Chapter 71
I walked straight at the Maiden, a confident smirk on my face. This bitch may have kicked my ass the last time we fought, but this time would be different.
“Domitor, follow my lead,” I called out as I came to a stop, letting the Maiden walk the rest of the way to me.
My longsword, my only sword left now, was tucked away in my Vacuole. I have a feeling fist will work better against her.
The Maiden continued to approach me as I watched her Soul in the middle of her body. It pulsed steadily, clearly well trained. If I paid attention, I felt I could see right when she’d use her Thorn.
As she reached me she exploded forward, her Soul slithering through her body and into her hands. Perfect.
Instead of countering or dodging, my own hands shot out, Ego in both palms, and caught hers in midair. Her face was hidden behind her visor so I couldn’t see her reaction as I interlock my fingers with hers, holding her firmly.
“Balls in my court now,” I laughed as I yanked her forward and slammed a knee into her gut. She grunted, but just gave back just as much as her own knee hit me, winding me. We held firm to each other as we began to kick at one another, using our legs and elbows to block incoming attacks.
We danced around the room, fighting hard to gain control of the other. I watched her Soul fair as she attempted to use her Thorn, but I just flashed my own Ego into my palms every time she did so. We were at a stalemate.
Thanks to the way my new vision worked, I could watch the others as well while dealing with the Maiden. Domitor finally began to move towards me as Vanilla took off after Cocoa. I couldn’t stop her, so we’d just have to finish up here as fast as possible.
As Domitor neared us, his sword aimed for the center of her back, she suddenly spun us, putting me between them. He however just zipped to the side, sword flashing.
I watched as her Soul suddenly traveled down into her foot, catching me off guard as she kicked his blade as it flew towards her side. He flinched back as his sword was kicked.
Her head turned back to me, and I could just feel her smirking at me despite not being able to actually see her face.
“Nice trick,” I complimented as my muscles rippled as I pushed the small amount of Ego I had into them. “Wanna see another cool one?”
With a bit of effort I forced her hands together as I yanked her into me, attempting to gain control of her. However she flexed and broke my grip just long enough to slip her hands out and around my waist.
“Shit!” I grunted as she had a hold of me in such a way both my arms were trapped under hers as she began to squeeze hard, applying a lot of pressure on my chest. We were face to face as she yanked me around, keeping my body between her and Domitor as he tried to get in to help.
“Damn it, Shayla!” Domitor growled as he struggled to find an angle of attack.
I pressed my face into her visor and growled. “Let. Me. Go.” I demanded, putting strong emphasis on each word. But of course she didn’t release me as she held firm, slowly squeezing the life out of me.
A scream was heard from further in the building, causing me to take drastic measures.
“Fuck!” I yelled as I tilted my head to the side and latched down on her neck, biting down so hard I ripped out a chunk of her flesh.
She threw me off of herself immediately, stumbling back and going down to a knee, holding her neck as her soul trickled into her hand, attempting to heal herself.
Domitor was on her in an instant, thrusting his sword for her. She threw a hand up and caught his blade with her palm, but he just pushed through her hand and impaled her chest, pinning her hand between her body and the hilt of his sword.
She gasped as he twisted the blade, causing her soul in her chest to start to dim. He held his blade in her as she fought against him, but her strength was weaning.
Right as her soul started to flicker, he yanked the blade out of her and took a step back, allowing her to collapse onto the ground.
I walked over and stood above her with him, both of us staring down at her as she breathed raggidly, a hand shakily coming up to try and heal the neck wound.
“I’ll finish her,” Domitor said grimly as he flicked his sword and placed the tip against the face of her visor. She weakly grabbed the blade with her hand and tried to push it away.
“No. She’s done,” I said coldly as I stepped over her.
“Leaving her alive is a really stupid idea,” Domitor warned, “she’s way too powerful.”
I glanced back, seeing her soul staying strong and firm, if not also slowly fading.
Damn it.
“Leave her, the others need us,” I said, turning from them. I was betting on her being too hurt to be a threat at this point. Her weakened Soul was a good indicator of that. “If she follows us, then you can finish her.”
Wiping blood from my face, I continued forward as Domitor reluctantly followed after me, leaving the wounded Maiden behind.
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Earlier
Vanilla rushed down the hallway, heading for the only room she knew was furnished. Her sister's room.
