Now Stan was even paler than bloodless He seemed so flimsy that a gust of wind would rip the fabric of him to pieces Trembling he gazed with wide eyes at Mrs Hamilton
is trust me Mrs Hamilton finished sweetly She rid her heart of that wild anger with a chilling flick of her wrist The severed pinky on the ground twitched The anger would serve no further purpose than the threat and blood price already had Her empathy too for the cold weight that Randidly bore needed to be set aside He was past the point that she could help
God help me but that boy who pulled us out of the darkness needs to walk out alone into the wide world Mrs Hamilton closed her eyes
When Mrs Hamilton opened her eyes again she was the spider who would protect Donnyton personal attachments be damned Her gaze focused on the man in front of her a pale sheet of a person without any sort of resistance remaining within him
LetÆs try again She said simply
Stan nodded jerkily carefully moving his neck to avoid cutting himself on any of the gleaming metal threads Ah the two things that make Randidly almost invulnerable is his high Perception and his seemingly endless Mana pool But the Mana pool cannot be endless and if we canÆt overwhelm his Perception all we need to do is cloud it We can use his emotions to do that if we press the right buttons So triggering his protective instincts was the best way to accomplish both of the prerequisites to defeat him
Mrs Hamilton smiled sweetly Her tongue tapped against the backs of her front teeth before she spoke What you are saying those things about alienating our greatest ally it was all on purpose
Apparently Mrs Hamilton achieved the desired sort of verbal execution because Isabella gulped audibly
The eyes in StanÆs head rolled around for several seconds like he was an oversized bug being smashed by the thumb of a child But eventually he calmed down He was still trembling but his voice was even when he spoke Yes
Not a coward at least Mrs Hamilton reflected And a much better truth than him being the ignorant kind of fool
Then you are undoubtedly ready to explain why this challenge was so important that you would incur these disastrous losses Mrs Hamilton purred
That seemed to surprise Stan He blinked and then glanced up at his bound hand before speaking isnÆt beating him here the most important thing CanÆt you feel it HeÆs taking the spirit of Donnyton He believes our current spirit is too weak which is hard to deny when you see what he is capable of Yet heÆs taking something precious from us I donÆt think we can recover if we lose that spark ItÆs what makes us Donnyton
For several seconds Mrs Hamilton regarded the pale form of Stan Then she wiggled her fingers Like docile worms the wires that stretched across the VIP came back to her hands and wound themselves around her arms and up her sleeves Even though Mrs Hamilton knew that humans feared to lose what they already had more than was logically correct some part of her agreed implicitly with Stan
Which meant she would at least wait and consult others to determine StanÆs further punishment rather than taking his life immediately
After all itÆs a bit too soon for these two to see the fangs it takes to lead Donnyton Mrs Hamilton thought with a glance toward the Cortez siblings Both were pale to the point that any more would leave a lasting mark My way of guiding Donnyton cannot last forever They need to see a better path Hopefully it is RandidlyÆs figure they remember from today
It wasnÆt worth it Mrs Hamilton said lightly But the rest can wait until later
Then she turned to Clarissa and raised an eyebrow I assume you plan on running wild in this next challenge
Clarissa cracked her fingers with an expression of immense satisfaction on her face as though the whole interrogation had taken place far away Unlike the siblings she had been at the periphery of DonnytonÆs leadership since the beginning She likely was aware of the many greed motivated individuals who conveniently decided to stop pursuing their personal agenda as Donnyton grew into a superpower
Clarissa had seen enough to recognize that these decisions were not just lucky coincidences Someone had intervened actively to guide Donnyton So this level of threat didnÆt even phase her Of course Since RandidlyÆs been gone well it’s tough being the most powerful spell caster in Donnyton I want a challenge I want to see how far these Skills can take me
Mrs Hamilton smiled sharply She had no doubt that Randidly would accept ClarissaÆs challenge She just hoped they glimpsed a path to beating him during it
Chapter 930
Of all the breaks they had taken so far this one seemed to fly by most quickly Part of it was the slowly settling cauldron of emotions roiling in RandidlyÆs chest Part of it was the furious series of discussions that sprang up across the crowd as everyone shuffled around eager to seek a drink after the tension of the most recent rung
But mostly it was because of Clarissa
Almost exactly halfway through the break she walked out onto the stage and began to grin at Randidly like a fool Such was the genuine anticipation in her expression that Randidly couldnÆt help but get caught up in the spirit of it
This will be great Clarissa seemed to beam at him And Randidly saw no reason why not to let himself be swept away by the positivity
Helen stood with her arms folded sourly studying Clarissa I donÆt like this shit Where are the others This rung is supposed to be against Squads Nine through Three Why is it just her The challenge is about to start Do they think we wonÆt just fucking attack
But as she was muttering to herself ten burly men walked out onto the arena arranging themselves around Clarissa To RandidlyÆs amusement they werenÆt looking at him at all they loosely held their weapons and glared at Helen as if daring her to make a move toward Clarissa
Randidly chuckled TheyÆve started getting smarter about the challenges All Skills have an inherent image so to fight against us they need lots of powerful Skills that can shake an image
Which is why they should all be up here Helen hissed
Randidly continued without pausing for HelenÆs aside which would be true if the Skills were coming from a single person but if they are relying on separate individualsÆ Skills to work together and disrupt me they will need a lot more than two hundred if it’s from a group those Skills interfere with each otherÆs budding image just as much as mine Instead better to have one individual who can produce a lot of powerful Skills to test me Plus
Trailing off Randidly looked over toward the still grinning Clarissa plus due to the qualitative differences in Mana and Stamina spellcasters have an edge on the natural image they are given Probably because the spirit of Mana Skills are a bit different If there were anyone who could actually shake our images alone it would be Clarissa I suspect this rung is all about testing the limits of that
Randidly pointed to the tense group of men without bothering to suppress his grin They are just here to warn off the crazy woman who has been staring daggers at their Squad Leader
IÆll fucking show them fucking crazy Helen cracked her knuckles menacingly Almost helpless Randidly shook his head
Well at least this way Helen will be able to sharpen herself in the match
But RandidlyÆs expression shifted to something more serious as he considered Clarissa It was foolish to engage in this sort of direct confrontation It was unnecessary and would only give away more information about his own limitations Yet Randidly was past the point where he cared about the smart thing to do
It had shifted from guiding Donnyton to being purely a rebuke for their own weakness And it seemed that his prior violence hadnÆt struck that point home yet
When the start was announced by the referee Helen surged into motion With a few barked orders the opposing warriors arrayed themselves into a tight clump and marched to intercept her Very soon the cries of battle raged across the arena as Helen fought to her heartÆs content