"What's it going to be, Jesse?" The freak asked as PAMA willed Lisa to press the sharp blade against her exposed neck, drawing blood from the small wound.
"Wait, please, don't hurt her- we can talk this out!" Jesse stuttered. "Please, nephew-"
"See, this is why I hate people like you, Jesse," PAMA interrupted. "Only now you want to talk to him because of you discovered he's related to you."
"That's because he cares about family!" Olivia yelled. "I wouldn't expect a heartless machine like you to understand!"
"Lisa will be heartless soon after I rip it out if you don't shut up, dumbass," PAMA threatened, now acknowledging that Olivia is below the term 'meatbag'. "Besides, if Jesse never discovered the homunculus' origins, he would have still tried to kill him."
"Don't think I've forgotten about our fight back in one of the villages," The freak reminded Jesse of the spike Jesse erected that impaled through his throat. "But don't worry, Lisa won't die; Jennifer needs her mother after all, and you of all people should know what it's like to lose one."
A pang of emotional pain shot though Jesse as the harsh memories surfaced again, but he shoved them back down; he'll grieve later.
"Hey," Axel stepped forward to defend his friend. "No one talks to my friend like that-"
"Shut up, fatty," The homunculus insulted, making Axel recoil from the insult. "This doesn't concern you."
"It concerns all of us," Petra countered. "You mess with one of us, you'll have to deal with rest of us too!"
"Then you're going have to step in when I beat Olivia into the ground," PAMA growled. "I know you're stupid enough to try, meatbags..."
"Now unless you want your wife to be mute for the rest of her life..." The homunculus stepped forward in front of PAMA, pointing at Raven. "Get your winged whore to drop the sword away from my father's throat-!"
HEE-SSSSPPLAT-!
A metal blade protruded out of his throat before he could finish his threat. The blade violently jerked out, nearly severing his rotten head. Already, the infection has settled in, as it became a disgusting color before the homunculus dropped face first onto the cold floor; PAMA stood behind him before retracting the blade.
Everyone was shocked to say the least; did PAMA just save them? Although they didn't have time to think about that when Lisa's possessed foot stomped down on the homunculus' spine, inflicting a scream from the abomination.
"...What... what are you doing, PAMA?" The homunculus spat out blood, apparently still able to talk while trying to will more carbon to come out, only to fail. The abomination's voice of full of hurt and anger at the artificial intelligence's betrayal.
"You of all things should understand why, freak," PAMA stood in front of the abomination, looking down on his glaring face while ignoring everyone else's shocked expressions. "Call it betrayal, but I call it tough love. Be happy Jess is not making me do something worse since you tried to screw up her plans."
"Her plans...?" The freak repeated, his voice wavering and confused, as he tried to get up from the ground. "What are you talking about-?"
"Did you honestly think I was here to help you?" PAMA protruded the metal blade from the exoskeleton's wrist again before stabbing through the homunculus chest, anchoring him to the ground. Jesse flinched from the sight as PAMA detached the blade from the exoskeleton. "You're just fulfilling your purpose: a disposable tool. You really crossed the line when you tried to kill Jesse, freak."
"But... all of that talking at the beginning, before we assaulted the Clockwork Fortress..." A large amount of blood was spewing out of the wound. "You said that this was my quest, my purpose and a choice of my own will-!
"Yeah, about that..." PAMA interrupted crouched down in front of him, and pulled out several redstone chips in its hand. "I LIED."
CRUNCH-!
PAMA crammed the chips into the homunculus' head, silencing him for good, as PAMA ripped out and reattached the metal blade back to its wrist. Silence spread out through the room as the jerky movements of The Lost can be heard.
"Now there is only you..." PAMA growled as it turned to face the group; Lukas is still unconscious as Raven had a sword made of divine energy to his throat.
"You can't do anything to us," Raven pressed the blade tighter against Lukas' throat. "You still care about him-"
Raven vomited blood as PAMA rammed the protruded blade through Lukas, causing him to wake and scream in agony as the blade pierced through Raven's stomach.
'Right through the hostage?!' Raven thought in disbelief before PAMA used its other exoskeleton-covered fist to punch her across the room.
"I don't give a damn about your species, you freak." PAMA ripped the metal blade out of Lukas before willing The Lost to grab him and the homunculus, leaving only one to remain at PAMA's side. Jesse and his friends could only watch in a mixture of shock, disbelief, and horror, as they're unable to do anything at all since Lisa's Templar energies are disrupting their magic.
"It's time..." PAMA brought its hands to its sides before turning towards the frozen pool of blood; Jess willed her Hell Ring: Sigh to stop its effects, revealing herself. "Right, master?"
"Stop wasting time," Jess called out as she stood on top of the surface of the frozen blood, much to her brother and his friends' horror. "More than ten seconds have passed."
PAMA didn't hesitate to unwrap the exoskeleton before slicing Lisa's throat open. The exoskeleton wrapped around The Lost, the only one that remained as the rest ran away with Lukas and the homunculus; they really didn't want to be here.
"NO!" Jesse screamed, running after his downed wife as blood spews out of her neck, only for PAMA to kick him back across to collide with his friends.
