"Nobody move! Move a muscle and I kill her!" Alistair took me hostage
He tried to sound threatening, but he came across hysterically. His mouth was twitching, and he glared at Elias with eyes full of madness. Like a rabid dog that got set free from its cage.
"Eirene No!" Elias shouted at me
"It's okay big brother!"
I gripped at Alistair's hand to activate my pain manipulation, but he instantly shrugged off and began threatening me instead.
"Move an inch young lady or I'll kill you!" Alistair threatened
I desperately tried to peel Alistair's arm off my neck, but to no avail. I tried using my newly acquired skill, Pain Manipulation, but it is risky since I've been held at gunpoint and chances are that I will be hypnotized if I intervened. So it is a life or death situation.
Everyone froze, unwilling to risk my life on a rescue attempt. Alistair was crazy enough at this point that they believed he'd do it. Everyone started talking at once, screaming at Alistair, or worriedly calling out my name.
"This is a hypnotic spell I learned since my two years of playing dead! One spell and she's dead! So, if you don't want your precious sister writhing on the ground, drop your weapons now! All of you!"
Everyone's faces went pale. Alistair grinned, then turned back to Elias
"Hey you bastard, unhand my sister at once!" Elias said loudly
Elias' nerve was about to pop out, its teeth gritted, its hand gripped tightly to his sniper rifle, and a murderous look in my brother's eyes. He was pissed, like super pissed when he saw me as a hostage.
"Look at your eyes Elias, that's the glare of a lone wolf. Do you think you are worthy to bow to me! Huh!" Alistair smiled maniacally
My brother was enraged from Alistair's actions, he morphed his rifle back to his revolver once again, directly aimed at Alistair's head.
"Such audacity, harming my sister like that!" Elias shouted
"Hey you edgy asshole, Are you making fun of me, you fucker!? Keep this up and I'll brainwash her! Hurry up and give me your artifact! Your other weapons too!"
Despite the tense atmosphere, Elias and the others seemed enraged at Alistair's actions. His angry attitude irked Alistair to no end. Thinking he was being looked down upon, Alistair completely lost it. Still hysterical, he demanded Elias hand over his artifact.
Elias looked at Alistair with eyes cold as ice. His worried face suddenly shifted to a calm expression, then he talked calmly.
"Um, you say that, but if you don't kill my little sister, the immoral knights won't accept you, so you'll have to kill her eventually anyway, right? In that case, what point is there in me handling my weapons over?" Elias talked calmly
Upon hearing this, Alistair gripped his hand tightly through my body, then replied with a stuttering voice.
"Shut up! Shut the fuck up! Shut up and give me everything you have! Retards like you should just listen to what I say! O-Oh yeah, why don't you hand me that party of yours while you're at it. Bring her to me!"
Alistair's screams were nearly incoherent. He'd been driven so far into the corner that he could no longer make rational decisions. Patricia shivered when he looked at her, looking back at him full of disgust.
"You can tell me to shut up all you want, but you're still a coward. Using my little sister as a hostage. Pathetic like a loser like you."
Then Elias looked up at his party members, Patricia who stood beside him.
"Hey Patricia, don't hide behind me just because he creeps you out. You're just gonna make him more mad."
"But he's so disgusting… Just looking at him makes me sick… See, look at all these goosebumps! I didn't even know people could be gross."
"Well, I suppose l can't blame you. H esId he wanted to be a hero, but he acts more like a villain that dies in the first chapter."
My brother's attitude suddenly reverts back to normal, changing into a nonchalantly attitude that seemed calm. The time I was held hostage, he was worried about his sister's safety. And right until now, he reverted back on his normal and classic attitude as always.
As I was maintaining my position stiffly, I didn't even move a muscle. Suddenly, Plasma interrupted.
"Roxy, it seems your brother is toying with Alistair, he is maintaining it's calm attitude again. He is destroying Alistair's confidence to the point of surrendering its will to your big brother, this way, you can make out safely. Elias had some battle experience when it comes to being held hostage." Plasma intervened my thoughts
"Oh, that's great news Plasma."
"Exactly, you'll be safe in no time."
Whether because they didn't care, or because they couldn't keep their voices down in the face of such creepiness, their discussion was loud enough for all to hear. Alistair's face went from beet red, to sickly green, to pale white. It would seem he'd literally become so angry that he'd gone insane.
With an annoyed expression to his face, he did something unspeakable.
"Hey Elias, maybe I will grab one of your attention, won't it? You're too calm to trick me."
