Underwater. I felt disconnected... The voices felt muddled. The sight felt wobbly.
I lost myself.
I didn't even know what was going on anymore. The open boxes filled with the amount of Uln worth my life were getting shut after a thorough inspection. Anino was choking on the air next to me. Everything was taking place right in front of me and I could make sense of nothing.
"EL- HUH WHAT EVEN IS THAT?!" Then, out of nowhere, Vivi shouted but her voice was muddy. No, everything was convoluted, as if I was experiencing the world through water. I was home, yet I could hear voices that were native to Rottheim.
I felt everything and I controlled nothing.
Omniscience blinded by rage.
A situation like this could not have been a coincidence. So much couldn't go wrong at once without some intervening fate. This was a fabricated tragedy. And I had no one to blame. Not yet.
In the following second, from the side, Rumie extended a punch right at me.
'Where did she even come from? hahaha' Her immediate presence amused me for a brief moment.
Her hand could reach past my neck, but my hand could reach her cheek too. Before she could even react I was grabbing her by her face, not of my own volition. My body was not mine anymore. It belonged to the one swallowed by grievance. My middle finger and thumb held Rumie up by her temples.
Vivi got taken aback by my appearance and switched her trajectory to match Anino's. She rushed past me and took the cowering choking girl who was next to me away.
The very next second the area around me caught fire. The eaterie, the back alley, and my environment altogether looked like a scene from hell. I watched as a spectator as my body moved of its own accord.
"Ugh! WHAT ARE YOU?!" Rumie released some of my hand off her face. I let go, but the moment right after I kicked the side of her lungs and she went flying into our eaterie.
It was impossible for the people inside to ignore this big of a commotion. But at this point, I couldn't care less about being seen. Everyone just wanted me gone anyways.
The feeling was mutual.
Hell, it wouldn't matter much even if I was seen, from my reflection where my face should have been, I could only see a black skull. In fact, my entire body was just a skeleton made out of black metal-like bones and large white wings. I dug my foot in and walked inside. The ground underneath me cracked with every step. Every inch of the eaterie got enveloped in flames.
"Wh-Wha-WHAAAA! HEEELP!" The man of the clergy shouted while the other tried to secure his payment. Greedy and selfish as they came.
It was a scene of chaos. The ones in the kitchen had already left.
The only ones here were my family, the two men, Rumie and me. And judging by the terror on my family's faces, they couldn't recognise me. Or maybe they could and were terrified that I had returned.
"YOU LITTLE!" Rumie jumped right at me with her punch blazing. I stepped to the side and punched her stomach with my boney hands again. She coughed up blood and fell forwards.
"You know, I let you be the last time you attacked me because my owner was still not ready. I won't be so kind this time." Words came out of my mouth. Yet, I wasn't the one who said them.
They came directly from the one controlling me.
"What happened to you fa-kuk." She tried to calm down and act tough but the blood rushing from her mouth didn't stop. Karma. "Tch." Rumie waved her hand and a formation started forming out of the burning carpets.
A spell? A skill?
The ground underneath me started pulsating, and the building started coming down.
At first, it was dust, but the pieces of concrete started escalating in size.
"Hah, fuck off you bony freak. I just need to hold off until the rest of the guild gets here." Guild? Ah, she must mean Luoris. So she had backup planted beforehand. Looks like I was right.
But holding me off by destroying the entire building? That seems a bit unreasonable. Not that I'm one to say after making this place catch on fire.
I faced Mom and Sis who were crouching on the ground covering their heads. They held each other's hands tightly while trying to make sense of the situation. Held by fear.
On the other side, we had Rumie who was bringing this place down. It was only a matter of time before the rest of the guild got here.
And I couldn't control my body.
Seeing their frightened faces I couldn't help but falter. No matter how much I hated them, I couldn't just let them die. This was just me clearing my debt. Filial piety.
'Who are you?' I asked internally.
'Oh, master.' It was an androgynous calming voice. But what did it mean master?
'Get out of my head.'
'But…'
'I said, get out.'
'Yes.'
Instantly, the weight of my body came back to me, and with that came the headache. I was still a skeleton but I was no longer a spectator.
I grabbed my short sword and threw it at Rumie. She both her hands together in an attempt to stop it but by the time she reacted, I kicked her right in her gut. My bony foot dug into her belly. Her body went flying backwards through the walls and through the buildings on the other side of the town.
I grossly underestimated the strength in this body. Without any muscle, my body was getting pushed around by mana.
But I had no time to gloat.
Even with her gone, the place continued to break. She was just the instigator. The roof started to fall.
This will be my one last favour. Before the roof came raining down, I dashed and shielded the two women grasping each other with my body. My arms were spread around them and my wings protected my arms.
I couldn't feel their warmth through my ribs. I felt them whimper and cry in fear. Probably because of the monstrous existence covering them. This was one hell of a reunion.
Crumble by crumble. Rock by rock. The place caved in. And as it did, the men who wanted to buy my life got crushed right in front of us.
The building fell on top of me. I half expected my bones to break, but everything held together. The fact that I didn't feel their warmth meant that I didn't feel pain either.
After I felt the entire weight of the building over me, I pushed the entire rubble off me. The other two laid under me unconsciously.