"Damn it, PAMA!" Olivia yelled, helping an angry Jesse back to his feet. "You've gone too far!"
"I'm just getting started, dumbass," PAMA reassured while the exoskeleton adjusted to its new host as the ground shook violently. Immediately, giant decayed fingers burst from the ground before pushing up.
"What's going on?!" Axel shouted while he held onto his friends as the entire room erupted to the surface, up and beyond the crater the homunculus made.
Jess had a calm expression as the walls and ceiling were ripped away from their place; everyone breathed in the cold air of the snowy land, revealing several undead colossuses that held onto the platform Jess had them raised from underground.
"What... what's going on?" Petra shouted above the harsh, cold wind and the frightening height. The smell of the undead colossi didn't help either as everyone had a clear view of their decayed faces.
"Dude, why is your sister here?" Axel shouted to Jesse in panic. "How was she here the whole time?"
"Whatever it is, it can't be good." Jesse declared, looking desperate to help his wife. "What ever it is they're doing, we need to stop them!"
"The only thing that's going to stop is reality..." Jess answered cryptically before looking down at Lisa's bleeding form; PAMA made sure the wound on her neck won't kill her fast.
"Tell me, brother," Jess took a step forward, everyone else took a step back except Jesse, trying to put on a brave façade. Jess then pulled out a Regenerating Core from her Inventory, its red glow indicating its healing properties. "How badly do you want Jennifer to grow up with a mom?"
"She's will have a mom!" Petra shouted as Axel and Olivia flanked her sides. "We're going to beat you, and take Lisa back!"
"... This feels familiar..." Jess commented as she put the Regeneration Core back into her Inventory, looking at her former friends. "Doesn't it?"
Suddenly, an eight-armed disfigured enderman teleported in, startling everyone else before reaching to grab Lisa.
"Lisa, no-!" Jesse shouted, reaching out before Blink thrust on of his clawed hands at him, releasing a telekinetic blast that blasted him across the platform and away form everyone else.
"You stay out of this, brother," Jess said as she looked at her former friends. "Now that Lisa is gone, there is nothing to prevent us from using magic."
"What did you do with Lisa?" Petra demanded, already feeling her inner heat and desire to burn thanks to her Class. "What was that thing?!"
"A place where she won't bleed to death," Jess glared at them. "And you don't need to worry about that enderman yet."
"...What did you mean when you said that this is familiar?" Axel asked.
"How stupid are you, Axel?" Jess coldly insulted, making him flinch. "An edge of a high area, the cold air, me against the three of you while you all defending my brother? This is exactly like how it was you all tried to kill me!"
"Jess, we're sorry for what we have done," Olivia admitted before her stare harden. "But we can't let our mistake excuse you for all the things you did; we're stopping you-!"
"...No... I honestly have myself to blame for that day," Jess closed her eye shook her head, her former friends caught off guard by the sudden declaration. Jess opened her eye, showing that its expression is soft and dead inside as she already has been through too much in life. "I knew that you all hated me the second my brother came to live with us, that you preferred my sibling over me, yet chose to stay because I thought in denial that I could still be happy with you all."
"But people like me don't deserve to be happy," Jess let out a sigh. "Every thing I try to care for... just dies."
"Like your son?" Petra questioned. "You tried to kill him!"
"Just like you tried to kill me." Jess retorted effortlessly. "But he's just too damn stubborn to die; I think inherited that from me-"
Jess quickly turned towards her brother, and held out her burned hand to stop the spear of fire her brother threw; he already improved on the spell that Petra showed him when she was blind.
"You're going to need more fire than that to burn me," Jess lectured as the flames faded out. She didn't even flinch from that since that fire was nothing in comparison to how burned she already is. "At least Ellegaard knew what she was doing."
"It wasn't supposed to kill you," Jesse said as everyone else took a fighting chance. "You may not care, but I do! We're going to stop you, get my family and Ellegard back, and make you come back home to the City!"
"We left our home village, Jesse," His sister reminded before coldly glaring at him. "I guess you never loved it as much as I did; it will always be my home, and you've replaced it with the City."
Jesse found it hard to look at his sister since it was so true. Unlike her, Jesse just wanted to forget about the pain. And unlike his sister, he can remember most of his childhood with his moms.
"Hey, PAMA," Jess looked at the pseudo-immortal, one-eyed creature that the artificial intelligence is possessing. "That girl, Raven, fell off the platform."
"And?" PAMA asked, not entirely sure why its master is mentioning a truth.
"Go to her and keep her distracted," Jess ordered as she looked at her brother. "I want this to be private."
"Should I get her book too?" PAMA asked, eager to fight the winged human, but then looked at Olivia. 'I'll kill her another day then.' PAMA thought.
"Get Raven's book, but keep her alive," Jess ordered. "This won't take long, and I'm going to personally rip her wings off."
As PAMA went to jump off the edge, it felt an outside force pulling it back. Jess saw with [Mana Vision] that her brother is pulling on the metal of the exoskeleton.
"You're not going to hurt her, or anyone else!" Jesse declared as he pulled back, to pull PAMA's slave towards him and his friends, only for PAMA to be launched off the edge.
