Mars roared he was truly enraged this time, not only had he been killed, he had been killed by a mare mortal the humiliation he felt fulled his rage, before anyone had a chance to react he activated [Instant movement] and appeared in front of the redheaded beauty mid air and slashed at her face with his claws

"AAAGGGHHH!!!"

4 deep cuts appeared on the now not-so-beautiful-redhead's face as Mars landed down on the ground again and tore the bandages off his face before he yelled

"that's what you get!"

blood streamed down the now disfigured redhead's face, she covered her face with her trembling hands before she screamed

"you b.a.s.t.a.r.d!"

launching several wind blades after Mars the redhead expected to kill him within a few spells but Mars just stood there and when the spells. .h.i.t him they seemed to get absorbed

"you like that don't you b.i.t.c.h, next will be your arms!"

acting as soon as he said it Mars disappeared from view before he appeared and slashed at the redhead's arms leaving 4 deep cuts on each of her arms before gravity took him and he landed on the ground again just another howl of pain was released by the disfigured redhead, at this point she stopped cursing Mars and just tired everything she could to kill him, launching spell after spell at him, but alas all the spell were just harmlessly absorbed.

"next will be your legs!"

the redhead flinched before suddenly she turned and tried to escape by flying away

"oh no you don't!"

Mars instantly appeared in the air besides her and grabbed the redhead, holding on to her Mars activated his [Energy: drain hands] and drained her of all her mana making her flying spell cancel as both of them suddenly fell towards the ground, Mars landed on his feet but the redhead landed on her back and coughed up fresh blood, Mars quickly grabbed her by the neck and lifted her into the air and stared into her face with a slight frown on his face before he squeezed and a pop sounded out before he threw aside the corpse and summoned a small flame that burned it into ashes in mere seconds

"...and that's that"

having vented his anger Mars calmed down and turned back and found a very stunned Mary that looked at him in wonder

"you're... alive? but how?"

Mars gave a sigh and walked over to his bag and pulled out a fresh set of bandages

"help me put theses bandages on and I'll tell you"

"o-okay"

Mars sat down on the ground and Mary walked up behind him and took the bandages and began covering his face with them, a few minutes of silence later and Mars' face was covered again and he stood up and turned to Mary

"let's help the survivors"

Mary gave a nod and followed after Mars as he healed the luck survivors which mounted to about 15 that was somewhat combat ready, the rest about 20 was maimed and was unable to fight but very happy to be alive, n.o.body asked Mars what had happened and silently began to gather the dead and bury them...

Late at night Mars sat near a small campfire with Mary sitting next to him, both of them were quiet and looked into the fire, suddenly Mars started talking

"do you know what a living G.o.d is?"

Mary looked over at Mars and studied his face that was covered by bandages and shook her head

"no I don't"

"I see... well without going into too many details that what I am and I don't die if someone kills me, I just get angry"

"how many times have you died?"

"hmm... this is the 5th time I think? anyways I don't bother to remember"

"I see... why do you cover your face? your not disfigured, so why cover up?"

Mars gave a sigh

"truth is there's a bounty on my head, a rather big on at that"

"what did you do?"

"I saved a person from a jail cell, a person that was going to die by starvation and that got me a 300.000 cel bounty"

"...really? who did you save?"

"the flaming rose general"

"....I thought she was dead already"

"yeah so did I, but now she lives in an elven city state south of the kingdom Destra"

"....I see"

both Mary and Mars fell silent as the night grew longer...

It was calm after the redhead attacked, unknown to Mars and the mercenaries the bandit group that had been attacking them dissolved due to internal conflict after their 'big sis' died at Mars' hand and now they were just a few hours away from the capital of the empire: Central, Central was not only the biggest city in the entire empire it was also the "center" of the empire, this meant that all orders and thinking found place in Central it was like the brain of the empire and at the center of that brain stood a man named Shouta Yamato or in other words the emperor

'question is how to get within swords reach of him....'

"mister Shady what are you thinking about?"

"oh nothing just that those walls are the highest I have ever seen"

Mars pointed at the walls in the distance, saying they were the highest he had ever seen was no lie, at first glance they were about 55 meters tall

"hmm... I see"

Mary didn't seem entirely convinced, she was after sharp at the oddest points

"have you been Central before Mary?"

"hmm..? yeah I have"

"sweet can you show me the way to the temple then?"

"sure, but after we get our pay"

"of course"

the process of getting into Central was surprisingly swift and soon the convoy pa.s.sed though one of the many gates and steeped into the streets of Central, the group of mercenaries each got a piece of paper from the convoy leader and headed towards the guild to get paid Mars of cause followed after them and soon the group arrived at the local guild, it of course was way bigger then what Mars was used to but he quickly got over it and lined up and waited for his turn to talk with the receptionist, soon it was his turn

"what can I help you with?"

Mars handed over the slip of paper

"I completed a request"

"just one moment..."

the receptionist left the counter and walked into the backroom

'that reminds me I forgot to get my reward in Forset....'

soon the receptionist returned carrying a small brown leather sack witch she put on the counter

"please count the reward"

"no need"

Mars directly took the leather sack turned and walked over to the entrance of the guild were he stood and waited for Mary to show up which she soon did

"hey"

"hey mister Shady, you ready to head to the temple?"

"sure let's go"

Mars followed after Mary into the bustling city, the steers was filled with people, mostly humans but also beastmen and some demons

"give me your hand your hand...."

Mary whispered something to Mars which even with his super hearing barely heard

"hmm..? what's up?"

Mary's face lit up and for sometime she just stood there and looked at his feet before finally she mustered courage to repeat herself in a higher volume

"give me your hand.... so you don't get lost..."

Mars gave a grin under the bandages it seemed like the poorly made excuse was an attempt by Mary to change their current relations.h.i.+p

"sure"

Mars grabbed Mary's hand which resulted in her face getting even more red as she mumbled

"there... now won't get lost..."

Mary let the way to the temple which was about 15 minutes away on foot, Mary stopped outside the temple and seemed reluctant to head inside

"let's go in"

"....okay"

Mars half dragged Mary into the temple and walked up to a counter were a priest like person stood behind, the priest gave a frown when he saw Mars, but Mars ignored this and pulled out his necklace of the apostle

"I would like a prayer room, the higher quality the better"

the priest's frown eased a little when he saw the necklace of the apostle but he still kept a dignified expression

"certainly"

the priest lead the way deep into the temple, Mary remained silent and let Mars drag her behind him, soon they reached a door were the priest gestured to before he turned and left

"let's go inside"

"....okay, I have to check my job anyways"

Mars opened the door and walked into the prayer room and gave a nod, it certainly was the most impressive prayer room he had ever been to, Mars turned to Mary and said

"ladies first"

"okay, thanks Mars"

Mary walked up to the crystal orb and put her hand on it before she gently closed her eyes as a soft hum spread over the room, about a minute later she opened her eyes again and turned to Mars with a sweet smile on her face

"I'm done"

"okay then let's have you meet her"

Mary tilted her head slightly and asked

"her?"

Mars gave a grin

"Info"