Alyssa POV
Alyssa enjoyed watching the life drain away from Roland's eyes. This weak and insignificant wretch of a human had served to scratch certain urges of hers. At best she thought he'd eventually become a loyal slave. Another small piece in a world filled with moving parts. At worst she would have to kill him out of boredom.
When she first heard about his death, Alyssa did feel a momentary feeling of discomfort. If her favourite slave was going to die. She only hoped she would be the one to do it.
As a young lady reaching her womanhood, her body was going through a lot of changes. Love, being one of those changes. And Alyssa realized something rather recently. She loved to win, and also deeply loved watching weak people die.
A cruel smile creased against her round face almost demonically. She just needed to squeeze a little more and his windpipe would burst.
Alyssa was so busy basking in this joyous occasion that she completely missed reacting to the moment another visitor arrived at the door. The heavy stone frame sneered open again. Alyssa noticed her death knight move. He never moved, unless instructed to do so. She sensed something troubling for a second and turned slightly around.
Alyssa cocked one of her brows up in confusion. She was looking at a very slender figure, dressed in strange clothing she had never seen before. He looked like an elderly man on the count of his grey whiskers and bald head. But his skin was completely dark grey with very sharp-pointed ears like a goblin. A glassed monocle rested just in front of his left eye. His tailored clothing was a single charcoal colour.
"Goblin? What is a goblin doing here?" She asked rather loudly.
Her death knight stood the closest to it. The goblin removed his hands away from its back. Alyssa's brow narrowed almost immediately, she noticed the different coloured gemstones squeezed onto its thin fingers. Being a bronze-ranked body, her senses were a lot sharper than most people her age.
Alyssa remained vigilant and alert. She could sense a strange power circulating around the goblin. And all her senses were telling her the same thing. This was a danger she needed to take seriously. She released her grip and watched Roland's limp body crumble down in a heap. Alyssa gave her little slave one last look of regret before turning her back on him.
"What are you supposed to be then? A-and why are you disturbing my fun?" She protested sternly.
The question was simple enough to understand. Alyssa had asked many people the same question before. And depending on their response determined whether she killed them quickly or not.
The malnourished-looking goblin didn't react at first and merely moved its gaze between both her and her death knight. She found it a little cute, its helpless stare and little arms made her want to squeal. It would become completely dependent on her and after a while, she'd grant it mercy by killing-
"Huh, where did it go." Said Alyssa scanning the caves interior for answers.
Alyssa was assured she blinked and the goblin vanished completely from her sight. Bizarrely enough, she followed the outstretched gesture of her death knight. And was completely stupefied, seeing the Goblin standing by the far wall with a weird white mask in its dainty hands. It wore a serious expression while it scanned every inch of the mask.
"Hmm, the Goat was late to the tea party you see." Said the Goblin in a gentle voice
"And now it seems the Goat is nowhere to be found."
There was a curious look against the Goblin's hardened features. It took a careful look at its surroundings before its wide eyes fell towards her again.
"Say does anyone have any idea where the owner of this mask is? Does anyone know?"
The goblin focused on Alyssa and the slender knight placed behind her. There was a soft groan cracked against the frigid air. Alerting everyone present to the pitiful site. Alyssa felt her heart quickening. And all eyes fell towards the hoarse breathing Roland, surprisingly still breathing. The Goblin finally took notice of the heavily wounded boy, slumped against the wall.
"Say…do you know where the owner of this mask dwells?" It turned its question towards Roland.
Alyssa wasn't sure why she was feeling troubled. There was no perceived threat here. But something inside of her didn't want them both to talk.
Roland continued wheezing hoarse breaths in an attempt to get his words out. A pool of blood puddled beneath him whilst his bulging eyes rattled with vigour despite the look of death paled against his face.
The goblin took a careful look at the dying boy without even so much as a smile before shifting its gaze towards her again.
"Did you do this? Why?" The cool voice grated against her ears.
Alyssa furrowed her brows and remained silent, her death knight carefully positioned itself beside her.
"Yes…I did that. It's a family matter but most importantly. I have no idea who owns that mask. When I first arrived he was the one inside here…alone."
Alyssa folded her arms, her deviant smile creased broadly as she noticed a look of surprise flash against the goblin's stern face. If she could somehow place blame on Roland. Whoever this was would give her no trouble.
The goblin made its way towards Roland and simply stood there. It cupped its ears and leaned closer towards the boy.
"Hm, what's that? I can't hear you?"
Roland muddled inaudible noises. The Goblin moved even closer.
"Hmm, I can't seem to understand you? Do you know the owner of this mask or not." Asked the Goblin
Roland struggled to find his voice again, Alyssa was tempted to put her little lamb out of his misery. Until suddenly he convulsed forward and spat out clots of blood. There was a deranged look against the boy's youthful features as he steadied his breathing. Alyssa felt something she wasn't expected to feel from the weakling. Fear? With a bloody-toothed smile, he took one look at Alyssa and said.
"Y-y-yes. I know…the owner…of that…mask"
Roland POV
Roland was in a terrible state right now, his vitals were failing and he was on the cusp of potentially passing out and never waking up again. Omega had already kept him awake for as long as the system could possibly do.
The time afforded to him now was to be used to save his life.
He still struggled to keep his gaze fixed on the goblin.
"Oh, so you know? Where can I find the owner then? Tell me and I'll be on my way." Said the Goblin expectantly
Roland thought about his next choice of words carefully. When the topic concerning the ivory mask came around. Wizard Grey was noticeably troubled by it. And if Roland had to guess, this mysteriously looking goblin dressed in an out-of-placed tailored suit had some part to play.
Roland's hoarse breaths wheezed through his mouth. He steadied himself before gently putting his words together.
