Chương 103: Chapter 98-Bending Chosen

A hole smolders in Shady's shoulder as he drops to the ground in agony.

"What in the hells just happened?!" Shady asks in between screams. Penelope blows the non-existent smoke off her pointer finger.

"I knew you were the Shapeshifter," she says with confidence.

"Then why did you shoot me?" I ask as I remember the events of the last thirty seconds. Penelope had aimed her [Light Beam] at me and the moment it left her hand I slipped on the wet floor. The beam then went past me, barely missing my head and hit a glass prism that just so happened to be lying around. Part of the beam hit the wall and the rest of it was reflected back at Shady.

"I knew that your [LCK] would save you and somehow put us in an advantageous position. I was right," she says as she gestures over at Shady who's being tied up by Hopper.

"What if it didn't save me? You do know that my [LCK] doesn't work all the time, right?" I ask with a hint of annoyance. Penelope blinks and then clears her throat.

"I… I knew that. Also, how terrible are you at math? It was a simple math equation," she says, changing the subject.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe I would've answered the question correctly if someone wasn't threatening to shoot me!" I say as I point at the hole in Shady.

"Are you guys going to help me with this guy or not?" Hopper asks. Penelope and I stare each other down.

"Fine. I'll drop it… for now," I say as I head over to help Hopper. Well, help is an overstatement. More accurately, I try to help him, but apparently, Shady is stronger than they look. Which is that of a grey-skinned person with cloudy eyes, so he doesn't look very strong. Why won't he stop squirming? Penelope sighs, walks over, and with one hand lifts Shady clear off the ground.

"Unhand me!" Shady yells.

"So, what do we do with them?" I ask as I ignore Shady. Hopper cocks his head.

"Back home, we would behead him for working with the forces of evil," he adds. Penelope nods.

"According to imperial law, anyone caught working with the forces of evil is automatically given the death sentence. So, I guess we could kill this Shapeshifter," she says as she looks me in the eyes.

"Woah, how bout we talk this through? We don't have to immediately go to death, right?" Shady immediately changes their tune as Penelope draws her greatsword.

"Guys wait. We can't do this," I say as I stop Penelope from bringing down her greatsword on Shady.

"Chosen One?" Shady asks with puppy dog eyes.

"It'll make a mess. Just [Throw] them in one of the mana pools. Not like they can tell us anything useful anyway," I say intentionally.

"For once, a good idea," Penelope says as she goes to throw Shady into one of the pools.

"WAIT!!! I know something useful! Please don't kill me! I know what I did was wrong, but I've seen the error of my ways!" Shady suddenly yells. Penelope stops.

"Should we listen?" she asks.

"Yes, yes, you should," Shady says.

"Let's give Shady a chance. So, Shady, what do you know?" I ask with a smile. Penelope puts Shady down on the ground.

"A lot! A whole ton! So much that it'd be easier if you told me what you wanted to know."

"That's great. How about we start with… what were you doing down here?" I ask as I pull up a chair.

"I… I was cleaning up," Shady lies.

"Penelope, put him in the pool," I say coldly.

"Wait, okay, sorry, sorry. Force of habit. I was tasked with altering the barrier so that a Demon could get in," Shady admits.

"A Demon? Which one and how were you going to alter the barrier?" I ask with curiosity.

"I don't know the Demon, but I was supposed to alter the barrier by using that," Shady says as he motions over to a nearby table. Hopper walks over and picks up a bottle that seems to contain a black, brackish liquid.

"Is this… Demon blood?" Hopper asks.

"Yup. Demon blood is chock full of corrupted MP. One drop of that in the mana pools and the barrier will fritz out for a minute or two. Long enough for a Demon to get through," Shady explains. Penelope sighs.

"An interesting application of a barbaric method. Colliding two opposing MP sources like that will certainly cause a malfunction if only briefly. Who tasked you to do this to the barrier?" Penelope asks.

"I can't say." Penelope goes to lift him into the mana pools.

"Wait, Penelope. I don't think he's being cagey. I genuinely think he can't answer the question. Isn't that right, Shady?"

"Yes. I'm under [Contract]. I can't tell and trust me I really want to," Shady says as Penelope hangs him over the mana pools.

"Then instead of answering Penelope's question, why don't you answer mine? Where have you been recently?" I ask with a devilish smile.

"Uh, the mana pools, courtyard, cafeteria, Teleportation Nexus, Whisperwood Forest, and Tyranus Ridge," he lists off. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Hopper thinks.

"That paints a nice trail. What were you doing in Tyranus Ridge?" Hopper asks.

