Chapter R12: Closure

(Ride's POV)

I had seen Effinshia’s strength a few times already, but it always surprises me nonetheless. To see how easy is it for her to take on the entire hideout and how easy was it for her to dispatch the henchmen. How she could keep going and going without an ounce of rest. It was insane to me. I’ve truly got a long way to go.

*Smack!

Effinshia disabled another henchman. One of the bad guys who decided to take this chance to strike Effinshia from the back. That attack soon failed as, Effinshia, who (as if) had eyes on her back, ducked underneath the strike before giving one swift kick to the man. A kick powerful enough to send the man flying into the wall of the building. 

The enemy didn’t let down. This time it was three men wearing rogue like clothing striking her from three directions. I couldn’t tell what spell or skill she used. Hell, I couldn’t even see what she did. All I know was that she dashed forward in such a way that it left afterimages. Soon after all three rogues got blasted away by a strong gust of wind before lying unconscious on the floor.

It was like what Kranis said earlier today. It was what I expected as well. She doesn’t need our help. She never needed our help.

We were only following her, but it’s not like we had to do anything. All we needed to do was keep each other safe. Not a hard thing to do when everyone is getting the life kicked out of them. There were a few people who attempted to attack us, probably trying to use us as hostages or something, but the unfazed Effinshia dealt with them before they got the chance to do so. Sometimes, the baddies would bring out innocent-looking women wearing collars.

Slaves.

It ended the same way as the men who tried to attack us. With Effinshia quickly dispatching them faster than my eye could see. Sometimes she would even use some sort of attack that shocks the opponent from a distance, paralysing their movements. Each and every person that tried to attack us, Effinshia would neutralise. She was really brutal about it too, much like what happened during the interrogation. She wasn’t killing them, but I do feel bad for them. These were injuries that will take months at the minimum to heal up. If even healable at all.

I looked towards my friends, the people beside me, and saw the fear in their eyes. Their faces pale as if they saw a ghost. Unlike me who had a day to get used to the brutality, these people were seeing first hand, the deconstruction of the bubbly, happy and relaxed woman into a more savage and focused one. Effinshia is not one to fool around during battles. 

Nobody said anything about it though. Probably because we knew the truth behind her actions. Everyone was probably thinking the same thing as I did yesterday. Note to self, I have to make sure we don’t anger her in the future. I certainly don’t want to end up like the mobster from yesterday.

One wrong mistake and my arms could turn to wet noodles in an instant!

Effinshia kept smacking people left and right until we reached a nice-looking door which was guarded by a whole bunch of people. Needless to say, Effinshia beat all of them up. Well… most of them at least. Some others sprinted away they moment they saw her overwhelming strength. Her hand reached out for the doorknob before spinning it only to find that the knob was stuck in place. 

“Haaaaaaa….” Letting out a sigh, Effinshia took a step back before poking the door with her sword.

*Boom!

A loud explosion rang out and the door burst forth, opening the path for us. Effinshia then slowly walked into the room, with Providence following right after. The first thing we saw was a man wearing flashy clothing hiding under a desk. His hands covering his head and his body shaking, shivering.

On top of the table were lots of items and papers. One particular item interests me, as if different from the others. I could not tell what was different about it but it intrigued me, allured me. A statue of a half-woman, half-spider. An Arachne.

"I wouldn't touch that if I were you." Effinshia held her hand in front of me. Preventing me from coming into contact with the statue.

I turned around, only to see I have walked a considerable distance from the group in order to reach out to the object. 

When did I...?

Right after, the shattering noise of clay was heard. Bits of pieces of broken clay spread out on the floor. Effinshia had broken the statue into multiple pieces.

The flashy man heard the breaking statue and grew more fearful. "Hiiii!! Please don't hurt me!"

Effinshia didn't walk over to the man immediately. Instead, she walked over slowly to the table which she then put her hand on. With the strength of someone unlikely from a woman of her looks, she picked up and tossed the table to the walls, breaking it. Splinters of wood just dropping all over the place. Some even hit the man.

