Chương 154: 67 - TOXIC WOMAN

There seemed to be a collective cheer on the battlefield above. The beasts had all disappeared, and that troublesome mist, while not gone, was at least disrupted. The hunters had lost any sense of organization and were finding themselves on the back foot. Both sides had endured significant casualties at this point, but unlike before, it was Graceland that was gaining ground as their attackers' strength was dwindling little by little.

Tyene Demue-Corlander walked down the stairs of an old building on the north side of town. This particular building had a secret door that led to a basement that only a few knew about. It wasn't hers. It belonged to a cautious man who wanted a secret bunker just in case he had to hide from people. So he built a secluded room with grey walls and a small rechargeable light in it. While the man never used it as a bunker, it was a great room to hold captives. T'balt's body was passed out on the floor in that room.

There was a large purple bruise on his neck, and his body was incredibly stiff, despite being unconscious. But she could still clearly make out the stamps at the back of his neck. Wanderer, Thinker, and the Redeemer. The Redeemer was faintly glowing as if it were nearing activation. Tyene squatted next to him, resting her chin on her knees as she gazed at his helplessness. Before he passed out, he must've used the thinker to decide that this was the best place to leave his body.

It was a place that only she would've known to come if something had happened to German. In a strange way, this place was even further secluded than the library. Corlander had found the library before. Not that he was here, but if he could, then others might've as well. So it was the dungeon where she found him. She found herself annoyed at the room. It was here that for the first time in a long time, she had to take responsibility for her actions. Not because it was right. Because T'balt was a Redeemer.

And what she did actually mattered. She continued to stare at him.

"Tyene, don't."

"I wasn't gonna do anything, slick. It was just a fleeting thought. I wouldn't actually kill him."

"Your thoughts are too volatile for me to believe that."

"Then you should think about giving me some privacy. It is a little fucked up to be rummaging inside people's brains like that."

"Lecture me in ethics when our lives are no longer in danger." She let out a one-beat chuckle.

"Well then just trust me. If he wants to have a kid so bad, then he can learn the hard way like the rest of us had to… doesn't mean I'm gonna enjoy watching it." She checked his pockets, eventually finding the unequipped Loot Thief and stood.

"Is there any loot that can heal poisons like this?" She waited for him to respond but didn't get an answer.

"German?" He must've been dealing with someone else. He had a lot on his plate this time around. She wasn't sure if she had ever seen him this dedicated to something that wasn't getting on Corlander's good side. But deep inside, she was glad he had something new to deal with. It made her remember past lives… past lives where they were once happy. As happy as two strangers forced together could be.

"Tyene! The statue, quickly!"

"Why? What's happening?" She didn't get an answer. She grimaced, looking down at T'balt and then the Loot Thief in her hand. David, Lila, and the Gracelandians all had Madam Mauve effectively cornered. Her poisons were no longer effective thanks to Lila's prayer loot. Every time she tried to dispatch clones, David and his aura loot would get rid of them before she had a chance to hide.

Every time she tried to focus her powerful mist loot, German would jump into her mind to break her sanity, and the wind looters would send the mist rushing away. She was surrounded and stuck. One of the druids sent a line of chain after her, hoping to subdue her. But she aimed her hand, and before the chain ever touched her, the man summoning it dropped to the ground. Lila dropped to her knees, clutching her hands, but the man didn't stand.

His body convulsed and twitched on the ground for a few seconds, until it ultimately stopped. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Lila closed her eyes in prayer, trying again and again to bring the man to his senses, but he never came back.

"What happened?" David asked.

"The Bestower's blessing not working?"

"He's dead," Lila said, panting in panic.

"She killed him somehow." They all looked to Mauve, ready to pounce on her and finish her off, but she halted them with the point from her gloved hand.

"Hold on now… Since I'm out of paralyzers, I've had to resort to using my more lethal poisons. Step any closer and who knows who I might get next. Maybe all of you will die if you don't back off."

"Hobbs, I've switched to lethal," she said into her earpiece.