"Getting my orders," Shady says with a hint of displeasure. Penelope places Shady on the ground.

"That must be where the Wrathborn is. Hopper, do you think you can find a needle in that haystack?" she asks.

"Now that the search area has been lessened? Definitely. If we're lucky it'll take me the weekend," he gloats. Shady's milky eyes dart between us.

"Not to be the bearer of bad news, but if you go there you will only meet certain death."

"Is that a threat?" Penelope asks with a death glare. A hint of fear crosses Shady's face.

"No. It's a warning. The one you seek is no mere Demon. With his power he could wipe you all from the face of this realm. Chosen One or not." With a devilish smile I lean down to his grey face.

"We'll see about that, but maybe you have better things to be worried about. Like, am I going to get out of this alive?" I ask.

"Staying alive is my main goal. I have a vested interest in it," Shady speaks my language.

"Good. I need something done, and you're the best man for it," I joke.

"You're not seriously considering trusting this person, are you?" Penelope asks with a hint of judgment.

"CJ, I may go along with a lot of your crazy schemes, but this seems like a risk, no?" Hopper chimes in.

"Not if I do this," I say as I splatter my own blood on Shady. Shady looks more than a little annoyed and is instead a whole lot angrier.

"What was that for?" Shady asks.

"I have placed the instant death magic circle on you. As long as you do what you're supposed to, you won't have to figure out how fast instant really is," I [Lie].

"You're bluffing. If you had that [Skill], you would-" Shady begins to doubt me.

"Do you want to find out if I'm bluffing? Try something. See if I'm [Lying]," I [Lie]. Shady looks over at Penelope.

"I believe you. What do you need me to do?"

"I'm glad you asked." Mateo and I sit at a park bench with what can only be explained as tensions in the air. Mateo put down a symbol in the snow, causing me to let out a pained groan. With a smug grin, Mateo says, " I win."" Why are you so good at Tic Tac Toe?" I ask as I lose my eighth game in a row." Some people are just born to rule," he gloats." Yeah, yeah. Don't get so cocky. It's just Tic Tac Toe," I say as I wipe the snowboard."

Sounds like something someone who's lost eight games in a row would say," he taunts." Do you want your reward or not?" I ask. Mateo straightens up." Yeah, I would like my reward."" Okay. So, lesson 256 of bending the truth. If you can't convince yourself of what you're saying, you won't convince anyone else," I say as I sit back and let out a yawn." What happened to lessons 1 through 255?" he asks." We'll get to those later. Now do you understand what I'm trying to say?"" I think so. It's just like lying, right?"

he asks." Nope. [Lying] is more direct. You know it's not true, and yet you still say it anyway.

Bending the truth, on the other hand, isn't exactly [Lying]. You're shaping the situation in your favor without breaking it. Let me give you an example. Whenever anyone starts to get curious about why we don't look like brothers, I usually say we have different dads," I explain. Mateo squints his eyes in suspicion." That's technically true, but we also don't have the same mom. Instead of bending the truth, isn't that just lying by omission?"" You could look at it that way, and that's the whole point.

Bending the truth is all about perspective. Am I [Lying] when I say that I got these boots for a big discount? No, I did get them at a discount. Sure, the discount was a 100% off, and the owner didn't realize he gave me this discount, but that's the way I chose to see it.

Without the right mindset, you'll never be able to [Lie] let alone bend the truth. Which is why I'm giving you this task. Your goal is to bend the truth in small ways in your everyday life," I say as I look across the mostly empty park." Like what?"" When someone asks you where you were, try giving a vague answer that is technically right, but could be misinterpreted as something else. Do the same whenever someone asks you about how your studies are going.

Basically do it for everything you think you can get away with. Got it?" I ask. He sighs." Ok, but how long do I have to do that for?" Mateo asks with a hint of annoyance." Until you believe the reality that you're trying to sell. Then we move on to [Lying]. Hey, Kid. How are things at the Cathedral?" I ask as I look at the desolate park." Busy from what I can tell. The Holy Maiden and the Priests are constantly having to heal injuries. Seems like a lot of people are getting hurt the last couple of days.

From what I heard it's mostly from fights and such.

Even yesterday the Dwarf had to break up a brawl that started between the injured," he explains.

"The rage is spreading faster than I thought," I whisper to myself." What?" Mateo asks." Nothing of importance. I'm going to deal with it soon anyway, but until I do stay close to David. Things might get worse before they get better," I say as I get up." Are you bending the truth?" he asks. With a smile I ruffle his hair." Look at you. You're starting to catch on."