Just as Krista had assumed, Damien was learning the same lesson for a third time, Damien had bolted to the wall once again, in hopes that Krista could hold Derek off long enough to let him touch the X. His hoped were quickly dashed.
“Persistent, aren’t ya?” mocked Derek as he drabbed Damien’s arm and lifted him into the air, “Not a bad trait to have.”
Derek’s grasp was strong strengthen even further by his augmentation wattiez, no matter how much he kicked, punched, or bit down, he just wouldn’t let Damien go. Staring deep into Derek’s dark brown eyes Damien began to-
“Wait, what?!” Before Damien even had time to fully register what he had seen, he heard Krista charging from behind him.
“Hold him!” she cried.
In his current position of being held off the ground, Damien wasn’t sure what Krista was expecting of him, but his body reacted to her words. He wrapped himself tightly around Derek’s right arm, pulling down as hard as he could. Whether it actually worked to stop Derek, or whether it was just some piece of blind luck, something unexpected happened. Damien fell limply to the floor, still holding onto a large, warm object.
“Holy!” Damien scrambled to his feet struggling to get the now separated arm off his own.
“Ah, you pieces of-” Derek said with only mild annoyance
“Wind!” Damien cried this out as a huge gust of wind blew directly on Derek’s face. It seemed to work well enough as it caused him to cower to the floor.
Not willing to lose this chance, Krista bolted for the X on the wall. Looks like they would be able to pass the test with flying colors with more than half their time still remaining. Krista approached the X and rose her hand high more than prepared for the red welt that would appear on her hand after slapping the hard wall, but she was momentarily blinded by a flash of blue light, and the X had… moved?
“What the?” Krista was sure she was on her way to touch it, but her hand had ended up beside it. Rather than gauge what had occurred, Krista just pressed on and attempted to touch the X again, but once more her hand landed besides, but not on, the X.
Further back, where Derek laid, Damien stood at attention, ready to try and parry the inevitable charge Derek would soon unleash, except nothing happened. Derek continued to sit in the feeble position while clutching his head.
Getting closer, Damien was able to make out a meek whimper, “My hair, my perfect hair.”
Ignoring what seemed like a personal problem, Damien looked back to Krista. He was expecting to see her and Amelia celebrating, instead he was met with a strange image. Krista was immobile, staring blankly at the wall with her hand reaching towards the X. Intrigued, Damien cautiously reached out to touch Krista when suddenly-
“What in the!” Damien cried as he barely caught her after she came flying into his arms. Strangely, as Krista came forward, he was sure there were two of her for just a moment.”
“Pretty sure the X is booby trapped!” Krista answered to his confusion.
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They both retreated back to Amelia, wanting to rethink their strategies with the new information they gained from their exchanges, along with the extra arm dragging Damien down.
Krista knew there was something off about Derek, but this went far beyond her expectations once again. Derek wound wasn’t leaking any blood, in fact, it was the same way when she broke his nose. It was like he wasn’t human. He had barely even reacted to getting his arm cut off; if it wasn’t for the whimpering, Krista would have classified him as a worthy opponent.
“Can we please get this thing off me!” Damien didn’t have the luxury of worrying about anything other than the arm attached to his own. Even separated, Derek’s grip didn’t falter, even with Damien augmenting his strength.
“I could… cut off the fingers?” Krista offered.
“You’re not putting that blade anywhere near me!” He rebuked, “I’m not trying to get my own arm amputated, besides that, why didn’t you pass the test?”
“I was trying to!” she answered indignantly, “but like I said, the X is booby trapped. Every time I tried to touch it, the X would move! I’m not really sure how, but eventually I got kind of close to actually touching it when a huge gust of wind blew me into you.”
“Well, from my point of view you were just standing there,” Damien replied, “Sort of like you were in a trance.”
“Did either of you get a good look at his eyes, I want to confirm my suspicions,” Amelia chimed in.
“Yeah, I did,” Damien answered trying to understand the reasoning behind Krista’s words, “They were brown, while he was using wattiez. Is that possible?”
“No!” She cried, “Well, it shouldn’t be. No, it’s impossible, unless he’s just special, but it’s never been recorded before, but then again-”
“Amelia!” interrupted Krista, “Yes or no, is it plausible?”
“No,” Amelia finally answered before her laid on the arm attached to Damien, “Wait a moment, Damien please refrain from moving.” She grabbed onto the arm, strangely comfortable holding the piece of separated flesh, her body soon becoming enveloped in an orange aura. “Check health… Derek isn’t alive.”
“Not alive, what do you mean by that,” Damien questioned, “Is he some kind of illusion? Even if that was true, his attacks still hurt.”
“No, something much more simple or maybe much more complicated,” Amelia responded, “His body is not made up of living tissue. It’s some sort of approximate, wouldn’t be able to tell the difference just from looking at it. Most likely he’s some kind of puppet being controlled from somewhere else.”
“That would explain his resilience, lack of changing eye color, and multiple affinity use,” Krista added, “yet I didn’t see a rune on his neck. I’ve seen puppets up close, and they all had a rune that connected them with a user, but he doesn’t have it. At least on his neck like the others.”
“You wouldn’t need a rune if you were close enough to see the puppet, but there’s no one else in the room,” Amelia noted.
A sense of understanding washed over Damien, “These puppets, from how far away could a person control one?”
“I’m not 100 percent sure,” Amelia replied, “This is more realistic and better constructed than any puppet I’ve ever seen, but considering the wattiez output of Derek, I’d have to say very close, probably no more than maybe 50 feet.”
“I am going to destroy all of you!”
Derek’s voice rang out full of rage. He stood tall; his body encased in a powerful red aura that buffed his body up even further. His eyes were bloodshot, and the veins all across his body pulsated. It would have been imposing if not for the shredded wig held tightly in his hand along with the impossibly shiny head of his.
“Krista!” Damien shouted quickly, “When you touched the wall did you see any kind of colored flash? Specifically, a blue one. I have a suspicion and that would confirm it.”
“Yes, actually!” she said suddenly realizing what might be going on, “You don’t think-”
A devious smile spread wide across his face, “Not usually, but I think do have a plan.”