Episode Ten : Soaked Strings

[Sub Ability Activated] [Chilipoda Manipulation...Gigantification]

swamp water shoots upwards, and large pairs of forcipules break into the mud. A large segmented body moved across the ground, and his mouth opened, revealing sharp pincers and poisonous mucus drooling. Mark turned to the creature and raised his arms.

[Sub Ability Activated] [String Creation and Manipulation... Unravelling Shredder x Four]

The string extends from his body, creating four elongated bundles out of compressed strings.

[Chilopoda Manipulation...Extension]

The front of the creature leaped up from the ground and extended. Creating new segments from a few parts down from his head, increasing its reach in seconds. Allow him to Swim through the air toward Mark.

While he released four Unravelling Shredders, which zipped through the air and crashed into incoming Pete's topside, on immediate impact, they bounced against the tough exoskeleton, Unraveling and proving ineffective—a glorified webbing. 

Reaching feet away from Mark's body and opening its jaws. In moments of Pete's pincers closing down on Mark's person, He quickly created a two bulk of string around his arms. Then, his jaws snapped shut, and the force shot air out of his lungs, his bones rattling in their cage.

Pete drove his body into the Swamy water and mud, trashing and then tossing him in the air. Mark's bundle of strings began to unravel, with his concentration fleeting. The moment passed by quickly as Pete pulled back further in his last swing, flinging Mark across the swarm. 

He crashed into the water, bouncing like a pebble across the surface. Coming to a stop in the water, soaked and drowning in the swamp. Jolting upwards. Mark quickly pulled a giant pile wet off himself, hyperventilating. Blood dripped from his ears, nose, and bloodshot eyes.

Completely distorted, he looked straight at Pete, and his stomach turned, forcing him to bend over and cough up blood and bile. He took a moment to catch his breath while seeing his miserable reflection in the water. And a sudden massive shadow was coming from above him. 

With quick action, Mark launched himself backward with a blast of string from his arms, and Pete crashed into the water and mud, twisting his body and turning its trajectory towards Mark. While falling on his back, he pushed upwards with a blast of string, flipped and landed back on his feet, and raised his hands to the sky, unleashing massive amounts of string across the sky over Pete.

[Unravelling Shredder x Hundred]

Twisting and reaching across both sides of the swamps. Bundles came to be and then folded upon each other, becoming Unravelling Shredders. All at once, they came together as hundreds of them. Glaring back at the streamlined figure racing towards them, he crossed his arms, pulling them down on Pete and around him. A barrage of the Unveiling Shredders crashed onto the tough exoskeleton and some around. All unraveling at once, drowning him in string. Tangling and cutting into its body, forcing it to come to a stop.

Mark's eyes moved towards Edger, who was now resting his head on his hand against a throne made of a squirming mass of segments and prickly limbs. As their eyes met, he raised his hands up and gave a soft clap with a blank face. 

[Sub Ability Activated] [Chilopoda Manipulation...Bombardier Abdomen]

Pete snapped its pincer open, releasing a low-pitched screech. This was followed by a mount of flesh growing out of its mouth, taking the form of a bulbous Abdomen. Mark's eyes focused on it, and he pulled his hands back, quickly moving the string toward the abdomen in a vain attempt to cocoon it. But the Abdomen immediately shrunk and launched a mote of acidic, vicious burning liquid at high speed.

Mark reacted to the incoming projectile immediately. He pulled more Strings and twisted them around himself, sealing himself inside a sphere. The ball of burning liquid crashed into the Strings, exploding into a shower of acid, followed by fumes rising around him. To Mark's horror, his Strings couldn't hold against the sharpness of the bile. Those that came in direct contact began to dissolve, allowing toxic miasma to seep in. 

This had an instant effect on Mark, brutally assaulting his senses. At first, while taking it, all attempted to secure the front of the cocoon and exit from the back. But it all came crashing down as soon as he took a proper breath of vile substance. Mark's eyes burned with intensity while he choked his heart out; String came up to cover his mouth but couldn't stop its effect. His body forced him to move. Strings blasted from his feet and shot him through the bile. 

Where it landed, it burned, quickly melting the string into his skin and burning places with a string that was not present mostly his head. 

[Chilipoda Manipulation...Extension]

Mark took a deep breath of air. A quick relief rushed through his lungs. However, before he could cough out his pain, the massive shadow overtook him. Pete's black maw closed on him, plucking him out of the sky with his pincers. The force crushed his ribs and lungs, forcing out all air. Pete pulled back a very disoriented Mark's body. Whipped him back and then forward and launched him into water and mud.

His body jerked in the water, stunned by intense pain and inability to move due to clogged lungs. 

[Passive Ability Activated... Healing Sutures] 

Quickly, translucent Fibers began coursing through his body, replacing and pulling things into their right place and dissolving and strengthening flesh. The warmth came back to his bones, and Mark lifted himself up onto his knees, coughing up blood and water once again.

