Part 755: Lover’s Spat

Far-Future Era. Day 20, AJR. Po’s Library.

Marigold cackled uproariously. She grabbed her gut and threw her head back as she laughed, laughed, laughed at Sylphid’s dissipating body, the last particles of of her corpse floating away as she turned to dust on the spot.

"Hahaha!!" Marigold shrieked. "Couldn’t have happened to a shittier thief! God is real, and he has a sense of humor!!"

"What- what the FUCK is wrong with you?!" Timothy screamed, as he staggered to his feet and directed rage-filled eyes full of tears at Marigold. "Sylphid is dead! She’s DEAD! And you think this is funny?!"

"It’s hilarious!" Marigold laughed, as she closed her eyes and squeezed out tears of joy. "She tried to kill you, and you’re getting all mopey-dopey about her dying. You’re such a doofus, ahaha!"

Something snapped in Timothy’s mind. He didn’t even do it consciously, but his hand slapped the T-REX on his chest, causing the Thundercat armor to swallow his figure. His vision turned red as he jumped at Marigold and reared his fist back.

Thump!

Marigold’s eyes were momentarily closed. She didn’t see Timothy’s punch coming, so he landed a clean blow on the side of her head and knocked her backward. Her tail quickly changed direction to steady her feet, and she didn’t fall to the ground.

After taking a few steps to steady herself, Marigold’s laughter abruptly died. She clutched the side of her head, opened her eyes, and her pupils narrowed to vertical slits.

"You… you little piece of shit!" Marigold chuffed. "Kyargh! You hit me?! Over that worthless slut?!"

"Fuck you!" Timothy shouted, directing a trembling fist at Marigold. "She wasn’t worthless! I see now that you’re just a shallow bitch who only-"

THUMP!!

Timothy didn’t see Marigold’s counter-punch coming. His words slurred. His vision dulled. He woke up on the ground, his eyes dancing and his head blearily yelling warnings into his mind. It felt like five minutes passed as he dreamily looked right and left, the world a mess of shapes and images that didn’t quite fit together correctly. It was probably less than two seconds.

There was a pressure on Timothy’s throat. He tried to swallow, but the action was blocked by something. His vision came into focus, and he saw the tip of Marigold’s long snout less than an inch from his face. Her punch had destroyed part of his helmet and left him open to attack. He could smell her faintly earthen odor, something he once associated with lust, but now made him feel somewhat fearful.

Marigold’s left hand wrapped around Timothy’s throat tightly. He realized that was why he couldn’t swallow, and that realization sent a wave of panic through his mind.

Timothy’s heart jumped. He grabbed at the hand holding his neck, but he was too weak to pry her claws away, even with the Thundercat empowering his strength.

Marigold’s eyes were cold. Any former trace of love for Timothy was gone, long gone. It was as if she had become a primordial predator, and he was the prey she held in her clutches.

"You’re a stupid little fucker, Timothy. Little Timmy." Marigold sneered. "I put up with you all this time because I thought I could get more out of you, but you’re not even worth the time anymore. Dumb little piece of shit. Kyargh! Here’s a fun fact for you, little Timmy, I was thinking of baby-trapping you so my kids would be locked in as future Heroes. But then you gave me this awesome game power, so now I don’t need them anymore! You can’t take the power away from me, so your value has run out!"

The corner of Marigold’s mouth curled up into a sneer. "I deceived you from the very beginning. All I had to do was bat my eyes and act like a dumb little ditz, give you some attention, and you gave me everything I wanted. Now I have the power to become the strongest crocodile in Chrona, even the strongest in the galaxy! I would thank you, but you’re so pathetic it makes me sick."

"It’s too bad." Marigold said with a small chuckle. "If you had just played along, I’d have kept the charade up to spare your pride. But you just had to be stupid and chase some other girl. Now you’re paying the price, but you’re still so stupid you think you can attack me without any consequences. Idiot!"

Timothy wanted to say something, to choke some words out, but he was horrified to find that Marigold’s strength was way beyond what he could handle. She wasn’t at the strength of a Demon Duke or anything, but she was a Crocodile enhanced by the King Network. Her innate strength was far, far above a wimpy little human like him. He was completely helpless in her grasp.

Even as Timothy had that thought, Marigold’s grip started to weaken.

Timothy was baffled. Was she giving up? Letting him go?

But then, a voice spoke.

[Marigold. Release him.] Ferral said, his hand outstretched, focusing on using his psionics to try and pry Marigold’s claws off Timothy’s throat.

