Seeing Its utterly shocked reaction, my smile widened.
Ha.
I smiled as if my right fist wasn't trembling.
The impact of the blow had sent shivers up my spine. Because truly, it felt like I had barely managed to shake an insurmountable mountain with my fist.
Even the force of my landing on the ground did nothing to ease the bone-twisting shivering of my spine.
That was the personal, internal reaction.
A reaction that I dismissed as unimportant, as my smirk widened.
I knew it hated my smirk.
For a brief moment, the spiff paused, Its four widened eyeballs fumed, observable by the thickening blue veins that sprouted everywhere in them. Out of non-existence it seemed.
Those eyeballs were all focused on me.
—"Germaine was right about you, human. You really are a threat."—
It uttered evenly.
Huh?
As if reminding both the spiff and me that we were still in the middle of battle, a hot ray of blue, bullet-like plasma tore through the air, piercing the spiff's third eye.
—"Argh!!!!"—
It had finally reacted strongly. It had finally felt real pain.
It staggered, slowly inching backwards as it raised both its limbs, dragging them to cover its burst third eye from which thick, foamy blue liquids dripped like raindrops.
The liquid was its blood.
As the spiff raised its right hand on which Mangé had been running, Mangé leaped from the limb, still clenching his pistol.
He gave the spiff no time to rest as he landed on the round head of the spiff.
I think Mangé is… more skilled than I am?
Wow.
A bitter grimace outlined my lips as I stood, watching Mangé.
I think he is.
I've… gotten real sloppy.
As Mangé landed on top of the spiff's head, he stomped his right boot on the pores that were the spiff's ears.
I've been bragging about my strength. But really, what good does strength amount to if the application of it is faulted?
I was born handicapped, without any Til. And so my raw strength and high Te were the only counterbalance I had in a world filled with Til users.
I let myself rot. And while I rotted in the underground pipelines and in Craffold's house, the people whom I used to be on equal strength had trained daily, forging their bodies and minds, and growing stronger.
Mangé's even advanced. He's a rank 8 sparrow now. It means his Te and his supernatural sight are beyond that of a normal human's. And adding to that, he most probably trained his body too.
But me?
I did nothing. And even when I conceived the idea of my heist, I still didn't make a move to correct that problem. Instead, I arrogantly began moving forward, toward the next step, thinking that my unpolished strength might suffice.
I know now.
No more.
No more will I lag.
I will correct my errors.
I gritted my teeth. I gnashed my teeth. I clenched my teeth.
My jaw had a hard time that day. Just like my lips that had endured more than five hundred smiles in a day.
But wait a damn minute.
Didn't the spiff mention Germaine? Or did I not hear It well?
Yes… It did men–
"What are you standing there, looking all dejected for?" Mangé's voice echoed from above, cutting through my stream of thoughts as the intonation of his voice dripped with the poignant confidence of an overarching superior.
Look at him.
My lips widened as my narrowed grey eyes met his coldly gleaming green gaze, staring down at me from over ten feet above.
He sought me for my strength. He said he needed me because of how strong I am.
But now, he's outperforming me?
No wonder he said he was disappointed. I can't even take down a rank 7 spiff.
I am disappointed in myself, too.
But… are you really going to stand here and take this, Stella?
Stand here and watch as he outperforms you?
No.
No, no, no.
No, you won't.
"Well? The spiff won't interrogate itself. We still have to get the key, and your… information," As he spoke, he stomped hard on the spiff's pores once again. "And he's a lead executive. I think he'll have the information. So, come on."
He's… right.
First off, I have to dismantle those nets of Its. They're annoying. With them, it can control Ta energy and shape it.
Although I think the shapes it can conjure are limited, as it's a rank 7 spiff. But then again, Ta is still a deadly energy. Even though I have high Te, which considerably, to an extent, guarantees a decrease in the effects of any Ta attack on me, I still can't afford to be hit by that thing.
And Mangé, with his rank 8 Til, has low Te quantity even though it's high quality. Potential. But that potential can easily be snuffed out by the controlled Ta energy of a rank 7 spiff. Maybe if it were a rank 8 spiff controlling it, he'll have somewhat of a chance.
"What the hell are you still standing there for?!" Mangé yelled at the top of his voice, finally putting an active halt to my spiraling thoughts.
"Don't you dare yell at me, you blond bastard. I'm coming." I replied. My tone floated weirdly. I couldn't discern if it sounded playful or annoyed.
Highly likely the latter, though. Although it did depend on the hearer themselves.
I crouched, still enduring the pain coursing through my ribs and my trembling right fist.
Haha. I've been working a lot today.
I leaped high into the air to meet Mangé.
While in the air, my gaze quickly flickered toward the crying spiff, resting on its imperfectly net-covered eyeballs.
The spiff stared back through its nets.
—"Stella." —
It spoke.
My brows furrowed immediately it spoke. And my heart stopped beating. A lump spawned into existence, tightening round my throat, and then more lumps spawned, each of them in various parts of my body, hindering my blood flow and resulting in the sprouting of various goosebumps.
What?
Huh?
I don't understand. I never told it my name.
—"I remember. That's what Germaine called you."—
It completed.
And then, I realized. I quickly turned to look up at Mangé's face.
His pupils shrank as his face twisted, birthing an utterly horrified expression on his chiselled face.