"What in the world.."
Aaron stood before a pile of shredded bodies and flesh. Fresh blood formed a puddle, dripping into the water canal downstream.
It was after everyone left the private room that Aaron realized he had just been sent an SOS request. Arriving too late, all that was left as a result was this mess.
"The cardinal of the Saviors cult.. possibly.." a guard appeared from the shadow.
"What relationship did she have to the demons?"
"She's a student of Riestallia Academy, the champion of the New Dawn. She.. has no relation with the demons."
Aaron held his breath, with his fist clenched tight. His heart lurched, a loud buzzing sound in his mind.
".. I have been observing her from a distance. She's lost the ability to rationalize as a normal human would."
Aaron wanted to condemn them for killing her; however, he also knew that the one that gave the order was himself. He knew that Reese was an ally, he just didn't know that she was the cardinal of a cult.
"Where is she now?"
"I'm not certain of the location. But she mobilized after she was called by someone she referred to as master through a communication device."
===
Stucco park was during the day, a lively place often visited by many. At night where people were much more sparse, it created this air of unease. It was even more so today when there was a bloody girl standing in the middle of the road with her head looking towards the ground.
Basking under the moonlit night, her slender silhouette displayed itself with an ominous elegance. Together with the grass and trees, her hair swaying to the frigid winds of night, hazy eyes fully reflecting the lack thereof life contained within. Her dress was drenched in red liquid, still dripping.
She raised her head to look at Sequencee and Evelyn.
"Question: are you the person by the name Sequencee this one has been looking for?"
"Yes. I'm Sequencee," the cold air made him shiver.
"This one is your minion lest your failure of validation."
'Validation?'
Reese sank into the shadows. Sequence, feeling an instinctive sense of danger evoked a dozen light beads and spread them throughout the dark park.
"W-What is going on?"
"Evelyn, don't do anything stupid."
As she tried to decipher the deeper connotation to his words, she was suddenly grabbed and pulled to one side. A black mass on the ground was left where she once stood.
Out of it, black spikes shot out.
They were easily deflected by the anti magic barrier which Sequencee coated himself with.
'She's not Reese. The hell does validation mean?!'
The black shadow jumped from place to place, but never quite did reveal itself. Hiding behind the dark recess of the park, a silver object flew towards Sequencee.
Instead of a barrier, it hit one of the invisible trigger spells, causing the object to sink to the ground because of the applied gravity.
Noticing the colour of the black tag, he quickly followed up by grabbing the earth below and created a hollow dome to trap Reese's shadow in. As long as her shadow lacked the surface to travel outside, she would have to break out of the structure from the inside..
.. But weird black feelers broke through the hard earth concrete dome and accelerated towards them.
Some triggered the traps, wreaking havoc on the gelatinous mess. Those that made it past melted right through the anti-magic barrier set by Sequencee. Evelyn generated a flame shield out of panic.
Sequencee grabbed her and hurled both of them away. The black projections smashed the flame shield unscathed. Skewering its path in the air, it bolted towards them.
It was also at this time that an increasing number of black feelers grew from the black tag. ]
Phantom wind blades sliced the black feelers that came after them.
[Illusion Magic: Universal Haze]*
Sequencee activated his upgraded gift. Evelyn found everything in her vicinity becoming a glitchy blur.
"Don't let go," he held Evelyn close to her.
[Illusion Magic: Universal Haze], first tier. Besides the extended range, reduced mana consumption and maximum coverage of the haze, Sequence had unlocked a sub ability to release this 'haze' sparsely into the surroundings like mist. Doing so would mess with the senses of those within the range of around ten meters.
From afar, it looked as if a portion of the world around him had become a distortion. Senses such as sound, taste, hearing and sight become vague for everyone except the user. Having only recently acquired this upgrade, Sequencee was still unsure if he could manipulate the senses other than sight to his own will.
Evelyn found it nauseating, as if the world itself had become a bowl of soup being rolled down the drain. She would smell grass one moment, blood in the next. The sounds of the howling winds followed by the sounds of crackling laughter.
A mass of black rose from the grown, revealing itself as Reese. Feelers grew incessantly from the back shadow beneath her, moving in sync with her emotions.
"I can't see," she muttered
'A blood slime..?'
Reese, offering herself up as a sacrifice, had turned into a mutant. Under the skin of the shell Reese no longer had any resemblance of a normal human– that was Sequencee's guess of what had happened.
Similar to Evelyn, Reese saw the world as a mess of colour and sounds. While she could make out the general direction of where Sequencee was through sight was, his figure was a smearing blur.
Shadows extended from below her feet in divergent pathways, her eyes affixed to Sequencee and Evelyn with a faint glow.
[Charm Magic: Transient Servitude]
In this mysterious haze, Reese's ability had minimal effect. This was something Sequencee had confirmed with her a few days ago. It was the perfect counter to any spell which required direct eye contact to take effect.
Nevertheless, as an additional precaution, Sequencee made sure not to look her in the eye.
The black shadow underneath Reese expanded towards Sequencee's direction. It came together with an explosion of black projections, all of which were sliced the moment it came into contact with the wall of wind blades.
"Validation pending," Reese's voice echoed like waves of thunder, Evelyn covered her ears with both hands and groaned.
Hearing that voice, a dilemma sprung inside his heart.
This thing in front of him, can he even kill it?
What exactly does it mean to validate?
"What do I need to do to validate?"
Evelyn buried her head into Sequencee's shoulders.
Reese, who heard, responded simply, "Subjugate me, and I shall deem you worthy."
"What does subjugation mean for you?"
Juggling multiple magic spells at once, he controlled the earth below to change his location whilst carrying Evelyn. Many of the projections which missed their mark flailed about before retreating back into the shadow where they would be recycled for the next attack.
