Chapter 435


    CHAPTER 435


    CRUELTY OF THE SCORNED


    Two was currently standing over a small, erect rock inside a muddy dip surrounded by white and crimson roses growing at an angle so that they created a dome above by intertwining . A singr namey carved out in the stone, Tatyana, Two’s eyes glued to it . She stood in silence for days on end, asionally crouching down and caressing the chilly stone with her long fingers .


    After nearly a week had passed since she first arrived, she turned around and took a deep breath, walking out of the small grove and up a spiraling road surrounded by rock and stone on all ends . She eventually reached a wide tform ttened artificially inside a mountain . It spanned over two miles across altogether, though it was mostly barren save for at the center .


    There, lined up neatly in five rows, two per row, were gallows, totaling in ten . Each had five ropes whisking downwards, and out of the fifty spots, neen were filled . She walked over to the exhausted and dispirited figures, who each looked at her emptily .


    "... your devotion is praiseworthy," she said in a cold, emotionless voice . "Yet idiotic . You won’t be rewarded for it . "


    "..." nobody replied, causing her expressionless face to turn colder for a moment before rxing as space next to her ripped open, Four walking through .


    "Have you finally changed your mind?" she asked indifferently, not even ncing at him .


    "—no," Four replied, ncing at the figures whose lives hung by the thread of a wooden stool beneath their feet . "I’vee to see whether you have . "


    "... you keep questioning me these days, Four," Two said . "I don’t understand where you get the courage . "


    "... this... isn’t right," Four sighed . "They are innocent . "


    "They’re working for him," Two said . "That disqualifies them from being innocent . "


    "—you are blinded by hate—"


    "Of course I am!!" Two eximed angrily, turning toward Four and reaching out with her right hand, grasping her fingers around his neck tightly . "He killed her!!" she screamed into his face . "Instead of questioning me, you should be bleeding dead to find him!!"


    "..." Four remained silent .


    "... fine," she casually threw him down onto the ground, shifting her focus on the gallows once more . "Do as you wish, just don’t stand in my way . "


    Four merely sighed audibly before vanishing, appearing on top of the mountain, inside a carved clearing surrounded by roofed shacks and a few gardens . Five and Seven’s expressions damped when they saw his, causing them to slump further back against their chairs as Four joined them . They were sitting inside a fenced garden, beneath the shade of a massive tree growing from the top of the mountain and almost piercing the clouds far above .


    "—we can’t let this go on . " Seven said .


    "What do you propose?" Five shrugged, reaching over and tying his mboyant hair up . "Since she underwent her Awakening, nobody can match up to her except One . And, as usual, the fucker’s nowhere to be found . "


    "Even still..." Seven sighed, her usual, cid expression growing slightly worried . "I... have a bad feeling about this whole thing . "


    "She’s brandishing her fangs," Four said . "And the Empyrean won’t back down either . "


    "... she’ll get herself killed," Seven shook her head . "That’s what worries me the most . "


    "... you don’t think the Empyrean can actually kill her?" Five eximed . "I figured even killing Three was due to sheer luck . "


    "Oh,e on," Four rolled his eyes . "As though Three could have been killed through luck . Since the start, we’ve made nothing but terrible decisions in regards to the Empyrean . Now... it’s going toe back and bite us in the ass . "


    "Has Six had any luck finding him?" Five asked Seven .


    "No," she shook her head . "He popped up briefly on the Eastern Shores but vanished soon after . It looks like he’s really headed to the Dragon Isles... Sylver will try and follow, though I wouldn’t hope for much . "


    "—this... is bing more and more bothersome..." Four sighed . "


    **


    Lino watched the horizon open up in front of him, ocean’s waters swinging high and low as far as the eye can see . They hovered just off the shore, at a decent elevation, hidden from the curious eyes . He was still waiting to see whether Y’nn will find the people that tried to hide in the major cities and for Hannah to give birth . Though it would all add up to six-seven months, it was hardly a lengthy period of time .


    Lucky had also left just recently alongside some other Shadows to look for the stragglers and find some more information, while everyone else busied themselves with various jobs – Primul was working on improving the Orbiter alongside Tim, Simon, and Anna, while Eggor, Sarah and other smiths were once again relegated to crafting and repairing armors and weapons .


    Hannah, Val, Edith, and Ally mostly focused on the paperwork that he couldn’t quite understand, while Amadeel would either meditate or check up on the ever-growing interdimensional ck hole .


    The fortress currently held upward of 50,000 people, a number that will only grow before they depart for the Dragon Isles . After all, the part of the Orbiter that Primul was working on was the one that would allow them to finally pick up all the souls currently allied with him . Rough calctions put the number of people into tens of millions, a severe jump from 50,000, though save for the paperwork, there was little else to be done to amodate them in the end as they all already had their own system in ce to do that .


