Chương 358: Woman In The Mirror

The dark Spectre–Legion–Reappeared in a completely different place with another puff of dark flames. His blank, cracked white mask remained the same as it had always been, concealing the visage that may or may not even exist beneath. He turned toward a mirror on his right, and the reflection he saw was not of himself, but of a form Mara had once made use of… She didn't remember it, of course. But he did. He remembered it clearly, like it hadn't been about twenty years since it had first made its apparition.

Legion had given it his all to barely seal this thing. It was currently stuck in the world of reflections, and yet… Despite this world being so vast, this vile creature somehow always managed to appear in all reflective surfaces he passed, always replacing his own reflection. It couldn't do anything even if he went right up to the mirror, but it was there nonetheless, waiting. Patiently waiting.

"I still can not believe that it wasn't really her" There had been signs that this foul thing was abnormal, but at the time, it had merely seemed like Mara was in a state of unconsciousness, just like he witnessed when he watched her transform into 'Revenant Jack-Out-Of-The-Box'. He himself didn't know what the form's name was, but even that horrifying creature capable of manipulating flesh and blood was nothing in his eyes compared to the thing replacing his reflection.

"Why won't you respond to me? I know you can talk. You talked when you attacked those people–When you cut off all of the connections they had left!" The only good thing about being stalked by this creature was that since it was–In part–Mara herself, he could talk about things he couldn't to other people and let some things off his chest. It was a meagre compensation, but it was something, at least. The entity tilted her head.

This 'form' of Mara was basically just her human self, only appearing as a ghostly entity that looked as though it had begun rotting away. Her skin was grey, her sclera were black, and her hair looked as though it had been drenched in some sort of viscous black substance. The same dark liquid could be seen flowing slowly from her eyes, and if she felt like it, she would sometimes spit it at her side of the mirror. The reflection was smiling.

She could understand Legion, but she had seemingly no intention of responding. Legion frankly didn't believe that she was a proper form like what Mara had been showing. He had assumed as much at first, but the more time passed, the less likely this seemed. This thing was something in its own category, and Legion had to come to terms with the fact that he had wasted energy dealing with something that had affected Mara in no way whatsoever. She didn't even know that this entity existed.

This ghostly horror had come to be after she had met her end in the back room and had been sealed away long before she had awoken.

"What a waste of energy it was. I could have dealt with Mara without having to jump through hoops if I hadn't gotten myself entangled with this thing" Of course, Legion was only speaking in the wind. He would have acted even if he had known that this wouldn't serve any purpose in his mission to drag Mara down to Hell. That creature was simply too dangerous to be allowed to roam free, and there is no telling what would have happened if it had been allowed to ally with the real Mara Nebulo.

"It doesn't matter. I can feel that it will be soon" Legion's discussion with himself was interrupted as the door to the nearly empty room he was currently occupying was knocked upon.

"The door is open""Still feels weird to hear you speak normally instead of writing all over the place and ruining the walls with your phantomatic goop" The dark spectre shook his head at the remark. He didn't feel like explaining that he was unable to speak normally before, again.

"What is the matter, Miss Binibelle? You haven't spoken to me in a while. Have you finally managed to translate the cypher?"

"I have""May I know what it means?"

"No""Why not?"

"Deciphering it has allowed me to understand Mara Nebulo on a much deeper level than previously. I have come to realise that my understanding of her personality, motivations, and such was even worse than superficial. She is quite the unusual, complicated person""What does that have to do with me not being allowed to know what the cypher means?"

"I understand her view. You don't. You'll just start swinging your arms around and go on a tangent about her evils and whatnot if I actually tell you what it translated into, and I don't feel like listening to that" Legion tilted his head.

"... I suppose that is a fair point. What are you actually here for, then?" Binibelle looked up at the spirit.

"You should give up and die""Pardon me?"

"You should give up on your desire for vengeance, and just go to rest like a regular soul. You will never achieve your goal. It is rather obvious that Mara Nebulo didn't just turn into this incredibly special entity just from sheer, dumb luck. There had to have always been something unusual about her, yes?" Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

"Whatever that unusual thing is doesn't matter, but with all the reports, research, and a fair amount of logical thinking, it becomes clear that she has a connection to spirits, and might even be one herself""You may be a rather special spectre yourself, but I doubt you've got her beaten. You'll just manufacture a fate worse than death for yourself if you continue hunting her down. Thus, you should give up and die. That's the most logical thing you can do to preserve yourself" Binibelle glanced toward the mirror.

She was too short and at the wrong angle to see her own reflection in it.

"This is nonsense. Why else would I exist? The very fact that I came to be is proof that my mission is not in vain! I can drag her to Hell! I know I can do it. You are right. She is strong, but I… I am many! I am Legion!" The halfling scratched her ear.

"I am pretty sure she has a legion of her own" The dark spectre's form changed for a brief instant.

