Hello everyone! And merry Christmas! –throws around glistering snow while spinning around- Ok, Christmas is already over, but I made this chapter as a Christmas present you could say. I got an inspiration kick for this story during Christmas and I immediately started to write on it when I got the chance. I didn't manage to get it done yesterday, but now it's done. So happy holidays!
Heng Shi: I can't say that Christmas is happy; it hasn't for a long time.
It's just because you're grumpy and doesn't want to get any friends or family to celebrate with. Come on, Heng shi, lighten up! It's Christmas! If you're nice enough, I'll even give you a present!
Heng Shi: -sits up from where he was laying on the couch- Does it include deciding what happens in the story or to kill reviewers?
Ehm… No, it doesn't… -plays nervously with my Santa hat- I'm the one who decides the story and I won't let you kill any of my reviewers, they are amazing people.
Heng Shi: -Lies back down- Then I'm not interested.
Why would you deny a present? Everyone wants presents!
Heng Shi: Well, not me. So just leave me alone and I won't kill you.
-whispers so Heng Shi won't hear- I really, really, really like how Heng Shi have gotten nicer after having been forced to get away from his daily killing. He isn't as angry anymore. –talks in normal volume- You're one grouchy guy… Anyway, I hope you guys like the chapter! Merry Christmas everyone! Oh, and I have a small question to ask you guys later at the end of the chapter. Enjoy~!
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"No! How many fucking times do I have to tell you!? Only four things! When will that go through your little skull!? Four things, damn it!"
My exclamation draws many curious stares to where I'm standing. I can hear a few girls giggle at my problem, which is a little, blue, flying fairy that is holding a huge pile of clothes in her arms. Well, a huge pile compared to her size at least. Said fairy 'pings' a few times, flying around me with a stubborn expression on her face. I try to grab her, but she flies out from my reach with a slight panicked look on her face. I glare at her murderously, a hand reaching back to grab my broad sword.
"Two hairbands and three sets of clothes. More than that and I will shoot you. You might have showed that you are useful, but I do not tolerate this kind of disobedience."
Lumen starts to panic slightly and she quickly flies over to the fairy section of the women clothing store with the pile of blue clothes held in her arms. With an irritated groan, I sit back down on the bench inside the clothing store, shifting so my broadsword is hanging freely off the back of the bench. I look to the right out the window, meeting the amused eyes of Garel who's sitting by the store.
'Don't say anything. She's annoying.' I tell him, to which he snorts out some red flames in amusement and grins.
'Are you already getting attached to her?'
'No. I will shoot her if she doesn't listen.'
'Just tell me when she's finished.'
Our silent conversation ends and I look out towards the direction Lumen flew in. And there comes the annoying little thing. I've been sitting in this store for maybe an hour after we finished our mission. Lumen went up quite many levels and she got a lot more support powers throughout our mission. And using those curse powers were a lot of fun. If I lick off my enemy's blood, they'll get a little damage but they'll feel a lot of pain. And the second one is very weak but I'll get better at it in time. The second spell is named 'singularity'; gather all the monsters in one spot. I only managed to gather two together at best but it will get better.
Lumen finally comes back with just a few clothes hanging over her arm. All of them blue, of course. As she flies closer, I see that the two ribbons she has picked out are blue and red. I stand up as she flies closer, walking over to the counter with a frown on my face. When the two of us reach the counter, I snatch the clothes she want from Lumen's hands and slam it on the counter. The NPC flinches when his eyes meet mine.
"I'll buy these things."
The clerk hastily counts how much the clothes cost and slide them back towards me.
"T-that would be 3 gold please."
I slam the money on the counter, taking the clothes and walking out from the store. When I don't hear Lumen follow me immediately, I yell at her to hurry it up. That's when I hear the fluttering of her wings follow me. She's too easily distracted. When I exit the store, I and Garel start walking in the direction towards the exit. A guy next to me starts to snicker, probably because I just exited a woman's clothing store. My response is to transform my weapon into a scythe and cut him in half as I walk by, making players around me scream in horror at my brutality. But of course, the females are crazy and get over their horror quite quickly and start squealing after me. Another wave of killer intent makes them quiet down for a few seconds before they start squealing again.
I sigh tiredly, glancing back to Lumen to see how she's taking it. She has completely gotten over my kill and is flying around and looking at everything with an excited smile on her face. I put her new clothes in my right pouch and look forward again.
She kind of reminds me of how Gwen was when she was young and alive; one of my friends from my, what was it…? Fourth cycle? Yeah, it was. She was also very energetic, cared about people and had too much curiosity for her own good. Gwen wasn't really as… hyper when it came to things she liked as Lumen is. And neither did she completely forget herself in the things she was looking at.
"Lumen! Gah! Stop tugging at my horns you annoying bug!"
