Chapter 47: Afternoon

“Ugh!” cried Fiona as she dropped down and sat on a bark-less fallen tree trunk “Did we seriously have to hike out miles and miles just so we could get to nowhere! We couldn’t have just done this shit in the backyard!?”

“No, there’s a good chance that things are going to get intense. And I’d rather not risk damaging the house.” explained Anton “Besides, a little exercise isn’t going to kill you. And honestly, if that little walk was too much for you then you’re going on an exercise routine immediately.”

“ ... Well, it’s not like I’m dying or anything.” grumbled Fiona as she looked up at the impressively large tree they had stopped to rest near “I just don’t get why we had to come all the way out here? I mean one open field is as good as any, right?”

“Thank you.” said Anton as he took the bottle of water Kianna handed him “Just trust me, Fiona. Coming out this far was important, even if it doesn’t seem like it.”

Fiona cocked an eyebrow and smirked as she took the bottle of water Kianna handed her.

“Wait a second ... You got some kind of bullshit plan rolling around in your head right now, don’t you!?” she quipped as she twisted the cap off the water bottle.

“Always.” grinned Anton as he looked back at Mica.

Following his gaze, Fiona’s smirk grew as she took in the sight of the struggling shinoccubus.

Mica was once again wearing her armored boots and bracers, and was dressed in a two piece set of form-fitting, purple colored athletic clothes that she had borrowed from Kianna.

Having been wrapped tightly around the shinoccubi’s more endowed figure, the thin cloth material that the shorts and tank top were made out of was clearly being stretched to its limit, yet it still held up well enough to work.

“You know, for somebody who really doesn’t want to be treated like a dog. You’d think she’d put more effort into not acting like one...” mused Fiona before she took a swig from her water bottle.

“You would think that, wouldn’t you...” mumbled Anton in a tired tone.

“C’mon guys, give her a break!” chastised Kianna as she gave Mica a sympathetic look “She’s just desperate, and scared...”

“No, she’s stupid!” exclaimed Fiona with a laugh “Don’t act like she’s just getting bullied out of nowhere here, Kianna. That dumb bitch immediately started threatening everybody as soon as she was healed and could move again, and then was stupid enough to try and take off the moment the backdoor was opened!”

“I know...” sighed Kianna as she dropped down on the fallen tree and sat next to her sister “But it’s not like she’s actually trying to fight us anymore, all she wants now is to go home.”

“Yeah, and that continues to prove my point that she’s stupid.” snapped Fiona as she gave her sister a condescending smile “This dumb bitch can’t wait to race home to her death!”

“Hard to argue with the facts, Kianna.” said Anton as he gave her a reassuring smile “Don’t give up though.”

A sudden, frustrated grunt drew their attention back to Mica.

Having apparently fallen over in her efforts to escape, the kiochi was quickly getting back to her feet as she continued to dig in her heels and angrily yank on the light chain.

Anton, Fiona and Kianna all shook their heads in unison as they watched her slip again and fall over sideways before crashing to the ground in a heap of flailing limbs and tail.

The shinoccubus was about fifty feet behind them, and was struggling to free herself from a thin, orange-colored light chain that connected a shackle-like light collar around her neck, to a cuff that hung around Anton’s left wrist. Strapped around her face was a glowing orange light version of the ninja-like mask gag that was complete with its head-harness.

“Ugh, the poor thing...” mumbled Kianna as she watched Mica begin to whip the chain up and down in frustration “She really is just stupid...”

“Yep...” drawled Fiona as Mica began to scream through her gag and yank back on the unyielding chain.

“Why don’t we go ahead and give her some water before we get started.” said Anton as he raised his hand and began to reel in the shinoccubus by making the chain links disappear back into his palm.

Mica nearly tripped forward as she was forced to move closer to Anton. Digging in her heels, she leaned back as far as she could in a vain attempt to keep from being pulled along. Failing to anchor herself, she began to desperately attack the chain with the bladed spade at the end of her tail.

Growling loudly through her gag, she viciously struck at the concentrated aura again and again by thrashing her long, thin tail wildly both around and above her body.

