Chapter 4

The man in the free candy van

The tavern was located near the south gate of serenity. I held onto Shadows hand. Mostly so we wouldn’t get separated. Also I was a bit to nervous to be seen by all these people and holding her hand made me feel better.

I hadn’t felt this way since I was a kid. When I was little my anxiety was pretty bad but as I grew up it diminished from an oppressive force to a mild inconvenience.

Snowball acted as my shield. I could hide behind her whenever someone talked to me. I held the cat plushy tightly in my left arm.

Our walk came to a stop, before we could reach our destination we ran into some… traffic. In the middle of Verta street—one of the two main roads that cut almost perfectly across the city—there was a small gathering of NPCs.

“Please marry me ma-lady. I the grate Mantis will keep you safe from your evil stepfather.” My curiosity eclipsed my anxiety.

Releasing Shadows hand I weaved my way through the crowd by sliding between legs and maneuvering around unsuspecting bodies.

I was like a snake creeping it’s way through grass. Eventually I managed to get a glimpse at the speaker. It was a young lad. Around seventeen or eighteen.

Shadow tried to follow but couldn’t. She was to fat to fit between legs. I could hear her calling for me, concern in her voice. Did she really think I couldn’t look after myself?

I sent her a quick message through party chat and she seemed to calm down. Party chat worked the same as chat rooms. Only it had a shorter range. Not sure how short. All I did was direct a thought at her and it was done.

The guy had shoulder length silver hair and blue eyes. He wore a black cloak over darkened ox leather armor.

From the look of his pointed ears he was an elf. A moon elf to be precise. Moon elves had stat multipliers in perception and dexterity.

They also had a racial bonus called dark affinity. It made them more vulnerable to light magic but gave them a boost in dark magic.

Their dexterity was usually their second strongest stat. That type of build made a good foundation for the ninja class.

The guy had an actual top hat and a cane. He was holding onto a female NPCs arm. She looked around fifteen maybe older with brown hair and brown eyes.

The girl looked frightened. Unsure of what to do she turned to the crowd but no one was willing to help.

On the ground was an old man with a pain stricken face. He was struggling to stand. His clothes looked somewhat dirty. Like he’d been rolling around on the ground, but with a splash of jam.

Wait… my mistake, that’s not jam it’s blood. A closer look at Mantis showed he was a level eighty-seven summoner.

As a moon elf you’d think he’d go for an assassin type class. Maybe summoner wasn’t his main? Either that or he’s an idiot that picked moon elf as a race because it looked cool.

I hated neutral players. These guys didn't belong to a guild or anything. The issue was they were allowed to roam my land and cause trouble.

There gaming experience was way different from creative players. They benefited off our hard work.

Well… I suppose we also benefit from the resources they bring in and the quests they complete. But still, I don’t like it when they get to play with my toys!

This guy was especially bad. He was harassing my people. I thought back to the NPCs I'd met, reminding myself of how real they were. Flesh and blood just like me.

No one from the crowd was in a position to help the poor girl. How could low level NPCs with no real gear stop a level eighty-seven player. Even though he was a summoner — a class that was physically weak — these guys were no match for him.

The girl cried out in fear. “Please let go! I don't want to go with you! My stepfather is a good person! He would never force me to work for him! I do it because I want to!” The girl cried as she desperately tried to get away from the crazy man that had beaten up her beloved stepfather.

I remember them. They were the ones that ran the Café. The girls name was poppy and the old man went by…. Um…. James, I think. It was confirmed by the nametag floating over his head.

Poppy waited tables and James was the cook. From what I knew the mother was sick and bedridden. I think her name was Jane, or Jan, or Jenny. Wait! Was it Linda? I can’t remember.

Mantis, as if a switch had been flipped, went from annoyingly clingy creep to predator. His face seemed to take on a shade of red.

“You! You stupid bitch! Can't you see I’m trying to help you! The man is evil he has infected your mind! Don't worry I’ll take good care of you. Trust me I’m a nice guy.” He pulled her even harder trying to take her with him. She struggled to get free but it was like a kitten in the arms of a gorilla.

