Book One – Interlude – Part Five – Servi’s Nightly Stroll

By the end of her plundering, Servi had acquired 371 bottles of various alcohols, the tables and chairs from the restaurant side that weren’t nailed or bolted down, valuable weapons, and a tremendous amount of food, which included steaks of different cuts and qualities. She had also obtained bags of potatoes, corn, peas, tomatoes, cabbage, lettuce, chicken, duck, and more that were stored in a storage room in the back of the bar. The only other thing of note was a durable safe. The metal object probably held a large amount of money, so she took that while absorbing the corpses.

It’s going to take some to organize all of this according to your specific categories, especially the food.

Servi smiled. “Thank you.”

You are most welcome. What’s the plan now?

“We killed one of our targets, and I’m sure if we stay here, we’ll meet the others. For now, let's leave. We might encounter the others on the way back to Warden.”

Okay.

Servi took one last look at the now empty place. She wondered how all of this blood would be explained. Then again, it's not like anyone could prove it. Opening the door, she chuckled.

"Ha! I thought I wouldn't have the chance to finish the job," Servi said.

Four people stood in front with their weapons drawn, and that was when Servi realized something. Brick Bri was the same person who tossed her away like garbage when she first came to this city. He was chasing after a little Earth Elf girl, and Servi tried to intervene, but it didn’t end well for her. She would never forget that red suit and horribly-looking whip.

In addition to Brick, three more people were in front. Mossi had a small hand axe. Axel held a brutal wooden club with nails through it. The man known as Yellow had a bow at the ready with a quiver of arrows attached to his back.

“Well, I’m surprised you lived through that attack. Temiro and Neil were pretty strong. If I remembered right, they were both Rank 5,” Brick said as he walked closer. His whip, sharp and thorny, was like a starved animal. He raised it high and snapped it, producing a large and sudden sound that cracked the very air.

“That noise you heard was this whip going faster than the speed of sound. I believe it hurts a lot, though you’d better ask Norma. Oh wait, I killed her. Bahaha. Yes...her brown skin turned the perfect shade of red. Mossi, I want you to take her alive, alright? Do it, and there’s a lot of cash waiting for you.”

“You got it, boss. Axel, Yellow! Stop jerking off and get ready,” Mossi said, readjusting the grip on her axe. It was small and light, which made it suitable for throwing.

“Good. I’ll be at the mansion with Parrel and his god-awful son,” Brick turned around and found that he couldn’t move.  Before he opened his mouth, he jerked his leg, trying to yank it free from whatever held it in place.

“What the— I can’t move! Help! H—” Brick, who tried to call for help, was suddenly silenced. More accurately, his head was shot off. When fully charged, a Shadow Shot could move just as fast as the speed of sound. With Shadow Hold keeping him still, Brick never stood a chance. His death was guaranteed.

Shadow Hold was invisible when placed in a dark area, like a shadow. If activated, it summoned tangible strings of shadows that clamped down on the feet and legs of anyone who walked over it. However, it was weak to light. If Brick was thinking right, all he had to do was use a light spell of any kind, and it’d be broken. In the end, he didn’t, and that was the cause of his death.

Usually, Shadow Hold would take a few seconds to use. After all, a regular person needed to chant an incantation to use it, but Servi didn’t have that drawback. She only had to think of a skill to use it.

It's faster to think of something than it is to speak it.

A second later, Brick fell to the ground without his head.

“Mr. Brick….?” Mossi muttered. She was like a child who had lost a father. Slowly, she turned around. Her emotions ran high, and she blurted out anything she could think of with a face full of hatred.

“You bitch! You monster! How could you?! He was a way better person than you! Die!!” she charged forward with her axe held high. Immediately, Yellow took an arrow from his quiver and drew his bow back. Axel, meanwhile, prepared a skill.

“Oh, the Light above who slumber in a place further our universe. I pray to you. Grant us your power of Protection!”

A white light flowed from Axel’s hand to Mossi and Yellow, enveloping them in a mystic glow. It then faded away as a small white flower appeared on the back of their hands. It had ten petals. For every three minutes that passed, one of the ten faded away.

If I remember right, Protection is a skill that reduces physical damage taken.

“Ah, that’s right. Itarr, let’s try out Protection. Is it possible to stack it? Can we used it multiple times?”

I don’t see why not. I’ll use it 14 times, then you do the same.

“Yellow, hurry up and fire!” Mossi barked. Yellow nodded and shot his arrow. Unfortunately, it was too late. In the time it took for the projectile to reach Servi, the following happened.

White light appeared from beside Servi and covered her. Then it appeared again and did the same thing. Then again and again and again and again until it had covered her 28 times.

It took very little time at all, and when the arrow finally reached Servi, it just bounced off. Mossi finally closed the distance and swung her hand axe down. She was aiming for Servi’s head, but the axe struck an invisible wall and bounced back. Mossi retreated and waited.

Servi took out the red dagger and ran it down her finger while her audience of three stood with open mouths. Fire erupted from the tip of the weapon, and the blade of the weapon scratched against an invisible wall.

