Chapter 38: Cat, Mouse, and Owner – Part 2

Amelia coughed blood, a huge portion of her HP bar was taken, and her weapons disappeared like an extinguished fire.

It was a shadow spike that erupted from the ground!

Before Amelia could fall on her back, Alan’s body moved on its own and caught her. A couple of seconds later, he felt a warm liquid staining his hands.

T-This isn’t real…

The memory of Ashley / Isabella II agonizing in a pool of her own blood kicked in.

This is NOT REAL.

And like an unwelcome guest, dozens of security videos from the Santa María provided by Isabella I burst into his head.

This is not real… This blood isn’t real… Death means nothing here…

His mind would not let him forget. It stubbornly reminded him of graphic, violent scenes: his old coworkers getting shot by laser pistols, his superiors getting stabbed by improvised lances made of iron tubes and pieces of hard plastic. Some of the technicians were choked to death by a legion of white humanoid figures. Some were electrocuted.

THIS IS NOT REAL, THIS IS NOT REAL, THIS IS NOT REAL!

The ones working in the hangar were smashed by the 60-feet mechas locked there. A couple in particular, who were resting in their chambers, died after the room’s system drained all the oxygen inside and locked them up. A woman was dragged down by her hair out of her hiding spot, before getting her head crushed by a white, metallic foot.

“This is just a well-constructed illusion…”

“G-Ghost?” Amelia faintly called, frowning. “Why are you crying?”

Alan’s head slowly turned to look at her, causing a tear to fall on her cheek. “I-I…”

“You’re such a weirdo…” she muttered before her HP dropped to zero and her face lost color.

The girl in black clapped immediately. “At last! Dammit, Alan, this chase was super tiring, but I’d admit it was kinda fun! I suppose you’d finally come with me without making another fuss, right?”

Alan closed his eyes while still holding Amelia’s body. “You… think… killing is… funny?”

“Stop with that somber attitude, Alan. She’s fine! She’ll respawn in 24 hours. What’s the big deal? All the damage I did to this city and its inhabitants will reverse back with time. Isn’t that boring?”

“We inherited this peace…”

“That again?” the girl intoned, annoyed. “You said something like that an hour ago. So what?”

“I won’t let you…” Alan said through clenched teeth, and when he opened his eyes to glare at her, the color of his irises turned electric gold.

“Huh?” The girl tilted her head to her right. “Are you awake–?” She suddenly jerked her head, looking to her side. “You have to be kidding me…”

Ten city blocks from there, the two-headed dragon, Draquinox, self-destructed. Although they were not in the center of the nuclear blast, the shockwave tore down the café instantly, and the explosion’s blinding light forced the girl’s enormous shadow surrounding the building to disappear.

A minute later, Alan coughed, and it sounded muffled.

Am I still alive? But… how?

He tried to stand, but his head bumped into something sturdy and metallic. Unable to see anything, he reached out his hands, finding a metallic structure. I’m inside some sort of one-person-sized dome. Wait, don’t tell me that…

Having fulfilled its purpose, the dome quickly disintegrated, letting light get through and revealing Amelia’s body still lying on the ground close to Alan. Her long hair hid her face.

“Did you do this?” he asked quietly, biting his lower lip. “Your body hasn’t vanished yet, so I’ll assume I can still save you. I’ll take you to a healer, okay?”

Before he could lean down to take her in his arms, he heard someone else coughing.

“That was—cough—close—cough—Talk about friendly fire…” the enemy muttered while getting rid of her ripped hooded jacket.

After what seemed like an entire day, Alan finally met his pursuer. A young woman with pale skin and hair as white as the moon, who grinned ear to ear once she locked eyes with him.

Someone I’ve never met, definitely, Alan thought and quickly scanned the surroundings. The black blob or something similar to a living shadow was nowhere to be found. Only a leveled terrain full of debris and desolation. Wait, I sense something nearby. No… Not something. Someone…

“There’s nowhere to run or hide, Little Mouse,” the girl said, strolling towards him. “It’s over.”

“You said I wasn’t your main target, but I think you’re lying,” Alan said, glaring at her. “What do you want from me?”

“The only thing I’d want from someone as insignificant as you,” she said, stopping three steps away from him. “Information. That’s your only value.”

