Chapter 72
Domitor groaned as he forced himself up, pushing all kinds of debris off of himself. He grunted as he stood up, his chest feeling like it’d been hit by a train. But to be fair, it basically had, with how strong Leem is.
Looking up, he saw Shayla struggling against Leem, clearly not doing so well against his halberd.
He needed to get back out there, to help her. But a sense of uselessness over took him as he saw her dodging and weaving his attacks, something he wasn’t so sure he could do. To make matters worse, his sword was gone, lost when he got hit by Leem.
“Damn it,” he muttered as he began to walk for the hole. He may not be able to do what Shayla can, but he’d definitely do his best to help her.
But as he neared the hole, a light, like a spotlight, shone down right on the rubble in front of the hole. Followed by an altar slowly appearing before him.
He stared at it dumbfoundedly, not sure what it was. But the longer he looked at it, the more it dawned on him. He DID know what this thing was, Shayla had talked about them once.
A Scapil, the thing that gave people their Thorn’s. But they were supposed to have a high mortality rate as well.
For a moment, he thought about ignoring it, but then he saw Leem grab ahold of Shayla. This made up his mind as he rushed forward and slapped his hand down on the top of the Scapil.
A spike pierced his hand, causing him to grunt in pain as he yanked his hand away, body rocking as he was pulled into his mind.
He was confused at first, as he had no idea what the process for getting a Thorn was outside of getting your hand stabbed. Then, after a brief moment, images of him appeared, performing all kinds of attacks and techniques using… ink? Pens?
Blinking in even more confusion, it took a few more images for him to realize his Thorn had something to do with using his art skills to perform attacks.
While the images played, a few items appeared before him, namely the kinds of tools you’d use while making art. He lifted up a pen and looked back to the images, which showed him drawing in the air.
So he did just that, attempting to draw on the air before him. To his surprise he drew a squiggly line and it became solid, falling to the ground the moment he finished.
Some of the images showed him performing sword-like strikes, which sent out attacks of some kind. So he took up a sword stance and made a cut through the air, which sent a blade-like wave of what appeared to be ink flying across the room.
Performing a few slices in quick succession had the same effect, bringing a smile to his face.
He then spent some time going through all the images, trying out a few skills. Once he was satisfied, the mindscape began to fade away, bringing him back to real life.
It took him a moment to realize no time had passed as Shayla was still in the process of being grabbed by Leem. Meaning he did not have the luxury of taking his time.
As quickly as he could, he pulled out two pens from his Vacuole and jumped up into the opening of the hole. To his horror he saw Leem slowly going in for a bite on one of Shayla’s legs.
His grip tightened on his pen as he sliced it upward, sending a blade of ink flying towards them. To his great relief it cut right through the neck and limbs of Leem, allowing Shayla to get away from him.
However his relief was short lived as Leem growled and turned on him, sending four arms flying towards Domitor.
But Domitor was prepared as he performed a few moves in front of himself with both hands, creating a solid net like object. He grabbed the edge and gave it a spin, turning the net-like object into a spinning wheel of death. Then with a thrust of his hand, he sent it flying forward.
The four arms were blended away instantly as the spinning net flew right for Leem, who did not move as his upper body was basically liquified by the spinning net.
As Leem reformed, he had a smirk on his face, “now that is an interesting Thorn, Domitor.”
“Yep,” Domitor replied, not wanting to engage in conversation with him.
“Remember how I said I liked you?” Leem asked, flexing his muscles. “This is your one and only chance to leave. I’ll tell Lorenzo you were the one to kill Scamp’s daughter.”
Domitor looked over to Shayla as she readied herself, her body trembling in fear.
“The old me would have taken that offer, Jerry,” Domitor replied, turning his eyes to Leem’s, “but that’s not who I am anymore.”
“Character development,” Leem chuckled, shaking his head, “it’s ruined better men. Alright, Domitor, you want to stick by her side? Then you better be ready to face the consequences of your choices.”
With that, Leem’s body pulsed as he rocketed towards Domitor.
ooo000<^>000ooo
Leem launched himself towards Domitor, clearly going for the kill as he had no weapons in his hands. Domitor was preparing an attack of his own, but I knew it wouldn’t be enough to slow this monster down.
So I did the only thing I could in this moment, I shot forward and intercepted Leem, hitting him right in the chest with a Ego powered fist. Luckily I had enough Ego to send him off course and into a few decorative boulders.
Landing on my feet, I saw Domitor readjust his attack, sending it flying towards Leem as he pulled himself up.
The crocodile let out a roar of anger as he was impaled over and over again by spear-like rods.
