The Scrap Tamer - Chapter 128

Chapter 128: Resurrection
“Master?” Marcus muttered in disbelief.

The person standing in front of him was none other than his missing master. Like most Wraths, his master had light grey eyes and a head full of black hair.

His face held a warm smile as he looked at Marcus, “hello Marcus, long time no see.”

“Long time no see?” Marcus’ face reveal his anger “you just disappeared without a word and no one seems to remember you.”

“That was necessary, Marcus” Marcus’ master said “the longer I stayed, the more danger you would have been in.”

“Danger?” Marcus raised a brow in confusion “what danger?”

Marcus’ master let out a small sigh, his warm smile never fading. “The kind of danger you’re not ready to face yet.”

Marcus clenched his fists. “That doesn’t explain why everyone forgot about you. It’s like you never existed! Even the records of you in the Wrath family’s archives are gone!”

His master nodded, as if he had expected this reaction. “Because I made them forget.”

Marcus’ breath hitched. “What?”

“You think Caine is the strongest Wrath?” His master’s eyes darkened slightly. “He is strong, but there are things—people—far beyond even him.”

“What are you talking about master?” The more his master spoke, the more confused Marcus got.

“You’re not ready yet Marcus” his master replied “I promise to reveal everything when you are.”

“But for now, know this” his master took a small pause “you now carry the legacy of the berserker’s wrath.”

Marcus was even more confused but his master wasn’t done yet.

“You now hold a power not even Leon Wrath, the first awakened, had” he continued.

“But steady yourself, Marcus,” his master said, “this power will consume you if you let it. That is why you must learn to control it before it controls you.”

His eyes locked onto his master’s. “And how do I do that?”

His master smirked, then his expression darkened slightly. “You can start by accepting your role in what is to come.”

Marcus narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean?”

His master sighed. “Reid.”

Marcus stiffened. “What about him?”

“Reid holds a greater role in this world and the one below, more than you know and you will stand by his side as his shield, Marcus.”

“The wall that will stand between him and the horrors that await.”

Marcus clenched his fists. “Reid doesn’t need a shield. He’s strong.”

“He will be, even more so after his return” his master agreed. “But even the strongest warriors need someone to bear the weight of battle when they cannot. You will be that someone.”

Marcus wanted to argue, but something in his master’s voice—something absolute—made his words die in his throat.

“What do you mean by ‘when he returns’?’ was the only thing Marcus could ask but his master ignored the question.

“You now carry the Berserker’s Wrath, Marcus,” his master continued. “A power not even Leon Wrath, the first awakened, had fully awakened. It is a force meant to endure. To protect.”

“And when the time comes, you will either stand unbreakable…” His master took a dramatic pause.

“Or you will fall, and the whole world with you.”

Before Marcus could react, the void around him shattered, and he felt himself falling into an abyss of crimson light.

__________

Bang!

Clara fired another shot, successfully pushing the creature away from Marcus.

Seizing the opportunity, she signaled her ferret, which teleported to Marcus and instantly brought him back to her side.

“You know he’s dead right?” The creature turned towards her with an object in its hand.

Clara’s eyes widened when she spotted what the creature held. The object produced a rhythmic beat as crimson liquid dripped from its surface.

The object was a heart…. Marcus’ heart.

Clara’s breath caught in her throat. Her grip on her rifle tightened, but her hands trembled.

The creature let out a low, guttural chuckle, raising the heart slightly.

“Humans really are fragile,” it mused “Even the strong ones break apart so easily.”

“N…no” Clara muttered, pupils trembling and her breath came in short, uneven gasps. ‘No, this couldn’t be real.’

Clara’s eyes darted to his body. He lay motionless on the ground, chest unmoving, blood pooling beneath him.

Dead.

“No,” she whispered again, barely able to form the word.

The creature smirked, squeezing Marcus’ heart slightly, making fresh blood spill between its fingers.

“Oh? Still in denial?” It tilted its head mockingly. “Then by all means, keep hoping. It’s always amusing to see humans grasp at illusions.”

