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Chapter 147

Weak and Pitiful

"Well, well. You came at just the right time," the girl said as she stopped laughing. "You see, I was getting tired of searching, and these guys wanted to have some fun with me. Naturally, I wanted to have some fun with them too, but sadly they broke before I had the chance to enjoy myself."

"Who are you?" I asked. "Identify yourself."

"Oh, where are my manners?" the girl said as she curtsied. "Allow me to introduce myself. My first name is "Screw," and my last name is "You." I like long walks during the night, I'm a type B when it comes to blood, my measurements are none of your business, and - I love to have fun with people, although I hate being bored."

"You think I'm playing around?" I spoke, growing a bit impatient. "I asked you to tell me who you are, and identify yourself."

"But just told you who I was, and even told you some facts I don't normally share with people," the girl said innocently. "And we've only just met, not even gone on a date together. I'd teach you a thing or two about how to treat a girl, but I'm afraid I don't have time to chit-chat. You see, I'm looking for a certain someone. He's quite the celebrity around these parts, and I've been looking for him for quite some time."

She then took out a poster from her clothing, and when she showed me, I couldn't help but flinch from what it was. It was a wanted poster of me.

"This boy is responsible for being not only a traitor to the Barem Alliance!" the girl went on. "But he's also responsible for the disbandment of the Black Panther guild, and killed their leader, Don Gira!"

What she said caught me by surprise, almost making me gasp, but I made sure to keep it to myself. "What makes you so sure that I know anything about that kid? And I was told that Don Gira was taken into custody by the Magic Council. You sure you didn't just hear a rumor?"

"It was not a rumor!" the girl suddenly snarled, her glaring daggers at me. "That bastard murdered him in cold blood, and because of that, I want nothing more than to make the little punk suffer for what he did!" Her face then softened. "But because of my mission, I can't exactly kill him, so I have to see this mission through. So if you know anything about him, I would suggest you tell me everything you know, or I'm going to have to force you to."

"First of all, even if I knew where this Willy fellow is, I wouldn't tell you anything," I spoke glaring. "And secondly, call me a bad judge of character, but you seem to be the type of person that I'd rather die than tell you the likes of you anything."

The girl then stared at me, her eyes warbling a bit from feeling taken aback. Then she began to chuckle. As she did, I took notice of the girl's hands, both of which started to secrete a strange substance them, a familiar black liquid that snaked around and covered them entirely.

"You know, you shouldn't say things like that. Otherwise, you'll give the impression that you'll know something that I don't," the girl said quietly. "But that's fine. Because that will give me a better enough reason to play with you!"

"That substance!" I thought, recognizing it. "It can't be...!"

The girl suddenly shot forward, and the substance on her hands suddenly changed into massive fists. Reacting quickly, I ducked out the way just as the fist nicked the hairs on the top of my head, and then countered with a swing of my blade. The girl leaned back, dodging the attack, and I followed up with a few more quick swipes, only to have them miss her as she dodged them with ease. I then swung with both of my blades only to have the girl bring her fist up and block the hits. When my swords made contact, numerous spikes suddenly shot out from the substance on her fists, causing me to jump back to avoid getting skewered.

"There's no mistaking it! This girl's got toxin ooze in her! But if that's the case, then she had to have gotten it from the person who made it, which means - "

"I've got to admit, you using a pretty strange power," I said, aloud. "Mind telling me where you acquired something like that?"

"If you're that interested, how's about I give you an up-close and personal demonstration?!" the girl wildly yelled.

She then swung and thrust her arms forward as the ooze on her fists shot forwards, transforming into sharp and pointed tendrils. I brought my swords together into an X to defend, but as the tendrils struck them, I felt myself being pushed back from the overwhelming force from them. I tried to brace my legs to try and stop myself, but I continued to get pushed back until I hit something on my back, knocking the wind out of me. I soon realized that the girl's force was so powerful that it pushed me to the wall of a building.

Knowing that the girl was coming, I looked up in time to see her shoot straight for me with a wild and predatory look on her face as several tendrils shot out from her body and straight towards me. I immediately used Aqua Jet to jump up and dodge as the tendrils pierced the wall, and then converted my swords into powerful torrents of water and hurled them straight toward her. The tendrils quickly retracted morphing into a shield of sorts blocking the attack just in time.

"Damn! I don't know what the stuff is, but it's incredible in attack and defense! Not to mention, this girl may crazy, but she can hold her own. As much as I would like to leave her unharmed to interrogate her, I may need to start getting rough."

