On The Verge

"Where's Big Brother Skelly?" asked a young voice.

The owner of the voice was unmistakably Arthur. He walked next to Lloyd into the oasis. Lloyd's right hand, on the other hand, followed slowly right behind the two. Gort was bothered that a random urchin got to walk next to such a revered man while he had to follow behind.

"We'll see him soon, child, don't you worry."

Even though Lloyd still kept his tranquil exterior, he was gushing on the inside. He was close, so very close. Close to achieving what he had dreamt about for so long.

As the trio entered the oasis in a brazen manner, what awaited them on the other side was truly a frightening scene. There were senior and younger forest spirits lined on both sides, and there were even some undead creatures raised by Kai himself standing guard.

"It seems he learnt how to control his summons better," Lloyd whispered a snarky comment with a slight grin etched on his face.

As this was Gort's first time seeing Arthur in such circumstances, he was, of course, baffled by his nonchalance at all these bloodthirsty beasts. Considering the fact that he had barely survived the clutches of one of these younger spirits a short while ago, it was awfully uncharacteristic of an 8-year-old.

Walking on the path laid out for them, Lloyd took calm strides as if walking in his own garden and saw Kai and the Skinwalkers at the end of it. The Skinwalkers acted formal enough for such a meeting, including Bear who still had burnt clothing from Lloyd's attacks earlier.

Kai, however, sat on a rock, sulking. His mood was only improved slightly when he saw Arthur enter the oasis. It was understandable why Kai was so sullen considering his circumstances, but he had at least finally confirmed Arthur was indeed alive.

Lloyd had brought the child with the hopes that he had some value for the witches, as well as for Kai if need be. He was right. He could tell that behind their masks, their gazes were fixated on the child.

"Successor…" Bear growled as usual under his mask. Just seeing the child, he was also able to confirm Crow's thoughts on the matter. The child was indeed part of the harmonious nature of the Forest of the Blessed.

Such a vessel was hard to find even if you searched millions, yet one had stumbled into their forest. Bear then understood why Crow had some sympathy against that useless skeleton. To bring such a gift right to their door, it was worth taking on a higher-ranked demon.

The three Skinwalkers and Kai on one side and Lloyd, Gort and Arthur on the other, both sides came face to face. A tense silence ensued as Lloyd didn't have good relations with the witches to start with.

Crow took a step forward and gestured into her tent for Lloyd and the others to follow. The tension in the air was almost tangible, until Arthur whispered to Kai.

"Why is the violent lady not talking?"

"Sssh, kid, shut up."

Arthur frowned and tried to softly punch Kai as a show of affection and frustration. But when Deer saw this and remembered the poison currently coating Kai's bones, he acted with immense speed, punching Kai back a few steps.

Gort activated a rapid enchantment of sorts that covered his body in response and stood in front of his liege against this sudden act of aggression.

"What the hell is this?" he roared. His yowl was already more powerful than all the forest spirits combined. He could likely subdue one simply with his presence if they met in the wild.

"Stand down, Gort," said Lloyd and pointed to Deer's fist. "Look."

Even though the Skinwalkers had a powerful healing factor, Deer's skin had already started rotting. He started healing right away, but the damage was visible. This damage was due to Kai's Hunger ability's integration of the poison into his vessel.

"I was going to dodge him! You bastard!" Kai yelled as if in pain. He hadn't taken too much damage, nor was he actually in pain, but he was already in a bad mood and didn't care for being pushed around still. He considered giving in to the rage building up inside of him, but it felt wrong to do so.

"I am faster than a child, at least!" he added.

At the entrance to the oasis, Kai's zombies were getting visibly irritated. Some of the younger forest spirits had taken a step back.

Lloyd had a satisfied smile on his face. The witches had barely sympathy towards Kai and cared a lot about the child. Kai's value dipped significantly due to Deer's display, too. The City Lord was a cold and calculating man, both Crow and Lloyd were on guard against one another's mannerisms throughout this small trip to the tent.

Gort also grinned, seeing Kai in that state. Although he was impressed with what kind of damage just touching Kai's bare bones could do, he also still enjoyed seeing him get his arse handed over to him.

"Let's proceed," Lloyd added amicably and entered the tent first, overtaking the witches. Even his smallest actions had a deeper meaning to them, he acted as the dominant side in the witches' own home.

There was barely anything in the tent, and no furniture other than a table for Crow to put some materials for potions and such on.

"This is unacceptable," Lloyd added and pulled out a large table and some two chairs seemingly out of nowhere.

The witches, however, had all sensed the magical fluctuations coming from a ring on Lloyd's index finger. They all realised it was one of those rings that could store physical items inside a demi-plane. It was a luxury item in the underground as these items could only be made above the ground.

The City Lord sat on the more extravagant chair and shot a look at Crow. The meaning was obvious. She turned to Kai, "Why don't you take Arthur and talk with him? We have things to discuss here."

"Of course," Kai replied. How could he even talk back? He had barely any worth here.

Feeling important for a while due to the poisonous words coming out of the City Lord's mouth had turned him nauseous at this point. He wouldn't believe him anymore. He felt that he was barely smarter than Arthur who was not aware of the seriousness of the circumstances.

At the entrance of the oasis, Kai's zombies had started acting unpredictably and lashed out at anything that came close. But they didn't attack if no one got close.