"Sorry, but I don't plan on fucking dying here. Whatever happens now is just what happens." She didn't get a response from the other end, so she just assumed it would be fine.

"I'm getting these little twigs out of my way, and I'm going back to lie by the pool," she said through clenched teeth. As the Gracelandians prepared themselves, she summoned more clones, dozens of them. David went to take them out. However, when they aimed their poisoned darts at the others, he sprang to block them. All the darts the clones shot connected with his aura as if they were real, but all but one disappeared after connecting. The remaining one clanked on the ground.

Shortly after, the mist rearose as the woman sank into it, still twitching from German's voice in her ear. A wind looter dispersed the mist where they saw her retreat, and another, a fire looter, shot his flames right at her exposed self. But it was a clone. A dart shot from the mist, but David was there to block it. He took several to his arm and back, only saved by his transparent protective shell. They had the numbers advantage, but German's mind trick wasn't working anymore. It had only made her more erratic.

They could see it in the faces of the clones, not thinking, acting unpredictably. A few of them would jump out of the mist, trying to stab them with their tiny switchblades. A few succeeded, but the clones didn't seem to have a physical form. When they stabbed, their knives just phased through the men, only succeeding in scaring them. But that's what's made it terrifying. The real Mauve was in the mist somewhere, and they couldn't tell the difference between her and her clones.

It left everyone timid, back-to-back, crowding around Lila who still had her hands clasped in prayer.

"Remember the writings of our teacher!" David shouted.

"Do not be afraid! We are many, and she is few! As long as we stand firm, the few can not win!" He blocked a few more errant attacks and called for wind and then for fire, right on top of them as the clones closed in. David was able to shield them all and hold firm. The fire made all the clones raise their guards, but the heat was enough to make the fake ones disappear. It left only her, meekly fanning away her burns with her purple sunhat. David needed to end this once and for all.

Once he did, Uriel would be safe. Their city would be safe. He lifted his arms up, the aura extending his size and went to bring it down over top of the woman. But suddenly, there was a flash and a loud, "BANG!" A force propelled David back like a rocket and he crashed into the Bestower statue. He cushioned the impact as much as he could but the suddenness of the hit left him dizzy on the ground.

"David!" Lila called. The others quickly went to surround her but they were met with the same blast. It was an explosion. It scattered them across the ground, scarring them with severe burns. The woman suddenly stood up straight at the bottom of the Bestowert statue, no longer concerned about her mist or her clones. Instead, floating next to her were what looked like three floating bombs. They had faces: one angry, one sullen, and one smiling. She wasn't controlling them.

They moved and floated as if they were domesticated birds hovering around her ear. They were beasts. German quickly tried to analyze the situation.

"A fourth loot?" How was that possible? Mauve didn't look to be suffering the effects of an overload. She was crazed, but that was for different reasons.

"My little babies…" The woman petted the lit fuses that acted as their hair, and each one seemed to pur at that. Lila went to pray, but one of the bombs saw her. It flew directly towards her, exploding as soon as it hit the ground. She was flung back several feet by the blast, immediately knocked unconscious. The bomb then remolded itself out of thin air, reappearing next to Mauve.

"Good boy," Mauve said. With everyone down, she then turned her attention to the statue where Uriel hung. Her mission was to bring him down, but she had had enough of this day, the people, the fighting, and especially the heights.

"I'm sick of this… You either come down now, or I will blow this statue to bits, you hear me! Either way, you're coming down from there!" Her screams reached him, but she was delivered no response in return. Uriel just looked down at her sorrowfully.

"Suit yourself… Tear it down." The three bombs started ramming into the ankles of the Bestower statue. Each time one did, an explosion ripped a chunk of stone out of it.

"BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!" Over and over and over again, unrelenting. Exploding, reappearing, and exploding again. She wasn't going to stop until Uriel plummeted to his death. That was until someone appeared behind her with her own bang, like a strike of lightning. It was Tyene Demue, equipped with the Wanderer.

"Alright, that's enough. I think it's about time we all calmed down."