-EARTH-
-Week 5, Day 31/Tuesday, Mayort City-
-Time: 12:35 A.M.-
As the trio looked at the recently awakened masked woman, she tried her best to escape her restraints but her actions were futile as the staff would not budge. There was seemingly no way out for her, so she just looked at her captors intensely.
Nivril reached out and pulled off the mask from her face, revealing something he did not expect at all.
"Snaptrap?" Nivril looked at the one in front of him with utter confusion.
"Just let go of me before you regret it, this isn't about our street brawls anymore. It's bigger than both of us." Snaptrap replied her face contorted into a frown carrying her anger and spite.
"You're a girl?" Nivril could not get over this fact as the face was the same as before but her figure looked totally different, she was even taller.
"Of course I am! What the hell?!" She was very offended by his words and looked at him with even more hate than before.
"What he's trying to say is that you're cute." Sasha spoke to her and hit Nivril's shoulder which hurt him a lot due to his current condition.
"Yup, I was just stunned…." Nivril nodded with the fakest of smiles.
"Nope, you're kind of roughish. From what I can tell it's just about taking better care of your skin and hair. It's not like your face is all that bad. However, your hair is pretty atrocious, and way too short for your face structure." Dramil on the other hand just spoke his mind and gave her advice.
Both Nivril and Sasha just looked at him a bit confused to see him do this.
"What? I'm just being honest about what I see, she's got potential but is wasting it, and that's something I don't like to see." Dramil smiled as he replied proud of his words.
"Yeah… he's like that sometimes, don't mind it." Nivril rolled his eyes at this antics.
"Ok, so we have an interrogation to proceed, remember?" Sasha said seeing as it was trailing off.
Their attention went back to Snaptrap who had a confused expression.
"Wait… Do you mean that potential thing? Do you really think I could be a pretty girl?" After a bit of silence, Snaptrap questioned.
"Of course, I could even recommend you a daily routine with all the products you would need to use, and how long all of it step by step." Dramil reaffirmed.
Seeing this work Nivril and Sasha simply side-eyed each other before deciding to stay silent and let him handle it.
"… I'll just die here, so what's the point anyway?" Snaptrap sighed.
"Relax, that's not the goal here, we really just want the info, and we'll have you around with us if you comply. You'll stay with Sasha, so don't worry." Dramil sat next to her and began talking to her calmly.
"As if I would believe that… This guy hates my guts, and I don't blame him, I almost killed him twice and tried to assault and rob him multiple, and now I spied on him. I would hate me too." Snaptrap had a somber look on her face as she just looked at the ceiling.
"Yes, but it doesn't mean you will or have to die. Plus if you help us now, it's more likely he'll forgive you. I mean, you don't sound like you hate, him so why even bother doing all that?" Dramil asked curiously.
"I… I was curious about the inheritance that allowed this guy to just become a pretty boy after looking like a dying homeless man. I wanted to use it for myself as well. Plus… forget it…" Snaptrap narrowed her eyes and seemed pissed to think about something.
"Just go ahead and let it flow. There's not much to lose at this point, we've come thus far after all." Dramil insisted a smile still present on his face.
"Raylid is… no, was my boyfriend and that's why I was part of his gang. I wanted to get him to really stay with me so, I tried to get my father's gun, but it didn't work out, so I stole one of my mother's poisons to use on this guy.
"It wasn't just that jerk I was worried about, he's an inconsequential prick so he tried making a deal with Marissa Bluelion but that didn't work out, and she looked down on us before calling us vermin, however as we thought things would not work out, that sketchy guy approached and even though I tried to tell Ray not to do it, he would not listen." Snaptrap said her eyes teary as she spoke, but no tears ever came out.
"I'm sorry to hear that, you definitely deserved better, and I'll show you how to get there. Anyway, you made a deal with a dangerous dude, who?" Dramil spoke to her staying the same.
