7 - Effective Family Counseling

A pure white bird flew high above the skies...

[GLASGOW]

“And here we are, exiled because we are deemed so weak.” Matilda sighed. “I’m never going to let you make a decision ever again.”

“It wasn’t a decision, it was an order.” Victoria replied.

They walked through the empty cathedral alone. The sun had already set, and the cold stone walls of the place didn’t help in making the atmosphere more friendly or welcoming in the slightest. This cathedral used to be owned by the late and great Elena Thomas.

They walked around, aimlessly exploring it, while trying not to lash out at each other. Truth be told, there was a lot of tension in the Thomas family, especially between the last two surviving members. They, at times, couldn’t even stand to look each other in the eyes. Matilda believed that Victoria was an incompetent and manipulatable bag of meat that didn’t deserve to get Elena’s final blessing. Victoria, on the other hand, was tired of being berated all the time.

So they spend the time wandering around, unaware of their next steps.

“This cathedral looked much better when the great Elizabeth Thomas was still alive.” Matilda reminisced about the past. “Ah, how great she was. Had she been alive, she’d surely be a magnificent soulful. Perhaps it was her influence that made Kaito Kamiki choose to ally with us.”

“It was Elena’s strength and character.” Victoria said. “At least don’t discredit that.”

“Do you think Elena built our family from the ground up? The Thomas family has been very powerful and well known.”

“Only after the Global Soul Event.” Victoria interrupted her aunt, which upset her a lot. “Why do you dislike our sister so much? What has she done to you?!”

“She sold herself to that strange Kaito Kamiki.” Matilda said. “Mindlessly following her orders...the Thomas family wrote its own rules back then.”

“It did not, aunt.” Victoria said. “We were just rich. Please stop fantasizing about stuff.”

“How dare you talk to me like that?!” Matilda shouted, her voice echoing through the cathedral. “Are you out of your mind? How dare you behave yourself like this, you useless waste of oxygen!”

“You’re calling me useless?” Victoria yelled back. “Aunt, you...when we were retaking your base, you did nothing! I was fighting, and you were doing nothing!”

“The base that was pulverized because of the incompetence of Kaito Kamiki’s soldiers?” Matilda mockingly said. “Right, you are correct. You did fight. You destroyed such a wonderful area. An area owned by our family, by the way.”

“We killed a genuine threat that was going to kill us!” Victoria said. “Ugh, is it ever possible to satisfy you? And why do you call them incompetent? Do you know any other soulfuls that perform as well as the Heisei?!”

“I would hope I don’t, I would not want the amount of incompetent soldiers in this world to double.” Matilda proudly announced.

“They’re not incompetent, they’d fold you like a fucking napkin!” All of the built up animosity in Victoria’s heart erupted, elevating both her voice and her presence to new levels.

“Watch your language, young lady.” Matilda said, infuriated. “What is your obsession with Kaito Kamiki?”

“And...what is your hatred for Kaita Kamiki?” Victoria asked, taking a step back. The two faced each other, and the tension could cut the air.

“Go on, tell me. Why do you like him so much?” Matilda asked. “Do you perhaps want to get into his pants, because that’s the only way you’ll achieve something in your miserable life?”

“Elena trusted him.” Victoria said. “And I trust Elena, even now. And I trust whoever Elena trusts. And if she told me to work with Kaito Kamiki as her last request, I’ll do it.”

“Right, how brilliant and sentimental.” Matilda mocked her. “I’ll state my reasons now. I don’t like Kaito Kamiki because he believes that he can simply control every single aspect of our lives, the world around us, and our honor.”

“He told us to evacuate here, to Glasgow, because he was concerned for us.” Victoria said. “He said that we need to avoid being intercepted by Aizawa’s soldiers.”

“I do not believe anything you have just said, sweetie.” Victoria said in a condescending voice. “That is why I’m going to betray his cause.”

“What?!”

“I am exiling you from the Thomas family.” Matilda said. “The real Thomas family is under my rule. Your sister’s emotional last words were filled with attachment, not rationality. Her irrationality caused her to throw her life away.”

