Lana stood before us, a beautiful catastrophe leaning on her new staff. The playful smile never left her lips, even as my team held her at sword-point. It was a smile that didn't reach her wild, amethyst eyes.
"I wanted to meet you from the start of the trial, Dante," she said, her voice a melodic purr that was utterly at odds with her battered appearance. "I wanted to join you, to be right by your side. But I had some… business to take care of before that."
She took a limping step forward, and Eric instinctively shifted to block her path. She just giggled.
"You know, Dante, I was a fool," she continued, her gaze fixed on me, ignoring everyone else. "I replaced a diamond for some worthless piece of copper."
"What do you mean?" I asked, my voice flat. I knew this performance. It was the prelude to a storm.
"I thought I could replace you," she said, a flicker of something dark passing through her eyes. "I found someone else, someone who gave me the attention I wanted. That was the reason I left, before all this. Before we came here." She then pointed a finger at me, her playful pout returning. "But it was your fault, Dante. It was always your fault. You never gave me the attention I deserved. You treated me like a burden, like a nuisance. So I found someone who wouldn't."
I needed time to process this. Her twisted logic, her ability to shift blame, it was all so familiar.
"But now, all is fine," she chirped, clapping her hands together softly. "Everything is taken care of. Before we were summoned, that little toy boy of mine? He cheated on me. I saw him. Fucking another girl in his own dorm room." Her smile widened, but it was a terrifying, razor-sharp thing. "I was so pissed. I wanted to kill them both, right then and there. But the rules in our old world were so… unjustified. And then, look! The Goddess gave me a chance. A new world with no more rules. And on top of that, we both ended up here. Isn't it just perfect?"
"What are you talking about?" I asked, my voice cold. "If you wanted to join me, you could have sought me out from day one. Why come now?"
Her smile was blinding. "Oh, I wanted to! Believe me, there was no one more willing to join you than me. But there were some circumstances. I had to do some cleaning first. Some… revenge."
Masha, who had been listening with growing disgust, finally spoke up. "Revenge? What revenge?"
Lana turned to her, her eyes sparkling with a manic glee. "Yes, darling. Revenge!" She looked back at me. "I joined that toy boy's team. It was so easy. He was thrilled to have me. And guess what? He added that same little slut to his team as well. And a few of their other friends. It was perfect! All my little problems, all in one convenient place."
She gestured vaguely with her staff towards the dark forest. "We were fighting some ugly beasties over there. I watched them suffer. They were getting torn apart, bleeding, screaming. They barely made it out alive. And I was just waiting, watching, letting them get weak and desperate. And while I was bored, waiting for the right time, I found this staff! Isn't it useful?"
She paused, her eyes dancing with a light that made my skin crawl. "Ah, sorry! I forgot to tell you the climax!" she exclaimed, as if she had forgotten a trivial detail. "When they were all wounded, when they were huddled together, thinking they had survived… I started with her first. I used this staff to break her legs, so she couldn't run. Then I killed their healer, so no one could help them. I made my dear ex-boyfriend watch as I took them apart, piece by piece. I saved him for last. I wanted him to feel every second of the despair I felt. It was so, so satisfying." She sighed, a sound of pure, blissful contentment. "And then I killed him. Mercilessly. Brutally. I think I might have overdone it a little, but he deserved it, don't you think?"
A horrified silence fell over my team. They stared at Lana as if she were a demon that had just crawled out of the earth. Even I, who knew the depths of her instability, felt a chill. She had not just killed them. She had savored it. She had turned their suffering into a form of art.
I broke the silence. "So, can you tell me your skill?"
Her entire demeanor shifted back to that of a pouting child. "First, you have to add me to your team! Pretty please?"
I stared at her for a long moment. She was a chaotic, unpredictable variable. A stick of dynamite with a faulty fuse. But she was also powerful, ruthless, and, in a twisted way, utterly loyal to me. She was a perfect weapon, as long as I was the one holding her.
"Fine," I said.
"Yeah!" she squealed, clapping her hands. "Now we can be together again, Dante!"
"Even if I had said no, you wouldn't have left me alone," I stated flatly.
She giggled. "Umm, you got me." She then straightened up, a look of pride on her face. "Oh, right! My skill! It's called Weapon Master. Whatever weapon I hold, I just… know how to use it. All its techniques, all its secrets, they just flow into my mind. Like this staff! I never used one before, but now I feel like I was born with it in my hands!"
I thought to myself, How can one person be so terrifyingly dumb and so terrifyingly dangerous at the same time? Her skill was simple, but its potential was limitless. In her hands, any weapon, even a simple rock, could become a tool of legendary lethality.
"Alright," I said, turning back to the map and ignoring the horrified stares of my team. It was time to reassert control. "The teams are as follows."
I pointed to one group of artifacts on the map. "Team One will hunt for the Ring of the Maelstrom, Viper's Kiss Daggers and the Manacore Pendant. That team will consist of myself, Jin, Talia, Edgar, and Kael. I will lead."
I then pointed to the other cluster of markings. "Team Two will hunt for the Grimoire of Hoarfrost, the Reinforced Mage Cloak, and the Buckler of Sparks. Eric will lead that team. His team will be Masha, Rina, and…" I paused, looking at my cousin. "Lana."
The moment the words left my mouth, the fragile peace shattered.
"What?!"
Two voices cried out in perfect, furious unison. One belonged to Lana. The other belonged to Erica.
Erica, who had been silent and brooding this whole time, stormed forward, her hands clenched into fists, her knuckles white. The air around her began to shimmer with heat. "No," she said, her voice a low, dangerous growl. "Absolutely not. I am not leaving your side."
Lana, her playful demeanor vanishing in an instant, glared at Erica, her amethyst eyes turning cold and hard. "Who do you think you are, telling my brother what to do? He and I are finally reunited. I'm not going anywhere without him."
"He doesn't need you," Erica spat, stepping forward until she was almost nose-to-nose with Lana. "He needs someone who is loyal, someone who understands him. Not some crazy bitch who just showed up!"
"Crazy?" Lana let out a low, dangerous laugh. "Oh, sweetie, you have no idea." She hefted her Verdant Iron Staff, its green-tinged metal seeming to hum with a malevolent energy. "At least I'm honest about what I am. You're just a pathetic little girl hiding behind a wall of fire, pretending your obsession is loyalty."
Sparks began to fly from Erica's fingertips. "I will burn you to ash where you stand."
"Try it," Lana purred, spinning her staff with a speed and grace that was terrifying to behold. "I'd love to see you try."
The two of them stood locked in a standoff, a vortex of fire and madness about to erupt in the center of our camp. My team watched, frozen, as the two most powerful and unstable women in our group prepared to tear each other apart, all for the prize of standing next to me. The chaos I had so carefully orchestrated in others had finally come home to roost.