One Month Later

"She killed Maya?" asked Jesse, holding his daughter tighter as she blocked those words with her tiny hands on her ears. Afraid.

Gill nodded sadly, almost crying. He couldn't muster any courage to say anything, it just hurts too much.

Nobody said anything, but there was simply too much to ask, and no one wanted to be the first to ask.

"Jesse." Said Lisa, her voice soft. "Go inside and have Jennifer stay in her room."

He nodded, and while still carrying his small, adopted daughter up to her room where she'll be safe, and away from this mature conversation.

"Excuse me, mam?" said a female voice to Lisa.

Everyone looked to the right to see a girl with short black hair, green eyes, and wearing casual cloths with a small hat, and holding a large cake. "Yes?" Lisa asked the stranger. "Can I help you?"

"I'm here to deliver the cake you and your husband ordered for a..." the stranger explained, pulling out a slip of paper. "...Jennifer, if I'm correct."

"The bakery delivers?" Lisa asked. "I thought we needed to pick it up?"

"Well, yes, normally." Said the delivery girl. "But you're late to pick up your order, so I decided to deliver it personally!" she said with a smile.

"Really?" asked Lisa. "You shouldn't have to go through the trouble of doing it."

"Oh I don't mind." Says the delivery girl, playfully waving Lisa off. "Besides, it's for the birthday girl."

"Thank you." Said Lisa, glad that something positive happened today. "Just set it down inside the kitchen."

"No problem!" said the girl with a smile, holding the cake in both hands as she entered the large home, passing by Jesse who just exited the building and sparing a glance at the delivery girl.

"Who's she?" asked Jesse.

"An employee at the bakery who personally delivered our daughter's birthday cake." Said Lisa. "Apparently, we're late to pick up our order, so that girl personally delivered it to us."

"Yeah, I wonder why we're late?" Sarcastically asked Jesse, glancing at the two Ocelots. "Alright, tell us the rest of what happened."

Aiden decided to take over the story telling. Gill was simply wallowing in his grief... again.

----------

One Month Ago

"Hey, I said stop!" demanded Maya as Jess placed her hand on her Mana Generator. "Step away from them or else!"

"Or else what." Said Jess, turning her attention back to Maya as Jess tilts her head in a bored fashion, her voice inflicting fear into the girl.

"I'll...I-I-I'll kill you, Jess." Threatened Maya, trying to be brave. "I'll put you in an illusion that will make you insane, and fry your brain!"

It was then Jess did something that no one expected, something that haunts the Ocelots to this day.

Jess started to laugh.

She laughed and laughed and laughed, her voice spreading throughout the storm in the Twilight Forest. "You, kill me?!" she said through her laughter.

And then in an instant all emotion faded from her face, no amusement, and no laughter, not even a smile. "I would like to see you try, Maya."

"I can." She replied.

"Then do it." taunted Jess.

"I will!" she yelled.

But nothing happened. Just a few moments have passed and no one made a move. It's not that they're at a stalemate or anything.

Simply because Maya can't do anything magic related because Jess ripped out her Mana Core while Jess is simply bored and annoyed.

"Alright then." Said Jess, turning around to face Maya, her back to the two male Ocelots. "Trap me in an illusion."

She tried, she really tried. But nothing was working. No matter what she did, she couldn't get her Mana to flow.

Jess simply tilts her head again. "Having trouble with your Mana?" she asked, sidestepping Aiden who tried to attack her from behind, kicking him hard at his left knee, snapping it.

He fell to the ground on his stomach with a scream. It didn't help that Jess is pressing her foot on the injury, twisting her heel into it. "Well... I'm waiting Maya!"

"Maya..." pleaded Aiden. "please...!" his head was stomped into the mud by Jess.

"Yeah Maya, do help your friend here." Said Jess, getting impatient, and stomping his injured knee even harder. "He's not really durable now is he?"

Maya continued to struggle, not a single spec of Mana came out. She started to panic, worry spread across her face as she desperately tried to do something.

"Not so tough without your illusions now, are you?" said Jess, walking off of Aiden's injured body and towards Maya.

Thunder roared in the dark sky, the ring of fire that surrounds the clearing now giving them warmth and fear. It then the sky flashed with lightning was the instant Maya lost sight of Jess.

Again, instant. Because when that passed, Jess was right in front of her as her cold, green eyes bore into her own terrified blue.

"Well?" asked Jess, causing Maya to back away. "Trap me in an illusion, make me insane, and fry my brain. I thought you said you're going to kill me, Maya."

But she couldn't. For some reason she can't use her Mana, and even if she could, she's too scared to try. In the end, being sassy gets you into these situations, and she should have really kept her mouth shut.

"Is because you lack motivation?" mocked Jess. "Then let me help you with that."

She grabbed Maya and threw her across the clearing, but not with much force as last time. But the only reason Jess did that because she would repeatedly kick Maya.

