PART 2
I let out a mental groan at Ainash's declaration that we needed Xhag'duul to move once more, this time ten paces to the left.
“Sorry!” Ainash said, apparently sensing my frustration. “Can—can move over to where you are. Just give me couple minutes…”
“We don’t have a couple minutes,” I said. “I’ll get him to the right spot. Hang in there.”
“Okay, will—wait. What is wrong with mother?!”
“She’s hurt,” I said. This was probably her first time seeing her, now that she was done doing whatever she’d been doing to prepare. I understand her reaction to seeing. Erani was currently finishing up her makeshift bandage, completely covered in blood, and occasionally, I saw Angelic Shield pulse on for a moment around her wound, only to flicker back off right after. She was probably out of Mana, having spent it all on the Spell protecting herself from the bleeding, and so it was spending each and every point of Mana she regenerated on the Spell as she got it.
She was still breathing heavily, but I was glad she was at least moving. Losing as much blood as she had would be enough to put anyone out of commission soon enough. Even with a barrier of Health and Mana to stem the damage, they’d each eventually run out.
“You have that ability from being a Dryad, the ‘touched by the grace of nature’ thing, right? What saved me from the Banestinger venom. It can heal wounds? Can it help her?”
“D…do not know. Will try as soon as possible, though! Hurry and help kill bad guy!”
“Okay, I will.”“...You’re a fucking idiot, and you’re weak. Do you understand now?!” Xhag’duul finished a rant he’d been on for the entire time Ainash and I had been talking. I’d basically tuned it all out.
I nodded, just trying to keep him going while I wracked my mind for a solution. How did I get him to follow me? I only needed him to move a short distance, but ten paces to my left was a massive ask when he had his hands pinning me to the wall, just about ready to kill me. How could I convince him to move without making it obvious?
“Say it!” he screamed. “Before you get the pleasure of me ending your fucking misery, I need to hear you admit how fucking worthless you are. To think you’d dare call me incompetent when you’re so helpless, yourself.”
“I…” I coughed out a breath. Sweat beaded my forehead, the stress of standing on my own two legs almost too much to bear at this point, even after the pain-mitigating qualities of my Endurance Stat. “I’m still going to escape you.”
His eyes widened and he laughed incredulously. “Are you fucking serious? How do you expect to do that?”
“There’s help nearby. So I’m just going to run and get them.”
I ducked down, underneath the arm he’d put up against the cliff wall, and activated as many stacks of Expedite as my Mana would allow—5, bringing my Dexterity up to a staggering 185. But it didn’t matter if I could actually move very adeptly under the effects of the Spell, it just mattered that I was fast.
I dashed off, pushing myself off the ground with my one good leg.
One step.
Xhag’duul snarled and looked down at me. “Are you fucking stupid?”
Two steps. I stumbled slightly from the weight I put on my broken leg, but the massive boost in Dexterity helped.
He leaned away from the wall and turned to face me as I continued to sprint away.
Three steps.
He moved way faster than I could ever hope to, reached out, and grabbed me by my broken arm. I could feel the two ends of the bone scraping together inside my body, and let out a gasp of pain.
You have irritated an open wound. 19 damage.
Your Health is 27.
I hadn’t even moved three paces.
“How braindead are you?” Xhag’duul laughed. “You think you can escape me by running somewhat fast?”
I tugged and pulled on his grip, ignoring the intense pain that flared in my arm with every jerk, and activated Noxious Grasp with the few points of Mana I had left. Hopefully I could annoy him into action.
“Holy shit, can you just stop trying for one fucking minute?!” He growled, grabbed my hand tightly, and then threw me in the opposite direction I’d been running. I tumbled ten, fifteen, twenty paces across the ground. It seemed to be his favorite thing to do—showing his dominance over someone by just throwing them across the area. He’d done it in every timeline, every chance he’d gotten. So of course he’d throw me directly away from the direction I’d shown so much desperation trying to reach.
And that was exactly why I’d gotten myself caught on purpose. Ainash needed me to go to the left. So I ran to the right, got caught by Xhag’duul, and had him do all the heavy lifting by having him literally throw me to my destination.
I sat up and watched as he slowly walked his way over to me. Trying to keep a smile off my face, I feigned horror as I kicked away. It wasn’t hard to fake being afraid and in pain, though, considering how afraid and in pain I was. I was already past the point Xhag’duul needed to be in, so it was just a matter of him crossing the area while trying to get to me.
“Are you ready?” I asked Ainash.
“Yes! Tell me when he is in position. Cannot see.”
He marched slowly toward me, obviously relishing in my terrified expression. “Everything seems to go wrong for you, doesn’t it, Arlan Nota? You can’t catch a break. Y’know, at first, I actually felt bad for you. Well, not at first. At first, I thought you were a disgusting piece of sub-sentient filth like the rest of the Humans. But I learned a bit more about your kind after forming that opinion, and discovered that Humanity isn’t actually as bad as the Demons make it out to be. So when I thought about it, you really seemed to just be a particularly unlucky one. You needed to die, but I didn’t think you deserved it. You were just an unfortunate being placed in unfortunate circumstances. An object of pity.”
He took step after step, pace after pace.
“Now? I’ve changed my mind. You deserve everything that’s happened to you. It’s not that everything goes wrong for you, it’s that you make it go wrong. You’re a disrespectful, stupid, conniving little weakling who can’t do anything without his unfair tricks. And now you’re all out of them, Arlan Nota. You have nothing left. Nothing to help you. And what are you reduced to? This sniveling little whelp. Humans are trash, but you’re even worse. You’re somehow subhuman. I’d almost say it’s an accomplishment, how awful you manage to be. You’re going to die at your worst, lowest moment. This is how I’ll remember you. I just want you to know that.”
He took one more step, placing himself perfectly in position.
“Now!” I mentally screamed to Ainash.
“Good, just keep bad guy in place for couple seconds!”
Instantly, I screamed something to shock him enough that he’d stop in his tracks—the first thing that came to mind. “You’re going to fucking die!”
“How?!” He stopped and screamed back with equal intensity. Up in the tops of the cliffs, something rumbled, but he wasn’t paying attention. “How are you going to accomplish that?! You keep saying you’ll kill me, you keep saying you’ll escape, and yet you haven’t once shown me how you’re going to do so. Show me or face it! This is your last moment! You will die here, and I. Will. Live. So show me! Show me how I die! Because you are not going to kill me! I’ll kill you! I will not! Fucking! Die!”
And then the rumbling stopped, and I glanced up and saw it.
And then Xhag’duul fucking died.