My Beautiful Horror Land

[Muri]

Muri could not remember any longer her reasons for going up to a city like Gradia. The are smelled too pure and clean up here, completely opposite to the wonderful Evnae that had so pleased her senses. Still, with no way back down for another hour or so, due to air traffic, Muri had no choice but to walk around this metallic city as the sun began to set in the distance.

She stood by the edge of the large buildings for a moment, the last place where she could still see the natural setting sun with a menacing glare on her child-like face. She slowly closed her eyes and quickly turned herself around and began to walk, opening her eyes as she walked at a somewhat fast pace for her size.

Her face remained cold and hollow as if there was nothing of enjoyment for her in this life. She hated this place with every step she took. The people all seemed too kind in a fake manner and anything around her that even resembled nature was obviously fake as well. If she weren't so stubborn, she might have fallen to her knees in shock and annoyance at this place, questioning if there was anything real in this floating city.

Just as she was about to give up hope of something familiar and natural, she spotted a tiny park not far away. The few trees there looked different from the fake ones she had seen around town, they looked real.

With her spirits up slightly, she walked towards the small park as if mesmerized by it and stopped just at the edge before walking on actual grass and soil. She wasn't normally much of a nature person regardless, but she hated anything totally artificial which was why she felt so relieved to be in this small park now.

She paused in her thoughts and looked around here. It was already just after dark and there were no other people in this area. There were a few street lamps here and there, lighting the area just enough.

Muri looked towards the bench in the center of the park and let out a small sigh then walked over to it and sat down. She looked around herself, dis-satisfied with all of the buildings and clean air around her and glared again. As the thought of being stuck in this city for almost a full hour more without a way back into Evnae remained in her head, Muri became even more agitated and a mass of dark smoke began to emanate from her body.

Slowly, a veil of darkness began to spread around the edges of the park, blocking any sight of the park from the outside world. It looked like there was just a massive black dome now in the center of town. Inside the dome, Muri sat there with her glare as other illusions began to appear around her. The whole appearance of the park changed as it darkened.

The grass seemed to be a strange shade of red and there appeared to be a few graves now in front of her with hands trying to claw their way out. A corpse hung by the neck on one of the tree branches and in other trees, it appears as though there would people coming out of them or screaming as they were being absorbed. There were other creatures that began to appear, carnivorous birds that cawed with a raw tone perched on some of the branches and beastly looking dogs started to bite at the hanging man's legs and the hands that tried to escape the graves.

A distorted black cat crawled its way onto Muri's lap and lay there as Muri grinned the most wicked grin imaginable on such a fragile and young looking face. Strange animals of various shapes and sizes, resembling distorted and wicked versions of some real animals including squirrels appeared as well. Some of the animals attacked each other and some attacked the distorted versions of humans trying in vain to escape their horrific fate.

The bench Muri sat on slowly turned black with a heavy smoke surrounding it and large black wings made of her smoke materialized on her back as she imagined herself as the devil in the flesh watching the otherwise blood-curdling show in front of her. Such carnage she witnessed within her own mind, projecting these images in the little park here.

Her wicked smile grew and she giggled in an evil manner briefly as she thought about how beautiful this place she created was turning out to be. It had never occurred to her that someone might actually enter into her perfect horror land undamaged.

[Tag Sy!]

[Sy]

His mother was lucky, even luckier than his former Lady has. Exactly a day before the attack of the Syns began, his father had called over his mother to stop by in Evnae. Perhaps it is because of the father's immense luck that saved his wife, Sy could only be astounded by what his father is capable of, and most of the time accidentally too.

Now that the synthetic men were vanquished, Gradia is back to rebuilding its former glory as the famed floating metropolis. It took them years, and during those years, his mother had stayed in Evnae with his father. They quite enjoyed each others' company now, Sy is very pleased of his parents' improvement in communicating with each other.

Today, he was asked to accompany his dear mother back to Gradia, seeing her house had been rebuild. Being the gentleman that he is, he had offered to carry all of her luggage back to the newly reconstructed housing. It's rather quaint really, considering her house was near the garden, to the few organic plants where the air is fresher.

After Sylvester had assisted his mother in rearranging her furniture, they sat down in the kitchen and enjoyed a nice cup of tea; something that Sy greatly enjoys and ritually practices every day. It brings great comfort to him, and his weary bones are refreshed in an instant.

