The Necklace of Whatever [Part 3]

There were many more people on the cobblestone street than there had been in the morning. This was unfortunate, because together they looked like a couple of colorful weirdos. The girl didn't pay any attention to it. Apparently, her alter ego was made of sturdier stuff.

"Who are you anyway?" He decided to break the awkward silence.

"I'm just an ordinary scout," she replied proudly. "My power is nothing compared to yours. I mostly gather information about worlds.

"I see." Usually, when you create your own projection in your imagination, it's someone powerful. Lesteria decided to be painfully modest. Perhaps that was her nature. She kept talking about her progress in the organization. She was really happy with her discovery, which was the Apostle of Destruction. That's how they reached the tree-lined alley. The boy was greeted by the shopkeeper.

"It's rare to see you after school..." Only then did he see a beautiful girl next to him. "She was asking about you," he said.

"I figured as much." He shrugged.

"I'm Albert. Nice to meet you." Shopkeeper offered her his hand. She did not shake it, but bowed low.

"I'm Lester De Feen!" she exclaimed. In the back of her mind, she considered him an experienced informant who had been working with the young man for thousands of years. It was obvious to her that she should give him the respect he deserved.

"Please... I'm glad you found someone with similar interests... Quite charming?" He didn't know what to say.

"We're not dating." He interrupted him, knowing that he was jumping to conclusions conclusions. Before he knew it, the girl was already kneeling with her eyes downcast.

"I am not worthy of even pretending to be. Please accept my apologies."

The Apostle of Destruction clutched his head. Passersby stared at the scene. Lesteria's bizarre behavior was too much even for him. The shopkeeper's expression spoke for itself for itself.

"It's none of my business how you entertain yourselves, but you shouldn't practice this in a public place." He looked away.

"Do you think I came up with this?" he asked helplessly. Seeing that the girl was busy with something else, he decided to start a real conversation.

"Have you seen the guy with gray hair? He's a distinctive guy.

"No." He shook his head. "What, are you playing detectives?"

"No... He has my necklace." Albert looked at the boy's neck.

"Did he steal it from you?"

"No, I gave it to him myself." He replied with a straight face.

"Then why..." he asked, amused.

"I know as much as you do..." he hissed, watching the man's uncontrollable laughter. He realized that the situation was absurd. For some time now, he had been scanning the area for hidden cameras. As Apostole walked away, he couldn't see his companion. After a moment of searching, he found her at a nearby fountain, which was considered the center of the city. Lesteria was talking there with two children. She looked angry, and the boys were not to be outdone.

"What's going on here?" he asked resignedly.

"These kids say they know you..." she replied angrily. "I cannot tolerate such disrespect for the Apostle of Destruction!"

"Calm down..." The Ethereal Avenger stuck out his tongue, mocking the pink-haired woman. "These are my students." Hearing this, she covered her face with her hands. He had never seen her so embarrassed. After a moment, she did what she usually did. She knelt before the children.

"Forgive me for my behavior. I disregarded you because of your age, not realizing that you are higher in rank than me. I will accept any punishment." She sounded dead serious.

"One hundred laps around the fountain!" To the boy's surprise, she immediately jumped up ready to run. The Apostle of Destruction grabbed her shirt, preventing her from starting.

"You can run in your free time..." They were already causing too much of a commotion.

"But, but..." She widened her eyes. "Your student."

Apparently, he recognizes his authority.

"I appoint you as my assistant." He grabbed her arm theatrically.

That should do the trick.

Lesteria blinked rapidly. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. The situation was so abstract to her that she had to sit down on a nearby bench. She was close to fainting. The boy began to worry slowly when he saw the girl's condition.

"I'm not worthy..." she whispered. It was clear that her self-esteem was severely underestimated. Perhaps she had experienced some trauma in the past. The Apostle of Destruction decided to do the right thing.

"I believe in you." He thought that was what she wanted to hear. He was right, because she was beaming with joy. He wanted to do a good deed, and unintentionally attached her to himself even more.

"You won't regret it!" She got up with new energy. More and more people were coming to the square every moment, and it was becoming impossible to ask each of them impossible. Unfortunately, none of those he managed to ask had seen the boy gray hair. Some even came alone because they wanted to take a photo with the two "cosplayers." After an hour of hard work, they sat down on the wall surrounding the fountain.

"I think this may be more problematic than I expected." The girl looked worried. "We shouldn't rule out the presence of Swor..." She sighed.

"The Swarm?" He had never heard of it before. She blushed when she heard his question.

"Of course you don't know who they are. What was I thinking!?" Angry at herself she continued. "You don't deal with small fry like that."

"Some kind of evil organization?" he guessed.