And when I landed back on the ground, I clenched my hands, making them explode with water as I began exerting my magic power. A cackle then escaped the girl's lips as she retracted her tendrils as they squirmed and wiggled about in the air.

"So you're finally going to start getting serious? About damn time," the girl huffed, sounding annoyed. "I was starting to get a little bit bored and thought that you were taking it easy on me. You know, because I'm a girl and all that chivalry crap."

"Don't you worry. I believe that's enough warming up," I said, as I punched my fists together. "And don't worry. I'm not exactly the kind of person who practices chivalry in a fight. I have no intention of taking it easy on you just because you're a girl."

The girl then smirked. "That's fine with me~ Neither am I!"

She then shot forward once again and started swinging at me with sharp and quick punches. I blocked with my forearm, leaned back to dodge, and sidestepped to the left and grabbed hold of her arm. With a mighty throw, I sent her flying and shot at her and then swung with an Iron Fist spell. My fist connected right at the side of her cheek, whipping her head to the side. The girl staggered from the recoil and looked back up at me, a thin trickle of blood coming out from her mouth. She wiped it off with the back of her hand and seemed to grow even more maniacal than before as bloodlust filled her eyes.

The girl then swung hard, causing me to tilt my head to avoid it, but her fist barely scraped across my cheek, drawing a bit of blood. After that, she gave me a sharp kick aiming for my stomach. I stepped to the right, dodging and turning while bringing up my leg, and swung using Talon. The girl jumped back, avoiding it, while performing a couple of flips before landing in a crouch. At that moment, I chuffed up my cheeks while taking a deep breath and unleashed a powerful breath attack shooting it towards her creating a powerful explosion that shook the area.

Then from above, a faint and eerie glow caught my attention, causing me to look up, to see that the girl had jumped up into the air and was focusing a great deal of power from her mouth.

"Now it's my turn!" the girl shrieked.

She then unleashed a powerful beam of magic from her mouth, black in color, and sparkling with power. Thinking quickly, I slammed my fist into the ground, and my Geyser Wall erupted from the ground to block the blast. But when the attack collided with my wall, it immediately evaporated, and the force was enough to blow me back, making me scream as I tumbled across the floor before coming to a stop.

As I tried to get back up, I felt something wrap around both of my legs tightly. Next thing I knew, I was being dragged along the ground, my body skipping and scraping the ground like a stone. Then I was lifted into the air, and before I could react, I was suddenly brought down and slammed into the ground square on my back enough to rattle my spine. As I bit back a yell from the impact, I looked up to see that the girl, who was still smirking with glee, had morphed her hands into her tendrils and was using them to wrap around my legs.

With an insane giggle, the girl sharply pulled back her tendrils, pulling me towards her and swung me back down to the ground again, planting my face into the dirt hard. She swayed, and she slammed me a couple more times before turning me around and finally letting go, sending me flying with an enormous amount of force. I went crashing through one of the buildings, feeling the hard stony wall crumble from the impact, and yet again as I continued until I crashed into something that cushioned my fall but was hardly a graceful landing.

When I opened my eyes, regaining consciousness, I heard the sound of people screaming in surprise and fright. I quickly realized that the girl had thrown me right out into the open for the public to see and had crashed into one of the stands that stood near the Akane Resort. My clothes were now torn to shreds, and my skin had wounds as well as dirt all over it.

I quickly felt my face making sure that my mask was still on. It suffered a little bit of damage, the lower half of my face had was broken off, but the top half miraculously stayed on, hiding my eyes and my nose.

"Damn it. This girl's not only fast, but she's powerful too. She keeps overwhelming me every time I try to fight back against her! Not to mention no thanks to her, I'm out in the open! At this rate, I won't be able to last against her, and if she manages to get the rest of my mask off, she'll know who I am, but I can't let this girl slip away. I have to keep fighting. She could be the only person who can tell me about Silver Beard!"

As I pulled myself together, managing to get back on my feet, the girl came out from the darkness, still wearing that demented smile on her face.

"Well, now. It seems like we're taking this out in the open now," the girl said. "Didn't know that you're into exhibitionism. Normally, I'd like to keep things private, but I guess I can accommodate. It makes things all the more thrilling."

"Anyone ever tell you, you've got the crude mouth for a girl?" I replied as I got back up on my feet. "I've met plenty of girls, but none like you."

"Oh, spare me the impiety," the girl scoffed. "Unlike you, I'm not afraid to let my wild sideshow, especially when there's a chance I can cut loose and kill."