The man got more frightened by the action. "Please, I'll do anything. Money? Do you want money? I have plenty to spare! Just don't hurt me!"

"Not interested in petty money. Ya the ring leader of this whole slave-trading thing? Morello?" Effinshia said, resting her sword on her shoulders.

"Y-yes…"

"Good." Effinshia moved towards the man before grabbing him by the collar. She then… sat him down onto a chair. "Tell me, Mr. Morello. Which do you prefer? Left or right?"

"...  Ri… Right?" He replied.

"Alright then."

*Crack

"AAARRRGGGHHHHHH!!!" The man screamed as Effinshia swung her sword onto the man's right arm, breaking it in the process. The man then fell to the floor, clenching his broken arm on agony.

Effinshia squatted next to the man. "Better hope that's not your good arm. The Arachne statue. Where did you get it from?"

The man didn’t reply immediately, only clutching his arm and yelling out cries of pain. 

*Tap *Tap

Huh? Effinshia tapped the floor with her sword before giving me a nod. Nudging me to do something.

Good cop, bad cop...

Letting out a sigh, I went over to the man and gave him the ‘good cop treatment’. Telling Effinshia to stop and that she’s going overboard before telling him:- “Answer the question, I don’t know what else she will do man. I don’t want you to lose your arm.”

Effinshia gave me a thumbs up before asking the man again about the statue.

“I don’t know… I swear.” The fancy man replied.

Effinshia stood up and swung her sword to her side. A blue crescent beam launched out of the sword before coming into contact with the already destroyed table. More splinters of wood falling all over the place. On the floor was a line of destruction. Even I had to take a step back when she suddenly did that out of nowhere.

“Answer me. Now.” Effhinshia’s signature chilling cold voice came out of her lips.

The man named Morello became more frantic and tried to back away from the woman only to have his back meeting a wall.

“There was this figure in a black shroud! He came by with an Oni and gave me the statue in exchange for money! The guy wore a mask, I couldn’t tell who he is! He said that the statue spreads some sort of purple skin disease and that it can only be cured by using some leaves or something. We made bank by selling the leaves at ridiculous prices.” 

“What leaves? How much money?” Effinshia asked.

The man knit his eyebrows, thinking hard. “Kruu! Kruu leaves! We split our profits fifty-fifty! Crazy amounts!”

“Where is this Oni and this shrouded figure? Where can I find them?” Effinshia asked.

What’s going on? Oni? Shrouded figure with a mask? Also, did he just said that the statue spreads the Purple Skin?

Before the man could answer, Vidya walked forth towards the man. “Pur...ple skin?" Vidya said in a broken voice. Her hands were shaking and somehow, underneath that mask, I could feel a sense of tension being emitted from her. 

“Viddy?” Lanarya came forward to us as well. She stopped just bright before Vidya, her face full of worries.

“This disease… could it be the same disease as the one in Cezza…?” She asked, her voice clear and yet it has a distinct air about it.

“Ce—Cezza?” Morello asked in fear.

“ANSWER ME!” Vidya shouted intensely before throwing her mask towards the man. The mask hitting the man right in the face.

I backed away from the sudden scream and her sudden action. So did Lanarya and the other members of providence. Surprisingly enough, even Effinshia took a step backwards from the sheer intensity of her shout.

Vidya’s facial expression says it all. She was grinding her teeth so hard that it looked like it hurt, her breathing was noisy and erratic. Vidya was also throwing a very mean glare towards Morello. 

Vidya then took a deep breath, before asking in a calm and serene voice :- “The plague…. It’s not because of this statue… right?” Her intense glare no more, but I could still see her body shaking.

The man didn’t answer and continued to back away, sliding the walls onto the corner of the room. Effinshia regained her composure fast before telling the man to “Spill it.”