“I’m not even going to ask how you got a Thorn,” I chuckled as I focused my Ego into my sword.
“It’s actually really simple,” Domitor replied as he drew a sword in the air before himself, creating a new weapon for himself. “Scapil showed up and I touched it.”
“Wicked,” I said with a nod as Leem raised a large boulder and flung it right for me. As it neared me I performed four slices, causing it to fly past me harmlessly.
“Do you even need Ego?” Domitor asked as he rushed to my side while Leem stalked towards us.
“I desperately need my Ego,” I replied, my fear clearly showing on my face and in my voice.
He reached up and touched my face, calming me down immensely. “We got this.”
That was exactly what I needed to hear as a smirk slid onto my face.
“I need you to focus on his legs, I’m going to focus on his arms,” I said as we spread out a bit.
“What’s the end goal here?” he asked, causing me to shrug. I did not have a end goal.
“Fighting without an end goal is foolhardy and will end in both your deaths,” the Watcher commented.
‘Then come on into my head and figure something out, smart ass,’ I thought as I grabbed his vial and pushed Ego into it.
“That is the most foolish thing you’ve ever done, Shayla,” he said as he stayed in his vial.
Leem was within striking distance now. ‘Just get in here!’
“Very well then,” he replied as he followed my Ego, entering into my mind where Rosemary is. Or where she is when she’s able to talk with me.
‘Figure this shit out,’ I thought as Domitor began to cut away at Leem’s legs while I focused on his upper body. Domitor was using both his new sword and his pen to perform all kinds of creative attacks, while I just flashed my sword as fast as I could.
Our team work was effective as Leem was having trouble reaching either of us, but this just caused him to get more and more furious. If he entered his rage state, we might not be able to handle him.
“Shay, catch!” Domitor called out as he tossed me a sword he drew. I caught it and smirked as it felt perfect for me.
Now with two swords again, I was able to increase my attacks against him, now making it incredibly hard for him to do anything but lose body parts.
“I hate teamwork,” Leem growled with a scowl as he locked his eyes on me. “I’m killing you first, spawn of Scamp. Then I’m dismembering you, Domitor, and taking you back to your father.”
“Sounds like a good plan,” I grunted as I poked out his eyes just to screw with him, “but you gotta win first.”
“Oh I’ll win,” he said with a nasty smirk. “I always win in the end, no matter how long it takes to get there.”
“Yeah yeah,” I replied as I sliced away a few arms.
As we fought against him, I started to notice something. Something was coming up from beneath us, as I saw what appeared to be long souls flying upwards towards us. Then I noticed Leem’s own Soul seemed to extend far into the ground…
FUCK!
I didn’t have time to warn Domitor, so I just stopped my attacks as I spun on him and kicked him as hard as I could, sending him flying away as a multitude of Leem’s arms shot up around me and grabbed hold of me.
Attempting to free myself, I swung my blades around, cutting down as many as I could, but it was hopeless as he finally fully restricted me with all his arms.
Domitor wasn’t just letting this happen as he used his sword and ink attacks to slice through the forest made of arms. But it was clear he was on the losing battle as Leem grabbed him as well and yanked him right up against me. He wrapped us up together as the majority of his arms returned to his body.
“Well, that was at least somewhat entertaining you two,” he mocked as he squeezed harder, causing us to groan in pain.
I could see that he was restricting Domitor’s hands so he couldn't use his pens to free us.
This… was not good at all.
Leem just kept adding more and more pressure, slowly starting to crush us together. I knew thanks to my body and Egonetic’s that I’d end up killing Domitor before I died, and that’s a terrifying thought.
“I’m sorry for this, Shay,” Domitor apologized as his face was twisted into a look of agony. “I hope you’ll forgive me!”
“What are you-” I started to say, but one of his hands suddenly flipped around and grabbed hold of my thigh. I felt something pulling on my chest as the ink of my tattoo was pulled out of me and began to spin around us, cutting through the arms.
They slacked just enough for me to push my Ego into my muscles and break us free. I grabbed Domitor as he used his shadowy tentacle to pull us all the way out of Leem’s grip.
He roared as he shot a few hands after us, but I just cut them away as they neared us, sticking my tongue out at Leem as we flew through the air.
“This is not going well,” Domitor muttered as we landed on the ground, turning to face Leem as he sheeted with rage.
With warning, he let out a massive roar, holding it for a good ten seconds. It had the desired effect of making me not want to go near him ever again.
“We need to run,” I said in a shaky voice.
“Agreed,” Domitor said, his voice also quivering as we both took a step back.