Marigold slowly turned her head to look back at Ferral. As a Psion, he was basically emotionless, logical, even cold. But in that moment, he felt a genuine pang of fear shoot through his heart.

"Don’t. Get. Involved." Marigold hissed. "Stay out of this, Psion. I’ll ruin you if you intervene. This is a lover’s spat."

Ferral was momentarily frightened, but then his expression steeled. He hardened his eyes and sent an equally vicious glare back at her.

[There is no love between either of you anymore. Unhand my friend, Marigold.]

Marigold growled at Ferral. "Make me."

ZOT!!!

A blast of fire slammed into Marigold’s chest and blasted her off Timothy’s body. The power of Yredelemnul’s Rage erupted from Timothy’s eyes, tore Marigold off him, and sent her flying.

Marigold involuntarily screamed as she was launched toward the back end of Po’s library. She crashed into a giant bookshelf and sent the entire display toppling backward into another bookshelf, causing a domino effect to play out. Po himself was watching the fight without involving himself, but when the shelves started to fall, Po let out a cry of alarm.

"Oh no. My books!"

Timothy coughed and spat. Firing at Marigold was a last resort option, but seeing as she had threatened Ferral, Timothy realized Marigold wasn’t fucking around. She really, truly, was not who he thought she was. He thought about all the signs he’d overlooked, flashes of memories and ‘minor’ red flags playing out in his mind’s eye one after another.

Her main active skill had been Charm. Did she use it on him?

He had continuously failed to receive high affection marks for his relationship with her, according to the King Network. Had she never actually felt any real love toward him since the beginning?

She hadn’t seemed interested in the King Network at first, but was that only a facade? Was she secretly using reverse logic to get him to pass it on to her?

These and other issues appeared one after another in his memories. Timothy shook the thoughts away and staggered to his feet. His vision hadn’t fully cleared up. Marigold had hit him so hard, he feared she’d given him a brain injury. He couldn’t be sure, but it seemed like she really wasn’t that much weaker than Faceless, though Timothy hadn’t truly fought Faceless one-on-one, so he couldn’t be sure.

Marigold’s flying body eventually came to a stop, as did the collapsing bookcases. From the cloud of dust that had risen upward, due to the age of the books and tomes on those shelves, a hazy shadow of Marigold’s body emerged. She stepped forward and cracked her neck.

She jumped out of the bookcases and landed on the floor. With this, Timothy, Ferral, Raavul, and Paimon all took a step back. They hesitantly created a collaborative formation, one they’d practiced many times before. The difference was, Marigold wasn’t a part of it now.

"Hahaha…" Marigold chuckled. There was a terrible burn mark on her chest from where Timothy’s eye-beams had exploded against her, but she didn’t seem to feel pain. "So you’re all going to take his side, huh? After he cheated on me?"

[You know that is not what happened, we know that is not what happened, and you know we know.] Ferral said, continuing to direct a steady gaze at Marigold. He positioned himself between the crocodile and Timothy, acting as a physical barrier. [Timothy is my closest friend. I will not allow you to hurt him any further, either with your body, or your words.]

[Ferral is my student.] Raavul added. [If you attack him, I will not hold back.]

"Timothy is my master, the one who summoned me." Paimon added. "Obviously, I’ll be taking his side over yours. Especially after you tore your mask off and revealed your true self."

Timothy looked at Marigold. She looked at him.

It had all happened so fast, but Timothy was clear-minded now. His thoughts were sane, and his considerations were realistic.

Not a drop of love remained in his heart for Marigold. She had been manipulating him from the very beginning. Maybe she lied and said those things just to piss him off and hurt him, but he didn’t think that was the case. To say Marigold was honest would be rather paradoxical, but in this situation, it seemed as if every word she’d said had come from the bottom of her heart. She had not spoken a lie.

It made Timothy feel a little better. Now he wouldn’t feel bad if his former girlfriend got the comeuppance she so desperately deserved.

"What’s the matter, little Timmy?" Marigold taunted. "Too much of a tiny-dicked human to fight a girl by yourself? Need to hide behind your friends?"

His masculine pride, what little he had, bristled at Marigold’s words. But Timothy restrained himself. He had to be realistic. Even if he and Marigold fought while he wore a T-REX and she didn’t, he’d lose badly every time. It would be like a child facing off against a sumo wrestler, or maybe a professional MMA fighter. Timothy was not her match even in the slightest.

"You got what you wanted." Timothy said, his throat dry and scratchy. "You took my power. Enjoy it. Get the fuck out of our faces, and don’t talk to any of us ever again, you lying bitch."