It’d been longer than she’d have liked, which increased her anxiety to the extreme. She also wasn’t sure what she’d do once she got there. But that didn’t matter, Floria needed her to be strong, and she would be. For her.
Finally she reached the door to her room, hesitating for just a moment before forcing herself to throw open the door. The moment she stepped in she saw her sister standing by the bed, looking proud of herself, eyes locked on Vanilla.
“I knew you’d be along shortly, baby sister,” Cocoa chuckled, hands behind her back. “Now sit down,” she demanded, gesturing to a chair with rope in it right by the bed.
But Vanilla just stood there, breathing heavily as she stared at her sister. “Where is she?” she demanded in a shaky voice, eyes moving to the bed.
“My wife?” Cocoa asked in the smuggest tone. “She’s here, waiting for me,” she giggled as she pulled the blankets off, revealing Floria still tied up and laying on the bed in the wedding dress, cloth wrapped around her mouth as she laid there awake. Her eyes were still ablaze with rage and hatred as she stared at Cocoa.
“We couldn’t start without you,” she said as she placed a hand on Floria’s face. “Now sit, Vanny.”
“Get away from her,” Vanilla grumbled, clenching her fist, but not able to act.
“Either sit or stay there,” Cocoa said with a stern look as she used her Vacuole to remove her clothes, leaving just her underwear.. “Just do not interrupt your big sister on her wedding day!”
She reached out to Floria, intending to remove her clothes with her Vacuole as well, but movement caught her attention as she looked back in time to see Vanilla running right at her.
“What do you think you’re-” she was cut off as Vanilla suddenly slammed her fist into Cocoa’s face, causing a small explosion as she used her Thorn to ignite the air around her fist.
Cocoa let out a scream as she was flung backward into the wall, crashing face first into it and rebounding off, landing in a heap at Vanilla’s feet.
“You keep your hands off of her!” Vanilla roared as she pounced on the downed woman and began to repeatedly slam her fist into Cocoa’s face, screaming and crying the entire time. She let out a lifetime of pent up anger and pain right into Cocoa’s face.
The downed woman tried to defend herself, but she was powerless to stop the onslaught of punches coming for her, each one rocking her to the core. She’d never in her whole life been hurt, let alone beaten like this.
Vanilla let out a pained grunt as she hit her sister so hard once that her wrist broke, causing her to shift and start using the other hand, not letting up for even a second.
Finally, she stopped and stood up, covered in green blood. Her sister was a mess, face barely recognizable at this point. She gave her one solid kick to the side and then jumped for the bed, quickly ripping the gag out of Floria’s mouth.
“I’m so sorry!” Vanilla cried as snot and tears ran down her face, her one good hand fumbling to untie the ropes. “This is all my fault, I’m so sorry, Floria!”
“Shh,” Floria shushed her, getting an arm free and reaching up to place it on Vanilla’s cheek, “shut up you big ol’ softie.”
This caused Vanilla to cry harder as she wrapped her arms around Floria, burying her face into her neck.
Floria sat up and threw her own arms around the crying woman, trying to comfort her. “You’re a vicious little ball of fury when you want to be, Vans.”
She didn’t get a response as Vanilla just continued to cry, holding her tightly.
“Get the fuck back you-” Domitor screamed as he flew into the room, stopping as he saw the scene before him. “Oh damn.”
Shayla was next, already knowing what was going on due to her Virtue Sight. “She’s still alive guys,” she said, gesturing to the prone Cocoa.
“I got it,” Domitor said as he walked over, flipping his sword around.
As he neared her, Shayla yelped as she dashed forward and tackled Domitor, taking him to the ground.
Before he could ask why, the wall next to Cocoa exploded, with a large blade on a chain flying forward, passing over the area Domitor had just been moments before.
Acting on instinct, Shayla shot up onto the bed and grabbed the two women and threw them behind herself as the chain went taunt, pulling the blade right for her. She crossed her arms and took the hit directly, sending her flying through the new hole in the wall.
She skidded across the ground a few times before catching herself, spinning as she slid to face the new threat.
“Oh fuck me,” she groaned as she stood up, her longsword appearing in her hands.
“Found you, daughter of Scamp,” Leem chuckled as he retracted his blade to himself, eyes ablaze with hunger.
ooo000<^>000ooo
Scamp stared in confusion at the checkpoint up ahead, as it was completely destroyed. There were guards all around it, dead.
“What happened here?” Spark asked as they walked right through the checkpoint, no one was around to stop them.
