The sword clattered against the ground, changing back into the Sun blade. What once was tainted with Dark Matter was now pure, again. Lee Seng focused on Keng. He was standing there, worried for Lee Seng.
"It's going to be alright." Keng told him. "Take a breath. Focus on me." Lee Seng nodded and took a breath. The blood lust was too much. Keng nodded and forced a smile when Lee Seng did what he was told. "C'mere." He motioned at Lee Seng. Lee Seng took a step forward, listening to the puddle of blood squish underneath his shoes.
Lee Seng started to look down out of curiosity. He wondered what he did to the Deimon. His eyes moved down and Keng immediately tried to intervene. Lee Seng noticed blood and turned as Keng put a hand on him.
"Hey—" Keng began to say. The Deimon woman was mauled to death. He could see the specks of the woman's hair. Lee Seng sucked in a breath, drawing her Dark Matter to him. "W-what're you doing?"
"Please tell me what you know." Lee Seng whispered. The Dark Matter floated from her body and blood. It snaked around in the air like seaweed dancing. Keng watched as the Dark Matter entered Lee Seng's body.
[A Deimon has been slain! A boosted soul value of 105,000 souls has been added to your Soul Bead. 336,674/1,000,000]
[Failed to steal a Deimon ability.]
[Attempting to retry…]
[Failed to steal a Deimon ability.]
"It didn't work this time." Lee Seng whispered.
"Hey." Keng shook Lee Seng. Lee Seng snapped out of it and looked at Keng. "Are you okay? What did you just do?" Lee Seng shook his head.
"I'll tell you on the way back." Lee Seng told him. Keng nodded and lead the way back to the others.
"That's what happened?" Keng asked. Lee Seng nodded as they landed. The group was in the middle of rest. Olivia noticed them first, waving at them.
"That's about the jist of it. I haven't tried that witch's ability, either." Lee Seng replied.
"Why are you in that?" Manny pointed at Lee Seng's attire. Lee Seng glanced down and realized the Dark Matter suit didn't disappear. He pulled the suit off, revealing a bit of blood on his clothes. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Lee Seng brushed it off. "It should've healed by now."
"Still." Manny stood up and walked over. He started to heal Lee Seng, carefully observing for more injuries.
"Where did all of the Orc and Hobgoblins go?" Lee Seng asked.
"They vanished suddenly."
"Then its' like I thought…" Lee Seng sighed. "That witch created all of those things. I found out there's Deimons here." The group grew weary at the mention of 'Deimon.'
"Deimons? That red hair woman… She isn't the witch?" Olivia asked. Lee Seng shook his head.
"She was the Observer. She was canceling everything we tried to do. She disappeared right after Keng possessed the entire legion of goblins…. I felt another energy and that was the one behind all of those monsters. Killed her on gained the ability to summon monsters in exchange for souls." Lee Seng explained.
"Did you try it yet?" Liz asked. Lee Seng looked at Liz a bit confused.
"I didn't expect you to ask that question." Lee Seng told her. "Usually it's Evan who's asking people to show new things." Lee Seng thought about it for a second and shook his head. "It uses souls though…"
A screen opened in front of Lee Seng. It was the page of monsters and it was empty. Lee Seng cocked his head, only noticing a single line in the page.
[Capture Monster]
"Well, I guess I don't have monsters to summon." Lee Seng frowned and shook his head. "Well, let's secure the point?"
"We already did." Manny patted Lee Seng and took a step back. "We were just waiting for you two to return."
"One more point!" Lee Seng stretched. His stomach grumbled. "And I'm hungry."
"Me too." Keng raised his hand.
"Ditto." Evan raised his hand.
"Let's take a moment to eat then, hm?" Manny agreed.
The group settled in an area with no dead bodies in sight and laid out the picnic blanket and started up a fire. Leftover food was heated up and set out in their containers on the blanket. Keng brought the last bits of food and set the container on the blanket.
"Alright. We're good to go." Keng smiled. The group dug into the food, eating their fill.
"What're we gonna do after this?" Ritsuka asked.
"Go to the next point." Evan answered. Ritsuka rolled his eyes.