“ ... She better put that fucking tail away before she gets over here.” muttered Fiona as she narrowed her eyes at the kiochi “Why don’t you just lock it up again?”

“Because if I did that she wouldn’t have the temptation to attack one of us with it.” said Anton as a thin smirk took form on his face “And then I wouldn’t get the chance to discipline her when she eventually does make that mistake.”

“ ... Oh c’mon, seriously?” grumbled Kianna as she glared up at Anton.

“Ah, yeah. That makes sense.” nodded Fiona “I can totally understand that. Little bitch needs to be disciplined as much as possible after all.”

“You two do realize that constantly disciplining her isn’t going to make her like us more, right!?” exclaimed Kianna as she pointed her ears straight back in irritation “And you know she’s not going to protect us if she hates us!”

“She will if she’s too afraid not to.” said Anton.

Fiona pointed her finger at him as she looked at her sister and nodded in agreement.

Kianna sighed in frustration and shook her head as she pulled another bottle of water from the tote bag she had brought with her.

Even after she had stopped being pulled forward, Mica continued in her futile fight against her restraints. Planting her feet about fifteen feet away, the kiochi stubbornly kept pulling back on the chain as her eyes became locked with Anton’s.

“ ... Thirsty?” asked Anton as he arched an eyebrow at her.

Mica’s eyes immediately shifted to Kianna and the bottle of water she held before darting back to Anton. With an exasperated sigh she let up on the chain and dropped down to the ground with a huff. Folding her legs in, she sat cross legged and hunched in on herself before glaring at him and then each of the dark elves in turn.

“Aw! Such a well behaved little puppy girl!” teased Fiona as she smiled broadly “Look! She sits before you even have to tell her to!”

Mica began to tremble with rage as she arched her tail up high above her head and pointed the tip of her spade at the dark elf. Flexing the barbs at the base of her spade she quickly shifted her eyes to Anton before going back to glaring murderously at Fiona.

“Oh! I think she wants to stab me!” laughed Fiona as her ears pointed themselves straight upwards “Well isn’t that just the cutest thing ever!”

“Fiona, will you quit it!” exclaimed Kianna as she stood up and made to move towards Mica.

As she got within striking distance of the kiochi’s tail, Kianna stopped and stared at the blade for a moment before looking down at Mica herself.

“Please put your tail away.” she said softly “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m just going to give you some water.”

Mica narrowed her eyes as she stared at her. After a moment of stillness, she looked away and with a tired sigh, coiled her tail up behind herself and laid the bladed spade down against the ground.

“Thank you!” said Kianna as she quickly closed the distance between them and handed Mica the bottle of water.

Mica gave her a frustrated but thankful look before turning and glaring at Anton.

“ ... Are you going to stop cussing at me?” asked Anton.

Mica’s glare never faltered as she nodded her head once.

“Are you willing to admit that your behavior during this little trip has been childish and wrong?” asked Anton as he folded his arms over his chest “And are you willing to apologize for all the things you’ve called me today?”

Mica had to stop herself from crushing the bottle of water in her hand as she began to rage again. Taking a deep breath through her nose, she shut her eyes and held them closed as she nodded.

“ ... Alright then.” nodded Anton as the gag disappeared from between Mica’s teeth.

The shinoccubus said nothing for a moment as she stared at Anton and shifted her newly freed jaw back and forth.

“Apologize, and the rest will disappear as well.” stated Anton.

“ ... Fine. Whatever ... I’m sorry for everything I said.” declared Mica in a dry and monotone voice “My behavior was childish, and I was wrong.”

“Good enough. Thank you.” said Anton as he nodded and dispelled the harness from around Mica’s head “You can go ahead and enjoy your water now.”

Snarling in anger, Mica looked away from everyone before twisting the cap off of her water bottle with far more force than was necessary, and making to gulp it all down in one go.

Fiona went to say something but was stopped short as Anton glanced back at her and shook his head. Immediately understanding that play time was over, the dark elf slumped forward in a huff, planted her elbows on her knees and rested her cheek in her palm as she narrowed her eyes at the kiochi.

