[REND] B2. 6.4 - Monster in the Labyrinth

That damn invisible pet! It was snitching on me!

Times like this reminded me of how bullshit Deen’s power was. Was the Guardian Angel telling me to transform into Blanchette? Probably not. I’d rather escape this fight than reveal the secret of Blanchette to Deen and Myra; it was too valuable a source of drama. Deen’s Guardian Angel could only mean my metal mannequin form. I had been planning to pretend it was my Core power after all.

“N-no…” I said, pretending to fidget while looking away from Deen. A bit of reluctance before revealing that I did have powers. “I mean, uh, yes.”

“Since when?” Deen asked. “Why didn’t you—? Oh, I know. You’re afraid of fighting.”

Sure, let’s go with that, I thought, meekly nodding. “If I told Dario about my powers, I would be forced to join missions. But I’ll be fighting now just the same.”

“What’s your power?”

“Um, it’s… It’s a bit complicated to explain. I haven’t tested—”

A rumbling sound made us both look at the vat. The green liquid had completely drained, and the Adumbrae was standing on its rickety legs. It furiously shook its body like a wet dog, flicking slime against the glass. Then it growled as it looked at us with its red eyes. Two more pairs of red eyes opened, one above and another below its regular ones.

“Erind, you’re the key in this fight.” Deen held my cheeks and made me look at her. “You’re afraid. Anyone would be. But I trust you’ll do the right thing when it’s needed.” She bent down and touched our foreheads.

Not sure if that was supposed to encourage me or what, but the gesture just weirded me out. “I-I can do this.” I leaned away and gave Deen a determined nod.

“Are you ladies ready there?” Myra loudly asked. “Our Adumbrae friend here certainly is.”

Myra had added yet another foot to her height, though her golem body was smaller than the one she had at the docks. This must be her limit without the booster. Still looked pretty bulky and formidable, with mace arms that could flatten our Adumbrae opponent. Why would Gabe be worried about this fight?

In contrast to Myra, the Adumbrae inside the vat was willowy and delicate. Reminded me of those sketches of fashion models. From appearance alone, I guessed that the Adumbrae’s horns did something. Maybe it would shoot those at us? Too simple. Shoot lasers? Electricity?

If this Adumbrae’s abilities were as simple as that, my metal mannequin form wouldn’t be needed. We might be in for a tough challenge.

Cracking my knuckles would be so cool for this scene. Many actors in action movies did that before the fight. Unfortunately, that was against Rule #6. Back in elementary school, I had a classmate who did it frequently, which made me dislike the sound. Our teacher would often scold him, lecturing that cracking knuckles was bad for the joints. Years later, through the magic of browsing random topics on the internet, I learned that it wasn’t true.

“We’re ready,” Deen said. “Eri—um, Croissant, you stay behind us and throw what you can.”

‘Croissant’ was the codename she was giving me? Probably the first thing that came to her mind. I was fine with it. “Copy that, Fatalis.”

“Decide when to use your power. I know you’ll choose the right timing.”

I knew that Deen was trying to be supportive, but she was starting to get annoying. It was like getting told by Mom to clean my room when I was already going to do it. Completely sucks my motivation each time. Made me not want to do some cleaning just because. In the same vein, Deen’s encouragement tempted me to leave them.

Of course, I wasn’t going to really do that. This was the debut of my metal mannequin powers.

“Any word from your pet?” Myra asked.

“Instructions in coming now,” Deen said. “Gabe’s finally accepted that I’m staying to fight. He’s repeating: ‘Don’t trust our senses’.”

Myra twisted her golem's upper body to look at Deen. “Don’t trust—what? There’ll be illusion bullshit? Some kind of mind powers?”

“Most likely,” Deen replied. “Don’t mindlessly attack, or we might hit each other. Keep your guards up.”

This was new. Could illusions fool Deen into not recognizing her Guardian Angel’s instructions? Was this the actual weakness of Deen’s power, not counting being stubborn and putting herself in dangerous situations? Must be why her Guardian Angel didn’t want to fight this Adumbrae.

Metal mannequin, it really is, I thought, peeling off the pimple patches on my right palm.

Blanchette had nothing that could combat powers that could fuck up perception. I was right all along that my metal mannequin form didn’t have a regular brain. I had guessed that it wouldn’t be affected by the Adumbrae-shoo-away machine. Illusions probably wouldn’t work on it either.

