Laying my eyes on Samuel, a feeling of familiarity that's beyond my comprehension tightened my chest. The air between us was absence only absence, truly a mystery to me—A gap of nothingness.
"Hahaha, what an amusing face you got there, sis."
""Shut up.""
The voice of Diana and I overlapped each other, bewildering Samuel with widened eyes. Then I glanced away, focusing my eyes on the impending danger before us. I went straight forward to the mysterious man, dashing with my sword on the side. And with my heightened senses, a tingly feeling came beneath me.
Below me, the same creature of what we fought earlier surfaced from the compositing rotten smell of the soil. I'm descending from the air, heading straight at the mouth of the Snake. I leisurely called Diana's name. "Diana." While simultaneously teleporting to the side of the Snake's head, cutting its head off in one swoop.
Upon landing on my feet, the perception of my surrounding completely changed; as I could sense everything around me. The mysterious man made a move by sprinting toward Clara; however, Clara anticipated it, and also made her move by deflecting every attack with her short sword, while simultaneously, counterattacking.
The mysterious man's blade arm opened in half, transforming into a scissor, and its other claw-like hand expanded and mutated, entrapping Clara inside a cage; the more bothering fact about this was the eyes moving abnormally. I made my way on the man, teleporting beside it. Looking at the man closely, gray long hair, and a face resembling an extremely aged, skinny old man with its noticeably pale red skin.
When I was about to thrust my sword, another arm emerged out of its cloak, holding the blade of my sword. I let go of the handle of my sword, and teleported myself in between Clara and the man, kicking the blade arm and cutting it with a summoned spear in my hand.
"Kraaaaaaaaaaaah—!"
Then suddenly, Adelle followed suit, plunging her katana directly to its neck, and she muttered words, resulting in an outburst of blood coming out of the blade of her katana. The man didn't react nor flinch. With Clara freeing herself out of the cage, she also plunged forward unto the chest of the man; however, the outcome was similar, as it got stopped by something underneath its cloak.
Sensing the upcoming danger ahead of us, I grabbed Clara and Adelle. From beneath my feet, I left a magic formation circle in the ground before teleporting us meters away from the impending danger that would befall us if we stayed there; leaving our weapons stuck on that man's body.
"Wait, what are you doing?" Adelle said.
"..."
I didn't respond to Adelle's questioning but rather focused all my attention on the man that we're fighting, as he's standing in the same place. Looking around, I saw bodies lying on the rotten soil of the forest with their lifeless eyes staring deep into the void.
"What are you doing, Claude? I left my katana in there."
"Shut your mouth for a sec—"
The air trembled, producing a devastating pressurized feeling inside our chest. Followed by a barrage of unknown web tangling attacks unfolding out of its cloak that's plowing through trees. I threw a spear on the coniferous tree and teleported on top of it the spear with Clara and Adelle in my arms.
"What was that...?"
Adelle said with her unfaltering eyes, gazing upon the horrendous, bloodshed scenery of the people getting impaled by it while fighting off monsters. The people who are just with us are getting killed one by one. Amidst that, the voice of a familiar man was heard by us. "Whoa, what a scenery. Aren't I right, sis?"
"Stop calling me sis," I said.
"Samuel? And, sis?" Adelle asked.
Ignoring him, I jumped down the tree and dashed forward, evading all the attacks that are incoming in front of me. As I got closer to my target, two spears materialized in my palm to fend off attacks and throwing them directly at the red-skinned man. I'm carefully putting up my distance as I teleport around it, throwing my spears.
I invoked the magic circle that I left earlier.
[Condemnation Chain]
Piercing it with chains, penetrating through its body. He broke it off, and lunged at me, giving me a devastating blow to the rear side of my abdomen. "Aaaah! Aaaargh! Ugh!" I crashed on a tree. Once I saw, the man in the air with his arms flailing around. With my head in disarray, I'm having a hard time grasping my surrounding which resulted in me getting stuck. I hardened my body to receive the blow. But, out of nowhere, everything became frozen as if time stopped revolving.
"Haah... Why are you so ignorant, sis? Why can't you recognize your own sister?"
I look behind me and saw Samuel walking over unhurriedly.
"Auuugh... Samuel. I don't know what's your problem, but cut it out. Did you do this?"
He held his chin, pondering on his thoughts, before changing his appearance into a transcending beauty that could even be comparable to Diana. She has pale sapphire long hair below her waist, azurite eyes, unblemished skin, and short pointy ears, wearing a white dress with a crystal stone on the top of her ribbon on her neck; also a noticeable two black horns sticking out of her head. "Perhaps? I mean, an item that can freeze time, who's absurd enough to create such a thing? Or was it really freezing time? However, there's a more probing matter right now. Come out now, my dear sister, Nemesis."
"Huh? Who are you calling Nemesis?"
"I'm not talking to you, mortal. Or should I call you brother-in-law?"
"Alicia..." Above me, an arm embraces me with a tone of reluctance.
