The Scrap Tamer - Chapter 125

Chapter 125: The Wrath Family
Endless darkness,

This was what faced Marcus when he opened his eyes next. The darkness stretched all around him with nothing else in sight, not a single source of light.

“I guess I died huh?” He muttered in acceptance.

He didn’t want to die yet. Worst of all, he didn’t want to leave a teammate to face that monster alone. And yet, for some reason, he felt not a bit of emotion, no anger, no regret—only acceptance.

“So what now?” He muttered, “Is God going to appear to judge me?”

If a god was coming to judge him, he sure was taking his sweet time because Marcus floated in the void for what felt like days, maybe weeks.

Nothing showed up in the void he floated in, no God, no devil, not even a gateway to another world, just endless darkness.

But that’s when he saw it in the distance, a ball of red light that seemed to be growing bigger by the second…. no, it was more accurate to say that it was getting closer.

Before Marcus could react, the ball of of light slammed into him, causing him more pain than he’s ever experienced.

A pain even worse than when that parasite passed a claw through him and it kept growing by the second.

He felt as if every cell in his body was being melted in flames. The pain was so intense, it stole Marcus’ ability to scream.

The pain continued for what seemed like an eternity before Marcus finally blacked out again, his status whether alive or dead, again, was unknown.

But the red light continued merging with his very being, mutating his soul power and possibly even his body but all this was unseen and unknown by Marcus.

____________

“Another weakling” the voice snapped Marcus out of his thoughts.

The owner was a man built like a fortress. He stood at a height that caused little Marcus to strain his neck just to look at his face.

‘Wait, little?’

Marcus looked down at his arms only to find that they were smaller than he remembered, he proceeded to look further down, at the floor, only to notice that he was just a couple of feet tall.

He seemed to be approximately 5 feet which was a lot shorter than his previous height.

‘Didn’t I die…twice?’ he thought in confusion ‘What’s happening here?’

Before that question could be answered, he felt the world flipped upside down, literally.

Everything happened so fast that he had no chance to react before he crashed face-first into the concrete, causing cracks to appear on it.

That’s when he finally registered the force being applied at the back of his head almost as if someone was holding him down, which was exactly the case.

“Show some respect while standing before the family head you Hale vermin” a gruff, angry voice came from behind him.

That voice sounded extremely familiar, but it was impossible, it had to be right? After all, the owner of it was someone Marcus watched die.

“So he’s from the Hale line” the first speaker spoke up again “No wonder he’s so weak.”

That’s when it all clicked, Marcus remembered exactly what or more accurately, when this was.

It wasn’t just a sense of deja vu, this was a memory being replayed right in front of him but for some reason, he could actively feel and move in this ‘memory’.

‘Is this my life flashing before my eyes?’ he thought to himself ‘Isn’t that supposed to happen just before I die, not after?’

He raised his bleeding face despite it being pressed into the concrete by the man who stood behind him and looked at the giant of a man before him.

The man had a head full of neatly cut white hair coupled with a white beard. Just like Marcus, he also possessed light grey eyes.

But his most eye-catching feature was, of course, his height and massive build.

His build was similar to someone who was addicted to the gym, coupled with his height, he looked extremely intimidating.

This was the head of the Wrath family, Caine Wrath. It was the family that Marcus belonged to….well, a branch of the Wrath family anyway.

The Hale family, the branch known as the weakest of the Wrath family. It was a surprise that they hadn’t been exiled due to how weak their offspring were compared to the other branches.

The Wrath family was one of five grateful families, with a history that dated from before the Eruption.

According to the family history books, the Wrath family was a family forged from wars dating from ancient times.

And this man standing before Marcus was one of the strongest family heads to ever exist.

Today was a day when each branch of the Wrath family was supposed to send their 10-year-olds to meet the family head for the first time and see the benefits of impressing him.

And the man holding Marcus down? He was their supposed guide and the leader family’s main battle squad.

Even while being held down, Marcus kept his eyes locked with Caine’s which caused the old man to raise a brow.