Yeah, and Lumen also likes to get on Garel's nerves for some reason… Only spending two days on a mission and she has already accepted our killer personalities. Kind of fast if you ask me. She is really strange, that one…
I look at Garel and Lumen as Lumen is excited over everything new she sees and turns Garels head in the direction to the thing she just spotted. She's surprisingly strong to be able to turn his head. I growl in annoyance at her antics at the same time Garel does. The white dragon shakes his head roughly, making the little fairy spin around in the air, disorientated and dizzy because of the sudden movement. Lumen recovers kind of quickly though and goes off and 'scold' Garel with her pinging voice. When Garel ignores her, the little flies up to my face and starts to 'talk' to me. I swat her away, finding her an annoyance, and she soars through the air and into a nearby wall because of my swat. I suppose I used more force than intended because of my annoyance but I don't care. She deserves it.
Although, when I don't hear Lumen follow after us immediately, I stop in the middle of the road, Garel stopping with me. During our mission, the two of us have realized that it is necessary for us to call after her when she doesn't follow us, or else she'll lose us and be a sobbing, crying mess when she finds us again. That has happened twice and it's two times too many, so I won't let a situation like that happen again.
"Lumen!" Garel and I call out at the same time, earning a startled 'squeak/ping' for our trouble and the sound of Lumen's sparkly wings fluttering after us. I start walking again without looking back at the sparkly thing.
Now, we'll go to Prince's city. I wonder how they're doing with the defense and all that; I've heard that when you get a city you get nothing more but a castle. And I'll get to sleep in that very castle as if it's my holiday house, that deal with Prince will pay off well for me…
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"Lumen…? What. Is. That." I demand angrily, glaring at the little fairy fluttering in front of my face. We are just about to enter a dungeon me and Garel have never seen before when I notice the… stupid thing Lumen is carrying in her arms. Said fairy flinch slightly at my harsh tone but relaxes when she senses that I won't kill her yet. She looks down at the small object in her hands in confusion before she looks up at my face again. She holds out the little object towards me with a wide grin on her face.
"Why would you pick up such a stupid thing?" Garel asks her, snorting out some red flames in irritation. Both of us are close to our breaking point on dealing with the fairy. I don't know what will happen to her if we kill her, but according to Garel the pet will revive in my pouch after a certain amount of time. Perhaps killing the little thing won't be such a bad idea…
Lumen glares at Garel, a pout on her face as she strokes the object in her hands softly. As if telling him that 'it's pretty and nice and it isn't stupid'. I put a hand on my forehead in annoyance.
"It's a pebble. Why would you bring a pebble?"
Lumen flinches again at my stare, looking away from me in shame. Heh, good, she doesn't like disappointing me. When did I gain that kind of respect though? I hold out my hand towards the fairy, demanding that she gives me that stupid rock. Lumen shares a 'sad goodbye' with her pebble before softly placing it in my hand. Without hesitating, I throw the rock over my shoulder and walk into the dungeon with Garel following straight behind me. I hear Lumen follow as well, but at a much slower pace. I take out a torch from my inventory, Garel lighting it on fire with a precise fireball.
As we walk further into the dungeon, I hear a loud 'boom' sound from behind us and the cave suddenly getting much darker in just a second. Lumen 'squeaks' in fear at the loud sound while I and Garel quickly turn around to face the threat. Although, there isn't a threat since the opening just closed behind us.
I stare at the dark path for a few seconds before turning around to continue on walking. There must be an exit somewhere if it was programmed to close when we entered. Garel seems to think similar like I do since he quickly follows me, but I can hear Lumen still making her 'ping' sounds in clear panic as her wings brings her back and forth.
"Can't we just leave her already?" Garel asks me with a frown. I growl slightly, clearly considering it when I hear Lumen catch up to us with those annoying 'ping's getting stronger as she comes closer.
"I'm seriously considering it, this is so annoying… But those support powers of hers are pretty useful, especially that 'Higher chance for Crit hit', both of us could dispose of those weaklings much faster so we could enjoy the real fight. Also that she'll gain control over water later on, then she could fight the weaklings instead of us spending time to take them down."
Garel growls, also coming to the conclusion that she is better off staying in our 'team' since she is useful to us. But that doesn't mean that dealing with her annoying sound makes the situation any better. Both of us already were close to killing her in our anger but with her being even more annoying, that urge becomes almost uncontrollable. Almost.
"You better shut up or I'll slice you in half." I tell the shivering fairy who just got a small portion of her hair cut off by the dagger I just sliced right in front her forehead. A thin line of blood drips down her face and she finally shuts up with a terrified expression on her face. I sigh in slight relief at the sudden silence that envelops us, walking forward again with the torch in front of me.
"Much better." Garel mumbles, falling in step behind me. I transform my weapon into the broadsword again, putting it on my back while I keep an ear out for any monsters that will appear. I start to grin as I imagine this as one of the many sewers I've been forced to move through to get to an assassination mission, just to be ambushed by other assassins. The familiar scenery is already affecting me and my hand is twitching in need to cut something, because I know that something will appear.
