Jasper Harris, the former 3rd in command of Vesaragon behind Emilia and Brenden, was a relatively quiet man. Although several years older than us, he joined up with the guild around the same time, and since he had a Delta Rank Potential, he was placed in the same squad as my father, Emilia, and Brenden.
From there, working alongside my family, he coasted up the ranks, practically earning a free meal under the guise of "Friendship."
I had met the man a few times, and apart from thinking he was super shy or socially awkward, I never felt any sort of way about the man, hell I never even went so far as to read his mind or memories because he was nothing more than a speck of dirt on my radar.
Although his PyroKinesis Talent was relatively strong, he was easily outclassed by everyone in our family, including Emilia, so I never really viewed him as much of a threat. Yet, here we are, back in the past, and the guy is trying to bite the hand that fed him for so many years.
I hadn’t been lying when I told him that I figured he would show up in our lives at some point, considering how the guy was the classic definition of both a "Yes" Man and a super mooch; I just never expected him to plot to kill my brother.
Following that train of thought, I couldn’t help but be glad Emilia was a few years younger than Brenden because if he was here, I didn’t doubt he’d go after her next.
"Hmmm, now what should I do with this scheming cockroach?"
PUCHI!
Stabbing the dagger into Jasper’s shoulder for safekeeping, I used one hand to smear the guy’s face on the tile violently, chipping teeth and splashing blood all over the white floor while tapping my chin with my now free left hand.
’You will answer EVERY ONE of my questions with TOTAL HONESTY!’ Spitting out another 11 words and adding extra Particles to specific ones, I lifted Jasper’s head and almost burst out laughing because of what I saw.
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Tears, snot, and blood streamed out of Jasper’s orifices, and with his nose bent at a weird angle and twitching eyes, he cut a sorry image that made me chuckle.
’Hm, one more thing,’ before I began my interrogation/torture session, I needed to check one final box.
’You will speak in a soft voice so as to not wake up my baby brother.’ Amanda was a very deep sleeper who, even with hurricane-force winds or a massive thunderstorm brewing, wouldn’t wake up once out for the night.
Baby Brenden, on the other hand, was another story altogether; as with all babies, with even the slightest loud noise, they could wake up and begin crying; thus, I burned the additional PC to ensure nothing affected my newborn brother.
"First off, rank and level." Still holding up Jasper’s head, my childish voice entered his ears as if it were a faint whisper.
"Aaa…Alpha-Rank, level 4…" Although under the effects of my skill, and his eyes could be seen faintly glowing in icy blue light, Jasper was fighting against my Talent, but in the end, he still answered my question.
Unfortunately for him, his struggle didn’t go unnoticed by my hawklike eyes, so I decided to give the poor sap a little encouragement.
Thump, POP.
Using a downward 12 to 6 elbow strike, I struck the spot right below Jasper’s shoulder blade, and by using just the right amount of force, the soft clicking pop that occurred was the sign I had dislocated his shoulder.
The sudden wave of pain caused the young man in my grasp to shiver as more tears and snot burst out of his eyes and bent nose.
"No, please~ Keep struggling against my Talent; I have NO problem getting the information I desire the hard way, hehe.’ Using a playful tone and rolling my eyes, I moved around to the opposite side of Jasper’s body and readied myself to dislocate his other arm.
"How long have you had ill thoughts against my brother?" Contorting my body in such a way that my face was directly in front of Jaspers, I asked with an innocent smile on my lips.
"Sss…ssss..Since the…" With bloodshot eyes, Jasper fought a mental battle against my Talent, but since I was already in position, I made my move.
Thump, POP!
"Gak…Since the day he became the leader of the guuuild, I was tired of being a lacky, so I bided my time; if the Aliens hadn’t invaded, I and my faction would have made our move." Making a strange and pained sound, Jasper rattled off his truth, making me smile.
"See~ now was that so hard, sigh, if only you weren’t so stupid." Clicking my tongue, I reached over the young teenager’s body and gripped the dagger embedded in his left shoulder.
Knowing I would get some resistance when asking my next questions, I readied myself ahead of time.
"Why did you decide to kill Brenden now instead of waiting until he could properly defend himself?"
"I…I…I needed to earn Timeline Energy so that I could complete the Event Quest. Figuring that if I killed a prominent figure in the future early would gain me a lot of years of progress, I did my research and found what hospital Brenden was born in, ahhhrrrggg mmmm mmmmmn."
Near the end of his statement, I began dragging the dagger, which was stabbed about an inch into his back, across his shoulder blades, my twisted way of telling him to speed up the explanation.
"I’ve killed two other returners, and the amount of Timeline progress I earned was significant, but since they were peanuts in the grand scheme, I chose to get my revenge instead."
"Annoying, if you would just hurry up and get to the point, you would save yourself so much trou…"
Partway through the word trouble, I pulled the dagger out of Jasper’s back and picked up his right hand before inserting the tip of the blade under his index finger’s nail.
"..ble, but you keep wanting to fight me. Sigh, I spent quite a lot of PC time on my commands, so your effort, while valiant, is otherwise futile." With a light chuckle, I smiled while looking up at the ceiling and began ripping off Jasper’s fingernails, one by one.