His mother had asked him to stay for a few nights, to which he had gratefully accepted. Evening turns into night, Sy occupied himself with answering puzzles his mother had thrown to him from the large book of puzzles his father had bought the other day, when suddenly the woman paused and headed straight for the window.

Sy followed suit and was pleasantly surprised to see a dome of thick dark smoke covering the gardens. After politely excusing himself, the young man strides his way towards the mysterious black smoke while still keeping that air of poise around him. To the normal eyes, it might have looked like a gassy area, but to his eyes...there's something else.

Pausing at the edge of the park, Sy tries to peer inside. It didn't take him long to continue moving his legs and eventually entered the strange land of horrors. The view seems very familiar to him...actually, he feels quite at home. These morbid visuals are what his subconscious would almost often procreate in the depths of his mind and just as often as it appears, escaping out into reality in the form of illusions.

'Are these illusions as well?'

He looked around almost with a smile on his face with how familiar these ghoulish air is. The trees have distorted human figures screaming to get out, the mutated creatures aggressively attacking each other and the humans...Sy actually felt taken aback by his own abilities that could only project distorted 9 feet flesh-eating plants as his best illusion.

...Though, that's only his best when he actually tried.
On the times that he doesn't try, mainly his illusion acted on their own based on his nightmares, then it could be very well in the same level as this horrorland here.

When he walked pass a distorted squirrel and accidentally walked through its tail, the squirrel turns into mist instead of the smoke it originally is and almost seemed like it is absorbed by Sy. Actually, as he walked through the land, his footsteps had left prints on the red grasses with the original hue of grass. His entire existence inside this dome could actually neutralizes the illusion if it were to touch him.

Despite this, Sylvester doesn't even noticed. His eyes had finally caught sight to the perpetrator of such a dark horrid land. "Good evening, young miss," he paused about a few feet in front of the girl before bowing towards her in such a manner, it was as if she was royalty to him.

He held a smile on his face as he studied this girl, indeed she's not what people could deem to look or be normal. "Are you not lonely to be sitting so reclusively here?" He asked out of courtesy, his eyebrows slightly creased as if he has genuine emotions. His blue eyes gazed around the place one last time before turning back to the young girl in sitting in front of him.

"I must say, I'm rather enchanted by your creation here. More enthralled by your age too, to be able to project such things when you're so young.." He lets his eyes wandered to the trees now, and chuckled slightly at the image of the hanging corpse being chewed by a mutated shadowed dog.

"That," he pointed his thumb gracefully towards the scene, "is amusing."

[Muri]

Muri's pleasant expression dropped as she sensed a presence disrupting her illusions. She remained where she sat, slowly covering up the tracks he made where she could feel her illusions had been affected. She faced forward but her eyes looked down at the distorted cat in her lap as she strangled it with one hand, holding it tightly in place with the other until it dispersed into smoke when the man stopped in front of her.

She lifted her eyes to the man as he spoke and bowed to her, a wicked glare on her face as she watched him, almost certain that he must be another illusionist based on the fact that his touch was able to cancel her illusions out. After hearing his next question, a slight wicked smirk and glare fixed onto her face. "I am not entirely alone." She said in her child-like voice as she watched him closely. "My friends are all around me." She gestured to the creatures made from her illusions. "They are all that I really need."

He glare softened ever so slightly as her illusion was praised by him and her smirk grew as he commented on her age. Truthfully, she could remember nearly everything from hundreds or even thousands of past lives. Her skills have been slowly growing and developing over such a long time which was why she was so skilled now at her seemingly young age. This, she had not revealed to anyone in her current lifespan, not even to her siblings.

She grinned a bit more as he pointed out her hanging corpse being eaten by the dogs. She stood up with that wicked grin and walked towards him, stopping just a little closer to him. "Watch this." She said with her wicked grin before turning to a small opened area between two trees next to but a little behind her bench that was still covered in smoke.

An image of a woman wearing only a dirty draping of cloth over her appeared, chained to a cement square by her wrists with only a little slack. The woman was screaming and trying madly to escape as Muri's distorted creatures slowly approached her. A few of the smaller animals were the first to jump on the woman, gnawing at various parts of her as her screams grew in volume and blood started to leak out of her vivid wounds.

