The merchant Ginat was a man of his word. Even traumatized from seeing the exploits of Poison Bloom up close, he had not forgotten that he had promised Zack a surprise at The Devil's Flask the next day.
As promised therefore he was knocking on Zack's door as soon as the afternoon came. Zack opened the door with a smile expecting Ginat there.
"Old man how come everytime I hear a knock on my door it's you?" Zack said good-humouredly.
"That's because, Old man, you have no other friend in town besides me." Ginat replied in the same manner and both of them laughed. It seemed Ginat had already put yesterday's encounter with Poison Bloom behind him.
"I promised you a surprise today friend and you shall receive it today at the Flask." Ginat continued, causing Zack to look at him with his eyebrows raised.
"I hope the surprise isn't that you have decided to give up alcohol."
"My friend if that day ever comes you have my permission to cut off my head."
And thus laughing both of them set off towards The Devil's Flask.
.XX.
At The Devil's Flask, after a couple of drinks both of them began joking boisterously. Zack had by that time started completely disregarding the mission that Pende and Miden had given him, primarily because it was along time since he had any contact from Pende and he began to wish somewhat that it was all a dream. A voice in the back of his head used to sometimes remind him that Miden was his best bet at trying to find Zoe and Raorka but after a couple of drinks he would start trying to find excuses for that as well.
"Well then Zack, I promised you a surprise and that's what you will have. Come with me." Ginat said after a few drinks, beckoning Zack to stand up and then leading him through deeper into the Devil's Flask.
"Wheerre are you taking me Ginaaat?" Zack said, slurring his words due to his intoxication.
"You'll see." Ginat would respond with a knowing smile.
After a series of twisting and turning corridors, made longer due to how drunk Zack was, they finally arrived in front of a red door. With a wink, Ginat pulled the door open and pushed Zack inside.
Zack stumbled inside and found a beautiful woman sitting half-naked inside the room. As he entered, the woman stirred and looked up at him seductively.
"What'll it be tonight master?" She asked, moving and slithering her body towards Zack.
"No no what's this Ginat?" Zack asked stumbling back. He immediately turned around and made for the door but Ginat stood there blocking his way.
"Try it once my friend. You'll not regret it." Ginat coaxed him.
"No no, I am married Ginat. Happily!"
"And yet you are separated from your wife. Who knows when you'll find her again? Madorie here is the best whore in Odania, she'll make you feel things even your wife won't make you feel. And the best part? It means nothing. It's not cheating, you'll still go back to your wife."
However Zack still vehemently shook his head. "No, I can't. I wouldn't be able to face Zoe."
"Is that your wife's name? Zoe?"
Zack nodded.
"Let me ask you something. Does Zoe suck your cock?"
"W-what?" Zack was visibly stunned.
"Does your wife suck your cock?" Ginat repeated, little forcefully this time.
"N-no of course she doesn't." Zoe hated putting her mouth anywhere near something this dirty. Zack remembered one time when Zoe had joked about it.
'I don't know how some women can handle blowjobs. I couldn't imagine putting something from where pee comes out in my mouth.' She had said laughing. Zack had joined her at the time, and had even agreed with what she was saying.
"Does your wife allow you to fuck her ass?" Ginat continued calmly.
"N-no." Zack responded, still slurring. He was still unable to see or think clearly, but he wondered whether Ginat had put something in his drink to make him so inebriated.
"Does your wife allow you to fuck her as hard as you want for as long as you want?" Ginat asked again, this time his voice was extremely loud.
"Noooo." Zack said, almost collapsing to the floor and holding the wall beside him for support.
"Well, Madorie here will do all that and more. She will make your most depraved desires come true." Ginat's voice had reduced down to a whisper as he bent near Zack's ear.
On the other end of the room, Madorie climbed down from the bed and approached Zack with a seductive smile. She bent down on the floor and slithered towards him. She reached over his trousers and wrapped her hands around his waist, as if to keep him trapped in a lock.
Even in such an inebriated state, Zack knew what was happening was wrong. But some part of his brain was actually encouraging it.
Would it really be so bad?
Yes! I love Zoe.
But this is not cheating, the merchant himself told us so.
It is!
We deserve a break don't we? Thrust in a different world, having to run around doing errands for a terrorist.