"Oh, little Timmy has some backbone now that he’s hiding behind his friends?" Marigold retorted. "You think these weaklings can protect you?!"

Marigold charged. She could move frighteningly fast when she wanted, her natural body speed far above the level of the others.

Ferral was prepared. He summoned his Wordsmithium marble and sent it flying at Marigold’s face in an attempt to put her eye out, blind her, and cause extreme pain. The problem was, though this was his strongest attack, Marigold was well aware of it. She swept her arm out and struck the marble, knocking it away with her scales. A second later, her fist struck Ferral’s chest and sent him hurtling backward into Timothy.

Paimon had already activated his own T-REX. He waved his hand and tore up the floor of the library, grabbing rocks and dirt from underneath the floor to fling at Marigold in an attempt to slow her down. Marigold completely ignored him. His rocks were like the fists of a toddler striking a professional boxer’s thigh. She barely even felt them. When that attack didn’t work, Paimon switched to shooting his AR-15, but the bullets bounced right off her scales.

Raavul was the second strongest of the group. She put her full Psionic strength into trying to slow Marigold down. As a 3rd Level Psion, she harnessed strength on the level of a Demon Baron. Even so, her telekinesis only slowed Marigold a little, and Marigold grinned wickedly as she turned her attention on the Aspirator.

"GROOOAR!" Marigold roared.

A surge of fear went through Raavul’s mind. She was caught off-guard, not understanding what had just happened, before the back of Marigold’s hand slapped Raavul’s face and sent her sprawling. Raavul fell to the ground, shaking in fear, her body trembling uncontrollably.

It turned out Marigold had recently acquired a new skill after all the levels she gained in the Dark Forest. Several skills, in fact, and she had already leveled some of them up. The one she used was a Warcry ability that could terrify opponents and leave them vulnerable for a few seconds, similar to Timothy’s Yredelemnul’s Disdain skill. The effect didn’t last nearly as long, but it was more immediate and had a stronger effect.

"Marigold, no!" Timothy screamed. Even he felt scared by her approach, so he quickly moved Ferral out of the way and activated his strongest ability.

Zot!

With his mind scared and in disarray, Yredelemnul’s Rage had much less effect than before. Marigold was on the alert, so she actually managed to dodge it the second time Timothy used the ability, then she slithered over to Timothy and threw a fast jab at his chest.

Thuck!

This one punch, with less than half her strength behind it, hit Timothy square in the ribs and transmitted most of the damage past his T-REX, into his lungs. Timothy flew backward and banged his back against the bottom of Po’s giant desk. All the wind was driven from his chest, and he was left in a state of shock, unable to breath, gasping for air.

"Uh- uh, uhk!"

Timothy choked. He tried to breathe, but his lungs had momentarily stopped working. Marigold was on him in a second. She grabbed his face and pressed him against Po’s desk, holding him in place while ignoring Paimon’s gunshots. At this point, Paimon’s only remaining move was to throw a grenade, and he obviously wouldn’t risk that.

With Marigold’s massive hand covering Timothy’s eyes, he didn’t have the option to use Yredelemnul’s powers. This left him completely helpless.

"Oh, Timmy, you really thought you stood a chance! Kyargh!" Marigold laughed. "You’re so pathetic. You were a fun toy for a while, but this is the end. We’re through. I could snap your neck with a flip of my wrist, but I’m not so cruel I’d do that. I just wanted you to understand the gap in strength between us. You’ll always be a weak little bitch compared to me. You should have known your place and worshiped my feet!"

Marigold started lightly punching, slapping, and abusing Timothy with her left hand. She didn’t have to use much strength, and she was easily able to beat the shit out of him. Timothy wanted to scream, to shout, to beg for mercy, but her flurry of blows quickly beat him unconscious. She continued to batter his body even after that, just for fun.

Abruptly, a powerful wave of energy locked on to Marigold. Her body froze mid-movement, and she was startled, not sure which of the others had suddenly become so strong.

Then, she was torn away from Timothy and slammed onto the ground. Marigold’s senses were jarred. Something picked her up again, then banged her on the ground again, again, and again. Three times in total, it was like a fully grown man body-slamming a kitten. For the first time since the fight began, it was Marigold who was utterly helpless.

Marigold was pinned against the ground, completely immobilized by a crushing pressure. Her eyes looked upward and she saw Po looking at her with an unfeeling, emotionless expression. Po said something, she wasn’t sure what, then he flicked his finger and Marigold was sent flying away, toward the portal at the back of the library.

Marigold left out a yelp as she was ejected. With her gone, the room returned to silence.