Jesse, with the runes in his right eye, saw traces of Mana originate from his sister. "You're not the only one who can control metal." She reminded.
"I don't think it matters, you've made a mistake, Jess," Olivia said confidently. "There is no metal for you to control either, and you're outnumbered."
"Only as someone dumber than Axel, like you, would say that." Jess looked gestured to her undead colossuses, who are helping to hold up the platform as Isa extends and freezes the blood back down under ground. "I have a Paladin Class, which greatly increases my physical strength when I'm in range of undead monsters."
"Then we'll just kill the monsters," Petra shrugged and formed a daggers made out of fire in her hands. "Simple."
"Do that, and the platform drops." Jess countered. "We're high enough from the ground that my brother can't grab any earth-type block with his magic, and there are no redstone parts anywhere for Olivia to use."
"But if you idiots really think that you have an advantage over me..." Jess said as she used [Summon Elemental Guardian]. "Then you better make sure you shove me harder off the edge this time."
Jesse watched as Mana flowed out and separated from his sister's feet before forming three circles. "She's summoning something!"
Before anyone could do anything, Petra's fire daggers flew out of her hand into a circle, turning into a pillar of fire. A lightning from the cold sky struck another while bones seemed to form within. The falling snow melted into a perfect sphere of water in the last circle. Within each circle, those elements simultaneously formed an elemental guardian.
One was a made out of fire as it reached out with its fat arms as its stubby hands gripped the edged of the circle of Mana and pulled itself up. It had a tiny ball of bright fire between its long, curved horns as it used its snake-like lower body to slither itself upright.
The lightning was a humanoid framed by a black, skeletal structure. An exoskeleton of charred bones while electricity coiled and writhed around in great speed as the cuffs it wore around its wrists seemed to made out of bones too; if the ratting of the short chains connected to them were any indication.
The final one was a sphere of clear water, its tentacles were similar to a squid as it moved in a swimming fashion, but keeping itself anchored in the air.
"A fire, lighting, and water guardians?" Axel shouted in disbelief as everyone took a step back. "How can we even beat that?"
"We can still win," Jesse reassured his large friend. "We just need to work together."
"But this shouldn't be possible," Olivia shook her head at the sight as the elemental guardians turned towards Jess. "She only had two elemental affinities during the Tournament; she only had the earth and air guardians!"
"I think that's why she's using those threads," Jesse analyzed as he saw the hostile aura of the elemental guardians become relaxed as his sister attached threads of Mana to them; [Mana Threads] had been maxed out so they're practically invisible. "She can summon them, but she doesn't have the affinities to control them."
"...How would you know that?" Axel asked, confused at his friends knowledge, much to Jesse's shock as he let information slip about abilities of the runes in his right eye. "What threads are you even talking about?"
"Axel, he just Scribed her," Olivia lectured. "Scribing reveals information."
"But Jesse mentioned threads," Petra defended. "I don't see any!"
"T-That's not important," Jesse changed the topic as he stood in front of everyone else. "Besides, since she doesn't have the proper affinities, she shouldn't be able to effectively use them."
As his friends agreed with him, Jess read a new skill description.
Ping!
You have gained the skill: [Elemental Guardian Manipulation]!
[Elemental Guardian Manipulation] (Passive) Level 1
The personifications of the elements are under your control with your strings of Mana connecting to them! Use elemental guardians to use and create elemental-based skills that you don't have the elemental affinity for!
"Everyone get ready," Jesse warned, but he and his friends are grinning with confidence. "I've fought her before, I know how she fights; we still have the advantage over her!" Except that Jesse's hero complex caused him to forget two important facts.
One: PAMA copied Jesse's memories- thanks to the homunculus- and relayed them back to Jess. And with her Intelligence stat so high, it was little trouble to memorize their combat chemistry and move sets.
Two: Jess didn't have magic she fought her brother for the first time, and didn't really need it to beat him into the ground.
A/N: Sorry for the late upload, I've been having computer problems, looking over OC submissions, reading hate mail, and other stuff at school. But hey, extra long chapter! The next one should be submitted soon since I've written a lot.
As for OC's, since no one really commented about Luke having his own dedicated chapter, I think I might not do one for him then since no one seems to like him compared to Bailey. And no, the OC submitter doesn't count since its biased; it's her own brother, of course she's going to support him. Still disappointed at them for various reason.
Eh, *shrugs shoulders* then again, I could care less, but I've seen people give off positive comments about Luke, yet none commented about Luke getting a dedicated chapter like Bailey. Remember, I'll only do the ones that I like, or if enough people show enough positive support for that OC.
So comment right here if you want Luke to get his own chapter, and say why; I like a love argument. ----->
Also, I've been thinking about starting a comedy one-shot series about Ivor and Jess getting into ridiculous and dangerous scenarios. But I'm not sure if I should keep it short, and place it at the end of a chapter in No More, or just make it entirely separate.
Now, another vote. Here are the two titles for the beginning one-shots. Comment on them if you want to see that one be published first.
Title One: Ivor vs Vegans.
Title Two: Ivor vs Religion.