The crystals on my hand glowed as golden liquid emerged. But my audience, Deen and Myra, were focused on our enemy. My grand reveal would be wasted if no one were looking!

Whatever… I’d just wear this and…

…and?

And I probably didn’t even need to transform. I wasn’t stupid enough to be fooled by an illusion. This was the perfect opportunity to showcase my willpower. Certainly, I had tons more than the average human.

The Adumbrae in the vat shrieked, shattering the thick glass. Myra shielded us from the flying shards. The Adumbrae stepped out of the container, regarding us with its many eyes. Its random horns began to glow as multi-jointed limbs extended from its back, looking like it had a giant spider for a backpack.

“Don’t trust our senses. Don’t mindlessly attack,” Deen repeated. “We may already be inside an illusion. Gabe’s instructions… Anyway, prioritize protecting ourselves. Remember that the Adumbrae can still attack us even if we don’t move. Especially, if we don’t move.”

The Adumbrae spread its arms and extra limbs. It opened its mouth wide, super wide, its lower jaw dropping past its exposed ribs. Inside its mouth was a glowing eyeball the size of my balled fist, sitting on its tongue.

“Not if I can attack it first!” Myra charged Illusory Eye, winding back her arm for a punch.

“Myra, don’t!” Deen exclaimed.

Myra stopped. Turned around. She suddenly charged at us! Was this an illusion, or was Myra fooled by an illusion into attacking us?

Deen wasn’t moving. Was she seeing this, too? Illusory Eye must’ve clouded her senses! Her Guardian Angel seemed to be of no help. I realized it was up to me to save the team. I hugged Deen around the waist and jumped out of Myra’s path. Myra continued, stomping on the corpses of the scientists until she collided with a wall. The sound of the impact, as well as the mini-quake, felt real enough.

I dropped Deen and grabbed one of the seats with a smoldering human. I tore it off the floor, raising it over my head to throw at the Adumbrae.

“Myra, let go of Erind!” Deen shouted.

Looking left, I came to meet Deen’s fist. Her knuckles crashed against my skull, making me see white before a burst of pain washed over my face. I tumbled across the floor like a cartoon character and was entangled with anaconda-like cables.

“Okay, okay,” I said, ripping the cables to free myself. My face burned with pain. “My idiot best friend got herself caught—woah!” I leaned back as a leg sliced downward, almost crashing down on my head. Deen was already here!

Kicks and punches. Deen wasn’t letting up. I couldn’t avoid all of her attacks. The hits were heavy and painful. And fucking annoying. If she couldn’t be responsible for her own mind not to get tricked, then she shouldn’t be angry if I put her to sleep.

I caught one of Deen’s punches. I pulled her down while hitting her upper abdomen with my left fist. According to a video I had watched, a hit to the solar plexus could knock someone out. Not sure if I actually hit that spot, but I made Deen cough out blood.

Satisfying to see. I never imagined this day would come. No Guardian Angel to protect Deen!

Serves you right for hitting me first. I followed it up with a kick to her stomach, launching her into the air. She landed a dozen feet away. If it were just the stomach, she’d be able to regenerate the most severe of injuries.

Enough messing with Deen. Onto the real enemy.

Illusory Eye was right there, in front of the shattered vat. I run towards it, picking up a spherical machine larger than a beach ball. It dangled wires as I carried it. I didn’t want to touch the Adumbrae, concerned that it might put me under its spell.

I slammed the machine against the Adumbrae. Again, and again, and again. Soon, the machine was crumpled to a quarter of its size. But the Adumbrae stood unfazed and visibly unharmed.

“Get away from her!” The heavy footfalls told me that Myra was coming up behind me.

Her barrel of a fist came too fast for me to avoid. Tumbling Erind, that was me. The entire side of my body throbbed from the pain of the hit. Fortunately, the pain made me think clearly for a moment.

The Adumbrae had trapped all of us in its illusion since… I don’t know.

But it was much earlier than I had thought. Probably right after I had summoned my mask. I was ninety percent sure it was that point because Deen’s Guardian Angel should’ve taken it into account. Hopefully, Deen’s stubbornness didn’t mess up our chance at winning.

A mental haze also impaired my judgment. I could… feel it. Difficult to explain, but I wasn’t thinking right.

