Chapter 3: Chapter 2: The Enemy Of My Enemy Is My Friend

It is a breath of fresh air using my skills for healing instead of killing. In a short couple of days, the Good Old Days turned from a tavern to a battlefield and now a makeshift hospital. Bucket convinced the ones who didn't flee or die to stop fighting. Most of the ones still in the tavern by that time were tired and wounded, so it was not hard to convince them to make an uneasy truce.

Only one man broke the truce since then. After Hunter chopped the man's arm off and used it as a club to beat him to death, no one else dared to break the truce. But not all my new comrades were killers, thankfully. Trying to heal all the wounded by myself would have been a nightmare.

The man helping me heal the wounded was named John Doe. His name was not the only old-world thing about him. He was wearing a long black Old Brotherhood robe with intricate silver old-world letters near the ends of the robe. Holding his robe was a silver medallion, It depicted two snakes winding around a winged staff. A symbol of a healer, from the old world of course. His face was completely covered by an expressionless silver mask. Think of the devil.

The door of my room opened and Jon entered holding bloody bandages in one hand and a vial of medicine we brewed together in the other.

"The new medicine works even better than expected master," said John in the same monotone voice he says everything in.

"See? I told you we can use Hunter's blood to enhance your formula and for the hundredth time, stop calling me master! "

"Working with you has been extremely fruitful master 8. Not surprising considering you have the wisdom of hundreds of years. Compared to you I'm but a novice, I must show you the respect you deserve," said john ending with a deep bow.

His extreme humbleness almost balanced out his creepy appearance. In just a couple of days I became pretty relaxed around him, a rare thing for me. I took a deep sigh "While you used my knowledge for healing I found a way to use your research for more destructive purposes," I said with a sinister smile.

John came close to my workbench to see what I have been working on. A bunch of spherical semicircles made of Iron laid on the table. Most of them were filled with chemicals, but one was filled with a small cage. Inside it, there was a still-alive beetle. Beneath its jet-black shell, it glowed with a warm golden light.

"Believe it or not, but this beetle is from ground zero," I said with pride.

"The grave of the old god?"

"Well, close to it at least. I only have one more of these." Might be the rarest thing I own, besides my old books of course. "With the right mix of chemicals I can make it explode, it may be strong enough to take out a couple of buildings."

"Master, do remember that contrary to you we are not immortal."

"Yes yes, don't worry. I'm probably not going to trigger it by mistake, probably." A little fearful part of me did want it to explode killing all but me. I was starting to get dangerously close to my new companions. In the best-case scenario, they will get too close to my fragile emotional core and break it. Worst case scenario they handle it with care and I get attached to them, then sooner or later they die and I break even harder. Well, this time it may be ok, this time I might be the one dying in their hands. What a selfish piece of shit I am.

"Are you ok master?"

"Yes, I'm just thinking of what to do with this bomb when it is done," I lied. "Let's go tell Bucket of our breakthroughs."

I took my sword and a new batch of the new medicine. I also took the cage with the beetle and put it in my pocket, then I went downstairs with John. The main hall of the tavern made hospital was still full of dried blood. However, we buried the bodies and made makeshift beds for the wounded.

"Come see the fruit of our labor, master!" said John leading me to my favorite patient. Owl looked at me with anger in her big round eyes, made sense considering I cut her hand off a couple of days ago. Her newly grown hand was still skinless, yet it didn't seem to bother her as much as the sight of me did.

"It may be much slower than Hunter's healing powers but it still works nicely so far," I said with a hint of pride in my voice.

"Yes, and the new hand does not seem to be mutated, a perfect copy of the old one."

"Good, if it was mutated I would have had to cut it off again," I said mischievously.

Owl looked at me like she was trying to set me on fire with her gaze alone. "Let me cut off your arms again!" She said in anger.

"WHAT? No, you greedy bitch. I was already too kind letting you cut off both of my arms as payback."

"What's the point if you killed yourself right after to get fresh new arms?"

"Well, it may be slow but you will have a fresh new arm as well soon. Which means the only thing left to take vengeance on is the pain of having your arm cut, a pain I repaid in double."

"Oh c'mon, you didn't even flinch when I cut them off. Y-"

"I might not show it but despite my extended experience with physical pain, I do still feel it."

Without warning, John took one of his gloves off and held Owl's healthy hand in his hand. His mask came to life, mimicking Owl's angry expression. "You don't only hate 8 because of the pain he caused you, you also hate him because he defeated you so easily."

"Well, it was far from a fair fight," protested Owl.

"Why not train together when your hand is fully healed? That way you will have many fair opportunities to defeat 8 back," responded John.

"Hmm, you know what? That might be a good idea," said Owl with less venom in her voice this time.

"I'm in, but I won't go easy on you," I said.

"Ha, don't get cocky, I'm a great fighter when I have a better weapon than a fork."

John's mask returned to its natural emotionless state. Even though I saw him do his thing many times, it still creeped me out. He said he could feel what his patient feels exactly only by touching them. While it was super useful for diagnosing patients, it still felt too invasive to me. Luckily he stopped offering to read my feelings after I said I would set his bed on fire while he sleeps if he touched me.

John and I administered the new medicine to anyone desperate enough to give it a try. Then we went outside.

"You know Owl does not only hate you right?" asked John.

"Is she also intimidated by my immense intelligence, aren't you all?" I said sarcastically.

"No, she also feels grateful that you spared her life and helped heal her hand. Feeling hate and gratefulness for the same person is hard for her, so she is only aware of the hate for now."

"Humans sure are complicated, aren't they John?"

"They sure are."