"Yes." She nodded. "They travel from world to world, conquering them. We... Sphinxphere protects those worlds. We are natural enemies." "To you, Sworm is probably a local threat. Just ordinary children playing at being conquerors."

She's talking too much again...

"And you think it's their doing." He grimaced, because he knew perfectly well how it really looked like.

"Surely one of them was jealous of your unearthly power and stole the artifact from you." She believed every word she said. And her optimism soared toward the clouds when she realized she had solved the mystery.

"How are we going to find these thugs?" he asked distantly.

"Leave it to me..." She smiled from ear to ear. "Watch the crowd."

"What crowd...?" She didn't hear the question because she jumped onto a low wall. The Apostle of Destruction blinked a few times. He hadn't noticed Lestera's pink electric guitar. She was tapping her foot on the ground, creating a fast rhythm. She strummed the strings, creating a powerful sound that caught the attention of everyone present. She raised her hand towards the cloudless sky.

"Are you ready!?" Indeed, a crowd began to form. She began her performance with a rock solo that was really catchy. The Apostle caught himself nodding his head. The music resounded throughout the town center. The audience clapped to the rhythm as Lester put on a real show. The melody became more intense, reminiscent of heavy rock. After a while, singing joined the sound of the guitar singing joined the sound of the guitar. The girl had real talent.

"Apostle of Destruction!" The sentence disappeared in a storm of vibrating strings. "Warrior of Redemption!" The boy blushed. He couldn't believe that his companion had created a rock ballad about him. He began to wonder if he was some kind of eccentric stage star. He noticed the crowd jumping up and down, and some humming a peculiar song. However, Apostle could not join them. He tried to observe everyone. Admittedly, some were peculiar, but he wouldn't classify anyone as part of an "interdimensional criminal organization."As he made his way through the growing crowd, he noticed a peculiar person. It wasn't so much the person as his clothing. Dressed in black robes in such heat.

If he wasn't a declared cosplayer, then who is?

He decided to follow him. As time passed, the sound of the concert grew quieter. The Apostle of Destruction followed the stranger. Before he knew it, he found himself in a dark alley branching off from the main road. It was a somewhat frightening experience, but he was after all, a Destroyer of Worlds. He couldn't chicken out when...

Why am I doing this anyway... Maybe this is a real gang.

After a moment, however, he calmed down when he saw his next enemy. The man looked like a middle schooler who had discovered metal. His leather jacket, long hair, and clumsy makeup betrayed the true nature of the organization.

Just like me. Teenagers who can't grow up.

He identified with them, but he couldn't approach them. It would spoil Lester's fun. Didn't expect this roleplay to be so elaborate. He was even a little excited by the situation. He decided to return to the square. Already knew the exact location of the enemy base, so he could have fun at the concert. To his sadness, it turned out that the girl had finished playing. He sighed as he watched her stretch her tired fingers.

"Does everyone in this 'secret' organization dress in black?" he asked mockingly. Despite this, his assistant looked deadly serious.

"That's right." She didn't notice the irony that the adjective "secret" should mean anything. Meanwhile, they could be recognized from a distance.

Without a word, he led her to the place where the criminals had disappeared. The building looked like a neglected bar. The sign saying "Welcome" had seen better days were long gone.

"Let's go in." Without hesitation, she kicked the door, almost destroying the hinges. A dark room appeared before their eyes

a dark room. Groups of thugs sat at dirty tables. A mustachioed bartender wearing an expensive navy blue suit caught their eye.

There's always someone who doesn't want to dress like everyone else. Even if it ruins the the immersion.

Despite everything, he looked like the leader of the gang. He greeted the newcomers with a confident look. He was cleaning glasses that weren't dirty at all, which wasn't very original. The most typical bad bartender.

"What brings Sphinxphere here?" He knew exactly who he was dealing with. The Apostle of Destruction was impressed by his impeccable diction. The man had certainly spent a long time practiced his lines.

"We ask the questions!" she interrupted him. "We have business with one of you."

"You've got some nerve," he smiled mockingly. "We have a lot of information about you. What's stop us from killing you here and now?" Hearing this, the young man felt like applaud. The ominous words gave him the creeps. After a moment, the bartender noticed him too. "And him... Who is he?" he asked amused.

"The Destroyer of Worlds known as the Apostle of Destruction." She introduced her superior. The smile instantly disappeared from the thug's face. He understood perfectly well that he was no match for the redhead. In his eyes, one could see the most ordinary human fear. He nodded calmly.

"I understand... Lower your weapons," he ordered his subordinates. Only now did the Apostle noticed that everyone present had their guns pointed at him.

Incredibly realistic... Well done.

He was really impressed. The choreography, the styling, everything was pretty good. Felt as if he were participating in a real conflict. He looked at the ceiling searching for hidden cameras, but he didn't notice anything except huge cobwebs.