At the appearance of blood, more creatures began to jump on her, some of the dogs latching onto her legs, causing her to fall as they surrounded her. Her arms in the chains tried to cover her face and upper body and push the creatures away until the chains suddenly began to shorten. She looked at the shortening chains in horror as they pulled her arms back and pinned her wrists down, leaving her completely open to the hoard of distorted creatures with more piercing screams and cries for help.

The larger animals slowly started to leave her first, her bones almost completely exposed now, her feet crushed and many of her bones broken. The shrieking and crying continued as the only parts of her that remained untouched still were her eyes that looked directly at Sy and Muri in a pleading manner, terrified of the pain she felt as she cried out for help.

Slowly, all of the animals left her with nothing but bones, barely connected, and weakly struggling. The skeleton appeared as though it was still pressing to breath as she cried real tears out of the eyes that remained. The bones were red and the cement block around her was covered in blood. After a few moments of the crying and pleading with Sy and Muri, two distorted crows landed on her head and pecked out her eyes as she screamed again and eventually collapsed entirely as bloody bones on the ground there. The chains and cement block disappeared, leaving behind the blood and the broken skeletal figure.

Muri's wicked grin never left her face as she watched the disturbing scene play out in front of her. She considered it a near masterpiece and hoped the illusionist next to her would have enjoyed it as well as she did. She then turned her grin back to him again to find out his response on the whole thing.

[Sy]

Sy would almost let out a sigh when the little girl answered that she wasn't entirely alone, 'Yes, but your friends aren't truly real.' Then again, he could direct back that thought to himself, when did he ever acquired a friend in his life? What is a friend, anyway? Someone that gives benefits to him?

The twisted grin he noticed that kept playing across her youthful child-like face somehow made him happy a bit, it reminded him of himself in a way. That hidden side that was cloaked underneath his pleasant and polite side his mother managed to sew for him. A light smile stayed on his face as he inwardly shrugged, this child seemed hell-bent to believe her creations that is never real.

Then again, what is an illusionist if that isn't a main trait?

When the girl stood up from her seat, Sy stood a bit straight with his hands locked behind his back as he watched her walked towards him. She offered him a show, a grotesque one, he could tell. So he simply nodded and allowed her to amuse him.

Only in the beginning and he could already tell that it will. For someone who was trapped countless times within his own mind with nightmares he could never take control of eating him alive inside, Sy watches her performance rather placidly, and despite himself, finding it to be rather humorous.

He could hear the woman's scream, he could hear her yell, yet as he was specifically told to only watch, Sy only stood his ground, his face blank other than that same pleasing smile stuck on his lips. He did what he was told, only standing there and watching the woman being tortured and eaten alive.

Though, when the woman began crying for help did Sy instinctively moved a bit, his leg had taken a step, but then he pulled it back, and stands where he stood. His face is unreadable, and now with the animals completely surrounding the woman, he is unable to see her.

When they had finished their feast, the only thing he could see of the woman are the wreckage of her bones, bits of shredded skin, littering pieces of partly-eaten organs and gallons upon gallons of blood decorating the stone block with a magnificent tint of red.

It surprised Sy that the woman seemed to still be breathing as she looked straight at him and this child, pleading for help. It doesn't end there, he figured, his chin is already tilting upwards, seeming to notice the large crows there before they came down and pecked her eyes out.

He decided that the curtains for the show had already closed when the stone block and chains disappeared, and right after it did that Sy moved briskly to the spot and knelt there on one knee, right in front of the mess of blood and bones.

He stared directly towards the broken skeletal figure in particular, and hovered his hand above it, whispering quietly that even he himself cannot hear, "Be thankful...that you are not real, milady." Then he lowered his hand to touch the skeletal figure, and it immediately disappeared in a cloud of mist. The mist seemed to be absorbed in his hand, and Sy was mildly surprised since he only meant to touch the skeleton.

He blinked once, and then decided to touch the blood next, and it ended just like what happened when he touched the skeletal of the woman. Shortly staring at his own hand, since he just noticed himself that he's able to do that, Sy then stood up from where he is, his back against Muri.

Suddenly, the sound of applause. Sy gracefully turned around to face the young woman while clapping his hands together in a steady rhythm. "Monstrously magnificent!" He offered a praise, truly moved by her performance, and walked back towards her to stand where he once stood.

He noted of her grin, he thought it would be impossible for it to get wider but it did, and decided to point it out, "Have anybody ever told you that you have a beautiful smile?" He smiled back right at her, though using his own usual pleasant way, "That one right there."

