Forever Failure

Michael turns with Agnes' strike, managing to catch his stumbling feet and manoeuvring towards where Derflinger was positioned. He shakes his head and looks back over towards the trio who were all staring at the empty stump where his left arm used to be.

He himself glances at his wound, and grimaces as the pain finally hit him. He keeps his senses with the help of his pain resistance ability, but the utter agony is still present, even if he can ignore it somewhat.

"You blew my fuckin' arm off!" he shouts at Louise as he activates Dark Pact and Shadow Dance simultaneously, covering the whole room in black smoke. Louise, Henrietta, and Agnes cough and back up towards the corner as their vision is impaired, all readying themselves for another attack by Michael.

Dark Pact activates and Michael's shoulder explodes with pain as a new arm bursts out of the stump, it was almost as if you were observing the Salamanders tail regrowth ability in fast forward, except way more disgusting.

Fortunately, Michael was spared from the sight due to the Shadow Dance smoke covering the room, and once he recovers he grabs Derflinger and dashes towards the trio, intent to get some payback for having his arm blown off.

*Bang!*

Agnes fires her musket towards the sound of footsteps, but misses as Michael easily twists past it. His foot flies up and kicks the weapon clear out of her hands, his regrown arm coming around and striking her hard in the jaw, knocking her to the ground as he turns towards Henrietta and Louise.

"This would have gone fine if you'd just given me the book!" he growls as he lunges for Henrietta, intending to use her as a hostage. Unfortunately, she wasn't as defenceless as one might expect.

"Vile Torrent!" she exclaims, and water is rapidly sucked from the air around them and fired towards Michael's direction. The spiralling, stabbing, pressurized water strikes him in the chest, easily picking his body up and throwing him clear through the wooden wall and onto the street.

Michael rolls to a stop and gets to his feet, ignoring the many staring civilians as he peeks his head through the hole he'd been shot through. His Shadow Dance ends as he does this, and he's forced to turn his head to the side in order to avoid yet another musket ball that Agnes fires at him. "Surrender now!" he shouts as he Blink Strikes behind her, slamming the pommel of Derflinger into the back of her head, easily knocking her unconscious.

He then leaps backwards to avoid an Explosion spell fired by Louise, Blink Striking behind Princess Henrietta before smacking her wand away. To secure his hostage even further, he casts Shackles that wrap tightly around Henrietta's neck, slowly burning and electrocuting her as they hold her still. "Louise! Surrender or I'll kill your Princess! Try and cast that spell again and I'll kill both of you!" he growls as he tugs on the Shackle binding Henrietta.

Smoke steadily rises from the shackle around her neck, and the groans of pain almost immediately have Louise throwing down her wand. "Stop! Let her go! I'll..."

Henrietta pushes against the shackles while shaking her head, "Don't! He can't have it! We need it!" she says, knowing that the Prayer Book presented one avenue for Tristain to actually survive the coming conflict.

"You can't use it if you're dead, Princess." Michael grouses, glaring at Louise whose looking back and forth between them with an aggrieved expression plastered across her face.

"W-why are you doing any of this!? I thought-" she starts, looking as if she were about to start sobbing.

Michael scoffs, "You thought what? I was going to beg you to take me back as your familiar or something? That I wanted to talk to you about a pardon? That I gave a fuck what my 'master' thought?"

...

"No. I just want out of this shit world, and for that, I need the book. So give it to me, or I'll leave your Princess's bloated corpse on your doorstep in a month's time!" he states.

"Don't!" Henrietta rasps out as she struggles against her bindings.

"Y-you're a monster..." Louise says with a shuddering voice, confusion and hatred clear in her eyes. "I-I'll give you the book! J-just let the Princess go!"

Michael grins, pulling the Princess back and extending a hand, "The book for the Princess."

"I-I left the book in the palace! H-hand over the princess and I'll get it for you!..." Louise says, but Michael just shakes his head.

"No. You go grab it, I'll keep a hold of the Princess until you do... I'll leave another note with the palace guards, hopefully you get it... For the Princess' sake." he says, not wanting to wait around much longer as he could hear the sound of armoured boots arriving around the inn. Clearly, the commotion from him being shot through a wall had drawn some attention.

Michael knocks the princess out and retrieves some bed covers from his inventory before proceeding to wrap the unconscious girl in it. Afterwards, he hefts her over his shoulder and rushes to leave the place, "The book for the Princess, it's your choice, Louise!" he says as he exits, leaving Louise alone in the dilapidated inn room.

"Arrrgh!" she cries out in frustration, giving a nearby chair a kick as she frantically thinks about what to do... Her familiar had just kidnapped the princess and threatened to kill all of them, and now she has to hand over one of the most important Brimiric artifacts that is both essential for her own growth, and the safety of Tristain itself.

She ignores the pain now pulsing in her foot and wipes the unshed tears from her eyes, "Why is this happening to me..." she mutters, eventually going over to wake up Agnes whose still slumped against the floor.