One of the Mu tribesmen took a step forward. 

“Sir, we apologize for this intrusion. It has been an accident. That is it. If you will allow it, we will leave this place and never speak to anyone about this. We can swear it in the name of our ancestors.”

Mr. Isaac smirked. He didn't answer, but that was an answer in and of its own. 

The tribesman didn't give up. 

“Sir, we are members of Clan Mu of the Seven Tribes. We are here on behalf of the Chief of the Seven Tribes. Our people have been made aware of our position. They will be expecting us. If we don’t return...”

“You threaten me?” 

“Just stating the facts, sir.” 

Mr. Isaac grinned. It was interesting since all his students knew him as some sort of undead wraith or something, but he was acting like a fully intelligent being. “The Seven Tribes, huh? The one in rural Virginia?”

The two tribesmen took a breath of relief. This man has heard of the Tribes. Good. If this was an ignorant idiot here who didn't understand the seriousness of the situation and just decided to kill them because he could...that would be bad and they would be dying for nothing.

And then what Mr. Isaac said made their heart sink.  

“The Seven Tribes. You know...if it was back in the days when the Ling Tribe ruled, then I might’ve given some thoughts into it, but as of now…” He smirked. “The Chief? What a joke! In fact, I...”

Before he even finished, as soon as it was clear he wasn’t going to let them go, the two Mu tribesmen leaped forward simultaneously, their bodies covered in carapace and their arms transformed into sharp blades. If words couldn’t save the day, then they weren’t afraid to use the way of the sword. 

That completely took Mr. Isaac by surprise. Wait, that’s it? Shouldn’t you two do more begging before desperately drawing your weapons and be effortlessly mowed down by me? This wasn’t the script I had in mind! Follow the damn script! 

Caught off guard, Mr. Isaac waved his hand while stepping back as quickly as his legs would take him, and four Bloodhounds appeared out of nowhere and charged at the two tribesmen. Their teeth were like daggers. Their furs were sharp. Their red eyes shined in the dark battlefield. And...they lasted twenty seconds before being dissected. 

The two tribesmen, despite their humor outside of combat, were brilliant fighters. In a fair fight, without considering all the immortality and self-healing, Katie couldn’t even beat one of them. These Bloodhounds really didn't stand a chance. 

But these Bloodhounds did buy some extra time for Mr. Isaac. This time, he summoned two of the four-eyed beasts that Katie faced in the RCTV building. Dashers, they were called. Immediately, they charged right into the two tribesmen. 

Katie could gut them like fish, not because she was that powerful, but because she had more hit points than all the Dashers combined times a hundred. She could trade blows with every single one of them and then emerge like nothing happened. 

The tribesmen weren’t so lucky. One of them chopped through a Dasher’s armor and was horrified to find his branch blade melting away by the corrosive blood. Before he knew it, his carapace was gone and his flesh and bone were the ones melting. 

Not everyone was Katie Lockwood and could fight with half her arm removed in the most painful way possible. Before long, what was left of that man was on the ground, and it definitely wasn’t a pretty sight.

The other tribesman didn't have time to mourn the loss of his comrade. He knew fighting the Dashers was a one-way ticket to defeat, and he didn't want to go there just yet. Instead, with a move that would make most gymnasts proud, he leaped into the air, stepped on the head of the Dasher, and went straight for Mr. Isaac. 

Holy crap...Mr. Isaac’s expression changed. Killing defenseless students and civilians was a lot different than taking on someone who could actually dodge and fight back. 

Countless ropes, formed by black energy, struck out from the corners of the classroom. Their objective? Grab onto the tribesman’s arms and legs and rip him apart bit by bit. 

The man was swift. His moves were elegant, a lot more elegant than Katie could ever be. The ropes were easily dodged. From time to time, one of them that got too close would be cut in half. All the while, the tribesman was getting closer and closer to Mr. Isaac until it became too late for Mr. Isaac to summon anything else. 

“Are you kidding me?” Mr. Isaac growled. Quickly, a black sword formed in his arm. Before he could do anything else, the tribesman was already on top of him. 

The two clashed briefly before parting ways. 

The Mu tribesman collapsed. A gaping wound was at his stomach, tearing across half his body and nearly cutting him in two. To Katie, this might as well be a random poke. To the tribesman? That was a deadly blow that claimed his life. 