"He introduced himself as Grendal the seeker. He's a very sneaky guy and apparently has connections to the underworld. I heard he's the principal Olivia's husband. Hum… He also looked at the poison before we used it, that's all I know." Snaptrap responded clearly uncomfortable thinking about it.
"I see, so he's the reason you're a cultivator now?" Dramil asked.
Snaptrap nodded.
"I see… then just tell me, one last time." Dramil continued.
"What?" She narrowed not knowing what else he wanted from her.
"What's your real name? Snaptrap does not suit you at all." Dramil inquired softly.
"I… That's... My name is Keicha." She responded with a deep blush on her face, shaken by the sudden question.
Looking at what happened, Nivril could only sigh before hugging Sasha onto him, not a word spoken or a sound let out despite the pain.
"Yeah, yeah, that's all fine and dandy, but where are you operating from, and who exactly does that guy work with? Or how many enemies are we talking about?" Sasha questioned looking at Keicha, as she hugged Nivril, letting her head rest on his chest.
In response, Keicha just looked at her and didn't say anything, silence just taking over for a few seconds before she looked at Dramil and he nodded his head, causing her to sigh.
"I don't know much, we have a base in the southeast part of the city, at an abandoned warehouse for fur jackets, apparently Grendal loves those.
"While I don't know how many people work for him, there were at least 50 people in there. As for who's calling the shots for Grendal, all I heard is that he answers to the Green-Eyed Dragon Hoarder." Keicha answered with a pout visible on her face.
"That works, Dramil you can handle her. My personal matters with her can wait, but I won't forget or forgive, my rebuttal will come." Nivrip said after hearing it all.
"I mean… Do you really need to?" Sasha asked looking him in the eyes.
"Not now, I'll just go to the bathroom, I've got something to try." Nivril let go of her and wanted to head to the bathroom.
"He really needs to stop with this bad habit, anyway. I'm hoping you can keep things together here. I need to get back home so I can prepare for an event at my Dojo in around 6 hours, so yeah. Keep things organized and don't forget to eat." She kissed Nivril and left waving goodbye at Dramil.
"Well, now Keicha, we'll soon start working on you. Dry and mostly broken hair, dry skin, acne, pimples, and short hair that does not favor your facial structure, there's a bit to work on.
"However, it's not beyond solving, if you follow the program I have for you, in around 3 months most of the problems will be behind you, and in about a year, you'll be reborn into the woman you were always supposed to be but nobody helped you reach.
"Unlike a certain someone who cheated using cultivation, we can do this the old-fashioned way." Dramil talked to her showing some genuine excitement at the prospects.
(There he goes again… I really don't understand what makes him so happy about all this. Then again, I guess he didn't get the title Goddess-maker for no reason.) Nivril just flipped him off and went to the bathroom, not worried since Keicha was still fully restrained.
While Dramil continued to talk to Keicha, Nivril was now alone in the bathroom, or at least he thought so.
"So, you're just going to let her live?" Ishmaya asked floating at the level of his face with her arms crossed.
"For now, yes." Nivril sat down and took a deep breath preparing to focus.
"For now, you say. It's always like that for those who inevitably choose to have mercy on their enemies, before for now becomes from now on." She sighed and sat on his head before peering down at his face like a child hanging upside down.
"You say that, but that's not how I do vengeance. Many believe that in order for you to pull through with the act of revenge, you must burn the brightest throughout all of it, never allowing your resolve to weaken for an instant until it's done.
"To me, that's not revenge, that's obsession, and there's a very thin line between the two, after all, revenge is one of the easiest things to obsess over. I however am me at the end of the day, and nothing is more important than me." Nivril replied taking in deep breaths as he readied himself, containing the pain still felt inside.
"So, that's your perspective? Who are you to have such convictions?" Ishmaya questioned him.
"I am, Nivril Armondis Mortalis, as simple as that. I'm me." He replied completely sure of his response.
