Chapter 12: Anticlimactic Conclusion

"Now... It's your turn miss." Dweller said with a huge grin on his face.

"!!!"

Terrified and powerless, that's what Josine Clauder is currently feeling at that moment.

Because of that feeling, she could not hold it in anymore.

"Ugh... Disgusting bitch."

Josine's sleeping gown was drenched in her own urine as a puddle of it formed at the bottom.

"Don't you nobles have any dignity?"

Taking a few steps back, Dweller told Josine the rules of his game.

"Remember, heal me and you live, don't heal me... and I'll make sure you become a 2 in 1 combo with ur little guy in there just like his daddy. Got it?"

Seeing Josine nod desperately, Dweller allowed her to speak in case she needed it for the spell.

When Josine could hear her own voice again, she didn't bother to talk like her husband did lest this man stabs her again.

Josine was scared, she wasn't skilled in magic as much as her husband. When she found out that she barely had any talent in magic as a kid, she instantly gave up on it and went through life barely using magic.

Despite having no magic talent as a noblewoman, Herman still chose to marry her.

But because of her younger self's reluctance to learn, she now had to pay the price for it... A very heavy price.

"...I am a Runic caster, I-I need to touch you to heal you."

When Josine explained what she had to do to heal him, Dweller didn't react as bad as she thought he would, he only left a warning.

"I will not spare even your unborn child miss." Hearing Dweller's warning caused Josine to shiver in fear.

Slowly, her quivering hand made its way to Dweller's forehead until it was only a few more inches from his forehead.

4 inches...

2 inches...

1 inch...

0 inches...

What was only a moment felt like an eternity to Josine. The moment the tip of her index finger made contact, Josine began to pray as much as she could in her mind the entire time, she prayed that there was a god out there that would save her from this crazy man.

Whether a god heard her pleas or not, nobody knows.

" [Recovery] "

A green flow of magius poured out of the tip of her finger, into Dweller's forehead.

Compared to Herman's [Holy Nature's Touch], Josine's felt so much weaker.

Dweller didn't believe that a woman from a family of healers felt this weak, he felt like he was being made a joke of.

"Was that it? That can't be it right?"

When Josine heard his words, she immediately understood that Dweller felt how incapable she was and started to beg for her life.

"Please! Please just spare me and my child! Have mercy on my child, please! Oh God please please just spare us, I beg of you!"

She was on the ground, sitting in a puddle of her own piss, not minding it. She clasped her hands together as if she was praying to a god while facing Dweller.

"Jesus Christ! Please that! Please this! If you like saying "Please", then go work at a whore house, you can do a lot of "pleasing" over there."

Josine didn't care about Dweller's insults, she just kept her head down as far as she could and kept begging for her life.

Her voice now losing its strength as her pleads were now as quiet as a somber whisper.

"please... just spare me and my child, I beg of you."

"Oh boohoo!... Beg all you want woman, it doesn't change the fact your family sent some random f*cker to this kid's house only to have him lay his hands all over her."

Dweller pointed to himself and continued to speak.

"How do you think this kid felt as he watched his 6yr old sister get rammed by the fat f*ck that you people sent over!"

"I-I have no part in this! It is my husband's father that controls the family from behind the scenes!"

Hearing her reasons only made Dweller chuckle, When Josine saw this, she understood that this man isn't gonna accept her reasoning.

"Hehe... The moment you married into this man's family was the moment the family's problems became part of yours." Dweller said in a mocking tone as he pointed to Herman's corpse.

"My father has gone mad and is only driven by his desire to wage war against your family, He will kill anyone related to the Clauders even if they were innocent. THAT is your family's punishment for carrying the sin of attacking this kid's sister."

After he finished speaking, both of them remained silent only for a brief moment before Josine spoke.

"Just spare me and my 2 children, please... We'll go far far away and never show our faces to you or your family, please!"

Something from her words got Dweller's attention.

"2 children? So there's more..."

"NO! Please, she is still a child! There is no way that she can heal you!"

Seeing her desperation gave Dweller the feeling of euphoria, her facial expressions, the sounds of her voice, and the disgusting state she was in. All of these put together were like a puzzle fitting in the final piece.

"Alright! Now, shut your f*cking mouth and listen." Dweller spoke in glee.

Josine quickly stopped talking the moment he told her to.

"Tell me, how old is the 2nd kid?"

"...She's just turned 6yrs old."

"Oh? So the same age as me then? Alright, this could work."

' The same... age? This lunatic is just a 6yr old child?! ' Josine couldn't believe that she was being tortured mentally and physically by a 6yr old.

"If your daughter can heal me, I will spare all 3 of you, BUT if she fails... you already know what's gonna happen deary."

Dweller gave Josine one last chance to live.

"So what's it gonna be? Do you want to give up and die just like your worthless husband but spare your other daughter? Or will you struggle until the end and risk your other daughter's life too?"

"...I." Josine's mind was in turmoil. Dweller gave her a chance to survive, but if she took that chance then Dweller would kill Ann as well, and if she didn't she would die, but at least she can guarantee that Ann lives.

But Josine was only human, and every human had the desire to live and will do anything to stay alive.

"...I'll struggle."

' I'm sorry Ann. Your mother just wants to live and keep your sibling safe. '

"Good choice! Now, because of your own selfishness, you have now risked your own daughter's life just to stay alive!"

Dweller's words stabbed deep at Josine's conscience, the guilt of what she has just done began to wrap itself around her heart.

But at that moment...

*knock* *knock*

"Mommy? Daddy? I can't sleep, can I sleep with you tonight?" The voice of a kid came from behind the door.

