"!" [Adam]
He woke up with a jolt. Opening his eyes, all he could see was darkness.
("Something is on my face… Am I being blindfolded or is it an entire mask...?") [Adam]
He shifted his head slowly to feel cloth on his face.
("Yep, it's a mask.") [Adam]
Adam felt a sharp pain from the back of his head.
("Ngh! Why does my head hurt?") [Adam]
"Because you got comboed into last century." [Krino]
("Krino? I forgot that you were there.") [Adam]
"You always forget. Nevermind that, you've been kidnapped along with Felix." [Krino]
Adam remembered about the rumors Felix told him before he got knocked out.
("Oh… do you know where we are at least?") [Adam]
"Not at all. I couldn't see around you after they put a mask on your head." [Krino]
("Is that how it works…?") [Adam]
"I'm like the eyes on the back of your head. Anyways, you should try moving parts of your body slowly while pretending to be asleep. Try to get a look of your surroundings through touch." [Krino]
("Guess I'll close my eyes while I'm at it. It's not like I can see anyways.") [Adam]
He slowly moved his arms and felt something wrapped out his wrists with a small amount of rattling.
("...I'm going to assume those were handcuffs. First time that I've had them on.") [Adam]
"Better be." [Krino]
Next, Adam lifted his legs a bit and felt resistance along with more rattling.
("They even handcuffed my legs to the chair? I thought kidnappers only used rope!") [Adam]
"And why would you think that?" [Krino]
("I saw them on some shows.") [Adam]
"..." [Krino]
("Wait a minute. I'm so dumb, I should've just used Scout at the beginning.") [Adam]
Adam activated Scout, allowing him to see his surroundings.
("Holy crap!") [Adam]
He was sitting down in a chair next to Felix. Their surroundings seemed to be a warehouse with many people hiding behind objects and one person in front of them out in the open.
("We're surrounded…") [Adam]
"What did you see?" [Krino]
("I'm basically inside a giant room with a lot of people. Felix is still knocked out, and there's a guy who's mana limit is beyond mine.") [Adam]
"How did you know how much mana he has?" [Krino]
("Scout has that option.") [Adam]
"How convenient." [Krino]
("Uh oh.") [Adam]
"What now?" [Krino]
("Felix woke up.") [Adam]
Felix had awoken and was struggling to get free.
"Mmm! Mmmm!" [Felix]
("He has a gag in his mouth?!") [Adam]
He tries licking his lips, but something blocks his tongue.
("I also have a gag in my mouth!") [Adam]
"..." [Krino]
Footsteps approached them from behind, stopping right at their backs. Adam felt a tug from the top of his head and the mask came off. Adam looked around, but all he saw was a dark room and the warehouse door with a large amount of locks.
"Seems like you are awake." [???]
Before them stood a man wearing a white mask. He was dressed in only black clothing, making it hard to see him.
"Mm! Mmm!" [Felix]
"Ah, pardon me. I forgot to take those off." [Masked Man]
He snapped his fingers and the two men behind Adam and Felix untied their gags.
"Who are you? And why did you kidnap us?" [Felix]
"Straight to the questions I see… but before that, someone explain to me why there are two of them." [Masked Man]
The man behind Adam stepped up.
"The one with the blonde hair is the one you have been looking for. This one is his classmate." [Man]
"It seems you still don't understand my question." [Masked Man]
"Pardon?" [Man]
The masked man pulled out a gun and shot his underlings hand.
"Agh!" [Man]
He held his wrist, trying to ease the pain.
"I wanted to know why you brought someone I didn't order to capture!" [Masked Man]
"M-my deepest apologies… I thought he could be of use to you since he was capable of summoning a soul weapon." [Man]
"Oh? A soul weapon?" [Masked Man]
He looked at Adam with curiosity.
"May I see it?" [Masked Man]
"Why should I?" [Adam]
"Because if you don't prove your worth to me right now, I'll just put an end to your miserable life." [Masked Man]
Krino appeared in front of Adam before he even got to chant.
("Krino?! Why did you come out?!") [Adam]
"If you die, I also die. Don't think I'm doing this for you." [Krino]
The masked man began to clap.
"A soul weapon indeed! I'm sorry for testing you earlier. If you join my group and swear fealty to me, I'll let you go." [Masked Man]
"What about my friend over there? Will you let him go as well?" [Adam]
"Him? Unfortunately, that's a different matter." [Masked Man]
"What? Why? He has a level 8 ability, I'm sure he would be useful to you." [Adam]
The masked man chuckled for a bit.
