Taking advantage of Black’s daze, Trigger swipes his blazing hands. It hits Black’s left arm. However it hurts, Black does not response. He was just looking at Glyph with disbelief.

EagleEye as well as the two pet-moks attacks Black physically. When Black snaps out of his daze, he couldn’t move anymore. His left hand is no more. Trigger has already cut his left hand using his blazing hand.

Black doesn’t even wail. It looks like he has given up the will to resist. It seems many feelings has come and gone during the period, between Glyph’s attack and his left hand being cut off. Even dejected Black from last night is livelier than the current Black. I can simply find no will to survive in his eyes.

“Trigger, leave your pet-moks to restrain him. He can no longer move. Go help WatchDog gets rid of the side kicks” commanded Glyph, “Saber, come here and watch him with your pet-mok. I’m going to join the fight.”

Just like that, Trigger, EagleEye and Glyph comes to us.

“Fu*k”, I shouted angrily. Even without them, three of us are having trouble in fighting WatchDog and his pet. We couldn’t break the stalemate. Now that, they have come to join the fight, we are going to lose for sure. I wish I could somehow overcome the current situation. But reality sucks.

“Flee for live. Go back to HighJump village. Live today to fight tomorrow.” I commanded and ran like there is no tomorrow. Brick and Rey doesn’t complain my decision. They also know we don’t have much time to flee to safety since our fusion time is not long enough to reach the village.

“Go for separate ways.” I commanded and ran to a random direction. I saw Brick and Rey also ran to different directions. I ran like there is no tomorrow.

“Fu*k the bushes”, “Fu*k the rocks”, “Fu*k, too many obstacles”,…………

After some time, I started to feel tired. When I look back I saw EagleEye and Glyph chasing me riding their pet-moks. I ran as fast as I can until I run out of time for fusion state. But luckily when I look back, I don’t see anyone anymore.

For some reason, they are not following me anymore. I think I know why. But the sky becomes darker. I need to go back to HighJump village to see Brick and Rey again.

----- ----- ----- ----- -----

I reached to HighJump village only at midnight. I didn’t tell Brick and Rey where we would meet in detail. I said we would meet at the village. We don’t have any property in the village. So, there is no specific place. They might go to the inn we have been staying. But the matter we are reuniting is related to Black, the headman of the village. So, the place they will likely go is the headman’s house.

I might as well go there and wait for them if they are not back yet. Besides, Larry won’t stand still if she knows what’s happening. She might help us in some way to rescues Black. That is, if we decide to rescue him from the riders. The situation is too complex. Till now, I’m still anxious and somewhat frightened. I know I have to brace myself since I’m in the soul world. Not on the earth where there are laws protecting people. I would discuss with Rey and Brick and decide what to do. They both are likely to be my companions for a long time. It wouldn’t be wise to stubbornly do what I wish and what they don’t want to. I would lose my potential trustworthy companions.

“Brick, Rey you have already arrived.” When I enter the headman’s house, near the reception, I saw them both. But I don’t find Larry with them.

“Cank, what took you so long to make them lose track of you. We have been waiting for you for a long time and have been worrying about you since we saw two of them chase after you.” Said Rey.

“It can be said that I’m lucky enough to escape their hands. I had to run until I no longer can use soul fusion.” I answered

“Trigger chases after me and before long, he gave up the chase. And that is the case for Rey too. WatchDog chases after him but not for too long.” Said Brick.

“May be they are worried something bad would happen to SaberTooth since he was left alone with Blcak. After all, he is a bit too arrogant and ignorant at some times. A normal Black is not a person to be trifled with” I answered.

“Or may be we are not worthy enough to risk SaberTooth’s safety?” said Brick.

“Please don’t hurt our feelings” complained Rey.

Whatever the case is, it is good to know that none of us has suffered anything in their hand. Now that we can be considered safe since they won’t come to the village, I think it is time to decide whether to save Black or not.

“Now that we are safe, should we just give up the reward Black would potentially offer? We worked more than a week for that quest.” I asked them.

Rey and Brick look at me seriously. They then look at each other and both of them nodded.

Then, Rey said “Why are you asking us? From the start of our agreement, we have given you the position of the leader of our party. And that’s because we have faith in you. And now is the same. You decide and if it doesn’t wander off too much from our basic moral code, we won’t complain.”

It seems like they have already discussed what to do before I reached the village.

“I know it. And thank you for your support. I am happy to know that you guys have faith in me. I won’t let you down. I ask you because I want to know your opinion. Doing a specific thing without willingness won’t make much progress. Besides, the type of leader I want to become is not a tyrant who do everything he wants. I want to do what all of us want to do” I answered sincerely, “And I’m telling you guys this because you guys and I might be going on a journey for a long time. A crack in our relationship would cost me my own life at some time. I believe I need to treat others sincerely if I want to be treated sincerely. And I really hate to be betrayed. I don’t want to taste it anymore.”

“I am happy to know your intention. And Rey would be the same. If you really want to know our opinion on Black’s case, we both want to go rescue him. We are having a headache because you haven’t managed to reach here yet. Besides, we are too weak to face them head to head. And we don’t find Larry anywhere in the village.” Said Brick.

“Wait, what? You don’t find Larry”, I was surprised to hear that Larry was not found. I was initially thinking to ask for her help. She might be able to help quite a lot. Or may be she would be the main force in the rescues mission.

“Yes, we have tried asking the villagers. They said they haven’t seen her since the day we set forth on our journey to complete her quest. They thought she went along with us.” Rey answered this time.

“That’s a pain in the as*, sh*t” I wailed.

What does that mean? She has been following us without our knowledge. I thought she would be staying at the village since she didn’t even send us off. Fu*k. Why didn’t I consider her feelings for Black. I would have guessed it if I was not obsessed with the will to complete her quest.

Does that mean the human silhouette we saw a whole week in the dark was her? She didn’t spy on us in the day because she was afraid she would be found? She only spied at night when it is the best time for her to do it without being noticed.

If it is, then, she would probably try to rescues Black tonight. Fu*k again. I don’t know about her strength much. But a dejected Black in the enemy’s hands would be too difficult to rescue. If it is unfortunate, that’s ….Argh. Black alone is not enough? Why does she also have to give me a headache too.