The Bounty Hunter

October 28th, 2088

Terra’s POV

I am calmly standing at the bottom of Bittergourd Canyon, waiting for the set-up and ambush to begin.  Most people would be nervous or anxious, but I have had too many life and death encounters to care.  What a sad statement for a 15-year old kid to make.  I am confident in my abilities and in my preparation, there’s no point to thinking any further than that.  I was instead pondering on Reiji’s behavior early today during swim class.  I still don’t understand what I messed up.  I asked Reiji afterwards and he simply turned away with a “Hmph, if you don’t know I won’t tell you why.  Think about it yourself, you dense rom-com harem protagonist!” 

Seriously, Reiji’s behavior is too inexplicable sometimes.  I was well-aware that my appearance during PE caused all the girls to stare at me like starving dogs at a piece of meat.  I ignored them since it was annoying.  I also noticed that Hikari was wearing a particularly tight swim-suit, which was apparent based on how everything was straining to burst.  It was rather hot, but based on Hikari’s red face she was probably being self-conscious.  So I didn’t say anything about it.  Besides, the other world has completely skewed my standards on what is revealing or too risqué so although it was hot it was not at the level to get my blood boiling. 

The combat slaves have started to secretly gather on the top of the canyon out of my sight.  They seem surprised I came so early.  I look up and see Kovart standing next to the silver-eyed elf.  And next to them tied up with rope and with a gag in her mouth was… my eyes widened in surprise and I stiffened up.  The elf spoke “Hello Terra, I see you recognize our guest.  My name is Eual Percin and I am the Bound One you are looking for.” 

He had a serious expression on his face as he continued “You truly are a mysterious person, two days of intense investigation and I didn’t learn a single thing about you.  Had I not finally tracked down our guest, I would have had no choice but to eliminate such an unknown element.  But your reputation precedes you and it would most certainly be a waste of your talents to have you water the grass.  I don’t like senseless killing after all.  As such I’d like to make you an offer of employment.”  At those words, the combat slaves all stepped up onto the rim of the canyon.  There seemed to be about 300 of them and they were all armed with basic magic equipment.  I casually looked around at this private army and noted their relative positions before I turned back to Eual and said “I would first have to hear the terms.”  

Eual gave a small smile and said “Of course.  I’d pay 10 silver coins a month to keep you on retainer and give bonuses every time you need to actually do a job.  You’d be free to do as you like in the meantime.  I also took the liberty of putting a Slave Mark on the beautiful miss here.  As a precaution against betrayal, I gave her the order to die if you had any treacherous thoughts.  If you accept our offer, you’ll be set as her owner and she’ll follow your every word.  Everyone lives happily ever after.  Not a bad deal, right?”  He opened his arms widely as if to welcome me.  “If you decline, you’ll die and we’ll sell this beauty to a pleasure house that caters to rather unique tastes.  It won’t be a pleasant time for her.  Now, what’s your choice?”  His small smile broadened into a big one as he thought he had me cornered.  

Much to his surprise, however, all I did in response was laugh.  And as I laughed I started releasing mana without restraint, causing a strong pressure to press down on everyone present.  Looks of shock appeared as they realized that I was a wizard.  I finally started to speak “I never would have thought that my paranoia was so justified, I guess having a decoy was the right choice.  Demon, restrain him.” 

At my words, the tied-up elven bitch I had set-up as a decoy so long ago burst into a pink mist which then morphed into something else entirely.  In her place there was a mass of tentacles stemming from a large bloody eye.  The black tentacles had the stingers of bees sticking out of their suckers and the large bloody eye had a vicious mouth full of fangs where the pupil should have been. 

It was a demon familiar that I had created 3 years ago.  It had possessed the elven bitch I chose as a decoy and gorged on her life force for the past 3 years before consuming her completely at my signal and appearing.  It heeded my command and immediately lunged at Eual, enveloping him in tentacles and injecting paralytic poison with its many stingers.  The ball of tentacles with Eual immediately rolled away from the canyon rim.  This all occurred before anyone else could react. 

I snapped my fingers and chaos ensued.  All around the canyon my explosives went off, causing the walls of the canyon to collapse.  Simultaneously, the ground further back from the rim rose higher as if to fence everyone in.  Everyone fell downwards into the canyon along with a lot of rubble.  Many combat slaves were killed by either the blasts, the fall or the rubble falling on top of them.  Of the 300 or so soldiers, 120 survived.  Kovart was of course among those survivors.

Far from shock or rage, this battle junkie was absolutely stoked.  “Wahaha, I knew I could count on you to make things interesting!  Who would have thought you’re a wizard!”  Kovart had already recovered from the fall and drew his slingshot, which started making a deep grating noise that signaled something big was going to happen.  However, my centipede golems that I had planted on him last time made their move. 

These very small and fragile golems (and also extremely expensive and difficult to make golems) were something I developed as an excellent assassination tool.  They are very difficult to detect and sneak into the body and target several different vital points.  At my signal they simultaneously shattered in the brain, heart and lung.  The shrapnel-like crystal tore apart those organs and the High Inquisitor died with a smile on his face.  That’s what he gets for thinking I would fight fair. 

Now that the biggest threat is dealt with, I started to deal with the slave soldiers.  I drew my two 9mm pistols and proceeded to do the classic run ‘n’ gun.  I sprinted all around the canyon, shooting away at the slaves while dodging their return fire spells.  Slaves that tried to engage me in melee died as they stepped upon some of the many mines I had planted in the floor of the canyon.  No slave tried to escape as their last order had been to kill me if I was deemed hostile.  This made things easy for me as I freely used magic and gunfire to blast them to shreds without worrying about any stragglers escaping. 

Soon the ground was dyed with red.  5 soldiers managed to surround me and launched a combined attack of lightning, wind and water.  The miniature storm surrounded me but I avoided it by leaping high into the air.  I flipped in mid-air and quickly dispatched those troops with gunfire before landing once more.  There were only 40 some troops remaining, but I was low on ammo and my traps had all been used up.  I quickly casted a spell before they could swarm me. 

A pillar shot out of the ground beneath me, launching me high into the air.  With my high vantage point, I made the earthen walls I had raised earlier collapse inward.  The sky above the soldiers became filled with falling dirt.  I threw the majority of my remaining mana into increasing the weight of the falling earth.  Those 50 soldiers were helplessly crushed.  I landed with a soft *thump* onto the new rim of the canyon, looking at the large carnage I had caused. 

I dusted myself off and then turned towards the ball of tentacles that was rolling towards me with Eual in tow.  This was it.  Eual was not a wizard, nor did he have a plethora of protective enchantments on him.  He would be completely helpless before my telepathy and I’ll tear everything I can out of him.  As Demon arrived, I teleported us to an isolated cave far away.  It’s time to know the truth behind Project Redemption.