Chapter 3201 For the Jugular (Part 1)
Even after decades, Derek still hated Ezio like the first day.
"I have no father! I raised myself without any help from a pathetic excuse of a-" The second pang brought to his mind a scene in front of a fireplace where a young boy wrote with his stubby finger on a tray full of ashes.
From there his mind went to the Hogum Mansion, where Raaz's mutilated body lay down on a table akin to Carl in the morgue. Derek remembered the fear of losing that unknown man and the following struggle to save his life.
"Raaz!" Derek grunted, shaking his head to clear his mind.
"I'm Rena. Your big sister." Rena stepped forward. "I took care of you until you were four and then you took care of me. You've done so much for me that I've named my firstborn, Leria, after you.
"You've saved the life of my baby, Falco. Do you remember them?" She pulled out a Rememberer and projected the images of her children laughing with their uncle.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
"I'm Tista, your other big sister!" She cried, punching the golden sphere to get in. "I wouldn't even be here without you. You cured me from the Strangler!"
A third pang brought back memories of the time spent with Rena, then with the children at the Hot Pot, and with Tista while alleviating her symptoms.
Derek sprawled on the floor, incapable of resisting the flood of images coursing through his brain and the pain they caused him.
"Let him breathe. Take a step back and give him a second." Quylla said, but no one listened to her, and she had to pull everyone by force with Bloodbind.
As soon as the Void stopped panting but before he could recover from the shock, Quylla and Friya approached him.
"Hi, Lith. Do you remember us?" Friya asked.
"How could I not? You are the bastards who put me in here!" He snarled, clawing at the construct while breathing a burst of blue flames.
"Damn, they got him really pissed." Baba Yaga grumbled as she increased the mana output to keep the prison from being breached.
"It's not working" Quylla and Baba Yaga said in unison. "Lith has lost his memory but his paranoia is alive and kicking. Unless we gain his trust, he won't do anything we say and won't believe his own memories."
"It's hardly paranoia when a bunch of strangers lock you up and let you burn while they take their sweet time preparing whatever this is." Derek scoffed. "Do you think I'm stupid? I've recognized the pattern of your attack.
"You left me literally simmer in here and then brough these people to gang up on me. I don't know how you get inside my mind, but it's my mind. I won't let
you control me."
"This is our last chance." Baba Yaga used a tendril of Spirit Magic to prepare Kamila and then Warped Elysia in her mother's arms.
"Mama!" The baby girl said with a joy that lasted only until she saw the tears streaking down Kamila's cheeks. "Mama?"
Elysia looked around, noticing her grandmother curled up on the floor, crying. The atmosphere in the room was the gloomiest she had ever seen. Her confusion grew even bigger as she looked at the figure trapped in the sphere of
light.
He was familiar but also scary. The trapped man had a cold gaze and a cruel smile that made Elysia seek the protection of her mother's embrace.
"Lith, this is your daughter. Elysia." Kamila swallowed at every word to keep her
voice steady, praying to the gods for mercy. "Say hello to your dad, sweetie,
he's back."
"Dya?" Elysia turned from Kamila to Derek in confusion.
"That's Elysia?" The The Void Demon Dragon scoffed. "Okay, Larry. I've got two
out of three. What's next?"