Lariote the Ruthless

As Lariote and Swelya were running on the desert sand, Lariote had remembered something very important Sisilana had told him about Dark witches and which she said he must never forget.

"Lariote, you are a fine young man. So, I will tell you this once. Never trust a Dark witch and if you ever get into a fight with one, you must always be on guard because they always fight dirty."

She had said to him during Mortuus-fintisva when he was still young. She had been drinking with the women, having fun and just happened to come across him on the dance floor. He remembered her having some fancy moves of her own, making it obvious where Salina took hers from.

As he ran, he was doing hand signs that allowed him to summon his beasts without saying an incantation. He saw Swelya turning just as he had finished and managed to dodge her attack with his nose feeling itchy right after as the punch narrowly missed him. He saw her releasing a projectile that was aimed for his heart but was not in the slightest worried. He stopped to mock her after it had entered his chest.

"Have you not wondered why your wound never bled that day?"

Swelya who had stopped smiling after Lariote had mocked her before asking her that question was shocked at both his question and the fact that his chest looked fine.

'I have been asking myself the same question every day since that day. I was so shocked when it happened that I ran away and I did not finish him off as the first curse was to make sure he did not use his mana. I had also thought the arrows had killed him by the way he fell down but that woman calling his name had startled me."

She thought. Seeing that she was not replying, Lariote smiled. A fish as big as a midsized tuner came out from his chest and started circling around him. Its mouth was wide and it had its teeth that looked like those of a Parana showing.

Swelya was shocked for many reasons. The first was that the fish seemed dead and zombie-like as its eyes were grey with no life and it had no meat on it as its bones were showing with only its head having some flesh. The second one she voiced out.

"The Zozan clan?"

She said in surprise.

"Awe, you know of us?"

Lariote said with interest.

"Of cause, we do. The Luminexis are everywhere."

She said with pride in her voice.

"The Luminexis?"

Lariote asked, not missing the chance to get some information. Swelya kept quiet like she was not supposed to say what she had just said.

"I see, you rather stay quiet. It is a pity. I am sure my new master would have praised me if I came back with more information."

Swelya looked annoyed and showed it on her face.

"How do you know about us."

He asked.

"It is said the Nixeor techniques are derived from your clan and you are the only clan to have the ability to summon dead beasts with them being able to give you some of their abilities by dwelling in you. The main difference between the two being that The Zozan's are mages and the Nixeor are Dark witches"

"Well, seems like the only thing you guys know is what everyone who does their research about the clan knows."

Lariote said mockingly, making her angry.

"This is a Piscus. Its only ability is that which allows it to eat anything edible with its target not realizing what is happening to it as it is being eaten alive. Each bite instantly heals the wound like the flesh it ate was never there in the first place. That is what happened to your forearm. It being dead means nothing it eats can poison it or kill it which basically means it can eat anything, including your projectiles."

"Such a vile creature."

She said while unconsciously touching the stump of her missing hand.

"Hahaha, what a great day this is. I get to hear a Dark witch say something else is vile."

Swelya just took her hood-coat off and threw it on the ground. A girl with blond hair, beautiful skin, and a small face appeared with the dark not able to hide her beauty. looking at her, you would think she was your typical prom queen until you looked down from her neck. She was wearing bandages all around her chest and also used them as some sort of clothing to cover her lower half.

Lariote was surprised as he could not stop looking at her chest. Her breast was normal sized but she was clearly missing one on the left side of her chest.

"Awe, what a foolish thing to sacrifice such a part of your body to get stronger."

He said with worry on his face.

"All I need is power and no man can give me that. I would gladly sacrifice any part of my body again to advance quicker."

"Awe, too bad then. You and Butt chaser would have surely made a lovely couple."

He said mockingly. This spelled the start of their fight as Swelya dashed in with her shooting dark menacing-looking projectiles out of her one good hand while trying to get closer to him.

Lariote, expecting this and knowing she was physically more powerful and faster than he was was prepared as the Piscus went in his body. He ran across the desert dodging projectile after projectile but Swelya caught up to him in no time. Her attacking options were limited as she only had one hand and unlike Sheyken, she could not kick to save her life.

Lariote managed to dodge the punches thrown at him as he had to deal with one hand, but the problem was the projectiles she would fire at him as surprise attacks after he managed to dodge. The Piscus would come out as they were about to hit him and swallow them whole. This annoyed Swelya.

"I cast out the light and embrace the...."

She could not finish her incantation as Lariote went in for an attack for the first time which surprised her as he had been on defense all along. He punched her and with her being so confident that she was physically stronger than him, she did not dodge fast enough as she was also focused on finishing her incantation. She stepped back in surprise and confusion.

"What, what! What did you do to me!"