“No! Poppy! Please don't take my daughter away!” The old man cried out trying and failing to stand.

He was badly bruised. If I was a doctor I’d say “This man has suffered contusions” or something along those lines. Because that’s what doctors say right? How does one use contusions in a sentence?

Coooon-tusions that’s a funny word. “Please, I’ll give you whatever you want! Just leave her alone! She’s a good kid! She doesn’t deserve this!” the man's tears splashed against the ground mixing with dirt.

A combination of frustration and a feeling of loss overwhelming him. he was desperate. Poppy called for her father dropping the “step" from his name, but Mantis kept dragging her away.

Mantis was strong. He didn’t need to drag this out like that. If he really wanted he could just carry her off like she was a bag of money.

He was doing this in broad daylight in front of so many witnesses. It was because he knew they couldn’t stop him. He could do whatever he wanted because he had power.

People watched with shock on there faces but no one did a thing. Some even shook violently in frustration.

“Someone help! Stop him! Please! Save Poppy! Ill give you all the money from my business! Just stop that man!” James rose up to his hands and knees but then collapsed on the ground unable to do a thing.

He begged, he pleaded for someone, anyone to save his child. While this all happened I couldn’t help but feel like this was some kind of quest or event. It was perfectly set up for the system to hand me a prompt. Something like-

New quest!

Quest: save poppy!

Description: Poppy has been kidnapped by a mysterious stranger. You must hurry and save her before he gets away.

EXP: 1200

COIN: 32G (all the money saved up by James)

REWARD: X1 PINK RIBBON

Note: Stop standing around and do something you idiot! He's getting away! Why are you just standing there! Do something before I hurl a lightning bolt your way!

There it was, I knew my gaming sense was still working. Though, I’ve never seen a quest be generated for such a specific situation. Especially not for a player dispute.

Actually this is James’s daughter. It only makes sense for it to turn into a quest after he offered a reward. Still the quest didn’t activate right away.

Normally quests had to be pre-programed by a dev. You kind of just stumble upon them like landmines.

This one had been made on the spot. Was there someone watching? The note added pretty much confirmed it.

Was I in trouble with the system or something? It left me with a strange feeling. The thought of someone watching me while I go about my business. What if I was taking a dump?

I felt the need to cover my body with my hands. I shook my head. This was no time for that! Now that it was a quest I felt like I had to do something.

Of course I would have helped even without the quest but this was just the push I needed to actually jump in.

In the old world when stuff like this happened I’d normally try to get away from the action but now that it was a quest it felt less like a messy situation and more like a straight forward task.

Shrugging my shoulders, I picked up a rock and pushed past the NPCs. At the same time I sent a message to Shadow informing her on what needed to be done.

She stayed back the moment party chat came to life. My voice was clear in her head. A bit of a strange feature being able to communicate with your party telepathically but I wasn’t complaining.

“Hey, dick head! Let her go!” I threw the rock. It hit Mantis in the back of the head causing him to cry out in pain. He released Poppy. She ran to her dad crying at his side.

I on the other hand was surprised it actually hit him. I've never been good at throwing things. At least my aim was always off.

Just ask every school coach that's ever had the pleasure of having me in there class.

There was enough force in that stone to Crack a skull. The crunchy sound was actually pretty satisfying. Like cracking your knuckles accept better because it’s someone else.

Party chat

Shadow: language!

Aku: Not now! I’m trash talking!

“Alright! Who threw that!” The guy turned around only to see me. “You brat! You’ll pay for that! Uncle Mantis has just the thing to deal with nosey kids like you.” He opened his palm revealing a flash of light.

It faded leaving behind a small blue crystal. I knew what it was. It was a summoning crystal. The blue color indicating common.

He must of thought I was an NPC. Guess he hasn’t notice my level yet. I kind of wish I had adjusted my hot bar.

As of right now I only had two attack spells slotted in. Didn’t really think I’d be fighting in the middle of town. My bad.

I hugged my cat plushy and got ready to cast a spell. Mantis seemed to think I was scared.