They?

Looking at the yard I spotted Hunter training the children in fighting. Seeing him work with children showed a gentle side of him you would never imagine existed from seeing him interact with adults. He praised them when they succeed and patiently explained how to improve when they failed. It was like seeing a tiger teach mice how to defend themselves from other predators. It was kind of wholesome.

All of a sudden I felt something hit me on the leg.

"HA, I got you."

I turned around to see the terrifying face of my attacker. All I could do is beg for mercy. "NOO, please spare my life, I'm but a poor old man."

Both Lucy and I started laughing.

"Great execution of an ambush Lucy. He didn't even know what hit him," said Hunter with a sinister grin.

"You are going to be deadly when you grow up, Little Fox," I said to Lucy with a smile.

"When I grow up? If I had axes instead of sticks you would have been already dead!" declared Lucy in a cocky tone.

"I guess you're right Little Fox, or should I call you Lethal Fox from now on?"

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All of a sudden, Hunter appeared before us. "Are you here to take more of my blood?" he asked.

"Not this time killer, but soon," answered John.

"The medicine made from your blood was extremely successful," I added.

"Good, this means our troops can get into fighting shape sooner," said Hunter.

"What do you mean by "troops"? Half of us are far from warriors and I am not sure the others will be willing to fight."

Just as I said that I spotted Inquisitor Francis looking at me with pure disgust. He still refused to call me anything but "abomination", even though I saved his life. I guess not trying to kill me in my sleep is his way of saying "thank you" for that.

"Willing or not they will have to fight as long as me, you, and Bucket are near them. We have a high bounty on our heads after all. From what I remember a lot of others here got a bounty on them as well."

"Good point. Maybe we should hit the Hierarchy first and recruit some former slaves." We don't have nearly enough "troops" for an attack on their main city. For some here with smaller bounties, running far far away may be best. They won't chase them far for the price of a good meal and a bed for a day. Big bounty or not, I have to stay. The one that can kill me has climbed high in the Hierarchy, if Hunter can be believed that is.

Before Hunter could say something, an extremely muscular yet short man interrupted our conversation.

"Sorry to interrupt boys, but the Boss needs to see you," said Boulder in his usual unexpectedly high voice.

I nodded to Boulder and we followed him into the woods. From afar, I could see Bucket and a small cage with some sort of animal inside it. Getting closer I could hear Bucket talking to it. Did the burden of leadership get to him? Wait, no, the creature is talking back.

"No, see-look! I'm a good boy, best human, here to help-help," the creature said with desperation in its voice.

"Sure you are," said Bucket and laughed.

Getting even closer I could see the creature clearly now. It had crimson skin, long pointy ears and horns. Its legs resembled those of a goat. One thing was out of place, it had the cut-off face of a man clumsily stuck on its face. In fact, I recognized this face. It was the face of one of our lookouts, I think his name was Pig. As the creature saw me I gave it a warm smile.

"Bucket, why did you put this man in a cage?"

Bucket didn't answer me.

"HOO this one is smart-clever, see? I'M HUMAN-MAN THING YEEES." Screeched the creature.

"What is your name good sir?"

"Yps YPS! That is my name."

I kicked the cage over and got close to the bars.

"You are wearing the face of one of our lookouts and your name is literally spy backward."

"NO, WAIT!"

"This is an imp," said Hunter. "They are the minions of a lady by the name of Arrow To The Gut."

"NOoOo-NO, HE IS LyInGg!" cried the imp.

An imp ha? From what I know it is a lesser demon. The bigger demons got extinct, they needed the power of god to sustain them. When god died their fate was sealed.

"Do imps feel pain?" asked Bucket.

Hunter picked up the cage, shaking it violently. The imp hit the bars of the cage hard enough, some of his teeth came out. It screams in pain holding its mouth.

"Listen carefully imp! You can tell us all about who sent you and why or I can give you to Hunter and he will get that info out of you in no time." Matter-of-factly said Bucket.

"NO-nn- no, please mmMerCy PL ple-"

John held the imps hand gently. His mask showed a face of pure horror. "You are afraid of us but also afraid of what your master will do to you if you betray her," said John.

"Tell us the truth and I will give you a painless death, what do you say?" offered Bucket.

The imp took a couple of deep breaths, then immediately threw up on the bars of its cage.

"Ok-ok, Yps will tell you what he can. The master wants to c-capture the immortal, yes. She is already on her way-way."

"Arrow probably sent this one as one of her pranks," said Hunter, unimpressed.

"Boulder, take this imp away and take Pig's face off his face!" ordered Bucket.

"Sure thing boss"

As Boulder picked up the cage the imp started to scream.

"WAIT- WAIT, you promised death."

"And you will get it in time." Said Bucket.

The screams of the imp got fainter as Boulder got farther and farther away from us.

"We must move now!" I said with conviction.

"Yes, but where? As far as I know, there is no way out of this region. At least not close to us," said Bucket. "We have to stay and figh-"

"Stay and fight?! Who knows how many well-trained manhunters are after us," I interrupted, reminding myself what hell awaits me if I'm caught.

"There is a camp of the Hierarchy we can take over not far from here. It has a portal to some jungle. The camp is full of slave jungle people and not that heavily defended." Said Hunter.

A plan started to form in my head.

"I don't think I can convince many here to straight-up assault a hierarchy camp," confessed Bucket. "On top of that half of us are still wounded"

"Me and master 8 brewed a new medicine that can potentially heal all the wounded extremely fast," said John.

"I think I have a plan, but I need the imp," I said with a sinister smile. I took the beetle out of my pocket and my smile widened.

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