He locked his hands back together behind him, with his wrists lining against his spine, and looked at Muri's petite form with a gentle nod, "If you hoped that I would enjoyed it, then your expectation is reached. I am completely taken by your performance, it was absolutely brilliant. Fantastic. Thank you for offering such a grand entertainment."

Accompanied by that is a low bow by him, he had to take a step back just to do so. He didn't raised his upper body back up though, Sy lowered himself down until one of his knees touched the red grass, neutralizing the color to green, and then he tilted his head back up to face the young lady.

"As a stranger, I am honored to be allowed to enjoy such a masterpiece. Thus, in my apologies of trespassing in your territory here, allow me to reveal my name," he used such a gentle and respectful tone towards Muri, it really looks like he's offering his soul to her.

"I am called as Sylvester Ignis Fatuus. Though, I prefer to be addressed as Sy." His right hand moved in front of him, opening up his long fingers as if waiting for the lady to place her hand there, "And who might this ingenious lovely prodigy be, if I may ask?"

[Muri]

Muri's smile fell as Sy walked over to the blood and bones and, with his touch, made the skeleton disappear. She rather liked the look of that skeleton laying there, stripped naked of it's flesh, drenched in blood in the middle of her illusion. She questioned in her mind whether this person was much like her in that way or not as she stared coldly at his back.

Muri's eyes opened a bit wide as she started to hear an applause from him and his exclamation made her wicked grin return to her face again. With this man's flattery of her smile, it grew more again. "I don't need anyone to tell me such things. I am well aware and confident of myself." She said with her grin at him, flattered but not willing to let his flattery get the better of her.

Muri's wicked grin remained, seeming slightly less wicked with each bit of flattery. "It's not often that I get to meet another illusionist, especially not one with a taste for the wicked like me." She replied to his praise of her performance.

Muri began to feel a bit more smug about herself the lower Sy moved towards the ground, feeling rather important and good about it when he knelt in front of her and expressed the feeling of being honoured. She stood tall with a grin as she watched this person introduce himself, preferring the name Sy to Sylvester.

Muri gracefully placed her hand on top of Sy's, grinning at him wickedly, rather amused by these actions of his. "You may call me Muri."

[Sy]

"Muri." He repeated her name, just to hear how his voice sounds saying it, before the expected compliment came, "What a brilliant name. Fitting." He beamed her a smile when she accepted his hand, and simply rests his thumb on her fingers.

"Heh. You seem to enjoy feeling superior," Sy remarked with a wider grin, only basing his assumption by the fact that this girl is not even blushing as he portray his usual charm. He closed his eyes with a single chuckle escaping his lips, before gently let go of her small hand and brings himself back up to his feet.

"Alright then. If you don't need me to compliment and flatter you, then I would not." He said while dusting himself, referring to how confident she is in her own abilities. He glanced towards the young girl with that same polite smile that seemed to be stuck on his face.

"In Evnae, my dear, there are many anthromorphs with my skill. It is their basic ability to survive there.." He almost automatically would add 'But not nearly as impressive as you', but held himself back forcefully since she did, in a way, ordered him not to flatter her.

"I am only an amateur in this art. Though during dreams and nightmares....." Sy seemed like he wanted to continue, but was somehow rendered speechless. Thus, he settled for a simple "..it is within a level that I am incapable to describe."

He doesn't understand it himself if he really enjoys all the macabres and horrors his nightmares always sparked every night. Perhaps it was because he had gone through so many nightmares in nearly all sections of horrors in detail, that he had developed a sort of tranquility to anything related to it.

Suddenly, his gloved hand swiftly slipped inside his pocket, pulling out a gleaming silver coin. "If I may ask... Do you have any wishes, princess?" He asked while beginning to continuously flipped his coin in the air and caught it. His gambling side is taking over again.

[Muri]

Muri remained smiling in return of Sy's compliment of her name, still feeling rather important and confident about herself. It was when he called her out on the fact that she enjoys feeling superior when her eyebrow twitched a little and her smile began to fall halfway.

His next comment about not complimenting her because she said she doesn't need it slowly further lessened her smile. Her smile finished falling as he made mention of there being many illusionists in Evnae. Had he said that she was far better than any of them, she might have forgiven this fact and even offered with a confident grin to show them a few things. Instead, her eyes began to slowly fill with a bit of malice towards this person.

