CHAPTER SEVEN
Steeling herself mentally, Jesse smirked to herself. "I'll be fine! I usually am, right?" She raised her sword in front of her and tightened her grip. "I'll see you guys in a little bit, okay?"
And with that, she charged at Eve with new determination.
"Oh, I'm so sure you'll meet your dear friends again…" Eve chuckled before he raised his arms in the air, "…In the afterlife!"
A familiar deep ring sounded all around Jesse and she quickly moved to side as she barely avoided the fanged blocks rising from the ground as they tried to bite her. Missing their target, they slid back into the ground and disappeared.
"Oh, so you've learned how to dodge my evocation fangs, hmm?" Eve smirked, clearly enjoying their little 'game'. "I wonder how long you'll be able to keep avoiding them while my little vexes try to cut you down!"
The little ghosts called vexes started to circle Jesse again, laughing at her in their little squeaky and annoying voice. Their face and body turned red again as they raised their tiny swords and charged at Jesse. She quickly dodged them before she slashed at one of them, killing the little ghost in the process.
… Jesse briefly wondered how it was possible to kill a ghost, but decided that it wasn't the time to be wondering about something like that.
"I can dodge them all day if I have to!" Jesse said confidently, even though she knew she couldn't really dodge them forever. Dodging fangs that rose from the ground AND flying laughing ghosts for very long would tire anyone out.
But she couldn't let Eve know that. She wouldn't let him get an edge on her.
Eve frowned at her confidence before he smirked and raised his arms again. "We'll see about that."
The same deep ring sounded all around before Jesse leaped to the side and avoided yet another line of evocation fangs. Then, she began running towards the illager and raised her sword as she prepared to land a blow on him.
Eve raised his arms quickly and the bell sounded as fanged blocks circled the illager, protecting him. Skidding to a halt, Jesse stopped just before she ran into circle of fangs and backed away from Eve as quickly as possible.
"Hah hah! Nice try, human!" Eve reached out and petted the fangs, similar to how a human would do to a cat or a pig. "But with my creations protecting me, there's no way to reach me. So I suggest you give up now. If you do, I might be merciful and give you a quick and painless death," He said before he chuckled. "Or maybe not. Who knows? It'll depend on my mood."
"There's no way I'm letting you kill me!" Jesse responded confidently, even if she was starting to get a little worried. With the fangs blocking her from Eve, that didn't leave her with many options. Or rather, the only option: keep dodging and hope for the best.
Argh, why couldn't she have brought a bow? She could have shot through the evocation fang blocks and the battle would've ended in a flash. But no, she didn't think of preparing herself before they left home. If only Olivia or Lukas was around…
"Oh, I'm afraid you don't have much choice in the matter. I'm going to kill you and I'll take your form in the process! I'm feeling giddy just thinking about it!" Eve laughed to himself.
"What do you mean by 'take your form'?" Jesse wondered as she avoid the final vex that charged at her before she sliced the tiny ghost, causing it to disappear in a puff of smoke.
She recalled that Eve mentioned something about 'stealing her form' before, but Jesse had no idea what it could possibly mean. Did it have something to do with how Eve looked like a simple villager before?
"But of course!" Eve lifted his arms as he summoned three more vexes before they charged at Jesse with their sword drawn. "If I kill you, then I'll have gained your form. Just imagine what I could do if I looked just like you." Eve smirked. "If your friends somehow survive the onslaught of my vindicators, I could simply pretend to be you and lure them into a false sense of security. Then I'd lead them into another trap and watch the looks on their faces as they get killed by my fellow illagers. Oh, how fun that would be~!"
As Jesse avoided the newly spawned vexes, her eyes widened and she looked horrified at Eve's words before she glared at him with killing intent and gripped her sword tighter. "You're insane! There's no way I'll let ANYTHING like that happen! My form is mine and mine alone!" She said, determined to kill Eve before he even had the chance to kill her.
"Ah, normally it would be… but with THIS…!" Eve pulled a blue square from his sleeve and held it in front of him. "THIS makes it all possible! Just kill something or someone you'd want to look like and you can change to it at will! Such an astounding amulet!"
"Wait, seriously? How is that even possible? Where did you even get that?" Jesse asked as she killed another vex.
With Eve gloating like he had already won, maybe she could get more information from him while she looked for a way to kill him while avoiding those stupid fanged blocks and ghosts. Maybe see if she could get the location of the kidnapped villagers from him too.
Though, with all those villagers in the hallway that were more than likely just illagers that had taken the form of villagers, it was more than likely that… they'd…
"Oh, we received such a fascinating object from a generous benefactor! It's funny… the human just appeared one day and offered us a deal. We would take the object and held onto it while we killed weakling mobs while he, at our request, would go to a village and steal villagers for us," Eve said as he slipped the amulet back up his sleeve and lifted his arms as he called upon more evocation fangs. "Normally, I'd kill any human who dared set foot into our mansion, but I couldn't let an offer like that get away!"
"Wait, so some guy just showed up and gave you some magic rock that lets you transform and you got him to… kidnap villagers?" Jesse asked as she barely avoided the fangs just as a few vexes charged at her. "Why would you even want to kidnap innocent villagers in the first place?"
That kidnapper… he was the one that gave the illagers those amulets. What possible reason could he have had when he gave those amulets to them? Just… why?
"Innocent?!" Eve snapped at Jesse, his face twisted in anger. "Those villagers are the descendants of the ones who kicked my ancestors out of the villager, causing them to become outcasts!" He spat out as he raised his arms and summoned more fangs. "My ancestors simply didn't want to follow those accursed traditions of the village and that made those villagers fear us! Just because my ancestors wanted be stronger than humans and actually fight to defend themselves, that meant my ancestors had to be kicked out?!" He lowered his face, causing it to be darkened by shadows. "They deserve to suffer and be killed by my kind."
