I have been following Nyoko for almost an hour now. She seemed to be heading farther from the camping site. Also, She appeared to be keeping a high alert at her surrounding. Like she really didn't want to be followed or something. Fortunately, I have my invisibility spell in use so I won't get caught by her,
Apparently, Nyoko looked happy right now. But, for what reason? Her smile was carved permanently on her face. However, it's not the casual 'happy' smile; it's more like eerie, creepy ones. From time to time, she still observing her back to ensure that nobody follows. Little did she know, I was literally standing where she was looking,
I better not make any noise or sound, or she will definitely catch me. Besides, this spell couldn't last that long either. This thing has been burning my mana ever since we parted from the campsite. If I calculate correctly, I only have about fifty minutes of usage left, and if I don't go twenty minutes before that, she will definitely see me,
"I guess this is far enough..." said Nyoko to herself as she grinned,
Her tail deliberately swung in front of her. Seems like she had something hidden inside her fur. But, I couldn't really tell what it was because of her body obscuring my view.
Her grin got intensify when she grabbed that thing off her tail. "It's mine, hehe! I want to play with you all the time! Now give me the power that I wanted," she said hauntingly. Until eventually, that grin turned into a burst of maniac laughter. What is she so amused about? What is she holding, actually? I better get a closer look,
I tried moving right in front of her, but sadly I was too late. She already stored whatever she had in her hand in her pocket. The next thing I know, it gets from weird to downright bizarre. Nyoko was... dancing? No. That's not what she's doing right now. She's been swaying her arms up and down and moving her legs left and right. Wait- does she making an attack move?
"HAHAHAHA! This is fun! This is so much fun! I'm moving like a god right now! Nobody can't stop me!" said Nyoko as she swung her sword aimlessly,
What got in her mind right now. What is she doing? She's moving more like a drunk woman rather than a skilled fighter.
"Woah!- Look at that! That shit was so cool! I completely made a huge crater on the ground with such a simple attack!" Nyoko screamed excitedly,
Crater? There's not even a single thing on the ground right now. In fact, she's not even doing anything right. She's just moving sloppily and cutting the air with her sword,
"It's mine, it's mine, it's mine, it's mine, it's mine... It's MINE! The power is the only mine! AHAHAHAHA!- I love this ruby so much..." said Nyoko as she fell to the ground,
That was a shocking revelation. I was utterly dismayed and confused. So Nyoko did get that ruby from those wolves back then. But that still didn't explain why she lied. Even more mysterious, why did she act like a totally different person right now? Does that have anything to do with the ruby? Anyways, I found out the truth now. I better let the others know about this quick!
And so, I left Nyoko once again all by herself. I didn't look back. I kept running as fast as I could until I saw the light emitted by the bonfire at the camp. Once I reached safely, I didn't waste a moment and woke up both Ichijou and Kiseki. They were bamboozled with the expression that I had on my face when they opened their eyes.
"Woah- Slow down there. Why the heck you wake us up in the middle of the night?" asked Kiseki confusedly.
I was gasping for air desperately at the moment. Running that far nonstop sure is tiring,
"Hey, are you gonna explain to us or not?" said Ichijou,
Immediately I shouted to both of them, "NYOKO HAD THE RUBY ALL THIS TIME!"
Unfortunately, the way they look at me speaks louder than words. They don't believe in what I said,
"Come on. What's gotten into you? What makes you think she had the stone with her?" Kiseki asked,
"Trust me, please! I heard it came out from her own mouth!" I replied while slowly calm myself down,
"Excuse me?" Kiseki muttered,
Ichijou then interfered Kiseki. "Yo, shut up, will you? Let her explain first,"
" She was behaving quite suspicious when I found her this evening. Like- she's not acting like herself until now. Then, a moment ago, I realised that she woke up in the middle of the night, and I could feel her eyes gawking at me for quite some time until, eventually, she left this place. I followed her after that, of course."
"So? What did you found out?" Kiseki asked,
"Weird things. Like really unexpected things... She was like standing across the field all by herself and been chuckling over something. Then, she's like- Pull out her sword and play around with it,"
"Wait- wait. What's even weird about that? Okay, the chuckle part is probably something worth checking out but, if she's just playing with her sword, I don't see any problem in that. Maybe she just training herself when we're not watching, you know?" Kiseki said to me,
Ichijou, on the other hand, says nothing about my findings. Instead, he kept staring at me quietly with the same doubting look written on his face.
