Bab 86: The Bad vs. The Best
Suddenly, Ru was pulled by an immense, unseen force. It felt as if a black hole had opened up, sucking him in without mercy. He tumbled hard to the ground, dazed and disoriented. Pain shot through him, forcing his eyes open. The first thing, he saw was sleek leather high-heeled boots in front of him. He blinked in surprise, looking up.
"Amunet?" Ru asked, startled as a familiar hand reached down to help him stand.
"Get up," Amunet commanded, helping him to his feet.
Ru staggered to his feet, rubbing the back of his head. "What... what's going on?" he stammered, glancing around in confusion.
"You answer." Amunet's eyes narrowed, her tone colder than the leather of her boots. "You were the one who opened a breach in the magical barrier protecting the manor."
Ru blinked, guilt flashing across his face. "I—I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—"
"Shut up," Amunet interrupted, showing a finger and tapping Ru on the chest.
"Oh, right," Ru muttered, immediately biting his tongue.
Amunet refocused on the mirror, waving her hand over the surface without touching the glass. She moved her fingers, as though she were sketching some invisible symbols in the air. After a moment, she held out her hand toward Ru.
"Give me your card," she ordered.
Ru hesitated, his brow furrowing in confusion. "Huh... which card?"
"The marionette," Amunet said curtly, her tone leaving no room for argument.
Ru reluctantly took out the card. "Here," he said quietly, his eyes flickering with uncertainty.
Amunet took the card without saying anything and walked out of the bathroom. Panic flared in Ru hurried after her.
"Wait! Where are you taking my card?" he called out urgently as he hurried after her.
Amunet stopped abruptly in the middle of the room, spinning on her heel to face him. She held the card out toward him, her expression unreadable. "Take it," she said, her voice calm yet commanding.
Ru snatched the card from her hand, eyeing it suspiciously. He looked over the details—the same writing, the same image, the Marionette of Dreams, the Joker, Fanfar, and so on.
"What happened?" Ru asked, scratching his head in bewilderment.
Amunet's lips curled into a sharp grin. "I'll cut you," she said casually.
"What do you mean," Ru said, his voice shaking slightly. He felt a rush of waves when he recognized the knife she was pointing at him. "Oh... right, you're going to take my blood."
"Exactly," Amunet replied with a smirk, stepping closer.
Ru sighed and flopped down on the nearby couch. "Couldn't you just use a syringe instead of that knife?" he asked, half-joking, half-hoping.
Amunet shook her head as she stood beside him. "A syringe would contaminate it. The magic would break," she explained, her tone matter-of-fact.
"Of course," Ru muttered, rolling his eyes. "My blood is magical and very special." He couldn't help but boast, despite his unease.
Amunet grabbed his arm without warning, causing Ru to flinch.
"Don't do it! Pity me," he shouted in exaggerated distress.
"I already did it," Amunet said, surprising him with her calm response.
Ru blinked in confusion. "Wait... what? When?" he asked, staring down at his arm in disbelief.
Amunet held up the knife, now slick with red. "Look," she said, showing him the blade.
"But there are no cuts..." Ru muttered and double-checked his arm. On the other hand, he looked at the red glowing knife.
"Our Lord Dekaris is kind and merciful. He gave you this enchanted knife so that you wouldn't suffer. If it were up to me..." Amunet began, her eyes glinting with mischief.
Ru cut her off, raising a hand. "Please. I'm already mentally fragile. Leave me be," he said with a sigh. "Just put the blood in a bottle so it doesn't get contaminated."
Amunet gave a slight nod and left the room without a word, the door closing softly behind her. As soon as Amunet left, Ru relaxed back on the couch, feeling more relieved than ever.
"Well, that was easy," he muttered, stretching his legs out front of him. But then, like a sudden jolt of lightning, he remembered something crucial.
"The djinn!" Ru exclaimed, jumping to his feet. He bolted back to the bathroom.
Standing in front of the mirror, he locked eyes with his reflection. "I know you're here," he said, his voice low and steady. "You vile reflection! Where did you hide him? What did you do to my card? Speak!"