It took thirty long seconds. Timothy shakily returned to consciousness, but he was in terrible shape. Multiple bones were broken. His face was mostly intact, but there was a hand-shaped bruise stretching out in all directions from where Marigold had grabbed him. He struggled to breathe; it felt like there were rocks rattling in his lungs. They might have been bone fragments.

Both of his arms were broken in multiple places. He had five fractured ribs. The pain was not too bad due to adrenaline, but within moments it started to intensify until it reached a 13/10 on the pain scale. Timothy couldn’t even think. He was in such agony that he wanted to die. He had never felt such pain in all his life. Blood leaked from multiple contusions and cuts all over the front of his body.

"Ugh.. guh… huggg… guhh…" Timothy gurgled.

Paimon quickly ran over to his side. To say he was worried was an understatement of the year.

"Timothy. Timothy, Full Restore. Can you hear me? Use a Full Restore. I can’t do it for you, okay? Look into my eyes, Timothy. I know it hurts. Use a Full Restore, come on, kid."

Paimon had to repeat his words multiple times. Timothy could not think, and he could barely even hear due to the blood pounding in his ears. He was in such a bad state that Paimon feared even the slightest touch would only cause him worse agony.

Ferral stood up. He wasn’t in great shape either, but luckily Marigold had only hit him once. Sadly, even though he was a Psion, Ferral’s body was not much sturdier than Timothy’s. He had a fractured rib, and he was in a good bit of pain.

But seeing Timothy’s state, Ferral knew his own injury was nothing to speak of. Ferral repeated Paimon’s words, projecting them deep into Timothy’s psyche, so his brain would understand even if his ears wouldn’t.

It took a few agony-filled minutes, but eventually, Timothy mustered the strength to open his inventory and select a Full Restore.

The instant he did, his body fully recovered. All his injuries vanished, all the pain, and his HP as well.

However, the memory of that pain did not go away. The phantom pain was just as strong, and so too was the trauma of being physically assaulted by his former girlfriend. Timothy shakily stood up, then fell to his knees again. He started crying, and he couldn’t stop. His body trembled for several long minutes, and he broke down, hiccuping and sniffling as he tried to regain his center of calm.

Paimon tended to Timothy, while Ferral walked over to help Raavul. Like him, she had only taken one hit, and her body was even a little stronger than Ferral’s, but Marigold had struck her in the face and given her a brain injury. Ultimately, she and Ferral both opted to use a Full Restore to heal their conditions. It felt like a bit of a waste, given they could probably recover using Blinker’s healing formation, but the situation was a little urgent.

It was fortunate Paimon hadn’t gotten physically involved. He didn’t have the option of a Full Restore, and he would have needed to use Blinker’s healing formation to save himself.

Everyone came over to console Timothy, but their words fell on deaf ears. He was shaking with a mixture of fear, anger, rage, and terror, remembering and replaying each blow Marigold had struck. His mind couldn’t help but replay the last fifteen minutes like a terrible movie montage, emphasizing his emotions more and more each time he recalled his pain.

The thought he’d been intimate with such a violent psychopath left him shaken in his beliefs, made him question his own judgment, and forced him to replay all their past interactions. He began to doubt his grip on reality. Did he even know what was really going on in the world? How could he have been so stupid as to love such a vicious person?

Timothy wanted to shut his mind off, to stop thinking about her attack. But he could not stop himself. His mind recalled each punch, each strike, each hit as if it were happening again and again, on repeat, only deepening the trauma.

With Timothy in such a state, The others decided not to leave Po’s library just yet. They all sat down with him and stayed close, offering their support even while shaking their heads in dismay.

Ferral felt his own sense of guilt. He was a Psion. Shouldn’t he be able to read people’s thoughts? How could he have overlooked Marigold’s true nature so easily? Certainly, he’d had his suspicions in the beginning, but he hadn’t acted as a voice of reason for Timothy in a strong enough manner.

Ferral vowed to himself silently that he would rectify this shortcoming in the future. Never again would he be caught off-guard by someone else’s lies and deceptions. Unknowingly, Marigold changed the entire trajectory of Ferral’s growth. How this would play out in the future was something that would require a great deal of time to pass.

…

The group spent several hours inside Po’s library. It took a while, but eventually Timothy managed to calm down, at least on the surface. Internally, he was a complete mess. No matter how he tried to ignore those awful, awful repeating thoughts, his brain refused to function properly. He replayed Marigold’s words in his head, each time hurting himself just a little more as he saw the sneer on her face, the condescending way she looked at him, and her smug victorious expression when she was holding him in her grasp.