She wasn't disturbed much by his remark of his own abilities, but her expression still slowly darkened as he stated the level of his unconscious abilities being unable to be described. Her fingers twitched slightly as she grew annoyed and his next question only served to annoy her further.

Her eyes widened slightly as he asked if she had any wishes. Eyami's face immediately flashed through her thoughts before she glared at Sy. She crossed her arms and moved her head to the side as she closed her eyes. " Not really. I have everything I need, so why should I wish for something?" She said dishonestly in an annoyed tone.

[Sy]

Sy's blue eyes are sharp and perceptive as he tries to pick up even the smallest speck of expression on her face and body language. He's silently grateful that she doesn't possess a sort of pokerface, and her child-like mask of things had made her pulled into her own mask of childishness and is automatically off-guard in covering her own emotions.

Sy kept playing with his coin as he observes this young lady, internally very amused and wanted to chuckle as he reads her expression. His polite smile is slowly growing into a smirk, but he's clever in covering that by using his free hand to hold his chin in a thoughtful manner and his index finger on top of his lips to hide his amusement.

He noticed how his words began to anger her, and at this, Sy's eyelids fell halfway across his eyes, eyeing this young lady with a calm but almost bored look. He pondered to himself if he wanted to push her further, because he's certainly capable based on her responses to him.

'Confident people have one thing in common; they all need support, compliments and flattery once in a while, dear princess.' His mind echoes. His eyes darted to every reaction he had drawn from her and made mental notes in his head of what he could figure out. Sy loves puzzles, figuring people out on his first meeting with them is just as fun for him.

Sy finally stopped playing with his coin after Muri denied to have any wishes. "I don't believe so. You just don't want to share your wishes with me." He called her out, removing his finger from covering his lips and gave her a polite smile.

Nobody can lie to Sy. Lying is his field, the field that he so greatly excels in, that he can pick up anyone's dishonesty. He had picked up so many of Muri's personality trait now by only spending a few minutes with her, but he's not planning to let her know of this.

"That's too bad. I was about to wager with you," Sy rolled his silver coin on his knuckle as he said so. "If you win, then your wishes became mine too, to realize." He said in a calm manner, still with that small smile.

"I am your exact opposite," he reasoned with a flip of his coin, by opposite he meant by their personal nature. "I may be able to help you to achieve something that you alone cannot, my dear." He held his eyes fixed towards her as he caught the coin in his palm easily.

"So would you like to play a game with me?"

[Muri]

Muri's eyebrow twitched down slightly as Sy called her out on her lie. Her eyes opened and she shot Sy a glare full of hatred from where she stood with her arms crossed and her head to the side.

She slowly turned her head back to face him square on with her hateful glare and her arms still crossed as he went on about a wager. Her glare seemed to deepen a bit as he said her wishes would become his as well. She disliked the idea of having someone else know about her desires or trying to get in on her business especially when it came to her deep rooted love of her brother.

She slowly clenched her fists as she lowered her arms, a hint of smoke beginning to emanate around her arms as she did so. She hated hearing someone say that they could achieve something that she could not. Her body may be young and appear even younger but her memories spanned that of an unimaginable amount of years. There should be nothing, she felt, that she could not accomplish with her own power.

"I am not just some child who likes to play games..." She said quietly in an angry voice as her face began to appear twisted and contorted as though shaping into that of a beast. The smoke around her arms increased and she ran towards Sy as fast as her small body could carry her. She threw out her fists, her smoke shooting towards Sy at a rapid pace. The two lines of smoke swirled around one another and picked up pace as they raced to deliver a heavy blow to Sy's chest.

[Sy]

Sy would almost laugh at seeing her incredibly angry reaction to his carefully crafted words. Still, he can tell that if he even let out a singular chuckle, it's like spreading oil to the well-blazing fire. Thus the former butler kept his ever calm composure and mind himself to not crack even the smallest hint of amusement.

He picked up how her glare deepens on the mentioning of intertwining wishes. One corner of his lips curved upwards immediately. Just by that small reaction alone, he could easily link in the puzzles together. Her say in her confidence and Sy's assumption of her superiority are all precious clues to him. Muri is in denial of having any wishes, and her obvious climbing anger of him for even suggesting to share her wishes with him is all pointing to his final conclusion.

'You're in love with someone, aren't you.' Sy's other corner of his lips crooked up, and finally his brilliantly wicked smile is fully uncloaked.

