Dreams would constantly change over time. That’s Ellen’s belief since she was young. She never trusted any of her imagination taking over her sleep. Even nightmares never left a touch on her courageous heart. However, unlike the little Mary’s wish, she never wanted to stand in the spotlight.
She dreamt of having a normal life, a boring but peaceful one. However, she never had the chance to until she met Quimora. That dream remained unaccomplished within her for years, fading slowly until she completely forgot about it. She realized that once the kingdom depended on your name, not even death would completely erase it.
But for a girl like Mary, who doesn’t have anyone who considers her as a living being, she’ll soon be forgotten without accomplishing her dreams. Ellen soon thought I don’t mind if I never grasp my dream. I wouldn’t want her to end up like me, a vessel completely overtaken by sorrow and agony.
“Tsk!” As soon as Ursa’s face was revealed, she clacked and jumped over the roof.
“YOU’RE NOT GETTING AWAY!” Ellen growled before a blade on her right was inches away from piercing through her neck.
She bent her body, evading the severing cut, and swept the attacker down the floor with a leg kick. Another man on her left planned to stab her heart, but Ellen gripped the sharp blade and broke it in half without leaving any trails of blood. She countered the second attacker with a palm strike. There were still forty-five training dummies blocking her way, but Ursa’s trace vanished after she ran across the roofs of the slums.
“God damn! You’re not getting away with this!”
Ellen elbowed the third and the fourth attacker, shoving them away from her route as she ran to follow Ursa. The bruised men cried to hell after the unusual pain crawled through their nerves in an instant. Just being hit by a flick from her abnormal strength, like what she did to the fifth attacker, could break countless bones within the human body.
Unwounded, her rage started to threaten the other attackers who depended on their numbers as they felt their legs trembling. Before the sixth attacker’s head became minced meat from her deadly punch, countless elongated roots pulled her back. The roots that emerged from the ground also entangled the remaining attackers, rendering their bodies into paralysis.
Ellen slid her back on the ground and hissed. “ARE YOU REALLY AN ALLY, KING!? YOU SHOULD’VE HELPED ME CAPTURE HER!”
Kingsley, who just recovered from the debris of the abandoned concrete house, came to her and pulled her standing. His amulet replied, “Retard! I should’ve helped if you didn’t push me to the boundaries… literally.” This is the first time Kingsley’s thoughts matched the AI’s.
“I–I told you it’s my responsibility!” Ellen exclaimed, then picked up the earrings that Mary dropped. She murmured, “This wouldn’t have happened only if I didn’t get involved with her. We should chase that Ursa down.”
A static sound echoed from Kingsley’s amulet before Nebula’s voice took over from the intercom, “What is this? Why am I seeing a bloody-hasty pimple from our map tracker? Didn’t I tell you not to go all out of your character?”
“Hey King, did you put a GPS on her? Just when?” Ellen asked, but Kingsley pressed his lips and didn’t respond.
“Who’s her? The Italian cheetah? The Flash? Or some company slave who abused overtime pay and could pass through walls? Maybe that was Ellen who found out that a muscular beach babe’s parents were on vacation. Just so you know, I’m not even joking. My eyes were glowing as red as the pulsing light here.”
“I–It’s Mary, Nebula-sama! She’s been kidnapped! We should save her!” Ellen squealed.
“Are you that orphan’s parent? When did you adopt her? I’m quite clear to tell you that your objectives aren’t babysitting. One more move and I’ll grant you your PhD in messing up plans.”
“HER LIFE IS IN DANGER! DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT!? The kids were being hunted.”
“And you’re willing to hear the orphans groaning to death? Are you willing to kill 47 children to save one? Expose how it’s efficient for you.”
Ellen’s mouth slacked as her eyes wandered across the immobile bodies of the attackers. She approached one man and removed his helmet. A face who doesn’t reach puberty made Ellen’s eyes bulge. Her jaws shivered as she stepped back while stuttering. “Nebula-sama… How did you know about this? … You’re not even telling us…”
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“This wasn’t our goal, not even a topping fit over a pizza. Let the crowned pigs solve their land’s drought. We’re not here to teach them how to wash their bodies.”
“Is this alright with you… Nebula-sama?”
“I suppose it wasn’t. I’m just weighing the risks on a scale. You still have the 47 in you. Why don’t you extract something relevant, pop their cherries, and erase their memories afterward?”
Kingsley can erase a part of a memory with his roots as long as he doesn’t exhaust his mana pool, but beyond forty people would be a challenge for him. His roots can also emit the scent of withering flowers which can force someone to tell the truth. He’s like a walking lie detector test.