Ahh, I see. The skill creates an invisible wall around the user and the targets they pick. It prevents a certain amount of damage while allowing the rest to go through. If we stack it like this, then it has more walls to go through.

“Hmm... With it stacked 28 times, not even this dagger can hurt me. It doesn't matter since I can’t die, but this is good to know. Just curious, how many layers did the arrow and that attack breakthrough?”

The arrow went through five, and the axe broke ten. The dagger went through twelve. I'm not surprised since it's obviously more powerful than a standard arrow.

“Do I have one layer left?”

No, you still have the full 28. Even if a layer breaks, it will grow back after a few seconds.

“That’s a bit strange then. When I use a skill, all of the required knowledge appears in my mind, but this time, there was nothing. This probably isn't it, but do you think it’s unique to stacking?”

I would say so. As far as I can tell, I don’t think skills were meant to be stacked. And as for the description and knowledge of how to use them, I'm sure we can figure it out together.

“I'll still stack them because it's helpful.”

I agree. I’d do the same thing.

While their target was talking to herself, Mossi, Axel, and Yellow shook to their very core with a fear that hadn't been felt in ten years. Though Yellow wasn’t there, and therefore couldn’t know the fear, Axel and Mossi remember, quite vividly, in fact, the time in which they were screamed at by the Emperor of Keywater, Virin Keywater. The dread they felt from being yelled at by such a mighty person echoed in their soul.

They felt the same dread, and it came from the blue-eyed black-haired girl talking to herself.

Stacking? 28 times? What the hell is she talking about? Protection is a weak level spell, so how could it perfectly defend against Yellow’s arrow and my attack?

Mossi ranked her brain. She was a person who liked to go over a set of events multiple times, with each time being slower than the one before it. She had three questions she just couldn't find the answer to.

The first being: why was the arrow unable to hit her foe? She thought that the answer was hidden in the white light covered her enemy. In that case, Where did the white light originate?

The second being: was the white light the same light that came from using Protection? If it was, then how could she use it without saying an incantation? Even the strongest adventurers and warriors in the world were required to speak the name of the skill.

The third question was the most important. If the two previous questions were correct, then why did the attack inflict no damage? The Protection skill was supposed to block a portion of a physical attack, allowing some damage. Even if the arrow failed her, her follow-up attack should have broken straight through it. However, it didn't. Why was that the case?

I don’t understand it. Completely blocking an attack is out of the question. Not even Virin Keywater could do that, and he was blessed by THE Major God of Combat. He’s an expert on physical combat. NOBODY CAN STAND UP TO HIM!!! But why?! Why does it feel like this 'monster' is someone worse than even the emperor?

“Axel! Yellow! We need to go now! I’ll hold this monster off so ru— AAAHHHH!!!”

“Nope! I don’t think so,” the monster said as it let loose a black arrow of death. It flew through the air faster than sound could travel and obliterated Mossi’s left leg. With no support, she fell to the dirty ground as she tried to do something, anything, but the wounded girl stopped when she heard a voice that sounded far more frightening than death.

“You shoulda been watching me instead of barking out commands. Now I can finally get revenge. I’d love to do to you what you did to my friend, but I won’t. It's hard to believe, but I have standards,” the monster threatened as it walked closer.

Mossi felt a wet spot between her thighs. The smell of ammonia wafted up and circulated via a breeze that blew by.

Impossible! Axel’s Protection should’ve stopped most of that damage, but it didn’t! Why?!

“MOSSI!! Just wait for me—AHH MY ARM!!!” Axel tried to mount a pitiful counterattack that ended with the loss of his arm.

But it was weird. The monster wasn't even looking at Axel. Its eyes were focused only on Mossi, so how did it attack someone who wasn't in its line of sight?

“Please, leave it to me,” Yellow said as he walked up. If he valued his life, he should’ve run when the Human-shaped monster was distracted.

“Yellow, don’t!” Mossi begged with the last of her strength. That attack cut off her leg from the hip, and there was nothing she could do to stop the bleeding. There was no string to make a tourniquet, nor was there a way to cauterize the wound. Unless she received help at this very moment, she would lose her life. And for the man in front of Mossi, with the grimy yellow armor, he would lose his life if he didn’t move. She had no idea what this monster was so angry about, but she didn’t want to lose her life and especially not the lives of her precious friends.

With a final desperate yell, she begged and begged Yellow to move, but to no avail. Instead, Yellow spoke from his heart and told Mossi what he felt during the times they were together.

With his arms out wide and broad back to Mossi, he began. “Mossi, you saved me when I had nowhere else to go. I was just a poor boy when you and Axel came to town. I thought you two were nothing more than bullies, a proverbial rain cloud that would pour on my pathetic excuse of a life and make it muddier, but you weren’t. You and him were the only ones to look at me without wanting to hurt me. And you two saw through my horrible disfigurement. I remember when I said I hated these scars, and you got mad at me. You said that my scars and burns were proof I’m alive. I thought you would hate me for that, but you didn’t. The very next day, you gave me this armor and told me I should take this off when I’m ready. That is something that I will never forget.”

Tears flowed from Mossi’s eyes as she cried for him to move. But he wouldn’t budge. Instead, he kept his arms open and turned around, facing her.

