Clave looked at me with both marvel and disdain. He eyed my geared up arms, trying to make sense of a fae sporting metal. “You’re no hybrid,” he said curiously. “No… usually a hybrid can’t support that many add-ons.”
Add-ons, I wondered how he could tell…
Most of my extensions were tucked away, only visible when triggered.
“And you have a few. Not to mention, your gear class surpasses the typical hybrid limitations. Mid-level, am I right? Could be EDM, no, XDM.”
I squared my eyes on him. “Shit, for a fae, you sure do know your hardware.”
He shrugged. “I make it my business to know as much about my enemies as possible, Senterrian.”
I held my breath and tightened my fist, positioning myself to strike.
“Hey, what else could you be, right?” He chuckled. “Wow, I got to hand it to you, it’s not every day you see potent magic like this. Omesad-ae, Ogasha—no? Nothing? I bet not even a reveal crystal could strip that mask you are wearing, either. All right then, now I’m really curious. Where did you dig up this spell from, huh?”
“How about you come here and f-ff-fin—” I stuttered before my mouth felt dry, the feeling of something scratching the back of my throat quickly shutting me up. I grabbed my neck as Clave lifted his finger and took one big step off of the altar before stuffing his other hand in his pocket and muttering something under his breath.
“Nah-ugh-ah. I asked you a question, human. Where did you dig up that spell?” His eyes went pure white, Clave taking daunting steps toward me. For every step he made me strain further, this mysterious force he was weaving around my body growing stronger by the second. I tried to fight it, but it was hard to catch a grip onto something I couldn’t see! My limbs grew heavy and my muscles ached as I struggled to regain control of my vocal cords, my body falling victim to his commands.
“I’ll ask you again,” he growled as he stopped halfway across the aisle. “Where did you get that spell?”
“Don’t tell him anything, Syod—”
“Not another word,” Clave said, snapping his finger and instantly wrapping a black collar around Rufian’s throat. The magic behind this twin was deadlier than the other, Rufian’s eyes pooling black as he scratched at his throat for relief. His veins went dark, the branches crawling from his throat up to his jaw and over his forehead. It was so quick that I’d miss it if I blinked once, and then just like that, my partner in crime vanished.
Clave laughed. “So much for that vendetta, am I right?” he said, turning to me. “Teleporting right out at the first hint of defeat. But you’re not like that, are you, human? It’s just like you monkeys to think you can outshine us fae.”
I gritted my teeth, refusing to give in to his demands. But the pain was becoming too much, my mind becoming hazy as I fought to stay conscious.
“It’ll be a lot easier if you just gave in and tell me what I want to hear. So quit being a little prick and answer me!” Clave’s voice echoed through my head, his grip tightening around my throat.
I gasped for air as I fell on my knees and opened my eyes wide. Short rapid breaths, my throat was trying to make sounds and form words. Shit, this was bad! I knew what I was about to say, revealing not only my mission but the very location of the dungeon core’s shield! I collapsed to the floor, feeling Clave standing over me. Again he demanded answers, with his boot heavy against the back of my head.
I stammered with my words, before my body forced out, “c-c-coress—ryshhh—shhhoov—iit-”
“What was that?”
I snickered. “I—s-ss-aid, shove i-t-uup-y-yourssss.” My hand snatched Clave’s ankles and I heaved, sending him flying across the room. I broke his hold on me, but unfortunately I didn’t get to break the asshat’s back as he dispersed into shadows before clashing into the wall.
I was reluctant to use MI seeing as it nearly cost me a third of my mana pool. Having already been denied access to my inventory, I had to play this smart.
Soon after I shoved Clave away, I began to claim my physical body. And not a second to spare, Clave began to morph back into his humanoid form. His eyes stopped glowing, which meant that he was possibly out of scrolls used to crack open my secret. But that didn’t mean I was out of the clear just yet. The guy was still at level 150, and I was down one man.
“That’s some willpower you have there, Syodas…” Clave whispered as if he were almost impressed. “Not many humans could withstand fae magic from the higher scrolls.”
“I’ll have you realize that I’m not like most humans.”
“Isn’t that the truth.” He grinned. “Using a mysterious spell to hide your identity, trekking in the land of fae, and hunting down The Deo Guild. There’s definitely more to you than meets the eye. I have so many questions. It’s a shame I’ll have to beat some answers out of you.”
“You can try, jackass.”
He snorted. “Seriously, that side piece of yours might be after me for personal reasons, but this is a challenge for you, isn’t it? You want to see what you and your toys can do, right? I have to imagine this is what this is about, because someone with your arrangement surely has something to escape with. An item, an attachment, something. But here you are, ready to square off with me. You must think you have a slither, a match-strike of a chance of defeating me. Otherwise, you wouldn’t even dare… either that, or you’re just plain stupid.”
I smirked. “Honestly, I just want to know where the hell Pixie is.”
“Pixie?” He raised his eyebrow at me. “I didn’t think she was anyone’s type. The girl doesn’t exactly scream feminine appeal.”
“You could say there’s something about her that caught my eye.”
“The type of guy who likes being thrown around, aren’t you? But Syodas, you don’t need Pixie for that. I can treat you like a rag-doll right here, right now.”
I sprung into motion, avoiding an erupting nest of jagged and long shadow spikes from the floor. Clave chased me with them until I reached his inner circle, the dark fae trying to catch me in the same bullshit he’d caught Rufian in. But I brought out my reflector shield to protect myself and then followed it up with a sonar blast. I managed to space us out, the drawback being too far from him to land a square hook shot into his smug face. But with the distance, I was able to summon my minions, four in total.
Clave got back on his feet and drew two shadow arm blades. They reminded me of Baraka’s from Mortal Kombat, only these had the ability to grow indefinitely. When he pointed one at me I barely step-dodged out of the way. I wasn’t expecting him to close the gap with an extension but a charge, where he’d put himself in direct contact with melee attacks.
But that would have been too easy for me wouldn’t it?
Yeah, I was right. Clave was analyzing me. I could just tell. He wanted to study my strength game, and then adjust his combat style to easily take me out. That meant that I couldn’t show him too much, I said to myself as he reeled his blade back in.
All right then, that just meant that my bots had to work overtime.
Clave charged a barrage of shadow energy blasts, my body weaving and dodging each one. Back to back he flung those projectiles in my direction, forcing me to jump over pews, leap over shattered pillars, and barrel roll through the air.
He smirked and summoned more shadow energy, but I was ready. I leaped into the air while my minions attacked from below. Pulling out an attached arm weapon of my own, I aimed for Clave's head with my bone saw attachment, but then his true feat came to light, Clave somehow portaling his blade behind me.
I had no choice but to use Speed Tap for the first time to avoid getting stabbed through the back. It took a chunk of mana, but I was able to somehow slow time… Or maybe I was moving so fast that it felt like time was slowing down.
Shit, this was unreal…
