Mysteries- 4

The mechanical floating ship had already been moving away as soon as Samuel appeared behind Winston.

Because Winston had stopped maintaining his illusion after the containers were transported down, the workers had realized their blunder and opted to get out of here as fast as possible. Of course, there was also a bit of 'deception' mixed in with their panic that made them run.

Winston and Samuel looked at each other, silent and still. No one moving before the other.

Winston could feel that the man was strong. Not to the extent of a ranker, far below it, but he was, strangely, stronger than the two Jahad Princessss. It was not clear how such a thing were possible and only made the man seem more enigmatic. It was at times like these that Winston wished his intuition and divination ability was stronger.

At that time, a sudden thought came to Winston.

Curiosity needs to be quenched. I'll just perform spirit mediumship after I kill him.

That's right. Winston had already decided that the man would not leave here alive.

Seeing the man two times, at such massive distances apart within the course of a month was more than enough reason for Winston to conclude him as a target for direct elimination.

The silence persisted for a bit more. The people down below who had already calmed down now looked above them with a deep sense of foreboding. The air around them had gotten heavier, appearing difficult to breathe even.

The shinsu, although there was no fighting yet, was starting to become chaotic solely because of the presence of Winston's intent to kill. Samuel on the other hand seemed to only be observing him, not appearing too keen on fighting.

And then, from the clear sky, fell a singular last drop of water, right between them in the sky and down to the ground.

And that was the ice breaker.

Whoooosh!

Boom!

Immediately, a sonic boom rang out in the air, deafening the ears of the unguarded people below and causing the ears of some to rupture.

Winston dashed out with speed surpassing the speed of sound and swung his hook right at the man's head, aiming for a quick finish to the fight.

Freeze! He added in his mind, casting both the spell and Reverse flow control.

And as the hook's point neared the man's temple, a vision suddenly enveloped Winston's mind.

At that moment, Winston tilted his body mid air and turned the attack to the head into a sweeping motion towards his chest. And at the same instant, something dashed out from under the man's trenchcoat... it was a small snake like being with scales that resembled a turtle's shell.

The snake's tail travelled to intercept the original trajectory of the hook while in it's mouth grew a small ball of shinsu. However, just as quickly as it had appeared, it noticed it's blunder and shifted it's trajectory, shielding the man from danger.

Clang!

Shaaaaaa!

The baang shot out towards Winston who dodged the attack by a hair's width and used his momentum to kick outwards towards Samuel's chest!

Boom!

The man flew back uncontrollably, as did the snake that was with him, eventually falling down and down to the ground!

The man landed atop a large building, crushing it as he did so and taking a few dozen lives in the process.

As the dust settled, the man came out from under the rubble, the snake hovering around him and a shimmer of blue covering his body. A shinsu barrier.

Winston smiled as he got closer to the man.

So he's like Sunwoo huh... an anima. What is he using as the fish bowl? Is it hidden beneath the trenchcoat? Or is the trenchcoat itself the fishbowl? Winston mused.

As he drew closer, Samuel smiled at him and said, "It's not too nice to steal from others."

Winston gave out a small chuckle and twirled the suitcase in his left hand.

"You mean this? I have to take some souvenirs y'know?" The short moment of contact with the man during the kick was enough for Winston to steal the suitcase. Actually, even direct contact wasn't needed for Winston to steal something, only a distance of 20cm had to be maintained. But it took an entire second in such a case as opposed to the instant that contact provided. And when you're so close already, you might as well touch the thing, right?

The man shook his head, "Forget it, you can keep that." Then, he held his hand up, around which the snake began to twirl around.

"What next?" As his words landed, Winston already stood in front of him.

Whooosh!.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Successive sonic booms and explosions rang out in the area as both Winston and Samuel dashed through the air, smashing through buildings and destroying the infrastructure.

It was a bit weird for Winston since he had just helped the city folk so much, but here he was, personally aiding in most of their demise.

Well, collateral is collateral. Can't do anything about it.

Winston thought as he observed the barrier that enclosed the man. It prevented him from getting direct contact to the man, and made him particularly more tanky.

A cruel glint passed Winston eyes as he got in close to the man once again. Baangs appeared in the air, seemingly numbering in the dozens. More than half were from Winston, the other half were the combined number of the man and his pet snake.

The baangs rushed along, impacting each other mid air before they could reach the intended target, however, one baang, one of Winston's reached the barrier despite the snake's defence.

Crack!

The barrier cracked, and Winston's hook reached the man.

Slash!

The man stepped back at the last second, suffering only a graze at his arm. However, there was one critical thing.

"It seems the shinheuh doesn't need a fishbowl to be controlled." Winston said as he held the trenchcoat in his arms. Due to his increased spirituality and enhancement from shinsu, the reach extended beyond just his body, extending from any objects that connected his body to the other.

He was plenty sure the trenchcoat was the fishbowl, and even if it wasn't, considering how the snake crawled out of it, it was bound to be at least inside the garment.

Samuel stood with a single black shirt and black trousers. The snake still floated around him as he looked on with a smile.

"Memphos isn't like the uncivilized shinheuh. He doesn't need to be controlled." He commented.

Winston shook his head and threw away the trenchcoat, getting ready for another clash.

