Boss Ringo
"Boss Ringo, we have scouts continuing their search for the rest of cargo," Naga reported, "we did observe a giant sand dome constructed east of the point of contact. The structure was hot to the touch, almost as if it were a giant oven—that being said, there still hasn't been any word from either
Dagon or Belinda."
My scales began to itch, I'm about due for a shedding, I thought; in times like this, I'd prefer to shed my coat, it allows me to have
a new perspective on my given situation. However, I wasn't allotted that opportunity for this case, "Those two were mere pions, focus all efforts in finding the rest of the empress' family; and Naga?"
"Y-yes, Boss Ringo," my subordinate answered with a shaky tone.
I glared deep into his eyes before demanding, "This better be the last bit of bad news I get today—"
"—BOSS RINGO!!" Diamond burst into the room completely unannounced, "Several guards have reportedly vanished in thin air around the base!"
What in the Lady's name is going on? Is the madness the Steadfast anticipated? Something isn't right, my thoughts began fooling my head, and just when I thought it couldn't get worse…
"—That's not all," she continued, "it would appear that imp and the two hostages you procured have also escaped through a tunnel found in the cell!"
My eyes widened as I let out a deranged and maniacally laugh, "all this! Right before that little bitch Akinyori shows her snobbish little
face!! Fuck it! I'll find the little fucker and the two broads, I'll kill'em if I have to! I ain't finna let this end like this—FUCK IT!"
My subordinates stood at attention, "Figure out what the commotion is with the base, and get it handled; I'll take care of our pest
problem."
This brat has been more trouble than what I'd asked for, and now he's fucking up my payout!Snuffing out this mute pain in my ass will bring me the utmost pleasure, and once I'm done with him, I'll have my way with that empress and her attendant! Yes, yes, yes!!!
"I'll be back before Inquistor Akinyori arrives," I remarked before leaving, "and I expect this vanishing problem to be handled!" I made my exit, started my search; which led me directly to a tunnel that was in Diamond's report.
"They couldn't have gotten too far," I whispered, "if I were a mute brat, which direction would I go in? Nah, he wouldn't squat about the outside; which means I need to change my mindset to that of the empress—THE CARRIAGE!"
It was a gamble, but I was banking on the idea that the empress would go see if her kids were still there. Little did she know that the carriage had been completely ransacked and there wasn't a single trace of even
a wild animal in the thing, let alone a group of children. I just may have saved my promotion and payout! I thought with malicious glee. Especially after I received that hainted machete from the Steadfast, my cache reserves have more than doubled!
Iniko Wyllt
I wasn't sure who these people were, but the warmth I felt whenever this woman embraced me, I felt like I was finally at peace. She'd given me the name, Iniko, I felt it
etch into the very being of my soul. For the first time, in a long time, I felt a sense of wholeness.
"Little one, Iniko," the lady that named me spoke, "do you know where we are? Is there a way we can escape this place?" It was risky, but I had been working on a way of
escaping; since my last attempt, I'd taken measures to keep my new plan a secret. I walked near my hanging cot and lifted it to reveal a group of loose bricks that lead to a tunnel.
"I've been trying to keep this secret from the guards," I began, "but I've been working on this tunnel for a few months now and I doubt I'd get the chance to use it outside of now." The tunnel was small, really only big enough for a child like me, but this was the only thing that I could do to repay her kindness. "We should head out now, if Boss Ringo finds out I can talk, he'll likely turn me into one of his
minions."
"That's just aweful," the lady who named me gasped, "well, as your new mother, I can't let
that happen, now can I?"
This lady… she called herself, my mother,
I thought. I didn't know what it was like to have a mother, but what I currently felt was a sense of belonging. "Yeah, you're right, Mother," tears of joy and admiration rolling down my face.
The three of us squeezed through my escape tunnel until we saw the light of the outside forest. The base looked like it had been attacked, what was even more odd,
there wasn't a single body left anywhere, neither lizardman or their enemies were
at all present.
Mother motioned us to follow her away from the base, she said her carriage was nearby
and that we should be safe there; she seemed especially worried about the
status of her other children.
"Why aren't you a crafty little imp," Boss Ringo's voice grated, "here I thought you were completely useless, seems like I was wrong about you!"
This isn't good, if he catches us, there's no telling what he'll do to us, I worried.
