Cutting the Loose Ends

“Huh?!” escaped from Al’s lips as he tried to look at Jake from the corners of his eyes. He felt a powerful gust of wind behind his back.

“GUARDS! HELP!” he yelled out, trying to dodge to the left at the same time. Thanks to moving to the left, the knife missed his heart and entered right beside his spine instead. A shocking pain rushed through his body, followed by a spasm. Gritting his teeth, he clenched his fists and the muscles in his body stiffened up.

“Guh…” he grumbled, falling forward.

“Oh, I’ve struck a nerve point, it seems” Jake mumbled with a surprised face. Dred jumped out of Elena’s shadow and bit into Al’s clothes. Turning around, the three of them fled. Right when they turned around the corner, the guards appeared behind Jake.

As he turned around, he used a Wind Blade to thrust it into his right side and break one of his ribs. Holding his wound, gritting his teeth, he turned around, still pointing towards where Elena left. “They… went that way,” he said with a gasp.

The guards, who saw only the tip of Dred’s black tail nodded their heads and rushed after them. Only one person stayed back to check on Jake. “Are you alright? That’s a nice wound you’ve got. I’m sure the captain will question you later. You should take a rest for now,” he asked, looking at Jake’s wound.

“Yeah. But thank the Lord, their dagger hit my rib. I think that it broke, but I’ll be fine. Unlike Al… I’m quite sure that he is done for,” he gasped another time.

“Go back to the guard post, I’ll go after them,” the guard said, patting his back and going after the others. Holding his wound, Jake left the scene.

---

“Why are we dragging him? His blood is leaving traces-” Audrey started as she turned her head, only to realize that Dred’s shadow was devouring every drop.

“He is slowing us down, but considering how things turned out, we might as well use this chance to get our hands on a guinea pig. We will have to flee the city for now. Use those sexy legs or you will be left behind!” Elena replied, picking up her running speed.

“Gwet on my bwack,” Dred grunted, his mouth stuffed with Al’s clothes.

“You… won’t escape” Al mumbled, his body completely paralytic. Elena and Audrey did as told. With Dred’s running speed, they trod through the alleyways with incredible speed, leaving behind every guard. Thanks to using their Shadow Forms, all people had seen were shady outlines of their bodies. Seeing the thick, white stone wall in front of them, Elena and Audrey shot two huge black balls towards it, followed by two thick, long vines, which crushed the remaining stone blocks.

Clicking her tongue, Elena said, “There had to be a plain here… damn it.” But thanks to Dred’s speed, by the time the guards reached the breach on the wall, they didn’t see anyone.

“Fuck it, they got away!” a guard shouted, seeing the empty plain in front of him. He had a well-toned body and purple hair, his eyes having the same color. He was a hundred and ninety centimeters tall, and also had a ten centimeters long scar on his left arm. A young girl caught up in the next second and looked at the man in front of her, respect clear in her eyes.

Panting heavily “Haah- Lord Gautama is really incredible. Even though I’m an agility type, you always leave me behind” she said, leaning on her slender legs, waving her long, red hair.

Looking at her small posture from the corners of his eyes, he pointed towards the plain, “Then what about those killers? They left me behind. I was supposed to catch them and the worst is that they have no traces. Can you see any footprints?”

“No… but the Lord has surely seen that black tail. At least, we have some clue,” the girl replied, standing up with a smile on her face, her breasts jiggling slightly. She was no more than a hundred and sixty-five centimeters tall.

Turning around, Gautama put his hand on her beautiful face, “Hoa, you are always so optimistic. It’s worth the money to hire you in my mansion. You can always bring a smile to my face.”

“Lord Gautama is too kind to me,” she replied with a blush.

Waving his hand, he walked away as he said, “Let’s go and question that guard. I should take over that old fool’s position too. He has been doing nothing but piling up his bribes. I’ll increase the security level in the city. Trouble is brewing.”

“Yes!” Hoa exclaimed, following in his steps.

---

“Won’t they follow us?” Audrey asked, turning around with a worried look on her face. The forest was only a few meters away. As Dred entered it, he stopped to turn around.

“I don’t think so. If they couldn’t catch up with us even after running through half of the city, they won’t do it in the future either. Considering that we hid our tracks, they would be stupid if they followed us. Can you see him?” she asked, pointing towards the purple haired guy, who stood in front of the breach on the wall.

After standing there for a few seconds, they saw as he turned around, along with the beauty, who arrived only a second later. “They really left. Heh, they left you to your fate,” Audrey snorted, looking at Al.

“L-Laugh all you want. GUH- don’t shake me… They will catch you,” he said through gritted teeth.

“Yeah, Dred. Don’t shake him or else the knife might come out of his back and then we will have to kill him. I have better plans than that,” Elena agreed with Al, asking, “And how should we call you?”

“Your Father, haha,” he laughed with a smile on his face, ignoring the pain.

“I have never had such a thing,” she replied with a kick.

“Perfect! I can be your Father in that case!” he ridiculed for the second time, his voice whistling while laughing.

“His lungs must be punctured… let’s hurry up before he dies on us,” Elena urged her partner to run.