"No, not that. I meant after the mission."
"Sleep?" Liz answered. She yawned. "I'm pretty tired after dancing with death a couple times."
"A couple times?" Manny raised an eyebrow. "I could've died today!" Liz rolled her eyes.
"You're reckless. You're a healer who thinks he's something more than that and you get hurt every time." Manny scoffed, brushing Liz's remark off. Liz smiled, pushing her face into his field of vision.
"Stop!" Manny turned, forking a piece of meat and throwing it into his mouth. "You're so annoying!"
"Alright, alright. I'm sorry. I know you just want to protect everyone."
"He's a masochist." Lee Seng motioned to Manny. "He likes getting hurt."
"Says you, Daddy Issues." Manny barked back.
"Okay slut. Whatever you say." Lee Seng brushed him off. "If you need to get hurt later, let me know. I can help a brother out."
"Alright, that's enough!" Manny quickly set his plate down and launched himself at Lee Seng. Lee Seng pushed his plate into Keng's arms and braced himself for Manny's tackle. The two flew onto the ground, wrestling with each other. "You think you're all that, lonely boy?!? Maybe you wouldn't have a stick up your ass after I'm done with you!"
"You're going to put your stick into my butt which already has a stick?" Lee Seng asked. "So I'm getting double fucked?" Lee Seng flipped Manny onto the ground and smiled. He pushed a little harder, keeping Manny in place. Manny watched Lee Seng's eyes twinkle with mischief. "Give up?"
"N-no!" Manny stuttered. He started to lose himself in Lee Seng's colorful eyes. Lee Seng smiled and pulled away from Manny.
"I think I've had enough of that for one day." Lee Seng rubbed his neck. He grabbed his food from Keng and started to scarf down the last of it. Manny gulped, slowly rising.
"Still want to eat, Manny?" Liz asked. Lee Seng walked over to Liz and took the plate from her and handed it over to Manny.
"Huh?" Manny looked up at Lee Seng. Lee Seng moved the plate closer to Manny.
"Eat up." Lee Seng replied. "We're gonna need it."
"Thanks." Manny took the plate. The group continued on with their chatter, leaving Manny flustered. Lee Seng and the others continued on with their day, laughing and joking around. But Manny, Manny couldn't quite understand the feeling within him.
'I thought I had made it clear…' Manny thought. 'I thought it wasn't complicated like this.' He took a bite of his food and watched Lee Seng. 'Am I… still in love with you?'
/ CURRENT MISSION: SECURE CHECKPOINTS: 1 CHECKPOINT REMAINING: POINT 4LJ1 \
Manny stared at his watch. They were thirty minutes away from the last point. The group long moved into their positions and attentively kept watch while Manny went in and out of focus. Liz caught this and wondered if Manny was tired. It had been awhile since she saw some so… somber(?) like this.
"Hey," Liz tapped Manny. Manny looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "Everything alright?" Liz asked. Manny immediately nodded.
"Yeah, just thinkin'."
"Care to share or is this one of those leave you to think about it for a bit and then ask situations?" Liz bumped into Manny, waiting for him to answer. Manny folded his lips inwards and cocked his head to the side. He sucked in a breath, slowly letting it go. It was his little routine before he answered.
"It's nothing. Maybe I'll know what it is later."
"Okay." Liz nodded. Keng threw his arm up and the team stopped. Keng was ahead with Ritsuka, looking around.
'What is it?' Manny telepathically asked. Keng's eyes focused off in the distance. Lee Seng stepped forward, only to be shushed by Keng.
'Did you see it?' Keng asked Ritsuka.
'I think so?' Ritsuka replied.
'It moved fast, but I'm pretty sure I saw it.'
'Saw what?' Manny asked.
'It brushed past the trees earlier.' Keng slowly pointed at the trees. 'It was scaly.'
'Scaly?' Lee Seng thought to himself. The monster encylopedia in his head flipped through the pages. 'There's a lot of things that could fit that description… We'll take out anything that can't be in a forest and…'
The wind suddenly picked up, blowing into the group's face and forcing them to turn away. A large roar erupted into the sky as a large white dragon took flight into the air.
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