"The extent of your naiveness baffles me, Nemesis. I'm disappointed in you, Nemesis. You're one of the brightest among us, but you're still naïve. I was planning to help you to see if you can fully use your power, but you disappointed me. Haah... I guess only time could tell how patient you can be with your so-called 'love'."
"I'm just being true to myself, Alicia."
"You're not. You're only fulfilling the void in mother's heart; her wishes and regrets. You're not fulfilling yourself, but our mother's. Neme—What name did the boy name you? It's disrespectful to call your old name that holds no significant meaning behind it, other than fulfilling the longing of us siblings having a name."
"Diana..."
"Diana, my own sister that shares the same blood as mine, I only wish you the best for what's about to come into your life. Whether your decision would be fruitful in the future, only time can tell. You're probably confused about why I'm in this world."
"You guys just disappeared in Avalon... I've always known the extent of your greed and hunger. However, the sadness in your eyes results from your foolish choices. And as your sister, Alicia, I'm worried about you... Fate is the outcome of one's choices."
"Yeah-yeah, I know. I truly understand what you're saying. Nevertheless, I'm happy with what I'm doing now. Such a thing you said about sadness is nonsense. I'm living the life without being shackled to someone, fully embracing the freedom of what I have."
"Alicia..." Diana went in a long silence. In her stead, I asked a question. "If I may intrude, but could you at least fill me with some information or context about what you guys are talking about or your relationship with each other?"
"My deep apologies for what I already mentioned. I'm your spirit goddess' sister, Alicia. She may have told you about how we are nameless. We called each other names when we're little as a way to fill the void in our hearts, by naming ourselves secretly only to us sisters. Claude. Interestingly, the woman in your neck was the one who initiated that to us." Alicia pointed her finger at Diana above me.
'Sister?! I thought they're all back in Avalon or something.'
"Okay... Not really the answer that I was hoping for, but it's good enough."
"Alicia. Can't you tell me, why you guys disappeared?"
Afterward, Alicia and Diana went in a long silence. Because of that, the two spears in my hand dispersed, casually walking toward the man to get the sword and regressing back to my usual self, to avoid the backlash of stressing my body out. But Alicia stopped me. "I don't recommend you doing that. Since I only met you two unexpectedly while getting something. I'll get it and I will leave the two of you alone. For your question, my dear sister Alicia, as you may have known our greed for power is the cause of it."
Alicia went ahead of us as the surrounding time continued and came back to normal. Alicia was in front of the man and plunged her hand into his chest. Causing the man to scream in agony. "Aaaaaaaaaaaah—!" Alicia pulls her hands out while holding a live beating black heart, and placing it in a container; the sinister ambiance from the heart makes my blood boil, having a deep urge to destroy it.
Alicia looks at me. "I advise you to get further away as possible along with your women if you don't want to disappear with him when he explodes."
I snapped out of my daze and exclaimed. "Wait, what?!"
"Oh, and also, go back as soon as possible and pack your things up before getting caught in something after this. I apologize, I don't have any welcoming gift for you other than this, my dear sister. We shall see each other soon, farewell. Live in prosperity both of you."
"Alicia... Take care."
"I'm happy to see you're still caring as ever. Thank you." Alicia smiled, bidding her farewell to us before disappearing completely into one's naked eyes. While at it, Diana faded away while wearing a sad expression.
(Just do what she said...)
I will ask her questions later, as I need to get back now if what she said was true. I promptly head my way out, leaving everything behind with only one goal in mind—'To survive.'. I teleported back to Adelle and Clara, which surprised them.
"We need to get out as soon as possible."
"Wait, what why? And what happened? I just blinked and everything seems odd for some reason."
"I agree with her, young master Claude."
"Even if you ask me, I don't also have any idea what's happening, but we need to get out of here right now!"
The decomposing, rotten smell from the soil lingers in the air. Moreover, the mushy mist disappeared. Looking back, I saw the rapidly liquefying scene of the red-skinned man descending on the floor, the trees, as well as the other people who are tangled within him—Everything around him. It alarmed Clara, Adelle, and me. Observing them, Adelle stopped asking questions. I teleported ourselves out of there with everything I can far away as possible.
"Wait, I'm getting dizzy. I'll just run." Adelle said, vomiting on a near tree.
"Me too..." Clara agreed.
"You guys sure? I still have some gas left in my body, and we're pretty near the town to pack things up..."
Adelle wipes out the saliva around her mouth and looks at me. "Care to explain?"
"I'm not sure. But that's the warning that I got from an unknown entity that lingered in the forest..." I lied through my teeth.
"The guardian spirit of the forest?"
"I guess so, and that spirit warned me to pack our things up and go back home because of the foreseeable future that will happen in the town." The two seemed to believe what I just said and nodded in agreement.
"If you say so... However, how lucky are you to be called upon by a guardian spirit?"
I shrug my shoulders. "Extremely, I guess."
We all went back running back to town. At first, I thought Adelle would hesitate to leave, as the main heroine; I expected her to be a stubborn one who would save everyone, but that expectation got shattered. She also values her life and is decisive enough to make a decision for herself than others. Or was it?