Chapter 268: The tattoo

Vlad’s brows rose as he read the screen, a look of mild surprise on his face.

’The reward from Main Quest Part I gave me the ability to activate some draconic traits,’ Vlad murmured inwardly. ’Main Quest Part II might provide even more draconic traits. However...’

"Vlad, you don’t really need to join the Purging Order," Lucas’s voice pulled him out of his thoughts. He was standing before him with a warm look on his face, the look only a concerned parent would wear. "You can afford the protection of those Awakeners by completing the quests offered by the academy. Honestly, I don’t want you to join at all. If Professor Aldric hadn’t thought it was your right to learn about the organisation that was targeting you, I wouldn’t even have revealed the Order to you."

Vlad briefly considered Lucas’s statement. Both Lucas and Aldric were looking out for him in their own way.

Aldric wanted Vlad to join the Purging Order because he was being targeted by the Excidus, and the best defence was offence itself. If Vlad were to join the Purging Order, he would remain aware of their movements, prepare accordingly, and actually hunt them instead of becoming their prey.

As for Lucas, he wished Vlad to stay at the academy and focus on his studies and training. He was too young to become part of an organisation that would show him the dirty side of the world and actively demand that he fight and kill. Not to mention, his very life was connected to Seraphina, as he was not only her bloodbound but also her lover. Lucas didn’t want Seraphina to go through the pain of losing her loved ones again.

"If you become a member of the Purging Order, you would occasionally be sent to the Dark Continent as well," Lucas continued, laying out all the dangers before Vlad. "I don’t need to explain how dangerous that place is, since you have already experienced it firsthand. Neither Manaphones nor any detection artifact work there because of the jumbled mana frequency blanketing the Forest of Death. Once you are ambushed, you won’t be able to send a rescue signal either."

Vlad’s lips parted slightly. Now he understood why Seraphina hadn’t sent any rescue signal to Lucas when they were ambushed by Daemoth. It wasn’t that she hadn’t wanted to; she couldn’t.

Vlad pressed the bridge of his nose in deep thought, weighing the pros and cons of joining the Purging Order.

"The Excidus is being even more secretive this time," Lucas explained further, as if trying to scare Vlad out of joining. "They went as far as to create a monster farm close to the Genesis Artifact to avoid attracting the academy’s attention. They must have realised that Daemoth had died, yet they still didn’t send anyone to either hide Daemoth’s corpse or take away the monsters that were about to hatch from the chambers. Moreover, we don’t know what they might be aiming for by creating such monsters, or how many more monster farms there might be that we aren’t yet aware of."

’So that monster farm that cost the lives of thousands of people was just an experimental project for them, one they abandoned the moment Daemoth died,’ Vlad muttered inwardly, his muscles tensing.

Seeing Vlad even more troubled, Lucas thought his persuasion was working.

"We only learned that Daemoth was from the New Moon because of the tattoo on his back. We still don’t know whether only the New Moon is behind this or the entire organisation."

Vlad’s brows rose at Lucas’s words.

"Tattoo?" he asked, looking up.

Lucas nodded. "Members of each branch of the Excidus have a tattoo of the corresponding moon phase on some part of their body," Lucas revealed. "We found a tattoo of a dark moon on his back."

Vlad’s eyes widened. His pupils began to shake, and his hands trembled at his sides.

A distant memory surfaced in his mind, one he had buried so deep that he had never let it rise to the surface.

It was raining heavily that night.

Splash! Splash! Splash!

Footsteps echoed through the forest as Vlad ran as fast as his little limbs would allow. His lungs burned with every breath, yet he didn’t slow down. Beside him was another figure of the same height, their small hand locked tightly in his. The trees in the darkness seemed even more towering and intimidating than he remembered, their branches reaching out like claws.

"Vlad, please let me go..." the figure pleaded in a soft, trembling voice, struggling to keep up. "Or they will hurt you as well."

The words fell on deaf ears. Vlad only gripped the hand tighter and moved faster. His short dark hair clung to his drenched skin, and his crimson eyes behind the wet strands stayed fixed on the opening at the end of the forest.

’Just a little more,’ he told himself. ’Just a few more steps.’

Beyond that opening was the village. A safe place. Or at least, that was what he had believed.

The moment he was about to burst out of the treeline, two figures stepped out of the darkness and blocked his path. They were towering, casting dark shadows over him. Their faces were hidden in shadow, but Vlad could still see the smirks stretched across them as they looked down at the two drenched children, the way a hunter looks at cornered prey.

Vlad froze, a flicker of fear appearing in his crimson eyes. He took a trembling step back.

One of the figures slowly extended his hand towards them. Vlad pulled the figure beside him closer and held them even tighter, as if his small arms could shield them from anything.

The hand drew nearer.

Lightning crackled across the clouded sky, painting the world white for a single moment.

In that moment, Vlad saw it clearly. At the centre of the outstretched palm was a tattoo.

It was the tattoo of the Full Moon.