“So this is your party? Some green haired thing with more ears than someone normally should and some child fairy? Are you really sure that these people will be capable of defeating me, you door-mat?”

  “While they aren’t the best people for this job. They are the people that I trust most in life and I have trust in them that we will defeat you. Especially that green Elf Cat to which I have sworn my allegiance.”

  Ciel faced towards me and I awkwardly smiled while waving my hands. Mnestia stared at me with a brief look of intrigue before appearing right in front of me. It was like she instantly appeared right in front me as if I had been in slow motion.

  “Your allegiance? That’s a big word that I wouldn’t think I would be seeing you use but since these people are that strong then I will have to test what they are about. If they are weak then don’t befriend these losers.”

  I slashed towards her as her hand reached out towards me in what was meant to be a dangerous grapple. The slash struck her hand before bouncing back and phasing straight through her hand and chest. It was as if she never even there to begin with.

  But even though I couldn’t strike her. I felt like I could. After all for a moment, it felt like I had managed to land attack. But the damage bounced back. Something which could have made things possible if we were capable of breaking through it.

  Fearing the worse and with a purple glimmer of fear in my eyes, I jumped back. Saving myself from being grappled. She chuckled softly as she watched me jump away like a rabbit.

  “Hey Ciel do you have any advice on how to beat her!? She’s a powerhouse and I don’t think any normal tactics will work to defeat her!”

  Mnestia instantly appeared right in front of me and I cautiously raised my sword to slash towards her. Once again, the slash phased right through her chest after a mere moment of slashing.

  “You are a mere child, so I expected too much out of you but even though I should have held back. It would be even more rude if I were to not show you the grace of my full power.”

  This time she grabbed me by her wrist with my blade far past her body. Her grip over me was tight and demanding causing me to drop my sword to the ground. She stared into my soul with her piercing crimson eyes before smiling. Grabbing me right by her chin.

  “Why am I here playing with children?

  “Umm… I’m taken and I am not interested in going out with you or anything like that… So please stop giving me that look of yours. Please, it’s just uncomfortable.”

  No. I wasn’t actually taken. And I was definitely not going to date anytime soon because I am too young for that. Plus I’m not interested in finding love or anything but just making a living and moving out of the slums to live a better life.

  The grip that Mnesita had around my chin was tight but I could tell by her great power that it could have been even tighter. And if she ever wanted to she could have reached out for my chin and have just choked me out instead of just choosing to stare at me as if I were a porcelain doll. But instead she decided to be merciful for whatever reason.

  “I’m not interested in children and besides the only person that I am interested with anymore is that one person. The one that I made a promise to. So don’t get any wrong ideas and try to flirt with me. You are out of my league, and I don’t want to be associated as a pedophile.”

  She vanished right in front of me before I felt a grip on my head. It was tight but at the same time gentle and a leg descended upon me in a fury of force causing me to pass out onto the ground.

  “Nothing personal...”

  —

  “Now that one girl is done with I guess it would be best for me to test out the very next person here and that is of course you young fairy.”

  Sparkle’s eyes widened deeply. In the game she was a fairy but in the real world she was an AI. She was an attached part of the VR Machine that Raelia had managed to bring back home and while she didn’t have to do it, Raelia had saved her life. It was a debt that Sparkle felt like she needed to pay. Not just because her life was saved but because it gave her life, new purpose.

  Rather than to be be used and exploited for illegal interests, she would be a fighter for the one and only person in the world who cared about her.

  “Don’t hurt my master!”

  Sparkle screamed as her fist clenched tightly and in them had appeared dozens upon dozens of compressed air bullets aim towards Mnestia. Something that would cause a look of interest to appear on the Red Slime’s face. She wanted to test her out.

  “Interesting… You aren’t like the rest of the fairies. Usually I would just eat them but it seems like someone like you at least has some fighting flare. Good, show me what you’ve got.”

  The dozens of air bullets launched towards Mnestia who had continued to walk towards Sparkle. She didn’t have to Parry or dodge or redirect anything. As these bullets which were double as dangerous as her prior wind bullets were nothing compared to the hardship that Mnestia had to live through.

  “Do you know the type of life that I have lived?”