Edger turned around and sighed disappointedly at the sight of Mark still kicking. "Have you had enough, or are wondering for more, Dog?", he asked and Mark stood up. "Shut your... god-dame mouth", Mark replied. 

A sudden white aura involved him, his eyes burning gold haze. Strings begin twisting out from his back, forming 4 different tendrils. "Ah! Youngblood, don't get too feisty. You're still so green that someone might mistake you for weed, but I do need to finish this quickly. My break is almost over", Edger said while smirking.

Mark looked back at the massive Centipede in front of him. Locking eyes with it.

[Sub Ability Activated] [Arachnids Manipulation...Stingers]

Pete vomited the tips of three large and bulbous Stinger. While Mark's tendrils begin wrapping themselves against his full-body suit. Pete moved his head back, pulling the Stingers with it. Then he wiped his head forward, launching Stingers at Mark. They waved through the air, coming right at him.

Mark took a step forward, ready to make a move. But then there was a flash of white, and his vision narrowed at a single point. His skin melted away, flesh torn off, and bones pulled apart back until he was but a consciousness floating in an empty void. Then, in the blink of an eye, he was pushed forward into a new sitting.

 WHITE FRAME: DEFYENCE

A cold chill ran down Mark's spine. He stared at Igarashi holding up Edgar, Enigma pouring out his body and ripping into Edgar's body. "I had enough of your games. You should have learned your place," Igarashi spoke in a frustrated mood.

Mark didn't recognize the situation that would have prompted Igarashi's aggression. He could recognize the scene somewhat: They were standing at the Hoyaga Academy or what was left of it. Even the moderate destruction behind them shouldn't have been possible due to the Oracle's influence.

Enigma's tendrils penetrated Edgar's person, decaying it from the inside out and breaking it down into dust. Even then, Edger ignored himself. Instead, he had, and it took a moment for Mark to realize he was glaring at him.

"Fucking piece shit... let her go," he managed to blurt out. "huh," Mark responded, taking notice of the familiar person, Ginny. His threads pierced her body, stopping her from activating her ability. She was sobbing and begging for Igarashi to stop, who didn't pay any mind to her.

"What... what's going on?" Mark asked, but no words came out of his mouth. He was in the front seat of his mind, unable to act. 

[Of course... you should have regrets]

...

The pain from Stingers stabbing his person broke him out of his trance. Edger was confused as he watched the confusion on Mark's face. A moment before, he had seen convection in the young lad's eyes. Only for him to allow himself to get it. 

Stingers instantly injected a massive dose of paralyzing venom, causing an instantaneous blackout. His eyes rolled in the back of his head and foamed from his mouth. Stingers detached, and Mark fell into the murky, bloodied water. Bobbing up and down.

[Healing Sutures] 

Edger was understatedly confused, looking at a pause in the middle of battle. But it didn't matter. His Healing Sutures quickly started closing Mark's wounds subconsciously. But little to their Edgar knowledge, this was being watched.

[Otherworld] is a dangerous place, even for a shifter. Some things won't miss a chance to take the potential corpse of the shifter to where? Who knows.

[Ability Activated] [Nocturnal Infusion]

While he took in the final drops of rain falling from a clearing sky, an unknown vibration engulfed the swam. Instantaneously, the partially rain-clouded sky became a starry night, and everything fell into darkness. It was as if something had turned off the lights, without any typical creature in sight.

Pain shot through his body, and his vision shook. Something warm trickled down his nose, and he caught blood with the palm of his hand. Edger looked around, hearing absolutely nothing.

[Sub Ability Activated] [Delusional Folly]

An intended splash from behind took Edgar's attention. Something purposeful was starting to take place. He watched. Swirling silhouettes peeked out of the darkness and carefully approached him.

There were four of them, shrouded in darkness. Perhaps they were waiting for their moment. A massive figure of a creature with a serpentine tail slithering behind a crouched figure. Two pairs of arms moved the part visible due to jolting eyes, none staying still in the hive. Edger had heard of them: the scavenger of the [Otherworld], a Nocturne Mind. 

"Do I look like a dead pray to you!", Edger blurted out. The throne of Centipedes unraveled, and four Centipedes aimed their drooling maws at his command. The Creatures lifted themselves upright, their hives jittering relentlessly. With prompt motion, they burst forward, kicking up mud and water. 

Centipedes collided with the hazy silhouettes and bored holes through them, except the one that had cast these illusions. Vaulted to his side, dodging the incoming maw. The centipede swirled around with others, barging toward the Nocturne in escape. It dashed and wiped his hands backward.

