"Oh no!" Sylvia exclaimed, before making a quick hand seal.
A lightning seal appeared that she sent towards the black mass that was shooting towards Grey.
The seal expanded to cover it completely, but a single dot from the black mass managed to pass through the lightning seal before shooting straight to Grey's shoulder.
Grey and Void, who was on his shoulder, vanished before the black dot managed to get to him, appearing a few meters away, but their expressions changed when the dot appeared in front of them at the same time.
They all watched helplessly as the black dot touched Grey on his shoulder.
Grey was a little taken aback when he didn't feel anything after it touched him, and couldn't help but do a double-take at Sylvia, giving her a questioning look.
"Take off your shirt," Sylvia ordered while walking closer to him.
Grey did as instructed, and on the upper left of his shoulder was a small black skull tattoo.
"Shit! Grey, since when did you get a tattoo?" Void asked, stunned.
"What do you mean by that, we've literally been together almost all through, how would I get a tattoo without you knowing about it?" Grey asked with a confused expression.
He made an ice mirror behind him to help him see what was on his back. When he saw the black skull, he didn't need anyone to tell him it was a result of the black dot that hit him.
Luckily, the tattoo was only around five centimeters big.
"What's this?" He turned to Sylvia.
"It's a mark. This will notify any necromancer around that you're someone that has something extremely valuable. To create this mark, a necromancer will have to sacrifice their own life force, so others will know you have something that will be beneficial to them," Sylvia explained.
"Can't we remove it?" Grey asked.
"No, even someone more powerful than I am wouldn't be able to. There was an instance when the greatest genius in the Middle Continent was marked. He was from the strongest Faction there, even the Faction Leader who was standing at the top of the world was unable to remove. Twenty years later, the genius was killed and turned into one of the tools these bastards use to fight," Sylvia shook her head.
For the first time since Grey knew her, he could tell she was genuinely worried about him.
"Now what?" Grey asked.
He hated being in this kind of situation, this was exactly why he had to leave the Azure Continent, yet, it was happening all over again.
"You're lucky I was here, although I was unable to stop it, I managed to reduce the marking to the bare minimum. This means only necromancers around one or two kilometers away from you can sense you," Sylvia replied.
"Oh, thank you. But what I want to know is if there's any way to remove it completely," Grey appreciated her help before asking.
He was slightly annoyed, had Sylvia not tried to kill the necromancer, or even taken him along, none of this would've happened to him.
"None that I know of, unfortunately. Although I've heard other necromancers can remove this mark, none of them would be willing to help, so… you're stuck with it for now," Sylvia replied.
"Damn it! Again, I'll have to hide for my life again," Grey punched the tree that was by his side, destroying it to pieces.
Sylvia looked at him for a while, feeling a little sad about what happened to him.
"The only way for you to escape this is by growing stronger, growing strong enough that no one can threaten you," She said.
"Heh! You say it like it's easy. I tried breaking through to the Overlord Plane throughout the night, but I was unsuccessful. I did as instructed, but the result was the same," Grey said, still annoyed by what happened.
"Don't rush it, there's a reason you're unable to break through for now. Come on, we should head back," Sylvia advised.
"Fine," Grey sighed in dejection.
There was nothing left for him to do, and anger wouldn't solve the problem.
'I'll need to think of a way to create an array that can decrease the distance. This is the best thing I can do for now,' He thought.
A genius from the Middle Continent, not only from the Middle Continent but also from the strongest Faction was marked and killed twenty years after. If even that genius couldn't escape from his fate with the backing that he had, then how would someone like him who didn't have anyone survive?
He would be lucky if he even survived a month, much less twenty years.
"Don't worry too much, necromancers are hated all over, so they're always in hiding. The odds of meeting one is very low," Sylvia encouraged before they took flight, heading back to the city.
Grey didn't speak for the rest of the day, locking himself in the tavern. He brought out all the books he had on arrays, trying to find the best concealing array.
He also tried studying the mark, trying to find out how other necromancers would be able to sense it, so he would know the best way to block it.
Sylvia and Void took charge of finding out when the competition would take place, and also signing Grey up.
The next day.
Loire City was abuzz with the streets filled with people that were walking towards the northern part of the city. They were all heading to where the competition would be held.
In a tavern.
Knock! Knock!
"Grey, come out, we're going to be late," Sylvia knocked on Grey's door.
Click! Creak...
The door opened slightly and Grey peeked out.
When Sylvia saw his look, she took a step back unconsciously.
"Why are you looking like that?" She asked.
"Nothing, I've been staring at books since we got back yesterday, what do you expect?" Grey replied grumpily.
Dark circles could be seen below his eyes, and his hair was disarranged.
"Wash up and let's go. I'll be waiting for you in the hall," Sylvia pushed his head back into the room before shutting the door from the outside and walking away.
