Chapter 70
"I'll ask again, who are you?"
Blair steps back, her bright and cheery demeanor has changed from what it was a minute ago. Now it's replaced by an expression of uneasiness.
"H-how are you doing this? He told me that the plan would work." She takes a step back from me out of fear.
"Even I still don't understand how all of this works…" I push a hand through my hair get it out of my face, following with a deep sigh.
"And who is 'he'?"
She takes another step back, almost reaching the wall, only stopping inches away from it. If Blair couldn't keep a calm face before then she defiantly keep one now.
"I… I can't tell you… If I do… I just can't!" Her breathing becomes erratic, it becomes clear that she won't be calming down anytime soon.
"Who sent you? Just tell me, I don't want to hurt you." Hurting people isn't really my go-to option, but I'll resort to it if I have to. I've come to realize in the past week or so that I don't want anyone else to get hurt unless it comes down to it.
"If I said that… then you'd have… to kill me…"
"Why do you think that? I already said I don't want to hurt you. Just spit it out already." She's definitely a patience draining, I'll give her that.
"…" Blair doesn't speak at all.
"Quiet eh? We can do this all day if we have to."
I take a chair from the corner of the room and place it against the door to prevent anyone from entering. Wouldn't want anyone disturbing us now would we? Now, time for some interrogation, you know, the kind that isn't barred by the Geneva Convention.
"I don't want to hurt you, and you don't want to be hurt. I think that's a fair arrangement, just tell me what I want to know and we can both go our separate ways."
"…" She doesn't speak a word. How annoying…
"Silence won't get you anywhere. Who is he? Why did you target me? The quicker you answer the quicker we can both leave." My gaze becomes more stern than it already was.
I've been through too much, gone too far to just let someone with potential answers slip by my grasp. Too much shit's already happened for me to just let this girl get away.
"He's going to be angry if I say anything. I don't want to get hurt anymore, please leave me alone." I can sense the desperation in her voice. Talking may not be the solution then.
'She doesn't like pain right? Give her enough until she breaks.' A whisper from inside my head can be heard.
'You know it's the fastest way, why keep wasting your time on this hopeless girl?' The whisper intensifies, trying to lure me to its path.
'Just let me free and I'll handle it all for you. No guilty conscience whatsoever, the blood will be on my hands old friend.' Now I know what this is.
"Enough!" I yell out, causing Blair to shriek in response. The glow of my left eye intensifies and the whispers cease to exist. So that's what that eye does, it protects me from magic and other forces.
The intense surge of magic through my body causes me to almost throw up. My body's still not accustom to using the powers of the sharicite yet.
I reestablish my footing once more and stand tall. Still wincing in pain, my face shows it. And when I look into Blair's eyes, she only freaks out more and continues to cower in fear.
"Tell me… Now…" I begin to stumble forward at a snails pace. My body can't take much more of this. I have to get answers out of her as soon as I can before I pass out from exhaustion.
"Tell me what I want to know… Who… sent…you?" She starts backing up, finally hitting the wall on the other side of the room. My murderous gaze still peering into the depths of her soul.
"Leave me alone… you, you… you monster!" Blair screams at me in terror, convinced I'm the bad guy here, even though she's the one who tried to control my mind.
"Where's that cool, seductive personality you had a few minutes ago? Now you're just like a frightened mouse backed up into a corner." I give off a smile after that. While it isn't the prettiest intimidation tactic, it will work on her for sure.
"…" The only noises she makes are small whimpering sounds that are barely audible. I'm close to breaking her, I just know it, she can't keep this up forever. Then again, neither can I.
The constant magical pressure being weighed upon my body is taking its toll. It's taking a lot of effort to even stand up right now. Luckily, she's about to break down and tell me what she knows.
"Just tell me… Who sent you… and why you're targeting me specifically…" My breathing becomes ragged, but I'll keep up this persona for as long as I can until I get answers.
Blair turns her head away from me even more to avert my gaze. Tears and sweat are visible all over her face from the amount of fear in her right now. I probably scarred a person for life, but it'll be worth it in the end.
I lean in close, right next to her ear and begin to whisper. "If you don't answer… the damn questions… I'm going to kill you…" Relax, I'm not actually going to, just a scare tactic is all.
"It's Andrew! He's the one that sent me!" What? That's who sent her? How the hell did I know it was going to be him? He went from straight dumbass to powerful pawn of Arfoire I know, but still… He sent her?
"What does he want with me that he can't do himself? Why send you to do his dirty work?" I'm getting angrier by the second. I know I shouldn't get enraged, bad things always happen at that point.
"Because I'm the only Bound Deity who has a form in this world!" She's starting to spill out answers, I'll give her that. But she's a Bound Deity? I'm calling bullshit on that.
"You're a Bound Deity? Like hell I would believe that! I've fought Bound Deities, I know what they're like. I almost died to one not too long ago… if you think that this is some joke I really will kill you…"
"You don't understand… Andrew forced me to become this, this… monstrosity. He blindfolded me, preformed some… ritual on me, and then…" She pauses, fear and pain etched into every cell in her body.
"Something… was forced inside of me… something… evil… It clawed its way into my soul… and burrowed in my mind…" Blair produces more tears than I thought were humanly possible.
