IHaveHidden
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Bridge Chapter 7 (Can't you trust a child?)
🕑 Added 2024-09-06 06:25:25 +0000 UTC“Wha.” Mei mumbled out clearly still shocked about what just happened. What she had just experienced is not something that is done on an average basis after all. A miracle of Resurrection only happens when the Divine intervenes in something or in this case some random asshole with too much power.
I will give her credit for recovering quickly. I would expect someone bearing witness to Resurrection to be a lot more shocked than she currently was. Before I could think about that further her hands blurred into motion forming a sign.
“Kai!” She shouted out as a pulse of energy burst out from her. An aura of blue flickering chakra coming off of her reminiscent of that one scene of Naruto doing something similar. I let out a soft chuckle at that as this was something more expected.
In the face of something completely ridiculous and almost certainly impossible she did not fall for the trick. No, instead she chose to do the rational thing and figure she was under some sort of effect. She seemed to think she was under a Genjustu and that was not something I could blame her for. In this case, she is absolutely wrong but for the most part this would be the correct response.
The child behind her tried to run towards her mother. Even if Mei was rather distracted from what was going on she was not going to let the child leave her side. So she gripped onto the young thing with all the force that is required to hold on to her.
“Mei? Mika?” The previous corpse spoke out looking at the pair of redheads before her. I'm still not sure what her actual relationship with Mei was but she was certainly the mother of the younger one.
“All right I get it we never stood a chance of escaping you stop this sick game!” Mei shouted out and she glared at me with everything she had. I held up my hands innocently with a mocking smile on my face. I can only assume that she thought that she was under that illusion still and she had no chance of escaping it.
“No games for me my dear, not right now at least. I offered a deal and I saw it through now all you need to do is follow your part. Although you are not the party that I completed the deal with so I suppose it's upon the child to hold her end of the bargain.” I gave Mei a mocking grin filled with my fangs and she gritted her own teeth at me.
Before I could continue pushing the Kage to be I had to dodge out of the way of an attack. A kunai swung to the back of my neck with a rather impressive amount of speed and power. The once-dead woman was trying to skewer me with all her might. I got that kunai were a rather prevalent weapon here but must every single person attack me with them?
Seriously I was looking for some variety here being stabbed gets boring after the 477th time. I may not have reached that mark yet but I was hoping for the stabbing to be a bit more spread out.
I had an eternity to enjoy the small things so I do not want to ruin stabbings just yet. Although I suppose I could categorize this under kunai stabbings as opposed to regular stabbings.
I suppose I shouldn't be complaining that I'm not getting elemental attacks thrown at me. Considering the shared red hair of everyone here I could be swallowed by acidic mist instead of simply being stabbed often. That or lava being spewed out of wherever I would fucking choose to walk.
I'm blurred into motion approaching the once-dead woman and grappling her. Pulling her arms behind her back and putting my foot upon her head rubbing it into the ground. She was impressive but she was not anywhere close to Mei so she was rather easy to take down even with Mei watching. Honestly, Mei might think that this was just another part of the illusion she seemed resigned enough to her fate even if she was raving mad.
She let out a grown and her daughter cried out shocked at the display but I had a point to make. I was tempted to lean down and whisper into the corpse's ear but I had forgotten that I was much shorter than I was before. Trapping her in this position was rather hard with my current height but I was doing well enough.
“My oh my is that any way to treat your savior? Without me, you would find yourself lost in whatever afterlife your world believes in.
Just another corpse on the pile of travesty that this world no doubt experiences. A reminder of pain for those who loved you and a punch to the gut in their darkest moments.” I muttered out darkly as I pushed her head further into the ground.
“Stop!” Mei shouted out with all that she had. Her eyes bulged in rage and her teeth gritted in a snarl. Oh, that was an interesting response I had assumed that the child was going to be the one that put an end to my little display. Instead, the young one was simply crying her eyes out at the sight of her mother being pushed like this.
Mei took a threatening step toward me then paused and she got a handle on herself. She still looked like she wanted to boil me alive but at least she managed to control her outrage.
“Oh, why should I do that, my dear? You don't for a moment believe that any of this is real, do you? I can tell that even as your rage boils inside of you that you still think all of this is fake. That my deal was nothing more than a cruel joke hanging over your head before your death. Well, that is what I think you're feeling right now care to prove me wrong my dear.” I let out with a mocking grin. Judging by how loudly she ground her teeth she did not appreciate my mocking.
“Mei take Mika and run from here!” The corpse beneath my feet shouted out trying to get her relatives some manner of safety. It was a noble sentiment and probably the more respectable option to take. The corpse had no idea what was going on around us but she knew that Mei was upset and that her daughter's safety was at risk. I pushed her head back into the dirt feeling a little annoyed at the corpse but my amusement at the situation overrode all that.
