Triggered

Mutants are sturdy, so Alfir is taking his time very carefully. It's the preliminary rounds anyway, so he can still win this and play as a nameless extra later on. Alfir expressed his nonchalant worry in his mind as he slowly devastate Zia.

After all, even Alfir needs to vent. He is already at it, so he might as well enjoy it, thus the venting.

Alfir got triggered, and no one likes it when he is triggered... From his past life, and even to this life.

...

Zia felt Alfir's grip and weight moving away.

She carried herself with her arms, crawled like a bug, and begged in her mind for all of this to stop.

"Ay... Fe-r... Keugh!"

She coughed blood.

'I forfeit' she wanted to say, but she can't, so she crawled, she wanted out— outside of this damn arena, away from this monster.

But Alfir doesn't want anything with that. He grabbed Zia by her leg, then swung her to the other side, far away from the edge of the arena. Another crack was formed on the stage.

The audience flinched. It looked more brutal than the choke slam.

"Stand."

Zia stood limply at Alfir's words. She struggled, forced her way to stand, afraid of what Alfir will do to her if she doesn't

"What did you see?" It's the same question. That same damn question again… This time, Zia chose not to answer for the fear of awakening the real monster inside.

"..."

SLAP!

A crisp slap resounded. A drop of tear streaks on Zia's cheeks. The audience felt pity for Zia. It's funny how fickle people are... In the group battle, Zia employed heinous schemes that made the audience yelp and curse.

"What did you see?"

"..."

SLAP! SLAP! SLAP!

Now, the audience is feeling outraged in Zia's stead.

Zia fell to her knees from the impact of the slaps. There was no superhuman force applied to Alfir's strikes, but it hurts. More than being choked.

"Answer."

"Krr... Di-e-fil... I see a devil."

'Sigh, that was unsatisfactory. It looks like I overdid it...'

Alfir's temper got the better of him. He simply wanted to hear more of what Zia saw, but the trauma he inflicted will also do... This will keep her quiet for a long time, a very long time...

'I might as well play the villain. Goodbye mobsekai life... Wait, I can still pursue mob life after this, right? Yeah, I should lose miserably in my next bout...'

Zia's beautiful pink hair was no more. It's filled with gray dust. Alfir dragged her by her hair. She winced from the pain of her injuries, but she stifled her cry. She didn't scream but the outpour of her tears is visually evident of the pain she is enduring.

Alfir stood at the edge of the arena. He pulled Zia's hair until her eyes meet his.

He whispered in a low voice—

"I am not angry really. There are just some things I don't want others to hear. So remember this, when I am in your presence, don't speak a word lest you annoy me... Or else... I will dismember you limb by limb."

Alfir's words invoked Zia's horrible memory inside that mental world. The fear, pain… It's terrible. Not even her childhood trauma can compare.

"You should do as I say lest you worry your prostitute of a mom" Alfir added.

Finally, Zia cried her tears with a downpour of emotions. She screeches, howls, and with a guttural cry, she begged for forgiveness with a demented mind. Alfir dropped her from the stage like you would do with trash.

"Go die in a corner where I cannot see you. Oh, and by the way, I know you... your secrets, fears, and the life you lead. I can torture you whenever and wherever you are... And if I want to find you, I will find you... no matter where you hide, I can reach you..." Alfir said with a malevolent smile, with full sincerity, as what he said are not unfounded deception, but a fraction of the truth of how much can Alfir dictate her life, now and forever.

The audience booed his display of tyranny. But results are results...

"The victor... The victor is Alfir."

Alfir removed himself from the arena with apathetic eyes. He felt the impulse to destroy a while ago not subsiding. He is certain.

"There is something terribly wrong with me. It's not just the mind hive and the weird ego or voices talking into my head..."

He walked out, then continued to do so... Until he found himself in the park, alone and peaceful.

Sigh...

...

(Egos talking inside Alfir's head.)

"And the elected president of our Mind Hive Association is OLD MAN! With a landslide vote of 2!" Infant, the so-called youngest of the egos cheerfully announced.

The crowd booed and complain, but what can they do? A vote is a vote.

"Yes! You lot have to listen to my opinions from now on!" The old man, the same elderly that made contact with Alfir boasted of his accomplishment.

"That's unfair!" What the blonde dude said.

"We should have settled it with arm wrestling!" Mr. Masculine petitioned.

"Or a beauty pageant!" The feminine seductress added.

It was total chaos, the egos are throwing curses and insults at each other. Clearly, their attempt at democracy miserably failed.

"Shut up idiots. This is what happens when you only vote yourself." A certain glasses-wearing Nerd said, but no one is hearing him.

"You also voted yourself, Nerdy! You should have copied my example. Thanks to that, I possessed the sole voting power of who to elect." Infant chided Nerdy clearly content with his vote.

"Are you sure? You voted the fossil, don't you think he's kind of shady?"

"Hmmm… I don't know."

"Truly an innocent kid, you are… I am just saying. I don't trust that fossil in any way at all. Didn't you feel it? There was a disturbance in the mental scape recently, I think the old bastard has a hand in it."

"Don't be like that, nerdy. We are family, right?"

"Sigh… Suit yourself." Nerdy exited the venue of their gathering. From the outside, he could see the ancient castle made of stone. He doesn't know what's in the future for 'existences' like them, but he can only hope for the best.