"To define in simpler terms, you shall leave me no choice but to obey you by sparing this one's life."
Reese manipulated the shadow to chase after Sequencee's vague image.
A silence pressure began to build as sound was cut from the sense. Strong air currents sent their clothes into a whirl as the feeling of something wrong grew increasingly.
There was a faint green light above Sequencee, Reese couldn't make out what it was.
The black shadow accelerated to the tension, the feelers also became increasingly lively. And perhaps out of spite, Reese also grabbed chunks of earth and had the black projections hurl them over towards Sequencee.
None of them hit him.
"Fire."
SWOSH–
Star Auger exploded forwards and smashed into her head. The momentum of the gale sent her body and blood spinning in the air.
Her entire body melted into something of a reddish goo. Her blood turned into weird acid, the goo came back together to form a blob which quickly combined into the flat shadow below.
BAAM!!
Star Auger fell a row of trees in the distance.
Reese appeared from the shadow, unharmed. Her body which should've been destroyed had been reconstructed, and her clothes that were already torn before were even more so now. Disheveled, one lace near her cleavage had broken off, revealing one side of her chest.
Shadows extended from beneath her once more. Cold sweat ran down Sequencee's back.
His theory was proven correct in the worst way possible.
While he was running a sprint, Reese was running a marathon. He could feel mana exhaustion slowly catch up to him, maintaining the haze domain alongside everything that took up a lot from his mana hall.
The moment he lifted this haze, it would be over. Moving into the terrain of the trees, Sequencee keep retreating with Evelyn in his arms. The black projections were kind enough to keep the environment protected by not destroying the trees, nevertheless, they were like hunting dogs that just wouldn't give up.
"Sequencee, I'm sorry…"
Incapable of being of use, serving as the damsel in distress, the only thing Evelyn could do was apologize. It was her who caused this mess.
He clicked his tongue.
Sequencee didn't want to do this but, what choice did he have left? He wasn't the only one in danger here.
There was a thought in his mind that this Reese was being sincere by going easy on him. There was no way he could've won against the champion of the New Dawn Series if not for it– furthermore, now as a blood slime mutant.
Even so, was it right to try to save Reese at the risk of Evelyn's life? Or had he been wrong about Reese's life to begin with? What if she was no longer the Reese he knew?
Hundreds of ice stakes surrounded her.
"Will you die if I skewer your body with a hundred spikes?"
"No."
At Reese's curt response, Sequencee clenched his teeth and forced his magic to move.
The stakes rushed in at once.
Reese simply melted into the shadows along with some of the ice stakes.
"Validation pending."
The ice stakes Sequencee had created shot out from Reese's shadow towards its own creator from various angles. Most missed their mark because of the distorted world, others were shot down by Sequencee's wind blade barrier.
Reese appeared from her shadow once more, hence the cycle repeats itself.
Sequencee wracked his mind for ideas to put an end to this battle before his mana ran out when..
Flash–
A red pillar descended and incinerated everything in its vicinity.
Soon the light lifted.
"Calculating results."
The black appendages formed into a figure, Reese appeared and stood there silently, calmly. Her dress had burned up, leaving her bare naked.
"Minimum requirement achieved. Have acknowledged Sequencee as this one's master," she said and knelt to the ground.
A momentary pause had Sequencee and Evelyn assess the situation before them.
"What the fuck is this," Risa took out a coat and draped it over Reese.
Sequencee carefully retracted his illusion magic. He released Evelyn from his grip.
"H-huh?"
"Sorry, I was late," Risa said.
"It's alright.. so what happened to her?"
"I don't know, but it seems she's a homunculus now," Risa got up and turned to him. "So what happened?"
"..." Sequencee didn't know what to say. He was just as confused, if not more so after everything that had happened.
First the Sovereign's decree, and now unusual Reese's condition.
"Please give this one a name," Reese requested.
"She's all your's Sequencee. What name will you give her?" Risa asked.
"I don't need to give her a name. She's Reese.." Sequencee's spatial magic reacted to a person approaching, he turned around. "You killed her?"
Aaron lowered his sword.
"Please give this one a name," Reese requested again.
"Tell me the truth."
"It was an accident."
'Bullshit.'
Sequencee got down in front of Reese.
"Reese, tell me what happened to you."
"This body is a suit to impersonate the victim's body. Reese has died."
Sequencee knew this already. He wanted more details.
"Who killed you?"
"Unknown people. From Reese's memories, it was a group of professional hidden guards."
Evelyn choked on her breath; [Unique Skill: Colours of Favorability] showed a faint red emanating from his body.
"Please be relieved. They're all dead now master," Reese announced.
Aaron gritted his teeth.
"What are you?" Sequencee asked with trembling hands.
She thought for a moment before responding, "An advanced homunculus concocted by Reese herself. As this body needs to sustain function, it could be considered a ghoul."
"Evelyn, check her body."
"W-What?"
"You're a priest aren't you?" Sequencee croaked.
"Y-Yes.."
Evelyn got down to Reese's height and placed her hands on her wrist. She had no heart, no pulse, nor organs. There were clear signs of respiration and peristalsis, but that was it.
"She's.. not human." Evelyn croaked.
"That's not what I mean. Is Reese still alive, or is this some blood slime impersonating her?"
What Sequence wanted to know was if this person in front of him was an empty shell, or that it was a homunculus with Reese's soul still residing in it.
"I'm sure she's alive.. because I can see her colour."
"Colour?"
"It's.. a gift of mine. Only people that are alive have colours.."
Sequencee looked at Reese who stared back at him with a confused expression.
"I'm sure she's alive. Her stats look about the same, except for a few notable changes," Risa remarked.