"You think you can take both of us on?" Mother probed, "Rather brazen of you to assume you have enough Embara to stand with the likes of Rubella, let alone myself; but I do invite you to test your might!"
She lifted her hand began to gather a mystical transparent light as she wrote something in the air, "You're obviously strong, but it's not a natural strength, Aspect of Songs: Silk Songtress Signature: Haint Eater!"
I wasn't sure what was going on, I could hardly even believe my eyes were witnessing such wonder. The light morphed from its initial translucent glow into a deep purple
huegh that then formed into a giant maw that snapped at Boss Ringo.
The boss quickly tried to dodge the attack, but missed just short and the right side fo the
lizardmen seemed to be consumed, yet he looked completely unharmed. As he regained his focus, he looked to be visibly more fatigued than earlier.
"What—what did you do to me?!" Boss Ringo questioned.
"My Haint Eater is a sub-signature that removes any haints placed on an individual;
colored me surprise that you went and used one to give yourself a boost in power. You must have had to pay up something pretty valuable for a Haint buff."
Haints, buffs, signatures? What are they talking about? Was leaving the cell, really the right thing to do?
"I'll admit, you had me with that, but I've got way more in my bag than just a Haint!" Boss
Ringo screeched. "Aspect of Terra: Dust Signature: Scaling Winds!" A gust of dirt and wind flew onto the battlefield, completely blanketing the area; it was difficult to see in front of me, which meant that same was true for Mother and the other lady.
As the dust began to settle, I could faintly make out the outline of Mother, I wanted
nothing more than to embrace her once more and to leave this place. However, the
sight in front of me was too horrendous to bare, Boss Ringo, the leader of the lizardmen, had snuck up on Mother, from behind and pierced her through the stomach. I didn't know what to do, all I could do was stand there, trembling at scene.
Myrlin Samael Wyllt
"It seems you all have progressed beyond my teachings," Jade began. "Meliodas and Monspeed, your attributes in wind and fire, respectively, have reached that of a C-Ranked adventurer; Minerva and Myrlin, I'd say that you're both around mid B-Rank."
I looked around at my siblings, albeit they were excited, I couldn't help but notice the
looks of worry that painted their faces. I couldn't blame them, to be honest, I felt the same way. I felt like, deep down, I was responsible for this somehow; I knew it weren't the case, but still, I couldn't help but think, am I to blame for this?
"Too bad we didn't get any information from those lizardmen," Mini huffed, "it would've made finding their hideout a bunch easier." Yet again, I found myself agreeing with
my sister; it had been an oversight on my part, thinking I'd out-smarted our
opponents.
"I think I can help with that," Mel stepped forward and raised his hand. "Mama's signature leaves a faint melody after she uses it; if she used it, we'll be able to follow her trail." His words sounded calculated and strategic, and to add the cherry on top, he was right. Once we found our way back to the abandoned carraiage, there had been traces of Mama's signature scattered throughout the area.
"Looks like she used it in self-defense," I murmured, looking for any clue that would point us in the direction of our mother. The melody that softly played was a gentle
piano sonata; if I had to describe the tune, it was reminescent of a heartbeat, a heartbeat guiding us in the direction we need to look. "The melody is getting stronger southeast of this location," I directed.
The rest of my siblings and Jade each huddled up to enter my chamber a third time—I was only working with three minutes worth of Temporal Stasis. Thankfully, my time practicing with Jade and my brothers and sister, I figured out how to further breakup my time and usage of the ablilty. Considering I now have a five minute overall limit, that would mean I could use the power five times, each for a minute. I've further
broke that down and now can hold my Chamber for a controlled five seconds,
which is about a day and a half within the Chamber.
Once we transitioned back into the frozen world, we followed the still playing tune. It was a beautifully haunting melody, one that reminded me of a tragedy that united a group of people, but beautiful nonetheless. The melody would eventually lead us to an
armory, and judging by the group of five armed lizardmen guarding the door, I'd
say that we found their hideout.
The lot of us stayed quiet and hidden within the foliage of the forest, "I think we should do
an all out ambush, give them a taste of their own medicine," I sneered. I had to be candid, I wanted nothing more than to lay waste to these vile pieces of trash.
"Unless you have a death-wish, I'd advise against such actions," Jade lectured. "Don't get ahead of yourselves, there's at least sixty men in that base alone; our main priority is to sneak in and retrieve the Mistress and Big Sis Ruby."
