Chapter 3: The Insufferable Mary Sue, part 2

I hate him.

I hate his eyes.

I hate the way he walks, talks, and acts. I hate everything about him.

That man.

That frightful man.

The man crawls on his knees pathetically while shining an eye of amusement as if it was all a game. A charade to be laughed at. A mere footnote in his tales of glory.

A man who was born to nothing and was given nothing. A man with nothing to lose and everything to gain.

I fear him.

That frightful man.

It was an irrational fear. For he is weak. So weak I could squeeze him like a bug. So weak and pathetic he had to swallow his pride and lowered his head to all who crossed his path. He crawls on all four and barks at every command.

But his eyes. They are the eyes of a King.

They carry a great pride unbefitting a man of his stature. A man at the bottom of the pecking order.

I have seen the look in his eyes before. On the faces of the rich and the powerful. On the trophies of great wizards and decorated soldiers.

But that man has nothing. No wealth. No power. No strength to speak off.

All his pride came from his character. From his own two hands.

He sees it all as a challenge.

To be given nothing, and to take everything.

I fear him.

It’s the fear of a prey, being next to a great python. The beast may have no limbs and it may be lying still and listless. But at any given moment, it can break every bone in your body and swallow you whole.

It’s an irrational fear, I know.

For he has given me nothing but kindness. The food I eat. The books I read. The clothes I wear. Everything I have came from him.

But to him, I’m only a pet. A small creature he had raised for his amusement.

People referred to me as a prodigy. A child of great potential. A figure to be envied and looked up to.

But I know.

That man hides in the shadow of my light. He uses me as a distraction while he carries out his plans, his ambitions.

That man.

Who my siblings call ‘Big Brother.’

I hate him.

I fear him.

It's not just an irrational fear, but one I had confirmed with my very eyes.

***

When I was young and didn’t know better, I loved big bro more than anyone else.

He was my father, my brother, my teacher, my whole world.

I didn't understand why people call him a cripple as he has all of his limbs intact. His lanky arms and legs were very funny to my underdeveloped brain.

He has always been tall and skinny. Like a walking skeleton. His cheeks were sunken and his brow cast a dark shadow over his amber eyes. That's why I came to call him bone head.

I thought he’d be angry. I wanted him to be angry, and spend more time with me.

It was childish.

The man never gets angry. Not with me, not with any of us. Not even at that bitch of an evil stepmother we shared.

He’s always calm. He’s always laughing. And there was always something hidden beneath those mysterious amber eyes of his.

Oh, God, if only I knew! Of the horror that was lurking behind the mask of a boy!

The horror.

The blood.

The rage of a beast.

I would never have tried to make him angry! I never would have acted like a spoiled brat in front of him!

But it’s too late now.

Now that I know, every breath I take is with his permission. He’s so-called ‘mercy.’

When it was revealed that I possessed a high level of ‘potential.’ A vast Mana capacity with the room to grow further. Many strangers came and tried to adopt me. They didn't want a daughter, but livestock. A young wolf cub they could control.

Their greed filled me with fear, so I burned them.

When an endless horde of women claiming to be my birth mother came, I burned them as well.

Their clothes, their hair, it was funny. No flesh was scorched, no blood was boiled. It was just amusing to see the greedy adults run away in fright.

It was all fun and games. I didn't need anyone, I had my big brother to take care of me.

Our funding was cut off. It was my fault.

We didn't have much, to begin with. Now we had none.

Big bro took it upon himself to go out and work our keep. His skinny body, a skeleton. His sunken face, a ghost.

He worked and worked and worked and worked himself nearly to death. Every day, all for us.

It was all my fault. I was selfish. I was childish.

So he paid the price.

And that woman, that horrible woman. She walked all over him and threatened to take away the very roof he held up with his bony hands.

Big bro never got angry.

He took it all on his narrow shoulders and laughed. It was all fun and games for him. A great big theater. We were his little actors. His amusement. His pet.

I didn't know. I didn’t realize that the man I looked at with sorrow... was no man at all.

I tried to make it up to him.

People say I was smart, so I studied like crazy. I wanted to make lots of money for my family, so I burned through books like a possessed person. Believing it to be the answer to all our woes.

My classmates couldn’t keep up with me, nor could the teachers. And there wasn’t enough money for me to pursue higher education.

I got out of school and stayed in the orphanage.

I read every textbook over and over, at least ten times each.

I practiced every spell over and over, at least a thousand times each.

But I was at a dead-end, there was no more to be learned. No more I can learn. With our limited resources.