He had interpreted me hugging my magical medium as a sign of fear. if he was smart he could have easily seen that the cat was a weapon.

Honestly it was a bit awkward to use a plushy as a weapon but back in-game it made an adorable accessory. Here it still served that purpose and best of all I could keep the eyes of people from looking at me to hard.

Snowball will protect me. Though It would suck if I got blood on her, so I planned to fight long distance.

“Come forth Imp!” The crystal erupted into energy, a shadow appearing in front of Mantis.

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Out of it a small goat-like monkey looking thing, crawled it’s way into the new world. It’s tail ended in a black arrow head. On its head were long goat-like horns. In its clawed hands a small spear.

The feet were…. well they weren’t feet they were hooves. It’s burning red eyes looked at me but it didn’t look menacing. It looked terrified.

I started to wonder if the summoned creatures also had personalities like the NPCs.

Did that mean monsters were now intelligent? If that’s the case then fighting them might be a lot harder than it used to be.

Normally mobs had attack patterns but if they were smarter now, they could potentially become unpredictable.

Already this little fight seemed to bear fruits. I almost thanked Mantis for the info but then remembered why I was fighting him in the first place.

It would be bad if I straight up kill the guy. Why is killing so much easier than knocking someone out?

They make it look so easy in the movies. I just need to punch him in the chin really hard or bash him in the back of the head.

The latter of those might kill and I don’t have the height for the first. How annoying! I was the perfect size for ball busting but then again that’s not guaranteed to work.

He might just get mad and then I’ll be in real trouble. I should probably end it as soon as possible seeing as I focused so much on defense that I ended up with very little offense.

At the time it made perfect sense since my health was so low. The little imp looked back to Mantis almost like saying “Dude, are you sure?!”

Mantis looked his summon in the eyes. “What!? Are you scared of a little girl. Show her who’s boss!” The imp looked back to me.

His knees were shaking. I didn’t know if there was any repercussions for a summon not following orders but it looked as though some sort of magic had forced the little dude to take a step towards me.

The next step was faster than the first. He sped up until he was at a full sprint. The whole time a look of fear on his face.

I felt a little bad but I would make it quick. At least that way the imp wouldn’t suffer. A magic circle appeared in front of me the size of a baseball.

I felt it again this time. A similar feeling like when I cast mana bolt and stealth… but this time it was slightly more noticeable.

There was a pull inside me. Like something inside was being drained. The magic circle flashed eight runes. A ball of icy cold water forming. The imp was a foot away from me before my spell went off.

“Aqua bolt.” A ball of icy azure water fired. It entered the imps head exiting its skull on the other side and rocketed towards Mantis. Instead of hitting him an invisible wall of mana flared to life deflecting the spell back at me.

I quickly activated draining barrier and the spell hit my own shimmering wall causing it to disperse into water droplets.

The draining barrier ability was unlocked by leveling mage. It basically drained the power of magic attacks and added the energy into my focus bar.

I didn’t get all the power back. Only half of the energy had been returned. Due to the energy cost of the barrier In total I lost two units of focus.

The ability he used was summoner’s aura. It was more of a passive ability. Basically every time one of his summons died. He would gain a reflective barrier that could reflect one projectile attack.

Either physical or magical in nature. He could have up to three at a time. I knew that would happen.

It wasn’t enough just to shoot him. I also had to aim it perfectly otherwise the attack would hit one of my citizens.

Poppy and some of the other NPCs were helping pull the injured old man away. Shadow was currently helping evacuate people. My job was to keep his attention.

The elf looked somewhat surprised at the situation. “You. you’re a player to?” I nodded. “Then I’m not the only chosen one! We can make a party and fight whatever demon lord plagues these lands! Ma-lady please join me! We can save the world together! You as my bride and me as your knight in shining armor!” He swung his cane around like he was flourishing a sword.

It reminded me of Arthur’s antics. No that's unfair. Arthur was way more skilled than this guy.

I was getting major creep vibes from him. Was this what people called a neckbeard? Honestly I thought these guys only existed on reddit. One thing was for sure this dude was a pedo.