"Woah!" Jesse quickly backed away from the onslaught of fangs and felt her back slam into the table behind her. She put a hand on top of the table to keep herself steady as she glared at Eve. "That doesn't excuse what you're doing! Those villagers aren't the same as the ones in the past. You're just letting bitterness and the need for revenge cloud your better judgement! In fact, I don't think you're doing this for revenge, at least not anymore! You're just a crazy psycho!"
"Hah, what do you know? Such a naïve human girl… you know nothing about how villagers truly are. Villagers will NEVER change. They will always be blinded by their traditions and they will always let those stronger than them walk all over them." Eve then grinned sinisterly. "That's why I planned on taking over their village and wiping them all out. With these amulets, we'll be able to pretend to be 'innocent' villagers and kill any human that dares come anywhere near us."
"So, that's why you had that kidnapper take the villagers… you wanted to kill them and take their form so that you could set your plan in motion, didn't you?" Jesse visibly deflated after she killed the last two vexes that charged at her.
Those poor villagers… they never stood a chance.
"Ahah, yes! At least, that was my plan at first. Then our benefactor told us that we may receive a few extra guests soon. That's when I thought 'hmm, maybe we can take on human forms and infiltrate their little towns and take them down one by one once we kill off those villagers'! The thought filled me with such joy that I couldn't pass it up!" Eve laughed and lifted his arms again as he summoned more fangs.
"And that's why- agh- why you asked us those questions. You wanted to know about us!" Jesse avoided the fangs, but almost tripped over a chair in the process. She almost scolded herself for doing something so clumsy, but she stared at the chair for a moment before she put a hand to her chin as an idea popped into her head. Maybe…
"Hmm, how sharp. Yes, I was curious about the humans whose form that me and my fellow illagers would take," Eve said and raised his arms as he summoned even more vexes. "I was rather pleased to learn your group was quite famous!" A sinister laugh. "Just imagine the look on the human's faces as they're killed by the very people they dubbed 'heroes'! How frightened they'll look when their beloved heroes started killing them off! Oh, how fun that would be~!"
"Sorry, but you're not having anymore 'fun' by the time we're through!" Jesse said as she picked up the chair from the ground and ran towards Eve while avoiding the ghostly vexes that were beginning to circle their prey.
"And how exactly are you planning to stop me? You can't even reach me!" Eve chuckled as he lifted his arms.
As soon as Jesse was close enough and as soon as she heard the deep ringing of the invisible bells, she placed the chair on the ground and quickly stood on top of it and held onto its back.
As soon as the ringing stopped, a line of evocation fangs shot up out of the ground and tried to snap at Jesse…
… Or at least, one of them tried to.
The moment a fanged block poked out from underneath Jesse, it pushed the chair up and tried to clamp down onto her chair. While it did chomp down onto the bottom of the chair, it held it up into the air firmly. It was just high enough that Jesse could try to jump over the circle of evocation fangs and finally get to Eve.
"Wh-what?!" Eve stared in surprised at what had occurred and tried to call on more Vexes…
…But it was too late.
"Hey Eve!" Jesse called down as she carefully balanced on the chair and glared down at him. "Fangs for nothing!"
On a wing and a prayer, Jesse used the chair like a springboard and jumped over the fanged blocks. Her sword held in both hands, she brought the sword down onto the illager…
…. And straight through his chest, close to where his heart would be if he had one.
Eve screamed in agony as he was struck and collapsed to the ground. The fanged blocks around Eve roared in pain before they sunk back into the ground, never to be seen again. The ghosts faded away, as if they never existed.
Jesse had defeated Eve singlehandedly.
Barely.
"Looks like its game, set, match, Eve," Jesse said in a shaky breath as she stood up and wiped the sweat off her brow, relieved to have pulled herself through in a close battle.
"You… you…" Eve choked out as he looked at the sword stuck in his chest and scowled at it. He had lost to a human! He had disgraced the illager name and let himself be struck down so easily! He tried to move his body, despite it screaming in pain, but found he couldn't even move.
The only thing left for Eve was to wait for death itself.
"Jesse!" The victorious girl heard very familiar voices behind her. She quickly turned around and her face broke into a grin as soon as she saw her three friends running over to her, alive and well.
"Guys! You're all okay!" She rushed over to her friends to greet them, only for the words to halt in her throat as both Axel and Olivia tackled her and trapped her in a bear hug. "Woah, guys! Missed you too."
"Sorry, Jesse. I was just really worried and I'm just happy to see you're okay." Olivia released her friend and rubbed her arm shyly. "You looked like you were doing alright with Eve, but I still worry, you know?"
"Hey, I'm just happy that guy didn't kill you and turned into you. That would have been total nightmare fuel," Axel said as he let go Jesse and rubbed the back of his head. "Kinda wish I could have seen your fight, though. It was probably so cool and death defying and completely awesome."
"Way to go, Jesse! You did it!" Lukas said as he walked over to his friend and, instead of going for a hug, raised his hand up as an invitation for a high five.
"Thanks!" Jesse supplied Lukas with a high five before giving her friends a big smile. "Looks like you guys did it too! I bet you all kicked some serious butt."
"Well, those two did. I was too busy being stuck on a chandelier to help," Olivia said before she put her hands on her hips and glared at Axel. "Right, Axel?"
"Aw, come on, I thought it was a good idea at the time," Axel grumbled as he crossed his arms and looked away.
"A chandelier? Okay, I have to hear this," Jesse chuckled as she looked over at Olivia with a raised eyebrow.
"Y… you…" A pained, raspy voice groaned behind Jesse.
The smile dropped from her face as she turned around and looked at Eve, still collapsed on the ground with her sword still stuck in his chest. "What is it now? It's over; you've lost."
