Chapter 81 - A New Objective

<p> "Klum! What are you doing?!" Eniyala protests, rushing over.<br/><br/> "Shut up for a minute."<br/><br/> She flinches a bit, but presses on. "The fuck are you doing? Stop it!"<br/><br/> "He has a Dark Seed."<br/><br/> "How the hell would you know! Put him down!!"<br/><br/> "Eniyala," I reply calmly, turning my head as controlled as I can manage, staring at her with a blank expression. "Step the fuck back."<br/><br/> Her mouth opens again, but no words escape her mouth, and she finally shuts it, stepping away silently to watch the scene.<br/><br/> Turning my attention back to the purple-faced emo, I repeat my question. "Why. Do you. Have. A Dark Seed?"<br/><br/> "Let… me… explain?"<br/><br/> His eyes bulge out of his head as I hold him for a second longer, then finally drop him to the floor. He hacks and coughs, trying to catch his breath as the bruises begin to form on his neck.<br/><br/> I cross my arms impatiently. "I'm waiting."<br/><br/> He holds up a finger, still trying to catch his breath. The theatrics don't distract me from the movement of shadows crawling up his hands, and I stomp on one of them. I feel every bone crack or snap under the blow, from his first set of knuckles down to his wrist. He screams, and the shadows curling around him disperse as he rolls in pain, clutching the broken hand.<br/><br/> "I can see Mana, asshat," I say lowly, crouching down to yank up a handful of his hair. It lifts his head out of his fetal position, his grimace of pain evident. "Now, talk, or I'm going to turn into one hell of a chiropractor."<br/><br/> He may not have understood the reference, but as he looks up and locks eyes with me, the pained look quickly morphs into fear. "O-okay. It's not my fault, okay?! Just let me speak, please."<br/><br/> After he swears up and down that he won't run, I allow him to sit up, still hunching over to favor his hand. After a minute or so, he finally recovers enough to begin talking.<br/><br/> "There's this guy. Stringmaster. He controls people, can see what they see any time he wants, et cetera."<br/><br/> "So he knows I know now?"<br/><br/> "Not exactly. There are stages. The lowest is a Mannequin. Your body becomes essentially a shell, a vessel for Stringmaster. He can speak, act through you, all that, and all you can do is watch helplessly as your body becomes… not your own. I'm a Figurine. Where a Mannequin has at least six strings implanted into their bodies, I have one." He points to his neck. "He can control ten Mannequins at once, three Dolls, two Puppets, and he can only see and hear what the Figurines do, and only one at a time. Since Mannequins have no 'free will,' they just lie on the ground or wherever they're left, stuck in place until activated. Needless to say, he has a lot more than ten Mannequins, and can only control ten if he doesn't have his strings spread elsewhere. So…"<br/><br/> "That's horrible," Eniyala mutters. Yorun nods. <br/><br/> "Figurines don't have an 'alarm string,' so he doesn't know I'm telling you all this. It means he trusts me. And why wouldn't he?" Yorun laughs softly, pulling some hair away from his head. "He made a few Mannequins kill my entire family in front of me when I was about eight, then took me in and raised me. Oh, but if that wasn't enough, he tortured me when I turned 16, until I formed the Dark Seed. Now, I'm another damn pawn he can just throw around if he just so chooses. This thing has nearly been set off a few times in a short-lived rebellious phase."<br/><br/> I tilt my head. "Wait… so he binds people with strings, AND he's making artificial Dark Seeds?"<br/><br/> Yorun nods furiously. "Not just any Dark Seed. I think he's working for someone much bigger, honestly, but I have no proof of who I think it is."<br/><br/> Giving him a look, I cross my arms. "Go on."<br/><br/> He meets my eyes evenly, a serious look on his face. "I think there's an Assassin Demon."<br/><br/> Eniyala lets a small gasp slip out. My eyes narrow at the man. "Aren't you basically something like an Assassin?"<br/><br/> Yorun glares at me. "Do I look like I could be anywhere near your strength?"<br/><br/> I shrug. "Fair point."<br/><br/> The emo rolls his eyes. "Anyway, I can't go back to him now. He'll know if I'm lying."<br/><br/> "Not our problem," I reply, turning to leave. A firm grip on my hand stops me in my tracks, and I turn to look at Eniyala, who has stopped me from leaving. "We're not leaving him behind."<br/><br/> "Eni, he's literally a spy!"<br/><br/> "He can be our spy."<br/><br/> "What spy can't lie to the bad guys?!"<br/><br/> "…"<br/><br/> She doesn't have a comeback, but her look shows that she's not letting it go. After a long few seconds, her eyes light up a little and she opens her mouth.<br/><br/> "It'll be more suspicious if we leave him behind."<br/><br/> Yorun decides to jump in then. "I didn't get to finish. These Dark Seeds aren't normal. They were imbued with some special Mana related to demons. Apparently, they're trying to release enough of these to bring back the Demon Lord."<br/><br/> "… Go on."<br/><br/> "If the Seeds fully sprout, the demon's Mana infects the vessel, and they become one. Well, the demon retains control of the mind, they may just pick up pieces of the host's personality and have their memories."<br/><br/> "Like the minotaur?"<br/><br/> "…Yes."<br/><br/> 'It almost sounds like the connection between me and Alyphia,' I think, looking down at my arm.<br/><br/> "There's only one case of someone even escaping from the Stringmaster, and it was this dumbass who thought he was going to be the next Sword Saint or something. His Seed disappeared right before the strings' connection was lost, so Stringmaster thinks someone stole it somehow. Makes sense, though: the demon's Mana in that Seed belongs to one slippery bastard, if you ask me. Hey, you alright?"<br/><br/> Yorun inspects my pale face curiously, and I hold a hand up to my temple. "If he has all these Seeds, why not set them all off at once?"<br/><br/> Yorun scoffs, writing off my anxiety as being scared of demons. "He can't. The separate Lands of the Gods would unify and wipe most of them — us, I guess — out. He also wouldn't be able to keep the miniscule amount of control he has over the demons if he unleashed them all at once. That minotaur was only a test drive; he'll be kicking things into gear sooner or later, I'd say."<br/><br/> "That'd be a good reason," I say simply. "So, if he's gonna know about you anyway… what use do we have to keep you around? You'll just provide him with information about us."<br/><br/> The man in black holds his good hand up pleadingly. "Wait! There was someone who escaped Stringmaster without dying! He can probably sever my connection! Please, I may have an Assassin subclass, but I'm not a masochist or trying to die."<br/><br/> I squint as menacingly as I can at the emo, who's blank look at the funny face I'm making only lasts a second before he lowers his head. "Please?"<br/><br/> I sigh. Being completely honest, I was curious to see someone strong enough to break through bodily manipulation, but at the same time, my brain was still stuck in 'oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck' mode.<br/><br/> After all, if my Dark Seed came from Reniel, that meant I had the sprouts of a demon in my chest, ready to take over my mind.<br/><br/><br/></p>