“No thanks. I’m a thirty-nine year old man. Even if I wasn’t I’m still in the body of a nine year old kid. That's pretty fucked up dude. Why don’t you go rent a room and jerk off till it hurts. That ought to clear your head up a bit. I know I always feel pretty good after a good wank.” Despite my nonchalant attitude, I felt goosebumps crawling up my arms.

Was this what it felt like to be checked out? Hmmm… if it was a hot chick checking me out I might be cool with that but this… this was the gaze you give to a slow roasted honey glazed ham. What came next was one step above that.

He stroked his non-existing beard and said “So your legal then.” His face scrunched into the most perverted grin I’d ever seen.

His breathing seemed to become heavy and for the first time in a long time, I felt as though I was in true danger. My legs were shaking and I couldn't move.

This dude needed to be in jail. He probably deserved worse but for now getting him off the streets was top priority. A guy like that with this much power. That was just tragedy waiting to happen.

I finally remembered I was a grown ass man and pulled myself together. “I’m going to enjoy kicking the shit out of you.” I gave my knuckles a quick crack. I could hear Shadow complaining about my use of curse words and how inappropriate I was being.

I ignored them. Normally my anxiety made it hard for me to speak with confidence. The only way around it was to pretend to be someone else. Right now I wasn’t Isaac. Right now I was Terry. Terry was an asshole.

Mantis's face did that thing where it turned red. It didn't make him intimidating. Instead, he came off as an upset tomato.

“You don’t understand! I can protect you from the horrible monsters of this new world! Ma-lady come with me! A lady such as yourself should never have to lift a finger! I will give you everything you’ll ever need!” He seemed to calm down a tad and fell into an unconventional flirting bit.

“You'll just need to cook and clean. Trust me I’m a nice guy. My IQ is over one-eighty. You’d be lucky to find someone as amazing as me.” It wasn't really flirting but I doubt he saw it that way.

I gave him a quick shake of my head and he responded with anger once again. “ I don’t understand! All woman want are asshole jerks that treat them like crap! I'm a nice guy!” This guy was so far gone.

I started to feel sorry for him. It seemed arguing wouldn’t do anything. This guy was stuck in his own delusions.

No matter what I say he’ll just ignore or twist my words to suit his narrative. In his eyes he was the protagonist. He probably already made up his own anime name.

Something like. “My life in another world with a loli harem lol.” Honestly I’d watch it. 2D was 2D after all. I’m getting off track again.

“Woman don’t like you because your not actually a nice guy. The moment you get rejected you act like there’s something wrong with them when you’re the one that's messed up. Just look at me. I'm like a literal child what made you think it was a good idea. Pretty sure you’re a pedo. Now come with me there’s a nice room in my dungeon with your name on it. You can jerk off in there all you want. The goo on the walls makes grate lub.” The guy was visibly shaken.

To me it looked like he was acting out jesters from a cartoon. I looked around just to make sure people weren’t watching. I really didn’t want to be apart of this fan-fic. Then again if I didn’t do something, who would.

His anger twisted into madness. His voice taking on his expression. “I… I see. So you to have been brainwashed by your father. This city is corrupt! I will destroy it and free all of it’s beautiful maidens! First I shall free you from its clutches. To do that I’ll have to beat you to an inch of your life.” He tossed his cane aside along with his stupid hat. Then started screaming like he was powering up.

Grate, now he’s going all Z on me. I was well passed annoyed. This was like that time I got into a fight with that one kid that watched to much anime.

Not really a neckbeard just a kid with an overactive imagination. he tried to do a rah-sen-gan on me. I punched him in the nose five times.

Not all at once. After the first nose punch I warned him I’d do it again if he didn’t leave me alone. The guy said something stupid like “Finally a worthy opponent!”

later my friend asked me why I decked him in the schnoz so many times. It was simple. I wanted to leave a mark.

That way every time he saw himself in the mirror. He would remember not to fuck with me. That guy ended up needing reconstructive surgery.

