An Old Promise Of Friendship(2)

"Promise?" for the first time since Lex met Mahiru, he saw an expression appearing on her face.

She was confused by his words, trying to figure out the meaning behind them.

"Yes, a promise that you made to me the first time we met. Though we only met once in our entire lifetime, we made a promise to each other. You swore that you would uphold the promise." Lex replied.

The handcuffs forming around his hands were in an inactive stage. Carefully, he exerted force on the incomplete handcuffs and broken them.

"Promise…" Mahiru murmured.

Lex's words caused Mahiru's entire body to go numb. Her mind was full of chaos as she remembered something that she had forgotten long ago.

"Mahiru Nekoria, we made a promise to become friends when we meet in the future. You can't break it now that we are meeting again." Lex smirked.

Mahiru's eyes widened. She stepped away from Lex with an incredulous look on her face. 

"But… he told me that you died…" Mahiru mumbled.

"Who?" Lex asked in surprise.

"I… I have to bring you back. I can't head back to the master in such a condition." Mahiru's hands trembled as she tried to regain control of her body.

[ Lex, this is the only opening we will get. What are you waiting for?! ]

'I wanted to get a reply but I guess I will have to wait. Sorry Mahiru but I can't allow you to capture me. I don't want Rio to feel any more burdens.'

Lex stared at the base of Mahiru's neck. He began channeling all his power and shut out all distractions in his mind.

'I should also pop a pill or two.'

With one hand pointed towards Mahiru and the other hand putting one red and blue pill inside his mouth, Lex launched his strongest attack.

"Force of Destruction!"

Lex targeted the base of Mahiru's throat, concentrating his telekinetic forces against that. With enough force, he could render her lower body useless.

"Ack!" Mahiru began to choke due to Lex's attack.

She clutched her throat, hoping to breathe clearly. Much to her bad luck, her breathing became difficult.

[ I don't think there was any need to say the name of your attack. Also, how is that name related to your attack?! ]

'I concentrate the forces into a single spot which causes destruction. I didn't want to use a cringe name so I stuck to a basic one.'

Alongside talking with Elfie, Lex also made sure that his attack restrained Mahiru. If he could knock her out or render her lower body useless, Rio would easily deal with the paralyzed Japanese lady.

"Bubble… fuu… saga!" 

Mahiru launched a jetstream of bubbles towards Lex. The latter gritted his teeth and pushed himself off the ground.

This time, the number of bubbles decreased to half of their original value. Lex easily dodged them but this required him to shift his focus away from Mahiru.

His hold on the brown-haired lady decreased a bit, allowing her to breath normally.

'If I can't knock her out, I will disable her shoulders!'

Lex suddenly shifted his target to Mahiru's collarbones. The powerful force that prevented Mahiru from breathing struck her collarbones.

A cracking sound followed by Mahiru's grunting indicated that Lex's attack worked. This also stopped the Bubble Saga, allowing Lex to catch his breath.

'The pills are taking effect.' Lex noticed.

[ Yes, they are. You aren't bleeding internally. A headache struck you in the back of your head but it was neutralized. Rio got you some high level pills. ]

'They must have some side effects. Anyways, let me finish this up.'

After rendering Mahiru's shoulders useless, Lex decided to attack her lower half. Once that was done, she would not be able to deal any major damage.

"You have a lot of tricks up your sleeve. You have changed a lot, Lex." Mahiru said in her emotionless tone.

"Obviously. We met nine years ago and only talked briefly for a few days. Many things have changed since then." Lex agreed.

"I see. But I would like you to know that you are not the only with tricks up your sleeve." Mahiru chuckled.

In front of Lex's eyes, Mahiru's body began to change form. It began to melt, turning into water.

"…"

Lex fell silent after seeing this. This was the same cloning skill that Mahiru used to dodge Rio's attack. 

'Where is she?!'

[ I can't sense her presence. I think she escaped. ]

'How? She changed forms and vanished in the blink of an eye.'

The clone completely turned into water and splashed on the ground. Mahiru's real body was no where to be seen.

Lex and Elfie were dumbstruck by the change of events. Though Lex managed to immobilize Mahiru, she still managed to escape. 

[ Ungradable ability users are unpredictable. Even with the two of us keeping an eye on her, she managed to slip away. ]

'You are also forgetting that we took her by surprise. If she wasn't startled by my words, I would have been kidnapped five minutes ago.'

[ True. Good thing that I was searching for Mahiru inside your memories. You made a good decision by asking me to do that. ]

'When I saw her at the top of the staircase, that was the only thing that entered my mind. You managed to find the memory so quickly.'

[ You recognizing Mahiru and trying to think about her sped up the process. I also put all of my energy into searching for that memory. That's how I managed to find it so quickly. ]

Lex appreciated Elfie and began to assess the damage caused to the hall. Except for the broken pieces of chandelier and an absurd amount of water on the floor, Rio's mansion was mostly unharmed.

"No damage to the mansion and I am safe as well." Lex muttered. "Well, except for my back."

The exploding bubbles caused numerous tiny wounds on his back. With a sigh, Lex sat on one of the sofas to wait for Rio.

'Hey Elfie, me and Mahiru really made that promise, didn't we?'

[ Yes, you did. I am sorry but I can't explain why you don't have any recollection of it. ]

'Its fine. If I remembered everything, I might have fumbled against her.' Lex closed his eyes, replaying the memory in his mind. 

"We will meet again, Mahiru. Till then, our promise is on hold..."