Broken

Chapter 35

Following the six massive men from the cafeteria, I waved a goodbye to my brother. Both he and Alex waved back, looking quite comfortable around one another. I supposed a tense, and life threatening experience, might do that to people. Still, I knew my brother well enough to know that he was starting to get attached.

I eyed the young mage. I'd been trying to keep an eye on him since he and Yejun returned from the Tower, and he seemed like a studious and stern young man; but one with a good heart as well. I just wasn't sure if it had even crossed his mind that Yejun might have started to see him as potentially something more than just a new 'friend'. 

I wasn't the type to interfere in other people's business, but I was also know to (perhaps) be a little over-protective of my little brother. I'd leave them be for now, but if Alex carelessly broke Yejun's heart...well then, the Chaos guild's main squad might find themselves sans their only mage...

When my staring started to, visibly, make the mage uncomfortable, I adverted my gaze. Instead I noticed that he and my brother were not the only people watching us. The cafeteria was about as full as it got here in the mornings, and ninety percent of the guild members were staring, and whispering behind their hands. 

Partially it could have been due to my presence. I mean, I was a fresh newbie to the guild who was hard-launched directly to the main squad over the heads of many other qualified people. But I was also a Depraved, which might have made it more plausible for a sudden premotion over others; it also made more of a source of gossip. Especially since the media was still blasting my name over the news every damn chance they got.

I really hoped some other interesting thing came up soon, giving the vultures something else to hover around.

However, I was pretty sure that the main cause of the staring was the men I was with themselves. superficially, based on looks alone, any one of these men were guaranteed to draw eyes; put them in a group, it was like a freaking man-parade. Add to the fact that they were this guild's main force, including their captain and vice captain... well, it was no wonder people were looking and whispering.

To say I was relieved once we left the cafeteria was putting it lightly.

Carson lead us all down to the training rooms. It was a place that I had become quite intimate with at this point, given the amount of time I spent with the twins since becoming a Depraved and living under the same roof as them. I had gone from spending as much time as I could manage within instances- hoping to make enough for my brother and I to live off of- to punching the crap out of battle maniacs down in the training rooms of a mysteriously well-off starter guild...

I followed the men to the third metal door in the long hall, and waited for Carson to open it. The second he did, I felt a rush of mana. Intrigued, I waited for the meat walls to file into the room so I could see what it was that was happening in this room. 

As strong as the Chaos members were, not many of them used too many mana-heavy skills. I was sure that Alex would, as a mage, but I had yet to have the opportunity to see him show off. The twins used their beast shaped cowlings, and Aiden- of course- used magic to heal, but other than that the men seemed to rely mainly on raw power skills. So, to see someone using mana to the point that I could feel waves of it coming from the room would be a rare treat. The others had mentioned that this Kuro person was a magic swordsmen, right?

As soon and the mountain that was Argus had moved from the door, I finally got a clear look at who Kuro was, and what it was he did here at Chaos.

Standing between Greyson and Eric, I watched a form coated in shadow esentially bounce around the training room. It was like a dark specter had found itself trapped in this concrete room and learned it couldn't slip through the walls. The black and purple shadow went from wall, to floor, to another wall, as if it were ricocheting through trees- ninja style.