Chapter 246: Preparing To Go Back

"YES! COME HERE! GIVE ME HER BODY! HOW DARE YOU TOUCH MY SISTER!"

With clear pain on his face, he continued walking towards Abby's body that was pinned down by lightning daggers from the ground, his heart cracking more and more from each step as he reached her location.

"Abby… Don't worry, I promised that I would never abandon you and I don't plan on breaking that promise anytime soon…" 

Moby's voice was soft and gentle, a complete contrast between his prideful, deep voice from before. 

"Shut up! I don't want to hear that from you! You took everything from me! Everything! If you want me to respect you again, kill yourself and give me my sister baccckkkk!" 

"She couldn't care less about you! She was the enemy! A shalker! She just used you as a hostage to get to me! Don't you get it!?"

"Shut up! You know nothing of mine and her relationship! We were close! I loved her and she loved me! We were inseparable and shared the same ideals! And now my dear sister is dead! DEAD! You fucking killed her!! And not only that! You have no respect for her! Dragging her body on the ground! You fucking bitch! Give her back now!

She yelled, firing a dim, slow crimson flame from her mouth headed straight for Moby that he simply sidestepped and dodged despite the state that his body was in.

It was more than clear to him now… Abby had gone completely insane, possibly beyond saving, his heart lurching deep down in his chest just looking at her, breaking into a million pieces. 

From before, she seemed somewhat sane, able to be reasoned with. But now she looked like a complete monster… If it weren't for her face that somewhat resembled that of old, if 2 weeks ago someone had shown him a video of her and told him that was Abby, he would have laughed in their face and called them an idiot, and that Abby would never even dream of even looking at him weird let alone curse at him.

He had no idea what Emilia did to her, whatever she did seemed to be extremely powerful… There seemed to be no talking sense into her… 

'Avilia, I need help here… Do you think I can help her… This is really important to me… Give it to me straight if it can't be done,' 

Without hesitation, Avilia answered calmly. 

'I'm not sure what was done to her, but I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to find out. If you search her soul for a bit, you might be able to find answers. It should be much easier for you since you already had a connection with her in the past,'

'Wait! Really!? That's it!? Why didn't you say so earlier!? I'll just-"

'I wouldn't recommend you do it now. The process is extremely long and fatiguing which are 2 things you are lacking; It will take until past your curfew and your body is too injured right now to handle it. It's best for you to take her back to your dorms and get her fixed before you go to the general's office to report Emilia's body. Or, you can send Jayden to do that part and you can be back at the dorms to fix Abby,' Avilia explained, Moby nodding back in agreement, although he didn't agree with her term of 'fix' which made sound like Abby was nothing but a broken toy.

'If that's the case then it can't be helped, I agree with your judgement,' 

'Inspect,'

Moby used his inspect skill on Abby, finding out that it now worked once more, most likely due to the state she was in.

'2 mana, 3 demon energy and barely any HP…' 

Moby inwardly took in, concluding that she was no threat to him, and in her state might as well be even worse than he was, now nodding to himself.

"Nags!" 

He called with an air of authority that was nothing like when he was addressing Abby, looking to his right where he last remembered seeing him when he was on the hill, surprised by his expression that he did not clearly see until now.

Nags looked at him with a completely blank face, at him and Emilia's corpse still in his hands. 

He looked like a zombie with a face of a ghost, like he was still lost in his mind.

"Nags! What are you doing!? Snap out of it!"

"Huh…"

Immediately, Nags woke out of his daze at Moby's orders, shaking his head trying to look natural. It was an expression that was completely unlike Nags who was usually calm headed and composed,

"I think I get it… Your old boss was part of the same race as the people who took your sister. It must be tough. But you need to get over it! It's not really your fault," 

Moby's voice rang in his skull like a jet engine, completely firm in his words, making his eyes grow wide, as he bowed down so that his face could no longer be seen and said.

"Thank you so much for your words of kindness lord, I'll be sure to cherish them," 

Moby knew that Nags was on the smarter side than most people. He was still unsure what he should do with him later on when his 1 week of control was over and if he should trust him or not… At least for now, he could be 100% trusted. 