And appear they did.
With a roar, a few wolf bats emerge from the darkness with their jaws open wide to bite me. Lumen, in panic, uses her slow spell on the creatures. Even with or without her spell, Garel and I could have killed them since we already were on edge, but with the enemies being slower certainly makes it easier. So with three precise slashes at their weak points, the monsters burst due to being killed.
While Lumen hovers off to the side, catching her breath because of her earlier panic, I gather the coins, wings and teeth that the wolf bats left behind. Then, we are on our merry way. If you can call it 'merry' that is.
After a while of just walking, slaying monsters and leveling up my spells, I get a pretty interesting PM from someone…
"Uhm… Excuse me Sabre, but could I talk to you for a minute?"
I pause in cutting an ogre to half when I hear the voice in my head, which makes Lumen get enough time to cast a hover spell on the monster before I cut it apart. I block a club that was aiming for my head, shoving the second ogre away just in time to duck underneath a thrown rock, killing the ogre that threw it as well as the ogre next to it by casting a singularity and lightning ball in their direction.
"You can have a bit of my attention in about a minute, it's bound to be interesting if you're the one contacting me, thief. I'm in the middle of a fight." I reply, transforming my katana into a scythe to do a spinning slash around me to drive away the ogres somewhat. I manage to cut off an arm and cut open ones stomach with my spin. Lolidragon nervously laughs at the other end of our conversation while Lumen uses her 'increase crit. hit' spell on me and Garel whilst the dragon uses his challenging roar to draw attention towards him.
"A-ah, I see. I'll wait, take your time."
I don't bother in answering her, using the ogre's distraction to my advantage and run between the monsters, cutting them up with my scythe as I run. Those who were already severely hurt dies while the healthier ones only need one more hit until they too die. So I use my second curse spell by licking away some of the blood still stuck on my weapon. Most of the monsters fall down to their knees, roaring in pain and dying. The rest of the ogres are burnt by Garel's fire wave, me and Lumen being free from harm by the powerful fire since I create a water shield with Lumen quickly flying inside it with me. The whole room we're in is completely enveloped in flames until it gradually calms down. Now, all that is left are coins and trinkets, some trinkets burning red but most of them being intact.
I let down the water shield and the three of us cooperate on gathering all the loot we got. Lumen carrying the coins while Garel and I take the heavier stuff. Once everything is safely within my pouches, as well as Garel's, I contact Lolidragon again while we continue walking through the cave.
"So, what did you want? This better be something good for contacting me like this."
"S-sabre! You're done! Well, that's good, haha…"
"Quit wasting my time and tell me what you want." I snap at her, narrowing my eyes in slight irritation. If this woman is contacting me, it's for a very good reason since she would rather not talk to me at all. And if this good reason will have a chance of benefiting me, I'll hear her out.
"Y-yeah, sorry. You know about how we won a city during that tournament. We're a little short on manpower so we wanted to ask you-."
"If it's about joining your city, you can forget it." I scoff at the very idea of me joining their city. If I'll join anything, it would be an assassin's guild that would make me kill every day and not let me get bored. I may be able to live in their castle, but I won't work for them. "I'm not going to become a part of some city, protecting it with all I have. I don't take orders from anyone, so whoever gave you the idea of me joining your forces must be crazy to even consider it."
"I-it's not perminately!" Lolidragon exclaims in slight panic. My irritation over the conversation dims down slightly at her comment; they want to hire me it seems. "An enemy of ours have declared war on Infinite city and we don't have that many men who are skilled in all areas. It's just for a few days where we prepare for the war. That's why we're asking you to join us. We can give you gold as payment if you want."
I think over what she just said. They're going to war against an enemy. I haven't been to a war since 2080 and it's a lot of fun to kill anyone in sight. I quickly cut apart a monster that tried to pounce on me, continue on walking like nothing happened. And I could get anything I want from participating in this. Infinite city, as Lolidragon called it, will be my 'resting place' where I can just sit back and relax from those ridiculous fan girls. Making my stay there even more comfortable would be having a dango shop there where I can just sit down and eat. That sounds very appealing…
"Well… I've always wanted to kill anyone in sight without that annoying 'infamous ranking' making me a criminal… Although, I won't take gold as payment, I have too much of it in the first place. If you build a dango shop in the city where I'll get free food I'll take it as payment. But don't expect me to follow orders and care for the city's well-being. You can give me a position but other than that, I'll go on a rampage. I haven't killed any players in a long time."
"Yeah, we can arrange that. All terms are acceptable. When are you due on coming to the city?"
I snort at Lolidragon's enthusiastic tone, she is all too happy to accept my terms because I will be a very valuable ally. But perhaps it's a good thing that I'm valuable to them, that way I could manipulate them easier so they can give me what I want. Or I could just take whatever I want but I would rather take the easy way.