"He's…he's…he's dead."
The goblin looked visibly disturbed by that answer. It turned away, pondering something in deep thought to itself. Roland gritted his teeth and waited. Whether or not this bought him enough time was yet to be seen. The goblin's stern gaze lifted again soon enough.
"And are you a relative of the deceased? A friend or at best a disciple?" A cold itch ran against the nape of Roland's neck. By instinct he simply nodded his head in agreement, hoping this person was a friend to the old geezer. The goblin startled him by clapping its two hands together unexpectedly.
"Good! Then that settles it. Being his disciple and all, the curse by rite transfers over to you." Announced the Goblin was rather pleased with that decision.
Roland heard the word curse and almost choked. A soft heckle left the lips of Alyssa. Who looked to be greatly enjoying this the most. With hope fast slipping between his fingers.Roland was reluctantly slowly resigning to his fate.
"This must be yours?" He heard a voice sprouting beside him and slightly flinched. The Goblin nonchalantly held onto his severed arm. Roland stared at the blood-covered limb before blankly staring at the Goblin before him.
"Err…th-thank you." Before Roland could finish his sentence the Goblin placed the severed limb just below the bleeding wound. Roland's gaze flickered with a curious glint. He only now noticed the different coloured rings squeezed onto the Goblin's little fingers. One of the gemstones in particular started to softly glow with a soft white light. The whole thing happened so fast, that he barely had enough time to form any coherent words. A white inky substance floated around his severed arm. Tiny threads of milky white began attempting to attach his severed limb to his wound. The blood dried up before his very eyes before the flesh began to form and bind itself together. He could only sit there and watch in a breathless awe.
The strange thing about it all was the Goblins nonchalant attitude during this entire ordeal.
Roland cleared the mucus away from his throat. And wiped the blood away from the side of his mouth.
"Sorry… but who are you." He asked the Goblin after staring blankly at the entire process unfolding.
The goblin blinked a few times and pointed towards itself.
"Who me? Oh, that's right I forgot to introduce myself. I am-"
"What the hell do you think you're doing!" Roared Alyssa in rage. Roland's brow furrowed together, he had almost forgotten about those two. Alyssa's face was a mask of true anger at this point.
"You-you-you…ruined…everything. H-how dare you. Kaito! Kill that thing now!"
'Damn it. I still have to deal with these two.'
Roland could feel mobility slowly returning to his left arm. He wanted to say thank you to the goblin. But he should be telling it sorry instead, for getting it involved in his mess.
The tall dark figure stepped forward. It held out its gloved hand and a set of throwing knives appeared. It waved its arm lazily and a knife darted forward. Roland cried out for the Goblin to move but the old gent didn't seem all that concerned. The boy hastily squeezed his eyes shut and braced himself. He heard the sound of sharp winds slicing the air followed by a deep silence.
Roland slowly peaked through one eye.
"Huh?" he gasped suddenly.
He rubbed his eyes a few times just to make sure he was seeing things correctly.
"W-what happened to his…head?"
Roland didn't even hear so much as a cry out. He took an extended blink and Alyssa's death knight had lost its head. How? He didn't see it, but he heard something fast. Clarity slowly surfaced and Roland couldn't even believe what he sensed had happened. He nervously shifted his frantic stare towards the goblin.
The suited creature was busy wiping its fists with a small handkerchief. It looked more annoyed at the mess on its clothes than anything.
Roland's body trembled, he next moved his gaze towards the prodigy of the Cloud family. Alyssa stood rooted to her heels. Her face was devoid of any emotion or even her usual mask of coldness this time around. They locked eyes and stared at one another. And Roland saw a different look on the cold girl's face. A vulnerability he wouldn't imagine existed. He almost felt a little sorry for her.
His lingering sad gaze turned Alyssa the wrong way. And her face contorted into a shell of madness. She clenched her fists hard and her Ki surged wildly. A visible white film covered her entire body. Sparks and broken stones sizzled before a large gust of ice stirred from beneath her feet and consumed her entire self. Alyssa gave one mighty roar and attempted to flee at a speed Roland couldn't follow with his bare eyes.
Suddenly, the goblin snapped its two fingers and Alyssa was frozen in midair. Stunned, Roland quickly turned his attention to the goblin. Who had already stretched out his thin fingers towards the girl. This time however, Roland noticed a peculiar black stone pulsing against it's finger.
"She's too loud. I'll release her after we've spoken."
In that moment Roland recognized this wasn't a simple goblin.
The mysterious fellow returned to his side. It looked a little cross.
"Now then before I was rudely interrupted" it said glaring towards the frozen Alyssa one last time before continuing.
"Ahem, where was I. Oh, of course, my name is Chizuwak the III, the most humble servant, under the service of the most gracious and benevolent ruler of them all. The Overlord, Lord of the eternal unyielding."
The goblin raised it's chin high and held the end of his suit proudly. Roland's head was still a little foggy from before, he wasn't in too great of a headspace to think clearly right now. He held the side of his head whilst his body tried to hold itself together.
"S-s-so…about this c-curse?" Asked Roland faintly.
"Ah, Indeed. You're inheritance! Come hold out your hand." The goblin busied around itself before swiftly locating the pale mask again. Roland carefully watched it delicately pluck away the tiny gemstone embedded into the goat's forehead.
"Here" said the goblin placing the stone on Roland's palm.
The goblin gestured for Roland to close his fist. The boy of course being naturally a cynic had a host of personal questions and wonders before he complied. Omega's mechanical chimes whirred away detailing every piece of description it could gather.
{Unidentifiable Material}
{High levels of Radiation detected}
{High levels of concentrated Mana}
{unknown source of Mental Energy detected}
{Omegas conclusion… "approach with caution"