“Insignificant?” he sneered. “I don’t think so. You could have ambushed me and read my mind with that creepy ‘Dreammare’ spell from the start, but you opted to talk with me. You WANTED me to see what you did to this city.” Alan slowly rose and smirked, which made the girl narrow her eyes. “Even if you only did it to mess with my head, you value my opinion regardless. As if you see me as your equal…”

The girl snickered, before full-on laughing. “What are you talking about?!” she began speaking in a childish tone. “Are you blind or something? Look at what I did to this place, and I was just messing around! Imagine if I was serious about destroying this entire city. And you?! You’re a measly crappy level five!”

“I’m not talking about power,” Alan said, taking one step forward. “Why bother meeting me here, then? It’s almost as if you see me as a threat.”

The girl’s eyes lost their shine. “So, you know.”

“That’s damn right. And as I was saying…” Alan paused, as his green eyes turned golden again. “I won’t let you ruin this generation’s peace.”

The girl heard someone approaching her, but it was too late. The café’s NPC sucker-punched her in the face. As she fell to the ground, Alan saw a fraction of her HP bar disappear.

“What the hell is wrong with you?! Why are you interfering?!” the white-haired girl cried to the servant.

The NPC said nothing, jumped over her, and began strangling her, all while maintaining a neutral expression on his face.

“The—hell?” she managed to say, before looking in Alan’s direction.

His eyes still glowed goldenly, extremely focused on the action, as if he could not let himself be distracted for a second. The girl then observed the NPC’s eyes, having a similar color and shine.

“Are—you—doing—this?” she asked, turning purple.

“I won’t let you get away with this,” Alan said, while he inadvertently bled from his nose. “Surrender now so I can bring you to the authorities.”

Black stakes sprouted out of the girl’s chest, impaling the NPC. When that did not manage to kill him, the girl’s black leggings liquified and transformed into a serpent with a blade for a head, that automatically targeted the NPC’s neck and beheaded him.

The girl’s face turned red as she violently coughed. “What did—cough—you do?”

“I have no idea…” Alan replied faintly, shutting his eyes, as a sudden dizziness hit him. He fell to his knees, while droplets of blood fell from his nose to the ground.

I ask the same… What did I do? Wait, was I really the one that forced that NPC to…

With narrowed eyes, he looked up, finding the woman standing next to him. Four tentacles were coming out of her shirt and seemingly ripped leggings.

Her silver eyes looked cold and absent. As those of a killer with no remorse. She finally looks annoyed, Alan thought, chuckling. It’s like staring at something inhuman.

Without a threatening remark or a single word, the girl just stretched out her hand to grab his head.

My mission is over before it even started… Isabella, you were wrong about choosing me.

“Don’t touch him,” a voice said behind him. “I’m the only one that can make him suffer.”

“You’re still–!” The white-haired girl tried to finish her sentence, but a burst of fire hit her face.

Was that Amelia?! Before checking the state of his temporary ally, Alan glanced at the enemy’s HP bar, which had barely dropped. That won’t do. I’m glad that Amelia is okay, but she’s surely too weak to finish off the… Eh?

Alan lost his train of thought, witnessing the flame around the enemy’s head transform into something solid. Red, shiny metal. Like the weapons she was wielding and the many shields with which she had protected him today. Is this her power?

In a blink of an eye, the enemy was forced to wear what seemed like a red round helmet.

The unknown girl did not have time to react, dodge, or shout. Unable to see, talk, or even breathe, she desperately tried to get rid of the thing to no avail.

“You should be glad that I didn’t do this to you,” Amelia quietly said in his ear.

Alan reserved his comments while watching the enemy try to cut the helmet with her remote-controlled tentacles, but after a while, she stopped moving.

Just by looking at her contorted body, Alan understood the agony she had gone through.

Whoever that was, her body is disintegrating. This didn’t happen to Amelia’s body, even though I SAW her HP go all the way down. Did she have a card under her sleeve?

Alan glanced in Amelia’s direction. She was giving him her back, observing the result of the dragon’s explosion.

He sighed. This nightmare is over…

No. I correct myself. It’s just getting started.

“Thanks, Amelia.”

“I don’t want your gratitude, I want answers,” she turned to him, arms folded. “What the hell was all this? What are you hiding?”

“Not now,” he said softly, standing up. Once he stood by her side, he could not avert his eyes from the devastation miles in front of them. “Please?”

“Hmph,” she uttered, pouting her lips. “That bitch knows my face, you know. So! I’m kind of involved in this now. Whether you want it or not.”

“I… I’d rather not… Trust me.”

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