“Now, girl, let go of Subject Alpha and we can talk. You won’t get hurt, I promise. As long as you tell me who put you up to this.”

Had I not been holding Cain with one arm and my sword with the other, I would have clenched my fists in anger and frustration. This had all gone so wrong. And although I had a physical way out with my ‘short voyage’ skill, I could not morally allow myself to take it.

So, my only option was to stall, and hope that Cain would wake up and take care of the situation. Afterall, if neither of the men were attacking, there was a very high chance that they were both low on either luck or MP.

I gently put Cain on the floor and turned around to face the duo. Hermand had leaned against a wall, with his arms crossed over his chest and a pissed expression on his face. Solomon seemed more calm, almost arrogant even.

“I work for a certain organisation.” I began, trying to come off as genuine. “Unlike you, we don’t have a fancy name, but we do have modern equipment and decent security. Let’s just say that if you were to break into one of our facilities, it wouldn’t take us over two hours to catch you.”

“I don’t think provoking him is your best move, all things considered,” Hermand said in a dismissive tone.

“Yes, you’re right.” Solomon responded to him, “but all things considered, shouldn’t you be watching water-grass grow right now instead of bothering me?” He continued in an arrogant tone.

“I saved your life!” Hermand exclaimed.

I wasn’t sure where this beginning of an argument was coming from, but I wasn’t going to let this opening slide. Cain was still unresponsive, but Solomon had turned towards Hermand, as if ignoring me.

I aimed for his neck with my sword.

The white metal of my blade hit a rod of ethereal light. Solomon didn’t even turn towards me, as he blocked my attack. From my angle, I could very well make out the twisted smile on his face.

“David what the actual fuck are you doing?” Hermand asked, as confused as I.

I tried to retrieve my blade closer to my body, so at least I’d be able to guard, but Solomon twisted his wrist, blocking my hand behind his. I tried to widdle out but to no avail.

“Proving a point to you.” Solomon responded as he shoved me against a wall.

I swore under my breath and tried to regain my composure, but to no avail. Solomon pointed his sword made of light at my neck. It was so close I could feel its heat against my skin. A voice inside my head told me that the easy way out, and home, was to impale myself on that sword.

“Is that point that you’re only able to go after women and children?” I asked.

It had become abundantly clear that death was the only thing he wanted to threaten me with, since if he’d wanted to properly hurt me, he would have already done so.

“Shut up!” Herman snapped. “Who the fuck do you work for? How did you get in? Answer me!”

The sword of light came closer to my skin and I realised that this was it. I had failed. There was no way I would be able to get Cain out of here now.

So, I did the next best thing, and locked eyes with Solomon.

“Do you really want to have my death on your consciousness?” I asked.

My voice must have come off as too calm, or the man must have figured something out, as his expression suddenly changed into that of realisation, as he pulled his blade back and said:

“You’re right. You will be no good dead.”

He swung his sword at my chest. I did my best to block it, but with my non-existent swordsman skill, all I managed to do was to slightly deviate it from its course and slash my own hand in the process.

With a groan of pain, I slid to the floor, as I watched a spot of red slowly soak into my shirt. The pain didn’t even register, but my head started spinning. I wasn’t sure if this was what running out of luck points felt like, I wasn’t even sure if I had fully run out, since a wound like this would have been lethal. I waited for my ‘restoration’ skill notification to pop up, but nothing came.

Herman said something, but I couldn’t make out the words.

I needed to do something. My sword felt warm in my hand once more. That’s right, I could, and should, just finish the job myself, I thought. But a voice inside my head told me to get up and fight. If not for Cain’s sake, then for my own.

With a pained groan, and using the wall as a support, I got up.

Solomon turned towards me with an amused expression.

“At least tell me why you’re doing all this.” He said, as he lifted his guard.

“Oh for fuck’s sake.” Hermand interjected.

Several things happened at the same time. Hermand, having gone past the point of no return of annoyance, threw several more wind blades at me, with the intent of knocking me out. I raised my guard, easily blocking them, but also leaving myself exposed to Solomon. However, no attacks came from his side. In my peripheral vision, I saw Solomon’s body fall to the ground, his neck covered in red.

Hermand was as surprised as I, and when he looked at me with a perplexed expression, a bony hand with blood-red fur sliced through his guts with its claws. As he too fell to the ground, the creature slowly morphed back into the form of a small child.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Whatever that form had been, it wasn’t one of the ones Cain took in the book. It was a mixture between a deer, a wolf, and a skeletal human, and although Cain had regained his human form, my heart was still pounding with fear. He looked at me with an expecting expression, which slowly shifted into concern as I continued to remain silent. Finally, he spoke:

“You said you knew the way out.”

All I could do was nod.

But my mind slowly returned to me, as I started thinking about how this experience proved that my ‘mind stop’ skill only worked on magical fear, and not my own fear. Which raised the question of how it was able to see the difference –

“Yes, let’s go. Do you know where the central generator or the main security rooms are?” I asked, having finally fully regained my composure.

“You said you knew the way out!” Cain answered with tired anger.

“Yes, I do. But I need to hide our traces.” I said.

I then bent down to search through Solomon's pockets. His body didn’t feel quite right under my touch, but I didn’t dwell on that thought. I found his keycard, and gestured to Cain that we were good to go.