"Nags, since you're less injured than everyone else, I need you to bring her towards the others following right behind me. Don't hurt her or use any force more than necessary,"

"I understand!" 

He replied, still bowing, his voice and mannerisms slightly off, most likely due to his still cloudy, hurting mind. 

"No! Stay away from me! Don't touch me with your filthy hands! I'll fucking kill you! I'll kill you!"

She struggled to no avail as she was tightly locked between Nags's two hands.

"My lord, if it's not too rude of me to ask, but why don't we just knock her out now? Wouldn't it be easier than dragging her?"

Moby closed his eyes and responded to his words. 

"Well, she has the teleport pad in her inventory, we can't get back without it. Despite how much it hurts me to say, but we might need a little force to get it out of her. But first, I might need to try something else that I can whip out since I would really rather not hurt her … For now, let's go to the others, Oh, and don't forget to pick up Jason's skeleton on the way back, we can't forget it here, "

Moby explained, Making Nags nod back to his words.

"Understood,"

"Good, now follow me…"

Moby spoke, walking back with his back straight and his chest out, like a true king showing absolutely no weakness.

"STOPPP IT!!"

Moby inwardly took a deep breath. Other than what went on with Abby, everything had been so far going even better than he had planned. Currently, he was as fragile as glass, any sudden impact would be more than enough to completely shatter him. But, lucky for him, they all bought his bluff and went along with what he said since they had no reason to doubt him. 

Using his drain skill, he drained the life force from the rhino-looking beasts and used it all to heal his face and only some of his body. That was why his face looked completely uninjured as all of his major wounds were all hidden under his armour that was recently repaired due to Avilia's prowess. 

He used every fibre of his being to force his way towards the first battlefield, which even further injured his body. Currently, he was barely even able to stand up straight, let alone walk like he owned the world. Yet, he had to endure all the pain under his poker face as to not break everything that he had just built up and watch it crumble and backfire in his face.

Due to Moby's inexperience with contracts and such, he was not strong enough to modify or remove it, so reusing it was his best option after everything was over and Villanova died. He could not simply trust HikariYami to keep his secret and needed a way to keep her mouth shut without angering her and getting killed so he had to do what he had to do… Especially now seeing how strong she was, being far stronger than he had ever expected, his friends all being completely destroyed by her. 

Of course, after all the damage that had been made, to both him and his friends, he could not let her go scot-free. She had to pay for what she had done, if he had not arrived in time, they would have all been dead. However, in his current condition, that would not be possible. Looking at Alex and Jayden's sorry, injured states made a burning fire rage in his heart, all directed at her. 

Yet, for some odd, inexplicable reason, part of him completely opposed that and felt pity for her, a naive child being manipulated by an alien to do their bidding, her sad, crying, puppy dog eyes popping up in his mind before shaking them away. 

For the first time that he could remember, his mind was torn in two, unable to understand what he was meant to do with her, his brain beginning to hurt like it was going to bulge out of his head.

He shook his head and tried his best to make up his mind.

He was never a man known for his mercy and he did not see why it would be any different for a random girl he had only just met.

He was slightly leaning more towards possibly killing her for the XP and revenge for his friends but he decided that he should consult them first before he chose to do anything since they were the true victims in all of this.

He was in no rush to come up with a decision, even if they chose to kill her, they would definitely not do it now or anytime soon considering their injured states. 

"LET GO OF ME YOU MONSTERS! GIVE ME MY SISSSTERRR BACCKKK!"

Their entire way to the others, Abby would not stop her screaming, her words, although the raving of a hopeless madwoman, still piercing daggers into Moby's soul, despite his best efforts to ignore her.

"This should be good enough, you should be able to walk now, although only barely… I ran out of mana so I can't do much more, I can fully heal you when we get back home okay?" Jayden spoke to Alex with a shaky, tender smile, unlike anything he had ever seen before, making him look wide-eyed in surprise as she continued wrapping cloth around the bleeding wounds that she was not able to fully heal.