The victor of this duel, Mr. Isaac wasn’t unscathed either. A cut was at his neck, beheading him by one third. 

The ironic thing was that Mr. Isaac vastly overestimated his own capabilities. Yes. He was powerful, but he was far from invincible. In fact, even in the Dark Pantheon, he was no more than a pawn. A foot soldier at best. But months of tormenting and killing people at will made him feel invincible. Made him feel like he was a god. In reality, he was just a mere mortal with supernatural powers. 

He could be wounded, and he could be killed. In that sense, he wasn’t even as mighty as Katie. 

If Mr. Isaac did the smart thing and struck first, then he could’ve taken the two Mu tribesmen with ease. Use the element of surprise, summon an army of Chaos Descendants, and then just bash the two tribesmen’s heads in until they’re maimed or dead. And then, Mr. Isaac could flex all he wanted over their corpses.

But he tried to be snarky and fancy, and right now, he was bleeding out on the ground. 

Some said overconfidence was a sin. They were correct. If you didn't have the strength to back it up, don't flex. 

Making things even worse, the damage done by the Mu clansman was more than just toward the flesh. If Mr. Isaac was stabbed with a normal blade, he would barely break a sweat. After all, this was not his body. But the branch blade cut his body and soul alike. The physical wound was negligible, but the damage done to his soul was truly concerning. 

Slowly, as his life was drained away from him, Mr. Isaac reached into his pocket and pulled out a black stone. He crushed the stone with a single move and shuddered as volatile black energy raced through his body. The power he exhausted during the combat returned to him, but that wasn’t it. A large portion of the violent energy latched itself onto his soul, acting as a bandaid and tending to its damage. 

When the dust settled, it was clear Mr. Isaac wouldn’t be dead soon. But the damage has already been done. The unnecessary wound he just received would take months, if not years, to fully recover. 

For a moment, the man wanted to kill someone, but as of the moment, all he could do was instruct the Dashers to devour the bodies of the two Mu clansmen as a final 'fuck you'. In the moment of life and death, he didn't even have the time to collect their souls before they evaporated into thin air. After that, his only option left was to go home and lick his wounds, which was rather difficult to do considering the cut was on his neck... 

---

Katie had no idea that as she was busy cuddling with Caitlin, their worst enemy was having one of the worst nights of his life. Their pleasure session lasted late into the night. By the time they woke up, it was already morning. The two wasted a lot more time before actually getting up, having breakfast, and tending to business. 

Sitting on the chair in front of her desk, Caitlin started with a very important point. 

“Katie. Do you remember how everything started?”

“Of course. Mr. Isaac threw himself out of the window in the morning, went all splatty, and then came back in the afternoon for the games. He killed Jessica and some other students who didn't get back in time.” 

“Exactly.” Caitlin nodded. “Do you remember the call I gave you that weekend? You were out doing something.”

“Yeah, I was assassinating a black arms dealer.” Katie quickly interrupted. She really didn't want any secrets to get between the two. 

“Of course.” Caitlin grinned. “I expected no different. Either way, I told you that I acquired the security footage in the school, right? We were told to believe Jessica went home and simply didn't come back in time. That was why she died. However, I never found the footage of her leaving the building.” 

“Ok...maybe it’s the curse at work?”

“The curse doesn’t change physical objects. It works on human brains and makes us ignore things subconsciously.” Caitlin rejected. With the curse, Katie could kill someone, dump his body, and the person’s parents would never wonder where he went. But Katie couldn’t go into the police station and shoot someone in the head without that person fighting back and other police officers responding. It cleaned up loose ends. That was mostly it. 

“So...what does that mean?”

“That means Jessica’s death isn’t an accident. Remember? I talked to her, and she said she left. The same works for everyone else that died. They never left the school. Instead, they just disappeared...until they walked into the classroom and killed themselves.” 

Caitlin glanced at the still-confused Katie and continued.

“In other words, Mr. Isaac has been working on them long before they died. He has a whole plan, and he has been controlling these students to be late on purpose just to show us the consequence of disobeying him. That, that is another piece of evidence that he is not just another brainless monster who’s killing for the fun of it. Instead, he is a cold-calculating entity.”

“This Mr. Isaac...he’s here after something, something that’s prompting all this killing and torture.” 