“Owkay,” he obeyed and ran further into the forest. Using Earth Magic, they created a simple house with a large table in the middle. Dropping Al on top of it, Elena cracked her fingers, while Audrey sat down in a corner, Dred beside her. Feeling his soft fur, she couldn’t help but start caressing his side. A smile formed on her face when she heard him purring like a cat. “Heh~ this is fun,” she mumbled with a smug look on her face.

“Ah, wait! Will Jake be alright?” she raised her head with a worried look on her face, looking at Elena with raised brows.

“Don’t worry about him. He isn’t stupid. If not for my aura, he wouldn’t have fallen into my trap either. Which makes me remember… we must kill Derrel since he could be a potential threat. He is the only one who knows about Dred and… damn it, we will have to kill a few guards too. They’ll definitely look for us if they remember Dred. It’s good that you always stayed in my shadow when we walked around in the city,” Elena explained, realizing another important problem.

“What do you mean? Have they seen Dred?” Audrey asked, not understanding Elena’s worry.

“No. They saw nothing but a black tail. I heard of it through my bacteria. Before you ask, I cut my Mana with them, so they died out. They have no way to sense them and find us. My point is, they might think that we were some kind of cat-people. We better prepare for the worst case scenario. How things turn out will heavily depend on Jake’s creativity” Elena replied, pulling out a knife from the hilt on her right thigh.

Spinning it on her palm, she grabbed its handle and thrust it into the hard, earth table beside Al’s head. Thick earth shackles rose up and covered his arms, legs, waist, and neck. Under the control of her Mana, they slowly tightened around Al’s body.

“I cu-rse yhou…” he whispered, his head starting to be purple.

“Oh, too much” she mumbled, slightly loosening up the shackles. There was a hole right under the wound on his back, so she left the knife in his back. It would continue to suppress whatever nerve point it suppressed up till now, which would paralyze Al. It was perfect for her.

“What do you want from me?” his worried voice echoing in the small and empty earth house.

“You’ll see it soon enough,” she replied, taking out a strange herb from her storage ring.

Rolling it between her fingers, she held it in front of Al’s eyes. “You see, this is a herb called Nettlion. We ran into it when Jake accidentally stepped into a whole bush. It numbed his body and he didn’t feel even when I pinched him with all my strength. Since I’m not a sadist, I’ll use this on you,” she replied, forming an earth-glove around her hand to grind it on his body.

“Whlat… tlis is leally--” he couldn’t finish his words as even his jaws went numb.

Burning the herb with Fire Magic, she dissolved the earth-glove and took her knife into her hands. She cut his forehead and used a tiny bit of Dark Magic to create a hole in his skull. “I’ll need something to stop his blood. The biggest part of blood is Water and Oxygen. Use Water and Wind Magic to control those,” she looked at Audrey.

“This is creepy…” she jumped up and grunted upon seeing Al’s current state.

“Oh, it is. Dred, if you please,” she replied, asking for Dred’s help too. He sat down right above Al’s head, his head still above the stone table. His whiskers turned into round, black threads of shadows and crept through the newly formed hole. Connecting to Al’s brain he felt a sudden resistance.

“GET OUT OF MY MIND!” Al shouted at him in his mind. Ignoring it, he went further in.

“I can’t move his body since it is paralyzed, but I can use his Mana. Use Ekilsta and try to take over the Spell I’ll use,” Dred mumbled with his eyes closed.

Nodding her head, Elena focused on the forming ball of water in the air. As her Mana touched the water ball, it was repelled.

“DON’T USE ME AS A SPELL CATALYST” Al shouted in Dred’s mind, further annoying him.

Elena controlled her bacterium and moved them towards Al’s brain. Using Ekilsta, she tried to copy Al’s mind into it, removing Frank’s DNA at the same time. “Tch… I wouldn’t have used him after the current events anyway” she said with annoyance.

As Ekilsta copied more and more of Al’s mind, her Mana was slowly entering the water ball, until finally taking it over. She was surprised to see that it moved as she willed it.

“He is dying here…” Audrey remarked, seeing his face turning paler.

“It’s as I thought. Consciousness is nothing but a collection of our memories. Our brains only relate everything to our memories. Let’s say I put my hand into a bowl of cold water. My brain will know what it is by comparing it to my memory and the feeling of cold receptors. Since Dred cast the water ball through Al’s mind, it had his consciousness. As I slowly took over his memories, I became able to turn my consciousness into the same as his and on the expense of some additional Mana, control his spell” Elena explained everything to Audrey.

“That’s a really useful thing to have. The only problem is that unless I want to destroy my own consciousness by copying others’ into mine and let them take over me, I can’t do this. Maybe if I learn Summoning Magic and summon a creature akin to Ekilsta. Ekilsta is just like a sheet of blank paper. You can draw anything onto it and then erase it later,” Audrey replied, understanding her own shortcomings.

“I can see that you understand. Well, we will get you something in the future. Let’s devour him, I’ve pulled back Ekilsta,” Elena said with a smile, her shadow shooting towards Al’s body. He disappeared from the world of the living in the next second.