The girl then shot towards me, tendrils exploding out of her body and shooting at me. I leaped to side this just as they obliterated the stand behind me, and continued to rain down on me as I ran and jumped out of the way to dodge.

I used Aqua Jet to shoot myself upward, and while cloaking my hands with magic using Blade and using Aqua jet again, going forward, poising my blades, raring to continue the fight. But as I darted towards her slashing in an X, she bent backward, and from her stomach, a tendril of ooze in the shape of a fist slammed straight into my stomach, sending me into the air.

When I was in the air, recoiling from the blow, my attacker jumped into the air, and before I had a chance to defend, she put her hands together, cupping them while reeling back, and covered them with ooze. Then with a mighty swing downward, she slammed me hard and sent me straight to the ground, hard enough to make the earth explode from the force. I felt my bones creak as pain exploded throughout my body as I let out a wet cough feeling something escape my lips.

Suddenly, I heard a small scream coming from somewhere behind me, prompting me to look around until I saw something that made my eyes widen. A few feet away was a young boy standing a few feet away, frozen on the spot from terror and staring straight at me. To make matters worse, the girl came gunning for me again, charging up magic power from her mouth, preparing to unleash a beam.

Not hesitating for a second, I turned towards the boy and rushed over to him as fast as I could. I then scooped him up in my arms and jumped out of the way just as the blast burned my right leg. As I, along with the boy, hit the ground, I couldn't help but wince in pain as my leg stung with searing pain. However, I didn't care about that as I let the boy go from my embrace.

"Go! Get out of here!" I told the boy. "Run as far from here as you can, and don't look back! Hurry!"

The boy was terrified, but he obeyed, taking off as fast as his little legs could carry him. Then as I attempted to refocus my attention to my target, something slammed right into my chest, making me hit the ground hard enough to whiplash my brain. I opened my eyes, only to see the girl standing above me, grinding her foot firmly on my chest, her smile now twisted into a disgusted snarl.

"Well, aren't you the little hero saving that little brat like that?" the girl sneered. "Unfortunately, because of your little selfless act, you left yourself wide open for me to make you eat the dirt! I should have known that you'd be a goody-two-shoes light wizard, helping that brat."

"Sticks and stones," I grunted, trying to push her foot off of my chest. "I could never let that kid get hurt, so I needed to help him. Unlike you, I don't need to drag innocent people into my fights."

"Ugh. Spare that whole holier than thou, crap," the girl spat. "And if you ask me, you're the one that needs help. Every last one of you legal wizards needs help in this sad world of ours! All of you legal wizards spout all that bull about fighting for the people and protecting the innocent! But all that kind of thinking not only makes you ignorant of the real world, but it makes you weak, and you're no exception!"

She ground her foot into my chest harder, enough to make me start suffocating. I tried desperately to try and push her foot off, but two tendrils came shooting from the girl's back, and wrapped around my wrists, pinning them down.

"I can tell just by looking at you and how you fight that you're just like those lousy little wimps!" the girl went on. "They all pretend that they're powerful just because of the money for doing jobs and about caring about the people they work for, but when push comes to shove, those pansies are nothing but a bunch of weaklings."

"Y-You're wrong!" I objected. "It's not about the money! It's-"

"Yeah, yeah. I know the spiel. The power of friendship and all that other sentimental garbage!" the girl interrupted. "It's a cute thought, but let me drop a truth bomb, kid. It's nothing but lies! In this world, power is the only thing that stands on top in this world, and only the strong can wield it to dominate, and I'm just one of the people who have the guts to use that power to get what I want! And for that matter, surrounding yourself with weaklings not only gives us a chance to kill them, but they also make great bargaining chips for ransom!"

She began to ground her foot into my chest harder, and the binds that held my wrists grew tighter as I struggled to breathe, feeling my oxygen start to deplete.

"Oh, yes! I've seen this first hand! People would always claim they're powerful until one of their friends or loved ones ended up getting captured or killed! What a bunch of hypocrites! And, that bastard Falconer is no different than the rest of them if not worse than them! He was once a part of something bigger, a part of the greatest alliance ever to exist, but then he turned his back on us and became one of them! He deserved my respect, but now I want nothing more than to make him pay like the pitiful traitorous dog that he is!"

At that point, my blood began to boil as the girl's words set something off inside me. I bared my teeth while clenching my fists tightly enough to draw blood. My wrists began to glow along with my ankles, and I let out a scream as my body exploded with power, ripping the tendrils off of my body and blowing the girl off of me. As I got back on my feet, I pounced straight towards the girl, my fist clenched and raised and swung with all my strength decking her right in the stomach.