But then one day, big bro returned with more books. It was something he got from a second-hand bookstore. The pages were carefully repaired with tape and glue. Not a single letter was lost.

I was happy. Those books were my treasure.

And when I had mastered them, big bro procured me more and more. Stacks, upon stacks.

Even when I reached what would have been a bottleneck for many, Spell Level Three.

Those tomes could not be obtained outside of highly regulated institutions.

The closest one was the city’s library, which I was too young to enter.

But somehow, he Managed.

These books were not the original printings, but handwritten copies.

I instantly recognized who’s hand wrote those letters.

He didn’t just copy them, but there were notes, references, instructions.

A cripple with no Mana capacity had read through high-level spell books and understood all of them — no, mastered all of them.

And they say I was the prodigy.

Had big bro been born with my level of potential, he would have conquered the planet already. I truly believe that.

Even if he was born with an average Mana pool, he would cultivate it until he reached the very pinnacle.

Back then, I felt sorry for him.

Now, I thank the Lord every night for his hindrance.

At the very least, I should be able to take my siblings and run away to the furthest reaches of space, by the time that frightful man begins his master plan. Whatever that may be.

I fear him.

It is not an irrational fear.

In time, you will learn to fear him as well, so will the rest of the galaxy.

***

It was a hot summer night, as my two short stumpy legs made their way across a dark city block.

Studying day and night in that oppressive orphanage filled me with bitterness as I had to breathe the same air as that horrid, Ms. Jones.

Big bro was out at work, while my adoptive siblings went to school. Without anywhere else to go, I liked to read in the public park from time to time.

Traveling as a lone child was dangerous, but my spells kept me safe. I could take out a gang of ruffians if I so wish.

Therefore, I wasn't worried when a drunken figure approached me.

“H-Hey, cutie. [Hiccup!] Where are your parents? Are you lost? Walking alone at this hour is dangerous, you know? [Hiccup!] Come on, uncle will take you to a safe place!”

“Fuck off, creep!”

“Now, now, darling. [Hic!] Little girls shouldn’t say those words ya know?”

The man walked closer with clear desires in his reddened face. The putrid smell of his sweaty toad-like body combined with alcohol made me want to hurl.

He reached his short dumpy fingers to me, so I quickly cast a low-level fire spell on his shirt.

But the fire went out as soon as it started!

“Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! Kids these days, no respect for adults!”

The man was no drunken ruffian! He was a wizard!

The second I realized the real danger the man posed, I threw a multitude of high-level spells his way. But they were useless!

“Oh, the kitten has claws! I never expected to come across a little girl with such high potential! You know what, darling? If you come under my wings I’ll make you my disciple! [Hiccup!]”

The man was at least a Level Three wizard. And unlike me, he has received proper education and training at the academy!

I tried to run away, but my body was frozen stiff! My feet were glued to the floor and my mouth couldn't cry for help! He had turned the very air around me into a binding cage!

A Level Four!

The pervert was a Master!

“Come now, little kitty, don’t be afraid. Uncle will take good care of you, you’ll see!”

His slimy hands touched my face. I was afraid. I can’t run. I can’t cry. At that moment all I could do was pray.

“Big bro...please... help…”

“Ask, and ye shall receive.”

A cold voice replied to my almost silent whimper.

“What the fuck!”

The wizard turned frantically to search for the owner of the proclamation.

But all around us were nothing but empty streets and boarded-up buildings. There wasn’t even a pale moon in the sky.

There was only darkness.

Cold. Dead. Darkness.

And a hunter, waiting for the kill.

“Who said that!? Show yourself, asshole!”

The greasy wizard cast a spell to track down the hidden phantom. But there were no Mana reverberations to be found. Nothing to be detected.

“Did I just imagine it?”

The wizard was confused. After all, everyone has a Mana pool to be detected. It’s like your body’s signature.

Everyone, except him.

“!!!”

The wizard screamed, something had flown into his eyes. Tiny shards of glass, small as sand grains.

The glass penetrated his eyes, his ears, his mouth, his nostrils. All the soft tissues on his ugly head. They seeped under his fingernails. They went down his throat. They went under his clothes. Every orifice was pierced with sharp sands.

He was irritated. That's all he felt, irritations and anger.

For Mana had kept him safe.

Sharp glasses are nothing more than dust for those who circulate Mana beneath their skin.

The pervert was angry, annoyed, and distracted. He was also blind as a bat.

I saw the grim reaper, emerging from the shadows. The darkness was like opaque water hiding a man-eating crocodile.