Timothy couldn’t take it anymore. He didn’t want to think these thoughts, to replay the memories of Marigold’s attack.

It had already been well over 24 hours since Timothy needed to initially escape the Golden Grove. He had long ago deactivated the Mind of Void and returned to the Mind of Simplicity. What was unnerving was that the Mind of Simplicity granted Timothy a 25% resistance to Fear and Anxiety, and yet he was still in this sorry state. It just went to show how badly Marigold had hurt him on an emotional level.

After thinking for a minute, Timothy made a decision. He activated the Mind of Logic.

…

Mind of Logic

Player’s emotions reduced by 95%. Player’s thinking speed increased by 100%. Player becomes more adept at solving complex problems, but at the cost of maintaining social relationships. Personality altered to ENGINEER.

…

Just like that, Timothy’s emotions disappeared. He became stone-cold, and all his repeating thoughts regarding Marigold faded away.

The change was immediate and obvious. Timothy had been trembling nonstop for hours now, so when he ceased doing so, the others noticed. Timothy’s eyes became calm. He looked around, and cast aside those irrelevant thoughts about his former girlfriend.

Stupid. He had been stupid. Marigold was right. He was an idiotic child who fell for the whims of the first girl who shook her tail at him. Timothy felt neither sadness nor anger about this fact. He simply contemplated and comprehended the new Truth put before him.

Timothy opened up his quests. The old quest he had received about making Marigold his girlfriend had been crossed out. He still possessed the minor permanent benefits, specifically a 10% experience gain buff, but all the others had vanished. His body became a little weaker, and some of his innate resistances had disappeared.

Oh well. It was the price he had to pay for his ignorance. In the end, what was a small mental trauma compared to the value of learning not to trust wiley females who batted their eyes at him? Timothy now understood on a fundamental level just how naive he had been. He would never again allow himself to be victimized by someone like Marigold.

Timothy stood up. The others did too, giving him strange looks. Only Ferral understood immediately what had happened, just by noticing the altered mental fluctuations in Timothy’s psyche, and the eerily calm look in his eyes.

[You’ve activated the Mind of Logic?] Ferral asked.

"Yes." Timothy answered. "I was too weak to withstand the trauma of my assault. But I am mentally strong now. My apologies for making you all worried."

Raavul and Paimon didn’t know the details of Timothy’s skill. Raavul merely felt reassured, sensing that Timothy’s thoughts had become more Psion-like. This was quite agreeable in her eyes. Paimon was also happy to see that Timothy had so swiftly recovered.

[Timothy. The Mind of Logic is a crutch. I don’t mind you using it temporarily, but you should only do so in moderation.] Ferral warned.

"Your concern is noted. Thank you, Ferral." Timothy said calmly. "It only now occurs to me how unprepared I was for the event of a backstabbing by a comrade. I will have to create contingencies for such occurrences in the future."

Timothy turned to Po. "Thank you for saving my life by repelling Marigold from the Library."

Po looked at the human with interest. "Po happy to help. Po does not like people who cause havoc in Po’s library. Shelves knocked over. Your fault. Loud annoying noises. Marigold’s fault. Po will forgive transgressions this time, because your ‘play’ was fun to watch. Po will write story about the exciting battle in Po’s Library."

Po paused. "…After Po fixes the bookshelves, of course. Sigh."

"Sorry about that." Timothy apologized. "Would you like us to help fix your library?"

"No need." Po replied. "Po is Librarian. Rebuilding the Library is Po’s job. Accidents happen."

Timothy nodded. He wasn’t going to press the issue, since he didn’t think he could do much anyway. A single one of Po’s books was twice Timothy’s entire body weight. Let alone the shelves, which were likely as heavy as buildings. Maybe only the Psions could help him, and they weren’t all that strong either.

"Marigold was ejected from the Library." Timothy said, turning back to the others. "She could be out there, waiting for us. When we emerge, I want all three of you to split up and go look for Blinker. She can put Marigold in her place."

[I can transmit my words directly to Blinker the moment we emerge.] Raavul said. [My telepathy can easily cover the majority of Chrona.]

"Then we’ll do that." Timothy said.

After some more preparations, the group jumped out of the Library and arrived back on Chrona. They were fully alert and ready for an ambush, but it turned out that Marigold was nowhere in the vicinity.

What they did see left them absolutely floored.

"This… this is Chrona?!" Paimon gasped. "How has it changed so much? What happened while we were inside the Dark Forest?!"

The state of Chrona was far, far different from when they entered the Dungeon. It was beyond anything they could have imagined…