Blood Stained Gold (2)

Well, shit. This wasn't one of the main possibilities I had gone over with my faction... but it's fine. What is the difference between this and the fourth main possibility? I called them the main four because they were the few that all other possibilities branched off of, sort of like the five postulates of math... besides maybe the fifth... But that's not something I need to focus on right now. What is all the information I have available to me?

I know that Spiravit is here, and he's on a death march, but that isn't the end of it. Since he's here, there are two possibilities. He either found us by coincidence, listened to us talk, and didn't like what he heard, or this was pre-meditated. I wasn't one to believe in coincidences too much, so the latter was my reality. And if that's the case, many more possibilities stem from that. Perhaps he has access to a future-telling ability, maybe he figured out our meeting area and spied on us, or, in the worst case, one of my members has already jumped ships. His how isn't as important as the now though, I must focus on the present.

This is a situation closely related the the 4th possibility, the knife. The only difference is that we have a murderous Spiravit with us. So the goal should be obvious.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out what seemed to be a triangular shard of red light, and threw it high into the sky. As the light flew higher, it grew brighter, so bright even that those back at the Wood and Fire Fairy Sect would see it as an obscurity in the night. Soon this light dissipated, and with it, so did the other's attention. Once everyone returned to a state of normality, I felt a hand on my shoulder, "Hey, Quis, I'm sure that you understand how I'm feeling right now," I could feel the grip on my shoulder grow much more intense, almost enough to start cracking it, "But how the hell do you know this bastard?"

I grabbed his hand and slowly took it off of me without any force against mine and responded simply to him, "I have no idea who he is. More likely than not though, he probably is involved in a future battle which means that our deal would have bigger consequences than we thought, which also means he's probably not the only one."

I could feel the man's anger shift from me to Spiravit again as he asked me, "I assume that light was to alert your friends, yes?"

'He catches on quickly.'

I replied with a steady voice, "Yes."

He took a look around him, and seeing that all of his members had created a circle formation around the campfire, announced to everyone, "Alright, listen up. Odds are, there is more than just this kid surrounding us. If I had to guess, I'd say at least fifteen people are going to show up, so be on guard. Our win condition isn't only killing all of them, but also defending our goods. If we can defend until our cavalry shows up, then we'll be fine. That means that tags one, two, three, and four will defend their corresponding trailer. Tag five keeps control of the slaves, and I, tag six, along with our new friend here, will keep the big guns busy. Move out!"

He said his strategy out loud, but it wasn't as if it mattered. It was more of an organization than a scheme, so the enemy couldn't take advantage of the knowledge. His orders soon reached the minds of others and they began to move out in groups of four to their respective spot. This strategy had a huge obvious downside though. As long as the enemy consolidated their forces, they could take out a tag defending a tent in one fast sweep. But, I'm sure he already knew this. And I was also sure that he didn't care.

He was willing to throw away some members if it meant keeping his money because he could always get more people. His anger when he saw his comrade die could have been fake. It could have also been his real instant reaction, but either way, I'm sure that this move was malicious. It was fine by me though. If all he cared about was money, then he would protect me with his life. After all, to him, I'm the greatest cash cow he can find right now.

The only variable to this, however, was what was going on with our enemies. Did Spiravit come alone? He wouldn't if he knew how many of us there were, and that is what Pecudola concluded. But I have more information than him. While Spiravit would never come alone, I can't help but question his intentions. Ever since that night at the World Tree, he hasn't made any moves. But now he has suddenly done this. Is it for money? Probably not. Was it to cut off any of the money I could get? Possibly... but I didn't feel like that was "his" purpose.

Since Spiravit is here, who would he have brought with him? At least one Grand Elder, most likely either Convir or Medisma, more the former. And since Spiravit's murderous aura isn't directed at me, or the people around me... he's bait.

I immediately turned around and used my Bed Crossbow Bolt. Now that I had been training my body for longer, the bolt only threw me forward a little bit and was shot right into a giant tree root. The root exploded into two, but as the bolt went through, the two parts reconjoined, thrusting at me once more. I wasn't able to react fast enough, and the tree root sliced right through my thigh. As it went farther through, its diameter grew larger than my leg's, cutting it off from the rest of my body.

I hopped away and ate a healing fruit as fast as I could. It was risky to heal such a large injury but it would be even riskier to fight Convir without two legs. A sanctifying feeling spread through my body and a new leg popped out of my injury, and I was ready for more action. Unfortunately, I'm not sure I'd be using a healing Fruit again soon-

I ducked down as another root flew past my head. It was about to slam down in reaction, but I moved out of the way fast enough. I jumped over the root and stomped down on it with my magic circles flying at max speed. I was able to rip the root in half, but instead of healing again, it just slumped over. From this, I concluded the best way to kill them was by ripping their "head off" of their body.

I turned around, only to see others fighting their own battles, causing me to focus back on my own. This time, two whips were flying at me at once. Instead of running away though, I ran forward. I've seen Convir fight before, so I know that he can just recreate these roots as many times as he willed to. I had to get rid of the source, Convir himself. Roots didn't have to be near him to attack me, so I couldn't simply follow the base of the root, but what I could do was get to the root, use my Genesis Sight, and then trace the "string" that attaches the root to him back to him. Then I'd have a chance at survival. This would also be a good chance to get rid of an obstacle in my way.