His sunken face, a skull. His amber eyes, a predator. There were no smiles on his face. No kindness to be found. No mask to hide away the beast.

He was angry.

Far angrier than I have ever seen anyone being.

The master wizard used his spells to burn away all the thorns on his body. His Mana dispersed and made their way to their targets.

That was the moment he was waiting for.

The phantom leaped to the raging wizard and impaled a sharp pipe in his left side!

The metallic tube cut through flesh. Red blood came pouring out.

The pervert wailed like a pig. The swine had never experienced pain before, not once in his degenerate life.

The wizard was born into power. Raised in luxury. Guaranteed success.

His path was laid in rose petals. His destination, predetermined.

The man may have fooled himself into believing that his rank and title were the results of his hard work, but at that moment, all his studies flew away from his head, and he was revealed for the worm he is.

A worm. Twisting. Floundering.

The grim reaper took the swine by the hair and sliced the wizard’s throat with a rusty fruit knife!

The pig’s scream became a gurgling mess. His lungs were drowning in his own blood.

But when chased to a corner, animals fight back.

The sorcerer couldn't see his assailant so he exploded his Mana like a bomb!

Strong forces impacted the living skeleton like a sledgehammer, breaking his ribs, scorching his flesh. Boiling his blood.

That smell. That awful smell. They still linger in my nose to this day.

The Mana-less man flew in an arc before crashing into an abandoned building meters away!

His body of flesh and blood broke through the brick wall and laid still among the rubbles.

My big brother was still a corpse.

I looked helplessly as my whole world died. Hot tears came pouring down my eyes. My brain was blank as a sheet of paper. My body refused my command, despite no longer being trapped by the slimy wizard.

The wizard. He recovered his scattered mind enough to dispel the pain. Moments later, Mana healed his wounds and the pervert stood up with burning rage in his eyes.

“Who dares!!?”

The wizard yelled at the skeleton.

“Who dares lay a finger on me!? Me!!! The Goddamn headmaster!!!”

A Level Five!

A walking Atom Bomb!

A man who can alter the course of meteorites!

Was wailing like a pig thanks to a cripple!

What the fuck!?

What the actual fuck!!?

That night my whole world came crashing down in more ways than one. Everything I knew, everything I thought I knew, was all a lie. A big fat ruse.

Levels. Ranks. Potentials. Mana capacities.

All bullshit!

All useless!

In the face of Death!

For Death… is the great equalizer.

The great and powerful wizard flew over to the body of his assailant. With the Intent to look at his face before disintegrating him into tiny particles.

But the headmaster was confused. Even now he could not detect any Mana signature coming out from the stiff remains.

It's like he’s not even there at all.

A phantom.

A ghost.

A mirage that could disappear at any moment.

The wizard who was no longer drunk or blind with rage stopped in his path. Was this a trap? Was he dancing to the tune of some unseen assassin?

No, there was no one else.

Just darkness. And a predator waiting for the kill!

The python leaped from its shallow grave before wrapping its mighty hold around the unsuspecting prey!

The panicked toad tried to break free, but his body refused his command.

No.

There was another will. Another ‘Intent,’ far mightier than his. Seeping in. Breaking past his layers of fortitude. Slithering past his shield of Mana like a virus.

His bare fist that could move mountains, now listless. His legs that could leap up to the clouds, now dangling like puppets.

His once proud Mana streams are now working against him.

For they have found a new Lord.

A King they rather serve.

His eyes were filled with fear. For he has seen the abyss. And it speaks.

“If you’re actually a teacher, then I suggest you should find another line of profession. May I suggest… Hollywood?”

The charred skeleton spoke words that are beyond comprehension. The reaper had his face burned off, leaving only white black, and red that make up an image of nightmares. Chunks of flesh were dangling on his bones. Blood and pus oozed down his figure.

He was no longer a man. nay, he was never one, to begin with.

He is Death incarnate.

He is Fear made flesh.

He is the Devil, himself.

I didn’t know! Oh God, I didn’t know, I share a roof with Satan!

I stood there with frozen legs, as I watched the high-ranking wizard beg for mercy.

But ‘mercy’ is something the strong can bestow upon the weak.

That man.

That frightening man… is weak.

He has no mercy to give.

The grim reaper looked into the eyes of his victim. His ‘Intent’ penetrated the wizard’s Cornea, went up to his Optic nerve, past his Lateral geniculate nucleus, broke through the walls of his Primary visual cortex, reaching the brain stem.

