Helena and the others didn't know what to do with their current state of emotions. Their ally? Their enemy? They couldn't decide. Helena, especially, was struggling about whether to trust Ed or not. Her father's death, the splattered body stuck on the ground or Ed's conviction. She didn't know what to trust in.
"Helena, right?" Ed called out to the young daughter of Alexander, who raised her head as fast as she could. "Do you have any siblings?" Ed asked her lightly.
"…Why would you want to know?" She became apprehensive as soon as Ed asked. The first thing she thought about was if Ed wanted to kill her, and her entire family.
"Because, out of all the people surrounding you, none of them feel like a family member to you. And, since I asked the guard to call all the important people of Sword sect, the fact that another family member isn't present can only mean two things. You're the only remaining family member of Alexander, or…the others are incapable of coming to meet me. If it's the latter, then I would like to see what's wrong with them."
The room turned silent after Ed finished speaking. Only the slithering of Mehen, the only one to remain behind out of Ed's monsters, was heard. Helena and the others gazed at Ed, unbelieving the fact that he saw right through their situation. From their relationships to their current situation. Ed knew all about it and had them lagging behind on information.
'If he were an enemy, would we stand a chance…?' Some of them couldn't help but think such a thing. From his martial might to his mental prowess. They were far behind him.
"So, what is it, miss Helena?" Ed asked again.
Helen remained silent for a while, contemplating about whether to tell him or not, but as she thought about it hard enough, she reached a conclusion.
"My mother and my older brother." She revealed her remaining family members, thinking how she could just kill Ed in case he tried to do something to them. Seemingly, she forgot how he managed to stop her without lifting a single finger before.
"What happened to them?"
"…" For some reason, Helena and the others turned silent. Ed didn't pester them and instead waited for them to talk on their own.
"My mother is fine…if anything she's only experienced shock. My brother, however, is incapacitated." Helena's voice cracked as she told Ed the situation of the two.
"I see. Then I suppose it's time someone did something about it. Take me to them." Ed waited for the surprised eight to start walking.
'System, un-summon Suika and Merry,' Ed contacted the system through his mind.
[The two of them are currently engaged in combat. I'll unsummon after they finish.]
'Okay.'
Ed, Emilia, Bella, and the eight members of Sword sect. The exotic group started walking through the sect grounds, catching the attention of the disciples.
"It's Miss Helena. She's okay!"
"What happened to that arrogant man?"
"More like, who's the one following after the Elders?"
The disciples started to murmur, their weakened voice picked up on strength as their curiosity filled them with power. However, not forgetting their duties, they went back to train.
.
.
.
After walking for a while, they reached a home, in the middle of the city. Ed was surprised to see that Alexander lived right in the middle of the city, next to his citizens. The reason why he was so sure about it was that the citizens they met on the way didn't react strangely to seeing Helena and the others. They were used to seeing them in the middle of the city every day since they lived next to them.
Helena twisted the doorknob, opening it without the need for a key. Right behind the door, two women stood there, with a katana hanging on their waists.
'Guards, I see…' Ed guessed how these two were stationed here to protect the mother and son pair.
The other seven people chose to stay behind, allowing only Helena to go inside with Ed and the two others.
"Who are you?" the lady on the left said.
"You can't go inside," the lady on the right said.
"Prove to us that you aren't an enemy!" both of them said in unison.
'…Did they train to be able to do this?' Ed thought to himself but soon noticed how similar the two ladies were. 'They're twins…' He wanted to facepalm himself due to his stupidity sometimes.
"This should be enough, right?" Ed said as he showed them the sect master insignia.
"…" The two ladies went silent, as they turned to face Helena. Their gaze asked her what to do in such a situation.
"He says he might be able to help. In case he does something, we'll attack him." They retracted their gaze after listening to Helena's suggestion.
Taking the stairs leading up, they reached a room on the second floor. The room seemed to be closed off tightly from the outside, as if afraid of something breaking out instead of in.
"If my guess is correct, your brother was poisoned, right?"
"Yes. Luckily, it wasn't the Poison sect's master, but instead only an Elder. However, thanks to my brother's fight, he managed to drive the Elder off," Helena explained as they stood outside of the door.
"And your mother, she's experienced shock due to the damage done to the sect and…the loss of her husband." Ed summarized again.
"Yes…"
"Emilia, Bella. I need you two to meet with Sieg and the others when they get back from their hunt. Tell those that remained outside to make a notice and invite the whole city to the sect. The disciples as well. Tell them to announce that the sect has a new master." Ed asked Emilia and Bella a favor as he crushed the cards of Suika and Merry who were un-summoned.
"Merry, go with Helena. She'll take you to her mother, who suffers from mental damage. That should be your specialty. Suika, we're going to cure a poisoned man."
Enjoy!
Ed undid the bindings surrounding the door to the son of Alexander. But, before he opened the door, he created a small barrier using his Telekinesis. He guessed how the poison affecting the man inside may have turned into fumes, being the reason why the room was so tightly shut.
Helena kept looking back towards Ed as he opened the door. Doubt, confusion, hope, and finally, longing. She longed to her family, and the happy life she led, just two years ago. She turned her face and started to lead Merry to her ailing mother.
