Chapter 64. Rejection Hurts, Right?

The words hit Marcus like a punch in the gut. He had to catch himself against the doorframe because his knees buckled a little.

He was about to cry tears of rage, just because of a heartbreak and betrayal.

"Y-You... were supposed to wait for me!" Marcus said with a lot of emotion. "I told you I’d come back for you...!"

"I told you we’d be together one day, and that... was our promise!"

"We were kids back then," Lily said in a soft voice. "That was a long time ago, Marcus..."

"You left me, and now... it seems like you became a bandit." Lily sighed. "Did you really think I’d wait forever for someone who chose that life...?"

Marcus shouted, "I didn’t have any choice to choose that life!"

"My family lost EVERYTHING...! I had to live, I had to—" He stopped, his hands shaking so much that the daggers were rattling. "And you just gave yourself to this... this fucking narcissistic stranger?!"

"A guy you met a few weeks ago?"

"Watch your mouth...! He’s not a random stranger for me," Lily said. "He’s kind and brave, and he really sees me as who I am right now!"

"You really lost it this time, Lily... I didn’t even know you could act like that!" Marcus let all of his anger out on Rex. "YOU...!!!"

"What the FUCK did you do to her!? EXPLAIN TO ME NOW BEFORE I KILL AND TORTURE YOU!!!" Marcus lets out all the voice he has. "WHAT KIND OF SPELL OR CHARM OR—"

Rex said calmly, accompanied by a light laugh, "Such a pointless spell or charm... I don’t need that shit at all."

"There’s nothing like that." Rex raised both his arms while shaking his head. "I just gave her love and attention... things you apparently couldn’t be bothered to give, perhaps."

"YOU FUCKING BASTARD...!!!" Marcus started moving like crazy. "I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU!!!"

Rex’s foresight told him exactly how the attack would happen. Marcus lunged forward, both daggers leading in a complicated double strike that was meant to hit Rex’s heart and throat at the same time.

It was a smart move that came from years of practice and real combat experience.

Additionally, the attack was completely ineffective.

Rex easily avoided the attack because his foresight showed him the exact path of both blades a full second before they got there. His hand shot out and grabbed Marcus’s wrist in the middle of the strike.

He used telekinesis to make his grip stronger until it felt like a steel vise was holding him. "Seems like I hit a nerve, huh?"

"What are you even going to do to me...? Didn’t you remember what happened the three days before?" Rex starts ragebaiting him with a look of someone who has just seen trash.

Marcus tried to break free by slashing at Rex’s face with his other hand, but Rex caught that wrist as well. He maintained an arm’s length distance from Marcus, effortlessly dispelling the threat.

"You’re quick, I’ll give you that, not gonna lie," Rex said. "Well trained too."

"If I’m reading your aura right, you also know earth magic... and you could use it to strengthen your strikes, make platforms to move around on, and maybe even some walls to protect yourself."

Marcus’s eyes got bigger. "How did you—"

Rex didn’t say anything. Instead, he used his telekinesis to pull Marcus off balance, pulling him forward and then slamming him into the wall so hard that the plaster cracked. Marcus gasped, the wind knocked out of him, and his daggers fell to the ground.

Lily just watched without intervening, other than being amazed by Rex’s greatness, whereas Marcus felt even more heartbroken when she kept staring at him.

Rex was on him before he could get back up. A telekinetic grip wrapped around Marcus’s throat, lifting him off the ground and holding him against the wall.

Marcus scratched at his own neck, trying to get rid of fingers that weren’t there. "Guuuggghhhh...!!!"

"Let me be very clear this time," Rex said in a low, threatening voice. "Lily is mine..."

"Not because I tricked her or cast a spell, but because I gave her something you never could! I gave her a choice, and she chose me."

"That’s probably enough to solve your heartbreak, right?" Rex laughed.

Marcus wanted to talk, but the pressure on his throat made it impossible. His face was getting red, and the veins in his temples were sticking out.

Rex moved closer and said, "You know what’s funny?"

"You chose the bandit life... and you also chose to attack innocent villages! And now you’re going to pay for those choices."

He let up on the pressure just enough for Marcus to get some air.

"Please," Marcus wheezed. "Let me go...! I’ll leave and never come back."

"Oh, we’re way past that now," Rex said with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. "And don’t fucking think that I’m stupid enough to let you go."

"I know that you’re trying to snitch." Rex smirks, knowing that his foresight had already told him that Marcus is going to spill the truth that the bandits were because of his plan.

He twisted his hand, and Marcus screamed. His left arm bent back at an odd angle, and the telekinetic force was so strong that it broke his bones and muscles with surgical precision.

In the small room, the sound of breaking bone was loud.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

"AAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!"

Lily gasped from the bed and put her hand over her mouth, but she didn’t tell him to stop. She just stood there with her eyes wide open.

Rex turned his attention to Marcus’s other arm and did the same thing again. Another scream, and then a sickening crack.

CRAACCCKKKK!

Marcus’s arms were now uselessly hanging at his sides, broken in several places.

"Magic from the earth, you said?" Rex thought. "Let’s see how well you can concentrate even when it hurts."

Marcus tried hard to bring out his power, and Rex could feel the magical energy building up in his core. But Rex broke his concentration with a sudden spike of pressure against his temples, like invisible hands squeezing his skull from both sides.

Marcus’s scream turned into a howl of pain, and the magic that had been there disappeared without hurting anyone.

"AGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!"

"Fucking hell...! Telekinesis is peak," Rex said casually, as if he were talking about the weather instead of hurting someone. "It’s not just about moving things..."

"It’s about putting force on anything, anywhere, like pressure points, organs, or the little bones in your ears that help you keep your balance."

"I fucking knew that this power is underrated and hasn’t been used to its full potential in other fantasy stuff."

He showed by messing with Marcus’s inner ear, and the bandit immediately started to gag, even though he was perfectly still against the wall.

"S-Stop...!" Marcus managed to say between gasps. "Please...! Just end my miserable life... NOW...!!!"

"Nope, I don’t think so," Rex said. "We still have to think about our audience."

Lily moved on the bed at that moment. She was fully awake now because of Marcus’s screams, and she was looking at what was happening in front of her with a mix of horror and something else.

Something that looked a lot like happiness.

"Lily," Marcus said, his eyes finding hers through the pain. "Please...! Tell him to stop...!"

"We used to be childhood friends...! We loved each other!!!"

Lily got up slowly and walked over to where Rex was holding Marcus up. She really looked at her childhood friend, seeing the broken arms, the tears, and the hopelessness.

Then she put her arms around Rex from behind and rested her head on his shoulder.

"I don’t love you at all... Marcus," she said in a low voice. "I don’t think I ever really did..."

"That was just a child’s dream, and now... here I am with someone that I loved the most. Rex is real, and what we have is real."

Marcus’s face fell, and all of his hope left him. Tears ran down his face, mixing with the sweat and blood from where he bit his lip to keep from screaming.

Rex turned his head a little to look at Lily, and the smile he gave her was real. Then he smiled at Marcus again, and this time it turned into something mean and predatory.

"Awww... rejection hurts, right?" Rex laughed.

He snapped his fingers, and the telekinetic force shot out in all directions. Marcus was torn from the wall and hurled across the room, crashing through the door of a small storage closet in the corner.

Rex’s fist was clenched before he could even try to crawl out, and the door slammed shut. The lock clicked, and then Rex used his power to wrap strips of torn fabric around Marcus’s mouth to make sure he couldn’t talk.

The only sounds now were muffled cries and the sound of Marcus kicking the door with his legs, which didn’t work.

"MPPPPHHHHHH!!!"

"That should do it."