3x Cloning System: The Fleshmancer's Undead Army is full of Heroes-Chapter 29: Deescalation of the Escalation

A lesser man would be stumped for words. Esmeralda just demanded him to kill himself, but he wasn’t surprised, and he expected something extreme from her side, even though he hadn’t been able to pin-point what he wanted prior to this. Nevertheless, his face was unchanging, and he didn’t even give Esmeralda the pleasure of being bothered by her.

He answered, "I can’t kill myself, Esmeralda. It’s close to impossible, you should be aware of that by now. You cut my head off a few times, remember?"

"If I may add..." The Summoner raised her finger, "He was also hit by Thomas, and survived it, so I do not understand what you’re trying to achieve here, lady, but you sound quite stupid. Do you even use that thing above your shoulders? What, did you hear me threaten to kill myself, and so you hopped on the band wagon?"

Clayton did not know this Summoner well, or at all, really as he didn’t even catch her name yet, but he liked the way she carried herself. The other Dark Mages he had met throughout the decades, who had taken refuge in the Chapel of Thaleena, shared similar personalities as her. They were usually direct, snappy, and sharp with their words.

With Rufus the coward being the exception, it was very apparent that this Summoner, although young, was on the exact opposite side of the bell curve. She threatened to kill herself, and she seemed quite determined to do it.

Before this debate could even continue, she grabbed Esmeralda’s dominant arm, and pushed it closer towards her own neck.

"Kill me," She demanded, "You take your religious convictions seriously, right? Kill me, and send me to Heaven. Martyrs don’t go to Hell, you should be aware of that."

The blade of the sword was already sinking in her skin, close to severing her windpipe. This little brunette did not mess around.

Esmeralda was not a fan. She was losing her train of thought, she was upset, upset enough to even reject the authority her Master had over her, but at this moment, she put the restored, healthy part of her brain to focus on one matter.

She was muscular, even in her current alive/dead form, she was strong, so she pulled her sword away from the Summoner’s sword, broke loose from her two-handed grip, and then she bumped the Summoner on the head with the handle of her sword. Just enough to put her in line, in her perspective, but that hit barely caused a bump, not to mention any real damage.

"Quit it with the bullshit, you dungeon-dwelling whore." Esmeralda let a sharp, restricted breath of horrid air through her teeth. "Do you think I’m joking around? It doesn’t matter if you get killed by me, or a rabid dog, Dark Mages can never see the gates of Paradise. I know just how much you try to avoid the Afterlife, I’ve studied you horrid creatures enough to know how deeply you fear death."

Clayton watched the two of them, and he didn’t quite know what to do. For one thing, he was impressed that Rufus had restored Esmeralda’s body so well, that she could even recall long-term memories, well enough to know what she’s angry about, at least. He was quite impressed.

But on the other hand, he tried not to forget about the Basher Basilisk behind him, because he could not in fact kill it. He tried to kill it, but it resisted one of his attacks with ease, which he had previously thought to be impossible, and by all odds, the Basilisk could resist his large-scale, Life Draining Mist as well. He wouldn’t be surprised.

If it did resist his attacks, he’d have it next to impossible to get himself out of trouble, not to mention his friends. He was certain that he could only resist two more attacks from the Basilisk before his Life Essence Points ran out.

Being aware of the dangers that stood behind him, on those muscular four pairs of legs, he wracked his brain for a quick solution, and found one that he didn’t quite like.

’I suppose Esmeralda has to die once more,’ He held his breath in, the veins on his forehead forming the letter V, as stress finally caught up to him, ’System, can you get rid of Esmeralda, right now? Flip a lever, or whatever mechanics you use when you work with slaves.’

[I no longer have influence over this particular slave. You allowed Rufus, and a demonic Lord in the equation. Remember?]

[You may have more control over her than I do at this point.]

’Well, I could not expect her to hold a Summoner hostage now, could I?’ He sighed.

At this point, it felt as if hours had passed, but the truth was, it had only been a few seconds ever since Esmeralda bumped the young Summoner on the head. The two of them were still struggling with one another, making snark remarks about religion, and Clayton had blanked out for a moment, as he tried to figure out a solution to this pending mayhem, because killing her wasn’t an immediate option.

Clayton put his brain into overdrive, trying to figure out a way to fix this. He put every point of his IQ into use, and finally, he settled with a rather simple solution that didn’t require a genius to begin with.

"Let go of her, Esmeralda," He raised his voice, "That’s a direct order!"

Esmeralda snarked at him, and she even wanted to laugh, but seconds later, she felt as if someone pushed a nail through her brain. Not physically, to her luck, but mentally.

Quite against her will, the muscles on her arms loosened, and then she pulled away from the Summoner. She was angry, and she knew that she had free will when she was angry, so she did not understand why her brain, and her entire body suddenly listened to Clayton’s demands, instead of her own.

"Interesting..." He rubbed his beard stub, "I didn’t believe that would work." 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

It did not make sense, and the hurricane of sadness she felt afterwards was not easy on her mental state either. She had one chance, kind of, one chance to make sure that the man who posed a great threat to society was killed, and he took that chance away from her with a few words.

She felt embarrassed, she felt like a failure beyond failures, and yet, she had to live to feel those emotions thoroughly. The sweet relief of death continued to elude her, and with Clayton still alive, she would refuse to die even if she had the chance, as within the barrel of sour emotions she had experienced throughout these past twelve hours, she had pledged to only give herself the sweet relief of death, only after she managed to kill Clayton himself.

"You will make a mistake eventually, demon," She mumbled, "And I’ll make sure that mistake slips you into eternal damnation..."