New Skill Acquired: Spell Steal

“Oh, that’s great. Well, it’s a great spell, the only problem with it is that it is slow. A real fight is decided in a few attacks, but if I use this more in the future, I might be able to use it more actively. Imagine your spell suddenly turning against you, haha. For now, this will be something like a trump card. I’ll use Ekilsta to copy other people’s consciousness over the course of battles and surprise my opponents. I won’t have to stuff my mind with other people’s memories that way either,” Elena got into a comprehensive mood, and couldn’t stop thinking.

“Yes, yes. My question is, why did you not try this on us before? It’s nothing dangerous, it seems. Other people won’t even notice it unless they can sense their inner selves to a perfect degree,” Audrey asked, raising a brow.

Tilting his head to the side, Dred replied, “That’s simple. For one, we weren’t sure if it had any bad effects or not, she didn’t wish to test it on you. On the other hand, neither she nor I would steal your private memories for a spell. If you want to share your life with us, then do so through talking. You are off if you think that drinking Elena’s blood is something everyone can do.”

“If you were to die, she would take a heavy blow to her mind and heart, resulting in serious wounds. Those with the blood of the Shadow Progenitor will be closely related to us. To Elena in your case. Although we are born in pairs, we could be called strangers too. We might be together all the time, but she is still a different entity. Your death won’t strike my mind.”

“But don’t misunderstand me, I’d be sad to see you die, haha,” he chuckled upon seeing her face saddening and then brightening up.

“I understand. Now I feel better and it was a surprise to hear you talk so much,” Audrey nodded her head, smiling.

“I’m just not as talkative as you lot. After entering Al’s mind, I might have improved a bit on that part…” he replied, shaking a bug off of his right ear.

“When you do this, you rather resemble a dog…” Elena remarked, patting his head.

“... I feel like biting your ass,” he growled with an annoyed voice.

“Don’t do that because I won’t be able to sit,” she puffed out her cheeks, rubbing her buttocks upon imagining the pain. Dred stomped on the ground and made the earth fall back into its place. Using Devour, he cleaned up every spot of blood and with the help of Earth Magic, he evened out the ground.

“Get on, let’s sneak back to the city,” he said, beckoning with his head. Audrey and Elena gladly jumped on and enjoyed the ride through the forest. Unfortunately for them, they had to rush through the plain in their Shadow Forms and to get into the city. They walked back to Woodland Inn, making curious looks when seeing groups of guards running back and forth.

Sitting down on the side of the bed, Elena sighed loudly. “We should catch Derrel as quickly as possible. I never thought that he would react so differently.”

Placing her hand on Elena’s back, Audrey came up with an idea, “It’s understandable. Although Jake was a soldier, he grew up in a civilized society. But Derrel came from another planet. I’m sure that he grew up facing much harder problems than we, who grew up on Kriton. It’s not surprising that he reacted differently to the methods you used on our planet. I think that you will have to give more time to these people or they will just ignore you, like Derrel. People change over longer periods of time. Not from one to two.”

“You are right. I’ll be more careful in the future. But how the hell did we not sense him? We will have to ask Jake when we meet. Derrel isn’t far away. We can’t kill him in the middle of the city. This might be the perfect time to kill the guards at the gate, though. Jake isn’t on a shift and we can kill everyone. Let’s go. Hopefully, there won’t be any bypassers.”

Nodding her head, Audrey followed her, while Dred stayed in the room. If a powerful guard was to spot him, that would be their end. It was better to let him stay in the room and cultivate. “I’m sorry, Dred. But I’m not as stupid as to tempt fate for the second time on the same day…” Elena turned around and made an apologetic face.

“Don’t worry about it. Just make sure that you don’t get caught…” he replied, closing his eyes.

Turning around, they made their way towards the gate but were sad to see that different people were on shift. “We first arrived at this city at around 1 p.m. but it is only eleven o’clock. We will have to wait, it seems,” Elena mumbled, randomly entering a restaurant, followed by clothing stores and such places. The whole time, she kept her eyes on the gate.

Five minutes before midday, she was happy to see the same people walking through the main street, towards the gate. After spending another ten minutes with shopping and looking around, they walked towards the gate. Most people entered their houses and the stores temporarily closed too.

“It’s good that they have the same habits as people on Kriton,” Audrey remarked with a grin on her face.

“Well, it’s not a question of habit. People get hungry… no matter where they live,” Elena replied with a chuckle, seeing that the number of guards decreased in the area. She didn’t know that most of them were called to the guard post.

Seeing that there were only three people in the gate, they waited for them to enter the city. When there was nobody left, they slipped into an alleyway and used their Shadow Forms to charge towards the guards. At first, they went towards the room where they’ve got their ID cards and found the same person. Not delaying even for a second, she jumped up behind him.

Reacting quickly, he turned around his sword in hand. “Tch. I need to train more. Everyone is stronger than me…” Elena clicked her tongue, her eyes meeting with the guard’s.

“You? WAS IT YOU?!” he shouted upon realization but was surprised to see a thick earth spike sticking out of his chest. Turning around, he saw Audrey standing behind him, her palms held towards him.

