"We do have a few entryways. So, who are you two?" A man asked from behind us. I turned around with Lum and received a punch with a fierce force that sent me into a fruit stand.
I crashed and broke the wood all around me, along with bleeding all over the floor with my cuts. I couldn't assess the situation because of the blockage of fruit juices in my eyes, but Lum didn't sound like he got hurt. I pushed my body up and wiped everything off of my face, watching the man look at me with a frown.
"You're Anima. I have no business with you, Lum, so leave yourself out of this." The man said. I secured my grip on the floor and used [Blessing 3] on myself, peering at the man with confusion. This man... he must've known my previous reputation, which meant nothing good for me.
"Seems like I'm popular here. What do you want?" I asked the attacker.
"My family lived in Zyphilia, remember them? When you froze the city completely? Well, I certainly remember." He told me.
"Hey, shithead, if I had that attack, you wouldn't be talking to me right now. I could freeze over any city I want if I was the one to do that, yet you want to convince yourself that I'm the one that did it?" I asked him. He clicked his tongue in irritation.
"Of course, you were the one to do it! You were the last one standing there. And maybe you have some ulterior motives with this city, which is why you haven't frozen it down yet." He contemplated. So... this was a battle of the wits? Luckily, I excel in this field.
"If I had ulterior motives, then why did I freeze Zyphilia? Shouldn't I have just threatened them instead? After all, if I had that powerful magic, I would've killed you as well." I told him.
"You probably got caught. Either way, it doesn't matter now, because you're cornered in an anti-magic field." He told me. I shrugged.
"Fine by me. If I got caught and wanted to cover my traces, wouldn't I have frozen you? What do I gain by killing an entire city and putting myself on a criminal list? Say, are those all your people underground who are whipping children for stealing valuables in this city? Oh wait, or are you from a different underground crime ring that has entry points in this city? Do you happen to know the kid who vandalized the statue? What about the homeless people in this city that suffer? Do you know about all of that? Hey, Mr. Hard Hitter, if I could freeze a whole city over, why haven't I done it yet to save you from all of these terrible things about this hell hole?" I asked him. He seemed stuck in place trying to think of an answer, but I took this opportunity to be more threatening than I usually was.
I held up [Titan's Wand] and pointed the tip toward him. "Ready? Here comes the most damaging attack I've used this entire time..." I told him. I remembered the anti-magic field was up and decided not to shoot him because of that.
"[Blessing 3]," I said.
The attacker was buffed and healed to full health and looked at me confused. "Why didn't you attack me?" He asked me.
"You haven't given me a good reason to kill you yet, so I'll avoid it for now. Anyway, then you do run the underground crime ring Lum and I both seen?" I asked him. I completely forgot about the people standing around us, and they all looked pretty baffled.
"Oh, I'm sorry he broke your fruit stand, you can sell this if you want," I yelled out to the man running the stand. I pretended that I pulled a potion out from under my cloak, but I really grabbed one from my inventory and handed it through to the man. "Just sell that," I added on. He ran off with a happy smile.
"Come with me." The attacker said. I followed behind him with Lum, who was ready to beat in his head if he tried anything else. That idiot really hurt me... I was surprised he got me so good.
"Look, I'm just following orders, but it seems like you didn't destroy Zyphilia at all." The attacker told me. Well... no shit.
"Yeah, if I wanted Zyphilia to fall, I wouldn't have killed the only thing precious to me. My master was in there too, who taught me about my potions. I'm hunting the person who really did it. Joro." I told him. I guess it must've been quite the surprise to Lum as well.
"Hah... Anima Kid, I don't mean this in a mean way, but you're no match for Joro right now. He's a pretty scary mage who's said to even change the weather." Lum said.
"Change the weather you say? Like, an ice storm, perhaps?" I asked everybody to make the attacker feel guilty.
"Listen, I don't want to go any further until you get my damn ticket. I want it to get my friends into here. That being said, can you do it? Legally or illegally?" I asked the attacker.
"I could technically do it, but it would be easier and safer with tickets. Luckily, we have two in our possession, including yours that were apparently stolen. How many tickets are you looking for?" The attacker asked me.
"Four..." I paused to count everybody. Soul, Ruby, Ken, and Ipa... yep, that's right.
"Four? That'll be easy!" The attacker said. I looked at Lum with a disapproving face, knowing that whatever he had planned wouldn't be ideal for me.
"Don't get me in trouble. Tell me how I can win the tickets at least." I told the attacker. I felt uncomfortable around him and just wanted to return to my friends. The last thing I wanted to do was get involved in some underground crime ring. I was a Hero, not a criminal.
"Just make it so you're untraceable with getting the tickets and we'll call it even. Deal?" I asked. The attacker nodded.
Why was this going so well for me? I didn't like this a single bit... why was I working with somebody like him? To fill my own selfish desires? I certainly hadn't felt like a Hero in a while, and this wasn't helping either.
"Just keep me out of it. Lum, I'm leaving." I told him. I had no idea where I was, but any place was better than here. I wonder how Ruby and the others are doing right now...