"I suppose I'll get there by tomorrow. I discovered a new dungeon on my way to the city and decided to enter it. I'll get out of here soon enough. You better make this war worth my time."
I then close the chat with the thief and bring back my attention to walking through the cave. Since neither of my pets can hear when I'm privately speaking to another player, I decide to relay our next course of actions.
"We're going to join a war at Prince's city once we exit the cave. In return, we'll get a dango shop where we'll eat for free."
Lumen 'pings' happily while Garel grins. They must be thinking of different things, one thinking about dango and the other of war. Actually, Lumen hasn't even tried dango yet, how can she know that she likes it in the first place? Garel has tasted but he doesn't really like it as much as I do… I should really do something about my sweet tooth, it's been 'haunting' me for as long as I can remember. And that is a long time if I get the memory part of my brain kicking. But with that dango shop, I'll get to eat as much as I want anytime. It was too got to pass off the opportunity even though I should work off my sweet tooth.
With an amused snort, I turn around again to focus on the cave again. Remembering to check on mine and my pets' stats, I open up the stats window, starting with me.
"Huh, I'm level 89? I thought my level was much higher… But my stats are good at least. And my spells and techniques are good." I comment, clicking away my stat window to go to Garel's. I'm only interested in his level, since he himself knows how to use all his techniques and abilities, and I nod in satisfaction to see him at level 60. His growth is slower than mine since a pet's growth becomes much slower than a player's when they reach level 40. That's the reason why Garel reached level 40 so fast and managed to talk so soon.
When I click over to Lumen's window, I first watch her spells and abilities, ignoring the sound of a monster roaring at the moment. Garel can take care of that one. That spell 'regenerate MP' will be very useful as well as the 'fairy dust' ability. Making HP and MP regenerate at a faster rate outside of battle is useful; I didn't know she had that. With a sudden ping, the stat window announces that Lumen has gained a level and that she has learned a new spell. 'Teleport'. Maybe we'll use that to get out of here and get to Infinite city then. Maybe I can scare them for a while before settling down in the castle.
Then, I look over towards Lumen's level, only to give it a dead-pan stare in irritation.
"You have to be kidding me… Already…?" I groan and place a hand on my forehead. Seriously? She just had to get to level 40? Now we'll have to stand hearing to her speak and not just make 'ping' sounds? This is fucking great…
"Yeah! We did it! Oh! Hey, Garel, I can talk just like you now!"
And here it starts…
"Great." I say sarcastically, closing the stats window to focus on my two pets. "Now, use teleport to get us out of this cave, Lumen."
Lumen's glow grows brighter because she got happy for some reason, doing a small salute in my direction as I'm walking towards them.
"Yes, sir!" She says happily, flying around me and Garel with some of her 'fairy dust' doing a trail behind her. After three circles around us, we're enveloped in a bright light and in an instant; we're outside the cave where we started. 'Teleport' can only teleport us to a place we've been before. Like a city or outside of a dungeon. The spell can't transport us to the middle of a road but only spawning places or entrances/gates. So even if we wanted to, we wouldn't be able to teleport to the other exit of the cave.
Without sparing a second glance towards my pets, easily overcoming the nauseous feeling of warping since that sometimes happened with my time energy, I start walking in the direction towards Infinite city. Apparently, Lumen didn't feel nauseous by teleporting so she easily flies next to me, absolutely delighted that she can talk now and uses it to the best of her ability. Which is way too much…
"Wow! I can actually speak now and be understood by you two! Not that I want the stupid dragon to understand me but I've always wanted to talk to you Sabre! I've always wanted to ask you so many things and understand my master better! Why do you like killing so much? How can your sword change shape? What are those shops in town? What do they sell? How do you use all those items? Oh! And now I can finally show you how useful I am! You won't regret having me by your side! I'm a lot better than that stupid dragon-!"
I cut her off by slapping her away from me, making the fairy collide harshly with a tree and getting the wind knocked out from her. The fairy falls down to the ground, coughing and placing a small hand on her chest to try and regain her breath. I glare down at the little girl, my hand twitching to take out my gun and shoot her but restrain myself since she is useful to have.
"Just because you have the ability to talk doesn't mean I will allow you to be any more annoying than usual, yet alone think that you are better than my most trusted partner because of your supportive spells. Now get a move on."
With one last glare at the guilty fairy, I continue walking. Not soon after, I hear the flap of Garel's wings, indicating that he has gotten over his nausea and caught up to me. When he lands next to me, he immediately notices my bitter mood and decides to stay quiet. Soon, I hear the fluttering of Lumen's wings catch up to us slowly, staying a few feet behind us for safety reasons. But as time passes by in peaceful silence, I manage to calm down and focus on getting to our location. Somehow sensing my better mood, Lumen hesitantly flies closer to me.
"I… I'm sorry, Sabre… For… for acting arrogant… and self-important… I… I shouldn't have said those things I did, let alone placed myself above Garel in my own ranking like that. I know that he's stronger than me but… Using that teleporting spell… made me feel like I could do anything… I spoke with the rush of the moment so for that I apologize."