Coughing out a mouthful of blood, he asked as he fell to his knees, “Why?” They used Devour to erase his body and blood.

“What happened, Uriel?” a guard from the gate came rushing in. Not seeing anyone, he raised his brows and scratched the back of his head. “Huh? Where would he go while being on shift?”

Elena jumped up in front of him and sliced her dagger across his chest, cutting off his right arm. His blood sprayed onto her body and face. Licking her lips, she kicked him in the stomach. An earth spike raised out of the ground behind him and skewered him. “This is enjoyable after all. Doing business and other shit isn’t as fun,” she mumbled, spinning her dagger on her palm.

Audrey came from the other side of the corridor, dragging the corpse of the other guard. “It’s good to see you,” Elena remarked, thrusting her dagger into the hilt on her right thigh. “You can have him all to yourself. I’ll devour this guy. Oh, and make sure to clean that up…” she added, pointing at the long path of blood behind the corpse in Audrey’s hand.

“...” Not saying anything, her shadow spread out and devoured the blood, along with the body. Elena did the same and then both of them left the gate.

“I’d have prepared more for this, but we don’t have the time. We must cut the loose ends as quickly as possible,” she said, turning back into her human form in an alleyway. After looking around on the corner, not seeing anyone looking towards them, they left the scene.

Closing her eyes for a moment, she followed the location of the bacteria on Derrel’s body. Upon arriving at his location, Elena furrowed her brows before turning around to leave. “This is bad,” she mumbled, looking back one last time at the guard post...

---

The guard post had an office room, a storage room, a nurse room, and a big hall with a few tables and chairs. But in fact, the nurse room didn’t have any nurses. It was just a room with a few beds where people could take a rest. Sitting down on the side of a bed, Jake took off his T-shirt and looked at the wound he made.

The white haired captain flung open the door and walked towards Jake. He was about to speak when the door opened once again and a purple haired man came in. “I’ll take over from here on. Captain Sigil should take a rest for a few months,” he said with a loud voice.

The white haired old man’s body shuddered. Turning around, he bowed his head as he said, “As you wish, Lord Gautama,” Gritting his teeth, he left the room.

When Sigil opened the door, he was surprised to see the vice-captain, Sally in front of him. Stepping to the side with a bow of his head, he let her in and then left silently.

“You have come. You react as quickly as ever…” Gautama remarked with a nod of his head. “Hoa? And here I was wondering where you were,” he added, noticing his employee walking behind Sally.

“I’m sorry, Lord Gautama. I just met my Master and couldn’t help but recap with her,” she answered, coiling her arms around Sally’s right arm.

“Let go of me, you silly girl. AH! You?” she tried shaking her off and made a surprised face upon noticing Jake.

“What? Do you two know each other?” Gautama asked, looking back and forth between Jake and Sally.

“No, I was his examiner when he entered the ranks of the guards. It wasn’t long ago and he is already here, wounded… What happened? This city is turning crazier by each day!” she explained herself, waving her left hand in her annoyance.

Seeing Jake looking back and forth, not understanding anything, she introduced everyone. “You surely remember me, so I won’t introduce myself. This here is Hoa, my first apprentice. She learned the way of the sword from me! I’d be glad to see you two have a go at it. And he is called Lord Gautama, the fifth strongest person in the city. He is at the four hundred and twenty-sixth level. Make sure to respect him!”

“Yes!” Jake couldn’t help but shout like a soldier, finding himself in the feelings of the old times when his commander shouted at him.

“Haha, there is no need for such things. This is the third biggest city in the kingdom. There are plenty of talented people if you visit the inner circles. You seem to have a bright future if you don’t get yourself killed,” he replied, looking at Jake.

Great… a nice-guy fucker… I hate these types of people. There are no nice people. I wonder what you are hiding. And how did you decide that I can have a bright future? Do you have a crystal ball in your eyes or what? They have golden ID cards on their chests… it seems like both Sally and Gautama are nobles, Jake thought with annoyance, his face unmoving.

Forcing a smile on his face, he said, “Thanks.” Sally stopped beside Jake and leaned forward. Her hand on his muscular chest, she looked into the wound on his side. “This will hurt,” she said as she stuck her finger into the wound.

“Guh-” Jake grunted, but he was surprised to feel it the pain easing. She slowly started pulling out her finger and by the time her finger was out, his wound closed.

“There you go. You were lucky since it hit your rib and didn’t puncture your lung. Now tell me what happened. The other guards didn’t see anything, other than a black tail. I hope that you can tell me more,” she said, pulling back her hand and stand up straight.

I was surprised by her hand. Her palm was rather soft and her skin felt smooth… wait, what am I thinking about? I shouldn’t say that I didn’t see anything. That would be suspicious and unbelievable. Elena has a cat tail and scales in her true form. In that case… Jake quickly thought about his possibilities and then spoke aloud.

“I was patrolling the city when I ran into Al, who was the strongest among us in the outer parts of the city. I started chatting with him when he said that he saw a person rushing into the alleyway behind me. He pushed me to the side and ran after the possible suspects. I quickly followed him, but something terrible happened. He was facing a… cat-woman if I remember correctly.”