“I don’t know…” Scamp mumbled, eyes scanning the bodies. She saw one that looked to be alive as they took deep breaths. “But I’m going to find out.”
The group followed her as she stepped up to the downed man. She flipped him over and checked him over.
“What happened?” she asked as he groaned.
“Captain? That you?” the man asked, his eyes burned away so he couldn’t see her.
“Yes, soldier. Now tell me what happened,” she answered, seeing that his wounds were far above what she could treat.
“A monster… just tore through us without warning… it just laughed at us as we attacked it…” the man coughed, causing blood to spurt out of a wound in his chest. “Captain, the thing just regenerated instantly… we couldn’t hurt it…”
“Did this creature look like a bulky Kejtdra without the faceplate?” Mallogory asked, causing the man to grunt.
“Yeah… now that you mention it…” he shakily reached up and grabbed Scamp’s metal hand. “Captain… are the doctors on the way?”
“Yeah, kid, they’re coming,” Scamp said as she slowly stood, letting his hand fall out of hers as he went limp. She then looked at the others, a grim look on her face. “Leem’s on the move it seems.”
The others had similar expressions on their faces, except Talio, as he just stood there casually. Just observing them.
She followed the path of destruction, seeing he went a certain direction after getting through the checkpoint. “Well, I hate to say it, but we need to follow him.”
“Wonderful,” Mallogory grunted, shaking her head as she clenched her fist.
Neither of them wanted to face Leem again. Just the thought of seeing him again caused them both to break out into a cold sweat. But they’d have to face him, if he was after Shayla.
“This way,” she said as she turned to follow the path of bodies heading into the Social District.
ooo000<^>000ooo
Domitor ran out behind me, tripping over himself as he saw Leem. “Jerry?!”
“Domitor?” Leem asked, seeming a bit surprised to see him here.
Nervously, Domitor looked around, “is-”
“No, just me,” Leem said, eyes locked on Domitor. “Why are you a bug?” But before he could answer, Leem continued. “Where is Lenrick?”
“Dead,” Domitor answered quickly, causing Leem to raise an eyebrow.
“Hmm…” he looked at me next. “How?”
“I killed him,” Domitor answered, stepping between me and Leem. “To save Shayla.”
“Lorenzo will not be pleased with that at all,” Leem roared with laughter, a wide smile on his face. “I always liked you, Domitor, such a wild little spirit. Now step aside.”
“No,” Domitor said firmly, squaring up with Leem. “I will not.”
“Oh?” the large crocodile man laughed as he began to walk towards us. “Domitor, is she worth dying over?”
“Yes,” Domitor stated as he raised his sword.
“Oh I see,” Leem said with a smirk. “You’re sleeping with this one.”
Domitor gulped as the imposing force of Leem bore down on both of us. Even I began to feel nervous as he approached. He had such an aura about him that made your fight or flight response go crazy.
“I’d rather not kill you, Domitor. It’s rare for me to like someone as much as I do you,” Leem said with an intense look in his eyes.
“You’re not touching her,” he growled back, beginning to walk right at Leem, despite the massive amount of fear he felt.
I started to walk forward as well, but Leem suddenly shot forward and slammed a foot into Domitor, sending him rocketing past me and into the building behind me, causing him to crash through the wall and disappear into the house.
“Will you be as entertaining as your parents, little one?” Leem asked as he flashed me a toothy grin.
Resisting the urge to chase after Domitor I turned to Leem, taking him in. His Soul was massive, as it seemed to fill every part of his body. I have no idea what his weakness could be, or if he even has one. But I couldn’t run from him.
“I might surprise you,” I replied, watching his movements carefully.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Leem laughed as he began to spin the chain over his head, the blade inching towards me. Without warning he snapped it, sending it flying right for me.
It wasn’t a challenge to side step it, but my heart still skipped a beat. I couldn’t telegraph his movements! His Soul obscured his body enough that I couldn’t tell when he was flexing his muscles or moving certain ways.
Oh crap.
He whipped the chain, causing it to pop me in the face unexpectedly. This sent me stumbling back as he recoiled the blade off the building behind me, sending it right for me.
Using my blade I deflected it, letting it ride up my blade and right over my head.
My entire body shook in fear as I realized this was hopeless. I could literally feel his power in each of his movements and attacks.
I now understood why my mother said Leem was the only thing she feared in all of existence.
I need to run.