As Ed guessed, some poisonous fumes did indeed fill the room. Suika, being a poison slime by origin, had no issue with the fumes. But, Ed had no way to defend against it, so he relied on his Telekinesis and Wind magic to trap the fumes in a sphere. He approached Alexander's son and got a good look at him.
Unlike Helena, who had amber colored hair, close to red, and golden eyes. The man had thin golden hair and seemed to be well built. Ed couldn't confirm it, only guess, as the man seemed to be quite malnourished. Be it the fact that he was in a coma, or the poison's doing, he was in a bad shape.
The man was lying in a bathtub-like object, with medicinal herbs floating around. His complexion reflected his perilous state, as the poison seemed to be filling every vein he had in his body. He was dying.
"Seems like we don't have much time left, we need to act immediately. Suika, you have any ideas?" Ed didn't really know how to treat the man. He didn't have many Healing cards left, and he wanted to keep them unless it was imperative. Thus, he turned around to ask the opinion for the medical expert in his party.
"Uhm, I can try to suck the poison out while healing him, Suu. But, I don't know if I can do it without injuring him, Suu!" Suika answered him while jumping lightly. She spoke in a low voice as if she was afraid of waking up the poisoned man.
"How would you injure him?"
"I'll need to look around his body for poison, so I might end up tearing a vein, Suu! However, if the poison is in an obvious position, I can do it without a problem, Suu!!" Suika jumped a little stronger this while raising her hands in the air. She seemed rather excited about saving someone's life.
"I see. Then, if I guide the poison upwards, you'll be able to do it without any problems?" Ed asked one last question to confirm their next course of actions. He didn't forget to monitor the poison fumes exhaled by the man.
"Yes, Suu!"
Ed and Suika jumped to action. Ed deactivated his Berserk skill, freeing one of his extra brains from its effect. Although he couldn't use that brain for 24 hours, he didn't need it. With two brains, it was enough. He didn't need power this time, but precision and accuracy.
Ed injected the man with a wave of his KI. The KI acted as a probing device, searching through the body for any hurtful substances. It didn't take long for him to find out the clumps of poison inside the man's body, and he was shocked at their number.
'You must have fought your hardest for your family. Much like how your father did for his conviction…' Ed thought to himself as he entered step two.
After finding out the position of the clumps, Ed now needed to move them. He injected another, more powerful, wave of KI. The KI wave split and spread throughout the body of the man, each part attacking a poison clump. Due to the quality and quantity of Ed's KI, even though the poison tried to fight back, he managed to overwhelm the clumps. He drove them as far up as he could and marked their position in his head.
"Suika, you can find the poison here, here…" Ed pointed at the position where Suika needed to tackle.
"Okay, Suu!" Suika hovered her hand above the man's stomach. Then, her hand gradually changed into dozens of long spikes. The spikes 'attacked' the positions that Ed indicated. Each time they hit the water a 'plop' sound was heard.
Little by little, a purple liquid-gas started going up Suika's spikes. Then poison that Suika sucked didn't harm her and instead dissipated inside her body. "I'm done!" She needed ten minutes to finish with all the poison. Ed and Suika didn't get all the poison inside the man's body, but they got at least 90% of it.
"There's some left inside of his body. Use some Healing magic on him, and I'll give him a potion after he wakes up. As for these fumes…I guess burning them will do the trick," Ed said as he looked at the sphere of poison hovering in the air. A red glow shined through his eye as his Mangekyo Sharingan was activated. He winked, as the veins in his eyes became redder, and a black flame appeared inside his Telekinesis sphere.
The poison fumes were burned up immediately, not leaving even a single molecule behind.
*Cough Cough*
Coughing sounds were heard behind Ed and just as he tried to turn around, he heard an angry confused voice say, "Who are you? Where are my mother and sister?!" Alexander's son woke up just as Suika healed him a little. He was startled to see a golden little girl and tried to leave the bathtub. But, since he was too weakened, neither his hands nor legs could support him. He fell down, yet before his face could hit the ground, something caught him.
"My name is Edward Avalon. I'm the new master of the sect." Ed helped his up as he spoke.
"What do you mean-"
"I know that you are confused and afraid. But, for now, drink this, and let's go meet your sister and mother."
Ed handed the man a potion and helped him walk over to the door. He handed him a change of clothes since he was wearing nothing but underwear. The man changed and quietly walked with Ed. Question surging through his mind, he chose to push them down and only act once he confirms the safety of his mother and sister. He didn't even register the fact that Ed claimed to be the sect master, nor did he drink the potion. His brain only heard the words 'sister' and 'mother'.
Ed opened his Map and checked the position of Merry and Helena. He was rather surprised to see that the two red dots that he saw from before were no longer there.
'Did they have a change of heart, or am I just that convincing?' Ed thought to himself.
.
.
.
"Oh, Edward! We have a problem. This lady is never going to wake up!" Merry said as she saw Ed walk in, sending the hearts of those present into turmoil.
Enjoy!
Paragraph comment
Paragraph comment feature is now on the Web! Move mouse over any paragraph and click the icon to add your comment.
Also, you can always turn it off/on in Settings.
GOT IT