Dweller was excited by the coincidence while Josine dreaded it.

When Ann finished talking, Dweller whispered Josine an order.

"Come on, let her in to sleep with you miss."

"...Y-yes dear, you can sleep with us tonight." Said Josine as the tears silently fell down her face.

"Yay!" Ann, oblivious to what is on the other side of the door, happily opened the door, but when the opening was wide enough to fit her, she was suddenly pulled in as the door behind her shuts close.

"Ahh! Mommy! What's going on?! Who is this man! Papa help me!" Ann was confused and scared of the situation, she was just pulled right in so she still had to take in everything that just happened.

"Ann! You agreed not to hurt her!" Josine for once brought out anger, an emotion different from her usual fear.

Dweller ignoring the 2 went on to explain to little Ann the situation in his attempt of sounding like a normal kid.

"Hi! My name is... Dweller! And I'm here to play a game with you and your parents!"

Ann was frightened stiff by the small person wearing a scarecrow mask that was also holding onto her shoulders too tight that it hurts.

"Now, your mama asked me to include you in our games! Isn't that fun! Now here is the goal."

"Papa? Mama, why is papa on the ground? Wake up pa--"

In the middle of her desperate cries, Ann's mouth was suddenly covered by Dweller's palm, keeping her from talking.

"Ahhh shush! Again, the goal of the game is to heal me, simple right?"

"I-i want my mommy..."

Seeing that Ann didn't have any desire to play made Dweller go for a more direct method.

He grabbed her by the hair and pulled her towards her dead father.

"Listen, kid, If you DON'T play my game, your mother will just be like your papa here, but if you DO play my game, you can become a hero and save your mother. Sounds good?"

"..."

Ann, who was staying unresponsive, received a gentle slap from Dweller to bring her back.

But even then, Ann remained silent. Inside her mind, she was slowly losing it.

"Sigh... Guess you both lose." As he said that, Dweller conjured 2 screwdrivers, one pointing at Ann's head, the other to Josine's.

When Josine noticed that Dweller was about to give up, she shouted to Ann.

"Ann!"

"!!!" Ann finally responded by turning to look at her mother.

"Ann! Please! Save us, do you remember your magic lessons? Miss Katherine taught you how to use magic, remember?"

Ann nodded in agreement.

"Did she teach you any spells?" Josine hoped that she did.

"No?" Ann was unsure, although she did pay attention in her lessons, she was never the brightest.

"Ugh... Here, give me your hand." Dweller was annoyed so he extended his palm out, gesturing Ann to place her palm on his.

Ann slowly moved her hand near Dweller's because of her fear of him, but seeing how slow she was, Dweller suddenly grabbed her palm to get things started.

Dweller raised their connected hands to her face and gave her instructions. "Remember the feeling and repeat the feeling back to me."

Without waiting for a reply, Dweller thought of healing her which his Runic magic started to do exactly that.

When Dweller's Runic healing flowed through Ann's hand, Ann felt like she was getting better.

Seeing Ann react to it, Dweller moved on to part 2.

"Now just think of healing me as hard as you can while you repeat that feeling."

Ann snaps out from that peaceful and soothing feeling at Dweller's words.

"Ann, do what the scary man says Ann." Josine made sure that Ann didn't retaliate in any way and get them all killed because of it.

"Ok mama..." Ann closed her eyes and tried to remember that feeling.

Soothing...

Peaceful...

Calming...

As she kept thinking of that feeling, her hand that was connected to Dweller's started to glow.

"Oh? I'm feeling something."

Ann's hands slowly kept getting brighter and brighter.

"Come on kid! Let it all out! Heal me!" Dweller could feel the amount of magius coming off her hand right now. Maybe this would be enough to heal John.

Ann hasn't been taught on how to control her flow of magius yet, so when she heard Dweller's words, she simply forced all of the magius she gathered into Dweller's body all at once.

How was Dweller's reaction to this?

*BOOM!*

A bright light followed by a loud explosion, and in the brunt of all that, Dweller was sent flying and crashing into the wall.

*CRASH*

"..."

"...Is he dead?" Josine hoped that maybe that was the case.

But only a few minutes later, Dweller began to move again.

When he stood back up, Dweller's right arm was dislocated. As if it was a normal occurrence, Dweller easily popped his arm back into its correct position and cracked his neck after.

"Congratulations... you win, yay..."

======

When Ann knocked Dweller out, she literally knocked him out of John's body and back into his ghost form, albeit in a painful way.

When Dweller flew towards John, he tapped on his cheek in hopes that maybe something changed.

When he did, John's eyes slowly started to peek open.

<< Goodmorning... Dweller.>> John greets Dweller lethargically.

{ Yep, good morning to you too }

<< Yawnn~~ I'm going back to sleep >>

{ You son of a b*tch I went through all this effort to wake you up and the first thing you're going to do after waking up is going back to sleep?! Wake up! }

<< Zzzz... >>

Dweller was stunned by this kid's behaviour.

======

Back to the Clauder family...

"Congratulations... you win...yay."

"Then we get to live?" Josine asked fearfully as she expects Dweller to change his mind, but surprisingly he didn't.

"Hm? Oh yeah yeah... Now that I've done what I needed to do, I'll be leaving now." Without waiting, Dweller unlocked the window in the room and jumped out of the 2nd floor of the building.

"Ann Come here." Josine beckoned Ann to come near her, and when she did, Josine pulled her in and hugged her.

"Thank god! Thank you for keeping us safe god."