With my cover under the trees exposed, I had no choice but to step out of the shade and into the clearing to face the group. It would only end one way or another but it surely would end with me winning. Before eliminating them, I needed answers, clues, about everything, and anything they could offer. Merely speaking with them could provide me with insights about the culture, language, society, and civilization of these people and who they were taking orders from. And finally, to learn the truth about the sisters.
"You are quite the foolish assassin," He said, I was not an assassin.
"Speak, tell me your name," He ordered me.
"I don't have a name," I said.
"Huh? Alright then, I shall henceforth call you, weasel, for the animal you are," He said. I glared at him and let my eyes exude the crimson hue of my psychic power.
The man and his men were unimpressed.
"Ah, you are a magician? Well then, tell me," He stabbed the pole of his flag onto the ground. His eyes then glowed yellow. This was something else, it wasn't psychic power, no.
"Which lord do you serve?" He asked.
"Myself," I bluntly said.
He was the type to disrespect others but wouldn't tolerate it if said others disrespected him back. I sensed his fragile ego and hard pride. Crushing all of his hopes and dreams would give me the utmost joy.
He cleared his throat and his smugly smile returned.
"Ah very rude of me, allow me to introduce myself, I am Sir Tereque, I serve the Lord of this forest and clearly, you are a criminal," He said.
I sighed.
"What law did I break?" I asked, I now had a deadpan expression that showed no emotion whatsoever.
"Breathing the same air as I!" He announced. The smile on his face widened as his men began marching forward. I didn't really learn much from our one-sided conversation especially since the rest of the men were dead silent. His shout must have been his go signal. His men weren't a problem but I was wary of his glowing eyes.
But it looked like he wasn't going to take advantage of whatever power he had. It was then did I realize that this man could use that nonsensical power, magic. Suddenly, he pointed his flag at me like a staff.
"Fireball!" A ball of fire suddenly shot out of the tip and flew right into me. The subsequent explosion tore through several trees and erupted a cloud of smoke around me.
"You three, go find the horses!" The smoke was too thick for them to see me. They had thought I was dead, obliterated by their puny attack. My passive barrier was unimpressed, did not even scratch the surface. I then heard one of the footsteps getting near me. The smoke then began to clear.
"Ack!" It was too late for the lone man. I grabbed him by the throat and began choking him. His yelp of surprise was heard by his comrades and as they rushed into the smoke to aid him, I instantly dispersed the smoke using my psychic force.
The men were shocked to find me alive with one of their own at the end of my hand. The man I was choking tried to stab me with his sword only for it to break into a hundred pieces as soon as he tried stabbing it into my belly. He let go of his shield and struggled against my arm, desperately trying to claw his way out.
Seeing how my body shattered the sword, the men immediately went on the defense and formed a line with the leader at the back. I saw no more smiles, no smugness, only fear.
There was no turning back.
CRACK
I let go of their friend. He fell to the ground with a pulverized neck.
It was my turn.
"You should have used better magic," The crimson hue on my eyes exploded as I surrounded myself with my psychic force. A strong whirlwind came and surrounded my body as I ascended into the sky. The rushing winds tore branches and scared off birds who flew off into the air. The men gathered themselves and planted their feet firmly into the ground trying to withstand the rushing wind
I looked at them one by one with my glowing eyes.
"Holy barrier!" Tereque shouted. A translucent, yellowish barrier then enveloped his person but left the others outside. A meager shield made from magic.
"Get him!" He shouted. They had no ranged weapons, their swords were too short to reach me, and their heavy armor made it impossible for them to jump. This Tereque was an idiot and a coward and his men were going to pay dearly due to his stupidity.
"Goodbye," My eyes exploded, unleashing hell upon the forest beneath me. A wave of my pure psychic energy as hot as magma condensed to form a physical state lashed out from my eyes at the speed of sound and traveled in an arc-shaped wave pointed at their direction. The ground shook, forest creatures fled, trees were uprooted and the men were incinerated.
A huge plume of smoke and dust rose into the air at the split second my attack hit the ground. It rose a kilometer into the sky as the entire section of the forest in front of me was nothing more but ash. The entire thing could be seen from kilometers away. The shockwave from the explosion and the sound that accompanied it would be heard for tens of kilometers.