“I don’t know why, but my mind turned hazier and Al couldn’t move either. In the next second, I saw a dagger entering his back. A shady something ran towards us and struck my side and ran away with the captain. I think that it was some kind of monster. It definitely had a tail and four legs. I didn’t know Al for too long, so I can’t say that I’m worried about him, but the idea of his death saddens me. As a fellow guard. Did I help Miss by any chance?”

Staying silent, she made a thoughtful face. Looking at Jake from the corners of her eyes, she waved her hand as she said, “I thank you for your cooperation. It was somewhat useful. You may leave.”

Nodding his head, Jake got up from the bed and after saying goodbye, he left the nurse room. Standing in the door, he turned around. Moving his right arm, a smile formed on his face as he said, “I thank Captain again for healing me!”

“Don’t mind it,” she smiled back. As Jake closed the door behind him, Gautama asked, “What did you find?”

“We will see it now,” she smirked as a tiny red crystal formed on her palm. It was a simple crystal, called Truth. Originally, it was a translucent crystal, with red liquid at the bottom of it. When it made contact with Jake’s body, the red liquid started lifting up, filling the crystal. But if the person’s body heat raised, the red liquid turned darker. If somebody was lying, their body heat would rise and a layer of the red liquid would be darker.

This effect was usable only for twenty seconds and it had to be in contact with the body the whole time. When she stuck her finger into Jake’s wound, she implanted it into his body and questioned him. She counted the seconds and noted each of his words in the same second, in her mind. Even Audrey could do that much with her current Wisdom, not to mention Sally.

Looking at the crystal, she saw a single line where the crystal was darker. “... Guess what? He lied when he said that ‘the idea of his death saddens me.’ So we learned that his words were true, based on this crystal, and he doesn’t care about a person’s death, he met probably a day ago. Well, I wasn’t expecting anything, so it’s all good. I just wanted to make sure he was telling the truth,” she explained herself to Gautama.

“Don’t mind it. I know that you just wish to uphold peace in the city, but if he was to realize it, his feelings could have been hurt and you could have lost a talent. You keep being suspicious of everyone… Please take no offense as this is just my personal opinion. But just because your husband betrayed you in that dungeon years ago, you shouldn’t be suspicious of everyone,” he waved his hand, sighing loudly.

“Hahaha, does Lord Gautama really think that I’m suspicious because of the past events? There is something much bigger going on in this city. The lord should take defensive measurements in the near future. This city will never be the same,” she laughed at his naive words as she turned towards the door and left.

“What do you mean?” Gautama shouted after her, but all he got as a reply was a wave of her hand.

“Lord, if I may be so rude… it was terrible of you to say such words. I talked about this when she trained me and she has really left behind her past. The betrayal of her husband has left its mark in her heart, and she is indeed more cautious, but she isn’t doing this because of that. I’ll go back to the Lord's mansion now,” Hoa remarked with her head hung down.

“I’m sorry,” she added upon seeing Gautama’s saddened face as she closed the door.

“Heh- Hahaha, you two naive girls~” a smirk formed on his face as he walked towards the door, his hands behind his back, whistling.

----

When Jake left the nurse room, he was surprised to see Derrel in the guard post. This is bad. I should take him away from this place, he thought with a frown on his face. “Hey, Derrel! What’s up?” he shouted, catching his attention.

Walking up to him, Derrel said, “Oh, hi! I was looking for you. I’ve heard that there was some trouble in the city and that a guard called Jake was hurt. I thought that I might visit you.”

“That’s nice of you. I was indeed hurt, but the vice-captain healed me already and it was nothing serious. I’ve got lucky and the knife stopped upon breaking my ribs. At least, it should be a knife… I don’t know what it was since they used some kind of spell, which made us numb. I barely saw anything. How are things going for you?” Jake replied with a smile on his face, slowly walking towards the entrance of the guard post.

Following beside him, Derrel replied, “Nothing much. But I realized that I’m not fit to be Elena’s rival. It was bad of me to try to compare myself with her or any of you. You people are just freaks, haha,” he laughed, scratching the back of his head.

“It’s not nice to say such things… And where do you stay nowadays? We didn’t see you in Woodland Inn yesterday,” Jake asked, leading the conversation back to Derrel and picking up his walking pace at the same time.

“I’m staying in a cheaper Inn. It’s not as good as Woodland Inn and the food is worse too, but it’s good enough for me. I’m too weak currently. Once I train enough and become stronger, I can manage real missions and earn some more money. I also bought better weapons and armor from the money Elena gave me for my mission. Hehe. In the end, she still helped me with such an easy quest. Give her my thanks and regards when you meet her,” he patted Jake’s back and walked towards the door.

Seeing that he was leaving, he was about to follow him when Sally came out of the nurse room and declared a meeting. Turning around, Jake realized that the hall was filled to the brim with guards. After looking around for a few seconds, Sally spoke.

