“She only sent me away because the Council forced her to.”
“Please, she’s the source of all evil. She could have fought for you but she didn’t and you want to know why?”
“I am going to kill you. It will be slower than I have ever killed anyone. You will beg me to end your life!”
“Blah,blah. Do you what human trait Lucy created you with?”
“Know one knows what the human factor was.”
“I do - Love. She knew you’d be powerful. She created you, so that was a given. But she didn’t want you to ever overthrow her. That’s why she gave you something she doesn’t have: The ability to desire love. That way she would always be able to defeat you.”
“I will break every bone inside you and feed it to you,” he promises her.
“That’s why the answer to the riddle is “no one.” Because the mother in the story loved her children so much, she would rather the beast kill all of them than abandon any of them. That is unlike your mother. Wow, how much do you have to suck for your own mom to give you away?”
“I’m going to cut inside you and display your remains on my wall.”
“Here’s what you and you’re your dumbass mother don’t understand: While love destroys you, it’ll keep humanity going forever.”
“ARGH!!!” He runs into the force field with Loop in hand.
He’s so focused on killing Emmy he doesn’t even see me coming toward him. By the time he does, it’s too late. I grab hold of his neck and bash his head into the floor. The Loop falls beside him. Before he can counterattack, I look him in the eyes and reflect his fear back to him.
It is much more difficult to penetrate Kairo’s fears than a normal Demon. It requires more concentration. He’s trying to block me out of his mind. I call out to Emmy and tell her she has to get out in case Kairo breaks free.
“I can’t, the force field is still up. Anyone can get in but getting out, I need the Loop. And only Kairo’s hand can use it,” she protests.
“Find a way, quickly,” I warn her, as it gets harder and harder to control my reflecting powers.
Emmy looks around and spots the stick she was forced to bite on. She goes over to it and without the slightest hesitation, sinks the sharp edge into Kairo’s wrist.
Kairo screams so loud, it echoes back to us endlessly. Emmy looks like she’s about to throw up as she severs Kairo’s hand from the rest of his body with the crude instrument. Unable to completely take it apart, she stomps on it with her foot until the hand is no longer attached.
As Kairo yells and curses, black oil-like blood seeps from his bloody stub. He’s lost focus so reflecting his fear back at him is getting much easier now. I enjoy going further and further into the abyss of his psyche. I will render him no more threatening than a newborn.
Emmy bends down, grabs the hand and picks up the Loop with it. She holds it out in front of her. She finds the other piece of the stick and hurls it across the room to see if the force field is gone. The stick lands on the throne: The force field has broken.
There is nothing Kairo can do now because I am in control. As he struggles under the weight of my power, Emmy calmly climbs to the top of the throne and reaches for one of Kairo’s knives.
“Marcus, you are forbidden to kill him,” Emmy reminds me.
Kairo is gasping for his last breath but even then he manages a sneaky little smile, knowing I can’t kill him without incurring the wrath of the Council.
Emmy bends down on the floor and addresses Lucy’s son.
“I have a riddle for you,” she says.
He looks up at her with disgust. She leans in real close and smiles.
“What has one hand, two legs and won’t ever finish?”
“I don’t kn—”
She sinks the knife into his chest.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: STRENGTH IN WEAKNESS
After I pull the Amulet off Kairo’s neck, we make our way outside the Castle. The team is approaching and Ameana is among them. Seeing the state Emmy is in, Tony goes into his knapsack and tries to find something that will help her.
She is still shaking, badly bruised and very weak. So weak in fact, she passes out as Tony examines her. Isabelle advises us to let Emmy rest while they extract various plant mixtures to treat her.
In the meantime, I recount the events to the team. I leave out the part about Emmy urinating because I know she’d want me to, although I’m sure the team figured it out. The Fire Swans are now flying over to the castle. Apparently the force field over the lake is down as well.
When it’s time to go, I ask Rio to carry Emmy as I have yet to gain back my full strength. A few hours later, we stop at a hotel where Emmy takes a hot shower. Miku insists that Emmy goes shopping as well.