"That is irrelevant. I'll set them free. All of the souls she holds captive, even if I can not bring her to hell, I can at least save the people she damned to eternal torment, starting with the ones she dares to call her little sisters!" The dark spectre quickly calmed down, glancing toward the mirror, only to be met with the foul spirit smiling smugly at him as she placed one palm against her side of the glass and wrote something using her inky black substance. FALTER. I AM OUT. Legion ignored it.

"Listen, Binibelle. There is no point in trying to convince me. I will go through with my plan no matter what""I figured as much. Don't complain afterwards…" The spectre wasn't done speaking, however.

"What about you? Why are you still pursuing Mara Nebulo? You don't even have anything to do with her to begin with, and you've solved the case by now, haven't you? Why are you still trying to get to her?"

"A very good question. Normally, I would have happily paraded around with the solution to the mystery, patted myself on the back, and then gone to build myself a little bunker considering what's likely to happen eventually, but… It is a bit silly, but I took on a disciple, and to him, it is a bit more personal, you know?"

"It is up to little old me to make sure he doesn't get himself killed, and also, I need to make sure he and Hilene hook up" Legion shoulder's dropped down.

"You are more insane than I am, Binibelle""Who knows, maybe I am getting a bit senile""You aren't that old… Are you?"

"I am not answering that question" Since when has this guy been able to do something like this? The fucker has gotten stronger, perhaps? That's annoying. In my eyes, a spectre was nothing. I could gulp those two in the blink of an eye without even trying, but what I didn't like was the potential danger he posed to my ghostly little sister. I mean, any freak who hides in the shadows and wears a mask would make me nervous for my little sisters, but this one can still attack them even when they aren't corporeal.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get my hands on this fellow whatsoever, so I continued exploring the deserted settlement. They had left tools and the like in their escape, but it seemed like they had departed with the blood samples I had heard a mention of. There is absolutely nothing valuable left behind… Then, it should be time for me to return home. I marked a pause. … That damned ghost sounded awfully confident about the reunion with my brother being soon. How could he know this, though?

I doubt he would be able to get anywhere close to Leton without being noticed. Knowing my brother, he probably already figured out my hybrid nature and prepared himself accordingly, so a spirit should stand no chance of getting close enough to know anything… Or the spirit works with Leton…? Nah, Leton would never work with such a pathetic creature. I warped back to one of the plushes stored in Leou's tower, and then transformed into my 'Base Form'.

With the new upgrades I got thanks to Mari and 'Flowing Metal', I was able to absolutely butcher that monster in the pocket dimension. Thanks to this innate ability and the good work of Mari, both of my arms could transform into several kinds of weapons…

Sickle Arm (R) + (L) - Your right arm transforms into a sickle reminiscent of that of a past foe (Original Upgrade) Chainsaw (R) + (L) - Your hand is replaced by a chainsaw Buzzsaw (L) + (R) - Your hand is replaced by a buzzsaw Drill Arm (R) + (L) – Replaces your arm with a rotating drill capable of piercing through armour or rock Industrial Shears (L) + (R) - Replaces your arm with large shears capable of slicing through steel I wasn't too certain why some said 'arm' and some 'hand', especially since they ended up transforming about the same amount, but I no longer felt like questioning the oddities with the descriptions.

Those were only the upgrades that were affected by 'Flowing Metal', but they alone were already quite effective in severely enhancing my killing capabilities. Even someone in full plate armour would tremble when faced with this stuff. Alongside this, there was of course the upgrade that had basically won me the fight. Chipper - The inside of your maw gains a chipper Originally, this one had been added because Mari simply thought that it would be a quick and easy one to add.

Turns out adding it had been a most splendid idea. Anything that I couldn't just tear apart with my maw could be forced into 'Chipper', and the constant damage could erode basically any typical defences, or, as previously used, constantly tear down an annoying enemy that regenerated from everything. Of course, to go along with this, there was actually a very important set of three additional upgrades that had allowed my 'Base Form' to greatly enhance its strength.

Hydraulic Limb X 4 – Your limbs gain piston-like strength, greatly increasing things like jump or lifting power I had once only had one of those for my right arm, and it had already proven to change things quite dramatically in the strength department. With the example already present, Mari hadn't struggled that much to add one more to each of my limbs. Attempts at enhancing the hydraulics had proven unfruitful, though.

Well, knowing her, she probably already made a list of upgrades she would like to attempt to add. In fact, I know she is trying potential new upgrades on the decoy-bots she is building. I glanced at the list of forms I hadn't yet fully unlocked. I should try to speed things up on this side as well.

'Revenant Jack-Out-Of-The-Box' proved to me that my forms could be dramatically different from what I had been used to. It was completely fleshy and had basically nothing to do with machines and curses, and it wasn't even that strongly related to spirits either, with only the 'Revenant' keyword making the connection obvious. It was more of a twisted flesh monster squeezed inside of a big doll–Speaking of dolls, if I have a 'Plush Form', could I have a 'Doll Form'? Huh… Food for thought.