"To… to be defeated… by a human…" Eve coughed as he began to chuckle. "Me… an Evoker… lost…"
"Hey, wait a second…" Axel put a hand to his chin as if he'd thought of something. "Eve… Evoker… Eve… Evoker… Eve…" He mumbled to himself before he slapped his forehead in realization. "Oh, I get it now!" Axel then looked at Eve with a raised eyebrow. "Wow, dude, you could have been a lot more creative when coming up with a name."
Ignoring the large human, Eve continued to talk. "You think… you humans have won. But there are… many more illagers… in this mansion. They… will come… and kill you all."
"I'm afraid there are no more illagers still present in this mansion. Besides you, that is," A deep voice that came from nowhere spoke, surprising the Order and Eve.
"Wait… I recognize that voice," Jesse said as she looked around the room, trying to figure out where the voice had come from. "You're that kidnapper! Show yourself!"
"Hmm… if that is what you want, then I will oblige."
The kidnapper, as if on a whim, faded into existence and stood right next to Eve. He wore a dark brown hood and a black mask that covered the top half of his face. His eyes appeared to be all white, but Jesse wondered if it was a part of the mask itself. His skin was a pale pink and he wore a black sleeveless shirt with straps hanging off one side and he wore black gloves. His pants were brown like his hood but there were light brown plates with a silver lining on his knees and his boots were the same color as the knee plates.
Overall, Jesse got the feeling that if she tried to mess with this guy, she'd be dead in less than ten seconds without even knowing how it happened.
"You… you…!" Eve looked up at the mysterious kidnapper, eyes widening in surprise. "You said you weren't… planning on fighting."
"I wasn't," the man said in a deadpan tone before he shrugged. "Or at least, I wasn't going to fight your guests. I never said I wouldn't fight the rest of the illagers in the mansion." He bent down and looked Eve right in the eyes. "Simply put, I killed them. You're the last illager left… though, from the look of that sword in your chest, you won't be around for much longer."
Eve tensed as he heard the words from the man and glared at him with a deathly stare. "You… you! Traitor!"
"Now that would imply that I was loyal to you in the first place…" the kidnapper stood back up and shrugged. "But I was never loyal to you. I actually hate you and I'll be glad once you're finally gone," he said with a hint of venom in his tone.
Eve coughed in pain as he began to growl. "You… you killed off all my vindicators so easily… you should have died… before you killed off that many."
"Hmm… I suppose if I was inexperienced and unprepared, I would have," The mysterious man said before he began to chuckle and gave a wry grin. "Isn't it amazing what a simple enhanced Potion of Swiftness can do? They never saw me coming."
"I… I'll…" Eve began to say before he began to cough violently, the sword moving slightly in his chest as he did.
"You'll what? Kill me? I'm afraid from where I'm standing, you're the one that will be killed," the kidnapper bent down and looked at Eve in the eyes again. "Though, before you do die, I have one last thing to say to you." The lower part of his face was expressionless and his tone was emotionless. "…You brought this onto yourself."
Eve glared at the man and tried to speak, but found that his voice was lost. Then, with a strained gurgle, his head tilted to the side before his entire body poofed into white smoke and dropped the amulet he was holding and a strange doll-like item onto the ground. The diamond sword that was in Eve's chest clanged onto the floor, having completed its job.
"Hmm… I almost pity him," the kidnapper muttered as he picked up the doll and the amulet off the ground and stared at both objects for a moment. He then put the amulet into his inventory and began to toss the doll up into the air and caught it like it was toy. "Almost. He was a power hungry fool and the world will be better off without him."
"Hey!"
The kidnapper looked over to the Order of the Stone and noticed that they had gotten into a fighting position, glaring at the mysterious man and watched every move he made. He looked over at Jesse, having heard her call to him, and tilted his head slightly. "Yes?"
"You're that guy who kidnapped all those villagers from their homes, right?" Jesse accused as she stepped forward and pointed at the man. "I'm going to ask you some questions and I expect you to answer them. It's about time we hear what you have to say for yourself. Understand?"
The kidnapper stopped tossing the doll into the air as if he was considering Jesse's demand before he shrugged. "I suppose it's a possibility, but it would depend on the actual questions."
Jesse narrowed her eyes at the hooded man before she asked her first question. "First of all, who are you?"
The kidnapper was silent for a moment before he spoke, "You may call me… Culain."
"Alright, Culain," Jesse said his name with disdain. "Why in the Nether did you give those illagers those amulets? What could you have possibly gained for doing that?"
"That… is really none of your concern," Culain said in a deadpan tone. "I see no benefit for you to know such information, so there is no point in telling you."
"No bene-!" Jesse was about to yell out before she took a deep breath and glared at him. "Fine. Next question: Why did you kidnap those villagers for the illagers?"
"Because they wouldn't do as I asked of them if I did not assist in their foolish plan," Culain said before he shrugged. "I would have preferred not to, but I didn't have many other options."
"Well, you helping them sent a whole bunch of villagers to their deaths!" Jesse snapped angrily at the mysterious man and her friends nodded in agreement.
"I am aware of what I did," The kidnapper spoke in an emotionless tone. "But what's done is done. I have gotten everything I needed from those illagers and I no longer need to kidnap villagers anymore. So you can tell that village that they no longer have to worry about me taking them at night."
"Quit acting so nonchalant about this!" Jesse raised her fist in the air, wanting to punch his lights out. "Do you not feel guilty about what you did? Do you not feel anything at all?"
Culain was silent for a moment before he spoke. "Is that all you have to ask of me? I have other places to be."
"Uh, yeah! I have a question!" Axel raised his hand up and pointed at the amulet he was wearing. "Do you have any other cool stuff like this amulet? 'Cause I'd love to have it."
The mysterious man looked exasperated at Axel's question and turned back to Jesse. "Any other questions that aren't a waste of my time?"
