*Mark*

My mind seemed to jump from one conclusion to the next until I finally decided upon a goal. Until now it's seemed as if I was merely reacting to all the inane actions of others…. No more. I have to actually be conscious enough of my own standing and position so as to avoid being manipulated like before.

For something as stupid as a ranking and perhaps even someone’s ability to emit fear to actually influence me, pisses me off…..

Looking around the small enclosure, the various huts filled with Amazonians peaking through makeshift holes in their shit shacks, as well as the giant bonfire in the middle of their encampment, gave me a pretty good idea on how to vent my stress….

As I continue to search the space however, I see him.

Instantly my face distorts, a thin layer of blood lust is coating him as he stared intently at me….

Something about him….

He seemed no different than the other Amazonians, the typical caramel colored skin, scars mixed in with words of a foreign language littered his visible chest and arms as he saw fit to only were a pair of shorts…. He had a relatively attractive face with a strong jaw and short cropped sandy black hair….. His hazel eyes quickly reddening as his blood lust took over his psychical features….

When I looked at what was in his hand, I immediately sprinted for him.

That was a goddamn pioneer weapon. There's no mistake.

The various runic engravings across its hooked blade and down its shaft were eerily similar to those of Aiyla’s

Fleet footed meant a full sprint put me before him in mere seconds….

My minds raced as they took control over summoning fire from the ambient aether, as I became more and more use to split minds, I was able to keep it active, virtually always.

In the meantime, my fist arced its way to deliver a fatal blow to his exposed neck as I directed one of my minds to force some propulsion out of my elbow to speed up the process.

A miniature explosion erupted from the back of my arm causing it to lurch forward, I could feel as the tendons snapped in my upper arm and even more muscle tissue was torn. If this hit connected it would be worth it though, I can always heal my body now so there is no need to worry about collateral damage.

Inches from connecting with the young man’s jugular, something stopped me dead in my tracks….

Although I had been quite fast….. In fights like these, I wasn’t the only one with an enhanced physique…. So even if it had taken a few seconds to reach him, that would have been plenty of time to act, or to even attempt to dodge…. If he had, I would’ve continued hounding him until I took his head…. But he calmly fell to his knees, laying his odd, hooked spear in front of him before…. Bowing…..

My arm had already broken the sound barrier, even if I had damaged it beyond belief…. So in order to stop it, I immediately erected a barrier of wind in front of it….

A horrendous crunch echoed through the clearing quickly followed by a torrent of wind from the resulting impact….

Looking at my right arm, it could barely be called a part of me… The whole thing was a swollen mass of purple tissue. My radius and ulna had snapped in seperate directions leading to two different protrusions sticking from my skin as my arm flopped to my side, unable to bear its own weight. My fist had fused from the impact, leading to a gory lump of flesh similar to a bludgeoning object. My humerus had twisted several times in seemingly random directions as only a thin line of flesh kept the bottom and top halves intact…. Even my shoulder seemed affected as the socket protruded far more than it should have….

Slowly activating compelled reconstruction, I ignored the minor wound, letting it heal slowly instead of all at once to prevent fatigue….

This was quite the predicament…. I don’t normally show mercy, but then again, no one's ever really surrendered like this before….

As I curiously watched the man before me, he began to speak…

“Please take me away from here.”

By now, the young man’s forehead was touching the ground in a sense of complete subservience… that must be humiliating, yet he still did it just to ask me to take him away?

Why the hell would he ask me that? I could imagine him asking me to spare his friends and family, if that were the case I would just kill them all right now anyways…. But take him away?

“Why?”

The young man shook for a moment before gathering the courage to speak once again…

“I don’t know where to go… I have spent my entire life chained to these people, and although I have learned of the outside world, I truly know nothing about it….. I don’t think I can stand being around these people much longer….”

His body was shaking once again, as if he were afraid I would deny him the one chance he had at freedom… I wonder how he deluded himself into thinking he was stuck with these people…. Probably something developed through childhood. He could probably slaughter all of them without even trying yet he doesn’t….

Inside, Mark’s cruel smile surfaced as he thought of an amazing idea….

I have always hated people…. It definitely started with being used as a lab rat for my parents experiments, but even after escaping from that hell, I found the world itself is a hell all on its own…. People by nature are some of the most foul and disgusting creatures ever invented.

