Disclaimer(From now on i would be writing in first person for convenience.)
"Buddy, you don't want to be part of the, you better walk away and no one else will get hurt." - One of the wanderers said, he seemed to be an older looking guy, mid 30s a scarf around his neck, covering his mouth and nose, his blue eyes pierced the battlefield.
The atmosphere was heavy, could be cut with a knife probably.
My intervention gave time for Tim to pull away and draw his weapon a rusty looking pipe.
The pipe gave me off the strange feeling of familiarity, but as of now that wasn't important. I stood strong in my position looking at the three men that stood in front of me.
"I don't think i would move away, problem?" - I asked standing upright to appear taller.
"Your funeral." - Without a second of hesitation the man pulled out a military knife and attempted to stab me. I instantly dodged, to the side clenching my fist and swinging it at the man's face, attempting to hit him with the side of my hand. The man dodged and proceeded to try and strike again, this time i didn't have enough time, but i had a thought. "Phase through." And suddenly the man's hand passed through my stomach.
I pretended to be struck, grabbing him by the shoulder, and coughing, - "I was struck!"
The man looked at me weirdly, though it was hard to tell if he was smirking or in shock with the scarf covering his face.
"Bu-but how?"
"I'm just true to my nature." - I said, looking at him smugly. My head is a mess, but hey at least i know from that book what I'm capable of.
While Tim was fending off the other two and Ash was coming back into view, but with a weapon, i grabbed the man by the torso and corrupted his flesh.
He spasmed and glitched, producing a annoying sanity shattering noise, before completely shutting off - he fell back like a rag doll.
One of the other men yelled out: "NOOOO!" Before shifting his focus onto me and trying to strike me down with his axe, but before he could Ash swung baseball bat she had and knocked the man out.
The sickening crunching noise of breaking bones was quite unpleasant, even more than the sound that came when i corrupted the man.
The third man quickly began to run, straight for the exit as he saw both his comrades fall down.
I prepared to go after him, but Tim stopped me. - "Not worth it." - He said quietly.
We tied up the two to chairs and waited for them to wake up.
Tim was skeptical though, when i demonstrated the corrupt nature on that dude, he felt his sanity quickly drain as his brain were unable to comprehend what it was, he understood, yet he couldn't bear that knowledge.
"So what did you do to that guy?"
"I just touched him?"
"I saw that, what else did you do?"
"Idk rearrange his atoms or something?"
In actuality even i were unaware how this worked, maybe i should try and understand how i work.
The man who got hit by the bat woke up after a few hours, but the other one didn't, his form still glitched occasionally.
"Wha-?" - He asked.
Ash, didn't say much to the man, but it sure was effective, the man was left in tears.
In the meantime i look at the man that wasn't waking up - quite the sad sight... Do i care? Can i reverse it?
I went to the supposed corpse and tried to uncorrupt him, and like a miracle, he woke up. Though he was quite incoherent.
Tim looked at this and gave a sigh of relief, though the fact that the man came out of glitched trance with brain damage was also quite alarming...
Tim would never look at the kid the same way.
I tried to rearrange the man again, he shut off again...
"I don't know why, but this is like sealing a ship with duct tape. THEN WE ARE NOT USING ENOUGHT!" - I said, knowing the man is already half dead(inside) and that i had nothing to lose.
Maybe turn him into an abomination or what not.
I grabbed him again and began to rearrange him again and again, until finally he was able to form a complete sentence.
"What happened?" - He looked around, his eyes not focusing, but that was maybe because of the shock.
"Nothing much, we won after you tried fighting us and i had to rearrange your every atom to get you to live normally again."
The man was quiet, he tried moving, but everything below his neck refused to move. - "The fuck-" - He tried moving again, but nothing came of it. His mind began to shatter at the thought of being unable to move, being stuck in this position - a dummy.
"What did you do to me!?" - the man yelled.
"Ok." - I said, before grabbing him again and trying to return him back to normal.
In the end the best i could give him is, being mute, but also being able to move.
Ash gave me almond water to revert "The wretched cycle", whatever that is.
I freed the man and gave him the almond water, but instead of drinking it, he immediately tried to strike me with it on the head.
I, of course, phased through it. I grabbed him again and tried to uncorrupt it, but this time with a different method, instead of altering his corruption, i absorbed it.
"Try to say something."
The man didn't listen.
"I TOLD YOU TO SAY SOMETHING." - I looked at him annoyed and reached out, my hand was covered by glitchy effects which made it hard to see it at all.
"Fine."
"Nice job me, i'm a genius. Now get going, and don't try mugging anyone or i will delete you. Maybe."
The man finally free ran away, the other one was also released from the chair.
With those "bad guys" gone, I, Tim and Ash stood there.
"Welp, a job well done, i don't want to stay in one place for too long, and besides you two love birds could have your time, though i don't think you could given the people." - I gestured back at the people, who were slowly resuming their work.
Without another word from me, i left.
They had nothing to say, no denial, no nothing, so they didn't make this more dramatic than it needs to be.