>

Moby's resolve and voice were both firm. He knew full well that the chances of it actually working was slim. Why would he choose to bend to his will and agree to his proposal? He was in no position to make demands. Yet, he tried it anyway... It was his only chance at saving them.

He thought about threatening to kill himself along with Avilia, or to destroy the paper from the book of resurrection that he valued so highly. However, he reconsidered it immediately seeing the power his opponent held; if he wanted to, he could easily stop him without effort the second he even sensed an attempt…

Self-sacrifice was the only way. It was his fault that all this mess happened and he needed to be the one to fix it. He wrapped and squeezed his head for any way he could get out of this situation. He could absolutely not let his family die...

>

'FUCK!!'

>

Moby was going mad, he was usually calm and collected, valuing his image to his friends to help them stay calm as well. But none of that mattered to him now. He threw away all of that, his dignity and honour meant nothing to him in his current situation as survival was his first instinct.

Everyone else looked at Moby with shaky, wide-open eyes as they saw him lose his cool, screaming in a different language that only made the fear in their heart increase as it was unexpected…

It was the first-ever time they saw their leader behave in such a way...

To make their leader act like that, the person that was calm and collected in the face of any danger, that person must have been even stronger than they had assumed, the feeling of death only seeming like one step away as they used everything in their power to stand their ground in his presence.

Yet, despite all of that, they felt absolutely no regret, all but Nags and Yami who were both inwardly cursing the situation in their minds with ghost-like faces of despair.

>

His laugh echoed in the air once more, sending shivers down everyone's spines.

His laugh turned Moby's face sour as he gritted his teeth tightly… It was all over… He was far too greedy in everything that he did… He had not learned his lesson the first time challenging the gang which led to Abby's kidnapping and immediately repeated the same mistake now…

Reality hit him very hard, he was still far too weak to do what he wanted… He was too childish, not everything always went his way… Yet, he did not give up yet… Not without trying, despite his clearly injured state…

"Listen up! For once, I am choosing to be merciful! I will leave one of you to spread what happened here! A sort of messenger! Which one of you wants it!?"

His words caught everyone by surprise, yet to the shalker's own surprise, there seemed to be no one willing to cooperate with him when he expected them all to be on their knees, begging him or possibly fighting amongst themselves to be the one chosen, yet none of that happened as they simply stared coldly in his direction. Even Yami and Nags who could not care less about everyone else in the group declined… Their hatred for the shalkers was such, they would rather die than ally themselves with another shalker after what happened with Emilia…

For some odd reason, that display of loyalty put some comfort into Moby's heart, which pushed him further into saying what he wanted to say and do what he wanted to do, fighting a losing battle and give them a chance to escape.

There was only one way that he could do it, he needed to teleport everyone away using his ability, and threaten to kill himself if he attempted to follow them. At least then they could run and hide while he tried his best to buy them some time, and maybe even convince Abby to teleport them away back to earth and snap some sense into her.

He would have to use his trump card, something that he was not even sure how to even activate and something that he was extremely doubtful that his current body could handle, and even then, if everything miraculously went his way, he doubted to last for long...

At least then his family would be saved and he would be the only casualty instead of all of them dieing instead.

Even Avilia, whose mind was still hurting from everything that was going on and could not fathom being captured and experimented on by such a being agreed to Moby's plan. It seemed like the shalker knew who she was and somehow thought that he could transfer her spirit from Moby to him, which piqued her curiosity, yet not enough for her to give in to temptation, far from it. She could not care less about Moby's family but she dearly cared about him, which was why she agreed to it since it would have been better for his sanity...

Moby put his hands behind his back and formed purple energy that began forming into a dagger, making sure that his opponent did not pay attention to him as he began the process of imprinting his mark on it.

His friends that were behind him noticed exactly what he was doing, yet they made sure to seem oblivious as it seemed like Moby had a plan, making them once again put all of their hopes and dreams on his shoulders and believe he had something in mind like he always did.

'Almost done…' Moby thought to himself, the marking process taking longer than he expected as he was no longer in his sin mode.