"Hehehe… I agree that he does have his uses, but keeping him in that chair is his greatest use of all." [Masked Man]
"What do you mean?" [Adam]
"It's all to lure a certain title holder… The one that goes by: Reality Breaker." [Masked Man]
Adam and Felix were shocked, but they still needed a way out of the situation.
"Why do you want my older brother?" [Felix]
The masked man went silent for a moment.
"Why…? Why, you ask?" [Masked Man]
He brought his hand up to his face and took off his mask.
"Because of what he did to me! He took everything! My power! My organization! The land I ruled!" [Masked Man]
His face was half burned and the other half seemed to have rotten.
("Ugh… I really wish he didn't.��) [Adam]
"...Don't you have your organization here though?" [Adam]
The man put his mask back on before replying.
"...I built it all back. From the ground up. But that isn't enough for me… Since he took everything away from me, I'll take everything away from him." [Masked Man]
"It seems like you know what you're doing. But you made one mistake." [Felix]
The masked man looked at Felix, with his hand gripping his pistol and his finger twitching near the trigger. Felix was sweating nervously, unsure whether or not he made the right choice.
"My brother is on a trip right now, so he won't come here to rescue me." [Felix]
"Hehehehe… AHAHAHAHA!!!" [Masked Man]
"He'll have to come here if he doesn't want you dead!" [Masked Man]
He changed the magazine for his pistol and shot Felix in the arm.
"Urk! ...Wait, I'm not bleeding?" [Felix]
He looked down on his arm expecting to see a bloody hole, but only a scratch remained.
"Although I want to shoot you with real bullets, you are a valuable hostage. So, I switched my bullets to rubber ones." [Masked Man]
"Why would you…" [Felix]
"It also seems that you are wrong about Reality Breaker. He will come, no matter what. I doubt you realize this, but I've done my research." [Masked Man]
"What are you talking about?" [Felix]
"Reality Breaker is a cautious one. There is a chip embedded in you to track not only your location, but also your vitals. What would happen if I dropped it suddenly? Would he come here in a panic? I wonder what kind of face he would make if he arrived only to meet his little brother's corpse?" [Masked Man]
"You're sick." [Adam]
The masked man turned his attention back at Adam.
"What about you? Will you join me? Or would you like to be buried along with your friend here?" [Masked Man]
"How about neither? Scales of Libra!" [Adam]
He summoned blades down upon himself, shattering all of his handcuffs. Once he was free, he fired another volley at Felix, destroying his restraints.
"Now we're free, and we have the head of the snake in front of us." [Adam]
"If we finish you off, then there'll be no reason for your men to fight us." [Felix]
The masked man stood there, unsurprised.
"And? What will you do about it? I don't think the two of you are a match for me." [Masked Man]
He switched his clips to the real bullets and shot Adam in the thigh.
"Ow!" [Adam]
"Hm?" [Masked Man]
The bullet didn't leave a hole, but only a scratch.
("Thanks Krino. That defensive passive is some really strong stuff.") [Adam]
"No problem. In exchange, just get rid of this guy." [Krino]
("Already on it.") [Adam]
He took the initiative and ran at the masked man.
"Eviscerate." [Masked Man]
"Huh?" [Adam]
He lost control of one of his legs and fell over.
"AAAAHHH!" [Adam]
The scratch from before had opened into a large cut. It was practically oozing out blood. The masked man began to walk casually around Adam as he writhed in pain.
"Do you know the meaning of Eviscerate?" [Masked Man]
("Adam's down, I need to do something!") [Felix]
"Spatial Sla-" [Felix]
"Eviscerate." [Masked Man]
"AAAAGH!!!" [Felix]
The scratch on his arm had also stretched into a large cut. Blood ran down his arm and it went limp.
"It means disembowelment. Although my ability isn't forcing you to cut open your stomachs, I can open any injuries to make it seem like you cut yourself." [Masked Man]
Adam grabbed the masked man's leg and tried to slice it with Krino.
"Take thi- Gah!" [Adam]
He was shot in the back, stopping his movements.
"Eviscerate." [Masked Man]
"AAAGHH!!" [Adam]
"Stay put, I need to lower your friend's vitals to call Reality Breaker." [Masked Man]
He took a step, but Adam grabbed back onto his leg.
"You… Aren't going anywhere…" [Adam]
"How dare…!" [Masked Man]
He shot Adam's arm's but he didn't let go.
"Eviscerate!" [Masked Man]
"Ngh!" [Adam]
Bleeding from his thigh, arms, and back; Adam did not yield.