My attack sent my enemy flying straight into another stand with a mighty crash while creating a cloud of dust. The girl then jumped out of the darkness, and when she did, I clenched my fist and used Blade, intending on using the water to cloak my hand as I straightened, but this time, the water turned completely black and bent and morphed into a long blade.

"What the hell?!" the girl exclaimed. "That's just like the ooze that I use!"

A small glimmer of confusion coursed through my mind as well, but I was more enraged as I swung my new blade straight at her. The girl leaped into the air just as my blade sliced straight through the stand she crashed in along with a few others like swiss cheese, the tops sliding off completely.

"GET BACK HERE!" I roared as I shot after the girl in hot pursuit.

The girl then turned around just as I was closing in on her, and attacked by firing her shower of tendrils. This time, I saw them coming from a mile away and used Aqua Jet as well as my speed to dodge one after the other until I was close enough. When I was, I clenched my fists covering them with black liquid and right-crossed her across her cheek, left crossed the other, and then I kneeing her straight into her gut, causing her to cough out a little blood.

The girl landed back onto the ground, an angry look crossing her face, and counterattacked with her tendrils again. This time, I morphed my hands into blades and shot towards her, slicing and cutting every one that came at me. When I was close enough to her, I receded my blades into my hands and morphed them into giant claws, and my legs changed into talons and swung as the girl tried to put up her hands to defend.

The impact sent her flying once again as I took flight, relentlessly continued to attack, swinging my claws and kicking with my feet. Every blow that I landed raked away at the girl's ooze until her human skin was exposed. Seeing that her defense was weak, I twisted my body and with a mighty roar and gave her arms a mighty kick, sent her plummeting to the ground, and hitting it hard with a loud slam. Then the girl shot back up to her feet, her anger showing even more on her face.

"No! No! HELL NO! I REFUSE TO LOSE TO A PUNK LIKE YOU!" the girl shrieked. "I'M GOING TO OBLITERATE YOU, YOU BASTARD! LET'S SEE YOU HANDLE THIS! ! !"

The girl let out one more scream as she began to charge power from her mouth beam, intending on using her mouth beam again. I clenched my fist and began charging power in response, planning to make sure that this girl stayed down. I didn't even care about interrogating her for information. I just wanted her to go down, permanently.

I clenched my fist as the ooze from within my body cloaked it, as it grew in size and power until it was bigger than my body. It began to bend and change shape until it became the shape of a shark, its piercing eyes glowing emerald green. The shark let out a low growl as it focused its attention on the girl, while she, undaunted, unleashed a powerful beam from her mouth. Knowing that her attack wouldn't be enough, I used mine as well, the shark letting out a fierce roar as I fired.

The two attacks continued on their paths until they collided. However, my attack pushed straight through as if the girl wasn't even there as it opened its jaws wide as it continued towards its target. Finally, the shark collided to the ground creating a massive a powerful explosion that shook the entire beach in a black pillar of liquid that rained down everywhere.

When it stopped, I landed back onto the ground and surveyed the area. There was now a crater that was several a few feet wide and pretty deep. Stands and buildings were now nothing more but piles of rubble, and it was deathly quiet.

I peered into the crater, and I could see the girl lying there inside it, her eyes dazed, and her body limp, surprisingly still alive. Realizing this, I reached down, grabbing the girl by the neck, and lifted her, hanging her in mid-air. I straightened my hand as the ooze cloaked it turning it into a blade and aimed it straight for her stomach while uttering these words.

"Who's pitiful now?"

But as I was preparing to stab the girl, there was the sound of hurrying footsteps followed by an unfamiliar voice that came from my right.

"Over here! The blast came from over here! Quickly!"

Upon hearing the voice, my senses immediately returned like someone throwing a bucket of cold water on my head. I let go of the girl, dropping her to the ground, and took off running as far as I could until I hid behind a corner of the building. I then peered out, wanting to know what I heard, and sure enough, I saw a squad of men in familiar white garish clothing carrying staffs as they inspected the area.

"Damn it! It's the Rune Knights! Someone must have called for them while we were fighting! That's the last thing I need! I got to get out here fast unless I want a repeat of what happened seven years ago!"

And without a moment's hesitation, I leaped into the air and took off trying to get as far away as possible, not daring to look back.

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Until then, Dragomaster, signing off!