“Come here, children,” he yelled, going down to all fours and rushing towards us. He was moving way too fast, as there was no way we’d be able to outrun him.
Nor could we defend against him.
“Damn it, Dom,” I muttered as I took his hand.
As he neared us, we raised our swords, planning to at least go down fighting. But a blur suddenly appeared between us, catching Leem as he charged towards us, grabbing him by the head and flung him right over us.
This was such a sudden change that I wasn’t able to process it, but slowly, I began to realize who was standing before us. I couldn’t see them physically, but I could tell who they were just by seeing their Soul.
“Spark?!” I yelped as he turned to us.
“You two alright?” He asked as he began to walk past us, heading for Leem as he recovered and began to rush back towards us.
“What are you doing here?!” I asked as he chuckled.
“Your mother,” he said simply as he dashed forward, engaging with Leem. The stallion was somehow able to dodge every attack Leem threw at him, returning the favor as he slammed his hooves into Leem’s large body. It wouldn’t stop him, but damn was it slowing him down.
“Wait…” I muttered as I saw two people walk into the edge of my Virtue Sight. “My parents are here?!”
“I’m fucking kicking your little ass after this is all over,” my mother yelled, her parenting side taking over as she stomped right over to us, while my mom just trailed behind her.
As they neared, I smiled awkwardly. “Hey guys…”
“Is that Domitor?!” my mother growled as she finally got right up to us. “Why is he-” she stopped, as I could see she was looking right at my face. “Why are you wearing a blindfold?!”
“So funny story,” I said sheepishly, “Um… uh…”
She didn’t wait for my answer as she stepped up and pushed the blindfold up. Both of them let out a gasp as soon as they saw the wounds where my eyes used to be.
“What the hell happened, Shayla?!” my mother roared, grabbing my shoulder as she pulled me down to all fours.
I was at a loss here, as I had not expected to see my parents. Let alone having to explain myself to them.
“This is not a good time, we should wait till-” Domitor tried to interject, not knowing how my mother operates.
“You, take ten steps back, now,” my mother ordered, locking her eye with him. He didn’t listen, much to her annoyance. “I do not know how you lost your damn eyes, Shayla. But you are a fucking-”
“Hey!’ Domitor growled, coming to my defense.
Poor guy…
“She lost them trying to help a friend,” he stated, squaring up with my mother as Spark and Leem battled it out behind us.
My mother sized him up, then looked at me, “you do know that he is the son of Lorenzo, correct?”
“Yes, mother,” I muttered, “you’re late to the party on that one…”
“Now, step back, Domitor,” she said firmly.
“Scamp, this can wait,” my mom said, trying to get my mother to back off.
But my mother is stubborn as fuck as she stood up on two legs and stepped up to Domitor, getting face to face with him. “I do not know your end game here, kid. But if you cross my daughter,” she grabbed his shirt and pulled him in close, “I will end you.”
“Get back, mother,” I growled as I pushed them apart, getting right up between them as I put my face right in front of hers. “I’m only alive because of him, so you will BACK OFF!”
Her soul flared angrily as we stared each other down.
“Scamp,” my mom warned, causing my mother to take a step back.
“Fine, but he’s up to something, I can feel it in my gut. And my gut,” she said coldly, eyeing him now, “is never wrong.”
“Guys!” Spark called out as he clocked Leem in the jaw, “this conversation can happen at any other time!”
I took a step back and stood next to Domitor, much to my mother’s displeasure.
“Let’s go,” she said sternly as she turned to leave.
“What about Spark?” I asked as Spark almost casually just dodged everything Leem threw at him.
“Talio, can you help him?” I heard my mother ask, confusing me.
“To help would be to lessen his experience,” a voice said, clearly Talio as he had a very distinctive voice. He sounded to be not that far from me, at least a few feet. But I couldn’t see him!
My Virtue Sight was picking up no one else outside of the four of us, and the two fighting. What the fuck does this mean?
“Spark will catch up with us, he’ll be okay on his own till then,” my mother said as she began to walk away. “Now move.”
“Shayla, I think I have an idea of how to handle Leem,” the Watcher suddenly said, causing me to stay right where I was.
‘Go on,’ I said as my mother turned to look at me, annoyance clear on her face.
“Listen carefully, I will explain this so a toddler could understand it,” he said a bit harshly as he began to explain his idea to me.
As he spoke my mouth slowly began to drop open.
‘But… that is so… simple!’
“Sometimes the simplest solution is the least obvious one,” he replied, “now do it.”
“Ah geez,” I said aloud as I turned to the two fighting. “This is going to suck…”