was playing.
"You idiots!! BAHAHAHA!!" Jakky laughed as he threw some knives toward Kiera.
She wanted to jump, but trusted Albert and kept her focus. Albert smirked as he raised his feet, his hands still in his pockets. He angled them correctly toward the knives headed for Kiera in the air. In order to avoid the blades when he struck, he focused and launched a kick, hitting the knives out of the way as they crashed down into the ground, causing Jakky to gasp in shock.
Albert's Mark of the Architect glowed golden as his power activated. *If I'm not wrong, then this should work similarly to how it did with that Mei girl during the selection. In this case, I have to remember that notes, frequencies, and intricate layers of music are technically using the concept of architecture—building blocks and a network of different elements to make the outcome possible… so then, I can control it,* he thought as he raised his hand.
"Musical Architecture," he mentioned with a satisfied grin as he envisioned the soundwaves from Kiera's music—a small, almost otherworldly musical energy invisible to the naked eye. It traveled violently and uncontrolled, striking near Jakky, who continued dodging the ruptures and explosions. This was the architectural form of Kiera's attack.
Albert raised and moved his arm around, his eyes closed as if he was conducting an orchestra. Kiera flinched as her musical attack bent mid-air, suddenly making contact with Jakky, guided by Albert's ability.
Jakky screamed as his right ear exploded, blood forcing out as he fell down, hitting the stage. "AHHHHH!!!! YOU BASTARDS!!!!! MY EARRR!!!!!" he shouted in agony.
Albert reopened his eyes before smirking. "Any type of architecture, I can control and bend to my will, and force my designs on it. That's the true power of the Mark of the Architect," he claimed.
Kiera was sweating, but more confident and trusting than before, as she smiled softly and walked forward.
Jakky struggled on the ground, one hand clutching his bleeding right ear. "Damn you… Damn you… DAMN YOU!!!" he shouted. He forced a final smile as he pulled a lever hidden in part of the ground.
Kiera's eyes widened in worry—it was obviously a trap.
Suddenly, a wire appeared from the ceiling, discharging large amounts of electricity explosively as it lowered down, moments from touching the peculiar stainless platform Albert and Kiera stood on.
"THIS'LL TEACH YOU!!! THE GROUND YOU STAND ON IS MADE OF ALUMINUM!!! Aluminum's a great conductor of electricity, making it best for my traps of shocking people to death! You should've just let me kill you!" Jakky shouted, clutching his bleeding ear.
Kiera gasped in fear, but suddenly, Albert's Mark glowed as he pressed his hand forward with a smirk. The part of the stage they stood on began to stretch and mold into wires stretching toward Jakky, causing him to shout.
"When designing a room, an architect must always evaluate the materials used and why those materials specifically would make good choices. Things like cost-effectiveness and function are mainly in our minds. You see, I already anticipated that you'd pull something like this—a platform made of aluminum is too bizarre for a circus stage. And you're right, aluminum is a great conductor of electricity, but it also has two other properties worth considering: its high malleability and good ductility allow it to be molded and stretched into thin wires easily, while still retaining the electrical conductivity," Albert said before he and Kiera jumped off the platform.
The wires formed from the stretching aluminum platform—from Albert's ability—stretched toward Jakky as he tried to get up and run, but the wound on his leg made it impossible. The wires tangled and bent around him as soon as the electrical wire from above made contact with the platform. Suddenly, electricity ran through, and Jakky's body burst in explosive sparks and electricity, burning him as his screams faded.
Albert landed on the other side with Kiera. "And that's how you do it," he said.