Suddenly, Alistair grabbed one of my breasts and fondled it like a sack. I moaned in a soft tone, enough to make Elias gain its attention.
"Ugh… please… we can talk this out." I said
Despite the situation I was in. I still tried to reason about Alistair. My words cut out his maniacal laughter, and she started squeezing down on my boobs even harder.
"Shut up! You keep bothering me you bitch, you're just a hypocrite! I don't care about what you have to say. Just shut up and be a good hostage."
Alistair's gaze returned to Elias. His earlier hysteria was shining. Now, his eyes were filled with nothing but hatred. He shot a quick glance at the revolver strapped to Elias's thighs. Even without words, his intentions were clear.
"Hey sensei, don't you dare touch my sister like that! I'll swear I'll kill you, you hear me!"
Alistair hesitated for a moment, then responded.
"Give me all your weapons, Elias. Or I'll turn your little sister into a mindless zombie that only knows about sex. I will not hesitate to do it."
Seeing the situation grew serious, my brother's eyes both locked in. He grew serious about his sister's safety.
If Elias hesitated for even a moment, he'd hypnotize me without a second thought. He no longer cared about anything for his own safety.
Elias was burned into fury, his calm gaze reverted back to the enraged expression as he was at. His plan of shattering his confidence backfired, now he would only rely on his critical thinking. Even a slightest mistake will leave me dead.
At the same time, Elias sighed. Thinking he would just activate his dark magic and shock them with its immobilization skill when he went to hand over the guns, he slowly reached for his revolver.
With how small I was, and how fast he could draw and fire. Elias could easily shoot Alistair before he had a chance to do anything, but the hypnotic imbued hand was touched directly at my chest. Leaving him ready at all costs.
However, before he could hand his guns over, something happened.
"Elias, get out of the way!"
Patricia yelled out as she leaped toward me faster than anyone could blink.
Panicking, Alistair tried to activate his hypnotic magic in a split second. Patricia pulled me free and dived out of the way. A second later, a torrent of bullets slammed into Alistair's chest, directly where my body had been not even a second ago.
Elias, who was aware at that time, shot Alistair in the head using his revolver. His body collapsed to the ground and died.
Patricia hit the ground shoulder-first, and slid a few meters before coming to a stop. A cloud of dust rose up behind her, and she groaned painfully.
"Brother!" For the first time in Elias's memory. My voice was tinged in a panic.
Elias holstered his revolver and ran toward me, ignoring Patricia entirely. I was resting on Patricia's lap, writhing in pain as the hypnotic magic crumbled my mind.
My mind was cloudy as my thoughts began to temper. Plasma's response began to dilate as my thoughts began to crumble. Elias approached me in a faint expression.
Elias looked over and saw that my body was even paler than a sheet, and my limbs were convulsing. My eyes locked with my brother. I weakly shook my head and pointed to Catherine, their party healer, who can heal me with my current condition.
It seemed she'd heard their conversation, but the hypnotic magic had already left her unable to talk. If Alistair had really been telling the truth, I would only last for a couple more minutes, but judging from my condition, I didn't have more than a left from my body. And the longer it took to heal my body, the greater the chance that the hypnotic spell would brainwash me completely.
"Catherine, heal my sister!"
As Catherine pointed her staff through mine, it seems that her magic was no effect from Alistair's hypnotic spell. As ordinary healing magic will not even work in my current state.
"How's the state, Catherine?" Elias asks calmly
"Ugh, it seems ordinary healing magic was no use from Eirene, the hypnotic spell happened all of a sudden, now the spell consumed half of her thoughts."
Alta, Natalie and Cassius were particularly shaken. The person they loved was on the brink of death. It was even worse for Natalie since seeing her vice-leader as on a verge of death triggered his flashbacks to when I saved her during Castle Libra.
She didn't want to see someone she knew die again. Cassius and the villagers all crowded around Elias, some of them worried about my safety, others tried to shove past him, and yet, others tried to cast ineffective healing magic. With a single scream, Elias silenced the entire crowd, and they took a hesitant step back.
"Eirene! Eirene!"
"No… Little sister! What do we do? What do we do, Elias? My sister's going to die!"
"Lady Roxy looks in bad shape too! Goddamit! It's going to happen again…"
As their voices slowly faded, I gently closed my eyes in despair. My thoughts were fogged with voices that I didn't know of. And yet, it tells me to live…
Now, this is the end of my journey.