Right on cue of his thoughts, he notices the smoke emanating from her arms, and at this his smile grows into a pleasing twisted grin. 'Oh Sylvester, why must you find amusement in gambling your life?' He could hear his mother's voice in his head questioning him that as he readies himself, sliding his left leg apart so his center point is properly balanced. His blue eyes shone as he could barely hear what Muri whispered. Though he did managed to catch what she's saying anyway due to how perceptive his attention is that he can even read her lips.

"But you're playing a game with me right now~ Doesn't that make us both children?" He said, and right after he spoke, Muri began to morphed into a frightful creature. Sy only stood there as he witnessed how the young girl is charging right at him, and he didn't even seemed like he would budge.

'If tails, decompose self to mist and escape. If heads, challenge death.' He bets with himself, all in midst of Muri about to assault. Surprisingly, Sy flipped his silver coin in the air, caught it by snapping it in between the back of his hand and his palm and his eyes glazed over that the head of the coin. He didn't even have time to raise his head up, only darting his eyes towards Muri's spiraling smoke attack and then allowed it to drill all the way across his chest that it's practically spinning inside his body that his organs and ribs inside are twisted in a swirling heap of blood.

It only lasted for a short moment, but the impact is lethal.

The coin that was on the back of his hand gleamed in the air as it spins off somewhere caused by the impact. His body flew off to the back, although as he was impacted his body is still in a standing position. When the spiral shot through his spine and back, Sy's feet touched the ground again, almost exactly like how he had positioned himself before even getting hit. His body is hunched forward by the lack of spine, having none to support his upper body anymore.

Just when it looks like he would collapsed, a long shaft materialized out of mist inside Sy's grip. The staff is pure white, with a sort of blue hue and a hexagonal peak. A couple of strange blue feathers were hanged inside the hexagon. Sy gracefully moved his staff so the peak is facing upwards, and then an azure glow surrounded his torso.

His broken spine reconnects itself and all of his organs are spinning in the opposite way of Muri's spiraling smoke earlier, making their way to where they originally belong. His ribs were also returning to its locations, and then his flesh reformed to close his chest, and then finally his skin. The glowing stops immediately after Sy lowers his arm so his staff is touching the ground.

He stood straight again, his uniform now apparently ruined that his top is practically bare other than the sleeves around his arms. So the man simply made an illusion of his suit to reappear on his body, and then faces Muri with that same pleasant smile he had used the entire while, now completely masking his earlier wicked grin. "Did you have fun with your game?" He asked her politely, and then continued. "Will you play my game next?"

'Because, dear mother...' He thought in response to is mother's question earlier, '...whether I win or not is my choice.'

[Muri]

As Muri launched her attack on Sy, his question in response only caused the level of pressure in her attack to increase as she shot the spiraling smoke through his body. Satisfied that it hit, Muri stopped in her tracks and slowly lowered her arms. The beastly distorted look faded from her face to reveal only a menacing glare as she watched her attack take affect.

"Tch" She uttered under her breath as she saw that he was still standing, her angry glare fixed on him. Her eyes remained on his head while in the blurred area of her vision she saw a strange staff materialize in his hand. She held herself in a stance ready to escape a counter attack as she saw him position it. She remained still, waiting, as she saw a strange glow surround his torso where her attack hit him.

As his wound healed, she realized he had only been healing himself. His calm towards the attack and during his healing impressed her, but she would never admit something like that. She realized as he stood straight again that she had begun to let her guard down. Immediately, she stiffened herself again and intensified her glare as she saw his face again.

Her eyebrows inched in to deepen her glare a bit more as he smiled at her again. She clenched her fists tightly in anger towards this person. Her attack, for her level of expertise, was only a very low level one, but it still has the power to kill. He took her attack head on, survived it, healed himself and stands smiling again before her like before as if she had never shown him such hatred.

Just as her glare was slowly beginning to let up, his questioning of her having fun with her 'game' caused it to increase. She clenched her fists tight again as she glared at this boy. The red grass around her feet began to appear as though it were melting like blood and her body began to emanate a layer of smoke except around her face, turning her hair into a dirty darkened gray.

After a moment longer of glaring at his sickeningly pleasant smile, Muri slowly relaxed herself a little bit. The smoke cleared from around her body, leaving her hair that darkened gray colour and the puddle beneath her reformed into the shape of red grass. She slowly released her clenched fists but maintained her glare a little while longer.

