Chapter 115-Mary vs Margarette, Part Four

"Not bad," Margarette smirks, "You're pretty good at manipulating your blood. Only your own, that is."

"I will NEVER…be like you…" Mary pants.

"Then why don't you…" Maragrette eerily begins to say as she holds a hand out to Mary, "-BECOME MY PUPPET!"

The threads wrapped around Margarette's short corpse puppet retract back into Margarette's finger tips, causing the body to drop limply to the ground.

Margarette then holds a hand up to Mary and chants: "Control," and then, more threads fly out of Margarette's fingers towards Mary.

"Blood Charge-!" Mary begins to shout as she resumes her Charge Stance, but before she can finish chanting her spell, Mary feels a pair of arms wrap around her, forcing Mary out of her Charge Stance and binding her in place.

"The Devil Eye of my puppet behind you grants him quite an impressive strength boost," Margarette smirks as her threads begin to wrap around Mary, who thrashes about in an attempt to break free, powerless to do anything against the might of Margarette's puppet.

"NO, PLEA-!" Mary begins to cry, but once Margarette's threads have wrapped around Mary, she finds herself no longer able to speak. Margarette's puppet then lets go of Mary and slowly backs up, and although her body feels limp, the girl remains standing.

"This feeling…" Mary thinks to herself, "Is so familiar…"

"Now…" Margarette cackles as she wiggles her fingers again, and the controlled Mary involuntarily raises a hand, which is swirling with blood, "-I WILL REMOVE THE FINAL STAIN ON MY LIFE."

And then…Mary jabs her blood-swirling hand towards her chest.

But before Mary could pierce her own chest…Mary pauses.

While the paralyzed Mary can't physically react, Mary is taken aback when she notices that Margarette is trembling.

"I can't…do it…your blood…feels too similar to my own…"

Margarette drops to the ground and buries her face in her hands, thus freeing Mary from Margarrette's control, and Mary's eyes are now able to widen.

"I thought…that if I could kill you, then I'd be free from my past…" Margarette sobs, "But…I can't bring myself to do it…"

"I…I feel it too…" Mary trembles.

"Daughter…"

Mom…"

Mary and Margarette's eyes widen.

Margarette lets out a sad chuckle.

"You were inside me for nine months…it's no wonder that you can FEEL the connection between our blood…"

"Why…?" Mary trembles as tears begin forming at the edges of her eyes, "WHY DID YOU THROW ME AWAY?! DID YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I SUFFERED?!"

Margarette looks away remorsefully.

"I…learned very young that I need to MANIPULATE others in order to survive…my parents were killed by bandits -not that that's the most unique tragedy in this world- and because of that, I was all on my own. I soon discovered that I had the ability to E-Charge, and by using that as well as…my body…I turned to, well, sex work. I'd get paid to bang then rob 'em dry."

Margarette chuckles.

"I probably shouldn't be saying this to my daughter!"

"You look…way too young to be my mother…" Mary says, "Sister, I can believe, but mom…?"

Margarette smiles shyly.

"I use my Blood Charge to keep myself young. I was twenty-six when I found myself pregnant with you, Mary. That was when I decided to free myself from the unholy world of sex work and murder."

Margarette then looks away.

"I felt…ashamed. This child I was about to birth was a child born out of the sins of my job and this world. Honestly…I tried to kill you many times before you were born, but nothing seemed to work. It was as if…my own blood was flueing your strength to survive and healing any wound I could inflict on you."

Mary's eyes widen.

"Eventually, you were born and I thought I would have the chance to kill you, and rid myself of the sins of my past. But, when I looked into your eyes…I just couldn't bring myself to do it…even when I met you, I couldn't allow my puppets to kill you…"

Margarette laughs.

"I'm a horrible mother AND a horrible E-Charger! I was only ever able to develop one spell!"

Margarette looks back at Mary.

"But…even still…I worked SO HARD to get Prometheus to where he is now, to create a better world, and I can't let it…all end now!"

Slowly…Margarette stands back up.

"CONTROL!" Margarette shouts as she takes command of her puppets then wiggles her fingers, sending them charging towards Mary.

"I'M SORRY, MY DAUGHTER!"

"M-MOM!" Mary cries as she resumes her Charge Stance, creating blood armor, "Blood Charge, level Five: Savage Red!"

Margarette's flame-welding puppet smashes a fist into Mary, sending her flying backwards. Mary slams through the wall behind her and into the next one, then falls to the ground and vomits up blood.

"Crap…" Mary gurgles, "The puppet…is too strong…and my body is just SO WEAK…"

***

A few days ago, a clinic outpost was set up to help people wounded from the Elemental Apocalypse…

Mary pants as she removes her hands from the wounded man she was healing.

"There we go," Mary smiles as she wipes sweat from her brow, "You should be all better now!"

"Thank you, you're an angel!" The man exclaims, causing Mary to blush.

"Mary, I MUST thank you again," a woman carrying a med kit says as she approaches Mary, "But why would an E-Charger with your skills come to an outpost like this?"

"Oh, I'm trying to learn how to better use my Blood Charge!" Mary exclaims.

"Blood Charge, huh?" The woman asks, "Wow, with that power you could probably control an entire BODY! Blood's in everyone, you know!"

***

"The entire…body…" Mary weakly grunts, "Blood…bones…EVERYTHING…"

Slowly…Mary stands up to face Margarette, and when she does, maroon-red sparks of energy EXPLODE out of Mary's body, before taking the form of a humanoid figure with horns and a tail ending in a pitchfork.

Margarette's eyes widened.

"N-no way…"

"Muscle Charge, Level One…" Mary begins to say, "-DEVIL RAMPAGE!"

The skin of Mary's arms, shoulders, and legs begins to bulge and puff out, as if her very muscles themselves are growing from within.

"G-get her, my puppets!" Margarette cries as she sends her puppets charging towards Mary.

The puppet slams a mighty fist into Mary as strong as it can, sending shockwaves of wind flying everywhere.

But then, as the smoke settles, there stands Mary, having caught the puppet's fist in her muscled-up hand.

"MOTHERRRR!" Mary roars as she slams a fist forwards, smashing straight through both of Margarette's puppets and sending them flying backwards, leaving the covering Margarette defenceless.

Mary then charges Margarette again, and as she does, she begins to launch a fist out.

"N-no, please-!" Margaret trembles as she cowers in fear.

"PLEASE!"

But before Mary's muscled-up fist can smash into Margaret's face, she pauses, sending shockwaves of air flying everywhere.

Slowly…Margarette opens her tearful eyes and peers over at Mary, watching her body shrink back down.

"I just…can't do it…" Mary trembles as tears begin streaming down her cheeks.

Margarette says nothing. She stares at her daughter in silence.

And then…the mother and daughter drop to the ground and wrap one another with their arms, sobbing deeply.

"MARY!" Margarette wails, "I'M SORRY, MY DAUGHTER!"