No More

Chapter 71: Damnation Part 6

"So what will it be, Jesse?" The cloaked man asked. "Can you live with yourself as I mutilate your friends? Is your life more important than theirs? Is Bailey even worth it? Is she more important than finding your wife among the sea of dead monsters outside this ring of fire?"

"I'm not going to trade one life for another." Refused Jesse. "Besides, I know my wife can survive. She's strong."

"But Bailey isn't." He insulted, hatred for her clear in his voice. "She just hides behind your group as a shield... isn't she acting selfish; caring for her own life, and purposely risking you and your group?"

"You talk as if you're the most generous and humble person in existence." Retorted Petra. "Anyone would react like she is if they were in her situation."

"You mean weak and helpless?" The man insulted again. "She's nothing more than a burden, Jesse. I don't even know why you even bothered to bring her with you."

"That's none of your business," Shouted Jesse, secretly channeling Mana into the iron ground. "Just leave her alone!"

"Or what?" asked the cloaked man. "You know you can't beat me, I can't die even if I wanted to. If you do fight me, your group is at a huge disadvantage since you're exhausted and most of your crew is close-rang fighters.

"Plus, I crippled fatty over there." He pointed one of his sickles at Axel, holding his bleeding arm as Olivia wraps torn cloth to stop the bleeding. "Remember what I did to those that got too close to me, Jesse? How I turned them into dust with a single touch? So decide quickly if you want Axel to use his arm again... or turn into a black statue."

"What the hell are you, you sick freak?" Shouted Jesse. "What did Bailey do to you?"

"I already told you what I am. I'm a motherless abomination that doesn't have a soul." The man repeated. "And what Bailey did to me, well, you wouldn't believe how much I got screwed over by her."

His modified scythe, floating behind him, started to spin even faster. Shredding the air and creating a gale that fanned out the black dust. "So again: the easy way," He readied his other blade weapons in his clawed hands. "Or the hard way. You choose."

"I choose," Jesse could only smirk as the tension rose for his answer. "Metal."

That made everyone confused. "Metal?" The cloaked man repeated.

"You know, the other stuff I can move besides earth type blocks... and the material the ground we are standing on is made out of?"

The cloaked man looked down, realization in his dead voice. He tried to move, but it was too late. "Shi-!"

WOOSH!

The floor melted and deeply dipped under the cloaked man and his floating, spinning scythe. He sunk into the ground along with his weapons as Jesse used most of his remaining Mana to turn the iron floor under him into a liquid state.

Gripping around the man and dragged him underground as Jesse used his magic to wrap layer after layer of metal on the cloaked man as, after a few seconds and screams from the killer, a smooth solid sphere of iron was left in the huge dip in the ground.

"Holy cow, Jesse, you did it!" Said Bailey in relief. "You stopped him!"

"No, I didn't." Said an exhausted Jesse, letting out a wet cough. Making them worry. "I just used up the last of my Mana for that, and believe me, it's not enough."

"So you weren't trying to stop him?" asked Olivia, looking cautiously at the iron sphere.

"I was trying to make sure he can't hear us," Explained Jesse, taking in a deep breath as exhaustion flowed over him like water. "I have a plan, but we need to move quickly."