"I wasn't playing a game, you know... I was really intending to kill you with that..." She said in a serious tone of voice despite the voice still sounding like it belonged to that of a young girl. She slowly relaxed the muscles on her face but held a bit of a glare even still.

"What sort of game is it that you want me to play?" She finally said after a pause, her glare remaining fixed on him but her body a little less tense than it was before. "I won't promise to play along, though." She added. wanting to make it clear that she had no intentions of going along with his game if she decided she didn't want to.

[Sy]

Sy remained unmoving from his spot there, his eyes never even blink once as he stares at this young girl. He watched in amusement at what seems to be another one of her tantrum with how much smoke is she emanating from her body.

What he expected to happen with him being her tool for temper venting did not happen, and this genuinely surprises Sy. He gave her a strange look when the smoke clears from her body and then tilts his head at her sudden composure.

"I appreciate that you're able to control yourself," he spoke, genuinely meaning that as a form of gratitude instead of mocking her. Then, he turned his head around, seeming to be looking for something as Muri admitted that her intention to kill him is not a game.

"Oh, but it is a game." He replied calmly, now beginning to walk towards an area where his attention is caught to. Then, Sy crouched on the red grass, neutralizing the color into green as he picked back up his silver coin that he dropped earlier.

"A game of death is always exciting. Don't you think so?" He raised himself up to look back at Muri and smiled at her almost cheerfully. Although Sy looks and acts like this, he has a rather daredevil approach to things that requires him to put his life on the line. The lower the chance of success, the more fun it tends to be for him.

In Sy's case though, it boosts his luck. "I tend to have a higher chance to survive when the situation proves to be risky and fatal." He explained rather tediously, seeming to not enjoy it when the stars lined up just for him. All he wants is a challenge in his life, but luck had completely diminish that sort of chance. He had escaped his own death far more than he could remember, so Sy had long stopped his suicide tests and just plodded forward in his boring life.

"The game I was talking about..." His expression considerably brightens when Muri brings up the topic of his preference, "..will be more fun if we put a stake on the outcome." His staff disintegrates into mist as he stood straight and faces the girl. "If I win, I would prefer you, dear princess, to train me in the arts of hazing the truth within the mist that we can both conjure. I'd like you to teach me of illusions."

He paused to give a few moments for Muri to regard his part of the wager. While he does so, he walked back to where he originally stood, before turning his attention to her again. "If you win, then I would submit myself to you, and be your personal servant to do whatever task you ask me to." His blue eyes flickered at her and his pleasant smile malformed into a wicked smirk, giving her the chance to speak up if she is against his suggestion. "You can even add whatever that you want from me."

"But...only if you beat me in this gamble."



He brings up his silver coin for her to see, and then flicked it up in the air, before quickly catching it in one of his hands. His movement is so fast, it's impossible to see which hand did he caught the coin with.

"Left or right?"

[Muri]

Muri's glare deepened a bit again as Sy remarked on her self control. It was a rare thing when Muri held herself back instead of bursting into fits of anger. Usually it was only Eyami who was able to calm her rage, but sometimes it was him as well that was the cause of it. She especially hated, however, feeling like her ability to calm herself was something to be congratulated as if she were a child.

She eyed him carefully as he went searching for something, her glare maintaining its malice as he state that it was a game. She glared at him, obviously not trusting him, as he asked her if she thought games of death were fun. She didn't answer, merely maintaining her glare as her fingers twitched slightly, almost wanting to curl back into fists.

Her hands clenched into fists again for a moment as he said that his chance of survival was higher the more risk that was in the attack. She glared a bit more intensely at this, thinking that if she were to attack him again, she would have to go even stronger perhaps. She then thought as she released her fists and relaxed slightly, maybe sending more smaller attacks would be better if it indeed was the harsher attacks that he was more able to survive.

As she thought of that, his voice broke her thoughts when he went on about the game and putting stakes on the game. She looked at him with an uncertain glare, obviously not trusting the man. As she listened to his stakes, when he summed it up at the end, her expression relaxed immensely into a milder glare but with a more quizzical expression. He wants a teacher? She thought to herself.

As she considered the idea of being a teacher of illusions to him, amusing herself with thoughts of being able to order him around as his teacher and master, he began to talk about her stakes. A sort of wicked grin that had been slowly creeping onto her lips diminished as she glared at him again, ready to listen to what he would offer her should she win.

