User blog:Baluar/Arc 3, chapter 5

I can’t resist it.

-Ah, fuck.

As if we didn’t have enough already, Rachel decided she’d go full-villain and she’s now a weird thing: her normal body stands over dark, spider-like black legs that sprout of her back, standing in two of them and having 4 more in the air. Not to mention her eyes are now gold-colored and shining. She then yells:

-How dare you attack my children! You will suffer my wrath! Stupid dolls. – Her voice sounds deeper…

One of her tentacles (I don’t know what else to call them) is suddenly shot at our direction. I evade it, and I see that it would’ve pierced my head if I hadn’t moved.

-Woah, woah, woah. Lemme get this straight. You send your dudes to kill us, and then you’re angry at us… because we defend ourselves? What’s this, troll logic? – Robb says. He’s really good at bothering people.

-Fool! You don’t understand. And you never will. Begone! – Another tentacle, this time aimed towards my sis. She evades it in time as well, and then we begin the assault. It’s 4 versus 1, so we shouldn’t have troubles. We shouldn’t, but we have anyway. She can move fast enough to become blurry, and her tentacles sink in the ground enough to make us realize taking one in the chest would be deadly.

Suddenly, without warning, all her tentacles sink in the ground and begin to search for us to pierce us (kinda like an Ouroboros). Everyone tries to evade them, and I use the chance to get close to Rachel and attack her with my sword. When I’m about to do it, I hear the ground below me hissing, and I realize a tentacle is about to impale me. It’s too late to evade, but my shield reacts before me and it deploys on its own to block the attack. What makes it even worse is that I hear a voice as I survive the hit:

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-[My, my, you’re a reckless one.] – What the hell?

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">Rachel seems to be as shocked as I am, so I get even closer and try to attack her. But without any warning (again. She seems to like having us on our toes) a Fallen Chi-You appears over her and she grabs it with two of her tentacles, while screaming that this is not the last we see of her. I wish it was…

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-So, we’ll have to deal with her some other day, it seems. – Lili says. – Let’s get back to base, I’m starving!

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-Errr, you guys go on ahead, I’ll follow you in a sec. – I have to stay and guess what just spoke to me.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-Is everything ok, Bal? – Nia asks me.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-Sure, there’s nothing wrong. Go on, I’ll be with you in a while. – Everyone leaves. It’s just me. – Just what the hell happened a while ago? – I ask to the air. Or so I think…

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-[Oh, great. I saved your life, and you’re foolish enough not to recognize I did it? Please. I had hoped I wouldn’t get a gorilla for a wielder…] – Oh, c’mon, a speaking God Arc? I think I’ve had enough already.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-Great, just what I needed. A speaking Arc. As if this day wasn’t weird enough already.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-[You know, you can just think in what you want to say me and I’ll listen to it anyway.]

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-[You mean, something like this?]

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-[Exactly. I see you’re not as dumb as you look.] – How can she even see me?

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-[Dammit, just what I needed. Because a speaking Arc wasn’t enough, she had to be sarcastic too. Can you at least tell me your name?]

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-[Why do I have to have a name?]

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-[It’d be awkward to call you “Hey, Arc!” every single time I want to speak with you. Besides, rational beings tend to like to have a name.]

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-[I haven’t decided it yet.]

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-[What do you mean with “Yet”. You mean you’ve been aware all the time since I grabbed you in the Den and just decided to speak to me now, after I wielded you for 7 years?]

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-[Errr… Yes?]

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-[Oh, blast it. So, if you don’t have a name, then I’ll have to name you.]

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-[Somehow I find that extremely ominous.] – That phrase sounds familiar…

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-[What do you think about… Eva?]

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-[Yuck! Keep trying!]

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-[What about… Kattā? I could call you Katy.]

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-[Sounds good enough. Kattā it will be. But never call me that way. I’m Katy, ok?] - All of a sudden, my God Arc shines, and adopts a human form. Katy is eerily similar to me (red eyes, black spiky hair, tall, all that stuff), except that, well, she's a woman.

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<p class="MsoNormal">-Why the hell didn't you show up earlier? It would have been good to know I had a thinking weapon. - I ask her.

<p class="MsoNormal">-Hey, I just saved your life! Besides, I didn't know what to say...

<p class="MsoNormal">-Ok, ok, whatever you say. What do you think if you become my weapon once more, and we return home. - She begins to shine, and returns to her normal form.<span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;line-height:115%;"> The walk to home is tranquil… At least until I see Rachel again 3 minutes later, that is. I have to say it:  <span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;line-height:115%;">- Oh, come on! Give me a break, will you?

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-Your petty weariness is of no concern to me, doll! Now, we will deal with you, once and for all!

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-Isn’t that kind of exaggerated? Besides, I don’t see anyone around, and I think I know how to count…

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-I wouldn’t be so certain about it… – I see something like a human woman, with purple skin and hair… NIA!?!?

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-What have you done, you…?

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-Huh. Staying behind wasn’t a bad idea, I guess. – Nia says, standing from somewhere else.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-Woah, woah, woah, woah. What the hell? – I say. – You can clone people now? – I ask Rachel.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-Yes, fool! My power knows no bounds! – Rachel answers. That’s it, you can’t get more cliché than that…

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-Alright, I’m tired of you, Rachel. You’d better leave now.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-YOU are threatening ME?

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-No, it was my ghost. YES, IT WAS ME, GENIUS! Who else could have been, huh? Get lost!

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-Or what, doll? – Her grin is making me even angrier, in case that’s possible…

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-Or… THIS! – I press the button in the handle of my… sorry, in Katy’s handle. Fire runs through her. Suddenly, inside my head, I hear a cheering Katy:

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">-[Oh! I’m going to love this! Can I devour her body?] – Her reaction is just right. It’s only been ten minutes since I knew her, and I’m already starting to love this girl.

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">

<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-bidi-font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US">I'm running short on ideas...