No no we need to find Zoe and Raorka. Wife and son. Raorka and Zoeeee.
As the argument raged on within him however, Madorie, with Ginat's silent encouragement, had reached over and undid the trousers straps of Zack. Then she slowly and seductively pulled his trousers down even as Zack weakly protested.
"Aha." She said with a smile as she touched the tip of Zack's now exposed cock.
"Aaah." Zack softly moaned even as he tried to wiggle back.
"Don't struggle friend." Ginat cooed pushing him back towards Madorie.
Madorie smiled and brought her lips tantalizingly over Zack's cock which began stirring from her hot breath falling rhythmically over it.
"No, stop it." Zack's protests were getting weaker and weaker, as it seemed the devil inside him was winning the fight.
And then in a single motion Madorie put Zack's cock completely inside her mouth and began sucking. Her tongue wrapped around the shaft of his dick and began pressing. It was like an electric shock of pleasure to Zack.
Bzzt
The sense of pleasure caused by Madorie sucking his cock triggered something else in Zack. He felt as if there was actual electricity coursing through his blood stream. All his drunkenness vanished in an instant and his head became as clear as it ever had been.
What the hell am I doing?!?
"Ouch." Madorie cried as she pulled up and looked shocked at Zack. Before she could get up, Zack extended his finger and a burst of electricity shot out from there hitting her in the chest and throwing her back against the bed.
"S-stay away from me." Zack said shakily as he stood up, clumsily tying back his trousers and then turning to Ginat, who now had a hard look on his face.
"Stay away from me." Zack said firmly holding his hand extended towards the merchant.
Ginat sighed. "So it had to be this way huh." He had a sad look on his face.
"What do you mean?" Zack asked. He had got up and stood upright now after tying up his trousers.
"What do you think I mean? I thought I would get all this over with without spilling blood but you didn't go along with the plan."
Zack was growing more and more confused.
What the fuck is he talking about?
"Look Ginat you have done something unforgivable tonight. I won't press charges against you so please never contact me again."
"You won't press charges?! You?!!" Ginat said and then laughed mirthlessly.
"You are scum Zack. A scum Chianti Hunter. I am a Crown informant you know? I have already informed the Crown about you and your Hunter pals. There is going to be an Emperor Knight dispatched here very soon, and they will make mincemeat out of your little gang."
Zack's blood had run cold in the middle of Ginat's small speech.
He knows!
How does he know!?!
"Are you thinking how I know?" Ginat said with a wry smile as if reading Zack's thoughts.
Zack said nothing, keeping his eyes on Ginat while he debated furiously within himself about what to do in this situation.
Ginat shrugged. "Well I'll tell you anyway since you are about to die.
You see your little pal Pende killed the captain of the Odania guard a few days back. I'm sure you are well versed with that incident. Well we have been keeping him under watch since then. And I-" Here Ginat proudly thumped his own chest, "- am the Crown informant of choice here in Odania, so of course I was the one keeping tabs on him. We knew your every move as soon as you two entered the town."
Ginat approached slowly, smiling widely now.
"So you work for Fermi Ja?" Zack asked slowly. There was a quiet rage building up inside him.
"I work only for the Emperor of Anasuril." Ginat said solemnly.
"And now I am sorry Zack, if that is even your real name, but I need to know a lot of things from you. And my methods are not always this pleasant."
"So this....this whore was your idea of extracting information from me?"
Ginat shrugged. "Works on most men doesn't it? As far as I am concerned it's a win-win. You feel pleasure and I get what I want. In fact now that I have to torture you it'll be a win for me only."
Ginat raised his hand and intoned, "Inito. [[Capture the Flag]]".
A pole materialized in his hand. Both ends of the pole had some sort of net attached to it and as Zack observed there was also a long needle attached at the same point.
"Surprised? My magik is uncategorized, I'm afraid. But it's perfect for what I do." Ginat said, still smiling.
Zack stepped back, and found his back to the wall of the room. He had minimal training in electricity magik, only what Miden had briefly explained to him. He was far away from Inito, and he knew that put him at a severe disadvantage.
Without warning, Ginat threw the pole in his hand. Or rather he still held onto it but it extended from his grip, the needle coming straight at Zack's eyes. Zack wasn't the most althetic person, so he tried to clumsily get out of the way but the needle still slashed past his back.