“As you have heard of it, there has been a series of events in these last few days. Numerous people have been killed and the last victim was a guard. Another guard was also wounded. The worst is that we have no clear information about these criminals. Killing in the city is prohibited unless you are a noble and we shall uphold that law. The only clue we have is a black tail. I know that it sounds ridiculous, but anything you can relate with a black tail might be an evidence. Make sure to report it if you know something.”

In the middle of the murmurings, Jake turned around and walked towards the door as if he didn’t know anything. As his eyes met with Derrel, he whispered, “I’d be happy if you wouldn’t screw up our lives. The world we came from is dying. We don’t need more shit to fall on our necks.” Seeing Jake’s concerned eyes, a smug grin formed on Derrel’s face.

“Well, this is turning really interesting. I could tell them about Dred, but it could turn out that you have nothing to do with it and I wouldn’t get anything out of it, even if you are the people in question. But you have something to lose. I have an idea. You share fifty percent of your earnings with me and you will help me if I need it. You shall take an oath to prove your servitude. Or… I can shout now,” he whispered into Jake’s right ear.

Clenching his fists, he said that it was okay through gritted teeth. “But let’s go out or people might hear it,” he advised.

“No-no. What if you wanted to kill me? You will do it here. Add a line to your oath, stating that you won’t try to kill me and you will try to protect me even if it costs you your life,” Derrel replied, denying his words.

ARGH! I will tear this shit into pieces! We should have killed him at that time in the forest. What should I do? If I take that oath, I will have to fight against Elena and Audrey unless I want to die from the backlash of breaking the oath. Hopefully, he won’t tell me that I can’t say anything about this to them. He is still quite young and inexperienced, he raged on in his mind, trying to think of ideas.

If only I had those Shadow bacteria. I could fill his body and blackmail him in the same manner, with his life! I should have bitten Elena! Well… she would send me to Dred… but that’s totally not good. He is furry! He tried to ease his mind by thinking of stupid things.

Not finding a way out, he nodded his head and took the oath.

You have taken an oath!

You will have to protect Shawn Derrel with everything you’ve got, even if it costs you your life. You will have to help him when he requests it. Breaking this oath will result in your death.

“Now follow me. When there are fewer people, hand over all your earnings,” he whispered, walking through the entrance. When they found an empty street, Jake reached into his pocket and pulled out five gold coins, and a few silver and bronze coins.

“Oh! And this is just yours. If I could make Elena and Audrey serve me… hehe, my life is getting better after all! Well, if they won’t agree with me, I can always tell the guards that it was only them and keep you as my servant,” Derrel laughed, his spit flying all over the street.

“Why are you doing this?” Jake asked, knowing that Derrel’s plans would never work on Elena and Audrey.

“That’s a good question. Why? It’s simple. On my home planet, I was the son of an average family. After coming here, life turned super hard and you people kept ridiculing and taunting me for the same reason. What can I say, I turned envious of you. Now that I have something to use against you, I shall use it. I know that this is evil and I really feel a bit bad about it, but if it makes my life easier…”

“Once I can live on my own, I’ll release you after making you take an oath, stating that you won’t ever try to hurt or kill me in any way. Enjoy your time until then! If you have any methods to increase my training speed, then spit it out. It would decrease your time of servitude!”

Seeing Jake staying silent, he repeated his words in a commanding tone, “I request you to share all you know about training with me.”

“I can’t do it thanks to the blood running through my veins,” he said through gritted teeth. He had to be honest under the effect of the oath.

“Oh? This sounds interesting. Tell me more about this!” he changed his mind.

Jake shook his head, showing that he couldn’t talk about it. Anyone with Elena’s blood in his or her veins would stay silent about such things till their death. Training methods, spells, skills, her origin. Neither of those could be discussed.

“Meh, fine. Let’s go to Woodland Inn. I want to visit Elena’s room and see her answer. I’m sure that I can get away with you beside me and the help of the masses!” Derrel’s voice crackled.

Feeling death starting to loom over him, Jake quickly remarked on his thoughts, “She will kill you without anyone noticing.”

Making a surprised face, he put his hand on his chin, “Is that so? Thanks for telling. Let’s meet her in a public place in that case. Go and invite her to the main street in that case.”

“She is coming towards us at the moment,” Jake replied.

“That’s great. Let’s go back to the main street in that case. There are so many people,” he answered, slapping his own thighs with a smile on his face.

“I’ll go ahead,” Jake mumbled, leaving him slightly behind. Not seeing any problem with that, Derrel walked towards the main streets, whistling a tune.

----

After leaving the guard post, Elena and Audrey visited their store since they had nothing better to do. Seeing that they earned another fifty gold coins, they decided to raise Felicia’s salary to five gold coins, earning her eternal love and respect. Leaving the store, Elena stopped in place as she realized a crucial problem.

Covering her face, she mumbled, “This is bad. This is very bad. Everyone on the training grounds knows about Dred. Shit just got real this time. You might have to use this Eon Element of yours and blow up everything. But I need to devour these people, not just kill them.”

“I don’t think that we could just kill them anyway. There are much older people than us. It would be stupid of us to think that they can’t use the same spell or have some defensive measurement,” Audrey corrected Elena’s thoughts.

