"He is already dead," the girl said without care.
"Thanks to the foolishness of my nephew," the old lady smiled like a real viper, "but not thanks to you."
Arthur heard the sound of the stick hitting the ground, "I'll go and keep things under our control. It's lucky that she only managed to clear out those close to here. I'll soon replace them with others. And you…"
The mother stopped as she turned to give her daughter a light gaze. "You know what to do or else… I won't let a single one of our people live after this."
Then the old lady moved outside, leaving behind a shattered girl.
"Thud!"
It wasn't weird for that girl to fall on the ground, exploding in a fountain of tears while her weeping sound was heard by Arthur.
And at this particular moment, Arthur moved.
The girl wasn't in a situation to let her sense her surroundings. In fact the moment her mother went out and left, she let down her guard.
And even while Arthur was drawing near her and activating his technique, she didn't notice until it was too late.
"What the hell…"
"Sorry, but I need you to come with me."
Without any further ado, Arthur just put his hand over her shoulders and the next moment she vanished like she was never there.
'She is inside,' Gege's sweet voice came while he returned fast to the place he was at. He mimicked the stance he took for hours before closing up his eyes, taking a deep breath and then let his mind seep deeply in the garden.
"Let me go!"
The moment he appeared there he found a very beautiful young mage who was trying with all his might to break free from the prison she got herself into.
The moment she was taken here she was instantly surrounded by a large number of pillars.
'I can't hold her for too long,' Gege warned.
"I understand," Arthur said to her yet the girl mistook his words for her.
"What do you actually understand?" she seemed a bit hesitant and that made her calm down for a brief moment there. "How… How did you manage to wake up? You are supposed to be…"
"Dead? Mind wiped out? C'mon, do you think my first time was a bluff?" Arthur crossed his arms while looking at the poor girl in front of him.
Without any doubt this young mage was a toy in her mother's hand. A ruthless mother who was determined to use her as a weapon to kill her enemies without even dirtying her hands.
Or well… she had to make her hands dirty but only with her own daughter.
"Let me go," the girl screamed again while regaining her former power, "you don't know what or whom you are playing with here."
"Trying to threaten me, that's a nice tactic," Arthur smiled yet he didn't move an inch, "let's first start with something… your name perhaps."
"What good will that bring a dead man?"
"I'm all alive and vibrant with life, can't you see that?" Arthur waved his hands in the air while showing his body to her.
"All I see is a man who is going to get killed once…"
"Don't think they are the only ones capable of doing dirty things," Arthur said in a calm domineer, "however I'm far more ruthless than your pathetic mother if you wanted my opinion."
"My… mother…" she seemed terrified and shocked in a weird mix. "How do you know about my mother?"
"I know she tried to push you over the edge while watching you fall from her luxurious seat," Arthur walked around the cage of pillars while sizing up the girl inside. "Family might get complicated sometimes, right?"
"You know nothing about me."
"Hell yeah I don't," Arthur nodded, "but I heard some rumors, said by the tongues of you and your mothers a couple of minutes ago."
Her face turned ashen white before she tried to threaten him again.
"If you tried to do anything, my mother and her associates won't leave you alone."
"Hahaha, haven't you heard? I'm the one who started all this fire. Do you think I would be scared of an old lady and a bunch of traitors and thieves? C'mon, you don't think I'm this soft, don't you?"
The girl seemed hesitant before she asked in a shaky voice, "what do you seek?"
"Killing every single one of those bastards," Arthur said, "and for your misfortune I also plan to kill your beloved mother. Sorry, she is collateral damage."
The girl kept gazing at him silently for a long minute. "My name is… Nicole," she suddenly said.
"Nice to meet you Nicole, I'm Willy," Arthur said while extending his hand to her as if he was going to handshake her. "Oh, sorry… I forgot you are imprisoned."
He retracted his hand while she laughed bitterly and shook her head. "Big men with their bigger egos…"
"Sorry, it's in our DNA," Arthur couldn't help but smile, "now, can you tell me more?"
"About what?" she crossed her arms in an interesting way, "you are the one supposed to know where these lycans hide, right?"
"I will find them, I can promise you that," Arthur nodded, "but whom I can't find are the very bad guys in your team. I want names, I want to know all about these traitors."
She gave him a surprised glance before suddenly breaking out in hysterical laughter.
"What?" he couldn't help but ask.
"Do you think my mother would entrust me with something like this? Or even if she sees me at all?" she shook her head before adding in a bitter tone, "for her I'm just a bitter reminder of the past, of the future she didn't have because she wasn't good enough as she kept telling me. For her I'm not worthy of more than a piece of cloth or a piece of furniture that she can throw away or burn at any time without even feeling a single speck of guilt!"
"That… must be hard to know," Arthur couldn't help but softly say, "however we can work together to bring them down."
"Why?" she had tears now in her eyes, "as far as I know you are a dragonair, one of the mighty leaders of our enemies."
"I'm not their son," Arthur slowly said, "I was like you, found myself in a position not wanted by any or desired by none. Instead of succumbing to fate and crying over bad fortune, I decided to act."
"By waging a war?" she mockingly asked.
"If I have to then I won't hesitate to turn the entire universe into a hell of fire to regain my freedom and keep my safety," Arthur's tone was firm and decisive. Just the look on his face told her how determined he was to go through anything to accomplish that.
"Congrats for you, you are officially a lunatic."
"Says the one who is being orchestrated to be killed by her mother and still defending and helping her."
"What?!!"
The look over Nicole's face told Arthur that she never even considered such a scenario. "Poor one, did you think your mother would throw you in the middle of this without preparing a scapegoat?" Arthur said in a low tone while feeling bad for her.
"She is going to use you as her escapegoat, and in return you won't only lose your life, you will lose everything dear along with it."
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