Finding my Parents in Another World-Chapter 44: (Zack) Enemies and Allies

Pende hated fighting against King’s Guards. They were always too obstinate, too determined to win, too eager to prove themselves.

General Brunaulf’s hammer came crashing down. Pende side-stepped it and immediately jumped in front, prophylactically dodging the second one shot through the side.

"Nimble aren’t you?" The General said, almost appreciatevely.

Add condescending to the list

Pende ran forward, preemtively fucking and weaving to prevent the General from having a straight shot at hitting him.

Brunaulf however was patient. He did not get taken in by Pende’s theatrics, instead calmly waiting for him to come closer.

Pende cursed under his breath. Of course he couldn’t go closer. Not without risking getting swamped on both sides by those massive dual hammers. If he got caught once between them, he was sure that was the end for him.

So instead, Pende started rolling in an arc, around the General, looking, searching for a weakness, any chink in the armor that he could utilise. Of course there was none, the old General was much too crafty for that.

Just as he was about to rethink his strategy, a huge crash from behind him caused both of them to look there. The Sciadorm of the tyrant rolled down, crashing into the floor. Pende could make out the figure of Zack heading down towards the crater.

Despite himself, he grinned.

Can’t let myself be outdone by you now can I old man?

Pende returned his look to Brunaulf. For the first time he saw something akin to concern on the General’s face. The tyrant was not as untouchable as he had thought.

With the silent precision of a killer, Pende rushed forwards again, this time going straight for the General. Brunaulf was too engrossed in Fermi Ja’s situation to comprehend him hurtling towards him before it was too late. With a roar, he jumped backwards, trying to put some distance between them, trying to buy precious time.

Pende wasn’t going to give that to him though. Exerting the muscles connecting his thighs to the blade as much as he could, Pende pushed forward. He stretched his arms as far as he could, almost willing them to go and pierce the General’s neck. Brunaulf’s face now showed consternation, fear and disbelief. He had let the Chianti Hunter come too close, he had underestimated both of them.

Just as he felt victory within his grasp, a sudden shock jolted Pende knocking him back towards a wall. He shot straight at it and was buried in it, creating a large crater.

Wh..

What the fuck just happened?

Still dazed, Pende slowly stood up. The force of the jolt had almost knocked him out, and then the crash against the wall did double duty on his body. Pende looked ahead in anger, his blades whirring in anticipation of killing the bastard who would deprive him of his victory.

But in front of him stood no enemy.

Not a bastard.

It was Zack, his fingertips still crackling with electricity.

.XX.

Aah

So useless.

It’s useless to fight against each other isn’t it?

Why? Why is Pende hitting that man? No he is my ally.

Who?

Who is my ally?

Well him of course.

Who is him? The red cloaked one.

No.

The old man. The pitiful old man. I must save him. Why is he being attacked by such a brutal weapon?

No, no I must save him.

.XX.

"What the hell are you doing old man?" Pende roared, jumping down.

Zack didn’t respond. His eyes seemed glazed over, the words of Pende not even reaching his ears. As he got closer though, Zack took on an alert stance, his hands started crackling and he turned towards Pende.

"Old man." Pende said carefully, raising his hands in a non aggressive gesture. He couldn’t afford to turn this fight into a beatdown, which is what would happen if all three of them ganged up on him.

Unless.....

Pende did have one option left. One for only the most dire scenarios, for when using that option was the only way to survive.

His Word of Power.

The problem with that was simple. Using it would kill everyone, regardless of allies or enemies around him.

And as much as he was loathe to admit it, he had begun looking at the strange, old Otherworlder as something of an ally.

"Snap out of it old man!" He shouted, whizzing past, dodging the bolts electricity as well as the frequent hammer blows from Brunaulf. It required his full concentration, even a momentary lapse meant death.

And then he saw it.

The Sciadorm rising up behind Zack. He was practised enough to immediately avert his gaze, instead looking at the man mounted on top of it to track its movements.

Mayor Fermi Ja had been hurt. There was a small trickle of blood slowly falling down his temple, but he seemed quite unfazed by it.

"You know Chianti Hunter what the worst feeling in the world is?" He asked neutrally.

Pende didn’t respond. His energies were too preoccupied dodging the dual assault from Zack and Brunaulf.

Fermi Ja however continued, "It is when one’s own turns against themselves. Now I know most of you hunters are ruthless bastards, so maybe this doesn’t apply to you. Still. Regardless.

It must hurt.

It must confuse.

Seeing someone who was fighting beside you just a moment back turn his blade onto you. In fact....." Fermi Ja trailed off, looking at Zack as if he had had another idea.

Oh shit.

.XX.

What was this?

A surge of power rising up within me.

This beast, this magik, is it really me? What am I? Who am I fighting? Why am I fighting?

Aah, it’s surging. Further ahead, further ahead, further...

.XX.

Zack raised his arm, his face expressionless.

"Inito." He intoned.

Pende had moved quite a distance back, wary of General Brunaulf in his peripheral vision. The majority of his vision though was affixed in front of him.

"[[Universal Conductor]]" Zack said lifelessly. A rod, or rather a long staff, materialized in his hand. At the end of the staff there was a ball of electricity, crackling. Without warning Zack slammed the staff down on the ground.

Some intuition, some premonition convinced Pende to jump, even though he was not sure why. A moment later the ground where he had been standing almost burst, as a bolt of electricity travelled through it as fast as light itself.

Just great.

"A few things people don’t realized about Sciadorms." The tyrant was still talking, now leisurely sitting atop the beast, with no intention of taking part in the squabble.

"First," he said, "is that if a Sciadorm wants, it can hypnotize you forever. There is no time limit, just a slave for eternity. Of course, considering most Sciadorms are carnivorous, the time is usually just until it eats you.

But the second, much much more important thing is that the Sciadorm can bring out your latent abilities, things even you didn’t know you were capable of doing. Of course even I didn’t know that at first. But flinging enemy soldiers at each other is....satisfying." For the first time a flicker of a smile passed over Fermi Ja’s face.

Pende heard only half of what he was saying, but it was enough to seriously make him reconsider his strategy. If the Sciadorm was able to bring out Zack’s Inito then surely it could do the same for his Word of Power?

Grunting, Pende decided to go for the beast himself. Fermi had said that a Sciadorm’s hypnosis lasts for an eternity, but surely if the beast itself were dead the hypnosis would wear off.

Pende swirled in the air, making for Brunaulf seemingly. The General arched his eyebrows as if to say "Really?" before raising his two hammers and throwing them towards Pende.

This time however he didn’t dodge nor try to block the hammer. Instead he jumped and caught one of the hammers, using its momentum to rocket backwards. Towards his real target.

Brunaulf hastily exploded the hammer, but it was already too late. Pende was right over Fermi Ja and the Sciadorm. The tyrant continued to look at him with bored eyes as he fell towards him with a scream, determined to drive his blades through his throat.

A ball of electricity collided against him. The shock delivered through that was enough to kill a regular human, and for Pende it immobilized him. A kick followed delivered straight to his face, sending him flying towards the crater where the Sciadorm had been.

Pende stood up coughing, to see Zack over him. His eyes were still dead, as he raised up his staff ready to strike.

I’m sorry old man

Miden, the mission, the key is more important than you or me or any individual.

He opened his mouth weakly.

"Word of-"

He never finished. A huge snake collided with Zack, causing a momentary look of surprise on his face before he was blown away towards the chandelier. With a crack he hit it and then fell down on the ground.

Pende weakly raised himself, looking towards the corridor.

"Hello father." Isadora Ja said, as she stepped forward, covered in blood.