  Mnesita spoke and Sparkle’s world froze forever. Her assault against this unknown assailant was all for naughty as she appeared right in front of her with her hand reaching out for her.

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  “I-I-I don’t but I can’t allow you to do bad things!”

  “Bad things? All I’ve ever done was defend myself. But before this I guess I did do some bad things but it’s nothing worth killing me over…”

  Mnestia said with an uninterested look as she reached out for Sparkle and her wings.

  “Your wings are pretty. I wonder what the wings of a fairy taste like.”

  Mnestia’s fingers began to change form with a red gooey substance forming out of it and enveloping Sparkle’s wing.

  “HELP!!! IT’S SCARY!”

  “I’m not going to kill you. Plus you fairy-folk don’t ever die since you fairy-folk revive with the natural elements of the world and even as what I am, I am not psychopathic enough to drive you to extinction. Just one taste out of you and I will stop. I just really want to know what you taste like and once I know we can call it, it.”

  “Stop it.”

  Raelia stood in front of Mnestia with crimson flares of rage appearing in both of her eyes. Mnestia’s eyes opened widely as she face Raelia and the place where was previously slaughtered onto the ground. She whistled playfully before looking back to see her hero still frozen in shock.

  ‘A door-mat…’

  Then she turned back to face Raelia.

  “The kid that I one shotted. You are still alive? I a surprised that you managed to take that. But it really is amazing to see that you are still alive.”

  “I don’t know what happened to you but I can tell that you aren’t a bad person and that there isn’t any reason for me to fight against you. But if we have to fight, I will do it in order to show you the light and your evils.”

  “My evils? Well that’s fine. I am alright with being a villain if it allows me to have a fun time against someone like y-”

  Mnestia’s face deformed with a raging punch from Raelia. A serious look forming on her face. Two golden gloves appearing right in her fists after landing that powerful punch.

  “I figured you out. At least I think I did.”

  Mnestia’s face began to reform as she began to whistle once again.

  “You are a lot better than I think you are. And a lot smarter too. So I shouldn’t downplay you all that much. But show me what you are capable of doing, I really want to see what you can do.”

  “Alright you sadistic bastard. I will bring you to the l-”

  A hand appeared right before Raelia and she paused and so did the battle hungry Mnestia. Sparkle who had been watching on the sidelines would have her eyes widened at the very sight of her.

  “Hey. Don’t but into things. I’m the protagonist of this battle and let’s end this ill-fated relationship of ours…”

  “Agreed! LET’S BRING AN END TO THIS ILL-FATED RELATIONSHIP OF OURS!”

  Mnestia screamed as she began to rip off her coat as a terrifying adrenaline fueled look came over her face and the battle would begin.

  —

  Things weren’t always this way. We didn’t have to fight each other.

  There was a time, a time where I remember when we were all happy. Me, Mnestia and the others were children running around playfully in a field. It was a time where we didn’t need to think about the major occurrences of life as it was a time when we were fed and we could live the lives that we wanted to live.

  That was the case before the war came and the ensuing oppression of the elders that clamped down on our free-spirited nature as children. Out youth was squashed out by the demands of war, something that I originally was against but it was something that I would come to understand through these years of suffering that we’ve spent for one another.

  It was a time back when we knew only a world of dreams, fantasy and peace and not the ugly truth of the world. It was also a time when she also had the same beautiful dark green hair that I have up to today.

  It was an ordinary day but things would be forever disrupted. We had played long and hard and exerted ourselves by working in the fields and training. It could have been that way if we she had decided to not ask that damn question.

  “Hey, do you think the village elders are kind of being unfair! They always want us to train and work in the fields when they themselves aren’t doing it themselves. Something about wanting to increase our skill levels!”

  Mnestia was the first to speak out of the two of us like she always did. She was younger than me by several years but that was something that I didn’t care much for. But using her youth, she was capable of using it against me to justify whatever she did. For better or for worse.

  She was the youngest of our friends though unfortunately they were out of town studying for the regional exams. But even though Mnestia was also here, it was because of me that she remained here. She didn’t want to leave me alone all to my lonesome. Something that she doesn’t want to directly confirm.

  She was smart yet at the same time impulsive.