I dodged and weaved through the roots, only getting grazed now and then. But before I could see the base of the root, a third entered the equation from behind me. I had my Genesis Sight activated at this point, so I was able to dodge enough for it not to be a bad injury, but another root was only bad. It was especially bad because it came from another direction. I was able to handle two roots because they both came from the same place, but having to focus on an entirely different pattern was going to be difficult, impossible even.

I knew my limits, therefore, I had to temporarily pause my advance and take care of at least one of the roots. I used the third root as a platform and jumped off of it, reaching high into the sky. As I fell, I activated The Ultimate Bolt and summoned the bolt/spear into my hand. I then, with an almost impossible physique, struck the root in front of me twenty times within one second, completely cutting off its head. Once I did that, it fell to the ground, unmoving.

I landed back on the ground, sending a small shock to my knees as I jumped higher than I meant, but I was still able to run. I dashed forward as hard as I could, the thought of more than just three roots attacking me next driving me, and within the next ten seconds, I found their base. I immediately searched for a line, but I couldn't find one. There wasn't one, as if the roots weren't being fueled by something... as if they weren't real to begin with.

Hold on. A member asks an obvious question that they should already know to plant the idea into my mind that Pecudola already thought he could make a lot of money from me. He readily agrees to all of my asks without so much of a real question. What kind of businessman accepts knowledge as payment without taking it first? And then Spiravit shows up, without any real reason why. Convir wouldn't try to kill me when I have allies nearby which he would expect. And even if he did, he would never let me get to the base of his roots before killing them himself. Then there was that image in my mind of when I looked at everyone else. Yes, it looked like they were fighting, but can I remember any of the faces of the people that they were fighting? I couldn't. They were a blurry mess. A merchant gives no information for free, and if he already knew my name, then why would he tell me his with no compensation... I see now.

He doesn't follow the Space Branch. 

He's a master of illusions.

Suddenly I could see reality cracking around me, shattering into the campfire belonging to the merchants' camp. However, I was just a bit late. I looked down and saw a knife going through my heart. My hands were tied and my legs were as well, so I couldn't pull it out to heal the injury. I tried to break through the rope, but it was made of a special material. I suddenly was struck with intense dizziness, not letting me move my limbs freely any longer... I was dying.

I looked around and saw that Pecudola was looking right at me with a surprised face, "Wow! I didn't expect you'd make it out so quickly. You really are as smart as you let on. I'm sure that by now you're wondering why I set this whole thing up in the first place, aren't you? Well, I'm not one to tell others free information, but I'll make an exception since you gave me such a performance in my little illusion. You see, the oracle was real, and it just so happens she told me that if I could kill you, I'd find something so extraordinary within your Duranian, that it could allow me to become the best merchant in the entire Jungle Region! Of course I'd take up that offer."

I'm losing blood readily. The illusion probably started once Spiravit showed up, so I probably didn't use the flare Onvima made, which meant that no one was coming to help me. With this all in the final remaining portion of my head, I asked myself a simple question... what can I do to survive?

He pointed to the knife in my heart as he lamented, "It's unfortunate. I hate to kill off such a talented youth. In fact, if I met you normally, I'd even ask you to join me. But that isn't how your fate turned out to be. Well, as they say, better luck next life, right?"

Better luck next life... he, hehe, "ha, Hahaha, HAHAHA!"

I suddenly broke out into laughter for the first time in a while, "Better luck next life you say?! Not my fate you say?! HA! You know what I said to fate long ago?!" I gathered all of the blood in my mouth and spat it into his face. As I did so, the dizziness seemed to disappear. I suspected that it had to do with adrenaline, but it was just a tricky thing that I really could never quantify.

I summoned a bolt in my hand, causing the robe to break and give me my hand back. Using the pole I was on as balance, I sent a Bed Crossbow Bolt into his head. It could have been the suddenitity of it, the fact that he was off guard, or many other things, but he couldn't get out of the way in time and ended up a headless corpse.

Blood sprayed all over me as I used a bolt on my leg restraints. I fell to the ground on my legs as I looked around me. Everyone's eyes were on me. Before anything happened, I ripped the knife out of my chest and healed the wound, giving me a second wind. But still... it felt as though the knife was in my chest. Something was itching greatly. The people around me began to look like meals for me to devour. I could smell their blood, hear their heartbeat, feel their organs... Something was getting to me, and I was losing grip on myself. I was losing who I was.

And then, something cracked. I laughed heartily into the night sky before activating The Ultimate Bolt. I threw it forward and swung it right around, instantly killing all of the people who were in my immediate vicinity. My face then turned to the remaining fourteen or so with terrified faces. Schadenfreude overcame my body and pushed me forward.

'Kill more.'

I threw my bolt at a man who charged at me, slicing right throw him and back.

'They attacked me first.'

Fire dowsed me like a bucket of water, but nonetheless, I moved forward and swung my spear horizontally, cutting his head off as barbarically as possible.

'Why do I even care if they attacked me first? This is fun!"

I leaped at a woman who was running away with tears in her eyes and straddled her back before forcing my hand into her chest, ripping her heart out and squeezing it. The blood gushed onto me and her black collar. It was one of the slaves.

"The taste of blood! The feeling of blood! The sight of terror on their faces! It's all so delicious!"

I took a bite of the heart of someone I couldn't recognize anymore, and as the chunk of meat slid down my throat, I regained consciousness. I looked around me. My beautifully made sunny robe, dyed red. My hair, dyed red. My skin, dyed red. The ground, dyed red. The sky, dyed red. The mountain of corpses I sat on... dyed red.

I looked around myself with an expressionless face...

"That was strange."