“She was brave enough to fight for what was hers.” Victoria barked back. “For what was the family’s. You decided to run away.”

“Rationality always prevails.”

“You’re a coward.” Victoria said. “And now, you’re a traitor too.”

“I will be joining the rest of the strongholds. It should be under Mansa Zuma’s maintenance right now, ah, what a man he is...truly just and critical, unlike the unpredictable Kaito Kamiki and your irrational sister.”

“Do not call her that.” Victoria objected.

“Anyhow, remove any trace of yourself from my eyesight. Do not allow even a single one of my brain cells to dedicate itself to processing your image.” Matilda said, signaling her with her hands to get out. “Go on.”

“Aunt...”

“Go on. Enjoy the haven of irrationality and bootlicking that your sister has established.”

“Just...shut...”

“You might as well end your own life and join your precious sister in-”

“Shut the fuck up!” Victoria yelled, slapping her aunt across her fairly average face. Matilda was so shocked she couldn’t instantly respond or even act. And Victoria felt so relieved that she wanted to do it again, but still had that built-in fear of consequence for standing up to her family members. After all, aside from being questionably notorious, the Thomas Family was known to be very strict.

“Oh...you just crossed a line.” Matilda said, feeling insulted. “You just crossed a fucking line you little brat!”

She grabbed Victoria’s clothes and pushed her back. The latter responded by applying force herself, and the two started wrestling while having no idea how to properly wrestle. They just pushed each other hoping the other person would get tired before they did.

They pushed one another towards one of the walls, and Matilda, quickly shoving Victoria, managed to get her pinned against the wall. Victoria didn’t lose herself and headbutted her aunt. She recoiled back in pain, and Victoria used the opportunity to punch her in the jaw and knock her back.

“You’ve done it now...” Matilda said, wiping the blood off of the cut on her forehead, and trying to readjust her jaw. It hurt pretty bad. She charged at Victoria, but Victoria crossed another line - the line of the difference between a violent disagreement and soulful combat. She summoned her crossbow and shot Matilda in the leg.

With her left leg paralyzed, Matilda fell down.

“Sit still...” Victoria said. “Sit still, you crazy hag...I’m calling Kaito Kamiki. I’m telling him you’re going to betray him.”

Stolen from NovelBin, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Then do it.” Matilda said, glaring at her. “Don’t be a fucking coward.” She reached for the arrow and took it out of her leg, regaining motor control of it. She stood up and charged at Victoria, tackling her down and pinning her on the ground before she could grab her phone. She tried slapping Victoria, but now Victoria was using soul prowess reinforcement. So Matilda tried doing the same.

Matilda punched at Victoria’s head, but the latter managed to dodge. Matilda’s fist very lightly cracked the ground. Victoria summoned the crossbow again, and while Matilda tried to hold it down with her hand, she accidentally pointed it at her own leg again, which soon became paralyzed. Victoria used the weakened hold to quickly escape, get up, and soccer kick Matilda in the face.

Matilda was knocked down. Victoria shot her crossbow at her again, this time, at her right arm. It was shut down momentarily. Victoria approached her aunt and started beating her down with extremely untechnical but nonetheless meaningful ground-and-pound, mostly composed of weak punches and slaps. But she accidentally made the mistake of getting too close. Matilda, while trying to defend herself, also tried to extract the arrow.

Only one limb could remain paralyzed at a time, and she knew that. She pretended to reach for the arrow, and once Victoria comfortably got close, she grabbed her by her throat.

“Let...let go!” Victoria said in a choking voice. “Let go, you crazy hag!”

“I’m gonna fucking kill you!” Matilda yelled.

Victoria reached closer and removed the arrow from Matilda herself. Matilda, confused, didn’t realize what the intention was. Victoria quickly summoned the crossbow again and shot at Matilda’s left arm, neutralizing the grip. She jumped back. Matilda got up. They faced off.