She yelled out. She touched the left side of her eye and all she could feel was flesh where her eye was supposed to be. Lariote had managed to land a punch on her eye and the Piscus's mouth had come out of his punch and took a bite, taking her eyebrow, eyelash, and eye with it.

Lariote just kept quiet and started to do hand signs again. Her confusion and not attacking was the time he needed to summon another zombie beast that can potentially end the fight.

"What in All-mother are you doing! I asked you what did you do to me?"

She yelled out with anger. After seeing Lariote not paying attention to her and busy playing with his hands, she lost her fuss.

"You vile scum. I will kill you!"

She went in for a third round with her attacks being fiercer. Lariote was having a difficult time dodging as she was faster and him missing an eye made things worse. After The Piscus had swallowed another projectile, he got the surprise of his life. He was hit by a knee on his stomach that took the air out of his lungs and sent him rolling on the desert sand after flying for a second.

"Shit, I did not expect her to use her legs."

He said as he got up fast so as not to lose sight of her. He smiled as he saw her limping after him. Her knee was gone, eaten by the Piscus when she connected her knee with his stomach.

"You insignificant fool. Give me back my body parts. I'd rather sacrifice them than let you eat them like this."

She said with anger, spite, and sorry in her voice. Lariote just smiled as it was music to his ears.

"I cast out the light and embrace the shadows, I am..."

"Awe shit."

Lariote said as he saw her stopping meters away from him as she yelled out an incantation. He ran to her but it was too late as he heard her finish it.

"Your follower in this world and the other. Verua! give me your strength!"

He saw her smile as she disappeared right before his eyes. His guard was up as he looked in every direction seeing nothing but darkness. A volley of projectiles came his way from different directions. He dodged many with the Piscus eating some but one managed to get him on his left thigh. The pain was nothing like he ever experienced in his life. He screamed out loud with pain in his voice.

"Hahaha, I finally got you, you fool."

Swelya came out of the shadows as she approached him.

"Those projectiles have a pain-inducing curse. Unless you take them out, you will always be in pain."

She said with an evil smile. Lariote was happy that Alati's death seemed to be fast and she never had to experience such pain. The pain he was experiencing was similar to being stung by dozens of jelly fish at the same time. Swelya got closer to him as he was kneeling on the sand trying to get the projectile out of his thigh.

"Die."

She said pointing her palm at his head. Lariote who was supposed to be in pain smiled which confused her for a second.

"Got you."

He said as vines made out of something silk-like short out of his shoulder, grabbing her hand and stump as it lifted her up in the air. The vines were so sticky that when she tried to pull on them while struggling to break free they wrapped around her making her unable to do anything.

Lariote got up with the projectile now gone from his thigh and the wound healed by the Piscus having taken a bite at it. A beast that also looked like a zombie came out of his body and landed on the desert sand. This one had most of its flesh still intact. It walked on eight legs and had eight eyes with scythes for its front legs that looked like they could cut through anything.

"An Aranue-nexa."

Swelya said in distress

"At least you know the beasts of the Trial Forest."

He said with her still up in the air with the web she had been trapped on being controlled by the Aranue-nexa.

"Before you die, do you want to tell me why you smell of Scorpires and Turres eggs?"

Swelya kept quiet. He looked at the hood-coat she was wearing as it had fallen on the ground with some weight when she threw it. He took it and inside he found two eggs the size of his fist with one green and one grey.

"What did you do? You should have many of these if you were planning to steal them rather than taking just one of each. You also small like you have been bathing in eggs."

Swelya spat, trying to target him with it as it was the only thing she could do but missed miserably. She then smiled, trying to act cool.

"You should ask Seduralto if she is still alive."

She said mockingly. Lariote just smiled.

"I will, because no beast that is not from the Trial Forest can ever defeat her."

Swelya did not like what he said.

"Last question, why do you have so much malice towards Sheyken? Everyone can feel it."

She still did not say anything but could not hid her anger.

'Does it have to do with that incident?'

Lariote thought.

"Since you do not want to answer any of my questions, you can just die."

The last thing she saw was the Piscus coming out of his body. It started by eating her other eye. She yelled because she could not see or feel what was happening to her after that. The Piscus was circling around her, taking its sweet time eating her bite by bite. She started laughing hysterically when it took a bite of her head, taking a piece of her brain with it.

"Serth, do not look!"

Seduralto said to Serth like she was stopping a child from watching a sex scene that popped out of nowhere during a movie. Serth covered his eyes with both hands like a child would, making her laugh. The boredom Salina was hoping she got rid of seemed to be long gone.

"And they call me and Salina ruthless, Serth? That is just cruel. It's like a beast eating a trapped prey alive while it laughs joyfully."

She said trying to look away and check on Algazuma's fight as the ground erupted not far from where she was at that point but she couldn't. The scene was amazing and disturbing at the same time.

"We truly lost someone irreplaceable in you Lariote. I wish we could have handled the incident better."

She said in regret.