Chapter 162 - Defeated: Into The Swamps arc (17)

It was still raining like cats and dogs, as Arnold walked into her room alone, his shoes drenched in muddy rainwater but his clothes were surprisingly dry.

"I knew you'd come." Amanda was slumped at her desk, her brows creased and face tense. She asked him in her calm and collected voice, "What's up?"

"Nothing much," Arnold smiled and sat across the table, "There's something I wanted to talk to you about."

"Yeah?" She replied and sat up straight to look him in the eye.

"I think you might have heard about that happened a couple of nights before in Los Angeles?"

"Yes... I did. I didn't know someone would do something so harsh to one of my family members. I was informed last night about it... the man whose locket was recovered was my brother... my blood..." Her head sank into her hands as she uttered those words, sniffing at irregular intervals.

'And the Oscar goes to... miss bitch!' Arnold thought and barely managed to swallow his disgust back, 'It's true he was your brother, and that's what makes it, even more, f*cked up.'

Nathan had already informed Arnold that the locket around the beast's neck indeed belonged to her brother who was an accomplished A rank swordsman who specialised in executing sneak attacks and was often referred to as an assassin rather than a swordsman. But this is what made Arnold feel more disgusted. How could she do it to get her own brother?

"I'm so sorry to hear that," Arnold mumbled, his voice as apologetic as it possibly could get given the circ.u.mstances, "Nathan didn't inform anything about that to me he just told me that there had been some type of a monster attack in a forest around Los Angeles and that the White Family was somewhat involved in it, but he didn't give me much detail and ordered me to ask if you had any information about the attack or how a person got converted into a monster."

Amanda sniffed for the last time and looked back at him, there was a seriousness about her that unnerved Arnold as if she already knew about Arnold's plans or maybe it was something else... his mind was getting hazy... he couldn't think properly.

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You're under the influence of lvl 6.

You're in a state of .

Your intelligence is above 200. You can break through the skill.

Do you want to nullify the status effect?

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You're under the influence of lvl 6.

You're in a state of .

You can break through the skill if the eye contact with the caster is broken.

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Fear and confusion were a deadly combination of status effects. Even though Arnold had enough intelligence to nullify the effect of , he couldn't do so because of the he was suffering through. His confused self couldn't even focus on the notification that had popped up in front of his eyes let alone decide whether or not he wanted to nullify or not, and because of the fear status effect, he could move from his spot neither could he avert his gaze away which was essential for nullifying the effects of confusion. It was a perfect trap against someone like him.

"Don't know anything my ass!" Amanda bellowed and kicked the table over to protect herself in case Arnold somehow managed to get rid of the status effects. But in the process of doing so she ended up knocking him down, "I saw the way he treated you whenever he was here and there's no way he is going to hide any information from you!"

Her knocking Arnold down was a blessing in disguise. The moment their eyes contact was broken, Arnold got free from the confusion status effect. Without wasting a second he immediately cancelled the effect of and quickly took out the vindicators, and another notification popped up on his interface.

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EMERGENCY QUEST : Save yourself

• [ INTRODUCTION ] : You are under attack by Amanda White. She's out for your blood, it's time you return the favour.

[ TASK ] : Kill or subdue your attacker.

[ PROGRESS ] :

Target killed: 0/1 or

Target captured: 0/1

[ REWARDS FOR COMPLETION ] :

• 1000 EXP

• Random reward.

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'I wasn't going to kill her either way, but I'm definitely going to make her pay!' Arnold backflipped and got back on his feet and barraged Amanda with countless bullets.

But the bullets stopped midway... it was like the scene from the Matrix where Keanu Reeves froze the bullets midair, but only this time Amanda was in the role of Neo instead of Reeves...

"Telekinesis?" Arnold mumbled, referring to the ability to manipulate and control any object at will.

Arnold didn't look at her, afraid that he might cast another skill that would give him an unwanted status effect, but the nearby window did show him faint glow that was coming through Amanda's body, and the next moment the same bullets he had fired on her, had switched allegiance and rained upon him instead. He barely managed to avoid the bullets and hid behind a pillar.