‘Ye-Yes… We bought a statue from the Oni… We then placed it in some random town. To see if it works. We set up a shop to sell Kruu leaves and used that profit to buy more statues when we realized that it did. We got the leaves from A’bell and things were going well until A’bell was destroyed, we had to resort to scamming and increase the price of the remaining leaves we had.”

“I don’t care! What about Cezza?!” Vidya changed from the calm face she had and shouted at the man again.

The man hid his face with his hands. “Hiiii!! Cezza! Yeah, we placed a statue as Cezza as well. I did it with my own two hands! Near the adventurers guild! The girl in the poster, the wanted one with the platinum coin on her head was from Cezza as well! She managed to find out that we don’t have the leaves for sale and threatened to expose us, so we had her chained up. I didn’t know where she is now, she was freed a few days back. That’s all I know. I swear! Please don’t hurt me.” The man blabbered.

...

If what he says is true… Then this guy… is pretty much the direct cause of Vidya’s brother’s death.

I looked towards Vidya only to see her expression distorted to a permanent scowl. She opened her mouth to say something before closing it. She tried to take a few deep breaths to calm herself down. It worked for a while before her face once again distort into sadness before turning back into an angry face again. Her whole body never stopped shaking and her breathing never slowed down. Then, all of a sudden a large blast of air was released from her body. Around her was this blue aura and blue lines of what looked to be mana bursting forth from her around her. 

“Dear lord of flames hear me. I Vidya Vis Cezza command of thee…” She started to chant something and a ball of flame appeared on Vidya’s right hand. Magic circles appeared beneath her and on her arms.

Why is she suddenly casting a spell? Is she trying to kill the man?!

“Get away! She’s casting the grade five skill incineration! “ Tyle yelled at me before dragging Lanarya away to safety.

Hearing his warning, I tried to run away as well. However, Effinshia blocked my way and gave me an understanding shook. She then walked right up to Vidya.

“BURN THIS MAN TO CRISP! INCINERATI—Ahhh!” Vidya’s chant was interrupted when Effinshia held her right arm in an iron grip. The magic circles dispersed and the air around Vidya grew quiet. 

All of a sudden, Vidya was now unable to do anything. Vidya tried to shake her off but Effinshia didn’t move an inch. She won’t break away from that so easily. I would know, I was held by that same iron grip once. In the corner of my eyes was my friends peeking back inside. Probably curious when they didn’t hear any explosions coming from the room.

“Argghhh!!!” Vidya Screamed incoherently before bringing her other hand towards the man “Fireball!” She shouted. But nothing happened. It was as if the witch was unable to cast any spells.

“FIREBALL! FIREBALL! WIND BLADE! FREEZETHROWER! DARK BOLT!” Vidya shouted a variety of spells but none of them came out. 

Seeing that she couldn’t use any spells, she then tried to find anything in the immediate vicinity around her. She found herself a broken clay piece on the floor and soon tried to pick it up. Tried. Effinshia’s tight removing grip prevented her from reaching the clay piece.

“Let me go!” 

She yelled to Effinshia as she struggled harder now. Having even resorted to hitting the azure eyed woman that she respects so much. Effinshia continued to hold her grip, her face expressionless.

“This man… This man! He deserves to die! Korva! My Korva died because of this man’s greed! I can’t. I won’t forgive him! Let me go Sis Effy!” She struggled harder and harder.

Vidya hit Effinshia harder but she hardly flinched.

“I’m fine with you beating him up. But I won’t let you kill him Vidya.” Effinshia said to her.

“Let me go. Urghhh!!”

“Remember what I said back at the house? This whole purpose of this trip in the first place was to find closure, not revenge. I meant it Vidya.”

She struggled further. Even resorting to throwing her shoes at the man.

“Killing him won’t give you the satisfaction you want Vidya. I didn’t bring you here to dirty your hands like that. That’s my job.”