His reflection responded to him with a dazzling smile and an alluring look—exactly, like Ru did!
Ru couldn't take his eyes off his reflection in the mirror. He was thrilled to see himself was both handsome and undeniably cute.
"Anyone who doesn't like me is just jealous," Ru said, with a grin. Then he grabbed a bottle of black nail polish from the cabinet and returned to the couch.
As he painted his nails, he let his mind wander, trying to focus on his wish. He needed something clever—something that would take Almighty Ru by surprise.
"If only I knew what to wish for," he muttered while blowing on the wet polish on his nails.
A ridiculous thought popped into his head. "Could they have the science to rebuild Planet Arinna?" he wondered aloud, chuckling at the absurdity.
Once his nails were dry, Ru washed his hands at the sink, then walked over to his wardrobe. He rifled through the clothes, murmuring, "Which outfit should I wear for my demise?"
After a brief deliberation, he settled on black—his signature look. He pulled on a leather jacket, black jeans, a studded belt, boots, and a beret, completing the ensemble with fingerless gloves. He accessorized with leather bracelets, chains, and a single diamond earring.
"I was born a rocker, and I'll die a rocker," Ru declared proudly, making a rocker hand sign.
After applying dark eyeliner, he glanced around the room, he took a quick look around the room, his eyes searching for something important.
"Where's my contract?" he muttered, scanning every surface. But no matter where he looked, it was nowhere to be found.
Panic set in as he tore through the room, tossing pillows and blankets aside. "Where's my contract," he shouted, frustration boiling over.
But despite turning the room upside down, the scroll was still missing. Exhausted and defeated, Ru collapsed onto the floor.
"Amunet must have taken it," Ru muttered, his mind whirling with thoughts. Without wasting another second, he scrambled to his feet, panic fueling his every movement. He bolted out of the room, sprinting down the dimly lit corridor for answers.
He ran blindly, not bothering to look at his surroundings. But the eerie stillness of the manor seemed to shift around him. The paintings that lined the walls—those cold, lifeless faces—were watching him. Their hollow eyes tracked his every move, and the shadows cast by flickering candlelight stretched out towards him like grasping hands.
Ru could be realized but didn’t care. He couldn’t care. All that mattered was getting to the study, to Dekaris, to find the contract.
He slammed through the door of the Lord’s study without a second thought, bursting in. His breath came in ragged gasps, heart pounding in his ears, but when his eyes landed on the scene before him, he froze.
Dekaris sat at his desk, his expression twisted into a dark, brooding frown. The air in the room thickened with tension as his steely gaze locked onto Ru. But it wasn’t just Dekaris. There, seated on a tall, ornate chair, was another figure—a man dressed entirely in black, towering over two meters, his presence commanding and suffocating.
His cold, shining gray eyes bore into Ru with unsettling intensity, the light from the flickering candles casting sharp shadows across his chiseled face. The man was exotic in appearance, his skin a rich bronze with the sharp features of a Native American chief. His long, sleek hair fell over his shoulders, and despite his terrifying aura, he was handsome—devastatingly so. Ru knew this man. He had seen those piercing gray eyes before.
"You..." Ru managed, but his voice faltered, the words catching in his throat as a surge of cold fear gripped him. He took a tentative step forward, but before he could cross the threshold, the agony hit him like a blade through the spine.
A sharp, excruciating pain shot through his back, so sudden and intense that Ru couldn't hold back and let out a guttural scream. His legs buckled, and he collapsed to the floor, his vision spinning in dizzying spirals. Gasping, he clawed at the ground, trying to fight off the searing pain that burned through his body like fire.
He struggled to breathe, his mind racing.
'Why now? Why me?'
But the answers wouldn’t come. All Ru could feel was the immense weight of something sinister bearing down on him, an oppressive force that kept him pinned to the ground. Dark energy swirled through the thick and menacing air, and in that moment, he knew its source.
It wasn’t the room or the magic—this was him.
Hadiah
-- Hadiah diterima Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
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