As Zack rolled away, he winced in pain at the cut.
"I could have killed you easily you know."
Zack didn't respond but just grunted. Even though he was frustrated, he knew Ginat was right.
But he won't because he still needs information.
He made a fist with his right hand and began to concentrate the magik he had there. He had to wait for an opportunity to get out of this room and escape or send some sort of signal to Pende.
Ginat pulled back his pole, and in midair changed the direction, so that it immediately again shot out towards where Zack was crouched down. This time however Zack didn't attempt to dodge, despite every survival instinct telling him to jump out of the way.
The needle was ten metres from his face.
Five metres.
Two metres.
The needle was right in front of him, and it took all of Zack's willpower to stand still as the sharp edge rushed towards his eye. At the last moment, the needle changed direction and shot towards his right foot, piercing through it cleanly.
The pain was immense and instantaneous. Zack cried out in pain but at the same time released the magik through his foot into the needle and from there into the pole.
Electricity travels at a speed of 300,000 kilometres per second through metal. Ginat realized what was happening the moment the needle of his pole struck Zack's foot but even so he didn't have any time to take any countermeasures. He was struck and got thrown back with his pole towards one of the walls in the room, crashing straight into it.
With a small thump he fell on the ground, unconscious.
Zack slowly got up. His right foot was still bleeding and he knew he needed to bandage it up. But first he needed to get the hell out of there.
Slowly he limped out of the door. He looked around himself, trying to determine exactly where he was and where the exit was. He remembered that he enter this room through the Devil's Flask.
As he walked, his feet felt heavier. Zack dragged his right foot through, leaving footprints of blood.
I can't stop now.
I need to contact Pende as fast as possible.
For all his misgivings with the Chianti Hunters, Zack realized again that they were his only hope of reuniting with his wife and son.
Oh Zoe Zoe, how could I have been tempted so easily.
Forgive me Zoe.
But the time for lamentation was not now. Now was the time for action and escape. However his feet continued to feel heavier. Frustrated Zack looked down to assess the injury.
There was a net tangled with his right foot.
Confused, Zack looked at it again.
Yes no doubt about it, a net was wrapped completely around his right foot.
What the...
"Didn't think you could escape this easily did you?" Ginat's voice broke his chain of thought like a bulldozer.
Zack looked back to see Ginat also limping towards him. He appeared much more injured, his right arm seemed completely burnt from the electric shock, hanging limply by his side, and he was bleeding from his forehead. However he had a smile plastered on his face and he was holding his pole in hand. Zack saw that the net he had seen earlier attached to the top of the pole with the needle had extended from there and was not tied around his foot.
"You can't escape my Inito once you have been stabbed. The net of [[Capture the Flag]] will always spawn right where the needle struck the last time. Since your foot was the last place the needle struck, I will be able to reach you even if you go to the ends of this world, simply through the net." Ginat explained.
"Why are you telling me the details about your power?"
"Isn't it obvious? Because I don't intend for you to live of course." Ginat said as he swung the pole towards him. The net on Zack's foot wrapped around his leg and brought him crashing down to the floor, then he began sliding towards Ginat.
Zack began haphazardly trying to shoot bolts of electricity towards Ginat, but in his panic he couldn't aim properly and Ginat didn't even have to dodge for the bolts to sail harmlessly past him.
By the time Zack reached Ginat, his entire body had been entwined by the net on one side of the pole. With a swift motion, Ginat folded the pole so that the other side with the needle came down towards Zack, and he held the needle close to Zack's face.
"I do need you alive for the information now. But hey I don't need all of you. No armed you will talk just as much as both armed you right?" He whispered menacingly bringing the needle over Zack's left arm as he struggled futilely.
It happened so fast that even though Zack was right beneath him, he didn't notice it until it had already happened.
One second Ginat was hovering above him, pole in hand threatening to pierce his arm.
The next second there was a hand that had pierced right through his chest. As the blood splattered from Ginat's open hole, he looked dumbfounded once at Zack, tried saying something, but then gurgled on his own blood before falling dead. As soon as he died, the net surrounding Zack's body disappeared.
Zack looked up, just as surprised as Ginat, to see the man standing there behind Ginat.
"Having fun old man?" Pende asked with a wolfish smile, blood still dripping down slowly from his arms.