"HUH!? No one!? Then so be it! I'm sure some of you will change your mind when I beat it into you!"

He spoke, forming another ball of red energy in his hands before a sudden scream was heard, clear joy and craziness in her voice.

"I'LL DO IT!"

Suddenly, as soon as that scream was heard, everyone's attention was fixated in her direction, only Moby's vision was now blocked by 2 armoured figures, a massive black, armoured goblin wearing Barberian armour and a shorter one wearing a full plate of metal warping in front of him.

>

'What the fuck!'

Moby was caught by surprise, inwardly cursing as the massive goblin swung his greatsword straight at him, knowing full well how all of this happened, which was the last thing on his mind.

Moby was forced to dodge, cancelling the skill that he was using to implant the dagger which required his full concentration.

Yet, no matter how fast he wanted to move, his body was simply too tired and injured to do it, as he saw a massive sword headed for his head, unable to do anything about it…

All of his friends were too far away to do anything, and too injured and drained to react in time…

'Fuck… not now! am I really gonna die in such a stupid way…'

He inwardly cursed once more, before sudden spikes of light shot out from the ground, impaling the goblin in various areas, instantly killing it.

"Monster! Stay away from my big brother!" Hikari, who was still hugging his legs spoke, tears in her eyes, conviction and care in her voice that Moby sensed, filling him with an odd emotion in his heart seeing this little girl care for him so deeply, relief enveloping his entire body.

Yet, the relief in his heart did not last for long as he noticed Nags, lazily fighting the other goblin with his battle Axe in his drained, injured state until he finally defeated it, Abby no longer in his hands which made him frantically look for her, only to see her limping away towards the Shalker with wide-open eyes and a fanatic smile on her face, stopping right in front of him.

"ABBY WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!? YOU IDIOT! STAY AWAY FROM HIM!"

She heard a voice from behind her, yet could not convince her to turn back.

"Oh great lord! I pledge my undying loyalty to you! My sister was your previous subordinate but she sadly passed away by the hands of these heathens! Allow me to continue her legacy an-"

*Slap*

With a single slap of his hands, Abby was sent flying, skitting on the hard, rocky ground, coughing blood everywhere as the wind was knocked out of her body.

'W-what…'

She was confused on what was happening as her brain spun in a circle of agony, her body unable to move as she forced her head to look up at the Shalker's smile and bloody, glowing, piercing eyes.

"Oh… You must be the toy that Villanova had been telling me about… This is quite amusing indeed, It seems like all that she had told me is true… It's quite a sightseeing you in real life…/But, sadly, I have no use for broken puppets like you…"

He spoke, looking down at her as he formed another ball of red energy in his hands, ready to fire it.

"L-lord... Please... Let me join. you... I promise to be useful to you... Please..."

'FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK! IT'S ALL RUINED!'

Moby's mind went wild, his heart beating faster than a machine gun. There was nothing more that he could do… Despite everything that happened, he still saw Abby like his own daughter, a lost child that was his responsibility.

And now he was forced to watch as she died… He could not bear the sight, a feeling ravaging his body unlike anything in his entire life as he tried to force his body to move and his brain to think of a way out, feeling like he was about to explode as he screamed, tears running down his face, Hikari hugging him even tighter which made it even harder for his injured body to move, all of his family members feeling similar emotions seeing the sight unfold.

"ABBBYYYY!"

"M-My lord... P-please... I'll be useful, let me keep my dear sister's flames burning... Let me-"

"Shut it toy! You will be the first, an example for what fate awaits you all… Now… you die…"

The shalker spoke with no remorse, firing a stream of red energy out of his fingertips.

"ABBBBBBBBYYYYYYY!"

*Crash*

Suddenly, out of nowhere, the sound of lightning crashing was heard, startling everyone in the area. And, in the next instance, another body was seen, standing proudly with his hands spread out in front of the blast, his bones bent in odd, disturbing ways, barely even managing to stand up, small sparks of lightning covering his body, tears and a single smile on his face as he took it all head-on…

"A-Alex…"

Abby spoke in a low voice tears running down her face with a mixture of sadness and disbelief unlike any other she bore in her entire life...