Get the fuck out of here.
But, I could see Domitor thanks to my Virtue Sight, laying amid a pile of debris in the house behind me, while Floria and Vanilla seemed to be hunkered down in the bedroom, and that encouraged me to stand my ground. For them.
As I shakily squared back up with him, I raised my sword.
“Well, you are like your parents,” he chuckled as he tossed the blade into the air. “So I'm going to treat you the same way.” With that he punched the blade, sending it rocketing for me.
Staying aware of my surroundings I dashed to the left, watching as he manipulated the chain to change its direction in midair. I couldn’t help but yelp as I barely blocked it, getting sent to my knee by the force of the blow as the blade deflected off my guard and went flying straight up.
The chain shook hard as he caused it to fly right back down towards me. Rolling to the side saved me as it plummeted right into the ground, the shockwave actually hitting me a lot harder than I thought it could.
He laughed as he yanked the blade back to himself, letting it fly past him as he spun his entire body so that it ended up rocketing right back at me at an angle.
Watching carefully, I sprang up and over it as it flew under me, using my wings to propel myself to the left.
I need to do something other than defend!
As the chain snapped, sending the blade right for me yet again, I roared as I pushed Ego into my palms and down the edge of the longsword.
The moment I dodged the blade again, I sliced at the chain with my sword, easily cutting right through it as I focused all the Ego I could into a single point on my blade.
Doing a little spin, I landed on my feet, watching as the blade went flying into a nearby tree, slicing right through it and continuing on its way.
Leem let out a laugh as he dropped the chain, licking his lips. “Interesting use of your Ego,” he complimented as he opened a pocket dimension and pulled out a large halberd. “I’m going to take your right leg now.”
Normally a statement like this would make me laugh, but the way he said it, like it was a fact, caused me to let out an audible whimper.
“Do not let him get into your head,” the Watcher suddenly said calmly, “this creature is among the most dangerous in all of existence, as even I could not harm him.”
‘Wait you couldn’t even kill him?!’ I asked, taking a step back as Leem began to advance on me.
“His Ego is among the most unique,” the Watcher continued. “Fatal damage of any kind, or any that tries to harm his Ego itself just causes him to revert back to normal. If you completely erase him from existence, he just reappears at one of his many home points.”
‘How does his Ego work exactly?’ I asked, hoping I could figure something out if I knew this info.
“His Ego allows him to exist no matter what happens to him, always sending his body and Soul back to a save point.”
‘Save points?’ I asked as Leem burst towards me, using his halberd to try and wear me down. I dodged around him, barely able to keep up with his erratic movements.
“Yes, a save point. He is able to set a save point in his body, which is how his Ego knows what state to return him to each time he is hurt or killed,” he said, but noticed I was a bit confused as I dodged and deflected Leem’s very heavy attacks. “You moron. In terms even you’ll understand; he chose a specific form for his body to return to when damaged. Meaning, his Ego reverts his body back to a set point.”
“Yeah, I got it!” I snapped out loud, causing Leem to raise an eyebrow at me as the head of the halberd barely missed me.
‘None of this helps me here,’ I thought as I moved backwards, trying to keep him at bay as best as I could.
“Many have tried to think of a way to kill him, yet every attempt has failed. Even I gave up on killing him. Locking him away is the only real solution.”
‘Retarded.’
As his halberd came in from the upper right side, I pushed my Ego into the middle of my blade, using it to slice through the handle of his weapon and right into him. He just smiled as my blade tore through him and came out the other side. Of course the wounds healed instantly, so it was like I wasn’t even cutting him, just having my blade pass through him harmlessly.
An arm shot out and latched onto my right leg, squeezing hard. “Do you taste like your mothers?” he asked with a grin as he caught my arms, preventing me from attacking or moving.
My body seized up as he raised me, sniffing at my leg, eyes rolling up a bit. “I bet you do.”
Slowly he opened his mouth and lowered it towards my leg, clearly taking his time to screw with me. I jerked hard, trying to break free, but it was hopeless as his head-
Suddenly fell off of his body as a massive black colored wave of energy sliced between us, removing his arms as well.
I didn’t waste a second as I flapped my wings, shooting myself away from him as he recovered, turning to see where the attack had come from.
That’s when I saw him, Domitor standing in the hole with his hand held out before himself, breathing heavily. On his left hand I saw what could only be a stomata.
… Domitor has a Thorn?!