I glance over to the fairy next to me, seeing that her wings are a little crooked and that her face is pained by holding herself upright. I scoff in annoyance, thinking that she will slow us down soon enough when her injuries turn out worse if she continues on flying. So with a quick movement, I grab the fairy and place her on my expanded shoulder plate which Garel used before he became too large to sit there. I don't answer her, silently agreeing that she spoke out of line. Whatever made her speak so highly of herself has at least disappeared.
I can practically hear Lumen get happy by my action, which makes me frown since I didn't intend to make her happy. She would have just slowed us down if she continued flying, that's all there is to it.
"Whatever made you think you're stronger than me, bug?" Garel growls at her, glaring at the fairy with their faces are at the same height. I ignore the two of them with the best of my ability so my irritation won't surface again, but it's really hard since they are right next to me.
"Well, I said I'm sorry, stupid reptile! It was just in the spur of a moment!"
"You have gotten a small bark now that you can form words. I already miss it when you just made angry 'ping' sounds at me."
"Yeah!? Well I-I wish you weren't in this team at all! I just want it to be me and Sabre!"
"Fat chance bug, if anything it should be just be me and Sabre. If you weren't useful in battle, I would already have gotten rid of you."
"So rude! But I should already expect that from you, reptile. You're so rude to everyone but Sabre I bet you haven't talked to anyone other than him."
"In fact, I have. It's just that I don't socialize with fools out of free will. You are a fool as well if you can't take a hint."
"Gah! I don't like you, do you know that!? You're just so angry and bitter all the time if it isn't killing people! What's so good about killing in the first place!? It's just horrible and icky. That's why I love being support!"
"Just the feeling of having a life in your own hands and ending it is the best feeling there is. That's when you feel closest to god you could say. But if you don't like me, how come you like Sabre then? He is pretty similar to how I am."
That question actually makes me interested as well, but I don't let it show. My irritation over their loud conversation easily disappears to hear Lumen's answer. I can feel the fairy's gaze on me, but I don't bother meeting it. It would probably make her flinch, get nervous and not answer truthfully.
"W-well…" She starts out, still staring at me. "He… He's actually beautiful when he kills compared to your brutal style…" Now, that actually surprises me. When we went on our mission, Lumen was close to tears at first when I and Garel killed the monsters so brutally.
"A-at first, I respected him and listened to him because he would kill me if I didn't. I didn't like the way you killed, it was disgusting. But after looking at how bright Sabre's eyes got after killing a monster, I accepted that it's-it's something that he really loves. And that's what made me accept your killing. His eyes were shining like yellow sapphires, full of joy and longing for something more after he killed them~. And the way the blood clung to him only made him more mysterious and made me want to know so much about him~. And when he accepted me as someone useful, I just got so happy for no reasons. Knowing that he wanted to keep me just made me want to know even more about him. He can still be really scary and he could kill me if he gets too irritated, but just knowing that I can be with him and get to know that happy side more, it makes getting scared worth it~. Thanks to Sabre, I don't cry when someone gets killed or get worried over others because I know that he doesn't want me to~. I still don't like killing, but I'm sure I'll get over it and be even more useful to him~. That way, maybe one day, he'll show me that happy side without killing~!"
I and Garel share a blank look while Lumen is off in her own little dream land, wiggling back and forth on her place on my shoulder plate. Are these thoughts the reason I get so many fan girls? Is this what they think of me? Is this why they keep coming back to bug me with their stares and persuasions?! I know I've said it before, but apparently, I haven't said it enough. Females are crazy! I'll never understand them no matter how many life cycles I go through! Sure, I can seduce them, but I'll never, ever, understand what makes females be attracted to my true side!
I sigh loudly, which makes Lumen snap out from her own little dream world. I stare down at her with a blank stare, making the little fairy flinch and inch backwards slightly with her face getting red.
"Seriously? That's why you respect me? Because you want to see that 'happy side' of me when I don't kill? What kind of reason is that? I thought it was because of my power and how can I destroy you in an instant if you don't behave."
I can see Lumen frown through that bright glow of hers, said glow getting even brighter and bluer for some reason. Perhaps it's reacting to her stronger emotions.
"W-well, it's my reason! I want to be useful and helpful so you'll look at me just like you look at the lizard, with approval in your eyes. And how you can sometimes get that spark of satisfaction when Garel understands something you haven't said out loud! I want to be just as important to you; because that means that you won't throw me away. And I don't even want to imagine being thrown away!"
By the end of her little 'speech', she breaks down crying. The tears have gradually been building up as she started to think about being thrown away and now, they are falling freely with loud sobs coming from her mouth. I can feel my annoyance build as she just continues to cry, cry and cry. I have no doubt that it's the same with Garel. And it doesn't seem like she will stop crying anytime soon.
