Chapter 3: Tiwaz Re Barier 2/2

"Wait, what's wrong with you?"

Of course Etzell was shocked by Melissa's sudden threat. He didn't even know anything and was told to prepare to die.

"Chain Slash: Level 1!"

With a more serious gaze than before, Melissa began to release her technique called Chain Slash, which is a chain technique that can be used to defend or attack enemies. Not only that, the Chain Slash technique can be useful for binding enemies. Depending on the level, the strength of the Chain Slash will increase.

"Wh-why?! No, I'm not your enemy! Tiwaz Re, help me! Someone wants to kill me!"

Panicked by the sight of Melissa removing many chains from his body, Etzell let out his random words to ask for help, even he also wanted to ask Tiwaz Re for help.

Unbeknownst to Etzell, Tiwaz Re deliberately left the barrier immediately because he realized that the duration to stop the time was almost up. For this reason, he entrusted Etzell to Melissa, while Tiwaz Re himself would deal with many spirits.

"Yo, is it connected? Melissa?"

"Huh?!"

Suddenly, Tiwaz Re's voice was heard and it could only be heard by Melissa alone. It seemed that Tiwaz Re had telepathized with Melissa right after she had released the Chain Slash technique and threatened Etzell.

"It's good to be connected, I have a few things to say to you," Tiwaz Re said.

"No, we're not connected at all. Get out of my mind!" Melissa retorted.

"Hahaha! That's funny, so why did you respond to me?" said Tiwaz Re again with a laugh.

"Cih, what is it this time?!" asked Melissa annoyed.

"I think you'll get along well with him, so you should at least get to know each other first. That boy, his name is Cormac Etzell, you can call him Etzell. Please teach him things!" Tiwaz Re replied.

Hearing the explanation from Tiwaz Re, Melissa was getting annoyed because she didn't think it was important at all.

"Damn you, Tiwaz Re! You deliberately trapped me into your barier and then you want me to teach this scared boy?!" Melissa snapped.

"That's it, that's it. You won't get anything out of venting your frustration, but you will get something interesting out of tutoring Etzell." replied Tiwaz Re in a casual tone.

"Huh?" murmured Melissa in confusion.

"Oh yeah, he can't master elemental techniques like us. That's why he was targeted by the Loke, just like us and the others." Tiwaz Re continued.

"One more thing, I think he will soon master the unique screaming technique. Please!" he continued.

"Hey, Tiwaz Re! What does he mean by unique shouting technique?! Tiwaz Re? Ah, damn!"

Then the telepathy stopped and Tiwaz Re's voice was no longer heard. Even when called by Melissa, Tiwaz Re did not respond at all.

Tiwaz Re really entrusted Etzell to Melissa, which is what happened now.

As is well known, Melissa was older than Etzell although her body looked younger than that of a teenage girl. With her short jet-black hair and flat chest, she looked like a tomboy, or even a man.

Not only that, her firm and merciless nature towards everyone adds to her appeal as a trusted person by Tiwaz Re.

Melissa would be helping Etzell in many ways tonight, replacing Tiwaz Re who was busy taking care of many spirits.

"HUAA!!! Don't!"

Having just realized Etzell's existence right after the telepathy ended, Melissa began to play with some of her chains again. She moved the chains up and down, then left and right in order to scare Etzell.

"AHHH!!! Why is this happening to me?!"

"You're noisy, damn it!"

Annoyed by Etzell's timidity, Melissa began to point the chain at Etzell's body parts and tied it up, she chained all of Etzell's body and made his unable to move.

Although Melissa had just released the Chain Slash technique: Level 1, Etzell could not put up any resistance. His body was completely immobilized and Etzell looked resigned after all his body parts were chained.

"I don't understand, why is Tiwaz Re so interested in this boy? He can't even do anything while being chained by me, even though this is only Level 1," Melissa lamented.

Generally, all techniques have 5 levels, where level 1 is the weakest, and level 5 is the strongest. So it was only natural for Melissa to complain about how weak Etzell was.

"Alright, kid. First of all, I apologize if this seems harsh to you," Melissa said while lowering her tone.

"Eh?!" responded Etzell in confusion.

Melissa intended to have a question and answer session with Etzell, which was why she had chained all of his body so that she would not make the same mistake again.

The chains had been set up by Melissa to detect lies, so when someone in chains was caught lying, the chains would get stronger. The more he lied, the more his body would be crushed by the chains.

"My name is Hela Melissa, you can call me Melissa. How about you?"

Melissa followed Tiwaz Re's lead and began to introduce herself. Although she already knew Etzell's name, she still asked him.

"Ah, yes. My name is Cormas Etzell, my nickname is Etzell!"

"Then, greetings, Etzell!"

"Yes, greetings too, Melissa!"

With this, Melissa and Etzell were officially introduced and they got to know each other.

"By the way, where did all your fear go? Did you pretend to be scared earlier?" Melissa asked.

"N-no! I was really scared earlier!" Etzell denied.

Etzell was scared at first, but he tried to stay calm because he knew that Melissa had no intention of killing him. Etzell had experienced dealing with many people and understood them, so he knew that.

Etzell intended to attack Melissa's weak points after understanding her. Just from the way she spoke, Etzell already knew that Melissa was weak to words of praise about her own appearance. Such as praising her beauty, body shape, and so on.

"Is that true? If you lie, the chains that bind you will get stronger and stronger, then soon your body will crumble because of the constant lying."

"Oh, really? But I was really scared when you threatened me at the beginning."

The chains binding Etzell's body did not strengthen after he said it, which meant that what he said was the truth. Though from the beginning, Etzell had no intention of lying to Melissa at all.