"That hubris will actually kill you the next time, you have no name to believe your delusions." She rolled her eyes not believing he was really foolish enough to think his name or word held power where he stood right now.
"The only difference between reality and unreality is perspective, and let's just say I'll eventually change the perspective to my own." He announced with a smile as he managed to reach the focus moment.
(Such a foolish mindset, he'll if he keeps believing that. It's not my problem anyway.) Ishmaya shook her head and said nothing more only watching over him.
At that time he achieved the perfect focus, and as the spirit energy became one with his eyes, something else happened, having already dealt with 3 types of energy aside from spirit energy, this was no longer a problem for him, as the mastery of how to control it to this very basic level came naturally.
Soon he got up only to see that he had phased out of his body like a minor reflection moving on its own, or a shadow that got separated from the body, and the bathroom in which he resided was different, very different from how it was supposed to be with colors inverted and distortion throughout all of the space.
Only the fact he could see his unmoving body told him that he was somehow connected to the physical world, otherwise this contorted version of things was far from it.
"So, this is the spirit world?" Nivril questioned as he looked around.
"No, it's just the Astral reflection of earth, the spirit world is an adjacent reality, completely separate from the main one." Ishmaya looked straight at Nivril as she responded.
"You can see me?" Nivril knew the answer but still asked.
"Of course, fairies are spiritual beings. This isn't the spirit world, though. Each planet has a mirror reflection that works like a middle ground between the physical world and the spiritual world, and that's the Astral world, where you are right now." She explained calmly though her expression didn't change at all.
"That's different… so every planet has its own version of this place?" Nivril was still surprised by the place, as it felt like a blurred-out version of the world that you could see perfectly focused.
"Yes, and they are all connected, but if I were you, I would focus on dealing with the two uninvited guests that are linked to your soul." Ishmaya crossed her arms and answered with a no expression.
"Who or what are you talk-" He was about to ask and just then he was sucked in by some strong force that pulled him through.
This caused him to pass through various walls and he even saw Dramil still talking to Keicha, before going through more walls to where he found Peris in her room under the covers doing something.
(Is she…) Before he could worry about that, however, he passed through another wall and saw something else.
Nevi was seated in a different room reading about something before she turned to look directly at him, and her eyes followed him all the way through as he was dragged further by the unknown force.
(Did she just see me in astral form?!) Nivril was confused by this, but there was no time to think about it as the force pulling him intensified.
Soon it felt like his astral form was blinked into some other point in space entirely from how it was moved only to just stop.
_________________________________________
-???-
"Would you look at that… how the mighty have fallen. I would never get a chance to kill you for what you did to me, but I guess fate decided otherwise." As Nivril gained awareness of where he was, he heard a voice coming from a dark corridor in front of him in this distorted space, but the worst part was that the voice felt familiar but he didn't know why.
"Who or what are you?" Nivril sighed and got up at this point more so tired of these odd experiences being pulled to weird places rather than anything else.
"How rude, you spend thousands of years hiding like a rat and plotting to end! You even achieved it and yet, you claim to have forgotten me? Did your meeting with me scar you so much that you asked the Gods to forget?" Footsteps could be heard getting closer as the voice responded.
"Well, once you've lived enough lives it gets a bit hard to know about every little thing you did during each of them." Nivril bluffed completely oblivious to who or what is talking to.
"Lying is not your strong suit, Hero Of Mibran. It seems you are not the same one I met before, what a pity, revenge is not well served when the target has changed too much, it just becomes a punishment, rather than an act of self-justice or even better, pure evil." The footsteps were very close and at any moment that who owned the voice would be before Nivril.
"Mibran… So, you're from there… I didn't expect to ever meet someone from there again." Nivril replied ready to meet them.
"Even still, nothing brings me more joice than to witness your pain." A hand from the darkness stabbed Nivril's chest and sent a wave of pain through him as a wide vicious smile and glowing red eyes also emerged from it.