“Mossi, I never had the chance to say this, but I fell in love with you. Sure, you were brash and mean, but you never directed that brashness or anger at me. I hate myself for saying this because I know you hate ‘mushy crap’ like this, but you can forgive me this one time, right? And guess what? I’m ready.”

Yellow lowered his hands and took off his helmet, followed by his chest plate. Next came his gauntlets and finally his greaves.

What was once a boy, encased in an ugly suit of yellow armor meant to hide his features, was now a man who professed his love to the woman who saved him. She was a yellow sun that blessed her rays upon him, and he would forever be thankful for it.

Half his face was the color of sand, and the other portion was as black as night. White lines ran through his black side and black through the sand. Punishment marks, they were called. The stark difference between the lines and the color was a sort of punishment. Another line was added if he ever did anything wrong, but most of the time, they were just added.

Red burn marks covered his arms and legs, which were also covered in blisters. It was evident that he had lived a tortured and brutal life.

But to Mossi, he was anything but hideous.

She tried to yell, but it was impossible. Her body had lost a great deal of blood, and it became cold and frigid. Darkness was conquering the small amount of light left in her eyes.

“Mossi, I’m not ashamed of my marks of punishment anymore. My name is Yellow, and I declare it now! I love Mossi, you, with all of my heart. And if we survive this, I want to marry you.”

“You…... fool…why…..didn’t you…..say…..something…soon..er…” A faint smile appeared on her face when her consciousness left her.

Not long after, the dark embrace took her, and the woman known as Mossi passed away.

The potential future flashed in Yellow’s eyes as he silently wept for a life that would never happen. A wedding with only their friends, a joyous night of lovemaking, the birth of his son or daughter, growing old together with his love. All of that was nothing more than a whisper in the wind, destined to never come true.

“Yellow, what the fuck are you doing?! Get out of here and run! That monster is gonna kill you!” Axel’s loud voice brought Yellow back to his senses.

“Yellow! Get out of here. Go n—” His words were cut short by a hole where his heart should be. It was almost faster than Yellow could see. The monster behind Yellow shot out a black arrow that pierced the sound barrier, and Axel never had a chance.

“Oh, look at that. It seems you’re the only one standing,” Yellow heard a voice that could almost be described as cute. With heavy steps, like his boots were made of nadrium, he turned around.

When he did, Axel came face to face with the monster disguised as a Human: hair blacker than the darkest night and eyes bluer than the deepest ice, an almost porcelain skin color, and a smile that could frighten the devil himself.

“Before you kill me, can I ask one question?”

After thinking for a moment, the monster nodded. “Very well. After you ask yours, I have something I want to ask you.”

The monster held up her hand, and Yellow saw a beautiful red ring that reminded him of the hellish fires he was forced to endure. A second later, two chairs appeared from nowhere.

“Here. You can sit there, and I’ll sit here,” the monster said as she plopped down and crossed her legs.

Yellow grabbed the chair and sat down, sitting no less than two meters away.

“Well then, what can I call you?” He asked.

“Is that really what you want to waste your only question on?” the monster with blue eyes replied. The tips of her black hair glanced against her armored shoulders.

“You’re right. I’m sorry. Then tell me this: why do you want to kill us?”

“Hmm. That’s an easy one to answer. It all started when I saw you making aggressive advances against a friend of mine. You blocked her against the wall, Mossi tried to sexually assault her, and Axel was there. He didn’t do anything to stop it.”

“Really?! That’s the rea—” Yellow stood up and kicked his chair away. The monster had no choice but to summon more black arrows.

“Sit back down. I’m done answering your question. Good. That’s the reason I wanted to kill you three. For Brick Bri and Rowan? Well, I saw Brick torturing and whipping a slave for fun, and afterwards, he set off the slave bracelet. Rowan congratulated him. That’s why I wanted them dead. Oh, but I didn’t kill Rowan. He died from drinking that glass of Elemental Nightfall.”

“Then why did you kill the bartender? And how were you able to drink it without collapsing in pain?”

“The bartender attacked me first after you left. It was him, Neil, and two others. As for your last question, I can’t tell you. Now it’s time for me to ask mine. Answer truthfully, and it’ll be a quick death.”

“Fine. If I'm lying, how would you know?”

The monster smiled. Suddenly, a small wall of fire appeared and floated beside her. It multiplied until Yellow counted 28 Fire Walls.

“One of the worst ways to die is by burning to death. Would you like to feel it?” the monster sent a mental command to the fire, and it grazed Yellow’s arm, causing him to wince in pain. Next, soothing white light flowed from the monster, and his wound healed up.

“Do you know what’s worse than burning to death? It’s burning until your body is on the cusp of turning into nothing but ashes, and suddenly, you’re as good as new! But that joyful feeling fades away fast when you start to burn again. The smell of your own fleshing entering your nostrils is not something most people are familiar with. It’s not very pleasant. If you lie, that will be how you die,” said the monster. She was like a maestro, and the dancing flames listened to their master's every order.

Yellow would die, leaving the mortal world behind, but it wouldn't be now.