"She''s a victim… My victim. I''ve already scarred her enough, please stop hurting her."
There was absolutely no hint of mockery or derision in Ss''s tone; the sincerity in his eyes,pletely obvious for everyone to see. Rhys, however, did not care. Even if he has truly changed, the person being reflected in Rhys''s eyes will always be the person who killed his mother.
Even if he bes a saint, even if he saves a billion people — he will always be the person who humiliated his mother; torturing her and killing her in the most brutal way possible — there was no going back from that, never.
Even if thest and only person he ends up killing is his mother, it doesn''t matter.
Even if he had truly be a good person, it doesn''t matter… because Rhys wasn''t.
Rhys wasn''t delusional, he knew he was not a better person than Ss, he was worse. The number of people he had killed, people only trying to survive had already stained his hands forever. And he won''t stop until he achieves his goal… even if he ends up swimming through the blood of the innocent.
And as if a whistle he didn''t know was hissing in the air stopped, Rhys let out a short but very deep breath as he looked Ss in the eyes.
"I heard the two of you are going out?" Rhys then said as he nced at Emilia, who was just standing on the side; her face, slightly panicking as she watched what was happening.
"That…no," Ss took in a small gulp as he also nced at Emilia, "It doesn''t seem right. We have gotten close, yes. And I know I don''t have the right to say this; but I do like your sister, Rhys. But out of respect to all that''s happened, out of respect to you — we''re not going out."
"Why not? You don''t need my respect or permission," Rhys sighed, "You''ve already raped her once, you might as well go all the way."
"Rhys!" Emilia quickly rushed at Rhys as soon as she heard those words. She was about to p him, but Ss grabbed her wrist and pulled her away.
Rhys, on the other hand, did not even look at her and just continued to stare Ss in the eyes.
"Rhys…" Ss closed his eyes as his eyebrows began to tremble. But after a few seconds, he also let out a long and very deep breath, "Very well."
Ss then pulled Emilia closer to him; very gently embracing her as he returned Rhys''s re. Emilia did not really resist, even resting her head on Ss''s chest; her tears, slowly damping Ss''s clothes. But due to the hydrophobic nature of Ss''s coat, her tears just continued to trail down all the way to the ground.
"You''re right Rhys…" Ss breathed out and nodded, "I am not going to ask for your forgiveness, I don''t deserve it. I don''t also deserve to move on, but your sister does — so I am not going to ask for your permission to try and make her happy. If you are not going to do it, then I will — I will make her the happiest she could be…
…because I do love her, Rhys. I do."
"Hm," Rhys subtly nced at Emilia, who was still crying her heart out on Rhys''s shoulder, "Congrattions, it would seem the feeling was mutual. Men!"
Rhys suddenly raised his voice, causing the soldiers of Wilder''s Harem to all stand up straight.
"No. 1, No. 2 — take your toons. You are temporarily under themand of the Rescue team," Rhys then said as he nced at the leaders of the two toon he brought with him, "Follow their orders, but your number 1 priority is still your safety and the safety of your men."
"Roger that, my big boss." "Copy that, Guild master." No. 1 and No. 2 both ced their hands on their chest, before ordering their men to march toward the leader of the Rescue team.
"You guys, let''s go with them!" Keh raised his hand. And as soon as he did so, all the members of the Laughing Bronze turned on their cameras and started streaming "Let''s go save some people and earn some money!"
"Stay safe out there, Rhys," Ss breathed out as he looked Rhys in the eyes, "I mean it, I do."
"..." Rhys did not really say anything. He only took one final nce at his sister before turning around and walking away.
"It would seem I was wrong."
And as Rhys walked toward the entrance of the city, Esme suddenly walked beside her, "Your half-sister troubles seem to be far heavier than mine."
"I''ve already cut that problem from my life," Rhys shook his head.
"That is where you will be wrong, ck Hair," Esme also shook her head, "No matter how much we try, no matter how much we want to just move away…
…blood always crawls their way back to us."
"...Right," Rhys could really only watch as Esme started chuckling as she walked away.
"Let''s not meet in the city — because that would mean we really are facing an enemy we can''t handle. If Arachnea truly is somewhere here…
…then a whole lot of people are about to die," Esme waved her hand before she just suddenly disappeared; turning into a mist that flew straight toward the city.
Twice now — Rhys had encountered two women who did not have Hearts floating above their heads. It is possible that they were lesbians and could really only feel romantic feelings with other women… but Rhys had already met a lesbian, and even she had a Heart floating above her head. Or maybe she was just bisexual — Rhys was probably just thinking too much about this.
And so, with a shake of his head, he just entered the city with everyone else.
***
"This ce… lookspletely different."
Rhys was now on top of a building, surveying the area around him. He was sure he and the others passed by this area when they were shopping for random things, but now it just looked like a war zone. There were cars littered everywhere, either toppled or crashed into a wall or other cars.
There were a lot of Explorers outside the city previously, but even their number was not enough topletely scope out the entire polis — he could not even see a single guild, and they had just previously gathered earlier.
What his eyes did see, however, was a minitaur, perhaps the very same one he saw when Maria showed them the drone footage of the city. And as soon as he saw it was trying to pry open a car that seemed to have people in it, Rhys jumped from the tall building without any hesitation — letting himself just dive down a foot away from its walls.
Rhys did not even blink. And even as he got nearer and nearer to the cold hard ground, he just stretched his hand toward it. And soon, his hand and the ground made contact.
…Or so that is what usually should have happened. Rhys, however, just passed through the groundpletely, or more specifically, he dived through the shadow of the building…
…only to appear almost instantly behind the minitaur; the momentum he had from falling down, forcefully pushing him up into the air. The threads that were already swinging from each of his fingers, quickly wrapping around the minitaur.
Although the minitaur was much smaller than itsrger counterpart, the minotaur, its peach skin was still just as hard; the threads, only able to prate a single millimeter. It did not matter for Rhys, however, as he just used his momentum to pull the minitaur up, spinning in the air before ultimately mming the minitaur straight back onto the ground.
Rhys then tugged and pulled on the threads again; this time, pulling both himself and the minitaur close to each other as he kicked it straight on the head;pletely shattering its jaw and separating its neck from its spine.
The minitaurnded on its back, while Rhysnded right on its face.
"Are you people alright?" Rhys stepped down the minitaur and approached the car it was trying to pry open, leaning down as he scanned the inside… only to see the two men inside already dead. Rhys checked their pulse to confirm, but s, they truly were.
"Hm…" Rhys then let out a whisper as he retracted his hand out of the car, shaking his head as he once again looked around the street — and there were already a lot of corpses scattered everywhere,
"...I suppose Esme is right, a lot of people will die if Arachnea truly is on her way here. But Ayesha and the others are in the Underworld, and all the other guilds are here. So…"
Rhys then slowly lifted up his hand in front of his face… before biting it and letting his blood just drop to the ground.
"...Let''s talk."