Feeling a bit jaded, I sucked my teeth before muttering, "not if I can take all them with us
in my Chamber and leave them there to rot—."
"—What was that?" Jade snapped, "you couldn't possible have the ability to send an entire base at once."
I couldn't blame her doubting my skills, but I definitely took a some damage to my pride and ego. "Aight'nie, watch out," I smirked before I snuck up on the card playing guards
from behind. They were unassuming of course, which made pulling them into my
Chamber a cake walk. I stayed low to the ground and lightly tugged on the first guard's hood.
Considering I was already within the Chamber, whenever I brought the first guard in, it appeared like he'd "no-clipped" out of existence.
"What!?! What the hell is going on," the guard yelled, "Guys! Why the hell aren't you guys saying nothing— augh! AUGH!!" In that exact moment, the guard I'd brought in
began to choke; this was the ability Jade doubted, and I was angry enough to
bring this entire base to its ruin.
"See Jade!" I yelled out, "anyone I deem a threat or my enemy will rot within this Chamber; it's called Toxmosphere!" I met back up with the rest of the group, who looked both impressed and disturbed, I mean, could you blame them?
"How many more times can you use your signature MyrMyr?" Minerva furrowed her brow, "I don't want you to push yourself."
I shrugged it off, "I've still got thirty-four more activations left in me; our main priority is getting Mama and Rubella out safely, taking these lizardmen out is necessary, and we're going to do so by taking them out in the Chamber."
The plan was a simple one, the only issue was figuring out how to minimize the amount of times I activate Temporal Stasis. The solution to that problem was simple, but
execution was more of a practicing theory.
"So, how are you planning on not burning out your signature?" Monspeed asked, "if you asked my opinion, I'd say you'll be tapping out before we cleared half of the base." My
brother's suspicions weren't were without reason, after all, he and the rest of them only now learned about my abilities.
"Let's wrap up the rest of these guards and I'll demonstate," I quickly replied while simultaneously pulling in two more guards for the rest of my siblings to dispose of.
Upon re-entry into the Chamber, Minerva quickly erected a shadowy-spiked pillar beneath one of the guards, whilst Monspeed and Meliodas ignited an explosion where the
other once stood. The aftermath from the attacks left two corpses in their stead; honestly, it was a bit much for a bunch of kids to lay witness to, and once the last of the guards were disposed of, I demonstrated the theory I had.
Usually, whenever I transition into the frozen world, what or whoever I touch also gets
transported as well; however, I'd never had the opportunity to, let's say, intinially bring in an entire structure. In a case like this, I hypothesize that everyone and everything would also be transported as well, and it was just my luck that my little theory turned out to be correct. One by one, each of our lizardmen foes fell to the hands mine and my siblings—before we knew it, majority of the captors had been completely slain.
At this point, I only had about four more Temporal Stasis activations left, using most of what I had left to help free and extort some elven captees we found in the bases dungeon. There, one of the freed elves approached my sister, she seemed to be very grateful for her rescue; the young girl made a crescent shape with her right
hand and wiped the corners of her eyes before taking two fingers motioning upward from her forhead while saying, "May these words reach you, Wipe Your Tears of Despair and Grow Your Horns of Salvation!"
"Mini, did you find them?" I asked my sister.
"No, all the cells are empty," she replied.
I only had four more times we could go back into the Chamber, and I needed to use them
stategically, "let's look outside the base, I don't think there's much else left here to search."
Once we were outside and out of the Chamber, I noticed Minerva dazing off for a bit, "I think, they went that way…" Without question, the rest of us quickly made our
way towards the direction Minerva pointed, and it hadn't dawned on me, but we were headed back in the same direction as the carriage.
By the time we made it back to the carriage, the sight before me caused me to snap. As we approached it, there was a thick layer of dust obscuring my view; using my Sand
Control, I cleared the atmosphere to reveal the leader of the Lizardmenstabbing my mother from behind. The man's face was twisted with evil as he further drove his blade in her abdomen, as if he were taking pleasure in it.
"MAMA!" Minerva screamed and raced over to our mother. There was a bald boy trembling at the scene, I looked over to Jade and Rubella and they understood exactly what I wanted. Take the rest of my siblings and go hide, is more or less what my face said.