"If all of that's true… then I should kill you where you stand…" I grab my shoulder in pain. I've only got another minute or so left before the magic fades and I become vulnerable to magic again.
"Please! Kill me! End this, I don't want to have a demon inside of me any longer!" As she begs for death, all I can think about is how easy it is for a Bound Deity to slip under our noses.
Histoire said there was one for each landmass, so far, we killed the one for Leanbox, and met the one of Lastation. I wonder which nation she's the Deity from. None of that will matter though once I kill her here and now.
After all, she'll just vanish into dust, and people will forget her since she was using magic to manipulate them anyways. There's no risk involved here. So why can't I just reach for a piece of pipe or something and end it?
It'd be the easiest Bound Deity fight ever, so why can't I bring myself to just end it already. End the poor girls suffering and become one step closer to finishing your quest Jack. Just. Do it.
"End me… before the spirit of the demon takes over again and tries to hurt people." So that's why her attitude changed. This power negates magic within a certain area I'm guessing.
I grab the screw driver off of the utility belt hanging on the wall behind her. If I turn off the eye now, I should have enough strength left over to kill her in one go. Otherwise, I'll just scratch her flesh slightly.
My eye returns to its normal color, and I steady my hand so I can hit a vital artery or vein in her neck. This is it, one Bound Deity closer to victory.
"Rest in peace… Hya!" I lunge my arm forward but I stop just centimeters before I reach her neck. What's going on, it feels like I'm paralyzed.
"Hmhmhm…" Blair starts to chuckle. She raises her head to meet my eyes. "You really should've given her the slow and painful death rather than give her the satisfaction of dying quickly." Blair smirks at me before laughing at my confused face.
"Your first mistake was letting down that magic guard. I was just waiting to claim my rightful place in this body." She licks her lips for a moment before returning to meet my gaze.
"Who… the hell… are you?" I can barely speak. But from what I can say, I'll try to get answers and not die.
"Obviously, I'm the spirit of the Bound Deity who inhabits this poor girl. Normally I'd stay in the background and give friendly advice to her. However, she doesn't want to do anything she was made a Bound Deity for. And that's where I come in."
"You're… possessing her?"
"Ding, ding, ding! That's right, and as long as I'm in control, she's going to do what's she's supposed to." I can make out her malevolent grin now, she really is sick.
"That doesn't explain… why I can't move…" It's true, I paralyzed in place, attack animation and all.
"Oh, that?" She laughs for a brief moment before showing me her open palm. "Without too much of that pesky Planeptune power protecting you, your seed of Arfoire is easy to manipulate. In other words, you're like my puppet right now.
Shit, this is one of my worst fears actually. Being a puppet to someone else, having no control over what I do. It's terrifying to me really.
"As much as I'd like to play with you though, I've expended too much power today. Reentering a body really drains the juice out of you. So consider yourself lucky that I couldn't bring you back alive with me."
"You're… sick…" I should've killed her when I had the chance. Why did I hesitate so much? Did I feel sorry for the poor girl?
"You flatter me too much. I'll be taking my leave now. See you next time cutie." She blows a kiss right in front of my face before vanishing into thin air.
My paralysis disappeared when she left, which made me smack into the wall pretty damn hard. I'm not bleeding, but it still doesn't help that I can't move my body too much anymore.
So many questions, and only a few new answers. I'm making progress at least, and that's something. No point in staying around here though, I need to get back to class before I look suspicious.
I take off the chair from the door and open it. To my surprise, Nepgear's on the other side, waiting for me. I jump back initially but calm down when I realize it's her.
"Jack… are you alright?" The amount of concern in her voice is astronomical.
"I've… been better…" I put on my bravest face that I can right now.
"I felt you, suffering through my sharicite. It led me to this door, but it was locked and I got scared." I really have to stop worrying her.
"Relax… I was… just dealing with Blair…" I'm going to try to give her the truth. It might have to wait until I can rest for a while.
"Um… who's Blair exactly?" It's as I thought, the mind altering magic wore off with her leaving this place. Great, now anything I say about what happened will make me look crazier than usual.
"Nobody… nobody at all…" Well this is fan tucking fastic…
"You're not cheating on me… are you?" She's giving me a look worse than when she saw Uni kiss me.
"No… it's just… a really complicated situation… come on… let's get back to class… I'll tell you everything later…" Nepgear complies and watches me try to walk. I can barely move, so she lends me her shoulder to help support me.
I know I'm going to be sleeping a lot today, so I'll tell her when I can. Nobody but me will have the truth though, and they'll just have to believe me. As well walk, I can already feel myself falling asleep. I'll hold out until we get to the class room, but today just isn't going to be a very active day.
A/N: Well, here it is. After an almost NINE MONTH LONG writers block, I finally wrote another chapter. Hopefully this will inspire me to write more, because I really do.
Another thing that keeps inspiring me is the amount of follows and likes this story has been getting lately. And here I thought this story would be pushed back far enough to where nobody can see it.
That's irrelevant though, what does matter, is that I'm back and better than ever. Also, Horizon: Zero Dawn is amazing and you should totally pick it up.
Until then, see you in the next update.