I was thinking too narrowly, to just go after the Pioneers would be a disservice to the rest of humanity…. They all need to die. Astoria had confirmed it herself, humans were a widespread problem most likely all throughout the multiverse….. I could probably do it myself….

His smile widened even further, the corners of his mouth ripping to allow it to expand past what it should be able to….

But wouldn’t it be ironic if I had their own heroes and saviors do it for me instead….

*Solomon*

I didn’t dare raise my head. Whatever this person was, they had been seconds from ending my life…. If I could learn from him, I could finally punish my family.

I felt something grip the back of my head as my hair was tugged upwards….

My mind took a moment to completely process the scene as something straight out of my nightmares presented itself…. The man from before was now smiling, nearly ear to ear as the flesh around the sides of his mouth had been ripped to allow the inhuman expression….

He was holding me up with his left hand as his right was a complete mess, blood and bone mixed together to form a mass of purple disfigured flesh…. Even still he looked to not be in pain, which was probably the worst of all the abhorrent details…. His eyes were green with a deep red emanating from within, while the tattoo on his forehead had changed into an enormous eye, its iris a pure white while also emitting that same red….

Setting me back on my knees, the man, without breaking eye contact, let go with his left hand before briefly moving it to his right shoulder….

With an unsettling squelching noise, he completely ripped it off…. Blood fountained from the gruesome wound before being immediately cut off, as some of the blood flowing from it paused before returning and sealing it shut.

The arm he had previously ripped off began to bubble as the skin melted off and churned together until a thin spear of bone and flesh was held up under my chin…..

I was uncontrollably shaking from sheer terror in that moment…. Although I may hate my people, that internal violence was unable to prepare me for the abomination in front of me….

Then… it spoke….

“You have one choice child…. Either you join me…. Or you die….”

It was exactly as I asked…. But now I wasn’t so sure… Looking deeper into his eyes, I found the cruelty I craved… the same that I wished upon my people for years and years….

His was much greater than mine…. If I could be like that…. Could I also be so strong?

Gathering myself to avoid speaking with fear…. I asked….

“What do I have to do?”

*Mark*

Wow, this was pretty fun!

Apparently the guy’s name was Solomon, another round of intimidating him had earned that easy enough. Despite the brutality I could see he wanted to exhibit, something was still holding him back… I can’t have the first guy I corrupt be a total wimp….

The elder from before was still watching from the hut we originally exited…. He seemed shell shocked as he blankly stared at the two of us conversing…. I suppose if it meant I get a loyal servant, I can overlook these people this time….

“Everyone get out here right now!”

….

…..

……

Well, can’t say I didn’t warn them….

Leaving Solomon kneeling, I walked to the nearest hut which was only a few feet away….

Pulling apart the leaves revealed a family of five, a mother, father, son, and two daughters….

“Come with me.”

The older man rushed me holding a primitive sword, the thing was a copperish color with vines bracing the hilt and blade…. Swinging my freshly made spear easily removed his hand, before swinging again and severing from under his armpit through his neck…. His arm and head landed on the mother who began screaming while his body slumped to the side….

The boy who couldn’t be any older than eleven picked up the sword before looking at me with vengeance in his young eyes….

“Put that down, I will not show you mercy.”

Ignoring my warning, as well as the shouts of his mother to stop and do as I say, the boy rushed me….

Leveling my spear tip, I briefly dug it into the ground before lunging to grab him…. Unable to comprehend the speeds at which I moved, I easily had him by his neck before lowering his thin frame to be skewered by the grounded spear….

It easily slid under his ribs before emerging through his throat as he screamed to the heavens…. Forcing the spear to grow spurs inside the child's body easily insure that he wouldn’t be going anywhere….

It really was remarkable how easy it was to manipulate my own blood and body versus that of others…. I wonder if that has anything to do with how other people’s bodies have stronger wills than inanimate objects? And perhaps, since my own body already bows to me, it's much easier to manipulate with telekinesis and blood dominion injunction….

Putting those thoughts to the side, I focused on the mother who had taken her two daughters into her arms, trying to protect them from the slaughter…. Her eyes were widened as if she was in a frenzy as tears streamed down her face. Snot also began to coat her hand woven sleeves as she visibly foamed at the mouth….

Her two daughters were also crying, although they had only caught their father fighting, not the blood aftermath of his foolish decision.

“Now will you follow me…”

This time, she immediately leaped to her feet. She was shaking so hard, her own children had stopped crying to tell her to let them go…. She completely ignored them as she robotically exited the shack to stand in the center of their encampment….

