Chapter 253: Worthy
No one was able to do a damn thing. Wilma gasped and staggered back, blood splattering. She couldn’t speak, her larynx torn apart. It was a miracle she was breathing at all. She tried to hold it back. Blood spilled and she fell to her knees. Slowly, Dasha turned toward Samantha whose expression was full of fear, her magic circle dwindling away from the sudden lack of flowing mana.
"Your focus broke, Samantha," Dasha noted casually, ignoring the gargles of Wilma. "You’re the same as before."
A wicked, irate grin spread across Samantha. "And you haven’t changed one bit, you arrogant, emotionless bastard." She once again began drawing a magic circle. Halfway through, it broke down. She tried again. Fail. Again. She was met with failure. With failure came fear. "Haa...why isn’t it working! Come on, come on!"
Dasha appeared in front of her and grabbed her wrist. Her attempts at ripping away from him failed. She was forced to look up into the one-eyed man; the man that she despised above all others. The man that saw through her and betrayed her without a moment’s notice. "You’re shaking," he said. "You’re afraid."
His grip tightened and broke her wrist, her wand slipping from her fingers. A shriek echoed.
"Do you think I’m going to keep you alive?" Dasha asked. She tried to stand her ground and fight back with her legs, to no avail. He was an impossible mountain that she could not topple. "I would like an answer."
"N-no..." Samantha’s shoulders shook. She squirmed, hammering at his hand. He wasn’t letting go, he wasn’t granting mercy, and her eyes swelled up. "Wait! Wait, wait, wait!" Dasha was about to tear her wrist off. Her eyes went wider and wider, her voice becoming as high and desperate as her pathetic soul. "Wait! Please, please! Hold on!"
His feet shifted every so slightly. His gauntlets could have snapped her neck but...
’Something is off.’
The soil was wetter than he recalled. Samantha was more tired and panicked than he expected too. "How long have you been here?" he asked.
"W-what?" At this point, she was hanging off his taut grip. "How long—? Nnngh, t-ten days! Ten!"