"Come on, spill it!" Mandy shook me back and forth with his hands. The pink haired boy smiled wickedly. "There ain't no other way, pretty boy! You come from where I'm from!"
I panicked. I already suspected that Arael had taken others and put them into this world, making them do her 'task' for her endeavors. But now that I have someone who actually came from the same world as me…I freaked out. Mainly because it was someone trying to kill me!
I slammed my pinned hands to the ground, silently casting Eruption. I just needed to get away from this person!
The cave floor rumbled and cracked as stone edged jutted out of the floor, aiming right at Mandy. But Mandy was quicker, he realized what was happening and leaped off of me, landing a few meters away from me. The jutted earth formation formed around me, creating a protective barrier.
"Haha…You are. You're the same as me." Mandy cackled, I could hear his footsteps as he moved closer. "Why so defensive? Aren't we on the same team?!"
No, Mandy thinks I'm still working for Arael? I thought Arael would've told him I was defective or something…no, Arael wouldn't care. This whole situation is just a way for Arael to fuck around and you with us! I bet you she hasn't even given him the whole story of why he's doing his task!
"Piss off! Don't group me with you! Screw Arael!" I casted wind ball, propelling myself backwards on the floor. I needed to gain distance from Mandy if I needed to have any sort of advantage, just enough to do something!
As soon as I got up, I found that Mandy was already running to me. I had at least like twenty meters of distance between us, I could cast Quicksand on the ground!
I slammed my palm to the ground, casting quicksand as Mandy yelled his way towards me.
"Don't give me that! You've probably already done things for her, haven't you?! Maybe that's why you got so strong, huh?! You followed her task and got that strong! Hah, we both are experiencing it!"
The ground beneath Mandy turned to mush, the pink haired boy immediately looked down and saw what was happening. He quickly slammed his bo-staff into the mushy ground, using it to vault himself over it. But I already expected him to do something like that.
I already held my hand up, aiming at Mandy as I charged my Bullet Shot. An easy kill, just one quick shot to the head could end it. Then I could save Amelia and Claire, wherever they are. But…
As Duval said in our last conversation, I need to figure out why this was all happening. Clearly it was all Arael's plan now, but I needed to figure out if Mandy knew more. There's gotta be more to why the Mallory are being hunted, it's gotta be a bigger story. So, I aimed my palms to Mandy's shoulder and shot. At least then it would only wound him.
The stone bullet zipped through the air, heading right for Mandy's left shoulder. He shouldn't be able to block this, there's no way he can!
"Whoa, There! That same spell ain't gonna work!" Mandy chimed as he suddenly swung his Bostaff up from the ground, the end of the bo staff flicking the stone bullet I made right into the ceiling. With another swing, Mandy managed to plunge the other end of his Bostaff right into the floor. All within a matter of seconds. "Face it, buddy. You ain't got enough experience to handle me! I've been in this shithole of a place for years!"
Mandy then positioned himself on his Bostaff, putting his feet on it and then…propelling himself off the staff. That twenty meter gap between us quickly became five as he launched himself across the mushy ground and skidded across the stone cave floor, rolling onto his feet.
"So what's up with you and Arael?! Why the distaste in the one who brought us here?! Answer me!" Mandy clenched his right fist, pulling it back for a mighty throw at me. I didn't have my staff, so I went to my earth spells as a way to protect myself. I slammed my hands to the ground and casted a Earth wall. A slab of the cave floor erupted from the ground and acted as a wall between me and Mandy.
The wall in front of me shuddered and cracked as Mandy's fist collided with it. Soon, the wall itself broke apart as he then landed a blow on me. His fist connected with my stomach, pain coursed through my body as I was sent flying back. The cave walls flew by as I rolled and tumbled through the cave floor. Luckily, the cloak I had with me mitigated whatever damage I would've received from all this tumbling.
I finally stopped tumbling, rolling face down onto the cave floor. And yet…This didn't seem like the cave floor, The sound of rushing water became apparent to me. I dizzily raised my head to look at my new surroundings. The cave floor…seemed to have been polished up, smoothed as if someone had been working on it. I gazed to my right to notice that I had actually been punched right past a hole within this cave.
I'm…In the sewers of the kingdom? I gazed to my left to find that the noises of the water was exactly that. The stench of rotten eggs and other disgusting stench drifted under my nose, but that was the least of my problems.
"Don't tell me you're a wimp. Did you really not listen to Arael and her task? I mean, come on. Don't you want to be powerful? Some…OP guy in this land? Cause some chaos, murder some people!" Mandy continued to ramble as he walked towards me. I turned my gaze towards him and eyed him, Mandy stopped in his tracks and put his hands on his waist.