[Delusional Folly]

Darkness bubbled outwards from each palm, unleashing an explosion of shadow around its person. Engulfing the Nocturne and Centipedes inside the inky blackness. Edger gritted his teeth in frustration, "What the point of hiding...". A sudden rustling in water interrupted Edgar, and he snapped his head around to two Nocturnes around Mark.

One had already gently lifted him up in his hands, and both had brought their hives close to the [Shifter]. Their rapidly moving eyes focused and inspected him through deep vibrations. The moment Edger turned around to look at them, stopping all his Centipedes in their tracks. Nocturnes' eyes collected and accumulated towards Edger. 

Both sides stared at each other. At that moment, it came down to a single action. Edgar had to make a split-second decision. What was he supposed to do? He was not related to or fond of the child in question, yet it was a common instinct not to let another die. But this all took longer than it should, and in his hesitation, the Nocturnes sprung into action, turning around to dash for the trees. 

[Ability Activated] [Crystal Creation and Manipulation... Cyclonite Bullets]

Shin pointed his finger toward the hive of the one carrying Mark. A two-segmented crystal grew out of his finger. Coarse in texture is a concentrated amount of Cyclonite created on the tip of a finger in two segments. The smaller exploded first, launching the second piece at high speed.

It zipped through the air and, before the Nocturne could act, entered his hive. Boom! The hive erupted in an explosion, instantly killing the insects and launching the Core of the monster somewhere into the swamp. As soon as Mark and Nocturne fell into the water, the second Nocturne turned around, supposedly to retrieve their prey, only for Shin to draw his other hand and fire another shot.

Boom! Another hive goes off, and the body of the second Nocturne falls into the water. "Bullseye!" Shin remarks, blowing off the tips of his fingers and putting his hands to his side, like putting them back in their holster. "Alright, why were you trying to kill him?" Shin yelled at Edger.

Edger, ignoring him, looked back and saw that the one he was in pursuit of had already escaped. Discarding the unnecessary Centipedes, he climbed onto Pete's head and moved over to Shin and Mark.

"Stupid, ain't it? protecting myself against someone trying to kill me?" Edger retorted while Shin pulled out two Lacertae cores from his long green coat pockets.

"Fuck off, you know as well as I do. You would have as easily pushed him down.", Shin replied back. Lifting Mark's head out of the water and pushing him into a sitting position. "You weren't even gonna save him. Where you? What would Eleanor have thought of you trying to get her kid killed."

He rolled his eyes, "Well, she ain't here, nor her little cunt" Edger replied as Shin placed both Lacertae cores between Mark's teeth and then smashed his jaw close.

[Ability Obtained] [Regeneration]

Mark suddenly coughed up blood stuck in his lungs and fell back to silence. "Well, there we go. There's nothing else to do here. Anyways, did you get to hear the news about the Council?" Shin said, waving back to Edger. 

"No, which one?", Edger replied as he raised his hand.

[Ability Activated] [Isopod Creation and Manipulation...Dimensional Roly-poly]

His skin opened and popped out a small Roly-poly, falling to the ground and rapidly expanding into a massive size. Unraveling on its feet, it looked at them, staring back with its two beady black eyes.

"Council decided for no one to encounter I.T, but then The Bloodborne, Fictor's girl, and the kid who blew your head off, ended up killing it. ", Shin Explained, causing Edger to stare back at him, with an expression not of irritation or annoyance but one of intrigue.

"Are we getting you members to our little club?", Edger responded, turning away. He approached and bent down, inserting his hand into the creature's mandibles. He pulled it above his head, enlarging the cavity and revealing an instant gateway to a hallway back at Cambridge.

Shin stepped back, still holding it open. Shin threw Mark over his shoulder. "That is what was declared, but then the kid challenged their decision, and the Council took it kindly. I don't know who he is gonna face; it might be this one," Shin exclaimed, hinting at Mark.

"Than good thing, we roughed him up," Edger responded. While walking past Edger through the gateway.

...

[Several hours Later]

The day passed in relative silence. Akane and Gwen shared a bed for the night after they gave each other much-needed comfort. While Sotokie arrived home in peace, Lord Fictor gave her much-needed scolding, but he also showed restraint since things had only gotten interesting in the passing time.

Oliver quietly laid on his bed in a dark room. He did not even bother to change his clothes or clean himself. The smell of blood and sweat loomed off him while his body became numb and lifeless. His eyes begin to close, and his mind races with thoughts and memories. He blinked twice before committing to sleep.

There he was, a bountiful array of colors and a downward crushing force without a bottom. It was just his mind without a body—that was what it was supposed to be. Yet he felt himself stuck as if buried alive, unmoving. Suddenly, a ringing blared throughout the room, bringing him back to the present and awake.

The blinking phone illuminated the room. He rolled over and picked it up, bringing the bright screen close to his face until the words made sense—it was Lyra. He immediately pushed the phone away from his eyes and received the call, putting it next to his ear and pinching his eye aggressively in an attempt to focus his mind. 