"Trap me in an illusion, Maya." Said Jess, kicking her across the clearing until she was back with Aiden and Gill. "I thought you said you're going to kill me?"

She then used [Geo-Kinesis] to uproot the blocks under her Mana Generator, bringing it to her. She reached deep down inside, pulling at the swelling amounts of Mana being generated within.

The Ocelots watched in wonder and concern at what Jess is doing. She's pulling an absurd amount of Mana from that weird blue block, and shaping it into... arrows?

It was then Jess looked at the new screen that popped up.

Ping!

The skill [Mana Arrow] has been created!

[Mana Arrow] (Active) Level 1

A Mana based attack that takes the form of an arrow. Damage increased with skill level.

Cost: 100 MP

Number of arrows per cast: 1

"Next time you threatened me to take my life," Said Jess, activating the skill, having a blue arrow made of pure Mana hover in her hand. "Have the respect to actually go through with it."

She then fired the arrow, aiming to hit Maya in the stomach, only for Gill to intervene, raising his shield to block the arrow.

Jess raised an eyebrow. "Still have some fight left in you?"

"You're damn right-!" CRUNCH!

Jess had her undead colossus punch him into the ground, unleashing a shockwave that blasted Maya and Aiden away while sending Gill underground.

"So stupid..." Said Jess, shaking her head in disappointment as she walked passed the small crater that contained Gill's injured body. He won't die, but he will suffer.

He didn't know how long he stayed in the crater. All he can do is stare up at the dark, lightning infested sky as the harsh rain beats on his bruised face. Gill then felt something crack inside his pocket.

He felt... good, better even. Well, better is a strong word. He simply felt less pain as he climbed out of the hole, it was then he realized what broke inside his pocket.

A potion that is Maya's medicine.

"No..." said Gill, panic across his face. If Maya has one of her crippling episodes now of all times...

"Gill!" said a voice as he turned to look at Aiden, his mouth leaking blood, limping, and one of his eyes are closed.

"Aiden?" asked Gill as his friend nodded, it was still kind of hard to see through the storm.

"Okay, we need to get Maya, and get out of here!" Said Aiden, as thunder roared in the sky. "This is just too much."

Gill nodded. "Get the horse, I'll get Maya." But then that plan shattered into oblivion when they heard the screams.

Jess was turning Maya into a pincushion, firing [Mana Arrow] over and over again. She restrained her by wrapping thin rings of obsidian around her body and restraining her movements.

She couldn't even squirm or flinch when Jess fired more arrows into her back.

Ping!

[Mana Arrow] (Active) Level 5

A Mana based attack that takes the form of an arrow. Damage increased with skill level.

Cost: 95 MP

Number of arrows per cast: 5

"C'mon Maya, kill me..." growled/mocked Jess.

"Maya!" Gill and Aiden screamed, charging at Jess. But they couldn't get too close since she unleashed dozens of arrows at them, even hitting Gill, and leaving a gash at his fight side.

It is easy for her to do so because there isn't a delay when casting skills and the Mana Generator she's using to fuel it.

"I guess I have wasted enough time." Said Jess as she had the ground wrap around the two male Ocelots, bringing them to their knees, arms restrained behind their backs, and rooted to the ground.

She then had the ground under her and Maya protrude upwards, lifting them up for Aiden and Gill to properly see what Jess was going to do next.

Jess was then looking down at the restrained, injured girl, seeing the pain and fear in her, and then started to rip the arrows out of her body one by one, making her screams echo out through the Twilight Forest.

Aiden and Gill can only watch in horror, flinching as her screams of anguish spiked with pain and terror that lasted for hours.

Jess ripped out all of the arrows... except the one she stomped deeper into Maya's shoulder, causing her to scream even louder.

"You know, I used to have standards when killing people..." said Jess, pulling out her Chaos Blades, willing the obsidian she imbedded in serrated blades to stab the ground at the edge of the elevated platform.

"...analyzing my enemy to find out their weakness, and determining how much of a threat they are..." Said Jess as she grabbed to cuffs at the ends of the chains, but she didn't place them on her wrist.

She locked them around Maya's neck, willing the obsidian on them to choke her.

"... acknowledging their strength, their power, and concerned about my survival when facing them ..." Jess's voice is clear through the harsh weather.

She willed Maya's obsidian bindings to lift her up high in the air, over the platform as far as the chains can reach, still connected to the cuffs around Maya's neck. Aiden and Gill finally realized what Jess is going to do.

"No... no, no, no, no!" screamed Gill. "Jess, don't do this, please!"

"...but then that image, that intimidation, I feel from my enemies disappear when I realized that you're just men, just women, just people..."

"NO!" screamed Aiden. "DON'T-!"

"...And I have killed plenty of people."

She let Maya drop.

CRACK!

A/N: To be continued!