"Just shut up already!" I scream out, my hand placed on the sword on my back as a silent threat to cut her apart. Lumen squeaks in surprise at my sudden shout but it works because she starts to calm down. I continue to glare at her until only small sniffles are heard and small streams of tears falling down her eyes. When I see that she has quieted down, I force myself to remove my hand from the sword hilt. I then look forward again, not standing seeing the pathetic state the fairy is in at the moment.
"Just make sure I don't regret accepting you to the team by being useful. The moment you're too pathetic or doesn't do anything that I want, I'll throw you away. But so far, you're safe."
The small sniffles soon disappear as well with a quiet 'thank you' from Lumen. I frown slightly, now she thinks that I'm being nice when I'm just stating facts. Ugh, I don't like that she sees me that way. But I should get accustomed to it; she is useful to have…
After a while of walking, I decide to cut my trip there short. So I simply jump up on Garel's back, make him grow larger and then we're off through the sky instead. I point him towards the general direction to Infinite city and then I just sit back and relax while Garel flies and Lumen does her best to have a firm grip on the shoulder plate she's slowly slipping off. Groaning in annoyance, I grab Lumen after a few minutes of her screaming in fear and place her on the back of my head. She quickly grabs onto my hair and holds it in a tight grip so she won't slip off. With the screaming gone, I almost forget Lumen's presence completely as only the wind swishing by is the sound I hear.
Pretty soon, we can see a castle with big walls around it in the middle of a wasteland. Coming to the conclusion that it's Infinite city, Garel starts to descend towards the city.
"H-hey, Sabre!" Lumen shouts over the wind. I nod softly to indicate that I'm listening, not bothering to talk since she won't hear me that well in the first place.
"How is our entrance going to be!? Will it be cool?! Scary!? To make an impression!?"
Garel glance back at me from over his shoulder, grinning at the same time I do. Oh, it will be all of those. Maybe Lumen will throw off our image slightly but I don't doubt that our presence will be so powerful that we 'over shine her' so to say. After getting closer to the city, someone suddenly attacks us without reason. Of course, Garel dodge the shot easily and with my 'zoom in' mode, I easily pick out the NPC mage and shoot him dead. A flurry of activity happen among the players down below, running all around the place either to prepare the wall or get panicked over the sudden attack. I can also see some be awed and scared over Garel's appearance. The NPC guards' tries to attack us once more, but I distantly hear a man shout out an order and the guards hesitantly lower their staffs and arrows.
With a roar, Garel flies over the wall, pushing off an NPC guard that wanted to attack us just for good measure, before he descends towards the ground with a 'thump'. The players, of course, ran away from the place Garel planned to land on so they could give me space. To intensify the 'cool' and 'scary' image, Garel snorts out some red flames towards the ground. Once I've jumped off his back, Garel shrinks down and dutifully walks behind me as I make my way towards the castle. The players part like the red sea to make way for me and my partner with whispers sounding around us.
"T-that's pure lightning, Sabre…"
"Did Prince manage to recruit him into this?"
"Whoa, to be on friendly terms with this guy…"
I take off my broadsword and point it in the direction I heard that whisper come from, glaring at the crowd and finding the gaze of a very nervous male player. Without any hesitation, I transform my sword into a gun and shoot him, not even bothering to ask if he was the one who said it. The tension intensifies tenfold when the guy flies off as a light towards the reviving spot.
"I'm not on friendly terms with anyone." I state seriously, the 'setback' of my upgrade kicking in and sending of a wave of killer intent. "I was just hired for a job, nothing more, nothing less."
"Yeah!"
The tension lessens slightly when they hear the squeaky voice of Lumen and notice the blue fairy sitting on top of my head. She changed position when we landed so she could see what was happening. But right now, she has a large grin on her face, waving towards the players who are finally noticing her.
"He always kills those who talk to him; he doesn't have any friends at all. He'll even kill me if I do something he doesn't want me to do!" And she said that all the while wearing a bright smile on her face. At least it brought the tension back.
"Pure lightning Sabre." A man calls out with respect, making me turn in that direction since he is at least polite when he addresses me. The sea of players part to give way for their commander. With his armour, cape, black hair pulled up in a ponytail with the front of his hair being bleached and a tattoo covering the left side of his eye clearly shows that he's a warrior and most likely their commander. I don't let his title make me any more polite towards him in return, simply putting one hand in my pocket while the other holding my gun hangs limply to my side.
"Who are you? The commander of this place?"
The warrior bows slightly, a serious look on his face once he meets my eyes again. "Yes, I am Nan Gong Zui, One of the three-head generals of Prince's army. I am honoured that you will be fighting for our side in this battle."
I scoff at his overly polite words. It's almost like he's trying to suck up to me by praising me indirectly. I'll only acknowledge him if he is proven to be strong enough to back it up. Although, I do transform my pistol back to the broadsword and strap it to my back as a small sign of acceptance but afterwards I glare at him to show that I don't acknowledge him yet.