“How dare you, huh?” Matilda asked, catching her breath. “How dare you attack a member of your own family?!”

“You’re not from our family.” Victoria said. “You’re a traitor. You’re a fucking rat.”

“So now you’re the one deciding, huh?” Matilda asked. “How come?”

Victoria shot at Matilda’s leg and paralyzed it. While Matilda was fixing herself up, she quickly dialed a number on her phone. Once she spoke, Matilda quickly realized what the issue was.

“Mr. Kamiki, I am at your requested location, my aunt is trying to kill me.” Victoria quickly yelled into the phone. “She’s a traitor and she wants betray-”

Matilda rushed her down and knocked the phone away. She punched Victoria in the face and kicked her in the knee, which hurt both combatants. Victoria returned the favor and kicked Matilda in the leg, almost crippling her from the impact, and followed it up with another punch to Matilda’s jaw.

The jaw in question wasn’t made of steel, or didn’t belong to any hardened combat sports veteran. It was already cracked from the earlier punch, this one just made it worse. Matilda started feeling a little dizzy, she felt a headache, and she felt at a slight loss of balance. Her feet slowly began disobeying her brain’s orders.

As Victoria rushed her down to end the fight, a miraculously effective idea emerged in Matilda’s head. She raised her foot as much as she could - performing a kick that just so happened to perfectly land under Victoria’s chin. Victoria, shaken, took a few steps back, and watched as Matilda closed the distance and attempted to take her down once more. The takedown attempt was an insult to martial arts themselves, but it got the opponent on the ground, and in the end that’s all that counts.

But Matilda was starting to get tired.

Courtesy of her expended gas tank, her movements became slower and slower, and her hold of Victoria became weaker. So weak, in fact, that Victoria didn’t even need to paralyze any of her limbs to emerge victorious in that exchange. She stood back up, and watched as her aunt was struggling to breathe, still on the ground.

“You...” Matilda said in between heavy breaths. “You...bitch...”

“You’re a rat...” Victoria said. “All you’ve done in your life is put me down, you dirty fucking rat...you’re not my aunt, you’re probably not even from my family...you cannot be from the same family as my sister...”

“Because Elena would never crawl on the ground like a rat.”

She kicked Matilda in her face again. The chin was utterly destroyed, it was a matter of time until she got completely knocked out. Matilda really lacked combat experience, especially since most of her life was spent in beauty shops and sitting on various chairs.

Victoria kicked her again and again, dropkicking her on the ground.

“How does it...feel...huh?” Victoria asked between her heavy breaths. Her voice began to get filled with so much hatred...

Matilda tried to crawl away, but Victoria grabbed her by the feet and dragged her back closer to her. She kicked her on the ground a few more times, in the stomach, where she knew it would hurt the most.

“How does it feel...to get put down into the ground...and not be able to do shit about it?” Victoria asked. Her usual innocent and even uniquely cute attire was replaced by a hateful appearance. “Feels good, right? I bet it feels really fucking good!”

She kicked her again.

“You’ll forever be Kaito’s slave.” Matilda said, her words filled with pure spite and disgust. “You’ll forever be a...a disgrace...”

“Elena, are you seeing this?” Victoria called out to no one. “You wanted to do the same, didn’t you?!”

She mounted Matilda. Matilda tried to reach for her eyes to try and gouge them out, but that arm was quickly paralyzed. She tried to use her other hand, but Victoria grabbed it and snapped the fingers backwards, breaking them completely. Matilda unleashed an intense scream of pain.

“You’ll feel so much shame.” Victoria said. “Because you’ll realize that...haah...you died a pathetic traitor gasping for air.”

“You said something about oxygen, didn’t you?!” Victoria yelled, gripping Matilda’s neck and choking her out. She applied more and more pressure, and Matilda began desperately trying to breathe, her body almost spasming. There was nothing he could do at the moment.