Sitting on Caitlin’s bed, Katie nodded quietly. This was an opinion Caitlin has came up with a while ago, and now the evidence just kept on piling up. Nonetheless, she had to admit she wasn’t quite following the argument. Caitlin might not be a fighter, but she was damn smart!

“And how does that help us?”

“Well, first of all,” Caitlin tapped her chin, slightly changing the topic. “Mr. Isaac is sentient. He is a sentient being with a purpose. Do you remember the time we sneaked into his house?”

“Yep. Killed a ton of living corpses.” Katie tilted her head. She was burned alive several times on that trip. Not the type of experience someone could forget easily…

“Correct. The body part was a little...haunting, but do you remember the rest of the house?” Caitlin leaned forward. Her eyes lit up thoughtfully. “It was clean. In fact, it was normal. I think you found some food in the fridge, right? Some milk too? I was a little caught up in the, you know, undead zombie thing, but I put some thought into it afterward.”

“Mr. Isaac has food, which means he still needs to eat. In other words, aside from all his fancy powers and mind-controlling abilities, he is still a human, right? Therefore he can still be hurt and killed.” 

“Kyle shot him with a shotgun. He even threw himself off a building.”

“Yes.” Caitlin thought of that as well. “But that doesn’t mean anything. Just because he can survive those doesn’t mean he is impervious to them.”

“What?”

“Look,” Caitlin did her best to explain. “if I punch you when you’re ready and when you have sufficient time to defend yourself, will you fall over?”

“Ah...probably?”

“The correct answer is no.”

“I mean...taking into consideration all the factors…”

“No!” 

“Ok ok. No.” Katie finally gave in. Geez...someone’s cranky. 

Caitlin let out a small satisfied smile as she continued. “But if I push you when you’re not looking, will you fall over?”

“Ah...should I say yes?”

“Katie!”

“Fine. Probably. Ok, yes!”

“Exactly.” Caitlin was more than happy to get out of the unsuccessful analogy. “Essentially, Mr. Isaac can deflect these blows when he is prepared, but if he is truly a human being with special powers, then he needs to eat and sleep. If we manage to sneak up on him at night and blow him up...then we may have a chance of killing him!” 

“Oh...strike him by surprise.” Katie nodded. “I like the sound of that! But...how do we know he’s not listening to our discussion as we speak? I mean, he knew we were going to RCTV. He obviously has eyes and ears all around us.”

Caitlin suddenly went silent. It took her a while to produce a reply. 

“Well, we have to assume that. The element of surprise may be the only thing we’ve got left. If we lose that too...then our only way of killing Mr. Isaac will essentially be you chasing him down until the end of time or until one of you dies, and we all know that it’s not going to be you.”

Katie let out a small smile, knowing what Caitlin was implying. At that point, Mr. Isaac couldn’t kill Katie, but he would be more than happy to kill everyone else, starting from Caitlin. Caitlin chose to stay in the games out of a sense of hatred, but that didn't make her fearless. 

Sensing her friend’s mood, Katie grabbed onto her hand. 

“Well, at least we’ve got two days to ourselves. What do you say we go to some amusement park and have some fun?”

“The last time we went to an amusement park, you killed a ghost.” 

“Exactly! As I said, fun!” 

Caitlin let out a tiny grin and allowed Katie to grab onto her hand and drag her outside. 

Caitlin’s deductions were decent, but she still missed out on some key factors.

Mr. Isaac had no intention of spending decades as an ordinary teacher before suddenly exposing himself and proceeding with his plan. Up until the morning the game started, Mr. Isaac has always been an ordinary teacher. It was at that morning that a vile foreign entity possessed his body and used it to commit atrocities beyond count. 

This new version of Mr. Isaac wore the physical body like a meat suit. All the food and milk the two girls found in his house were from the old Mr. Isaac. If they went to his house now, they would find that food untouched. 

In other words, Mr. Isaac had no need for sleep, and in most cases, trying to take him by surprising him at night would be futile. Even destroying his physical body would simply force him to migrate to another suit. However, Caitlin was correct in that Mr. Isaac was still sentient. He could be surprised and outsmarted and hurt and killed, just not by conventional means. 

In the end, Caitlin was no Sherlock Holmes. Would this mistake bite the girls in the ass in the future? Only time would tell.