“You are right. I still need to learn a lot… ARGH! I was too stupid! Oh, Derrel left the guild post, it seems. Let me sense my bacteria. But I get an enraged feeling from my blood in Jake’s body. Something bad must have happened. Let’s hurry up,” she replied, charging towards Derrel’s location.

Upon entering the main street, they notice Jake running towards them. Before they could say anything, Jake started sprouting the beans. “Don’t say anything, this is more urgent. Derrel blackmailed me into taking an oath. I must protect him with my life or I’ll die and I also have to obey his requests. If I won’t obey, he will tell the guards that it was only you two and they will catch you.”

“Enough chatting, I guess he told everything to you. I didn’t want to destroy your relationship or anything of the sort, so I let him tell it to you. I’d be happy to work with you two too. What do you say?” Derrel asked, holding out his hand.

Elena looked around before showing her back and walking towards a restaurant nearby. “Follow me,” she said with a serious voice. Seeing that she didn’t intend to leave the public area, he had no problems with it.

Sitting down at a table, Jake and Derrel was on one side, while Audrey and Elena were on the other side. Both of them looked at the Menu silently, ignoring his offer. A waitress stopped beside their table and took their orders. “Please take this until then,” she said with a smile on her face, coming back a few seconds later, placing four glasses of drinks on the table.

“Thanks,” all four of them said at the same time, surprising the waitress. Shaking her head, she turned around and left. What Derrel didn’t know was that Ekilsta was inside his brain, copying his memories. Jake was sweating non-stop, trying to find a solution to their problem.

Circling her finger around the rim of the glass, a smile formed on Elena’s face.

“You are cornered. But I can let you off if you take an oath, stating that you won’t bother me. I’m fine with that too,” Derrel remarked upon seeing her smile, thinking that she felt lost.

“That’s really generous of you after blackmailing my friend into serving you, don’t you think?” she asked, tilting her head to the side.

“Look, I left quite a lot of room for you people. If you could help me with training, then he would be set free sooner. It’s nothing much if you ask me. Not for a friend, so dear to you,” Derrel smirked upon seeing her annoyance. But he was terribly wrong.

When somebody took an oath, people obeyed to save their own lives. Jake could ignore Derrel’s requests and die, but that wasn’t something he or his friends wanted. Elena knew that if things stayed too calm, the guards’ focus would reach them soon enough. So she planned to use Derrel’s oath to make him appear as some kind of Dark Mage.

Jake knew about Ekilsta and that she could control Derrel’s Mana to some degree. If she used Ekilsta to make Derrel say a few strange things, the onlookers would believe that Jake was being controlled. If the guards were to question the onlookers and hear their replies, they would think that there was something strange brewing in the city. It could potentially draw their attention from the recent murdering events and make them look for a something bigger.

Sighing loudly, Audrey said as a grin formed on her face, “You are done for, now.”

“Huh? Why would I be done for, are you stupid?” Derrel laughed upon hearing her words.

His right hand raised up with the help of his own Mana. “I’ll kill you for not obeying me!” Ekilsta shouted through Derrel’s lips, under Elena’s control, using Wind Magic to generate voices.

“What?” Derrel mumbled with a surprised face, hearing his own voice, even though he didn’t wish to speak. A fireball flew out of his palm, almost hitting Elena’s face.

Tilting her head to the side, she dodged it and jumped up, shouting, “Are you crazy?”

Jake stood up and shouted, looking at Derrel, attacking Elena “What’s happening!? My body is moving on it’s own! Are you controlling my body?!” Seeing that Jake understood her plans, Elena felt happy.

“W-What? No! What’s happ-” Derrel started but he interrupted himself by using a Wind Blade to attack Elena.

“Why won’t you obey me?!” Ekilsta shouted through Derrel’s body once again, while the other people present, looked at the scene with interest.

“I- I can’t stop him! Do something! I’ll tell about this to the vice-captain later! Kill him!” Jake shouted, his hand moving towards his own throat. That was definitely not a part of his oath, but nobody knew that.

Elena shot an Earth Spike towards Derrel when Jake suddenly jumped forward and smashed it with his fist. It escaped the onlookers’ attention, that tiny scales covered his knuckles for a moment.

“This… no!” Derrel shouted, seeing how things were unfolding.

“Screw you! Attack those bitches!” he shouted at Jake, pointing at Elena and Audrey.

“Guh, I can’t resist! What is this?!” Jake shouted, charging at Elena.

As the girls’ eyes met, they nodded their heads. Elena pulled out her dagger and prepared to take on Jake. Although he had to obey his command to attack Elena if he didn’t want to die, Derrel never stated that he should use his full strength.

“Be gentle with me,” Jake whispered in a low voice, seeing Elena dodging his punch, her left leg flying towards his left side. He felt a great force striking his body yet it didn’t feel painful at all. He flew through the air and crashed into a wall. In the meantime, Audrey used Nature Magic to paralyze Derrel with vines.

“Let go of me!” Derrel shouted, using Dark Magic to dissolve the vines restricting him. Looking up, he was surprised to see an Earth Spike in front of his face. Ducking down, it penetrated the wall on the other side of the restaurant.