"No! I don't think she just training! She was like- I don't know? Hallucinating about having powers and everything and even saying stuff that didn't even exist! Besides, did you not hear me! I heard she said that she got that ruby, for god sake!"
"Hahahaha, relax now. Nyoko might be fooling around there. We've all been tired and stressed out in this place now. It's good to let off some steam without anyone judging if you know what I mean?" said Kiseki,
This is getting annoying! Of all people that I hope to believe me saying like I'm too paranoid! I'm not! I heard it with my own pair of ears! I've seen it! I'm not making up stories right now!
"Argh! Just trust me, will you?!-" I wasn't able to finish my sentences when suddenly Nyoko showed up,
"Hey- Uhm... What's going on here?" she said,
She looked normal right now. What's going on? Or is she just acting in front of everyone?
"Look, Nyoko. Ellisa said that you possess the ruby right now, hahaha!-" Kiseki laughed,
"Pfft!- What? No, I don't, hahaha. That's absurd; I will let you guys know right away if I have it with me! Right?" said Nyoko sarcastically,
"Argh! I can't take this anymore!- Nyoko! I've been following you ever since! I saw what you do back there! No more lies! I know you had the ruby with you!" I yelled at her angrily,
She started becoming defensive, "Woah! Hey now! What the hell is wrong with you! Why are you suddenly making up stories about me!" she yelled back,
"I'm not making up anything! I know for a fact that you said it out loud that you have it! But you didn't want to let us know for no reason!" I countered,
"Listen, you! I had enough of this shit! You've been nothing but a jerk to me ever since we stuck here! Are you jealous of something with me? Like- All you did was asking questions here and there while doubting me! If I said I don't have it, it means I don't HAVE. IT!" Nyoko screamed her lungs out,
My patients have entirely gone now; I can't take it anymore! If she didn't want to tell the truth, then I'd force her instead! I quickly pulled my staff at her and began casting out a spell,
"I won't ask this anymore! Just tell them the truth, or I'll blow your head off, Nyoko!"
They were stunned when things get escalated so quickly. Kiseki was trying to stop me as he pulled the staff away. But I was able to avoid that from happening when I switched my aim at him. Nyoko, on the other hand, quickly unsheathed her sword,
"You wanna fucking fight with me? Is that really what you looking for?! So you think that just because you can do spark here and there, you're much stronger than me?! Don't you fucking dare look down on me, whore!" Nyoko taunted me,
"I- What the hell! I didn't look down at you even a little! I just want to make you tell these idiots the truth!" I replied,
Finally, when I was about to launch the spell at Nyoko, Ichijou came in and redirected the shot with his artefact.
"I didn't expect you, of all people, to be acting like this now, Ellisa. So put down your staff and let's talk about this, okay?"
"Fuck you, Ichijou! You believe in Nyoko just because she's your old comrades, right?!-" I yelled firmly,
Surprisingly, he faintly shook his head without Nyoko realising it. "No. I believe in both of you right now. Which is why I wanted to listen to both parties. So, can you please calm down now?" he said,
I didn't respond to his talk, but eventually, I agreed and lowered my weapon down. Everyone did the same thing too. Nyoko just sighed while putting back her sword in the holster, and Ichijou dispersed his artefact in thin air.
"Good. Since you already told us your story, it's Nyoko's turn now. You got anything to say?" He swiftly turned towards Nyoko,
"Look, things might seem weird, okay? First, I sincerely apologise to all of you for not coming back in time to the camp. You probably heard from Ellisa that she found me with my whole body covered with scars, right? I can explain that. I thought I already cleared out my area. When I look at the sky, it's kinda early for me to go back while you guys still fighting. So I decided to stay there a little longer and get a nap. I don't know how long I've been sleeping at that time, but before, I could react to anything. The wolves started crowding me from every direction. Like- I couldn't even think what to do. Hence, that's my answer for that. Clear?" Nyoko Explained,
Ichijou slowly ran his finger across his chin back and forth, "Okay. Then what about just now? Ellisa said she saw you acting weird in the middle of the field," He asked,
"That's total bullshit. She might have been sleepwalking or imagining stuff back then. You know, we all tired, right," Nyoko muttered,
"Then explain where did you go. That's my question. I'm not asking you your opinion about our state right now," said Ichijou plainly,
Nyoko seemed to be a little annoyed by what he said. "You really wanted to know what girls do? Are you serious? I just went to pee. You happy now? That's embarrassing to say, you know! I walked miles away so no one could see me, okay!"