“Oh please do that. Run away from all of this like it's some bad dream. A nightmare clutching at the last bits of your sanity. Free yourself from this monster of mine but as you abandon this person lying at my feet you will remember my words. In the darkest moments of your life, you will wonder why I let you go. Why I was content to have you escape with that little girl. Even if you think that this moment is illusory in the future you will come to ask yourself was it all real? Did I really abandon her?” I let out with mad chuckles and a dark glint in my eye as I watched her take the information I was providing.
She still stubbornly clung to the notion that all of this was fake. Still, even if that was her major motivation here I could still see the hesitance behind her eyes. The fracture of a stubborn will and the belief around her crumbling. Even if she managed to drag herself out of this situation with that small child in tow my words would haunt her. The small seed that I planted on this day would overwhelm her and maybe that would change the outcome of the story. I suppose that's interesting enough in its own right.
“I'm not leaving without Mom!” The child shouted out and stubborn defiance and a rather strong will for one so young. She was the one falling for the dream right now after all. If the very thing that you desperately hoped could happen happens in front of you you too will refuse to leave.
The corpse beneath my feet tried to mumble something out probably trying to convince Mika of her folly. Since her face was firmly in the ground all that managed to come out was muffled noises.
I turned to Mei with a mocking grin on my face. She gritted her teeth and I'm sure she was about to make a decision that might haunt her later on. I let out an elaborate sigh that broke the mood. The game that she was going to play may be interesting by itself but it was not the game that I wanted to play at this moment.
I pulled the once-dead woman to her feet and kicked her toward the two redheads. She stumbled over to them with a minor amount of shock running through her. Even knowing who that woman was to Mei the girl still stood strong and protectively over Mika. Not letting the once-dead woman get close to her daughter.
“Right is amusing as all of this has been this little charade has become rather boring. So let's get a move on and leave, I can only assume that you don't want to be in this area for very long either.” I let out calmly shifting my mood at the drop of a pin. I clapped my hands and walked towards them without a care in the world.
The trio of redheads looked at me with numb shock for a moment before the two older ones blurred into motion once more. I let out a sigh as they once again tried to stab me. I was growing rather tired of this farce so I activated the runic symbols that I've been preparing during this dramatic reveal.
The two older redheads were pinned to the ground as runic chains wrapped around them. The older woman could barely struggle underneath the chains but Mei was having a better shot at removing them. The chains even buckled for a moment before I threw another pair of them at her completely killing her movement.
Oh, Magic how I love you and the absurd things you can do to my enemies. The two older redheads struggled in vain and let out curses at their predicament as I lowered myself to eye level with the younger one.
I was not exactly tall as I was a child myself but I was still 11 as opposed to the seven year old in front of me. Her face was pale and tear tracks were still prevalent on them but she faced me firmly. By this point, she no longer treated me as that nice individual who brought her mother back. No, she saw me for the monster that I was but at least she faced her death with some modicum of courage.
Not that I was planning on any murder at the moment. I was honestly kind of insulted that they still thought I had ill intentions when I was so light with my reprimands. Those are the folly of youth I suppose.
“Now there's no need to wear a look like that on your face youngling. You and I made a deal and I am going to stand by it even if those two don't exactly agree with it. The both of us are going to leave this clearing in whatever direction you so wish. I'll drag along the two of them until they start to behave and I'll let them go. Do we have a deal, young lady?” I let out with the softest smile I could muster and held out my hand to the small child. She looked hesitant between me and the tied-up redheads but she accepted my hand.
“Can…can you bring back the others?” The little girl asked hesitantly and let out a barking laugh. She clearly knew that I was dangerous and that she was in quite a predicament but her love for her clanmates came above all that.
“Mayhaps youngling but in this moment I do not have the energy required to bring them back. At least not as they were. I can store their bodies until my energy recovers and we can try but Resurrection is a rather delicate art, my dear. If certain conditions don't meet the criteria I will not have the ability to do a thing. so let's hope the gods smile upon us on that day.” I let out softly as I gave the young redhead a head-pat and started to store the corpse into my inventory. I was not quite sure that she understood all the context I was throwing at her but she nodded solemnly and just watched as I worked.
The skill said I could only bring back people who had died within 3 days. By the time I recover my energy pool these corpses will have long since expired but maybe I could find a workaround for that. From what I can recall my inventory is some sort of stasis-type deal. So maybe if I kept them in there until I had the required energy I could bring them back. Even if I could not it made an interesting experiment to at least try.
Once I finished gathering all the clan mates I gave the rest of the corpses an interested look. I don't really see the need for bringing them back as well but there's no point in wasting them so I also threw them into my inventory.
I could always toss the corpse at someone to startle them as a gag.
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I had planned on the resurrection being enough to drag Mei to the MC side but I thought it would still be pretty ridiculous. You don’t get to live as a ninja if you fall for simple tricks and what he was offering was rather absurd.
Now that he and his ward are going to leave the field of blood the MC will come out of his frenzy. Let the juices never end working on another chapter.
