I watch, petrified by guilt, shame, and self-hatred all at once, as the old man who has given me so much is slowly drained of his life and falls onto his stomach facing me. A black stream, much more visible than the time the Ratbeak was killed by the Lily, flows into me. And I have never hated the feeling of warmth and rejuvenation more than now with what is currently flooding through my body.
And I can see that even though Edmund is being consumed by the shot from the Lily that I fired, his face is devoid of hate or anger while looking at me. Just sadness and acceptance. Then with what is probably the last of the energy within him not yet siphoned by the Lily, he mouths to me as he cannot speak.
I can't quite catch all he meant to say, though, and I can only see his mouth move. Quiet words stab at me, each of which digs deep into my heart.
"Sorry, I wasn't..."
My mind shakes with the impact of Edmund's death as my body rapidly recovers. The shock of his death overwhelms me, and to make things even worse is the chuckle and derision that spews from Alexos.
"Ah! Isn't this just wonderful! The little monster slays his teacher. It's like an old literary tale I've once read. The Owl and the Ferret. The old ferret taught a young owl to hunt, but eventually, once the owl became self-sufficient, it grew hungry throughout the winter and ate the ferret. What a tragedy, indeed. Short and sweet."
Despite this hateful thing that is occurring, I still notice that I am healing so much faster and being restored with more energy than any other time I've fired the Lily. And within five seconds of the trigger being pulled, I can already move again with my exhaustion subsiding considerably.
But before I can take advantage of this renewed strength, Alexos walks closer to me. Or at least what he is willing to show me walks to me. I think I vaguely understand how he does things. He never shows the real him. But maybe he will just before he kills me. That is his goal, right? Someone as confident and crazed as him will likely want to gloat. And I got one bullet left in the Lily.
I try to hide the Lily behind me as I cock the hammer back without looking. I pay close attention to every action Alexos and I take, for I have to be careful of what's real. And what's not. What is merely a figment of Alexos' powers or reality?
Alexos then reaches me and kneels down to meet my eyes. He stares at me for a moment, and I do the same. Then out of nowhere, a dagger appears and goes flying into my vision. I don't flinch but immediately pull out the Lily and pull the trigger, hoping to kill him as I die.
As I see the knife grow exponentially more prominent in my left eye, in my other eye, I see the hammer of the Lily pull back as the barrel is pointed at him. And then, anticlimactic, nothing happens.
The dagger flies through my head like an illusion, and the Lily doesn't even fire. Shocked and confused, I stare out the gun before it's gradually replaced with a small ordinary tree root in front of my very eyes.
The all too familiar and hated laugh of a man I've quickly grown to despise chuckles once again, standing just a few feet away from me, this time with an acquainted gun in his hand, the Blooming Spider Lily.
"Ah, sorry bout' that. I know that little gun you had there, and I just had to take it. Y'know, it was your father's. I saw him with it once. Of course, only once, but that's enough to make it his. Crazy how many he must have killed to create the river of darkness within this thing. Oh, and I think I figured out what's wrong with you, kid. You don't seem to be afraid of me. Or even dying, for that matter."
What is he even talking about? Fear? How can I not feel fear? Is that not just similar to shock? I don't understand. What's he talking about, my father killing people to make the Lily? I figured he found it during his travels.
Unable to help myself, I ask Alexos.
"What do you mean by not feeling fear?"
He points at me with excitement.
"See! That's exactly what I'm talking about. You are about to die, yet you still ask as if nothing is wrong. Tell me, do you know what it's like to simply look at something and be paralyzed, unable to move because you know it can kill you in seconds? Or have your heartbeat soar and mind give up in the face of an unstoppable threat?"
What? No. Why would I be paralyzed just looking at something? Of course, I would act even if I'm likely to die. How could I just not do something? Not fight? I just don't understand. Ma never taught me to back down from a fight.
Alexos breaks my train of thought abruptly with words that widen my eyes, first in relief, then shock.
"Oh, would you look at the time? The nearby Hunters have finally arrived. Too bad they most definitely saw you shoot Edmund with me nowhere to be seen. I hope you have fun explaining why you killed a decorated veteran. They seem competent, so I'll speak with you again if you somehow live through this. Ciao."
And with his goodbye, he completely fades from my vision as I hear shouts and approaching footsteps to my right that are already way too close for me not to have heard previously. Damnit. His fucking illusions!
