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Doc and his merry gang showed up just after Ellie had finished setting up the anti-teleportation pillars. The bad guys spotted us and rushed headlong into our trap, and thanks to their uncoordinated approach, I was able to steal a glance at my older brother, who was among their ranks. I thought I’d prepared myself for this moment, but a sudden wave of emotion overwhelmed me.
“Els...” I whispered to myself. “I can’t believe this is you.”
My brother was right behind Doc, the Master who was charging at me. His dark brown hair had grown out so long, it almost reached his shoulders, and he had hollow cheeks and dark bags under his eyes. It looked like he either hadn’t been eating well or he’d been through an ordeal so indescribably ghastly, it didn’t bear thinking about. I could see no light in his eyes, and even I doubted if he was really still among the living. But even though it had been three years since I last saw Els, there was no mistaking it was him. That was my real older brother following Doc.
“Els! Big brother!” I called out to him. “It’s me, Light! I’m sorry it took so long to find you! I’m coming to get you now!”
And I would have run headlong toward my brother if Mei hadn’t gently placed her hand on my shoulder.
“Master Light...” she said, her tone slightly admonishing.
“Nyeew,” Aoyuki added. As for Els, I knew he’d heard me, but he didn’t so much as blink at the sound of my voice. It was as if I were addressing a life-sized doll that merely looked like my brother. But Doc had heard me just fine, and in his fascination with how this scene was unfolding, he put a hand to his chin and hummed.
“Pardon me for asking,” he said, “but are you perchance my bodyguard’s younger sibling, young man?”
“Yeah, I am,” I replied. “What the hell have you done to my brother?” My tone had quickly switched from deep, emotional affection to icy fury. All the demon raiders who had been excited that they were finally getting the chance to have their way with some humans—and pretty ones at that—were immediately scared into silence by the rage-filled energy I was exuding. With the instincts of cornered animals, they realized that not only were they hopelessly outleveled, but if there was going to be a one-sided slaughter, the only likely victims would be them. Meanwhile, I was directing all of my fury at Doc, but all he did was calmly pat himself on the back.
“Ah, so you are related to him,” Doc mused. “I must say, your brother turned out to be the most outstanding lab specimen I have ever laid hands on. Thanks to him, I was able to produce my best breakthrough in my research to date! Unfortunately, he lost his entire sense of self in the process, so I am afraid he will not be able to regard you in the manner he once did...” He paused before suddenly sounding euphoric again. “But despair not, younger brother! Thanks to your kin’s glorious sacrifice, we are one step closer to realizing a new future for humanity! You, in fact, should puff your chest out with pride at your brother being part of history in the making!”
“You sick piece of...” It felt like every nerve cell in my brain was snapping one by one. What in holy hell was he trying to say? That the old Els was gone and he could never return to normal? But that it was all some glorious sacrifice for the sake of humanity? What I’d just heard was so insanely wrong and rage-inducing, I couldn’t utter another word in response.
He did that to my own flesh and blood, and he’s not even ashamed, I thought. Why would he even say that stuff to my face?
I wanted to throttle Doc in the same way I wanted to strangle every single member of the Concord of the Tribes. I wanted to fully unseal my Gungnir and totally erase this repulsive bastard from existence.
“Master Light,” Mei soothed. “I fully respect how furious you are, but you must not forget your objectives.”
“Nraow!” Aoyuki concurred.
Their interventions managed to restore my sanity. Or, well, to a certain extent, at least. Oh, yeah. I’m supposed to rescue my brother and capture Doc alive. We may be way more powerful than them, but that won’t matter at all if I completely lose my cool here. I need to cool down and focus.
Had Doc deliberately boasted about what he’d done to my brother just to tick me off? According to Miki, Doc was the type of person who prioritized his research to a psychotic degree, and he didn’t really seem savvy enough to play mind games. I took a couple of deep breaths before turning to face Doc and my brother again.
“Thanks, Mei. You too, Aoyuki,” I said. “We’re gonna make sure we recover Els, just like we planned. And we must do everything in our power to capture Doc so that we can restore my brother to normal.”
“On my honor as a maid, I vow we shall take both of them into our custody!” Mei stated.
“Affirmative,” Aoyuki said in a somewhat calmer voice. “I will invest my entire being into rescuing your dear brother without fail.”
“As Master Light commands, I shall apprehend you with my powers!” Mei announced to Doc, immediately shooting her Magistrings toward him. However, the Master produced a bunch of little knives, held them between his fingers, and proceeded to cut up the mana-infused strings.
“I’m afraid I must decline your offer of a battle,” Doc said. “As you can see, I am not well suited for combat, so I must ask you to refrain from being so aggressive.” A quick scan with an Appraisal card told me Doc was holding scalpels, implements usually used to carry out surgery. In case I’d forgotten to mention, Doc was two meters tall, gangly, and was wearing a lab coat streaked with blood and a creepy mask that covered his entire face. I thought Doc’s ungainly height would make him easy to catch with the Magistrings, but he nimbly leaped and weaved between the strings as he sliced them up like some strangely dressed ballerina.
Miki had told us that Doc’s level was around 5000, although my Appraisal put him at above 6000. But despite Mei being more than 3000 levels above him, we didn’t know the full extent of his skills, and he appeared to devote his powers to evasion with movements that were difficult to read. Capturing Doc was going to be more difficult than we’d initially thought, but I was confident it would only be a matter of time before we collared him.
“Aoyuki! Catch my brother while we distract Doc!” I yelled.
“Mrrow!” Aoyuki heartily replied. She manifested the spike-collared Beast Chain and swung it at Els. Seeing the weapon looming large in his deadened eyes, he finally reacted and tried to flee. My brother ran much, much faster than he had done back in our old village, but he was unlikely to get away from the Beast Chain. At least, not unless his powers of evasion were able to outshine a phantasma-class weapon that automatically tracked its target. Sure enough, the collar had soon wrapped itself around Els’s neck, just like I knew it would.
“Aoyuki! Tame my brother now!” I commanded.
“Rowr!” came Aoyuki’s speedy reply.
Once the collar was on, there was usually no way of removing it unless Aoyuki allowed it, and just to be clear, the Beast Chain was only able to tame monsters, meaning it would have zero effect on normal humans or any member of the other sentient races, even if the Genius Monster Tamer were to channel all of her energy into the chain.
I thought my brother would be an exception, since Doc had transformed him into a monster, but instead of submitting quietly, Els roared like a wild beast, and the muscles on his previously skinny arms bulged like ripe pumpkins as he furiously tried to remove the Beast Chain collar from around his neck.