As Mica finished her water, she crushed the bottle in her fist and took a quick look around the field she had been led to.

This area had at least a few hundred square acres of open land that was surrounded by groves of medium sized oak trees along three of its sides, and had one massive live oak here near its center. As she ran her eyes along the treeline, her brow creased in agitation at her inability to escape from the chain and collar that connected her to Anton. If she could only make it into those trees she could easily evade even him. Or at least she could, if she could use her teleport ability that is. Unfortunately, she still couldn’t access her pool of mana since it had been locked away by the ring of silver-laden steel that was currently hanging around her neck.

Functioning in a similar manner to a closed electrical circuit, mana flowing out from a person’s mana pool would normally travel throughout the body in a continuous cycle before eventually circling back to the mana pool itself. This allowed mana to be readily available whenever it was needed.

When locked in place on a person, a manabinder would disrupt this circuit by redirecting the mana to itself, and thus stopping the flow. There was technically a threshold to how much mana a given binder could hold back at one time, and if more mana than it could handle was forced against it, then in the same vein as an electrical fuse, it would become overwhelmed and burn out.

Although she wasn’t fully aware of just how the technicalities of a manabinder worked, Mica still understood enough to know that to escape one was difficult and required a large amount of mana, far, far more she would be able to produce herself. Essentially, unless she happened to find a random set of bolt cutters in this field, her mana would remain thoroughly trapped.

Shifting her eyes away from the trees, she looked at the ground around her for a moment before glancing up at Anton.

She was a little surprised to find him watching her with an unusually soft look on his face, almost as though he were feeling concern or even sympathy for her. Turning away from him she sighed out of her mouth and narrowed her eyes.

“So you said you were gonna test me, and that you’d give me a chance to earn my freedom.” she began as she refused to look at either him or the two dark elves “So I’m guessing you have some kind of challenge in mind? Is this where it’s gonna happen? Or no!?”

“It is.” nodded Anton “I’ll explain the “challenge” in a moment. Before that though, I have a few questions I’d like to ask you.”

Looking back up at him, Mica couldn’t help but to study his face for a moment.

“ ... Okay?” she mumbled “What do you want to know now?”

“Well, I’ve seen that you know how to use a teleport ability.” started Anton “But that’s the only ability I’ve had a chance to see you use. So I’d like to know if that really is the only one you can use?”

Mica blinked and scowled at him.

“What!? Like I’m going to tell you shit! If you really think I’m just gonna give up all my secrets like nothing then you’re outta your mind!” she declared “If you wanna see what I can do then take this bullshit ring off of me and I’ll show you!”

“That’s exactly what I intend to do.” said Anton “But I want to see how well you can preform all of your abilities. Which is why I want to know which ones you can use, so that way I can be sure to pay attention for them.”

“ ... Wait?” questioned Mica as her face became thoughtful “Are we gonna fight again!?”

“Something like that.” said Anton “Like I said, I’ll explain in a moment. But first, I’d like you to answer my question. Is teleport your only ability?”

“ ... No.” said Mica as she folded her arms over her chest “It’s not.”

“What else can you do?” asked Anton.

“ ... I don’t have to tell you.” mumbled Mica as she looked away and coiled her tail in loops around herself “That’s not fair!”

“Hm, in a way you’re right. Technically you don’t have to tell me...” said Anton “In that same grain though, I don’t technically have to give you a chance to go free either. So why don’t we make a compromise that’ll work for both of us?”

Mica glanced back at him before looking away again.

“What do you have in mind?” she asked as she shifted in her seat and used a coil of her tail to scratch the back of her left shoulder.

“I’m going to ask you if you know an ability. Whether you know it or not, you will answer truthfully, and if you do know it, then I’ll get to ask you a single question about that ability.” explained Anton “If I don’t ask about an ability, then you don’t have to tell me that you know it. Once I’m done with my questions, then I’ll explain the “challenge” to you, and you will get your chance to go free.”