A flicker of amusement shot across her eyes as her expression showed a hint of a wicked grin, a glare and an amused sort of malice flickering in her eyes. The idea of ordering people around as her personal servants suited her well. She often thought of her own siblings as her servants and would order them around, throwing tantrums at them should they disobey her.

She watched him further with her maliciously amused glare as he prepared the gamble. Her eyes remained on his own eyes as he tossed a coin in the air and caught it. The faint amusement left her face for a moment, leaving her with a malicious glare staring at him before a slightly confident wicked grin grew on her face again.

"Fine then... I choose right." She said in a confident manner, despite knowing the odds were only 50-50. She felt that either outcome would not be so bad as, she reasoned, he would still have to obey her with her being his master or his teacher. Regardless, Muri still desired only to win.

[Sy]

Of course that made her interested. Sy had already counted in the fact of how this girl responds with his words plus actions, and had formed a rather long description of everything he can pick up about her in his mind. Both of his bets are meant to her benefit entirely. As a bonus, Sy is willing to go through this as well, simply because he has no current aim in his life due to his inability of even forming one. He's been looking for someone after his late Lady had died. Someone who could play a game with him.

Muri's expression is practically overflowing with amusement despite her glare towards him, and at this, Sy inwardly sigh of how readable this sadistic little girl is. Still, he has a feeling that said sadistic little girl possesses the potential to bring forth something in his life. Something that he can't quite predict yet, but that's the interesting part. Surprises are always fun.

A grin curved up his lips as Muri responded to his game, choosing right as her answer. Just her responding is enough for him to seal both of their fates.

"Princess," Sy called, now twisting his wrists so the back of his hand is facing downwards and pulled his fingers open for her to see. "I am now officially your servant." The silver coin gleamed inside his right palm, before attempting to put his coin back in his jacket, and then remembered that his top is now actually an illusion. His skill is not that strong that the objects that he casted would be able to support any weight. So, the man placed his coin inside his pants pocket instead, now slightly unhappy that he lost.

"Too bad.. I really wanted an instructor..." he muttered to himself before exhaling in fake depression. Then he faces Muri, lifting a smile to her and by just reading her face expression, he could already tell what she wanted him to do. So Sy walked forward till he's near the girl, lowers himself on his knees though keeping his eyes locked into hers, and then slowly bowed his head down in utter submissiveness.

"I apologize, from the deepest pit of my inhumane heart, for being an annoyance to you these past few whiles. I admit that it is thoroughly purposeful in finding out about you, and your violent reaction only serves as a punishment for me that I was willing to accept. I'm very sorry."

Once he finishes his apology, Sy looked up to face his young master, and added, "If it's of any consolation, your temper tantrums are quite charming." He offered a smile as he said so.

[Muri]

Muri grinned a wicked confident grin with a slight glare still on her face as she waited for him to reveal the answer. As he opened his hands and announced her the winner, her glare subsided while a malicious look in her eyes remained and her wicked grin grew. She stood there in a confident and tall stance, for her height, as she sort of inwardly cheered herself for gaining a new servant.

She noticed the slight discontent filling on his face but could not hear what he muttered as he put the coin away. She crossed her arms, waiting for him to come to her as she expected any good servant to do so without her having to tell him. Of course, if he didn't, then she would have a different sort of fun torturing him. She began to reason that she could hurt him all she wants without killing him if he's able to so easily survive and heal himself like that. That thought amused her especially.

Smug that he made the move she expected by walking over to her and getting down on his knees, she looked down at him with a wicked grin as her arms remained crossed. "Hmph. Good." She said a bit quietly in a wicked little tone as she grinned at him after his apology, still grinning wickedly down at him.

When he spoke again, saying her temper tantrums are charming, Muri's eyes opened a bit then she glared at him again. Her arms moved down to her side and she clenched her fists slightly. "Tch!" She uttered, turning around to hide slight hints of pink that crept onto her cheek at the thought of someone actually complimenting such action. "Baka." She said in a slightly annoyed tone, facing away from him and crossed her arms again.

She stood there a moment longer, making sure her face was clear except for a small glare then turned back quickly to face him again. As she did so, she uncrossed her arms, placing one on her hip and pointing at him with the other, a mild glare still present on her face. "As your first order... Find some place for me to eat!"