Her life force was slowly escaping her body. Her face started going paler and paler, and the spark of life in her eyes began dimming. But Victoria didn’t enjoy the spectacle too much, she was there to get the job done. So she applied more force. As much as she could, as if this was the most important event of her life. She could even see a glimpse of her sister in the corner of her eye, smiling at her, but she didn’t allow even that to distract her.

“S...s...shame...” Those were the last bits of intelligible speech that escaped Matilda’s mouth. The next thing to escape her body was her life.

“You bitch...” Victoria said, still holding onto the choke. She didn’t feel a pulse, nor any real activity or struggle, but she still kept choking her aunt. She was scared that the job wasn’t done properly, she was concerned that she might still get up, she was angry at the idea that if she was alive after this, she’d taunt her like she always used to.

But none of that happened. Matilda Thomas died.

“Ahh...haah...” Victoria gasped for air. “I actually did it...” She slowly stood up. She kicked the corpse’s head a few times to check for any life signs, but yet again, she was proven that her aunt was, indeed, dead.

“Fucking finally...”

She took a deep breath and looked at the cathedrals' beautifully decorated ceiling.

“Are you proud of me now, Elena?”

“I got rid of this cancer cell...”

Victoria slowly began walking away from the corpse. She meant to take her phone out, but her action was interrupted by something she could foresee, but was still surprised by.

An incredible soul presence rapidly approached the cathedral, almost crashing into it. Victoria didn’t even manage to properly process the sound as she saw a figure approach her from the other end of the hallway. The moonlight crept into the place but there was, quite frankly, no need for it. The figure was already luminous enough, at least upon its descent.

The figure carried two large bags with one arm, too large to be carried by a normal human, especially while maintaining a casual and unbothered walking pace. It approached Victoria while eating something with its other arm. It was eating a lot, actually, almost as if he was the hungriest person alive.

“Victoria Thomas?” Kaito asked, approaching her. He was chomping down boxes upon boxes of fast food.

“Uhh...” Victoria was surprised to see him like that. “Mr. Kamiki? You’re...hungry?”

“Please pay no attention to this.” Kaito smiled at her. She noticed Matilda’s corpse. “I see that you’ve successfully eliminated her.”

“Yes, I...I did it. I killed her.” Victoria said, while Kaito was munching on some delicious fried chicken and french fries. “I hope I won’t get into too much trouble for this...”

“Why would you get into trouble?” Kaito said with a muffled voice, bits of food escaping his mouth. “You did me a favor. I was coming here to take her life regardless of what you told me.”

“Ah, r-right...” Victoria shyly said. Kaito just continued eating, until he noticed a specific pattern emerge in his mind. A certain shape that had a special meaning to him.

“Did she perhaps mention any names?” Kaito asked. “Did she say who she was going to join after this planned betrayal?”

“She t-told something about joining forces with the other strongholds.” Victoria said. “You know, my sister...she used to be your most loyal soldier.”

“Yes, I’m aware.” Kaito said, getting a little closer to Victoria. She offered her some of his food, but she politely declined by swaying her head. “She was magnificent. Elena Thomas was a truly magnificent soulful. And you, in a way, are proof of her greatness.”

“She never said it out loud, but...she was always grateful to you.” Victoria said, tearing up. “She said that you helped her become herself. I...”

“Hey, it’s okay.” Kaito said, letting go of the bags. Victoria got close to him.

“And one day I hope I live up to the position I inherited from her...the rightful leader of the Eura stronghold...I...” Victoria teared up with tears of joy. “I want to make her proud!”

Kaito shoved his hand into Victoria’s chest and ripped right through her heart, killing her in one blow.

“I...” Victoria barely got a few words out before throwing up some blood and losing her strength. “I...why...”

“Trust me, Victoria, you made your sister proud.” Kaito said, continuing to eat. “You have done something for me that no one else can do. Your service far surpassed that of your sister’s.”

“Hah...” Victoria wanted to feel proud, but she didn’t want to die. Her lifeless body fell on the ground, all that remained was a strange essence composed of a spark and a void.

Kaito devoured that essence. His hunger was gone. He started coughing.