I was feeling a rage that I'd never felt before, and as my anger swelled, I could hear a song
from my past life, it was one that I'd been quite fond of. There was this metal band from the Igbo tribe in West Africa, Arkon Asrafokor. The song in question, was one that was fitting for my current state of emotion; it was called Angry God of Eearth, oh how cheeky.
The lizardman looked around, confused, "Where's that music coming from? It couldn't be the Songtress, that should've been a fatal blow—!"
"—Stasis," I whispered while he was distracted, "Dash!" To the unaware, it would
appear that I'd teleported in front of him; however, I merely stopped time and moved within the Chamber to my destination.
As I approached the Lizardman, our gaze met, and it was clear that both of were consumed with bloodlust, and only one of us was going to come out of this ordeal alive. I had one more Temporal Stasis activation left, and I fully intended on using it to end this. "Chamber." I placed a hand on the man's chest and the two of us vanished into the frozen world.
Boss Ringo
"Where the hell are we?!?" I screamed, I couldn't really see my surroundings, but I still
had enhanced sense of smell. Only problem with that was there had been an unholy stench that filled the space. It was rancid and unimagibally overwhelming. What the hell is going on here?!
"You know, where I'm from," a young boy's voice echoed around me, "we have these stories where people would find themselves in another world. These types of stories are
most popular in a country called Japan, and they're called 'Isekai;' directly translating to 'Another World'."
What the hell is this kid babbling on about—? I questioned, if I had the ability to speak, I would've asked, but the air in this space, it stabbed my lungs with each breath I took.
"—Usually, the protagonists of these stories would find themselves in a situation early on in the story that would shape the monster that they will become," the boy continued his monologue. "I'd suspected this venture to Avalon would be that for me and my sister; but I'm a bit greed for my siblings own good. They have enough blood on their hands, and I'm such a great and loving big brother, that
I took it upon myself to shoulder the burden of ending you."
"Ugh—, Ugh—, Ugh—," I croaked as I began to cough blood, what the hell is happening?! Who is this kid?! What the hell is an Isekai and why is this brat monologuing?!?! The boy approached me and knelt down, staring me in the face; there was no mistaking
it, this was in fact a child, but there was murderous fire behind his eyes. It was a similar look that Akinyori had; this kid ain't normal, he's a fucking monster!!
I tried to crawl away from him, and I knew that the state that I was currently in, I looked utterly pathetic, more helpless than a vorpal rat; the irony.
"Where do you think you're going," the boy loomed over me, I could feel his Embara digging at my soul. "I'm not quite done with you yet." I looked behind me and the boys
eyes pierce what little confidence I may have had left. He walked over and picked up my blade, before examining it, "I'm feeling a bit on the sadistic side; how's we say I leave you with a bunch of near fatal wounds and leave you in my Chamber until you wither away?"
He can't be serious, he expects me to believe that he'd just leave me half dead? If he did that, he'd just be leaving himself wide open! All I'd have to do is to adapt to the air in this weird ass place, and it'll be easy pickings—.
"—I know what you're thinking," it was almost as if the boy anticipated my thoughts, "'I'll just wait it out and learn to adapt to the space's atmosphere,' is more or less what you're thinking, right?" He giggled as he slowly punctured my organs, just barely leaving me within an inch of my life.
It was in that moment that I fully realized that I'd lost, "Yeah, I know I'm right. Well, fat chance of that ever happening, considering the only way in or out of this place is me, and taking into account that I see you as my enemy; I'd say you have about five more minutes of "breathable" air left, and I'm assuming you know what comes after that. So, I'll leave you, and with these final moments of your life, you are to reflect on the path that led you to this point, for I am you
Reaper."
The boy instantly vanished and I was left in this space, alone. As the seconds passed by
and I grew ever weaker, my vision began to adjust and to my surprise, we hadn't left the carriage sight. What's more, the empress and the rest of her kin were also still there, but they were moving incredibly slowly. None of this makes sense, but it was my new reality.
I'd spent my life as a bandit and dog for the Steadfast, and in that time, I filled it with dirty
kidnapping jobs, assassinations, and blackmail; the furthest thing from a righteous life. What makes this more insufferable, was that not one, but two children managed to strike the same type of fear in me.
As I lie here, seconds away from fading, my mind kept reminding of that boy and his strange story, perhaps, he'll be the one that fixes this fucked up lie we call peace.