He closed his eyes for a moment, then, a terrifying force erupted from his body.

Dun!

Samuel froze, as did the snake he held by his side. Both ensnared by a Freeze spell and Reverse flow control!

And so...

Slash!

Blood, the colour of crimson seemed out from the man's neck. His eyes widened and trembled in disbelief as he looked on towards the man that had just stabbed him. Never had he expected the fight to end so... anticlimactically?

He had underestimated his opponent based on the qualities he had shown, and so he paid the price.

Bam!

The man fell to the ground as the snake became active again, lashing straight at Winston.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Seeping air into his lungs, Winston mimicked the sound of a gun three times in a row, throwing compressed air bullets at the snake.

Sparks flew around as the power bounced off it's scales.

Boom!

Just then, a massive amount of shinsu flew out of the snake's body, a desperate attempt to get Winston away. Naturally, Winston didn't dodge. His shinsu resistance was fairly heightened at this point, and with the Diffusion Boundary around him, he resisted the shinsu wave with minimal effort. After all, the power of the wave wasn't directed as an attack, but merely to buy time.

He moved, slashing the hook right at the snake's head who twisted around and around as if it itself had been turned into an amorphous form of the same Divine water that fueled it's powers.

As the shinsu wave disappeared, from the side, 7 more people, resembling Winston appeared with varying weapons in their hands!

They all collectively snapped their fingers, making sparks of fire erupt from their hands which soon enveloped them whole and combined to form a blazing pyre that Tra formed into a flaming tornado!

Boom!

Whiiiirlll!

The tornado's fiery winds swept across the buildings of the city, effortlessly destroying a circular area of 100 meters radius around Winston, charring it black and leaving all but air, for even the ashes disappeared as the raging flame of a Magician's flame control ravaged through the area!

However, there appeared an opposition! Slowly but surely, a bluish hue appeared at the heart of the pyre, a stream of water shinsu that expanded around the snake and covering it in a thick layer of protection! Down below, where Samuel lay still and holding his neck to stop the crimson of life from flowing out, there too was a protective barrier made from the same blue shinsu.

The snake hissed around it, seeing many Winstons, now numbering in the dozens all around it.

Piercing through illusions was it's master's job. It was only the tank and the attacker, it failed to cope up with the illusion, blindly attacking all around as the flames still burned the shinsu around it.

Winston, whose actual body stood outside the Flaming tornado in a veil of invisibility smiled slightly as he watched them struggle.

Better to nip the problem in the bud than to watch it grow and slowly devour it's way through my life. He thought. And then, holding the hook with him, he dashed right through the flames and towards the shinsu serpent whose protective layer had grown considerably smaller in the fire.

Holding the hook in his hand, Winston silently cast reverse flow control and Freeze, simultaneously casting a lightning spell onto his weapon, making it crackle with a blue and baleful light.

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

Sparks started to fly out from the snake's body from all directions. With the many illusions distracting the snake, the invisibility that Winston's own body held and the occasional stop to it's movements, the snake had no way to resist. It was thoroughly crushed without any chance of resistance!

Pierce!

Slash!

Fresh blood poured out from it's small frame as it lay limp, stabbed atop the tip of Winston's hook.

He looked at it for a moment before turning his eyes to the man down below.

Without the protective covering of the snake, the man would no doubt burn in the fire in seconds. For that reason, Winston toned down the Flaming tornado causing it to disappear.

Slowly, he descended to the ground.

"I don't like to have problems grow at my feet." He said with a chuckle.

Samuel, who was miraculously still alive, spoke with difficulty as he pressed down harder at his neck.

"Hehe cough! I never thought it would end so fast. If I hadn't underestimated you, cough! perhaps the outcome would've been different, Mysteries. Cough! Cough!"

As the blood pooled beneath him, he continued. "Though cough! I am curious, what made you wish to attack me so suddenly? Cough!"

"Just a hunch." Winston shook his head, unwilling to elaborate.

"Cough! Hehe. That's rough." Samuel managed to squeeze out one final time before the light left his eyes.

Seeing him laying still on the ground, Winston checked his condition thoroughly to ensure that he truly was, dead.

And finally, after confirmation, he pulled out a suspendium coin.

Samuel Helmons is dead. He repeated seven times.

Ding!

The coin landed atop his hand, showing a clear heads.

Nodding to himself, Winston took the body and disappeared into flames, heading to a safe place to perform spirit mediumship.

~~~

~~~

Winston didn't manage anything interesting from the spirit of the dwarf.

He was simply a dwarf that was following a path he could see. He saw a change in the usual paths, and so he tried to stop the changes. It just so happened that the changes led him to cross paths with Winston twice. And Winston wasn't one to ignore a bad premonition.

Pitiful. Winston mused as he shook his head.

He looked towards the hotel where the team was staying at. After a whole 3 days of travel, he had arrived again to rest for a bit.

He had burned the body after spirit channeling, just to make sure, along with the body of the little snake.

The avatar had also been completely dispelled two days prior, so he was plenty sure that the city might have been raised to the ground at this point. But he cared little about that.

He stretched his body, feeling the strength of his body having returned and hearing a satisfying 'pop.'

I suppose I'll relax for a few days. For real this time. He chuckled.

~~~

A/N: Throw some stones.