"Not really a question, but more of a demand," Jesse said as she glared at Culain. "You are coming with us to the village and you are going to pay for what you did to those villagers!"
Culain was silent for a moment before he spoke, "I did not actually kill any villagers with my own hands."
"Maybe not, but you still sent them to the chopping block. That makes you more than responsible for their deaths!"
"Point taken," The impassive man said as he glanced over at the door and then back to the Order who was still watching his every move. "I suppose you're not going to let me go without a fight, huh?"
"You got that right!" Jesse said as her friends raised their weapons in agreement.
"You're not going anywhere!" Lukas pointed his sword at the mystery man, who seemed unamused at Lukas' declaration.
"There's no way you can take out all of us," Axel said confidently.
"Uh… didn't he take out an entire mansion of illagers all by himself?" Olivia asked, glancing at Axel while her bow was still pointed at Culain.
"Oh… right…" Axel frowned, remembering what the kidnapper had said. "Uh… we can still take him, right?"
"Your friend with the bow is right. Just by looking at you four, I can tell that you're no real match for me," The impassive man said before he looked over at Jesse and pointed at the sword that was on the ground next to him. "You don't even have a sword and yet you still wish to take me on?"
"Ah…" Jesse frowned and her eyebrows furrowed as she looked down at her sword. She almost forgot about that part.
"Psst, Jesse? You need to borrow my sword?" Lukas asked his friend as he lifted his iron sword up and offered the hilt to her.
"There's no need for that." Culain nudged the diamond sword on the ground with his foot before he kicked it towards the owner. The sword skidded across the floor until it stopped right in front of Jesse.
"Uh… thanks?" Jesse said unsurely as she picked her sword off the ground and pointed it at the mysterious man.
"Mm-hm," Culain mumbled before he tapped his chin with a finger as if he was considering something. "Hmm, how about a proposition?" He said before he pointed at Jesse. "You, and only you, fight me in a little duel. I won't use any potions or any other tricks up my sleeves at you and we will only use swords. If you win, I'll willingly go with your group and you may perform whatever punishment you deem worthy of my crimes. If I win, however, you let me go. Understand?"
Jesse blinked at Culain's proposal and mulled it over in her head. On one hand, if she agreed, she would be fighting the impassive man alone. Though, that meant that he wouldn't be using any potions against her, which meant that they would be on equal footing when it came to weapons.
But, on the other hand, if she declined his offer, then her and her friends could try to stop him as a team. That meant, however, that Culain would fight with his potions (plus whatever else he had) and there's no way for her to know what kinds of things he would throw at them. How could she know? He might have something worse than that zombie potion the kidnapper used on Lukas or that potion that released those cobwebs Olivia and Axel were covered in before…
In the end, Jesse made up her mind.
"You're on, Mr. Kidnapper!" Jesse smiled confidently, her sword raised in the air.
"… Something told me you'd agree to the terms. Very well then." Culain slipped the doll into his inventory then pulled out his own diamond sword and pointed the tip towards Jesse. "Shall we begin?"
"Woah, woah, woah! Jesse, are you sure you want to be fighting this guy alone?" Lukas stepped up to his friend and looked at her pleadingly. "This guy just screams 'serious business.' Besides, how do you know he'll hold up his end of the deal?"
"I'm going to have to agree with Lukas, Jesse," Olivia stepped up to friend, her eyes filled with worry. "This guy took out all those illagers and we barely took out the ones we did. He might be on a whole other level than us."
"Yeah, I say we pound the guy down as a team and drag him back to the village ourselves. He doesn't look that tough," Axel said as he looked over at Culain and gave him a once over before turning back to Jesse. "… Okay, he looks a little tough, but I say we can still take him if we work together!"
Jesse looked at her friends and then back at the mysterious man who was waiting patiently for their conversation to finish. She then looked back at her friends and smiled reassuringly. "Guys, I'll be fine. Besides, if he does anything suspicious, you guys can step in and help me out, okay?"
Her three friends looked at each with worried glances, unsure if they should keep trying to convince her to reconsider or listen to Jesse and let her handle it until things looked dicey.
Taking their silence as the end of their conversation, Jesse stepped forward and pointed the tip of her sword at Culain. "I'm ready when you are!"
"Very well. Let our duel commence," Culain said before he looked at the three onlookers for the duel and pointed at them with his finger. "And don't try to interfere. Not that you could, at any rate."
Lukas was about to step forward to ask what the mysterious man meant when he walked into something hard, stumbling backwards and held his black eye as the pain swelled up again, having walked face first into… something. Lukas reached his hand out and touched something he couldn't see. "What the-?!" He began to push at what felt like an invisible wall and found that it wouldn't budge.
Confused, Axel and Olivia also tried to reach forward only to find that the same invisible wall that was blocking Lukas was also blocking them. Looking closely at the wall, there were tiny, barely visible white and yellow particles floating in the air where the invisible wall was.
"I feel like something's there… I just can't see it!" Axel pushed at the wall with all his strength, but it was all in vain. Whatever the wall was made from, it was made from something tough.
Olivia tried to walk around the wall, only to meet with another wall blocking her. "Wait, how did- when did you-?" She stammered, looking at the kidnapper who looked indifferent to what they were experiencing.
In short, they were boxed in by invisible walls and they had no idea how the kidnapper could have done it without them noticing anything strange.
Jesse looked at her suddenly trapped friends in shock before she set her sights on Culain and glared daggers at him. "Hey! I thought you said that you wouldn't pull any tricks!"
"I also said 'at you'. I never said I wouldn't do anything to your friends." He shrugged. "But I wouldn't worry about them. They're completely fine and the barrier should wear off by the time our little match is over. It's just a precaution that they don't try anything idiotic and try to interfere. Like, say, trying to throw a block of TNT at me when they think I least expect it."
