Chapter 70: Hypnosis
Ryker sagged against the soot stained wall, blood at the corner of his mouth, chest rising and falling in shallow, painful breaths. The corridor around them was quiet except for the distant crash of furniture and the shouts still echoing from the dining hall.
Lucas kept one fist clenched on the man’s collar, flame flaring low around his knuckles and his eyes locked onto Ryker’s broken form.
"Go on," he said, pressing Ryker into the wall. "i’m listening..."
He inhaled, wincing as pain shot through his body. "I didn’t want any of this. I really didn’t, not at first. When your group arrived I was... careful. Polite. I offered food, shelter, safety. I even took an interest in Eleanor.. But Eleanor—" His voice caught on her name, something raw flashing across his face, something akin to disdain. "Eleanor didn’t pay me any mind. At first I thought she was just being careful, so I started doing more than I actually would. Gave her more attention, gave your people better treatment, anything I could do to get her to acknowledge me and for a moment, it was working. She actually started to acknowledge me. We talked more than we did the first few days she came..."
Lucas narrowed his eyes, waiting for him to continue.
"When you arrive she completely forgot about me. She started following you, listening to you, spending more time with you and I didn’t like that at all. And I feared she would want to leave as soon as you people came."
The pressure of his grip tightened. "She had her own faction. We all did. Why did you want her to stay?"
"Because!" His voice rose, then lowered, "because. I wanted her. Beautiful women are hard to come by these days and when I saw her, I knew I couldn’t let her slip away from me."
"I saw the threat," Ryker continued, bitterness etched into his face. "You were going to take her. Take all of them—"
"I was supposed to take them." Lucas cut in.
"You don’t understand!" Ryker yelled, his voice echoing across the halls.
"Do you know how hard it was to convince her to stay?! I talked to her. Reasoned with her. Reminded her how dangerous the roads are, how many of us have died out there. And when she refused, I decided to take matters into my own hands."
"I was wondering how you got her to stay the first time around..."
He wheezed, then answered. "The Avallion..."
Lucas raised an eyebrow. "What about it?"
Ryker stayed silent, then he spoke: "My skill."
Lucas’s brow furrowed, he was getting impatient. "What skill?"
Ryker’s eyes looked up at him, and for a moment, Lucas could’ve sworn he saw the old charm and easygoing expression try to show on his face.
[Ding!]
Lucas turned to face the system window, crimson texts appearing one by one...
[Player has failed to fall under The Tyrant’s Hypnosis. You have been branded a target.]
"Wait a minute..."
Lucas stared at the words, slowly piecing everything together as realization dawned on him.
"Did you—?"
Ryker laughed. A rough chuckled escaped his lips as he replied. "What do you think? Those Golems you killed were under my [Hypnosis] skill. My men couldn’t kill them so I had no other choice..."
It all made sense now... Eleanor’s sudden reluctance the way half the faction had started speaking about the settlement like it was home instead of a temporary stop.
All these happened while Lucas let his guard down. He didn’t know that the man looking at them with smiles in public was the same man looking at them like he was counting livestock in private.
It finally clicked. He had hypnotized them, all of them. And for Lucas... he didn’t fall under it because he was special, it was simply because his own system was too glitched out to register the skill being used on him...
"The three Avallion that have been perched on the outer walls before you killed them—those are mine too. They watch the roads. They make sure no one who leaves gets very far. I only needed a little more time. Eleanor would have stayed, every second thought about leaving gone completely. The rest would have followed and my power would’ve grown."
Lucas clenched his fist, flames roaring brighter on his fist. "And you thought poisoning me was the next best thing?"
Ryker shrugged. "I simply decided to remove the problem." Ryker’s voice was smoother now, as if the admission wouldn’t cost him anything. "Poison is more subtle than a blade in a crowded hall. Raises less suspicion too. If it had worked, no one would have known. Your people would have mourned, then settled. Eleanor would have needed comfort and I would have given it."
Lucas scoffed, then he rose his fist and drove it towards Ryker aiming for a finishing blow.
Nothing happened....
[Error]
[Skill: Ignition has been disabled.]
The fire flickered and died, and Ryker’s eyes lit with vicious triumph.
The man twisted, using the wall for leverage, and kicked hard, causing Lucas stumbled back.
In the same instance Ryker’s hand reached for the sword below him, and rushed at him, swinging down hard enough that the air whistled.
Lucas barely had time to react. He reached for the nearest blade and swung upwards, the impact rattling his bones as sparks flew all over the place.
Lucas used this as a chance to put some distance between them. Then his eyes drifted toward the system in the corner of his eyes.
[Error]
[Skill: Ignition has been disabled.]
"Seriously? Right now? Really?!" Lucas nearly yelled in outrage and his head snapped forward, Ryker’s footsteps echoing towards him.
He laughed. "I guess Eleanor was right. Your system is a dud."
Lucas let a nervous smile spread across his face. "What, all this because of a lady? Come on. Doesn’t that sound crazy, even for you?"
"It’s not just about her." Ryker’s voice hardened. "If you all stayed, I would have had more people, more people to use my power as a leader on. Why do you think my people stayed even though they clearly didn’t want to?"
His nervous smile widened. "Using your skill to keep innocent survivors here while you rule over them with an iron claw. You really are a Tyrant..."