“P-please spare my c-children…. I-I w-will do a-anything you want, j-just please don’t hurt my babies…”

Ignoring the bawling, I turn to face the rest of the shacks before repeating once again….

“Everyone, get out here right now! I won’t ask again.”

…..

….

…

Wow, they must think I was joking.

Walking towards the next hut, the family was ready this time. There was an older man as well as a late teenage boy rushing me this time, the older one with another copper sword while the boy wielded a club…

Unwilling to waste anymore of my time, I briefly summon fire in one of the two’s lungs and fill the other’s with water…. I felt a brief amount of resistance, far more than normal to summon either elements, before whatever it was gave way.

They immediately fall to the ground, one suffocating while the other’s screams echo through the area as the unnatural fire continues to burn his insides… As I enter the small building, this time it seems two mothers are present, as the older one quickly grabs a makeshift spear from the wall and lunges for me, trying to protect a younger girl holding a baby….

Dropping my own spear which was still skewering the child, I grab the shaft of her spear before yanking it out of her hands and throwing it towards the noisey older man screaming from the fire inside his body….

Not even bothering to check if it hit, I focus on the women before grabbing her mouth with my left hand.

Hooking my fingers under her tongue, I summon a wall of air at the back of her throat to keep her still, before ripping out her tongue in one pull…. Foamy blood spills from her mouth as blood enters her lungs, mixing with whatever air was previously present and drowning her.

She quickly collapses as well, leaving me to drag her twitching body to the center along with the other girl holding the baby….

The rest of the tribe seem to finally understand as they wearily exit their homes to come towards me… The children are blindfolded and whatever was small enough was fit into their ears to prevent them from hearing the screams of the damned…..

The woman without a tongue ceases her spasm as the rest of her people finally gather, so I look towards the pyre still burning in the center and chuck her body into it….

The enormous spit roasting dozens of fish is knocked over as her carcass is immolated by the raging flames…. In order to speed up the process, I add a little of my own flame causing the entire thing to double in height and send waves of searing heat across the group…

“Now, Solomon come here.”

Looking towards the young man still kneeling, his face is remarkably different than those of his tribemates’...

I guess I was right… he really does hate them….

He looked as if he was enjoying every second of their torment…. Every moan, blood curdling scream, and tear soaked face seemed to spark something inside of him that he had previously been lacking….

His blood lust was growing stronger by the second as it spread across the ground, lapping at the edges of his range as if begging him to let it loose…. The tattoos across his body had also taken a life of their own as they shifted and changed constantly, all emitting a faint red light as they embraced the violence...

In one swift motion, the kneeling boy leapt to his feet before running to Mark as fast as possible. His previous look of admiration had expanded to pure adoration as he looked at Mark as if he was his god….

“What do you want to do to them Solomon?”

Staring deep into his eyes, Mark could see them flinker faintly before pure red surged out.... The light was so thick it began to seep from his eyes as bloody trails of fog slowly drifted down his face….

“I want them to suffer….”

Without breaking eye contact, Mark sentenced the roughly 50 people to death….

“Then go make them scream…”

For the remainder of that day and long into the night, the wailing of mothers, father, sons, and daughters continued. Their torment knew no bounds as each new agony brought a fresh wave of terror over the others… All the while, Mark stood to the side keeping the rest from escaping as Solomon had his fun.

Solomon seemed to pay each person special attention, while sometimes killing them immediately. Only those he deemed innocent got swift, but still violent deaths. The rest had their sins paid in full, at least according to Solomon’s own feelings.

Some he skewed, similar to how Mark had treated the other young child, before roasting them over the raging pyre…. Others he slowly filleted until he began to shave off layers of their bones, all the while being careful to not let them die…

Each seemed to have something specific done to them, as if Solomon had been thinking for years of what he wanted to do to them….

As the sun peeked over the horizon the next morning, the pyre finally winked out revealing an enormous pile of blackened bones… Blood coated the area while many spots had already hardened…. Were it not for Mark constantly emitting his own blood lust alongside Solomon’s, scavengers and flies would have swarmed the area….

Looking towards Solomon once again, Mark prepared to leave….

“Are you ready to go?”

The violence in his eyes had yet to actually abate, yet when he returned Mark’s gaze, not a shred of hostility was directed towards him….

“Yes.”