I got suspended. The principal and authorities decided it was self defense on account that the guy had been messing with me since the beginning of the school year.

That didn't stop him from filing a restraining order. There were quite a few witnesses and no one really liked that guy.

He use to harass girls all the time. Dad was a cop so it was all good. I was still suspended for three days. Mom was pissed and went on and on about how she didn’t raise me to be a delinquent.

I think that was the day something broke inside me. I just kind of got tired of being pushed around, so I stopped caring about other people’s feelings.

Once you realize strangers don't give a shit about you. It becomes easy to stop caring about them.

While Mom was crying her eyes out Dad gave me my first beer and called me a scrapper.

I wasn’t a strong guy but I could easily beat up a scrawny anime kid. Especially one with such heavy delusions. Terry was born that day.

Mantis pulled another crystal from his inventory. This one was silver indicating that it was a rare. Still not very impressive.

Summoners usually had to spend gold to contract with new summons. They could have however many they wanted but were usually limited to the ten slots in there hot bar.

The number of summons they could manifest at once usually depended on there focus bar.

Typically you could have about five to six common or just one or two SS. Regardless I needed to stop him from summoning something else.

So far our battle hasn’t caused any damage to the city but that could change. I thought back to the innocent tree I demolished with my mana bolt.

That was a beginner spell. What could something more powerful do? Probably level the city. I had to stop the summon from forming.

There was something I wanted to try. The menu acted upon intention, so if I focus my thoughts I should be able to pull something out of my inventory, without actually opening my menu.

I held Snowball in my left hand then lifted my right hand. With a thought I summoned a new weapon into it.

Before it could form I pointed it at Mantis. As I pulled the trigger, the light gave way to a 32 Winchester revolver.

The chamber erupted with a loud bang. A bullet exploded out of the barrel at high speeds.

Mantis's eyes went wide as the 32 caliber bullet struck him. I was not expecting my aim to be so bad. The shot went right through him and bounced off something in the distance.

I felt pain. Not the pain from a wound but the pain one felt from seeing someone go through a terrifying experience. “Oh shit! Oh crap! I’m so sorry man!” I’d shot him in the dick.

I had been aiming for his hand in an attempt to knock the summon away, but it turns out accuracy with a pistol got really shaky past twenty feet.

He screamed in pain and fear, but mostly pain. All while holding his bloody crotch. “Nooooo! Blood! It hurts! Aaaaaah! Mommmmmmy! It hurts!” Tears streamed down his face.

I was a bit shaken at the sight. The blood that came out was almost black. Not red or blue but a reddish dark purple. It made me a bit queasy.

This was not a game. There weren’t any red particles leaking from the wound. There was real pain painted on his face.

I hesitated to shoot again. His Health was slowly dropping. It was the bleed de-buff. Every drop of blood was basically his life energy.

The health bar was a literal representation of how close you were to death. This confirmed my theory. Whether you have a million health or a hundred. A head shot was a head shot.

With that I put the gun away. Magic was destructive and more powerful than a gun but at least I could actually aim it.

As far as I could tell magic was directed by intention. All I had to do was lock-on and release. The spell did the rest.

“You fucking bitch! Aaarh! It fucking hurts! You’ll pay for that! Don’t you know I’m the chosen one! You can't do this to me! This is my game! I'll fucking kill you!” He took a deep shuttering breath ripping a chunk of hair out the side of his head.

It looked like something had broken within him. “It’s okay. It’s fine. I know your just being controlled by your father the king. You’re really just an innocent princess. Do not worry princess I will save you.” His health was still dropping.

He pulled a potion out drinking it. I should of used the gun to force him into a cell but the sound of his voice made it clear he was a nut case.

I doubt he was actually afraid of guns. At least not in his current state. His body took on a green glow and his wounds healed.

His health wasn’t full, but he was no longer bleeding. I wonder if his dick grew back? Would it be the same size or smaller? Maybe it would grow back twice as big.

What about the foreskin? Was he still circumcised? No wait, was he even circumcised to begin with?