"It's all starting to make sense to me." The bartender sat down on a nearby chair.

"I heard that someone of such rank was in town. Of course, I didn't believed it..." He glanced at the warrior again. "What do you want to know?" He raised his hands in surrender.

"Where is Jase?" asked the boy.

"Don't say the name of that traitor..." hissed the gang leader.

"Traitor?"

"He left the Swarm today..." His face contorted inhumanly as he recalled the situation.

"He said he got Agelarg necklace and won't be just a regular member anymore..."

"Aterg..." the girl corrected him. The remark ruined the whole atmosphere.

"Excuse me?"

"This artifact is called the Aterg necklace." She looked at her companion, waiting for confirmation. The apostle blushed. Every time he mentioned the item, he called it something else. He brought this on himrself.

"It has many names," he said briefly.

"Anyway..." The bartender returned to the story. "He said he would take power over all worlds.

The threads were cleverly woven together.

He was quite pleased, as his adventure seemed to make sense. He also decided to to have fun. He took a deep breath and exhaled, and his attitude changed dramatically. He put on his thickest mask.

"As it happens, this is my necklace." The Apostle of Destruction took a step forward. All the criminals drew their weapons. He smiled as he thought they probably didn't know what to do because it wasn't in the script. Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at Lesteria, who was staring at him in admiration. He stood in front of their leader.

"What kind of organization can't keep track of its recruits?" he sneered.

"He's no longer in our organization..." Cold sweat ran down the bartender's forehead. "We we are responsible for him."

"I see..." He was ready to leave the bar, but then he had an idea. All that characterization and props. It would be a shame to let it go to waste. He wanted to see the fight. He wondered if they would roll dice or if it would be a turn-based battle.

"On the other hand..." At the doorway, he turned toward the thugs. "Since we are enemies, why should I spare you?" Silence fell in the room, interrupted only by the heavy breathing of the mercenaries.

Impressive. I wonder what now...

His thoughts were interrupted by a loud bang. He didn't know where it came from. He didn't even know why he could hear it. Only after the fact did he realize that the bullet had flown right next to his head. He blinked a few times, thinking he was dreaming. He looked at one of the thugs. He had undoubtedly fired a bullet from his pistol. It was then that he realized that this was no game. He swallowed hard.

"Leave it to me!" Lesteria pulled something resembling a rubber ball out of her pocket. She bounced the pink object on the ground, and it turned into a shotgun of the same color. It looked like plasticine that could create anything on demand. Without hesitation, she aimed with both barrels and then pulled the trigger. Two energy beams flew toward the enemies. The projectiles split apart, hitting two different people. It didn't pierce them through, but pushed them far into the wall, breaking their bones. Lesteria noticed that the rest of the opponents were planning to take action. She kicked a nearby table, knocking it to the ground. This gave her cover, under which she immediately. The terrified boy followed her lead. The enemies' bullets hit the the wooden tabletop, and the girl listened patiently, waiting for the enemy to run out of ammunition. Her shotgun seemed to be reloading, pulsing with a blinding glow. She patted the weapon lightly, and it began to change flexibly. In a second, five additional barrels appeared in a second.

She stood up instantly, firing as many bullets. She did not look at the effects of the attacks, but crouched back down. It was clear that she was approaching the challenge tactically the challenge. Girl was very stressed because the Apostle of Destruction himself was watching her and probably evaluating her. She carried out a few more such actions, and all the small fry were already lying unconscious.

"Enough..." They heard the angry bartender's voice. After a moment, the table turned to dust. The girl hissed. Without cover, she was defenseless. She jumped aside when she saw the approaching fireballs. The leader turned out to be a mage. She jumped nimbly, hiding under every piece of furniture she could find. She did spectacular somersaults in the air, firing glowing projectiles. Unfortunately, the opponent created magical shields that made him an unreachable target.

Apostle of Destruction stared at the absurd scene. No spell was sent his way. In silence, he watched his friend lose the fight. He had always dreamed of such a spectacle, but now he could only smell the rotten scent danger. He wanted to do something, but he couldn't move. After all, he doesn't have any powers, so how could he help? Boy felt useless. He clenched his teeth, as he didn't want this new acquaintance to lose her life.

Never again

"When will you finish your warm-up?" He crossed his arms. His voice sounded confident, and every word carried traces of contempt. The fight stopped immediately, and the faces of his opponents froze.

"You're not going to tell me that's all you're capable of?" Perhaps the boy had no power. After all, he had one very strong asset: authority.

"No..." Lesteria was embarrassed. Strangely, the bartender showed a similar reaction. They felt stupid for performing so poorly in front of someone as powerful as the Apostle of Destruction.

"Let's get out of here before I fall asleep..." He went outside. Thanks to his acting, no one noticed that his legs were shaking.