When mana was first introduced to Earth, humans were not the only organisms to be affected. Every being on this planet was affected in some way or the other. Animals that couldn't adapt to mana died out on their own, however the ones that did adapt changed.
Mana helped them evolve at a speed that was unthinkable to most, humans evolved from a line of monkeys through a time span of 7-8 million years.
An animal that was adapted to mana could evolve to the level of a human and some even more within days of getting used to mana. But such animals are incredibly rare.
During the war, some even helped in the fight against the angels. The most famous one would be the Lion warrior, Leo.
These animals can imitate humans in any way, they can even talk !
After the war, they went away on their own and formed tribes among themselves. Some are friendly to humans while some aren't.
Humans and these animals could make contracts with each other, these contracts were made to reduce the distrust between the two sides. Contracted partners couldn't hurt each other.
But the most attractive feature of these beings was not their ability to fight, it was their meat. Eating their meat can apparently make you stronger, till today there haven't been any legitimate proof but their meat is still consumed.....because they taste far better than normal animals.
Some treat them as slaves....the people who buy them are probably furries so one can only imagine....
.....
I have a very wild imagination.
Looking at the emerald green eyes of the panther, I felt a little guilty but more than that I was wondering what it tasted like....
Man...that's weird.
I look at the rest of the group and they all looked uncomfortable.
" I know this isn't right...but I don't have the power to argue with grandpa..", Katherine says trying to justify herself.
The others nod and continue on with the tour but I couldn't look away from the panther....
I want to eat it....
I mean...just look at it all fattened up....those crazy fucks at half moon probably ate this poor thing, so....
Nah..
I shake my head and run up to join with the others.
~~~~
" Ahh...my stomach hurts.", I say while touching my stomach in pain.
" It must be all those strawberries you ate.", Katherine says standing beside me.
We were on our way back to the VIP section, Piero our bodyguard followed us like a shadow silently..it was a little creepy to be honest.
" Should we call a doctor for you ?", Piero spoke startling me.
" No, sir. I'll just go to the bathroom."
" I'll take you then.", Piero said expressionlessly.
" There's no need for that, I saw it on the way....all of you can go on ahead.", I say making a pained face.
" Well...thank you for your sacrifice.", Max says going forward.
Eric looks at me suspiciously before following Max.
" Are you sure you'll be fine ?", Katherine asks worried.
" Awww...are you worried about me, Kathy ?"
That did the trick.
Katherine went away and dragged Emilia along with her. Piero nodded at me and followed the both of them.
With all of them out of the way...I suppose it's time to be naughty....
I'll just stop.
~~~~
I enter the bathroom discreetly, making sure that no one saw me.
Once inside, I get inside one of the stalls and start taking my clothes off.
Opening the bag that I had brought with me, I take out the uniform of the members of Half Moon. This was the same one that we had used to infiltrate the underground prison.
The bag that I brought with me was not a normal bag....it was an artifact that I bought from the virtual market ages ago to use for this very day.
It was endless...to a certain degree. It could fit almost a hundred items from the auction if the math adds up. It also had the additional option of changing it's form.
It cost a lot...but hey..it's handy.
I properly dress myself in their attire, but frown as I do so.
' I should have probably washed this thing...'
I sit on the seat of the toilet lamenting on my carelessness.
Now it's time to wait.
~~~~
I could hear commotion rising outside.
'It's probably them.'
After the first item was auctioned away, a blast occurred opening a hole in one of the walls of Duoden.
How did they break in one of the most secure auction houses in the world ?
It's simple.
They just powered through with brute strength.
It must be happening right now.
After they managed to get in, the next thing they did was to subdue the guards and the guests. After that they looted the whole place before anyone could act and just left the place.
I get out of the bathroom and creep back to the backstage where all the items were kept. I changed the bag's form into a large gunny bag using a little of my mana. It felt more appropriate.
After that I quickly start putting the things I wanted into the gunny bag.
Just as I finished getting all the things I wanted a deep voice reaches me,
" You seem busy...anomaly."
I turn around startled.
It was a person who wore a ragged cloak...I couldn't see the person's face but judging from the person's voice...it seems to be a man.
Is he from Half Moon ?....
No...that can't be right...there's nobody like him in Half Moon.
Whoever this man was.....he felt dangerous.
" Who are you ?", the guy asks me without even having the courtesy to introduce himself.
" You don't need to know.", I say while trying to run past him using all the power I had.
But the next thing I saw was his hand over my face.
The man pushes me with his hand and says,
" How pathetic...."
I crash into the artifacts that had been neatly lined up behind me.
For the first time since coming into this world...I feel pure fear.
I need to learn the skills I chose now...then I might stand a chance. I try to take the necessary things out of my gunny bag...but I don't find my gunny bag with me.
" What's this ?", the man says while looking into my gunny bag.
How did he get that ?
Shit.....
The man scoffs while looking into the gunny bag and then...rips the bag making everything inside it to spread out in all directions.
After destroying all my effort, the man slowly trudges towards me. In the darkness of the room..his red eyes shined on me like they had marked me as their target.
Now that he was coming closer, I could see that his face was covered by the official mask of the auction house.
I slowly back away, panic seizing my heart.
I bump into a table as I back away, I turn around and see some skills lying around the table.
Well..... anything is better than nothing right ?
I take all the skills lying in the table which weren't a lot and started learning them without even looking at what exactly it was.
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Do you wish to learn Hell Fire ?
Y/N
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Do you wish to learn Weak Body ?
Y/N
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Do you wish to learn Sub-Space ?
Y/N
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Do you wish to learn Incite ?
Y/N
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Every single one of them sounded like shit except for the first one.
I try to learn the next skill in my hand but my body freezes as I feel a shoulder on my neck.
" What do we have here ?"
Before I can react in any way, the man throws a punch at me which lands perfectly.
But instead of falling down, I use all the power I had to stay on my feet.
" Impressive.", the man compliments me while throwing punch after punch.
I dodge the first one but all the others hit me.
This time I can't stop my fall but the man does, he holds me by my collar and pummels me.
He wasn't exactly stronger than me but....I couldn't block any of the attacks he sent my way...
Why ?
I feel pain all over my body but still try to fight back.
Seeing me, the man laughs and says,
" Anomaly's are usually a pain to deal with.....but you're so....pathetically weak. If I was at my full strength you would already be dead."
What's an anomaly ?
This wasn't his full strength ?
None of my questions get answered as the man continues to beat the fuck out of me.
I'm doomed.
I try to counterattack but the man catches my fist and twists it before sending me flying across the room.
I fall right into the bars of the cage, my back hurts like hell.
The fat panther looked to be in pain, it was squirming around and whimpering even though nobody had hurt it.
I look at the man, he had raised a single finger and pointed it at me.
I get a bad feeling...and move to the side.
A white beam of light rises up from his finger and in a flash it reached where I was previously standing.
Thank god, I moved...
The freaking laser beam that should have hit me instead hits the panther which screamed in pain.
" At least you seem to have plentiful luck.", the man says chuckling.
The man continues to walk toward me slowly..I felt too weak to even get up.
Miraculously the man stops walking a few feet away from me and turns around.
He takes out a scythe out from thin air and slashes it in the air...instead of smoothly flowing through the air, the scythe gets blocked midway...as if it was being blocked by an invisible weapon.
" Show yourself...", the man muttered.
A woman appears out of thin air holding a sword in her hand.
She also wore a mask but I could recognize this woman even without seeing her face.
???????????????? ???????????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????? ???????? ????????????????????-????????????.????????????
One doesn't forget the woman that gave birth to them so easily...or at least had the same body and face.
' Dina ?..'
~~~~