I wasn’t arrogant enough to believe that only I wouldn’t be trapped by the illusion. In actuality, the Adumbrae’s power didn’t just affect our senses. It also affected our thoughts, pushing us to believe the fake world around us.

Furious Deen rushing toward me probably wasn’t fake. Given that pain cleared my mind, I decided to take the hit. Deen tackled me to the ground. She kept yelling that I was an Adumbrae.

Technically, true. Though she meant the other Adumbrae.

I crossed my arms over my head as Deen rained down punches. People say women fight by slapping and clawing at each other. Deen wanted to be the exception. Her punches cracked my forearm bones. Her knuckles scraped my skin and flesh. My own blood dripped down on me.

Chill the fuck out, you bitch! I fought the urge to strike back. The pummeling rewarded me with another thought.

A question—what was Myra doing? Shouldn’t she be attacking Deen? She seemed to have disappeared. Something was wrong, besides the obvious. Was Illusory Eye tricking me to get hit?

This might be my most challenging enemy yet. Could Blanchette break free of this spell? Deen’s Guardian Angel had a solution! What was it again? That I should use my powers? Not Blanchette.

The metal mannequin!

“Enough!” I sat up and punched Deen’s face. It wasn’t as beautiful anymore with a shattered cheekbone and a broken nose. Out of curiosity, and maybe a bit of bitchiness, I clawed at her, too.

My nails scraped skin, drawing deep lines across Deen’s face. Some of her makeup got under my fingernails, along with her flesh. Instead of screaming in pain, Deen kept flailing her arms at me. I got pissed off and headbutted her, the top of my head hitting her chest. Her biological airbags blunted the blow, but I got her off just the same.

Before I get tempted to hurt Deen some more—I wasn’t sure if that was caused by Illusory Eye’s powers or my own desire—I ran away. Concentrate on summoning my second mask.

Nothing was coming out of the crystals on my palm! The plan of Deen’s Guardian Angel failed! Probably Deen told me too late.

Or… maybe this was all part of the plan?

Didn’t I summon the second mask already? I wasn’t holding it now. But I shouldn’t forget that this was all an illusion. With nothing left to lose, I punched myself. Blood and knocked-off teeth filled my mouth. Even my cheek tore a bit.

In that moment where the pain was strongest, I willed myself to ‘put on’ the mask. I pictured myself holding the silver mask and fitting it over my aching face.

And I no longer felt any pain.  

“I did it!” I exclaimed in a robotic voice just as a pillar batted me aside.

I felt the strain on all my joints as the strike’s force spread across my body. But it wasn’t pain. More like a mental strain. I concentrated on keeping myself whole while tumbling across the floor for the umpteenth time.

I scrambled to stand, checking myself for any damage. Nothing. Not a nick a crack or any bent part. I then scanned the room.

My cute Erind body! It was getting beaten by the pillar that turned out to be the very enlarged appendage of Illusory Eye. The spider legs growing out of its back extended across the room, their ends multiplying hundreds of times their original size to crush us.

Deen and Myra were on the ground, too, inside small craters. The pillars jackhammered them as they were helplessly trapped in their minds. Myra was protected by her armor, though chunks of it had already broken off. Deen was probably in a worse condition.

I held up a finger, looking at my original body then at Deen. My original body should be tough enough. I rushed toward Deen and shot her with my finger.

A blue string connected us.

(Move! Attack the Adumbrae!) I transmitted the command. If Illusory Eye was messing with Deen’s mind, maybe I could jump in and vie for control of the body.

(What? Who is—?) Unmistakable thoughts came from the other end of the connection. (Erind? Is that you?)

(Author's Notes: Illusions this powerful are one of the weaknesses of Gabe. Well, to be fair, the actual weakness of Gabe is Deen's stubbornness. But Gabe did manage to relay a possible way for them to win before it was too late. Too bad for Erind that all her hits against Deen were inside her head. This might be the strongest Adumbrae that Erind had faced so far in the sense that she couldn't have a chance without Gabe.

By the way, if there are issues/inconsistencies in my writing, don’t hesitate to point them out. I’ve been fog-brained lately due to health issues. Years of stressful work and unhealthy living are catching up to me. I’ve been to the doctor, and I’ve started living (a bit) healthier. We should all live healthily. Thanks for all of your support!)