Chapter 53 - The Elders are at Fault.

Old man Jenkins stood in the middle of the chaos. Abilities, talismans and weapons were flying everywhere, reaping lives and destroying properties. Old man Jenkins was shrouded by his corrosive, green mist as he looked around with a panicked look boldly written on his face. He was scared for Alice, his granddaughter. He knew that she was going to die if he did not find her soon. After all, the brainwashing spell was very powerful. It made them obey orders without question and unless ordered otherwise, they would obey till they were dead. Old man Jenkins knew that none of the people that lived here were in their right senses. There was surely some spell or another, keeping them bound to this place that was known as the revolutionaries' base.

Lots of thoughts went through old man Jenkins' mind at the same time. Where was she? Where could she be? Those f*cking elders! How could they do such a thing? Messing with people's brains like that. What was their real motive? They said they wanted to take revenge on the nobles that think they are above the law and everyone else. They said that they were gathering people who held similar resentments for the nobles. Old man Jenkins believed that for a long time. He believed that that was part of the reason why the base functioned so well, even when the elders were not around. He believed that the fact that they had a common enemy and similar resentments towards the same set of people, was why they were willing to put their differences aside, but as it turns out, he was wrong. The base functioned so well because of the binding hold the spells orchestrated by the elders themselves. He had been told for a long time hat only the youngsters would be brainwashed so that they can follow orders more precisely and so that they don't crack and spill the beans if they were ever caught and tortured for information, but as it turns out, it was a lot more than just that. The signs were actually there all this while, so why did it take him so long to figure it out? Did they do something to him as well? When did they? Why did he not notice that there was something off then? Was he that far gone in his grief?

"F*CK!!" Old man Jenkins yelled. He wanted to hit himself for being so stupid and naïve, but he then stopped. Right in front of him, about ten meters away, he saw Alice running around, a red, glowing sword in hand and fighting any enemies near her with a hateful frown. He ran towards her, not caring for the people in his way. Whoever was within the range of his green mist was instantly burned as if some concentrated acid had made contact with them. His intentions were as clear as day; he was goin to get his granddaughter and escape from this cursed place that had been camouflaged as a place of hope.

Alice swung her katana which was glowing a dim red at a man that looked about three times her age. He dodged and dropped a talisman on the ground. Alice quickly retreated in a bid to avoid whatever havoc the talisman was going to cause. She waited even as she retreated for five seconds. The man threw shurikens at her from the other side if the talisman. Alice dodged and ducked under the shurikens. She parried one that she was unable to move in time to dodge. She noticed that the talisman was inactive.

'Did he drop it by mistake before it could be activated?' Alice thought to herself and took a step forward and sidestepped to the right a little to avoid three shurikens that followed one anther closely. The man took a step forward and rapidly crouched to pick up the talisman. That confirmed Alice's thoughts. She immediately rushed forward and swung her sword and a red, misty, horizontal beam of light (the color of which one would usually see when using an infrared device at night), left the sword and headed at an incredible speed for the man's extended hand. Surprisingly, the man managed to retreat just at the nick of time, successfully saving his hand from being cut off. Normally, he could regrow the hand overnight if he took an advanced healing potion, but he was in the middle of a fight. A missing body part was sure to guarantee his death as the lady he was facing would definitely not let that opportunity go. He retreated a little with caution and watched Alice carefully. Alice on the other hand, ran forward and bent down o pick the talisman. She was going to use the man's weapon against him.

"ALICE, DON"T!!!" Old man Jenkins yelled at the top of his voice. Alice did not hear him. The noise from all he battles happening everywhere at the base, not to mention her serious fight in which a single mistake could mean death, made her unable to hear her grandfather. Perhaps, if she had heard, she would have stopped and retreated but that was not what happened. She touched the talisman and attempted to pick it up. That was when she realized she was stuck in her awkward crouching position. She had been rendered immobile by the talisman. That was the essence of the talisman.

"Hahahahahaha!! In the end, you are still too young and inexperienced. Haven't you heard of the paralysis-at-touch type of talisman? You don't know that these talismans exist, do you?" He took a step forward and removed another talisman. He flipped it in the air unhurriedly, as if there was nothing in the world that could stop him from finishing the job however long it took him.

"Lesson of the day, kid! Psychological warfare will always win against mere strength." He stretched his hand to attach the talisman on her. Alice closed her eyes in fear as that was the only thing she could do. She could not bear to see what the man wanted to do with her.

Old man Jenkins was still some distance away. He rapidly manifested a thickly condensed, dark green ball in his right hand that was stretched backwards in a throwing posture. He threw the ball.

*whoosh*

The man with the talisman was a seasoned fighter with years of experience. He sensed a threat that made the hair on his body rise. He quickly jumped to his right and at the same time activated a blue talisman but he was too slow. The ball old man Jenkins threw hit the seasoned fighter and the blue talisman fully activated, producing a light blue magic shield. The shield was supposed to block the ball and protect him but now, it encased the man and the ball together, trapping him even as the ball disintegrated him into ashes.

Old man Jenkins was less than a meter away from the paralyzed Alice when…

*BOOOM*

Alice blew up. Her blown up, charred pieces scattered everywhere. Old man Jenkins slowed down to a stop. His wrinkled face, the perfect model of shock, anger and immense pain. He had failed his last surviving descendant just as he failed her parents and other relatives. He thought he had managed to stop the man from harming her but the man was not to be underestimated. He had actually managed to paste it on her head just as the ball hit him. He refused to go down alone.

Tears rolled down Old man Jenkins' face uncontrollably. His face twisted maniacally. He turned around, refusing to see the remains of his granddaughter that had not scattered around, and walked right back to the now non-existent building he ran out from earlier. Those elders were the ones that caused all these. They were to blame for his woes even more than the nobles that killed his children and their families. At least, they had let a last child, who was his granddaughter, Alice, to live. But these revolutionaries, they controlled him into brainwashing her and ordered her to fight and now, she was dead. Those elders were at fault and they deserved to face the consequences.