None of the words seemed to enter her head as she kept trying to pull away from her. Her grunts grew more disgruntled. She kept this going for a while before finally slumping down on to the floor crying. It was then when Effinshia finally let go of her.

Poor girl…

“Viddy…” Lanarya let out a soft mutter before kneeling down to give Vidya a soft and warm embrace. Vidya only cried on her chest. 

My heart felt like it was poked by a thousand needles watching that scene. It was then when Effinshia turned around to the man. Dragging him by the collar and out of the room.

“Come on, Lucky Boy. We still have things we need to ask this guy.” Effinshia called out to me as she left the room with the man. The man struggling to free himself of Effinshia’s hold.

What is she going to do the man?

I took another look at Vidya who was being comforted by Lanarya. Lanarya softly rubbing her back and telling Vidya that everything is alright. I then took a look at the guys who gave me a nod. 

“We’ll take care of things here. Just go.” Scorch said out to me.

I nodded back before giving chase to Effinshia.

 

* * * * *

 

“I’m sorry you have to see all that. I didn’t think she would go berserk like that.” Effinshia said to me as we moved to another room. 

I just kept quiet. 

Honestly speaking, I thought you were the one who was going to go berserk in there. Not Vidya.

“I wonder if she hates me now?” Effinshia said out loud. Tossing the man in her hands onto the floor in front of us.

“...She speaks of you with a lot of respect. I’m sure she won’t hate you so easily. I think.”

“I hope that’s the case,” Effinshia replied before squatting next to Morello and staring at him the eyes. 

“Listen to me here. There are things worse than death in this world. If you don’t want that to happen to you then tell me where is this Oni and this shrouded figure. How do I reach or contact them?”

“I… I don’t know… I really don’t!” He replied in fear.

Effinshia brought out her sword and released the bindings that tied the sheath to her sword. Finally drawing it out for the first time today.

“I don’t know! I’m serious! They are the ones who come to us!”

“Then tell me where is the rest of the damn statues. Which town or cities did you place them in. Tell me if you want to keep your left arm.” Effinshia intimidated the man. Her sword’s edge touching the man’s left arm.

“Isn’t cutting his arms a bit too much, Miss Effinshia? Better tell her man. The sword is sharp. I’ve seen it cut armoured beast boars.” I gave my own scary story to the man. My voice with confidence. I must be getting used to the role of good cop.

The man answered back with a list of all the towns that he could remember placing the statues. Once done getting all the information she needed in her notebook, Effinshia knocked the man out cold using the hilt of her sword.

“You missed your calling on acting kid. I can tell you that much.” Effinshia told me as she sheathed her sword and tied it back to her belt.

“T-thanks… I guess.”

“We need to leave soon. I expect the guards to be here within the hour. Mind helping me check out on Vidya? I need to make sure I didn’t miss anything else in this building. Maybe the requester is here.” Effinshia walked away without waiting for my reply.

“Alright,” I answered nonetheless.

I looked towards the unconscious Morello one more time. Despite what Vidya told us yesterday, Effinshia never once go against what she told us. She mentioned that she was here to beat the slave traders up and that’s what she did.  Once again, I touched my right shaking right arm before moving back to the other room. 

“That was fast? Is everything alright?” Scorch asked the moment he saw me enter the room.

“Yeah. We got all that we could from the man before knocking him out cold.”

The guys only let out a sigh of relief as they heard my answer.

“For a while there, I thought the old hag was going to kill the man,” Kranis said.

“It did indeed look like that,” Tyle said as he looked towards a certain pair of girls.

The sight of Lanarya comforting a sobbing Vidya could be seen. 

Closure huh… 

Effinshia never did try to kill anyone. Sure she hurt them badly, but killing was never her intent. But Vidya… Vidya was certain out for blood back there.

And to think here we are here, telling ourselves that we needed to support Effinshia emotionally and stop her from going too far into revenge. But it looks like we were looking at the wrong person. It was Vidya that we needed to watch out for all along.