"Yeah, yeah, sure. I don't care who wins this war, I'll just fight for the sake of fighting." My comment makes Lumen giggle slightly, knowing that I also do it for free dango. But I swat her away to shut her up without any remorse. Zui is a little shocked at my actions, staring at the little fairy that is couching on the ground by the feet of a player.
"Aren't you one of those guys during the tournament? The one who led the humans?" I ask, realising that I've seen him before. The man looks back at me, seeing that the fairy is alright, with a small nod of his head.
"Yes, I and my guild have decided to join Infinite city to show that we are supporting Prince as our leader."
I scoff lightly at the thought of Prince being a good leader. Sure, he got the image and presence down but he won't be able to handle the responsibilities with it. Not with that light-hearted attitude of his. Without sparing him any parting words, I continue to walk towards the castle. I hear Lumen apologize for my attitude, saying that I'm like that to everyone, before she follows me as well. When she tries to sit down on my head, I lightly flick her away. Her wings are healed now; she doesn't need to sit on me anymore. Nan Gong Zui yells out to resume work and soon I hear the players get back to what they were doing before I came.
The different players and NPC's are still working on the houses around the town, but most of the building is aimed towards the outer walls. Since they are going to war, they obviously need a strong defence. Once I've gotten to the castle, I see that Odd squad and some other players are already there to greet me. I have a bored look on my face with my hands in my pockets as I walk towards them. Almost on command, my 'setback' activates when I'm within hearing distance with the group and because of it they are now very tense and uncomfortable. But even so, Lolidragon steps forward to greet me with open arms. The little girl, Doll, hides from me behind Wolf.
"Welcome, Sabre! Why did you come earlier than you said you would? We would have cleared more ground for you to land on and warned the NPC's to not attack you."
"The fairy learned the spell teleportation. The cave had gotten boring so I let her teleport us out and come early." I tell her, to which Lumen flies up next to my head, cheerfully waving at the crowd of people. Upon seeing the woman thief, she immediately flies over and starts to hover around her hair, softly stroking it with her little hands.
"Oh, wow! Your hair is so pretty! You have to tell me how you make your hair like this! Oh, oh! Can I braid your hair sometime? You would look absolutely gorgeous with what I'm thinking of!"
To say that the players are shocked by Lumen's bubbly personality is an understatement. With dumb expressions on their faces, they look between the cheerful Lumen and the bored me. I scoff at their expressions, stopping a small distance away from Lolidragon with Lumen dutifully flying back to my side, hovering on my left side while Garel steps forward on my right side.
"So why the hell did you want me to come earlier? I would have come earlier anyway since I'll choose my room in the castle but you obviously think you can make me do something while I'm here. Depending on what it is, I might do it."
"Oh! Yes, well-." Lolidragon cuts herself off when what I said fully registers in her brain and she stares at me with a confused expression. "Wait… Choose a room in the castle…?"
I smirk at the look of horror growing on her face, nodding my head. "Yeah, I will live in the castle when I'm not out hunting monsters or at the other cities. Prince gave me a place at the castle when I met him in real life; he looked pretty scared of me so he offered it to not make me hurt him. I have also promised to not stir up too much trouble while I'm within this city's walls."
Lolidragon and the rest of the players behind her relax slightly when they hear that I won't stir up too much trouble while I'm here, but they are still tense. Garel snorts out some red flames to get Lolidragon back to her senses, making the thief look towards the dragon.
"Now answer his question, woman. What did you want him to do for coming early?"
"W-well…" She starts off, looking at me with a nervous smile. "I assume that you are a weapon expert judging by how you can handle all forms of your weapon so well, so we would really appreciate it if you could help in advancing our warriors skills in both arching and swordsmanship. Also that perhaps your dragon can help us in carrying the heavier parts of the wall to the top if needed."
Both Garel and I glare at Lolidragon about the request of Garel carrying things and I step closer for further intimidation, even though she is slightly taller than I am. This time, it's my own killer intent that is released that makes her back off slightly.
"What the hell do you take my dragon for? A horse? Why the hell would you even think that he would accept such a despicable job? And training? Heh, I won't train anyone unless they seem promising in their skill. Don't waste my time with such annoying requests if you know they will be refused."
With that, I walk past her towards the castle gates, set on finding a vacant, good room for me to sleep in when I'm here. The group parts way for me with uneasy expressions on their faces but before I can walk past them, a hand appears in front of me to block my way. I frown up at the swordsman blocking my way, namely the swordsman of black Phantom and brother of Prince. I can see the fear in his eyes when I look at him, but he determinately meets my gaze.
"Why not use your other personality when you're in Infinite city then?"
My frown grows deeper at his question and Garel growls in annoyance at the swordsman's hold up. His gaze flickers behind me for a short second, probably towards his teammates, before he looks back towards me with more determination in his eyes than before.