His will lingered there for a second, as he chose his prey’s ultimate destiny.

The verdict… is death!

The nerve-rich segment of the brain, which was no larger than a pebble, was crushed.

The toad’s heart stopped. Eyes, blinded. Motor control, cut. Lungs, useless.

The wizard didn’t even have time to react. He simply dropped dead, like a puppet with its strings snapped.

Simple. Clean. Dead, just like that.

And I saw it all happen with my own two eyes. I was a witness to the murder of the century.

A cripple killing a master.

The impossible took place.

The galaxy will react to his transgression.

War will start. Empires will fall. Bodies will pile up as high as the clouds. Planets will be set on fire. And at the end of it all… everything will change… according to his will.

The Great Defiler.

My big brother.

“Hic!”

I can’t help but let out a pathetic whimper of fear as my eyes heated up. Stream of hot liquid burned my cheeks. Droplets fell to the dirty asphalt road below.

The Devil heard, so he came walking.

“Dear, dear, Abigail. It’s alright now, big bro is here for you.”

The skeleton used his fingers to brush my cheeks. But all that did was leave a trail of blood and charcoal on my face.

“Ah, Ha! Sorry about that!”

The man chuckled as he noticed his skinless hands. It was all very amusing to him.

The man took off his jacket and used the clean inside to wipe my face. I was so frightened I was going to piss myself. Maybe I did.

The man then snapped his face to the side, like a bird of prey, as if he was expecting someone.

“I know you’re scared, but we need to get out of here first, okay? Would you be a good girl and hold on to me?”

I had no choice but to follow his command. My small arms hugged around his bloody neck. My face was buried in his broken chest.

The phantom clutched me tight as he leaped up into the midnight sky. The way he leaped across the rooftops was inhuman. Like a beast moving on instinct. His movement made me want to vomit.

The cold wind cut my back as the smell of cooked flesh enveloped me. It was like l was being carried to Hell.

But then we stopped.

I looked down to see the orphanage below then glanced up to see a charred corpse.

“This is the end of the road for me, kid.”

My big brother looked down at me with an eye of kindness. What remained of his face twisted into a smile.

I swallowed my fear and faced the horrid sight.

“B- Big bro?”

“Ha! Haven't heard you calling me that in years. It’s okay Abbi. Call me a bone head like always. Live life like always. Try your best like always. You’re though, I know you are. Tonight was just a bad dream. Tomorrow you’ll wake up and it’ll all go away, trust me!”

I looked at the man who once was my whole world. The man who just moments ago made me pissed myself.

What does he want me to do, again?

He wants me to pretend like tonight didn’t happen.

He wants me to resume the role of the spoiled bookworm.

That's right!

I was his pet, his little actress. I had a role to play in his great big theater. A role my younger self had regretfully decided upon without knowing a damn thing! That dumb bitch!

“H- H- Hey! Why are you acting all sappy for… b- b- b- bone head! Do you plan on leaving us or something!? [Hic!] T- That’s what you get for punching above your weight, moron!”

Fiery words came stuttering out of my lips. I had to hold in my tears as I talked down to the reaper.

For this is my role.

It’s what he wants me to do.

It’s what he raised me to do.

A barking little pet. So cute. So harmless. So amusing to look at.

“It’s fine Abbi. Everything will be just fine. I’ll always watch over you, even if you don’t see me.”

Was that a threat!?

Oh, Lord! Did I just anger the Devil!?

What do I do!?

What can I do!?

Think! Think! You dumb bitch! If you’re so smart, think! Why is he angry!? What am I forgetting!?

I fearfully looked up at the figure before me to discern his will. What I saw was a charred skeleton standing haggardly.

Oh, duh! He doesn’t have Mana, so he can’t use healing spells!

True, he could find and threaten a doctor to heal him, but why should he, when there’s a far more convenient solution right here!?

I quickly cast every healing spell I knew.

His blood stopped. His bones straighten. His wounds, healed. His skin grew anew.

I kept casting spells over and over and over again to heal the man as best I could.

My head was blank and my knees shook as all my Mana reservations were used up.

But I didn’t care!

I’ll give my life, as long as I can keep him from being angry at me! For dying a natural death is far better than suffering at his hands!

Eventually, when his sunken face grew back the way it was, I was so happy I passed out right then and there.

“Abbi!? Hey, Abigail, come on, open your eyes! Abigail!!!”

Good night, Mr. Satan, sir. I promise to do your bidding when I wake up.

So at least…

Just for tonight…

Let me sleep in peace.

“ZZZzzz”

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