"That sounds kinda paranoid," Axel said.
After a moment, he crossed his arms and mumbled, "But also true… I would totally throw some TNT at him."
Jesse looked back at her friends before setting her sights on the kidnapper and gripped her sword tighter. "Fine. Let's just get this over with."
"Alright then." Culain raised his sword as he prepared himself. "Ladies choice: Do you want me to attack first or do you want to go instead?"
"I'll go first," Jesse replied, preparing herself to charge at the mystery man. Then, as fast as she could, she sprinted at Culain and raised her sword as she prepared to bring it down on him.
Culain raised his diamond sword in the air and caught the blade with it, the sound of clashing metal resonating throughout the room as it did. He leapt back just as Jesse started to use more force against the sword and raised the sword to his side as he prepared for Jesse's next sword strike.
Jesse almost stumbled forward as Culain leapt back, but quickly caught herself as she tried to follow his movements and tried to slash at him from bellow, only for him to quickly parry the attack and backed away once more before he brought the sword to his side and tried to attack Jesse with a side slash. She dodged the slash by moving backwards and her eyes settled on the chair that she had used to destroy Eve and quickly sidestepped her way towards it, her sword still held in a position to attack Culain if he tried to attack her again.
Culain began to rush at her as he held his sword at his side again and prepared to slash at her. Jesse quickly rolled out of the way and stood back up next to the chair. She grabbed it and raised it in front of her just as Culain raised his sword above him and brought it down, only for it to be stopped by the wooden chair as it cut deeply into it, causing it to be stuck. Jesse quickly used that as an opportunity to side step and try to attack him at his side. He, however, brought his sword to his side just as Jesse's sword tried to make contact, causing the chair that was stuck to the sword to be sliced in half and it disappeared into a puff of smoke. Jesse quickly back away and held her sword in front of her, disappointed that the chair that had helped her defeat Eve had been destroyed.
Goodbye, beloved chair. You would be missed.
"I must say, I'm impressed to see how you handled yourself so far," Culain complimented her, despite him not actually sounding impressed and continued to speak in an emotionless tone. He raised his sword up in a defensive position as he prepared for Jesse's next move. "You are rather agile and adapt to your environment to help you fight. You also seem to be rather observant and seem to plan things rather quickly if you need to." He said before he shrugged. "However, you need to put more force into your attacks. Though, that might be because you're fighting an actual human and you don't wish to outright kill me."
Jesse decided not to respond as she kept her eyes on Culain, sword raised and ready for more action. She put plenty of force into her attacks, thank you very much!
"Your form is also a rather rough fighting style. You seem to have taught yourself to fight or you were taught by someone who has a rather rough fighting style themselves." Culain tilted his head slightly to the side, as if he was pondering something. "Might I suggest different styles for you to work at? Maybe some books to help with some fighting stances?"
"Wait…" Jesse looked at the man strangely and stared at him like he grew another head. "Are you seriously trying to give me tips while we're in a middle of a fight? Or are you trying to mock me in a really weird way?"
"I am merely suggesting ways to increase your fighting repertoire. It is always better to improve oneself, especially if one is constantly going up against tougher and tougher opponents," Culain said with a shrug. "But what would I know? While I did take out an entire mansion of pathetic illagers, I must be clueless when it comes to actual fighting." He smirked. "Maybe you actually have a shot to take me down, in that case."
"You are mocking me!" Jesse snapped at the man, feeling more determined to take Culain down more than ever. Feeling goaded, she held the sword in front of her as she charged at the kidnapper. Culain let the smirk drop from his face as he charged at Jesse as well and their swords clashed as they collided with the other.
As the two continued to fight, the three onlookers watched the battle with baited breath.
"Go Jesse! Come on, mop the floor with him!" Axel cheered on his friend, letting out a loud 'woo' as he did.
"Agh, Axel! You don't have to yell that loud." Lukas covered his ears as he sent a glare at Axel.
"Hey, I'm just making sure Jesse can hear me. This thing could be soundproof for all we know!" Axel said as he continued looking at the intense fight.
"… Axel, we can hear everything they're saying," Lukas said in a steady tone, trying to not to yell as loud as Axel did.
"… Oh." Realizing what Lukas trying to say, Axel rubbed the back of his head. "Guess this thing isn't soundproof."
Olivia, not really paying attention to the loud conversation, continued watching the duel as she tapped her chin in thought.
Lukas, noticing Olivia's silence despite Axel yelling in their ears, looked at her curiously. "Something on your mind, Olivia?"
"Yeah. Something feels… weird," Olivia mumbled as she continued to watch the fight, not even glancing at Lukas.
"What do you mean?" Lukas asked, unsure what she meant.
"It's just…" Olivia paused to find the right words. "It feels like… this guy has some sort of hidden agenda."
"Agenda? What do you mean?" Axel turned to Olivia, his attention now on her.
"I don't know, it's just… this guy wants to escape being captured by us, right?" Olivia glanced at Lukas and Axel. "He could have just used a potion to escape or use an amulet to change into an enderman and teleport away or something. But instead…"
"But instead he decided to fight Jesse one-on-one with swords and only swords," Lukas finished Olivia's sentence and looked back at the duel. "That… is weird."
"He even said we were no match for him before," Olivia looked back at the fight and leaned up against the invisible wall in front of her. "I'm just trying to figure out why he's doing this in the first place. Why play Jesse like this?" She narrowed her eyes at Culain. "What does this guy gain by doing all this?"
The three friends remained silent for a moment. The only sound that was heard was the sound of clashing swords from the duel.
"Wow," Axel muttered as he looked back at the fight. "Now I really want Jesse to mop the floor with this guy."
As the duel continued on, Jesse began to feel herself get tired and sluggish as the minutes passed, but continued to push herself further. Perhaps it was because she had her fight with Eve before and then her duel with Culain shortly after that she was getting as tired as she was starting to feel.
