HP X LOTM : Please Call Me Mr. Error.

The black flames wrapped around Fleur, rushing from her position to wrap around Mr. X. Sirius's eyes widened as he realised that Fleur was about to complete the mission before him, so he forced even more tentacles to split from his body and launched them at Mr. X.

'Just who is that person!?'

'Why are they interfering with my assassination!?'

With a new wave of tentacles exploding outwards, Fleur decided she wasn't done yet. She wanted to win this 'competition' for the title of becoming Mr. Error's blessed and was ready to do anything to earn it.

As such, apart from the black flames that wrapped around Mr. X Fleur also conjured a thin line made of her own hair which was as smooth as spider silk.

Mr. X pointed his finger at Fleur and caused its tip to explode which sent the nail on its end flying at Fleur, aiming to pierce her eyeball, but she ducked out of the way just in time before wrapping around Mr. X like a snake as she covered him in a blanket of her black flames before strangling him with her threads.

Sirius froze when he saw how close Fleur had gotten to killing Mr. X and panicked.

Even Loki assumed that Mr. X was done for, since he had personally seen just how strong her hair strands were during the second task when she managed to strangle a Wampus cat with it.

And to no surprise, everyone saw the thin thread that Fleur had wrapped around Mr. X's neck from behind pierce his skin before passing through his neck, spraying out a fountain of blood in the process.

It sliced through his entire neck!!

'Is that all?' Loki questioned while Sirius became dumbfounded at the result.

The head that was currently in the air after having been sliced and separated from its body, however, was suddenly grabbed, not by Fleur or even Sirius's tentacles, but by Mr. X's own hands.

And in a macabre turn of events, Mr. X's hands slammed the head back onto his body as the flesh around the stump of his neck and the base of his head squirmed for a few seconds before they merged together! Forming a full new connection which completely negated any damage Fluer might've caused by beheading him.

Loki wasn't shocked by this turn of events since he'd expected it after he had activated his spirit vision to check if Mr. X had died. But his spirit vision showed him a bustling mind full of thoughts, nothing like what a person with a detached head would have.

The thoughts weren't of panic or the inevitability of death, but of plans on what to do next.

It was Fleur's turn to become dumbfounded now as she quickly ditched her position and rushed away from Mr. X.

But things weren't so easy for her.

As soon as Fleur took a step back to rush away from Mr. X, a sudden flame flickered at the end of the butler's wand as a barrage of shadows lifted from the floor. They danced along with Fleur's flickering black flames as they rushed to tie her up and capture her.

Fleur analysed the situation in a fraction of a second before she extended her hands and rushed her black flames directly towards Mr. X.

If she was going to get caught, then she was going to force Mr. X to defend himself from her fiery attacks instead!

As the shadows mimicked Fleur's flames, rushing towards her, Mr. X and Fleur locked eyes in a race to decide who would chicken out first.

It was an all-out assault where the only defence each side had was killing the other side first.

And since Mr. X had started earlier, his shadows were much faster, especially since the closer Fleur's flames got towards Mr. X, the brighter the buttler's flames got and in turn the shadows they cast using the objects near him.

It looked like the match had already been decided, Mr. X would win and Fleur would lose.

Except that was just the trap that Fleur had laid out.

As soon as the shadows were about to touch Fleur and stab into her dainty body, Fleur suddenly flicked her hands and caused the black flames to completely embrace the butler instead!

She plunged the entire room into darkness once again by converting the butler's red flames into her shadowless black flames once again.

There were no other sources of light, and so there were no shadows.

And while Fleur couldn't do anything immediately since her flames had veered off the path and attacked the butler instead of Mr. X, the thing was that she wasn't alone.

As soon as Sirius saw what Fleur had done, his tentacles burst forth with speed much greater than what they had worked with earlier.

And before anyone else could react to what had happened, they all heard a loud *THUD* before they heard a *BANG* and then a loud scream filled with pain and sorrow.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"

Except it wasn't Mr. X who knelt over in pain.

Loki had seen everything happen with the help of his night vision.

It was Sirius who was forced to kneel over in pain as he held his hands that had returned after the tentacles emerging from them had vanished.

The tentacles, being a part of his own physical body were highly susceptible to corruption and degeneration.

As such when Mr. X was caught by those tentacles, he immediately summoned the Cull of Flesh, a Black Greatsword that could harm the flesh and the soul while also filling degenerate thoughts into the minds of those it touched.

So while Fleur's plan had worked.

Mr. X had countered it so perfectly that instead of them winning in a three versus one situation, it was Mr. X who had managed to turn the tables on one of them.

It filled Loki with a sense of excitement since Mr. X still hadn't used any of his powers from the Sheperd pathway, meaning he still hadn't revealed any souls that he'd grazed over his time as a Beyonder.

He had only fought with his shadows and one Sequence 4 ability, Cull of Flesh, the black greatsword. At least that was how it seemed on the surface.

'How did he dodge Sirius's attack though?'

'It was in his blind spot…'

With Sirius down, the darkness drowning the sources of light slowly vanished, leaving the light to return. Except none of them truly felt safe in this light, especially since after their short bout, long shadows cascaded and danced in joy as if embracing their early victory.

With Sirius down for the count, Fleur turned to look at Loki, trying to figure out which side of the fight he stood on.

Loki and Mr. X, both, noticed this curious gaze as Fleur evaluated if she'd run away from there or stay around for another round of battle which caused Mr. X to laugh creepily.

"As if I'd let you leave." Mr. X whispered, but it was enough for Fleur to remember that she was no longer in the dominant position.

All of a sudden, it felt like accepting this mission so hastily from Mr. Error was a bad idea.

Loki looked at Fleur with a slight sense of amusement as he watched her spirit body change colours from panic to thoughtfulness and then to panic again after some time.

But when Mr. X looked at him with a questioning gaze, wondering where Loki stood himself, Loki smiled widely.

"You don't remember me, do you?" Loki spoke with a smile while raising his hand.

Mr. X frowned, his eyes scanning Loki's figure but not being able to match his silhouette with anyone in his memories.

That was when Loki's hands finally pulled away the mask.

It revealed a face inside that Mr. X instantly recognised, one which caused him to tighten his grip around his great sword.

"Yes! It's me, Gehrman Sparrow! The very person you put a bounty on a year ago!"

"....Why are you here?" Mr. X asked, especially since Loki had never shown ill intent during the entire session today. He had even remained calm after Mr. X had shot a curse his way.

Mr. X was a hundred per cent sure that Loki hadn't even thought about attacking him.

So it seemed a little odd, to Mr. X.

But it also felt odd to Fleur who was eyeing Loki with a suspicious gaze.

'Zhis voice…I've heard a similar voice somewhere before.'

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