I waited until the plume cleared. When it did, I saw the charred remains of the men who stood against me, their bodies covered in burns, their faces crippled by fear before they met their demise. The cowardly Tereque was not spared my wrath. I expected more from his barrier yet it did not hold that well.
I sensed his pain when the explosion occurred. I wondered if he survived, if he did not, it would have been a waste.
Thankfully for me and unfortunately for him, he survived but was badly wounded and with almost all his bones broken. The shock on his body was enough to force his brain into suppressing the immense pain he was in but I had other ideas.
I floated right on top of him, my shadow covered his face. He was laying on the ground with eyes closed. He knew I was there above him, my shadow gave it away. I sensed his fear, his heartbeat battered itself relentlessly
"I know you can hear me," I said, my voice was deeper than before. It was so he would fear me.
Fear was the best form of torture.
I gently placed myself onto the ground to his left. He slowly opened his eyes and the first things he saw were the crimson glow of my eyes. Fear had begun enveloping his heart and messing with his mind as my silhouette stared into his soul.
"W-what do you want?" He murmured. He feared me but still had pride.
"I only have a few questions for you. If you answer me honestly, I will spare you. However, if you lie, I will do something far worse than what I did to your men. Do you understand?" My voice bellowed into his soul. His pride was shattered and he began to cry. He feared for his life, all men feared for their petty lives. Especially if death came so suddenly that it just barged in your life unannounced. Tereque was someone who hadn't faced death, this was his first and his last.
"Y-yes," He choked on his sadness.
In every living being, there was always a tinge of psychic energy within. As long as said psychic energy was within, the living being could still be considered alive even if their hearts stop beating. This man's psychic energy was fading.
"Then, what's the color of your hair?" I asked. I wanted to see their hair colors but the explosion tore through their helmets and made all of them bald.
"Y-yellow" He answered. He was telling the truth.
"Who do you serve?" I continued, "I will not accept a half-baked answer like the 'lord of the forest', don't test me,"
"Lord Voldergard, he.. rules this forest and the.. surrounding lands.." He again was telling the truth.
"How about the mountain?" I asked.
"The mountains are the domain.. of the gods.." He was telling the truth. There were 'gods' now. It was time for my final question. I sat next to him and placed my face near his.
"Do you know of the White-haired sisters?" I asked.
The man's eyes widened and suddenly, he began to chuckle. He sure had guts for someone whose sanity was nearly capsizing.
"You... you're protecting the sisters? Fool, your head will roll with them!" He laughed.
I didn't.
I grabbed his head with my right hand and slowly began crushing it. This was my physical strength, years of paranoia back then forced me to enhance my body using my psychic power combined with a brutal training regiment. I toned my muscles to their limits and this was just but a spoonful of what my body was capable of other than psychic abilities.
A small flow of my psychic power entered his brain via my hand. He then began to scream as I forced his brain open to the pain from the wounds of his body. He began to beg as he sobbed. I looked at him straight in the eye.
"Please," He cried out. I began turning his head ever so slightly to the left and right, not enough to snap him dead but just enough to make him feel the pain of his broken neck bones.
"What are the sisters?" I asked. This was my final, final question to him.
"Answer that, and you may live to tell my tale," I finished.
He sobbed for a few more moments before finally giving me what I want. He was gone, sanity had collapsed and the only thing keeping him straight in front of me was the psychic energy I was pouring into him.
"The prince wants them dead," He answered. There was no lie in his words and he had done his part of the deal.
I then stood up and turned my back on him. He stared blankly into the sky.
"I won't kill you, you did what you were told. But, that's not to say you'll survive with your wounds anyway," I explained. I glanced at him one last time.
"Goodbye, Sir Tereque," I expected a desperate cry for help. A shout of regret and a plea of mercy but instead all I got was silence. As I walked past the charred corpses of his comrades, I felt his spirit leave his body.
All of them were dead. It was time for me to return to the sisters. I looked at the sun above, its yellow light brimming with energy. There were small fires here and there but the forest around me was mostly vaporized by my attack. It did not affect my psychic heat that much but I still needed rest. Clearly, we needed to go to someplace safer than this hellhole. In my search for answers, I found more questions. The problem was more complex, well, every problem had some complexity to it, it only depended on how someone would solve it.
Also, where were the horses? I needed three of them.
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