"I…didn't expect to be reincarnated into this world." I said, stumbling my way back to my feet. A bit of blood seeped through my mouth as I opened my lips. "Arael…she's a monster. We're just here to do her experiments on this place! You know the task that we do is to just cause chaos in this place, right?!" I placed my hand on my stomach and quietly began to chant a healing spell for myself.
"Oh. I know." Mandy smiled. "I knew from the get go that all these tasks. All the things she wanted me to do was to just stir up a conversation for everyone here."
He knew? And he's still doing the bidding of Arael?! Why?! What kind of a person is this freak?
"Killing some random ass king to start a whole riot in a kingdom, you know…To see if they do something. I've killed so many people here. I've kidnapped some people for some…Little fun time with their bodies, you've seen them. All for Arael's own sake. Ugh, sometimes I wonder if I can keep up with what she asks me."
"You…You do all this to satisfy Arael's curiosity and twisted entertainment. We shouldn't be doing this!" I looked in at Mandy who seemed unfazed by me.
"Why not?" Mandy stared coldly at me. "And even if I wasn't doing her bidding. Let's say, I actually did what you were doing…What do I gain from it? I lived for Nineteen years in my old life, and what did I learn from there? I learned that everyone hated me, despised me for what I was. I've been beaten, abused and thrown around like a toy for sale." Mandy progressively got more heated as he continued his rant. He held his hand up, clenching it. "And I've done nothing to them! I wanted nothing but to just…to just live a life! But I never got that opportunity, I've had it dangling above me before I was killed! Like a cruel joke was being made on me!" Mandy's breathing became rough, shaky. Yet his eyes didn't avert from mine. "All because of everyone, every single person I knew ended up hurting me. When I was reincarnated into this world, I had a slight glimmer of hope that my life would be different. But I was wrong, it was the same damn thing until Arael finally gave me a vision. And With Arael guiding me? I could finally vent all that anger and bullshit that I had to deal with! All the things I wish I could've done in my past life, I can do it here! Live that life I wanted! Enact my own revenge! Isn't that something you'd want to do?!"
"No!" I then raised my right palm, silently casting Wind ball with as much mana as I could pour into it at the moment. As I unleashed it, a large gust of wind blew out from my hand. It was enough to send Mandy flying backwards, bouncing him off the ground and crashing into the right side of the cave walls. "I did some of Arael's task. It wasn't until I realized that she was only using me to do her little nasty business that I refused her service, I thought she was helping me be better!"
"And you were going to be better! More powerful, You could've easily become the strongest Mage in this world!" I heard Mandy as he got back to his feet, I could see that I managed to scratch his head and arm from my wind blast. "And you squandered it!"
I silently casted Dry ice, the white blob of ice formed immediately as I aimed it at Mandy. "I didn't squander anything! I just wanted a restart in life, a new start for me to be better! You're just here to relish those ideas you had in your past life instead of actually being better!"
I could see Mandy's expression turn to anger, he Gritted his teeth and furrowed his brows. "This is better! Nothing I would've done would've made things better, it was Arael who managed to save me!" Mandy then charged at me, laughing maniacally now as he had his hands open like claws. "Which is why I'm obliged to her, and thank god for her for allowing me to break you in half!"
Arael sent Mandy to kill me?! Shit. I guess Arael didn't want to keep a loose end like me alive, she must've realized what a nuisance I was to her at the moment and told Mandy to finish me off before I could fuck to her plans!
I blasted my Dry ice spell, hitting the floor in front of Mandy. I could hit Mandy directly with this thing, he was too fast! At least the dry ice spreading from the impact would get him. I watched as the blob of ice exploded on the ground, spreading out immediately and catching Mandy off guard. Soon, the dry ice mist spreaded through the cave and left a mist within the air.
But I couldn't see Mandy in it. My eyes darted around for any sort of sign of him, but I couldn't see anything. Did Mandy retreat into the cave? I lowered my palm and tried to catch a breath. As my eyes averted from the left side of the cave, a quick flicker of something darted out of the mist that caught my attention.
"I know just how to break you. I'm going to make sure Arael sees how fucked you end up getting, Lover boy. It'll bring her joy." A voice came from behind me. I tried to turn around to face them, but I was quickly hit on the back of my head. My vision blurred as I found myself plummeting to the ground, the sound of muffled footsteps trailed along me before I felt myself being turned. Mandy looked down at me with a maniacal smile. "You almost got me there. Almost made me into a popsicle, whoa! But I got something you'd like to see, so sleep tight!" My vision began to blacken, I felt like my whole body was shutting down as Mandy grabbed ahold of me.
Soon, my vision went black.
[Lilith]
"Answer me!" I yelled once more. "Where did Mandy Take Kota?!"
"Kota's gone?!" Kale exclaimed, looking at me. "Shit!"