"Oh! Moby! You're back! I-I'm so glad you came back in time… I was so scared… You saved us all..." Jayden spoke, holding back the tears in her eyes, still wrapping Alex with a white cloth. 

Moby wanted nothing more than to give Jayden a hug and tell her that everything would be alright, but he was not sure that his collapsing body could even survive something so simple and he knew that it was definitely not the time for such things.

However, before he could think any further, he was interrupted.

Suddenly, jumping out of the mountain above them crashed a little girl, a look of sadness and joy on her face as she ran over towards Moby in a hurry. 

"Big brother! You're back! Are we going back home now?" Hikari said, softly grabbing Moby's rough hands. 

"Yes, we're going back home, it shouldn't take long. Sit tight for me okay?"

"Okay big brother Moby…"

She spoke with a rather shy smile, bowing to him before standing by a few meters away. 

"W-wha…" 

Jayden, Alex, and Nags all stood there in shock, unable to believe their eyes. They refused to believe that their previous enemy, the same, ruthless, heartless girl that almost killed them all a few minutes ago now seemed like a small, shy, innocent little child could not even hurt a butterfly. Alex especially. 

It almost seemed like Moby had completely tamed her and that he has a plan for her in the future. 

Shaking his head to remove such thoughts, Alex asked, putting on a serious expression. 

"Where's Abby… What happened with her? D-did you managed to get her back?"

The atmosphere was tense and quiet, nothing but the sound of the wind and purple petals from the flowers on the ground blowing around them.

"Well, see for yourself…" Moby spoke, moving to the side only to reveal Abby's angered, beyond unrecognizable face of madness, heavily breathing as she no longer screamed. 

"I see… C-can you not save her… Did we come this way all for nothing… Did we fail before we even started… Heh… At least you were able to kill a shalker spy, one with an ability at that… Things should get pretty crazy when we get back to school…" Alex spoke, laughing softly at himself like he was ready to burst into tears, before Moby shed some light on him once more.

"Don't worry, I think I should be able to save her. I just don't have time to do it here, we need to get back home before it's too late,"

Alex and Jayden's looks of depression turned radiant hearing Moby's words, nodding vigorously back to him as they contained tears of Joy from falling down their face. 

"We only have 25 minutes, we need to force the teleport pad out of Abby's inventory. I don't want to hurt her so I'll try to use my new void power to maybe forc-"

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

"W-what!? What the fuck is that!?" 

Abruptly, a massive explosion was heard in the sky, making everyone look up only to see ripples and waves, sending gusts of wind in all directions as they all struggled to stand in place, especially the beyond injured Moby.

Waves of purple consumed the previously calm, orange sky, a massive hole opening up in the middle of the wave, filled with nothing but black, ominous energy with a hint of purple, the very fabric of space and time tearing and shifting all around it, causing effects that only seemed possible in the movies, but now only real.

As the hole opened more and more, so did the flowing energy and the raging wind blowing sand in their face, when suddenly, another explosion was heard. 

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

Blinding all of their visions, making them cover their eyes. 

"W-wha!"

When they opened their eyes, they could not help but stare up in shock and horror, the previous orange sky was still there, only now consumed by a spaceship of massive of unknown origin unlike anything they had seen before, It's grandeur mouth opening, its colours a mixture of ominous, shadowy black and purple filled with energy. 

Out of the ship, the figure of what seemed like a tiny spec jumped down in the distance on the ground below, falling for a few seconds before landing and creating a crater in his wake, the sound even reaching them who were many kilometres away.

The crash was then followed up by a massive roar, in a language that sounded oddly familiar yet unlike anything they ever heard in their entire life, the voice sounding otherworldly, shaking them to their very core and sending shivers down their spine, their hearts lurching deep down in their chest, cold gusts of wind blowing everywhere.

« AVILIAAAA!! I KNOW YOU'RE THERE! COME OUT! »

As soon as he heard that unknown, incomprehensible roar, he felt an odd feeling in his aching heart, making him look inside only to see Avilia's metaphorical feeling of shock and unease, like something both amazing and horrifying happened at the same time as she muttered.

"That's… That's... THAT'S!" 

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