With little time to spare, I only glance at the root in my hand before I throw it to the ground and draw my sword and knife. Then I look towards the new looming threat. I can't believe I might have to fight Hunters. They're the ones I wanted to join! Godamnit Alexos! Not to mention I haven't even fully processed what just happened to Edmund. But he might still be alive somehow. I've only ever shot 1st Sigiled and below things with the Lily, so he might be okay, seeing as he was a 3rd Sigil. I hope. But despite my hope, I don't have it in me to look at him right now.
I can ponder Edmund's condition no longer as the approaching Hunters enter my vision in the dark forest. There are three of them, spread out into an arrowhead. Two guys and one girl with the girl in the lead. All with weapons already drawn.
The guy on the left of the arrow formation has a bow and an arrow already nocked as they come close enough to see through the thick trees. He also appears to be wearing a full camo suit but with the wrong camo for this environment, which is more white and black than green and brown for the current climate.
The girl in the middle has two twin daggers resting in her hands that curve like an adder's fangs. She has her hair tied up in a ponytail and is wearing leather armor that doesn't seem to restrict movement.
And lastly, the man on the right is a mountain of a man wielding a massive greatsword that fits his stature. He is definitely close to seven feet tall. He looks pretty bulky in his thick leather armor, incredibly thick armor near his right shoulder.
They altogether assess me. And I just watch with my weapons drawn, waiting to see what they do first. And the first to act is the woman, who asks a question to the man with a bow as she looks at Edmund and then back to me.
"This the kid who shot the Bloodhound? You sure?"
The man with the bow replies clearly and briefly as he nods his head.
"Yes. Just him and the Bloodhound. No one else."
I raise my hands and try to plead my case. I don't want to fight these guys. They'll probably kill me.
"I killed him, yes, but it was an accident. We were fighting the Phantom Pain, and he made me shoot him in an illusion."
And the faces of the three in front of me do not reflect what I just said. Instead, they twist into hate and disgust as they spread out further around me. Uh, what the hell just happened? I try again, growing increasingly worried that something is wrong.
"Uh, hello? Did you not hear me? We were fighting the Phantom Pain. Illusions and shit?"
And they just speed up further as they close in on me, using hand signals to communicate instead of speaking. And I have no idea what they mean. But at least the confusion is cleared in just a short second as I hear a voice that makes me grit my teeth in anger.
"Ah, I couldn't have this be all sunshine and rainbows. I wanna see you suffer, so I made a little change to what you said in their minds. Something… a little more psychotic. Have fun. I'll be watching."
That fucker. I twist my jaw even further in anger, but I can't be distracted right now as the giant man with the greatsword approaches me. And before he reaches me, I rush deep into my mind and frantically force my dull and slow Ether into the stream of Physical Strengthening. I will need every scrap of power I can for this, as it seems they are hellbent on killing me. I almost regret using the skill as the headache that slightly subsided with my lack of Ether for a bit returns at full force, plus some change.
I am thankful for my recent practice and almost constant use of the skill because I barely get it flowing before the man is upon me. He exhales a huge breath visible in the chilly autumn air before slamming a massive foot into the ground and swinging his greatsword at me dangerously. It comes in at a diagonal towards my right shoulder, far too fast for a man of his stature.
I quickly go to dodge underneath the swing, but I see an arrow currently flying toward where I wish to escape. Hoping my precision and speed will prevail, I swing my dagger, trying to hit the arrow at the last moment while the air just above my head wails in turmoil.
I hit it, but only barely. My increased precision is enough to knock it off its target, my chest, and into my right shoulder. I grunt in pain before sidestepping further to get away from the big man, but I make sure to keep my body facing him in case of a follow-up attack.
I realize my focus on him alone was a mistake very quickly as I feel a sharp pain in the back of my left ankle as I lose balance. I turn back reflexively. It's the woman with the daggers. She approached me without my notice and sliced my achilles tendon. I have to push the rest of my weight onto my right leg now, and my left refuses to hold even an ounce of weight without screaming in pain.
Their teamwork is incredible. Is this a typical hunting party? I really wish to stop and admire their efficacy at killing. Still, I cannot when that efficacy is directed toward me.
A short lull in the skirmish is made after my tendon is cut. The three reset their formation; this time, the archer nocks three arrows. Again, I need to do better. I haven't even hurt one of them yet, and I have an arrow in my shoulder with a disabled leg.