"Very well," Ichijou replied. He then turned towards me and said, "Look, Ellisa. Maybe whatever you saw was just your imagination. You probably still half asleep or something,"
Ah- there's no point arguing anymore. Even the wise one looked at me like a fool. "Fine- If that's what you wanna assume. I don't care anymore,"
"So, that's all done. Can we head back to sleep now? I'm started to feel sleepy again..." said Kiseki out of the blue,
"You're right. Nyoko, you can sleep with Kiseki first if you want. I'll stay on the watch for now," Ichijou replied,
"Good idea," Nyoko responded right away,
When I was about to head back to my sleeping back, Ichijou suddenly gripped onto my arm and stared thoughtfully into my eyes. "Not you. Come with me for a moment. I want to discuss our next plan on finding the ruby," He said as he winked his eyes at me,
Wait- I thought we were going to plan things out tomorrow? So why did he wanted to do it now? And what about the wink?
I didn't question anything from him and complied with whatever Ichijou said. We sat close to the bonfire while Nyoko and Kiseki already headed back to their sleeping bag.
"Take out your notebook," he ordered me,
"O- Oh. Okay..." I replied,
Ichijou immediately took it off my hand and scribbled down something in it with my utensils. When he was done with it, I took a look at what he wrote.
"Act casual. I believe what you said about Nyoko,"
Seems like Ichijou was bluffing back then. Maybe he didn't want Nyoko to feel suspicious of him. So apparently, both of us will communicate this way, for now, to not get caught by Nyoko.
"You do?" I wrote back,
"Yes... When she said about the wolves ganking on her. That's when I start doubting. Besides, I can feel that she's not acting like herself for the past few hours. So if it's true that the ruby is with her, what's your plan to make her reveal it without us fighting?" he replied,
"I don't know... That seems like an impossible task to do if you ask me," I responded,
"Right... But it's best if we stay this out from any unwanted battle. We don't want to injure ourselves before leaving this place safely," wrote Ichijou,
Afterwards, we spent hours finding a way to solve this situation. Unluckily, everything that we come up with seems unusable for this occurrence. We can't really force her to tell us the truth unless we use brute force. But then, something ominous happened. The sky started to flood with an eerie cry coming from every direction. What was that? It sounded like a woman, though. Our heads were moving back and forth, trying to figure out what was actually happening.
All of a sudden, the crying faintly stopped. But the mystery didn't end there. Instead, the voice was switched with something even unexpected for both of us. It was the howling of wolves. When we looked over to the distance, we were baffled. There were hundreds if not thousands of glowing red eyes gawking at us sinisterly,
"H- Hey! What's that?!-" I said to Ichijou,
"I don't know too. Nyoko! Kiseki! Wake up! We got some trouble!" Ichijou shouted,
Both of them quickly woke up from their sweet dreams and were immediately shocked by what they just witnessed. "Hold up! What's going on here?!-" said Kiseki,
When the bloody red eyes gradually moved closer to us, the light emitted from the bonfire finally revealed what those creatures were; it's the wolves. I thought we already cleared all of them out! This time, they seem to be moving in a group. That never happened before when we fought them. Why now? And why here?!
"Get your weapons ready, boys. We're in some surprise attack from these dogs!" Ichijou muttered to all of us,
"Hehe! It's time to show you all what I'm capable of..." said Nyoko softly,
The wolves began to rush towards us at the same time. This will be a big fight! It's not that they're strong, to start with. But, if they have numbers against us. That could spell disaster too.
"HAHAHA! I WILL KILL ALL OF YOU!" Nyoko screamed her lungs out.
As Ichijou and I were about to strike them hard, something obscene happened. These wolves just went straight past us for some reason! They showed zero interest to kill us whatsoever. So then, what are they aiming for? Upon turning our sight to where they were going, we finally had the answer that we've looking for. They're targetting Nyoko!
"Oh! So you're going straight for the big boss, huh?! COME ON, YOU BITCH!" Nyoko screamed. We thought Nyoko would slay all of them with no problem. But she seems to be moving like a half-dead fish right now.
Every swing she made missed her target. Every stroke she dealt didn't even hit those wolves. She's deranged right now! It's more like Nyoko attacking as if she had some kind of uncanny power which she doesn't actually have!