Would he need to stretch his regrown foreskin out or was it as worn and torn as before? If it’s all new flesh then would jerking off feel like the first time?

Would it entirely be made of scar tissue? What would that even look like? It was useful information to know.

What if I lost an arm? Could I get it back with a heal spell, maybe with a potion or would it just seal the wound?

If that's the case then Mantis had just lost his pee shooter. Would I be happy with a new arm? Body dysmorphia was a thing. What if I freak out and try to rip my new arm off? No I would of done it when I woke up as Aku.

I was so busy trying to figure out what was left of Mantis's dick, that I forgot about the summon in his bloody hands.

Mantis enthusiastically raised the summon into the air, evoking its power with a surge of mana. “I call forth air harpy!” The blood stained crystal flashed and from the light a feathery lady appeared.

She had no arms. Instead they were long white wings that spanned about 30 feet from one tip to the other. Her legs were covered in short dark brown feathers and ended with long claw-like talons.

She let out a cry. Unlike her fellow summon, she had no qualms about fighting me. If she didn’t feel bad about killing me, then I didn’t feel bad about killing her.

I kept Snowball in my left hand using it to simultaneously cast one spell twice. Then directed the spells with my right hand.

They weren’t fully formed and I managed to suspend them. I wasn’t sure how I managed that but I was ready to fire.

Mantis was still holding his crotch. Like he was checking to see if his dick was there… or not. Maybe he was just itchy.

His penis was made of scar tissue so it has to be itchy right? Is scar tissue itchy? Tears were still running down his face.

“Attack you stupid bird!” The harpy took flight flapping it’s wings to create a gust of air releasing silver translucent blades of pressurized wind.

I needed to bring it down and since it was a wind type. Fire would do. “Multi Fire Ball!” This time two magic circles appeared over my hand.

They overlapped a little. Two red flames formed, growing next to each other and forming two perfectly rounded spears.

They spun around each other like orbiting stars. Ten runes flashed for each nova and by the end the two miniature stars grew twice in size.

This took only a second to form and a moment later they blasted off into the sky. One was slightly closer to the target.

The first fire ball collided with one of the wind blades expanding and consuming the wind magic. The wind magic only served to feed my spells power making it explode into a puff of smoke.

The collision opened a path for the second fire ball to get through. It slammed into its target expanding to engulf the harpy.

The orange flames combusted releasing a rapid stream of black smoke. The harpy let out a cry but soon came falling to the ground.

The smell of roasted chicken permeated the air. The harpy flapped its melting wings and managed to land on its bird-like legs.

Some form of wind magic surrounded her as the flames were snuffed out. The wind seemed to heal her partially.

It’s left wing was now burnt to a crisp, and its right was missing feathers. The things face was just about gone. There were several burns on its torso and legs.

The damage was slowly being erased. New feathers were now budding from her skin. The need to look away overwhelmed me.

She was basically naked without her feathers. Why would harpies need breasts? I thought birds fed there children by barfing down there throats.

I hadn’t planned on it surviving. Usually a fire ball was usually enough. My barrier was also still on cool down. It wouldn’t be ready for another nine seconds. I had one more barrier spell but that one didn’t work for magic based attacks.

My hot bar only had movement skills and potions now. Aqua bolt was ready but that wouldn’t work against her wind blades.

I didn’t think I’d need that many attack spells. Seeing as this was supposed to be a safe zone. How was I supposed to know I’d be fighting some crazy jackass.

The movement abilities were for running away. Fighting in my condition was suicide. Running wasn’t an option.

I couldn’t just leave Mantis to run around and do how he pleases. Guess I’ll have to avoid her attacks till fire ball or magic barrier is off cool down.

I could probably take a hit or two. My Gothic gear gave magic resistance so a hit wouldn’t be fatal but what if her wind blades cut my clothes will there protection still work?

Right when I was about to resort to the gun, I caught a feint blue shimmer behind the harpy. My mouth curled into a grin.

Right before it could fire off another air blade. Shadow came out of hiding. Her eyes seemed to glow with malice. It was kind of scary.

