328 Bang

(Brendan POV)

I admit I may have bitten more than I could chew.

Without any means of navigating in the near darkness of the forest, I am now completely and utterly lost.

After killing off the apparition that had appeared before me, I fully expected there to be more appearing on my way there but surprisingly, none had appeared so far.

That one could not have been the only apparition since I'm still hearing voices of ridicule echoing through the forest every now and then, no doubt trying to unsettle me.

Too bad for them I had managed to tune it all out as background noise and instead, focus solely on moving forward. Not that I was making much progress anyway since I can't see much anyway.

Just as I managed to push my way into a clearing of some sort, I spotted a figure standing in the middle of it ominously.

I was about to turn back around to avoid him when he spoke out in a familiar voice, "Running away from your problems, are we?"

I stopped myself, squinting my eyes at the figure to realise that I was actually looking at myself.

The doppelganger smiled at me, "No, you aren't seeing things. I am thou and thou art I."

I raised an eyebrow, "What is this supposed to be? Am I supposed to come to terms with my deepest and darkest secrets or fears before receiving some kind of powerup?"

His smile turned into a sinister one, "Oh… The question is if you actually know--"

"That I am currently the weakest disciple Master has and even Cai Hong could break me in half with her pinky finger. Yes, I know that."

The doppelganger's smile faltered slightly, "Hmm… But what about the fact that--"

"My talent for Practitioner arts is almost non-existent and therefore would only be stuck in the role of an alchemist, fated to never be able to stand on the front lines with my senior sisters. Yes, I know that."

He stretched his lips in a thin line, "Then what about--"

"My fear that Master would eventually deem me unworthy and abandon me, the possibility constantly being shown to me by how outstanding my senior sisters are. I know that too."

My doppelganger scowled and crossed his arms, "Then why do you seem so nonchalant about this?!"

I smirked, "Because I've already accepted these as facts long ago. Master had said so Himself, that I would be an extraordinary alchemist that He would nurture. Of course I would rather die first before failing His expectations of me. Everything else is inconsequential."

His brows furrowed, "The words of one man could not be enough to suppress your fears!"

I tilted my chin at him, "And you even claim that you are me… You are but a poor imitation that had only scanned the bare surface of my mind to use against me. Master is no man… His words alone carry enough weight to move the world."

"You're lying," he smirked. "You do not see him that way. This view of him is only due to the girls being around you."

I shrugged, "Perhaps. But you only know my surface thoughts so I have nothing to say to you."

Without a second glance back, I turned around and walked back into the forest, discreetly dropping one of my bottles on the ground.

I counted to five steps just as I heard the angry roar of someone being especially frustrated charging at me.

Using the barest of Fire Quarks I could summon, I directed the small flame towards the uncooked bottle I had dropped.

The moment my doppelganger passed by my dropped bottle, an explosion blasted it back while encasing him in black coloured flames.

He rolled around trying to get the fire out but to no avail, the black fire slowly consuming him until only ashes remained.

How predictable.

Right as that thought crossed my head, there was the sound of shattering glass as I felt the air shift around me.

I didn't even have time to catch my bearings before a huge explosion of Quarks expanded nearby.

Thinking this to be the next step to escaping, I immediately made a beeline for it, hoping against all hope the I did not need to fight whatever caused that in order to escape.

*

(Elaria POV)

"Say hello to my little friend!"

My finger pulled the trigger and the machine in my hands immediately began spewing out bullets at the targets in front of me.

The sound of two MG forty twos being fired was deafening in this narrow hallway, both Onee-sama and I keeping the guns trained on the twins.

Several dozens of bullets pierced through the two girls down the hallway mercilessly, peppering them with bullet holes under our sustained fire.

I emptied the entire clip into them, only stopping when the entire belt was finished and the barrel glowed red hot from the use. A bit of a waste but it was still worth it.

Just to get my statement across, I stored the weapon back into my ring before calling out what looks like a small, metallic pineapple with a lever attached to the top.

Pulling the pin, I released the lever from my grip to let the striker hit the primer.

I grinned maniacally before tossing the device towards the end of the corridor.

Unable to help myself, I yelled, "Exxxxplooooosion!!"

A split second later, the grenade exploded in a shower of shrapnel, just in time for Onee-sama to pull me down to hit the dirt with our feet facing the explosion and our hands covering the back of our necks.

After the dust had settled, Onee-sama turned to glare at me, "Tossing an explosive in a narrow corridor? What were you thinking?"

"Umm… Teehee?"

She smacked me on the head before pulling me back up, her own machine gun still in her hands.

We looked back down the corridor to see blood splattered along the walls with no intact body in sight, parts of the ground and walls charred at where the grenade had landed.

"Well, help me with the wall, why don't you?" She scowled, pulling out a satchel charge.

We stuck it to the brick wall and laid down the wires a distance away, making sure to take cover before activating the detonator.

The only issue was that the explosion never came, both of us peeking out of our crouched position to realise that we were no longer in the corridor but back in the forest again. The detonator and satchel charge we had placed were gone as well.

We looked around for a few moments, still confused about what just happened.

That was when little Cai Hong appeared out from the bushes, startling us.

The little girl seemed just as surprised to see us, "Muuu?! Big sis Elaria, Big sis Odriana! Are you going to find Papa too?"

I immediately rushed up to her, "Ehh?! You are going to find Onii-sama?! Where is he?!"

Cai Hong pointed her dainty finger towards the deeper part of the forest.

"Big sis no feel Papa? Papa is there!"

I briefly wondered why Onii-sama would venture into the forest by himself but concluded it must have something to do with the weird things we had seen so far.

Deciding to trust little Cai Hong on her words,Onee-sama and I followed the loli dragon deeper into the forest to meet up with our dearly beloved Onii-sama.

Maybe he already has the barbecue started and we could enjoy a feast soon?

Onii-sama sure knows how to spoil us!