"HAHAHA! Do you like that?! Wanna have a taste of this too?! Here take it! HAHA!" Nyoko spouted some nonsense. She then looked at us, "You guys better watch out for my attacks! I almost hit you, damn it! Useless retards!" she said to us,
We were confused to the point that we couldn't even react to what she said. What attack? All she did was swinging her sword aimlessly!
In the end, one of the wolves bites her really hard down her throat, "E- Eh?..." She said worriedly,
"Be careful, Nyoko! What the hell are you doing! Get that wolf off from you!" Kiseki yelled,
"I'm trying! I'm trying! Shut up!" miraculously, she managed to loosen the jaw from her neck.
But again, she returned back doing something so bizarre. Over and over, she struck nothing but air. By that time, the wolves continuously assaulted her in every direction. Kiseki was trying to hop in and help her but,
"STAY FUCKING AWAY FROM ME! I CAN DEAL WITH THEM MYSELF! FUCK!!! WHY IS MY POWER ISN'T WORKING ON THEM! WHAT THE HELL!" Nyoko yelled at him,
Kiseki was startled for a moment, and Ichijou walked forward to him and held him at his position. "Let her do it," he said to Kiseki,
"What?! You gonna leave her getting killed by those wolves! Are you kidding me?!-" Kiseki argued,
Meanwhile, Nyoko, "What the fuck is happening! Why can't I attack these maggots like before! Arghh! Fcking die all of you!" she kept screaming the same thing over and over,
Ichijou shook his head at Kiseki. "We need to find out something about Nyoko," said Ichijou,
"What do you mean by that!" Kiseki replied,
I swiftly joined the conversation and responded, "Nyoko is lying to us all this time... I hate to leave her like that too, but we need confirmation,"
Ultimately, Kiseki complied. We all watch Nyoko fought those wolves, and she's losing right now. It was a gruesome scene. Nyoko's started to bleed all over her body, and she's no longer have any energy to block the attack.
After a full five minutes of pointless battle, Nyoko began to cry. It's mean to say this, but she looked pathetic right now. Her eyes were filled with anguish, yet her face showed how horrified she was to those beasts,
"I'm useless... I'm useless... I can't even do anything... AH! DON'T COME CLOSE!" she screamed as she fell down to the ground while desperately dragged herself backwards.
"It's now or never if u wanna help her out," Ichijou said to Kiseki.
Without further ado, he jumped into the fight, and with just one full swing with his halberd, the wolves were obliterated completely.
When we came close to Nyoko. She already curled herself tightly while crying so hard. "Don't look at me... I'm pathetic... I'm a loser... I'm no more than a liability to all of you." she sobbed while covering her face from us,
I tried to comfort her but, "DON'T TOUCH ME... Please..." she screamed at me,
Finally, she put her hands into her pocket and pulled out the main thing we were looking for; the ruby.
Ichijou sat down on his knees and asked Nyoko, "Why did you keep it a secret from us?" but she never answered him.
Nyoko immediately threw the ruby on the ground and kept curling herself as usual. We let her settle down for a minute as all of us sat beside her quietly.
Quite a long time had gone by. Nyoko seemed to be calming herself down. Her tears were over, and she was no longer sobbing as much. Then, we faintly hear her voice saying,
"I'm... sorry..."
We all hugged her out and said, "It's okay. But you have a lot to explain to us,"
By that time, she told us everything that she knew about the stone. But it was vague. Her memories seemed to be unclear once she had the stone in her hand. Nyoko said it was as if she got a totally different personality when she held the stone. After that, she can't remember anything in between until she got severely attack by the wolves a few minutes ago. We all believe in what she said and immediately come up with an answer about what might have gone in her head last time,
"Well, we don't really know what's the issue right now. But at least we have the ruby to solve the riddles," said Kiseki as he carelessly walked to the stone and grabbed it,
Nyoko immediately jumped in fear and shouted, "NO! DON'T LET HIM TOUCH THE RUBY! THAT THING IS CURSED. IT'S THE REASON WHY I'M BEING DELUSIONAL BEFORE!"
As we were about to push the ruby away from Kiseki's hand, he just looked at us and smiled. "Relax! See. Nothing terrible going to happen to me. You guys worried too much." he muttered innocently,
Ichijou and I were a bit up on our feet for a moment. But it's been a few minutes now, and nothing seems to change from Kiseki. So after that, we tried to relax a little and put back our weapons away. Until Kiseki suddenly whispered,
"Release the Sin,"