69 The Mask

The Pyro Abyss Mage tried everything it could to get rid of Sai, but the latter was stubbornly clinging onto its ankle like a parasyte.

Sai was very close to falling off though, since he only had one usable hand. Luckily for him, physics worked in his favor, so he was falling above and not below the mage.

A couple of seconds later, the mage shouted and touched its mask again. The next instant, Sai was falling from two meters up in the air, head first. He tried breaking his fall as best as he could, but he was immediately left unconsious.

*Thud!*

…

He had a weird dream again. This time, it felt so realistic that he thought it was real.

An amazingly beautiful woman with bluish white hair looked down at him from her throne. He couldn't see her that well, as if something was fogging her silhouette. She inspected him, and Sai felt all his secrets be exposed in front of her scrutinizing eyes.

She then calmly spoke to him, and he listened attentively.

For some reason, he didn't like what she said, but before he could complain, the nightmare/dream was over.

…

Sai woke up with the sharp feeling of being dragged across a stone floor. He tried jumping up, but only his neck obeyed.

There was something covering his eyes, and it scared him deeply. Using his left hand, which incredibly enough hurt less than his right, he desperately rubbed it off, and finally managed to see.

The short back of an abyss mage could be seen. It was slowly pulling his feet towards the edge, he assumed.

Disgruntled sounds were coming off of the creature, who trembled from anger or strain.

'Sh*t!'

They weren't far from the edge now. The mage had to stand by Sai and drag him by the pants, but it was succeeding. He was a few seconds from falling off on his own.

For some reason, Sai felt incredibly calm at the moment. He closed his eyes and recalled how he had ended up there. He purposely skipped the older parts, as he thought he wouldn't have enough time otherwise.

This all started with another summoning from the Traveler/Paimon. He had to escape the crazy Ruin Guards, pass a night in the dangerous wild alone, travel together with Beidou, face the Fatui, unravel an ancient mechanism, survive a Domain exploration, remain for days on end without any food or water while waiting for his last bit of hope… and finally succumbing to madness and entering the god-forsaken domain on his own, only to be teleported outside and have a one-on-one with an abyss mage.

Beneath his calm hid a sea of unquenchable fury.

What kind of crazy Isekai was this? Shouldn't he have obtained a special power or something by now? A system? An incredible artifact? A divine treasure? Any tips on how to proceed? Instructions from whoever sent him there? Was he transmigrated just to die?!? Why was he different from every protagonist out there? Was he actually discriminated against?

The image of the white-haired woman appeared to him once again. He recalled her impossibly perfect features and the depth of her gaze. It helped him regain his footing. And speaking of which…

Sai waited for the right moment to move. He decided to gamble one last time. He coldly waited until the mage was already feeling content with the disposal of his body. The creature rolled him to the very edge of the floor, where one more push would do the job. When it bent down for the last effort, Sai acted.

His left hand, specifically his index finger and thumb, aimed at the mage's eyes. They poked them with cruel accuracy, but Sai wasn't done. He curled them onto the creature's mask, and pulled with all his strength.

Meanwhile, his fractured right arm managed to get a hold of the thing's clothes, stopping its retreat. Its hands did their best to stop Sai's, but the human was like a fiend right now, uncaring for any pain and feeling no emotion, just the desire to survive by killing the creature!

Eventually, Sai overpowered it, and the creature stumbled on Sai's body, falling into the empty expanse.

But Sai wasn't done. He couldn't let the creature fall with its mask, or everything would have been in vain. Using the power of the feathers tucked in his shoes, Sai managed to keep the mage in the air using only two fingers. He pulled at the mask with all his might, and then some more.

But his left arm wasn't the same anymore. At last, it snapped, fracturing at the elbow. Sai's body started sliding off the edge as well. But he persisted, even if his arm fractured, he wouldn't release the mask.

And now, it was a battle of time. What would fall off first? The mask or Sai himself?

The answer was…

Sai.

For an instant in his free fall, Sai despaired. But then, he felt the mask come off and he regained his hope.

Before he could even think of using it, he hit the ground again, back first.

Sai struggled to breathe for a long time, blinding pain rushing through his body. That was by no standards lighter than his previous fall. In fact, he had several broken ribs and perhaps even a punctured lung.

There, above one of the thick roots of the petrified tree, Sai laid, drifting between life and death.

Strangely, he didn't think about whether the mage was still alive or whether the tree would turn him into dust. He could finally… sleep.