Jesse cursed to herself. Why hadn't she considered that before taking Culain's offer? Why had she not considered her own limits?
Jesse continued fighting, despite those thoughts and the edges of tiredness starting to ebb at her reflexes.
"Hmm," Culain mumbled as he leapt away from Jesse's sword slash and raised his sword in front of him. "Perhaps it's time to end this. I do have others places I need to be."
"Good, I was just thinking the same thing," Jesse said as she raised her sword as well, almost mirroring Culain's fighting stance. The faster she ended this, the faster her friends would be free from the barrier.
The two duelers stared each other down, waiting for the other to move first. Then, almost at the same time, the two charged at each other, swords raised and ready to strike.
Just as the two were about to clash for the final time, Culain lowered his sword slightly. Then, the moment they were close enough, the kidnapper swung his sword up as hard as he could and knocked Jesse's sword into the air and out of her hands. He then collided into Jesse and quickly pushed her down to ground before Jesse could process that her sword was flying through the air.
Jesse felt her back slam to the ground, knocking the wind right out of her. She could hear her friends call her name, but she was too dazed at the moment to focus on their voices. Then she shook her head to gain her bearing and she finally was able to focus on the man standing over her and the sword pointed at her.
"Looks like it's game, set, match," Culain said, mimicking what Jesse had said to Eve when she struck him down. With a flip of his sword, Culain put it back into his inventory, his face as expressionless as ever.
Jesse, with a sigh, let her head drop back to the floor as she tried to come to terms with what happened.
Jesse had lost, plain and simple.
She couldn't believe she let herself be bested by that stupid kidnapper. What would she say to the villagers back at the villager? Heck, what could she say? 'Oh, sorry, I let the guy that kidnapped half the villagers from the village get away because I lost a duel with him.'
Yeah, that'd go over real well.
Noticing that the kidnapper was still standing in front of where she was laying, she got up onto her elbows and glared at the man. "What is it? Aren't you going to leave now that you won?"
Culain was silent for a moment before he answered. "If I was out to kill, you would be dead right now," He said so matter-of-factly that it made Jesse almost shiver in fear. "I suggest you improve yourself so nothing like this ever happens again." Culain looked over at Jesse's trapped friends. "I suggest you three improve as well. A team is only as strong as its weakest link."
"They aren't weak!" Jesse snapped at him, getting herself up off the ground and stood in front of the kidnapper, looking ready for another fight.
"I suppose… but you are stronger than them, aren't you?" Culain asked, beginning to walk towards where Jesse's friends were still trapped. "You have to admit, they couldn't have lasted as long as you did if I asked them to duel me on one-on-one instead." He stopped in front of the barrier and looked at them curiously. "I suppose with teamwork, all four of you could have lasted at least a little while against me. But I wonder…" He said as he stared at the three trapped friends with piercing eyes. "How long will it take before they feel like a burden to their friend? To feel like their so called 'fearless leader' is so far ahead of them when it comes to skill. What should they do if that's the case, I wonder?"
Before Jesse or her friends could respond, Culain turned away from the barrier and walked away with a shrug. "Well, looks like it's about time to say my good-byes. As interesting as our little duel was, I am a very busy man. I have other things I need to do that require my attention." He stared at Jesse for a moment. "I have won our little duel, so I will leave without any further resistances, correct?"
Jesse glared at the man for a moment before crossing her arms. "Fine. Get out of here! But if I ever see you again, me and my friends will take you down. Got it?"
"Understood," Culain responded impassively. He paused for a moment before he took out a few things from his inventory and tossed them to Jesse. "Here."
Jesse, surprised by the sudden items flying towards here, reached out to catch them and tried not to drop them in the process. Once she was holding onto the items, her eyes widen in recognition. "Hey, these are the things Eve dropped!"
"Yes, they are. You did defeat that maniac, so I suppose you have a right to them," Culain said with a shrug. He began to back away from Jesse and towards the door. "I suggest you hold onto those items, just in case. You never know when you'll need them." Turning around, Culain opened the door before glancing back towards Jesse and her friends. "We won't meet again."
With those final words, Culain walked out of the room and disappeared.
Lukas and Axel, who had been pushing on the invisible barrier in hopes that it would disappear so they could attempt to punch the kidnapper's lights out, suddenly found that the thing they were pushing on had disappeared and both of them collapsed to the ground with a thud.
"Ugh, at least we're finally out of that barrier," Lukas groaned as picked himself off the ground and held a hand up to his black eye as he could feel the pain flaring up again.
"Stupid jerk with his stupid mask and his stupid potions," Axel grumbled as he got up from the ground and crossed his arms in a huff. "Who does that guy think we are? We're just as tough as Jesse!"
Olivia, on the other hand, remained silent as she rubbed her arm nervously at Axel's words.
Jesse remained silent as well as she stared at items the kidnapper had given her.
They seemed like nothing more than a reminder of her loss with Culain and his words that were floating through her head.
-MCSM-
After a quick chat with her friends, the Order of the Stone had decided to spend the night at the creepy mansion.
While it wasn't the most inviting place to stay at, it was certainly better than going out into the dark roofed forest with all the monsters roaming about.
Jesse had decided to look around the mansion to see if there was anything else of interest in one of the rooms. Unfortunately, they seemed devoid of anything useful. There was a pantry that she stumbled across and she took some food from the chests to give to her friends later, but other than that there was nothing that got her attention.
Axel had volunteered to go collect Malia from her make-shift building and see if she wanted to sleep in the mansion instead. Lukas and Olivia, on the other hand, had decided to go looking for a room for them to sleep in until morning.
Jesse glanced around the empty hallway she was walking down and was very aware of how quiet and desolate it was. Earlier, it was filled with disguised illagers just chatting away. Now, however, it was nothing but a ghost town.