I saw Both Korbyn and Elena giving each other a concerned look. Someone had gone missing under their watch. Elena gritted her as she pulled harder on her whip blade, Pulling victor's arm down more. Korbyn pulled his curved sword from Victor's leg and swiftly pushed his blade up against Victor's throat.
My left arm flared once more, I glanced down to my arm to find that the scales on it were becoming more apparent. My anger was rising once more, that fiery rage inside me begging to pool out.
"I pledge loyalty to my associate, Mandy. I will not yield to you all." Victor finally spoke. "I'm nothing but a husk that he created for his bidding."
"You better tell us or else that damn head of yours is coming off!" Korbyn threatened him, he pressed his blade harder against Victor's throat. "Kale, get that damn Beacon on! We gotta be able to trace Mandy that way!"
"On it!" Kale looked through his pouch and pulled out the stone. He gave it a few presses and slaps before looking up at us. "Ugh, can't get it to work!" His eyes turned to victor. "You…You and Mandy have the other piece, that's how you found us at the Mallory home. Now tell me how to turn this on and where to find Kota!"
Victor's eyes slowly turned to kale. Stoic, and unfazed. "I will never."
The sound of banging suddenly came from the first floor walls. Elena, Korbyn and Kale immediately looked around at what was happening. The wooden walls cracked and suddenly, hands came out from them.
"Help me! Help me!" Voices came spewing from the walls. Soon, the walls broke from all the weight and figures came breaching through them. They were like smaller versions of the monsters I saw when we were ambushed at the river, humanoid figures that all looked disembodied and disfigured.
"Shit! More of Mandy's little monsters!" Kale turned around to face the now group of monsters.
"You will not get to him in time..." Victor said, I saw his right arm flexing, his left arms whirring to life. "Mandy has made it back to where we reside, alongside that boy. He will finish his plans."
Victor's left arm suddenly spurred to life, catching Elena off guard as he effortlessly lifted it. Elena tried to pull it down, but ended up being tossed into the air. She landed with a roll and hit her back onto the walls of the first floor, wincing in pain from it. And just behind her, the walls began to crack as well. A humanoid monster began to crawl its way out of the wall, a hand reaching for Elena.
"Elena!" Korbyn looked at where Elena was, but that lowered his guard. His curved blade lowered down from Victor as he looked to check on her, which gave Victor a chance to strike.
"Korbyn!" Kale called out to him, but it was too late. Victor swung his right arm at Korbyn, a solid punch right to the man's jaw. The hit caused Korbyn to hit the floor with a thud, the floor cracking underneath him.
My eyes darted around, looking at Elena to Korbyn. This is bad, those two are down! I glanced at the humanoid monsters, they were getting close to Kale and reaching out to him. Kale quickly turned to fight them, slashing and trying to push them away from him.
I need to help them! But am I even fast enough to make it to them?! I clenched my left hand as I readied to run my way down. But as I took my first step down the stairs, I felt it. Maybe it was adrenaline or the mana cloaking I had powering me, but I found myself going at a faster speed than before. Soon I found myself running past Kale and Korbyn and readying a punch at the monster reaching for Elena.
"Hrraagh!" I screamed as I pulled my left fist back and full force punched the humanoid monster. My fiery hand collided with the being, igniting it with a fiery burst while crushing its head against the wall. The wall blackened and crackled, pieces of wood broke off the wall and scattered amongst the floor as I pulled my hand away. Elena looked up at me with surprise, not sure what had transpired. Maybe it might've been because a second or two passed when I managed to make my way over here.
"L-Lilith? How did you get here that fast?" Elena said with surprise, moving away from the wall and getting up. She had a hand in her head, trying to mend it. But something quickly changed her mind as she whipped her head towards Victor. "Ah! Korbyn!"
"I'm good!" Korbyn said back in response, he was already on his feet. Some blood dripped out of his mouth. "We need to contain these monsters or else they'll run amok around the kingdom!"
The sound of machines whirring caught my attention, Victor's left mechanical arm pressed itself against the first floor and seemingly looked to be ready to launch him. "I'll leave the rest to Mandy's experiments. Sayonara…"
No! He can't leave! Not until he tells us where Mandy and Kota is! Anger flared in me once more, revving me up. So I began to crouch, tensing up my legs and feeling the mana pour into them. As my left arm touched the wooden floor, the wooden material began to burn and blacken.
"No! I'm not letting you leave, you are NOT leaving!" I yelled. Then I jumped, the wooden floor beneath me cracking as I launched myself at lightning speed at Victor. I hung right above the tall deformed man as I readied my Left hand, clenching it into a fist and feeling the fiery force with it. "I'll beat the shit out of you if need to!"
And I struck the ground with a fiery slam.