Her daggers gleamed a deep red. “Assassinate.” She activated the assassin skill Assassinate. It did major damage when doing backstab and a bonus for critical hits.

She thrust both her blades through its kidneys. It let out a pained cry trying to claw at her.

The harpies claws managed to leave shallow cuts on shadow’s legs. her confidence evaporated. It was like she’d only just realized what she’d done.

It was the same feeling I got when I shot Mantis. I knew now hesitation would get you killed so I gave her a bit of guidance.

Party chat

Aku: Twist the knife and jump back before she really hurts you! Do not hesitate! She will kill you!

A look of understanding came over her. Her knifes twisted and the harpy let out an agonizing scream.

She quickly jumped away and the harpy thrashed trying to attack her. This was not the combat of a game. This was a murder, an execution.

Blood splattered as the harpy fell. A moment of thrashing and it died. It’s body turned to ash and it vanished from the new world.

The blood also seemed to peel away and break up into the atmosphere. The original plan was for me to distract Mantis while Shadow got people to safety. Then once everyone was safe she would backstab Mantis and end the fight.

Stabbing someone in the kidneys wasn’t a killing blow but it did hurt like a bitch. The harpy went down due to the overall damage done to it.

Damage seemed to all count towards her health bar so at least I knew monsters died the old fashion way or at least summons did.

Shadow didn’t want me to get hurt so instead of following the plan she went after the harpy. I couldn’t blame her for disobeying.

She looked to where I was but I wasn’t there. In fact Mantis was gone to. She was all alone on a bloody battle field.

“Huh? Where did you guys go?” she looked around but didn’t see anyone.

“aaah! Help Shadow! His kidnapping me!” I was being carried off in the arms of Mantis. This guy had grabbed me while Shadow was busy killing the harpy.

He jumped from roof top to roof top. The guy had me in a princess carry. I felt anger swell up inside me and for the first time since I got here my body and mind synced up perfectly.

This stupid dance had gone on long enough and I was tired of being treated like some girl.

Without even using the hot bar I activated the martial art Crescent Rising. My foot glowed a soul silver and my body rolled back.

My boot slammed into the side of Mantis’s head. “uh!” The ability was close range passing through his reflection barrier.

His shield sputtered out vanishing completely. Mantis stumbled a bit as my martial art concluded and I landed on the tiles in front of him.

My body quickly turned and my fist glowed red as I used another martial art called iron fist.

My fist hit him in the gut causing his body to keel over me. The knock back was insane. He was sent flying into the roof of the building behind him, crashing through hard stone tiles and into an attic.

Without using Snowball I started casting spells. Most weren’t even on my hot bar. Eight magic circles appeared rotating in front of me like a giant revolver. Mantis was just about standing when the spells went off.

“Manabolt, firebolt, aquabolt, aerobolt, Terabolt, thunderbolt, prismaticbolt, Shadowbolt.” My voice took on a dark tone and the dark hole inside my heart called for substance.

A missile of every element fired off one after the other. They were small compared to there regular size.

Mantis looked on in horror. Each bolt tore through him like he was made of paper. He screamed in agony but I wasn’t done.

I reached out with my left hand activating the psychic ability called pull. His body was ripped from where he stud and came rocketing towards me. In my right hand my obsidian grate sword appeared.

As long as I wasn’t swinging it, the weight wasn’t a problem. He cried out for help, but just before he could be impaled by my blade Shadow crashed into me knocking me back onto the brick tiles.

“That’s enough master your going to kill him!” I felt so angry like I’d just been refused something vital. Mantis didn’t make it to the roof we were on.

Instead he hit the edge and fell into the alleyway. He was just about dead. His health was in the red and slowly dropping. My sword had also fallen into the alley clattering on the hard stone.

The rage I felt wouldn’t go away. That was until I looked into Shadow’s eyes. She was crying. In an instant my anger changed into remorse. I began to cry to.

“That’s enough…. it’s enough. No more.” She repeated these words on loop.

“I…. I’m sorry…. I don't know what got into me.” That was a lie. This had happened once before. Except…. that day…. no one was there to stop me.