Chapter 40 - Avidita

The surroundings sort of blended in, because of the pace I was rushing forth in. I couldn't see, I couldn't think. All I knew at the moment, is how much I wanted to beat up that bastard.

I shouldn't have let them fight. I should've been the one to fight him. This was my fight, not theirs, and I let them get beaten up because of me. This all was my fault, and I should be the one to fix it.

I raised my arm, covering it in my Binders, ready for the incoming punch at any point. I felt the tentacles slowly creep up my arm, eventually reaching my shoulders. This was slightly making me uneasy, but this wasn't the time to be meaninglessly worried.

At some point, even without knowing what I was doing, I felt a face morph around my fist, and eventually leaving it, to get to know the wall better. Did I manage to hit him? Was this the end of the fight, or did he let me do it?

'Nyeehehee! Let me handle this, will ya?' the familiar voice of Los started to echo in my head. I knew I shouldn't trust him, I had my bad feelings about this, but I couldn't control myself.

'Go for it,' I thought, and everything went black.

——

While Dan was dozing off, his body was still in the middle of the fight, and it started moving in ways, that were previously unthinkable for him. As Los took control of his body, he started laughing maniacally.

"Nyeehehee! Finally!" was the first thing he said. Everyone looked at him, and they didn't know what was going on.

By this time, Baulder has gathered Francis and Meda, and put them down for the medbots to treat. They were lying on the ground, just a few feet behind Dan-Los, in near critical condition. With one hit, LaCroix managed to take out two of their best fighters. Did Los stand a chance in Dan's body, against someone that strong?

"I sense a different person, 'o are you?" LaCroix finally asked, "You're not Dan Atys, are you?"

"Dan Atys, not-Dan Atys. What does it matter? Nyeehehee! Call me Los, will ya?" he replied, in a double echoey voice, using both his own, and Dan's.

"I see, Monsieur Los, I take it you're the [Power] within Dan? Sin of Greed. Temptation," he started, "Tantalos. Greek Go-"

An emergence of tentacles punched him in the face, making him fly back quite a few feet, this time leaving a proper dent on the wall. The tentacles themselves behaved in a weird way, sort of disappearing, then reappearing just before their target.

"I don't like that name, so don't call me that, okay?" he said in an uncharacteristically deep and serious voice. No traces of laughter, no 'Nyeehehee', nothing. Just a plain old sentence.

LaCroix started to get up, rubbing his cheek, as if it hurt him. In reality, that much didn't really get to him - he was used to worse damage. Once he actually was standing on his feet, he proceeded to clean his clothes of all possible dust marks, and pieces of rubble.

"That almost 'urt. Do you want me to go all out?" he grinned at his opponent. Judging from his facial expression, he was actually enjoying this situation, "It's just a shame, that Dan needs you, to fight 'is battles."

"He's not the strongest, y'know," Tantalos laughed, "He's just a crybaby. Nothing more."

After that sentence, Tantalos started to hit his own head for some reason, like if he wanted to get rid of an idea, a constant bugging feeling.

——

Darkness. Is what I'd want to describe this situation as. It wasn't quite darkness, nor light. It was just something in between. A feeling no one really knows, or talks about. I'd say that this feeling was existence.

I was just drifting between thoughts, memories would appear in front of me, like some gigantic cinema canvas. One memory of my childhood popped up somewhere, than on the other side I could see a time when Meda started bullying me. Later on I could see a memory from when I was in highschool, getting hit by my classmates, and then when I was in prison.

But somewhere between them, just from the corner of my eyes, I could see another memory. A memory, that I couldn't quite place into my life. It didn't feel like mine, but saying that doesn't feel right either. It's more like a dream that I once had, that I knew as real, but people told me it was just a dream, and don't think about it too much.

The memory was simple. I saw a tree, with a beautiful apple on it. I reach for the apple, but the tree grows. I look down, and there's water, but as I try to drink, it flows out of my hand. Sometimes a beautiful lady passed by, and as I was calling out to her, my voice wouldn't come out.

It was making me crazy. Like the one who was in the memory, and the current me as well. It felt like bullying. It felt the same way, as any time I was hit, unable to do anything to retaliate. Just being powerless. And with each moment, a strong need would come, a need that would drive me along, further.

I suddenly started hearing my voice, mixing in with Los', and along them, I could hear another voice. Who was that? A voice, that I had strong feelings about. Someone, that I hated? Loved? Something like that. I couldn't tell. Well not straight away.

After a few seconds of hearing it, I started to clutch my fist, and I wanted to hit someone, or something. I gathered myself, and started to shout. Nothing legible, just shout. Straight up primal roaring, howling and yelling. I had enough of this place, I wanted to get out.

Then I heard Los - Tantalos? - talking about me. Saying that I'm weak, that I'm nothing. I couldn't take that. I needed to get out, and tell him. I was running forward, upward, downward, and even backward. I didn't know where I was going towards, I just knew that I will reach him, and I will punch him, until he's no longer conscious.

After a few minutes, or hours, maybe days worth of running later, I finally started to see him. He was there, standing right in front of me all along. I leaped forth, and hit him in the back of the head. I could finally leave this place.

——

I somehow found myself back in my body, slightly disoriented, and dizzy. I didn't exactly know what was going on, or where I was, but I was finally free, I think? What was I free from again? What was actually going on?

I looked around, and tried to evaluate my situation. Behind me, Meda and Francis seemed to be doing just alright. My memories of the situation were slowly ticking back, and so I quickly turned around, looking straight at LaCroix, promptly pummeled into the wall, just across the room, next to the elevator.

"Sorry 'bout that," I started, "I was sort of out of it. What've I missed?"

As my opponent was slowly standing up from his latest hit, he spat out just a little bit of blood, but other than that, he seemed just fine. I felt kinda bad about it, like I wasn't the one who did it. I should've been.

"Don't… Don't worry about it," he replied, "Nothing happened."

If he looked at it like that, then I guess nothing did. But if this is all Los could do, than what good will I do? Can I even beat him? Is that like possible?

I clenched my fist once again, and threw away all my common sense. This wasn't about whether or not I can.

I had to.

I just had to beat him no matter what.

With that in mind, I once again wrapped my arms in the tentacles of [Greed Binder]. And this time, I let them crawl up. This wasn't the first time I was doing this, but it was still scary. I had some time to practice this on the Island, but it was just an idea in my head, and I only got up to this point before. If I'm about to let it do it's job, I might lose myself again, or worse, I might even die, and hurt everyone in the process.

Did I even have the time to think about that? Of course not. I have to focus, and let it take me all in, and the problems come after that!

My tentacles started to crawl all around my body, my neck, my back, my face, and then they started to go down slowly, and encompass my entire body eventually. With some designing after, I looked like a horned tentacled devil, with a damn gun.

"[Avidita]"