Clara gritted her teeth, gripping her rifle tighter. She had to move. Had to do something. But her body refused to respond.

That’s when they both felt it,

An earthquake like rumble spread through the ground. The rumble seemed to be originate from behind Clara, right below Marcus’ body.

The blood pooling beneath him rippled as the rumbling intensified.

“Hmm?” The creature curiously looked towards Marcus’ corpse “what’s happening?”

Suddenly, a red aura flared from Marcus’ body as it suddenly started twitching. He slowly stood up, the red aura him still flaring.

“Interesting” the creature said “I thought you humans were not supposed to function without this.”

He gestured to the heart as he tightly squeezed it.

Marcus’ eyes slowly opened to reveal his red scalera, as he completely stood straight.

The hole in his chest closed at a visible speed and markings of the head of a dragon appeared on the sealed spot.

An overwhelming pressure descended on both Clara and the creature as Marcus slowly stepped forward.

“That doesn’t belong to you” Marcus said in a cold tone as he referred to the heart in the creature’s hand “I’ll need that back.”

“Is that so?” The creature said with a smirk “why don’t you co—.”

Before the creature could complete whatever he was going to say, it was interrupted by the sudden pain from his arms.

He looked down at the hand that was holding Marcus’ heart only to find nothing there.

“That’s strange” it said “I could have sworn you didn’t move.”

It then turned to Marcus who still stood in the same position he previously was with the only difference being what he held in his hands.

He held the creature’s hand that still tightly clutched to his heart.

Marcus slowly tightened his grip around the creature’s severed hand, making the fingers snap open one by one.

His heart, still dripping with fresh blood, dropped into his palm.

The moment it touched his skin, a pulse of crimson energy erupted from Marcus, blasting away the dust and debris around him.

The berserker markings on his chest pulsed like a living thing, the dragon’s head glowing an ominous red.

Marcus brought the heart closer to his chest and the dragon markings opened its mouth and completely enveloped the heart in a red aura.

The heart completely disappeared, seemingly absorbed by the dragon on his chest.

“That’s neat” Marcus commented, not sounding as panicked as someone who just lost and regained his heart.

The creature’s hand replaced itself as the black goo replaced the missing hand.

The creature flexed its newly reformed fingers, staring at Marcus with something that almost resembled amusement.

“You humans are always so full of surprises,” it mused. “But this… this seems different from what I’ve seen.”

Marcus rolled his shoulders, as if shaking off stiffness.

The creature’s smirk widened “I assume you think you can win now just because you speed increased?”

“No, I feel…” Marcus paused, then smirked, a dangerous glint in his red eyes. “Like I could tear you apart with my bare hands.”

The creature let out a low chuckle. “Now that I’d love to see.”

Without another word, Marcus moved.

BOOM!

The ground shattered beneath him as he closed the distance in an instant, appearing right in front of the creature with his fist already swinging.

The creature barely had time to react before,

CRACK!

Its face imploded from the sheer force of Marcus’ punch. A shockwave rippled through its body as it was sent flying through the battlefield like a cannonball.

But Marcus wasn’t done.

The moment the creature hit the ground, Marcus was already there, grabbing its face and slamming it into the earth with enough force to crater the landscape.

BOOM!

The impact sent tremors through the battlefield, and the creature’s body convulsed as if struggling to maintain its form.

Marcus slammed the creature multiple times into the ground. The creature’s healing factor was struggling to keep up as Marcus continued relentlessly attacking.

For the first time since the battle started, the creature felt its death inching closer and closer.

“S-stop” it managed to stutter out, the fear evident in its voice.

“What was it you said before?” Marcus raised the battered creature to eye level “that’s right, I’ll make this as painful as possible.”

“P-please—w-wait!” it gasped, trying to wrench itself free, but Marcus’ grip grew tighter the more it struggled.

“No” Marcus said and continued with his attacks on the creature.

The screams of the creature echoed throughout the landscape.