Just a moment ago, this child was afraid to even look at his boots but all of a sudden, his entire demeanor had changed completely.

And his gaze? It held determination which caused the family head to mentally nod but showed no outside emotion.

“Let the boy go, Matthias” Caine ordered and the force being applied on Marcus’ head was quickly released.

“What is your name, boy?” Caine asked, surprising both Matthias and the ten other kids from the branch families watching the spectacle.

“Marcus Hale” Marcus replied as he slowly stood up, he felt a bit disoriented but he caught himself before he could fall, gaining another mental nod of approval from the family head.

“Very well Marcus Hale, from this moment on, you will be part of the Wrath family’s training regime” Caine dropped another bomb causing Matthias’ jaw to almost drop to the floor.

“But Master, he is the skinniest of—” The temperature instantly dropped as soon as he started causing him to swallow his next words.

The family head’s eyes were locked on him like a predator’s on its prey. The message was clear,

“Never question the family head’s decisions.”

Even with all the surprise, Marcus was a lot more surprised than the others, after all, this was only supposed to be a memory.

So why was something that he didn’t remember just happen? From what he could remember, he and the family head never spoke much less being invited to be part of the main family’s training.

Heck, at that time, he never stood out, except maybe for the fact that he was the smallest in the group even though they were all roughly the same age.

Regardless, none of what was happening right now was according to Marcus’ memory, not even the forced bow happened.

‘Did I just go back in time?’ he thought, and although it sounded ridiculous, that was the only plausible explanation right now.

“I thank you for the opportunity, Master” Marcus took a deep bow “I won’t let you down.”

Whatever this was, a dream, memory or even time travel, he would finally get to fulfill his wish of seeing it from up close.

“You may rise” Caine ordered and Marcus immediately obliged.

“Matthias, you’ll arrange Marcus’ integration into the family’s training.

“Yes master” Matthias nodded.

This was a decision he didn’t agree with but he was nothing but another member of a different branch that got lucky enough to lead a lightly important role in the family.

Canine nodded and walked back to the limousine he dropped from before all this started and it immediately drove into the main mansion.

He wasn’t supposed to meet them this far out, not until after the tour anyway, but they were lucky enough to meet him this early in the tour because he was just arriving.

“For now, let’s resume the tour” Matthias changed the topic and led the children into the Wrath family compound.

The first thing noticed was the massive gates that blocked the entrance that led to the Wrath family mansion.

The gates could successfully intimidate anyone with their massive steel structure alongside some engravings of figures locked in battle.

The gates were already opened since Caine’s car just entered so Matthias, followed by the kids walked through and onto the path before them.

Understandably, most of the kids had their jaws dropping at the sheer grandeur of the place. This place was on a whole different level than what they were used to.

From the path they walked on to the flowers surrounding them—even the grand fountain standing before the mansion—every detail was meticulously crafted. The sheer scale and elegance of it all were nothing short of impressive.

From this distance, Marcus watched as the family head got out of the car and walked into the mansion, while he continued contemplating his situation.

“Let’s visit the training hall grounds,” Matthias said.

The training grounds were the most important part of the tour, so the joy on the faces of the kids when it was mentioned, made sense.

The training field was in the opposite direction from the main mansion and even if it wasn’t, kids from the branch families would never be allowed into the mansion except if their strength was enough to impress the family head.

The walk to the training grounds filled Marcus with anticipation,

‘I can finally see it close this time,’

These were the only words that filled his thoughts. His excitement kept rising with each step he took to the training hall.

Until, finally, they arrived. The first thing they noticed was the amount of people sparring with fists.

No fancy weapons, just fists. The collective force of their punches sent ripples across the place.

This was the regime Caine recommended Marcus to, this was the main family’s main combat squad.

But even with all the impressive punches and kicks being exchanged, Marcus’ eyes were fixed on something else, in a whole other direction.

That’s when he spotted it, the main reason he was so hyped to join the main family. The family’s secret technique,

“Berserker’s Wrath”