Since Kingsley needed to reserve a huge amount of mana for the memory removal, he only gave the scent to the unmasked man. The man’s eyes spiraled and soon stared at the ground from hypnosis. Ellen, with her gritted teeth, flooded him with questions.
“Who are you? And why are you kidnapping children?”
The man replied with a monotone voice that lost a soul, “They call me Briar. We’re only following orders from our mayor.”
“Who’s that mayor? What will happen to the kids?”
“I don’t know his real name. We call him the mayor. He’s in charge of the arena, a dungeon where the kidnapped participants fight to death until the last man standing will be declared as the strongest. The victor will be trained to death, and if they withstood it, they’ll become one of the mayor’s right hand.”
“Ellen, couldn’t you become more boring? Don’t ask him nonsense,” Nebula demanded through the intercom.
“Tsk!” Ellen clacked and continued asking, “Were you familiar with the magical stones called the Resurgence Gems?” The Resurgence gems were like the amethyst and the ruby, a perfectly symmetrical shiny stone that, in theory, would give Nebula the power to surpass a propagator.
The man groaned in dead silence for seconds and replied, “I never heard such a thing.”
“Useless piece of underdeveloped embryo grown from rotten milk. What about a man named Gaul Illadarne?”
“He was…” He stuttered, yet he didn’t utter a word like his soul was temporarily taken out of his body. With a hint of remembering something, he widened his eyes. Ellen expected an answer, but the man screamed from an internal suffering the moment his neck’s nerves enlarged.
Even with his paralyzed body, he shook abnormally, surpassing the limits of his strength while nearly breaking the roots circling him. The longer it went, his scream only grew louder. Ellen hyperventilated in panic, but before she commanded Kingsley to put him to sleep, he did it already. The man’s eyes closed as his limbs hung without his control. If Ellen slapped him to sleep, he would only suffer more injuries.
“I suppose that piqued my curiosity. I’m in,” Nebula uttered from the amulet. Ellen wasn’t sure of what she was talking about until she realized that a key point leaked from the man. If Gaul Illiadarne’s name didn’t cause a reaction, there would be no chance that Nebula would look into this matter.
“It’s somehow… connected… How much of this do you know, Nebula-sama?”
“Only the modern underground gossips of theories. Suppose Entropy's beliefs were banned across the world wide web, rarely a few key people won’t spit dirt about it. Overworld matters were completely accessible via Gaugle. I’m not like you who waste my time searching for inhumane 3 AM porn.”
“... Do you somehow know the identities of these kids? And their mayor?”
“They’re mud-rock cannibals, a prey who became a predator. Their gruesome past was like their wealth passed down to generations like political dynasties. Once one's name is tainted, even death couldn’t erase it. Wasn’t that familiar, Ellen? Love, belonging, security, these children forced a dream onto themselves and paid with it with their life.”
“That’s… cruel,” Ellen muttered, clenching her fist and putting it over her chest. Her heart pumped hastily, nearly exploding, as her eyes appeared red and wet. “Dreams can change, but… they shouldn't be forced… That’s not a dream anymore.”
“Not knowing who the creator of this unfair world was, you can’t be a gremillion to blame anyone responsible. Only kind people with self-pity blame themselves for it.”
Like Mary once guessed, Ellenoire Ravelgrace was once a princess and an outstanding figure in her kingdom. She wasn’t a dissolute woman before, not for the kingdom’s people that once believed in her. She fought for the might and glory, standing tall at the top of the ranks. Her only wish was to make the kingdom prosper and be peaceful. However, due to a public mistake, her life changed, including a dream that can never be fulfilled.
Ellen became a drunkard and a man-chaser, clinging herself to the public lie and making it the truth. She’s responsible to the core, and once she utters a promise, she’ll never break it. If she pretends she can do something she can’t, she’ll be forced to learn it and become a part of her character. She’s always cautious when making promises, but when her emotions explode, this is what happens…
Ellen clenched her fists on her side and gazed to the roof where she last saw Ursa. Furrowing her eyebrows, she declared, “I’ll promise to save her, no matter what…”
“No rush. You shouldn’t pop zits too early, or it’ll leave a permanent scar unless you plan on having a tattoo on your face. There’s still minutes to spare and homework to waste before pimples go boom.”
“King’s amulet might have a record of Ursa’s face. She’s supposed to be the leader of their squad. Does her face ring any bell?”
Nebula’s loud giggling resonated from the speakers, leaving Ellen and Kingsley confused. After a long euphoria, she said,
“Make your guesses. I suppose I can’t spoil an upcoming reunion.”