I have to take the initiative. Edmund used to say the few times we trained that I'm too reactive. So, I do as he advised. But just before doing so, I push my already withered Ether to branch into another stream, Chain Eyes. I gotta know what I'm working with here.
The man with the greatsword and the one with the bow have faint red chains surrounding them, similar to mine, while the woman with the daggers has a deep orange one. So, two 1st Sigils and a 2nd Sigil. This is gonna be rough. I ready my stance to be prepared for what's to come.
Then the big man charges me once more after the woman, who is probably the leader, gives him a hand signal that I have no clue what it means. But despite not knowing its meaning, I take his charge in stride as I meet him.
Limping heavily but still faster than the man, I dart in with the rapier, trying to hide from the archer using his body. I get a quick stab in and try to replicate what the woman did to me by hitting vital points. He is too slow and bulky to stop a thin blade from entering his wrist accurately going around his gauntlet.
The blade tears a small hole into his wrist, making that arm unable to help wield his enormous sword. But it doesn't help me much as I curse because it just hefts it with one hand and swings it at me anyway.
He only has one arm in the swing, though, and I'm close to half his size, so I take advantage of this. I know my movement is hampered by a wounded leg, so I use him as my cover. I leap up at him, trying to get too close for his blade to reach me, as I grab onto and wrap around the arm swinging at me with my whole body.
A vast force enters my body as I cough out all the air I just inhaled, but I elude his blade. I must look like a small monkey on an ordinary man as I hold onto him. Then, ignoring the humorous position, I take my knife and try to stab him in the eye.
As I do so, I see him flinch, and because of that, I hesitate. Do I really want to go in for the kill? I can't. These people think I'm the bad guy. That I'm the murderer. They are just doing their jobs, trying to help others.
My hesitation lasts long enough for the man to recover and his archer to get into position. Then, I hear a whistling arrow and see the mountain I'm currently climbing go to headbutt me. And in the corner of my eye, I can see that the arrow looks to be aimed to land behind my head. The pointed projectile will get me if I dodge back and try to jump off. If I try and turn to avoid the arrow, the headbutt will. So, I do the only thing I can think of in less than a second.
I wrap my legs around the man's arms and let go with my own arms. Gravity pulls me from the man's held-up arm and towards the ground. I dodge both the arrow and the headbutt. Then, taking this brief second falling, I come to a decision.
It's my life or theirs. And I'm not gonna let Edmund die for no reason. These people don't even know who really killed him. So, it's gonna have to be them. Maybe I can wound them enough to try and explain myself. But no. That wouldn't work because Alexos is still here. He'd ruin any chance of communication. So, these people must die, for I cannot.
Only now do I understand what Alexos meant about fear. Or at least partially. I'm not quite frozen in action, but I am hesitating. Is that because I'm unwilling to hurt them? Of the consequences that might occur? Or just guilty? I'm unsure what the difference is.
Anyway, my inner contemplation and conundrum come to a close, with me slamming my knife into the back of the man's knee as I spin towards the ground using his arm as leverage. What I didn't expect, however, was that as he fell, me being upside down now, I was the first to slam into the ground, and I did so headfirst.
I roll away from the fallen man while I try to shake out the impact that shook my brain in its skull, but before I can recover, I see the woman go in to land a strike on me. With my still shaken mind, I attempt to scramble out of the way, but she catches me with one hand and nails my right arm holding my rapier into the ground with her dagger. I yell out in pain as I knee her in the stomach and force her off of me.
Then, as I yank the serpentine dagger still in my arm, another arrow comes whistling at me. With no other choice, I let the arrow slam into my back, causing another sprout of pain, thankfully lessened by Physical Strengthening. Using that pain as motivation, I rip the dagger out of my arm as a large river of blood pools out of the wound.
That's way too big to be usual for a stab. Scrutinizing at the dagger, I can feel some Ether within it. Definitely a Claymore of some sort with an enhancement like my rapier but geared toward blood loss. I loop it onto my belt for now.
And with this increased blood loss, I'm starting to feel woozy, even with Physical Enhancement still flowing through me. I take a gander around me as the three of them back off a bit, and the archer nocks another arrow. I then move into a kneel with the knee of my torn heel on the ground and the uninjured leg's foot planted firmly into the dirt.
Then without giving them a chance to stop me, I close my eyes once more and force my Ether to flow again, even if it may be the last.