"If you won't stir up too much trouble, why not use your other personality when you're in Infinite city? Why not use your other personality so you'll be willing to help us? You don't have to be-."
A second later, the swordsman is punched aside by me, but with no real force behind the hit but only made him fall backwards slightly winded. I glare down at him, a dangerous grin on my face as I point a finger at him with sparks around the finger in preparation to launch a small 'lightning beam' at him.
"Don't think you are anything special just because we met in real life. You may know me, but that doesn't mean anything to me. Didn't I tell you not to confuse me here and me in real life?" My grin grows just a little bit wider. "We're completely different people; I can't even hear him in the game."
I then release my lightning beam, the spell brushing against his neck as a small warning and leaving a burn mark behind. The pain doesn't register to his brain just yet though, too shocked that he was just spared by me and just stare at me dumbly. I can't help but throw my head back and laugh at that stupid expression with that 'setback' kicking in when I start laughing. This makes my laughter seem even more unpleasant to them, which is a good thing. My pets aren't affected by the 'setback' for some reason though.
"That's a great expression you have." I tell the swordsman once I've stopped laughing, grinning down at him. I stomp my foot into his stomach, making him grimace in pain. I dig my heel into his stomach for three seconds before I let up. I glance towards the rest of the players, sensing the intent on attacking when I stomped on his stomach before. I start to snicker slightly at their tense positions and wary expressions. Feeling oddly elated with hurting the swordsman, I lazily point at the blonde Dark elf who is the tensest one out of the group.
"You better remember that I'm not a nice person."
The elf gives me a silent threat with placing his hand on the hilt of his sword, making me give a short laugh at his empty threat. I turn around without any worry and proceed to walk into the castle with a hand waving over my shoulder.
"You should know not to show your claws to a greater being, kitten. You are 100 years too early to stand a chance against me."
Garel and Lumen follow me with Lumen staying a little longer by saying goodbye to the group of players. I release a content sigh, not really knowing why I'm so content in scaring that swordsman. But not deciding to dwell on it, I just bask in the feeling while I walk down the corridors. Lumen flies by my face, smiling happily when she speaks to me.
"There it was Sabre! That happy side appeared for a moment!"
I ignore her comment, since I'll probably start to think about it and ruin my good mood, to walk up a flight of stairs. I want a room that's high up so no one will climb up there or see me if I decide to look outside. Lumen chatters about nonsense which I don't bother to listen to as we walk through the castle, from time to time opening doors to see if it's a good room to sleep in. It takes me a long time to find anything of my tastes but it's a pretty spacious room with a bed, night table and a closet. The bed in broad and is placed along the wall in the middle of the room, right next to the large window where you can see the whole city from. The floor is stone floor as well as the walls, but that doesn't bother me. I'm satisfied with its position and view and that's what's important.
I lie down on the bed, finding it satisfying to lie on. Nodding to myself, I tell them that this will be my room and that they can go off to do whatever. But I also tell Lumen to tell the players that I will log out now. So with my 'duties' done in the game, I log out to do my 'duties' in real life. I still have to buy food and stuff. Most of the things are done already, but I have to be prepared for anything since I'm on the run.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
And there it is everyone! I wrote a little more on how Lumen interacts with them and also showed how he'll be included in the war. Next chapter will be placed in real life to show what is happening there. We're not far from the end of this story you guys! It's getting closer!
Heng Shi: Good. I hope that I'll still remain somewhat of a mystery during the story.
Well, somewhat. But Heng Shi, you've been really nice during this chapter so even if you don't want it, I'll give you a present.
Heng Shi: I said I didn't want one.
Yeah, you did, but I don't care! Your Christmas present is a vacation! So here, -holds up a suitcase- take this with you and travel wherever you want. Just make sure not to bring any attention towards you!
Heng Shi: -stares at the suitcase for a few seconds before he sits up and take it from me- Alright, I guess a vacation is a satisfying present… Don't call me back for a while.
-waves towards Heng Shi while he walks towards the exit of our little 'studio'- Be careful now, and make sure to come back when I tell you to! –turns towards you readers once Heng Shi is gone- Now, I said that I had a question for you, didn't I?
This is how it is; I've been thinking about the ending to this story a lot and have decided for an ending. (You can guess which ending I'll have at a poll in my profile. I'm really curious to how you guys think this story will end.) This question is just to satisfy a little curiosity I've been thinking of for a while now.
Are you pairing Heng Shi with anyone?
Because I am really curious if anyone has seen any hints and is pairing Heng Shi with anyone.
Well, that's all for me. I hope you had a good holiday and that this chapter is good enough to be a present to you guys. And also, huge thanks to DarkNekoGreece for being my 100th reviewer! –spins around happily- I'm so happy to get so many reviews from you guys! Thank you!
Oh, and don't hesitate to say something you want to happen. It would help me a lot with filling the 'gaps' I have in my plot line.
Bye guys~! Hope to see ya soon~!