"No! Stop it Adam! Let go!" [Felix]
"Hehe… Not on my life..." [Adam]
"If that's what you want, then let's see how long you last! " [Masked Man]
He shot the back of Adam's legs and activated his ability.
"Eviscerate!" [Masked Man]
"Urgh!" [Adam]
Even with the new addition of wounds, Adam did not relent.
"You little… Let go!" [Masked Man]
He stomped on Adam's head multiple times until Adam lost his strength and finally… let go.
"Adam!" [Felix]
"Finally. What a tough bastard he is." [Masked Man]
The masked man straightened out his clothing and started walking towards Felix.
"Wha-?" [Masked Man]
Adam grabbed his leg once again.
"Will you give it a rest!" [Masked Man]
He kicked Adam furiously, making him lose his grip and rolling across the floor.
"Hmph! He's like a cockroach, maybe I should do one more for safety reasons." [Masked Man]
"Don't do it!" [Felix]
The masked man shot Adam on the chest for one last time.
"Eviscerate." [Masked Man]
A wound widened on Adam's chest, but he didn't make a sound.
"No… It can't be…" [Felix]
"Yes, it can. It's your turn now. Please do your job as the bait, and help me catch a big one." [Masked Man]
Felix's sorrow quickly turned into rage.
"I'LL KILL YOU!!! DOMAIN EXPANSION!!!" [Felix]
The entire building froze, leaving Felix the only one able to move.
("If I freeze the space in this area, Adam won't bleed out. For once, I wish Roy was here. If he was here, Adam could be healed in no time.") [Felix]
Felix dragged his feet past the masked man.
("I have to take Adam and escape. If I continually freeze space around him, I can preserve him.") [Felix]
He walked at a slow pace, but he was surely making his way there.
("Almost… there.") [Felix]
Suddenly, his legs gave out and he fell to his knees.
"Huh?" [Felix]
The Domain Expansion vanished, allowing everything to move once again.
"What? How?" [Felix]
"What's wrong? Weren't you going to kill me?" [Masked Man]
Felix looked down at his legs.
("I'm… bleeding?") [Felix]
"I told you, didn't I? I did my research. Not only on Reality Breaker, but on you as well. I know what you can do, so I damaged the back of your legs while you were knocked out." [Masked Man]
"But you were frozen! You shouldn't have been able to chant!" [Felix]
"Tsk Tsk. It seems you skipped the basics. Saying the name of a move is only to help you visualize it. You don't actually have to say it. As for how I visualized it, you can thank your friend over there." [Masked Man]
He pointed at Adam, making him an example of what his ability does.
"How dare you-!" [Felix]
He tried to lunge at the masked man, but only stumbled over.
"What's wrong? Can't STAND it?" [Masked Man]
As Felix was slowly crawling over to him, the masked man shot Felix's shoulders.
"Eviscerate." [Masked Man]
"Urgh!" [Felix]
"Oh? Looks like you've gotten used to the pain." [Masked Man]
"After what you did… Pain won't stop me from killing you!" [Felix]
"I see… that would be a problem for me. You see, I've already dropped your vitality enough now. Reality Breaker should be heading here as we speak, so i'm going to kill you just as he arrives." [Masked Man]
As soon as he said that, the large warehouse door opened while shattering all the locks.
"...Sebastian!" [Felix]
Sebastian scanned the room and vanished.
"What?!" [Masked Man]
Felix and Adam had disappeared and reappeared next to Sebastian.
"Well, Well. It seems the hero has arrived." [Unmasked Man]
"Rowen, I told you I would leave you alone if you didn't delve into bad things anymore, but it seems like you ignored my warning." [Sebastian]
"Before we start, aren't you going to heal those two?" [Rowen]
Sebastian stayed silent.
"Oh, I get it… Roy isn't with you right now, is he?" [Rowen]
"..." [Sebastian]
"Then it's quite simple really. All you have to do is abandon them. Or, you can just… Absorb their injuries, right?" [Rowen]
Sebastian hesitated for a moment, but he knelt down and put his hands on Adam and Felix.
"...Absorb." [Sebastian]
("Huh? I feel… better now.") [Adam]
He heard Sebastian's voice and felt relief.
"Sebastian! You came! Huh? S-Sebastian…?" [Adam]
He looked up in horror.
"Good to see that you two are okay…" [Sebastian]
His body was covered in wounds. They were all in the exact same place where Felix and Adam had them, with blood flowing down his body.
"Sebastian!!!" [Adam]