"Don't tell me, a Section Chief is scared of a mere Brigadier General? Haha!" She let out a hysterical laugh and started walking towards him.

The situation was bad... Arnold couldn't use the weapons had to take care of her, neither could he indulge in hand to hand combat with her because, if he got too close to her she might even be able to take a hold of his body or she could apply other status effects on him to ensure his defeat.

"Who would have thought she would have the light affinity among everything..." Arnold mumbled while he tried to formulate a plan.

There was only one way for someone to obtain telekinesis, and that was if that person had the affinity. It was by far one of the strongest affinities someone could have and it was also one of the rarest ones. Arnold's ice affinity was also a rare affinity but Amanda's affinity was on another level. One could say that the Light affinity along with the shadow affinity, was the progenitor of all the other affinities.

Telekinesis was only one of the many deadly and utility-based skill among the many other skills like the one which allowed the user to manipulate their strength, it essentially meant that could lower or increase their rank and level as per their will. Arnold was sure that she had utilised this skill to fool everyone and lowered her rank to get herself stationed in East America but what truly surprised him was the fact that she managed to fool the system as well! However but there was a drawback for having the light affinity as well.

One had to work thrice as hard as the others to level up their skills and rank, it was for this reason that Arnold hadn't learnt that affinity in the beginning. But this wasn't the end, one of the only known successful ways to counter the light signify was to have the shadow affinity, which he sadly, did not have.

No matter how hard he thought, he couldn't come up with a way to defeat her... he couldn't use his ranged weapons nor could he engage with her in close combat. Seeing no other way around he called out his summons to help him out.

He opened a portal leading to the void right in front of her, Asterios immediately came out charging towards her, his Warhammer in his hands. However the moment he stepped out of the portal...

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Your Summon(s) :

• Asterios

Have been destroyed and would summons would resurrect in : 1 Hour.

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...He got torn into pieces. Right in front of his Master's eyes. The same thing happened over and over again, even Dread was no match for her and in the end, Arnold had to close the void.

"You really thought your summons could've helped you against someone like me?" Amanda laughed and with a wave of her hands, destroyed the pillar Arnold was hiding behind, "Looks like its the end for you..."

"Are you serious? Do you think you can kill me and get away with it?"

"Serious? You call me serious? Well I guess that's okay, because at times like this I'd be branded as an insane person if I in a situation like this, but I'm not here to appease you or pretend that you can't see the damage being inflicted by the syndicate on the populous of our nation. If the things continue to be the way they are right now there will be nothing left to save. You are on the wrong path, my friend, at your feet swirls negative energy, your aura is dark. Cold logic alone brings cruel choices." Amanda announced and used her telekinesis ability to take control over his body and pulled him towards her, "I might seem like the villain here but all I want is to save this country of ours... and I would've liked it if someone like you joined my goal."

"N-Never in a... hundred years..." Arnold mumbled, struggling to gain control over his body and failing miserably.

"Well, too bad then... Goodbye, Section Chief Arnold Ling." She gave him a quick peck on the cheeks and turned around.

Something flashed in front of his eyes and his expression hardened, he hurriedly tried to move away with a sudden shift but It was too late. The emotions from his face disappeared before anyone could identify it hits soul was being scratched from his body while he felt like he was desperately trying to catch an escaped balloon; the string dangling so tantalizingly close but the wind pushed it away and it's lost forever. To describe his facial expression would be like describing a blank sheet of paper. From the look on his face, it looked like he could have been in a coma for all the life.

And then there was a hint of the victor in the smile surrounded by stiff cheeks on Amanda's, not the supple grin of a friend, but the joy of the enemy after the battle is won, but just as she did, another voice echoed through her mind.

"Alright, next question."

It was Arnold's voice.

Everything in front of her eyes returned to how it was when Arnold had entered her chamber.