“Jake! Protect me! These two are-” he was about to reveal the truth when Elena appeared behind him like a shadow and struck her left dagger into his heart. Turning it, Derrel screamed out in agony. Pulling it sideways, she slit his back, and cut his spine into two halves. Before Derrel could fall to the ground, she slit his throat with her right dagger. His blood spilled onto the ground, dirtying it.

The light in his eyes dimmed out, as a pool of blood formed under his body. “Yuck, this guy was disgusting,” Elena said, trying to rid her hands of his blood.

Jake’s hand shot through the debris and he slowly crawled out. “It’s working again… I have regained my control over my body. What the hell was that? Let’s call the guards. We will have to investigate this. Just what the hell is happening?! I was attacked twice in a single day. I’m just a freshman for fuck’s sake!” he shouted, clenching his fists.

Before either of them could leave the restaurant, a group of guards arrived on the scene, surrounding them. Sally walked out from behind the guards and was surprised to see Jake.

“You again? Explain yourself,” she commanded, furrowing her brows.

“Captain, this person must have been some evildoer. I lost control over my body and I attacked my own friends! He tried to kill us,” he blabbered, his eyes darting around.

Stepping closer, Sally grabbed the sides of his head and looked into his eyes. “Calm. Down. Explain everything,” she repeated her words.

Breathing out long, Jake explained the turn of events about how he was being controlled by Derrel and forced into attacking Elena and Audrey. Hearing his words, she couldn’t help but look at him with suspicion.

“Let’s see what are the people present thinking?” she asked, looking at the guests in the restaurant. Seeing that nobody wanted to talk, she stopped before a young man and questioned him. “Did he tell the truth?”

Standing up with a salute, the young man replied, “No, Miss! I didn’t even notice them when they came in, but they caught my attention when the dead boy shouted something about why weren’t they obeying him. In the next second, he shot a fireball towards the black haired girl, while that guy with brown hair… what was your name?” he asked, looking at Jake.

“Jake.”

“Yes, he followed up the fireball and tried to hit the girls. He was shouting all the time how he couldn’t control his body, while the dead boy even commanded him once to attack the girls. Jake did as told without any delay. When they killed the boy, he no longer tried to attack the girls.”

Hearing the man’s reply, Sally nodded her head, believing Jake. Knowing that Jake wasn’t a spy, her body eased up a little. “Good. Now we have another lead. You said that your sight turned hazy before and that your mind was jumbled. It might be that you were the one who stabbed Al and that shadow just took him away. I can’t blame you for that, even if that was the case.”

“This would also explain the recent unrest in the city. Who knows if there are more such people as him. Are you two his friends?” she looked at Elena and Audrey.

“Yes. How should we call Miss?” Audrey asked with a smile on her face.

“My name is Sally Felicita, the vice-captain of the guards. I can’t read your stats, the same as Jake, hehe. Could it be that you are as talented as him?” she tilted her head to the side.

Hearing Jake chuckling loudly, she turned to look at him with her brows raised. Standing up straight, his face unmoving, he did as if nothing happened. Looking at him for a few seconds, tapping her finger on the hilt of her swords, she turned to back. “Given your friend’s reaction, I’m quite sure that you are. Don’t you want to become guards? There aren’t many women in our ranks…”

“I’m sorry but I’ll have to refuse as we have other plans. We want to have more time to train beside running our business and to move around freely,” Elena replied this time, refusing her offer.

“That’s sad. Alright, let’s clean up and leave! I’ve had enough of today… so many things happening and trouble keeps piling up!” she shook her head.

Two guards came rushing at the same moment, shouting, “Captain! The guards at the gate disappeared. We were about to change shifts when we realized that there weren’t any guards at the gate. All of them disappeared without any sign and people kept coming in, not even bothering with notifying us.”

“Screw this shit!” Sally couldn’t help but curse upon hearing the news. The guards jumped back in their surprise, visibly startled at the eruption of energy that came out of her body. Clearing her throat, she said, “I’m sorry. My rage got out the better of me for a moment. You can take the day off. I don’t want to see you on the streets or I might have to deal with something again.”

Hearing her words, a smile formed on Jake’s face. Nodding his head, he said goodbye and went towards Woodland Inn, followed by Audrey and Elena.

He was about to go towards his own room when Elena grabbed the T-shirt on his back and threw him into their room. “You’ll stay here this time. Tell me what happened today since I’m quite lost on a few things,” she said, sitting down beside Audrey.

Seeing Dred lying down on the bed behind them, Jake mumbled, “And here I was wondering where he was all this time. So after-” he explained everything. When he was done, Elena did the same.

“Things are turning messier and messier by the days. I’ll leave you two alone now,” Elena remarked with a smirk on her face. Jake and Audrey turned around, only to see the place Dred was sitting at empty. Turning back around, they saw them standing on the other side of the door. Elena shut it and locked it.

“Have some fun~” she said jokingly. Leaning forward, she whispered into Dred’s left ear, “Let’s go to Jake’s room. Show me what you’ve learned.”

“Sure.”