"What to do you want?" Oliver said in an exhausted tone. "Ah, were you sleeping? My bad, thought I check up on you" " she spoke back with a carefully chosen tone, sweet enough to melt his ears.

"I am fine; you didn't need to call me," Oliver replied without being too dismissive. How could I not after the stunt you pulled? Maybe I should come to you and take care of you," she replied back like a worried mother.

"I said I was fine. Everything is going how I want it to, and you, coming here, will not help with it," Oliver explained. "What I am trying to say is that I just miss you a little, Olly," Lyra exclaimed. Oliver sighed, not having the strength to argue any further. "Do what you want," Oliver replied lazily.

"Good, I will. Also, take your time and call Nier for help. You have to be shy about it," Lyra remarked. Nier was a close friend of Oliver. Although their friendship might seem one-sided, Oliver greatly appreciated his company from time to time.

"Sure, why not?" Oliver quickly replied. "Well, good night, have sweet dreams. Hopefully, I am in one of them", Lyra responded, cutting the call short and leaving Oliver to pass out.

...

[APR 18]

[Ability Activated] [Spatial Manipulation]

A White outline of a circle appears in the center of the Council's office, and from that, a string of white light extends outwards. Speeding out of the building and across the estate, navigating through New Orleans and the ocean's surface, it reached the grounds of Cambridge. It engulfed an unconscious Mark, immediately retracting and bringing Mark along.

Within a few seconds, the white light fully accumulated in the circle and dissipated, leaving behind an unconscious Mark. He lay there calmly until footsteps broke the silence and approached him. 

Igarashi wore black jeans, a dark blue tank top, and boots. He walked along while humming to himself. He stopped an inch away from Mark and tapped the side of Mark's head with the tip of his boot. "Hey, wake up," he said, giving it a moment and seeing no response.

He lifted his leg and quickly stomped his foot into his stomach. Causing a knee-jerk reaction, Mark's eyes bulged open with a burning golden glow, and he twisted his body around, facing the floor before vomiting and coughing on the floor. 

"Hey, I asked nicely, but you didn't wake up," Igarashi said, walking past and away from his desecration. Clearing his throat, Mark looked back at him, his eyes still glowing gold. "That... was uncalled for... What do ...you want?" he stuttered.

"Well, since you had your field trip, Imperium Tyrannus has been undone by Akane and Oliver. I hope you know who he is?" Igarashi said, crossing his arms and leaning back against the table.

"I met him yesterday, and what was it about Akane?" Mark asked, grabbing the table and pulling him onto his feet. 

"Nothing too important. She just broke a law created by the King himself and is going to get what's coming to her. And that Fictor's child also", Igarashi explained.

"You are kidding, right? You are not just gonna throw Akane out, are you?", Mark asked, with the notion of surprise. 

Igarashi raised his hands up in gesturing surrender, "Hey, listen, it's not me that made that law, and I am not responsible for that little shit. Allum is" he explained, while he leaned against the table. "On the other hand, that brat. He challenged my decision, and I can't take care of it personally, even if I want to. That is why you will put him in his place this evening".

"Are you kidding me!?", Mark grew frustrated in tone and behavior, his eyes glowing ever brightly golden. "What the hell got into you? First coming at conflict with the lords, and now this! Have you lost all interest in..." 

[Ability Activated] [Black Demon Conjuration...Yersinia Equilibrium]

Mark choked. His words got stuck in the back of his throat. In the blink of an eye, Igarashi's shadows had extended towards Mark, and a monstrous arm snapped out, Its six-clawed finger stabbing into his abdomen. His arm reflexively went to grab the forearm, gritting his teeth and unable to move or speak. 

Igarashi stepped forward, his left eye burning with shadow and wafting upwards. "Aren't you talking too much? I don't remember asking you anything." He smiled as Mark's flesh began to blacken, veins popping up and pulsating with thick black ooze of decay flowing through. The pain was too much, and he felt his body going into shock. Then suddenly, everything dissipated in smoke, and Mark fell back onto the floor.

Finally, he gasped for air, as he clinched his stomach, rolling onto his side. Black spot jumping around in his vision while trying his best to breathe.

[Passive Ability Activated... Healing Sutures]

Like hundreds of needles, the string entered his abdomen, pulling back his muscles together. "Talk about giving someone an inch. Whatever, good night now", Igarashi said, turning around and leaving an ark on the floor. "Fuck…you", Mark forced back with a muffled tone. Igarashi ignored him and left him there.

Slowly, he turned his body around. This only solidified what Edgar he said, frustration growing ever so louder. As Mark got back on his knees, his strings from the scarf began to rise and twist and spiral, and his eyes burned with golden aura.