Culain wasn't kidding when he said he took out all of the illagers by himself.
Frowning at the thought of him, Jesse had once again taken out the items that Eve had dropped and stared at them once more. The blue amulet was pretty much identical to the ones that her friends had gotten, right down to the ever-changing black symbol of a person on it.
The doll, however, was a different story.
It looked like it was made of birch wood but it felt nothing like wood to Jesse. It was smooth like an enderpearl and the eyes seemed to have been made from emeralds. It was strange, but the eyes seemed to be watching her every movement. Jesse noticed that they weren't filled with malice. It instead felt like… curiosity? Wonder? Hope? Jesse wasn't entirely sure.
Shaking her head and getting away from those thoughts, Jesse stuffed the items into her inventory and continued walking down the depressing hallway.
"There you are, Jesse!"
Hearing a familiar voice calling after her, Jesse turned around and saw Lukas running up to her. "Lukas? I thought you were looking for a bedroom for us to crash in with Olivia?"
"Yeah, we found it. Though, Olivia suggested we'd try to find you and Axel and show you the way later," Lukas said before he rubbed the back of his head. "Kinda glad I ran into you instead of Axel."
Jesse raised an eyebrow at Lukas' words before she remembered the reason why he didn't want to run into their large friend. "Ah, you and Axel were fighting with each other earlier. Still haven't kissed and made-up, yet?"
"Not even close," Lukas grumbled under his breath and glared at the passing wall they were walking by. "As far as I'm concerned, the less I see of him outside our group, the better." Lukas looked down at the floor with a forlorn expression before he looked back at Jesse. "Though, I just wanted to run into you to see how you're doing. How are you holding up after… you know?"
Jesse's eyes widened when she realized what he was referring to and she let out a breath before looking to the side. "I'm… still thinking about it. I haven't lost that badly since the Old Builders killed me during the Games." Her brow then furrowed and she held her fists in front of her. "Then I keep thinking about what Culain said to you guys and… agh! It just makes me so angry thinking about it! You guys are plenty tough! There's no way my friends are burdens!"
Lukas remained silent during Jesse's rant and glanced away from her.
"Just… ugh, I really need to stop thinking about that guy. If I keep thinking about him, it'll just make my blood boil. The next time I see his dumb masked face, I'll mop the floor with him," Jesse complained, not noticing Lukas' silence. She took a deep breath to calm herself down before looking over at him. "For now, we should focus on getting some sleep and then heading back to the village."
"U-uh, yeah, we should," Lukas stuttered, snapping him away from his thoughts and looked back at Jesse.
Jesse raised an eyebrow at Lukas' reaction but decided not to ask. "I just hope they aren't too upset about all the villagers that lost their lives and me just… losing against the kidnapper." She frowned at the thought and looked back at the wall they were passing.
Lukas stared at Jesse for a moment before he looked at her curiously. "Wait a minute… you're not feeling guilty about what happened, are you?"
"U-uh…" Now it was Jesse's turn to stutter. "Um… maybe a teeny, winey, tiny bit?" She wasn't sure why she phrased it like a question, but she was more surprised that Lukas read her like a book.
"Jesse, there's no way we could have saved them. Not to mention there was no way of knowing what that Culain guy was capable of," Lukas said, trying to reason with her. "That's not something to feel guilty over."
Jesse sighed as she looked forward at the hallway they were walking down. "I know… it's just that I made it sound like we were gonna rescue all of them when we talking to Carter and then we didn't and just… agh!" She put her face in her hands and groaned. "Now I feel so dumb for saying all that stuff!"
Lukas was about to refute what Jesse had said, before he noticed something odd about the wall they were passing and he stopped to stare at it.
Noticing that Lukas had stopped walking with her in the corner of her eye, she turned around and looked at him curiously. "Uh… isn't this the part where you tell me I'm being silly or something?"
"Hm? Oh, right..." Lukas said, focusing his attention back on Jesse. He rubbed the back of his head as he continued to stare at the wall. "Sorry, there's just something about this wall that's bugging me."
"Bugging you how?" Jesse went over and looked over at the wall Lukas was looking at and then looked back at him. "It looks like an ordinary wall to me."
"Yeah…" Lukas glances at along the wall of the hallway and then stared at the wall in front of him again. "But this one wall is made from spruce wood, NOT dark oak wood. Why would this one wall be made of entirely different blocks than the rest of the mansion?"
Jesse's eyes widened as she looked along the walls of the hall and realized that he was right. The walls that they had walked passed were a slightly darker shade of brown than the one that Lukas had pointed out. But why would...
Wait a minute!
"What if there's something behind this wall? Maybe like a secret room or secret passage?" Jesse asked aloud as she went up to the wall and put her hand on it in thought.
"Wait..." Lukas looked at Jesse with a raised eyebrow. "How'd you jump to that conclusion?"
"Well, don't suspicious looking walls always lead to some kind of treasure or something like that? At least, that's what happened in a few stories I've read." Jesse looked back at Lukas and the back at the wall with a serious look on her face. "Help me break this down, okay?"
"Huh... guess that makes sense in a weird sort of way. Alright, I'll help." Lukas went up to the wall and stood next to Jesse. Together, they punched at the wall until there was a big enough hole for them to walk into, and as they did…
"Hey! A secret door!" Jesse looked at the set of double doors with a grin and then patted her friend on the back. "Nice find, Lukas!"
"Thanks, Jesse," Lukas said with a smile before he looked at the door suspiciously. "Though, that doesn't mean that there's not something bad in there."
"Only one way to find out!" Jesse said confidently and pulled out her diamond sword that she had recovered from her duel earlier and carefully opened the door and peeked inside.