  “Well, I don’t know what they are thinking. After all they are old geezers. But maybe they have some valid reason for thinking these sort of things. They have lived longer lives than us so it might be justified. How about asking them on their ideas?”

  “Ciel, why do you have to continue letting yourself be a door-mat to other people? I swear that’s your biggest issue and if you are going to be a door-mat to anyone else, at least let it be me. Learn to assert yourself!”

  “I mean I could. But at the same time, I don’t want to be someone who asserts themselves to the detriment of others. There are just some sort of things that one shouldn’t do in this world and undermining others for your selfish gain is one of them.”

  “At least you are not being a door-mat when you are lecturing me.”

  “Please stop it with the door-mat stuff. It’s just getting weird. Is that my new name now? Door-mat? I’d rather be calling Riceball or something.”

  “There’s someone else called Riceball and they are pretty well-established in the town as a writer so I am not going to call you that.”

  “Fair enough.”

  She grabbed my chin once more. It was odd but it was just kind of something she did even to others. But I was the main target of her chin-grabbing postures. It had been something that she had been doing ever since she was a child and it persisted even as we became teenagers like we were when we had this talk.

  “Well if you keep being a door-mat for me then I might not be interested in continuing to be friends with you anymore. Boring people ar-”

  “Hey, this kind of sounds familiar…”

  I squinted my eyes and faced towards Mnestia. She raised her fingers and crawled it up towards my face cheeks and stretched them out. She played with my face and smiled. But after a bit, I grabbed her hands and played with her face back.

  “You shouldn’t mention things like that so just bury the past you darn, door-mat…”

  “Wasn’t it last Summer that you made the very same comment? With the same exact words? Didn’t you like come back barking to me after not talking to me for an hour?”

  Mnestia bit into her lower lip with a sour look forming over her face. Clearly caught off guard by the fact that I was aware of the full details of the moment.

  “If you really want to have friends then you should stop being a sour-ass and let bygones be bygones and not reference people’e embarrassing past. If you are at least going to be a door-mat you shouldn’t be rude. Though I guess something rudeness of yours is better than nothing.”

  Mnestia held me by the chin once more and stared deeply into my soul. She let out a faint smile.

  “Hey don’t give me that look. If anything you were the one who had the sour look on your face.”

  She released her hold over my chin and turned to the side with a blush over face.

  “Well right… I admit that a fine young master like me isn’t perfect as I should be. But even still that doesn’t mean that you should be teasing me as you please because I am a woman of regal status and virtue so there are some things are strictly off limits even though the two of us are friends.”

  “I wasn’t calling you fine or whatever and I was definitely not teasing you in that way. If anything, you are an annoying and bratty person who finds themselves undeserving of good things. Also you really have to stop taking the credit from me when it comes to completing important duties.”

  Mnestia stuck out her tongue and pulled down on her eyelids with a bratty look.

  “Does it really matter? You are really beginning to sound like a village elder now and besides this is what friends do. They let things slide and they exploit one another for their mutual benefit.”

  “No that just sounds like the beginning of an abusive “friendship” where people are going to dig up blackmail on each other. So I’d rather not get involved in something like that if I really could.”

  “Talking so smart now… I might really hit you but I will admit it’s a lot better to trust a friend with all your heart rather than a stranger that you have never met before in your life. Also if you ever get some strangers to try and replace me, try and protect them from me because the very first thing that I might do when I see them is kill them…”

  —

  ‘Damn it! She really isn’t lying! She really is aiming for Raelia and Sparkle!’

  A chuckle appeared across her face as she caressed my face with her cheek.

  “You’ve got to try a lot harder if you want to put an end to my misery.”

  “Don’t talk like you are her. You are just a parasite and I am sick of pretending that you are her.”

  She sneered before hugging me once again. I was caught off guard by the sudden gestire and remained in place for several moments.

  “What do you mean isn’t she your friend?”

  Raelia turned to Ciel with a concerned look before turning back to face Mnestia. Raelia’s face turned immediately fearful and disgusted at the sight that she had seen.

  Mnestia’s once beautiful face worn and torn by the adrenaline of the creature inhabiting her twisted even further. It was a devilish smile that I was unused to. But for certain, I knew that it was something that I would have to get used to…

  End of the chapter…