"Yes, I believe it because the chains didn't detect anything," Melissa said.

"Then are you going to keep tying me up like this?" asked Etzell curiously.

"Of course, I don't want to repeat the same mistake again!" said Melissa.

Just looking at her, Etzell knew that Melissa had made a big mistake where she had let her target escape.

"I understand, Melissa. You must feel very guilty for letting your target go, whether it was intentional or not. When your target got away, you realized that it was a big mistake."

"You seem to know a lot, huh?"

"That's it, I'm good at understanding others, but not spirits. That's a new thing for me, so I can't just digest and understand it."

"In that case, do you understand about Tiwaz Re?"

"Yes, a little. So what?"

"Really?! Do you know his weakness?"

Melissa looked enthusiastic as Etzell explained about him being an expert in understanding others, and she wanted Etzell to explain about Tiwaz Re's weaknesses.

"From what I've seen, Tiwaz Re is a person who always underestimates something he considers weak. That was proven when he defeated the spirit that once attacked me, he played around with the spirit first before defeating it. Then, he's also a silly person. Maybe?" Etzell explained.

"That's not his weakness! Come on, be more specific!" urged Melissa in dissatisfaction.

"Sorry, Melissa. From what I've seen, it's just like that," Etzell refused.

"Ah, is that so? Yeah, never mind," Melissa gave up.

"NO!"

Then Melissa snapped her fingers and soon the chains binding Etzell's body disappeared.

"WOAHH!!!"

Startled by the disappearance of the chains, Etzell fell to the ground and luckily he was able to land on his hands first. That allowed him to get back up without any injuries.

Etzell's original plan to attack Melissa with words of praise had to be canceled as he was free now. But if Melissa was preparing to attack him again, he would also be prepared to attack her with those words.

"Alright, Etzell. I'll get straight to the point, so can you follow what I say?"

"Eh? Yes, I can!"

As if ready for the orders Melissa gave, Etzell looked at her seriously.

"First, can you shout? Shout like you're calling your friend from a distance!"

"Okay, I got it!"

"Do it!"

As the first command was given, Etzell began to prepare himself. Then he opened his mouth slowly and began to shout.

"HEII!!! MELISSA! I'M HERE!"

"AW!"

As soon as Etzell shouted, Melissa looked in pain and she was also holding her left ear.

Seeing Melissa like that, Etzell felt worried about her.

"Are you okay, Melissa?" Etzell asked.

"Yes, no problem. Let's continue!" Melissa replied.

"Ah, alright," replied Etzell.

Since Melissa was already looking much better, Etzell was no longer worried and he prepared for the next order.

"Secondly, please scream even louder, pretend you're going to die soon and need immediate help!" Melissa ordered.

"I understand!" replied Etzell.

Then as instructed, Etzell began to prepare himself again and screamed again.

"Melissa! Why are you using your chains again?"

Before Etzell could shout, he was surprised by Melissa who took out her chain and the chain was not used to bind Etzell, but to cover her own ears.

"Don't mind me, just continue!"

"Alright!"

With a short preparation, Etzell started screaming again.

"NO!!! PLEASE HELP ME! PLEASE DON'T KILL ME! WHY DID YOU DO IT?! PLEASE DON'T DO ANYTHING, I DON'T WANT TO DIE!!!"

After Etzell finished his words and shouted as loud as he could, suddenly the ground around him began to shake. It made some very noisy sounds as if it was experiencing an earthquake.

"Eh?! What happened?!" asked Etzell in shock.

"Ouch! It's too loud!" complained Melissa.

"I didn't expect the effect to be this bad!" she continued.

"What? Why?!" Etzell asked again, not understanding.

Without Etzell realizing it, the chain covering Melissa's ears was no longer visible. That was because the chain had simply broken after Etzell screamed.

The incident lasted for a few seconds until it finally stopped. And the result of the shock made some of the ground around Etzell and Melissa began to lift irregularly.

"I understand now, the reason why Tiwaz Re is interested in you."

"Eh? Tiwaz Re is interested in me?!"

"Yeah, that's it. Anyway, good job for breaking down this barrier that Tiwaz Re created! Now I can be free because of you."

"What do you mean?"

"Just so you know, I was only using you because I was trapped inside this damn barrier. We're trapped together, but I'm more scared than you because the barrier won't be able to be passed no matter what."

Digesting some words from Melissa, Etzell began to understand about Tiwaz Re's barrier. He didn't care if he was being used by Melissa, because the most important thing was that Melissa didn't attack him again.

"The barrier can't be passed if Tiwaz Re doesn't allow it, is that right?"

"Yes, it's like that. But the barrier has been destroyed thanks to you, so I can be free now. As a thank you, I'll briefly explain how the barrier works."

"Umm? Yes, please explain!"

"The barrier is formed by the user using Spirit Energy, and as you know, it cannot be passed through if the user does not allow it. If you force your way through, then you will be bounced off. One important thing, the Barrier is only strong against external attacks. Once it receives an attack from the inside, the barrier will be fragile. If you're asking why I didn't just destroy the barrier, it's because I'm not a wave technique user. Alright, that's all. The rest you can ask Tiwaz Re!"

"Alright, thanks for explaining!"

"One more thing, you're a jerk! Without that protective chain, my eardrums would've burst from your screaming!"

"I'm sorry, Melissa!"

"Yeah, never mind. I'm tired, you should just go home now!"

Having finished venting her frustration, Melissa left Etzell unceremoniously.

Just like Etzell, he also went straight home with questions in his head.