Inside the room was a cobblestone wall through the middle of the room with cobblestone fences acting like bars along the wall. In the center of the wall was a set of iron doors that had a lever next to it. Jesse peeked through the bars on the wall and…
"Ah! They're back! Don't kill me please!"
"Nooo! I don't want to die like the others!" A whimper and a sob.
"Meh, just do it already. I don't even care anymore…"
Through the bars were three villagers, two of which were cowering in fear and the third one looked completely defeated and resigned.
"Wait a minute, there are villagers in here!" Lukas went up to the bars and looked through them. "Or… wait, are they illagers in disguise?"
"Ahhhh… wait, are those humans?" One of the villagers that were cowering in fear looked over at the humans before grinning and sighed in relief. "We're saved!"
"B-but what if they're those mean illagers disguised as humans?" The other scared villager said before he looked at the humans fearfully. "Maybe they thought up a new way to torture us?"
"If they are, I say just kill me already," The resigned villager went up to the bars and glared at Jesse and Lukas.
"Wait, no, we're friendly! We're the Order of the Stone!" Jesse said as she went over to the lever and pulled it down, opening the double set of doors. "We came to rescue you!"
"As long as you're not disguised illagers, that is." Lukas crossed his arms and glared at the three villagers.
"Wait, Order of the Stone?" The villager that looked hopeful went up to them and smiled nervously. "I saw you guys enter our villager from my window… before I was knocked out, that is." The villager held his arms out in front of him. "Search me all you want! I don't even have bread!"
"Wait, you recognize us?" Jesse asked as Lukas went over to the villager to pat him down for an amulet. "Oh! You must be that one villager that kidnapper took the night before."
"Why, yes!" The librarian villager looked happily at the humans, not even resisting Lukas' pat down. "I told the other two that the heroes would probably come and save us, but they didn't believe me."
"S-so we aren't going to die?" The cowering villager looked over at the humans, looking slightly hopeful.
"Great… I get to live with the memory of my friends dying in front of me," The defeated villager sighed before he leaned against the wall. "Fan-freaking-tastic."
"This guy is clean, Jesse. He doesn't have anything on him," Lukas said as he stopped searching the villager's inventory and stepped away. "Should I check the others?"
"U-um… okay. Just so you don't hurt me when you do," the cowering villager looked at Lukas, shaking like a leaf block.
"Does it look like I give a damn if he does or not?" The defeated villager raised his arms in front of him. "Just get it over with."
"I… don't think that'll be necessary, Lukas," Jesse said as she studied the faces of the villagers before looking back over to her friend. "If they were illagers, they wouldn't be willing to go through an inventory check."
Lukas looked over at the villagers one last time before turning to Jesse. "You have a point there."
"Hm… hey, can you go find and the others and tell them that we found survivors? They'll want to hear this!" Jesse looked over at the villagers and gave them a friendly smile.
"Right, I'm on it!" Lukas nodded at Jesse before he headed out the door to go find the rest of their friends.
Jesse continued to give them a friendly smile before she looked over at the librarian villager with a raised eyebrow. "So, any reason why you three were trapped in a secret room behind a wall?"
"U-um, the door wasn't covered up earlier," The cowering villager said. "But those mean illagers seemed to be preparing for something and didn't want anyone to find us, so they asked that guy who kidnapped us to seal us away, just in case."
"Yeah, I remember," The librarian villager nodded as he scratched his bald head in thought. "For some reason, he changed switched the wall's blocks when the illagers weren't around. It seemed a little random at the time."
"Meh, who cares what that guy did?" The defeated villager shrugged and glared at the wall. "He still kidnapped us and got us into this mess. My friends died because of him!"
"B-but didn't he say that someone would come help us eventually when he sealed us in?" The cowering villager looked over at his angry friend.
"Oooh, and THAT makes up for my friends dying! Well, la-de-dah!" The angry villager turned away with a snort and glared at the wall.
"Wait, the kidnapper said that?" Jesse asked, looking over at the villagers curiously.
"Yeah," The librarian villager nodded. "He said that someone will find us eventually. If no one came, then he'd take us back to the village himself." The librarian titled his head in confusion. "Why kidnap us then take us back to the village? Are all humans this strange?"
Jesse's brow furrowed as she tried to make sense of the kidnapper's actions. Then, with a look of determination, looked at the three villagers.
"I have no idea what that guy is about… but the next time I see him, I'm getting to the bottom of this. One way or another."
A/N: WOW, this was a long chapter. Ahahaha... haha... ha... fight scenes will be the death of me, isn't it? :,D
ANYWAY, I finally got to introduce Culain properly! Eh, sorta. He's still kinda mysterious, but that's kinda his whole shtick right now. :P
Oh well, according to him, we won't see him ever again. So I guess this means we'll neeeevvvveeeeerrrr learn what his motives are. Nnnnope! Never gonna happen! xD
Oh, yeah, I'm not gonna be taking any more villagers names. I don't want anymore suggestions for names when I start the next chapter, so... yeah. I'll throw the three that were suggested to me into a randomizer and see who's name is the lucky winner! :D
Hmm... the next chapter is also probably going to be long, but there's no way I'm going to be cutting it up. There's gonna be A LOT of things laid out into the open. There's also gonna be a lot of talking. Though, sometimes people just need a good long talk, ya know?
Speaking of things being laid out into the open, anyone have any theories what Lukas, Olivia and Axel are keeping secret? I'd like to know what people think they are. :D
I don't think I gave Olivia's secret many hints, but I know there are a few hints when it came to Lukas' secrets. Hmm...
Ah, right. Before I forget, I didn't know if I wanted to keep any villagers alive for the end of the chapter so I asked my beta Ariza and she said to keep a few alive... but make it a surprise. ;D
Can't get anymore surprising than a secret room, amirite?
And... that's enough talking out of me... but the Order of the Stone in the next chapter... HOO BOY. xD
