Chapter 110: Cat-Apult
While Ed and Samuel were amidst their heated discussion and impossible discovery, Moon was still trying to protect his food with his life.
In front of him, the paths to both the front and the left were blocked.
And a cat-shaped catapult was hot on his tail.
Ding!
The moment he heard the alert, he was already facing a wall. He ducked, twisted his body—
Rumble~
The wall, now to his back, was punched to the point of explosion.
Moon didn’t try to look or understand; the path ahead was open to him.
He ran half-ducked and straightened himself along the way, successfully avoiding both the cat and the flying rocks somehow.
Ding!
He lowered his stance.
Ding!
He straightened up.
Ding!
Still...
Though one still hit him on the back of the head, he didn’t flinch in the slightest and kept running.
He wasn’t sure if the alerts came from the orange thieving cat attacking him again or some rubble flying his way.
He had no way of knowing that; things were happening too fast for him to follow numbers and check each and every alert.
Though, amidst his struggles, hope was still there. A slight bright glimpse shone on him at last.
Or so he thought.
In the moment, he saw further away, in his line of sight, something was rapidly approaching.
Flying fast at him. "At last!" he exclaimed, feeling like it had been a very long time since they got separated.
He sensed it before his eyes did; still... seeing was everything he needed to get back his energy and slight chance of survival.
His sprint got more invigorated, toplessly running relentlessly at the returning Echo.
He heard things breaking but didn’t bother; his heart nearly leapt into his throat every time alerts came and his Echo was nowhere to be seen or found.
’Was that what the guy whose Echo Samuel sealed felt too?’ His mind couldn’t help connect the dots; he remembered the talk with Ed when he said Samuel sealed someone’s Echo away, never to return.
Rumble~
His thoughts snapped back to his life-threatening situation.
Though he ran all the same, until he saw someone in front of him.
Barrett.
At first, he nearly cursed. ’Why is that idiot here too?’ he questioned in his heart.
But soon he realized the reason, as obvious as it could seem. Barrett was supporting the unconscious Basil to get treated.
Barrett’s eyes met Moon’s.
It was a long, very long instant for him.
He, in the end, smiled before finally closing his eyes... He had the look of a man who had given up to his fate.
Moon watched through; it was the worst possible situation that could happen by simple coincidence. He couldn’t have his underlings get beaten before his eyes twice, could he?
He racked his brain, thinking of a way out of this, but little could he find.
Above, Samuel and Ed were still watching, shifting between the commotion that didn’t match the nature of Mishu but was caused by him, and the discussion they were going through of the impossible situation they discovered.
Both Moon and Mishu were now anomalies...
And somehow, both of them were impossible to replicate.
"So, we can’t find out how Moon got to get his Death Echo because he himself doesn’t know, and we can’t find out how Mishu came to lose all his Echo either." Ed scratched his head.
"Aren’t you close with him? He’s a sentient beast and obviously can talk," Samuel suggested, knowing too well how Ed treated the cat.
Ed shook his head. "Not once did he ever talk, not even meow..." Ed looked at Samuel. "I thought he was mute till just a few minutes ago!"
Samuel made brief eye contact with him before setting his gaze below again. "You gave us stir-fried rice daily for long years, but treated the cat who didn’t bother interacting with you better."
Ed rolled his eyes. "Samuel, my friend... look at me and you." He patted his belly. "You are in shape thanks to the food you hated so much. Look at me... I ate whatever I wanted. I can’t have both of us crippled," he logically tried to reason with Samuel, before adding,
"And this is a cat; he must eat meat," he explained. "Have you ever seen a cat eating rice or vegetables?"
Ed’s words seemed to have agitated Samuel further; a vein started bulging on his forehead, but he didn’t speak.
No sane person could eat the same kind of food three times a day for a year. What about a hundred? What about two hundred...
Or even more...
Samuel had been bearing with it for long years, so no matter how stern, no matter how mentally strong he was...
It was torture to anyone.
Still, Samuel exhaled slowly, and not a word was said back to Ed, who was now looking down again.
"Right, Samuel, that cat might destroy the branch today." His voice didn’t hold any concern, but there was too much rubble wherever his eyes fell.
"It’s fine, it will be fixed by tomorrow morning," Samuel answered without explanation, before adding, "Shouldn’t you stop this?" he asked Ed.
Ed looked for a moment. "Leave them be for a little longer."
Below, Moon was in deep thought... Trying to find a way out; once again he was cornered beyond salvation.
Though still...
Not much could be used.
Yet, at the very least...
Once his Echo was almost there—
He twisted his body slightly, letting the pendant around his neck bounce up and down, while meeting the returning Echo with his shoulder.
He tightened his arms around the bucket one last time before swiftly ducking, placing it on the ground elegantly, and spinning around to meet the cat.
Who happened to be jumping at his face.
"YOU CAN BITE MY HEART BUT NOT MY FOOD!" he shouted as he sprinted at the cat, leaving the precious food and his two underlings behind his back.
He was unfazed by the approaching punching paw; Moon let his Echo intercept the attack.
At the still-midair cat, Moon sent his Echo to block the attack, and his fist at the soft-looking, furry belly.
Mishu this time didn’t smack the Echo away; instead, he gave a straight jab this time, sending it directly back at Moon.
Moon, with unwavering confidence, dashed at the Echo. "Take thi—"
Thud~
With a muffled thud, Moon found himself being sent flying.
Above, Samuel and Ed were still watching.
"Did he fail to make it intangible?" he squinted.
"About time this is patched up." Samuel turned around and started walking; a soft popping sound was heard by the two of them only as he walked away.
Ed pursed his lips. Looking down at Mishu, he spoke. "Mishu, enough. I’ll fry some for you. Leave the kid be," he said while waving his hand, sending a wave of his own Echo at Moon, who was hurtling toward both the bucket he tried so hard to protect and the underlings he didn’t want to involve.
Landing softly, Moon felt the Echo cushioning his fall.
Nonetheless, he screamed.
"NOOOOO, MY PENDANT, NOOOOO!" Without a warning, Moon began to wail.