Vi reloaded her gun and turned towards Gabriel.
"You're the last one. Where do you want it?"
This was not good. Gabriel had no idea what Pepon wanted to say by tattooing her Sigil on her chest and his time to figure out was running low.
He needed a way to buy more time.
"Ah, well…" Gabriel scratched the back of his head. "I have trypanophobia, so, uh…"
"Trypano-what?" Vi lowered her gun.
"Ah, well, it's a fear of needles, you see. I had it since my childhood!"
"You're joking, right? Get in this chair or get out, but stop wasting my time."
"H-Hold on! I just need some time to prepare, that's all!"
For the first time, Vi's eyes showed emotion. It was frustration and not by a small amount.
Fortunately for Gabriel, that did not matter. When he saw his reflection Vi's eyes, he finally understood Pepon's message.
He knew what he had to do and he was ready to do it.
He clenched his fists…
Took a deep breath…
Approached the tattoo bed…
And pulled down his pants!
"I want that tattoo on my butt."
"What?!" The room cried out in unison.
Vi was still unfazed after hearing his request. It was not the first time a client asked that from her and she knew it won't be the last time.
Pepon chuckled. She was satisfied with Gabriel's cleverness.
"Oh, so sad!" She walked out of the room. "I was getting so excited to see what kind of Sigil he'd get! Well, maybe next time!"
The boys were quick to follow her out of the room. None of them wanted to see Gabriel's ass, even if that would've revealed them his Sigil.
Suzuki tried to bargain with him, telling him that this is a bad idea and he will regret it, but Naomi was quick to pull him out of the room.
"It's not worth seeing his butt! Come out!"
The door shut. Only Gabriel and Vi remained.
"Alright, lie down on the bed." Said the latter while adjusting the chair.
"That won't be needed." Gabriel pulled up his pants. "You can do it on my forearm."
Vi was a bit surprised, but she didn't think much about it. After all, it wasn't rare for a client to change his mind just before the operation would have begun.
She put the needle onto Gabriel's skin and would have started painting his tattoo, if it were not for the strange sensation she felt.
Immediately, she pulled away her gun and distanced herself from Gabriel.
"W-What?! No… No way!"
Gabriel looked at her with wide eyes. He didn't do anything, but the girl was as horrified as if she had just met a ghost.
"What's wrong?"
"N-Nothing!" Vi took a deep breath to calm herself. "It's just… I haven't seen something like this since my last reincarnation. You're truly special, you know? Not in the way you might think, but you're a one in a million. Maybe even more."
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Gabriel was still unsure what she was talking about. Thankfully, when Vi sat down, the depression disappeared from her voice and she was willing to explain Gabriel's situation.
"As I have already said before, I'm a reincarnated soul. I don't retain my past memories and I'm not exactly the same person as I was before. That being said, I'm not the girl you're talking to. She is awake as we speak and she says these words consciously, by her free will."
"Then who are you?"
Vi turned around and pulled down her clothes. There was a large, complicated Sigil that covered her entire back and glowed with blue light.
"This is me." Said Vi or whoever was behind her words. "I am what people call a Master Sigil. My quality is on par if not better than the sigils of the heroes' guild's top-ranked heroes. I am able to give others Sigils, though at the price of not being able to evolve my own."
"Why are you telling me all of this?"
"You… You have two Sigils! Though one is a common Warrior Sigil, the other is… a Demon Sigil?!"
Vi was totally bewildered by this revelation. Gabriel on the other hand had a bright smile on his face as he felt a wave of relief refresh his soul. There was a chance he could regain his powers, maybe even more than what he had before.
However, what he failed to realize was the reason Vi was telling him about this. If this was such a good thing, she would have congratulated him, just like she congratulated Stevie.
There was more to it, and it wasn't good.
"While racial Sigils sound good in theory, almost all of them are useless. In your case, it's even worse. It is just downright terrible."
"But aren't racial Sigils rare?"
"Yes, they are very rare. However, what you can achieve with a racial Sigil is something you can easily get from a fifth evolution Sigil."
"That's… At least I have two sigils! You said that we can evolve a Sigil until level one hundred. Doesn't this mean I can evolve to level two hundred, given that I have two Sigils?"
"The truth is, sadly, the exact opposite of that. The level cap is based on your soul, which means you can evolve your Sigils to half of your fullest potential, thus the two halves filling up the cap. Much worse, you'll evolve much later than others, given that your accumulated experience goes to both Sigils and it's not a fifty-fifty split. Best case scenario, it's still worse than forty percent."
"B-But…"
Gabriel was utterly defeated. Whatever little hope he felt had disappeared as he heard the bad news. Even if he was to work his butt off and bring his Sigils to the max level, he would still be half as effective as other heroes, if not even worse.
Vi patted him on the back. She couldn't imagine the pain he must have gone through. She knew how big of a dream it was for some to become heroes and to have it crushed by something inevitable was devastating for the soul.
"I will ask the management to pay you back." Vi patted his back. "I know I said no refunds, but––"
"Don't do it."
For a moment, Vi thought that she had misheard him. But as Gabriel looked at her, she realized that she was wrong.
His eyes burnt with the golden flame of determination. It was a fire that spoke more than a thousand words.
"I want the Warrior Sigil on both of my forearms. I want the Demon Sigil where my heart is." Gabriel said and pulled up his sleeves.
Vi was shocked. She didn't know what to say, so she asked the question that made her so speechless.
"Why? Did you not hear me? I said you will never become as strong as other heroes! You will always be at half of your maximum potential!"
"I don't care." Gabriel looked her in the eye. "If others will always be better than me, then good for them. I'm not interested in measuring my skills with others. At the end of the day, what I want is to become the best version of myself. That's all that matters to me."
Vi was left without words.
She grabbed her ink gun and began tattooing Gabriel as requested. She put two squares on both forearms and a special Sigil above his heart. It was an upside-down triangle with a horizontal line above.
When they were done, Gabriel bowed to show his respect and thanked Vi for everything. Then, he headed to go back to his companions, but Vi stopped him before he left the room.
"Wait! Just one last question. Why did you want the Demon Sigil to be above your heart?"
Gabriel looked back at her. He thought about it, then left the room without saying a word.
Vi lingered around for a while, watching Gabriel as he left the backstage area and went back to a bunch of laughing companions. She felt guilty as she observed Gabriel's smile.
"I should have told him about it, but he looked different. There was something about him that filled me with hope. Maybe, just maybe... He can break the curse..."