    "—you’re here," E’s voice jolted him awake as he nced sideways while she sat by his side . "Bored?"


    "Eh," he shrugged . "It doesn’t hurt to asionally sit down and rx . "


    "Ha ha, I suppose it doesn’t . " E chuckled . "It will be short-lived, after all . "


    "... yeah, point your de at my heart and shove it in, why don’t you?"


    "Ha ha, sorry, sorry . I didn’t mean it like that . "


    "So? What’s up?" he asked, taking out a gourd of wine .


    "What do you think the ck mist is?" E’s question didn’t seem to surprise him as his eyes veered back onto the distant horizon .


    "... no clue . " his answer, however, did strike her, her expression turning into one of shock .


    "W-what do you mean?" she quizzed .


    "I can’t see through it, in any way, shape or form . " Lino replied . "Can’t see what’s within it, what’s it made out of... or what it is . From one terrible thing to another... I don’t think all of us should go there . "


    "... we won’t," E nodded . "We can bring the others to the Edge and hide them there while the few of us go to explore . "


    "Who did you have in mind?" Lino asked .


    "Ally, Lucky, Amadeel, Primul and Titus . " E replied . "Besides you and me, I mean . "


    "Titus?" Lino asked .


    "Hm," she nodded . "His Cultivation Method is based on Light and Endurance," she said . "I thought he should be enough to protect Primul . "


    "... hm," Lino nodded after a short thought . "Hannah will be pissed, though . "


    "She’ll have also just given birth," E shrugged . "As if I’ll let her go . "


    "... ha ha, thank you . " he chuckled faintly . "Shouldn’t you be helping Primul with the formations, though?"


    "Nah, he said, and I quote, ’you don’t know what the hell you’re doing, just go away and join the other useless one’ . "


    "... ouch . "


    "Yeah..."


    "... something’s been on my mind ever since I met him," Lino said suddenly, the look in his eyes changing slightly . "Nothing about him screams that he’s easily corruptible... or easily driven to madness . Yet, he had been . Why?"


    "... there are millions of roads to madness Lino," E replied . "Who can ever tell? Why? Are you worried you might follow his footsteps?"


    "... no," Lino shook his head, leaning back onto his arms . "If anyone’s banking on me going insane and losing this war that way, they’ll be waiting for a long time . "


    "Oh? Aren’t you awfully confident, and not in your usual, very arrogant way . "


    "Oi, what do you mean very arrogant way?! My confidence is always pure and founded in truth!"


    "... yeah, yeah, sure thing . So? Why?"


    "—I’ve reached the Absolute Mastery of Madness," Lino replied casually . "It’s... well, it’s one way to avoid ever going insane, I suppose . "


    "... that doesn’t mean you can’t go mad still, though," E said . "It just means you’ll have the illusion of reins over it . "


    "—I’m confident in my heart, more so than anything else," he replied . "It won’t betray me . It can’t betray me . "


    "... as am I," she said, ruffling his hair . "You’ve grown . "


    "... hardly," he scoffed . "In many ways, I’m still just a brat . "


    "So long as you realize it . "


    "... ha ha, yeah . But... I can’t be... not anymore . " he said, his eyes shining in a faint glimmer of determination . "I’m about to be a father . I can’t be cheapening my life anymore . "


    "And you won’t . " she said . "I know it . "


    "... aah, oh well . " he yawned, getting up . "I’ve nothing to do for over half a year . I guess I can go on a crafting spree and fix myself a decent arsenal and craft something for Hannah . I’ve promised her a while ago . "


    "—and you’ve promised me a ne decades ago, a ne I’ve never gotten . "


    "Oh, right!" Lino eximed . "Wow, I remember that . That was actually the very first time I thought of you as my mom . "


    "Hey! That was years into your staying with us!" E eximed, pouting . "What did you think of me until then?"


    "Uh... I don’t know? A kind, olddy?"


    "..."


    "A kind, old, but breathtakingly beautifuldy?"


    "... old has to stay, huh?"


    "It has to, indeed," Lino grinned . "Fine . I’ll fashion you a ne . I’ll make you proud of me!"


    "... I’m always proud of you . Well, not always," she added, sighing . "But, most of the—well, on asion . But rtively frequent asion . "


    "You could just hear your heart break the further along that sentence stretched..."


    "... yeah . "


    "... and now mine’s cracked . Fine . Go to the son you’re proud of! I’ll go and vanquish my sorrows with a hammer!"


    "Ha ha ha, have fun!" E eximed, tenderly gazing at his fading back .