The result of which was Tera dying again By DecklanÆs own blade because she was not the first that they had attempted but she was the one that Decklan had prayed to be special Yet like all the others she needed to be put down
So she died once more And then again and again every night in Decklan’s dreams for the last year
By now Decklan’s tears had slowed to a trickle His face felt oddly numb Whatever strange impulse overwhelmed him had departed and left the inside of his head overturned and ransacked Yet strangely the explosion of emotion now left him feeling empty Blessedly empty The numbness settled over him like a cloak With a deft gesture Decklan used his Dagger Manipulation Skill to summon the discarded weapon back to his hand Instantly he felt Randidly straighten Then Decklan looked directly at the other man and prayed that he would let that moment go without comment
It was unbecoming And dwelling on it wouldnÆt help anything
“Apologies I was not myself Anyway you are heading to see Neveah right I’ll take you there “
“Decklan ” Randidly began but Decklan couldn’t stop himself from glaring at Randidly
Don’t talk to me right now Don’t don’t you dare Even if my hate isn’t fair Even if it wasn’t your responsibility
You breathed life into all of this Doesn’t that mean you need to bear our pain when we fail That is part of the Path that you chose
This wound is the last thing Tera gave me DonÆt you dare touch it
Whatever Randidly saw in Decklan’s expression he kept his silence Without a word Decklan leapt upward and grabbed onto a rope hanging off of his boat the Incognita With a monkey like agility he clambered up onto the deck and gave a few short orders to the members of his Squad that had been carefully watching the action below
None of them met DecklanÆs eyes as he hissed out frigid orders and set the group in motion
After he finished Decklan turned around He could hear Randidly talking below with the crew of the small ship that had brought him here Likely for similar reasons Would Randidly bring those people It didnÆt matter much It would be easy to hitch their boat to the Incognita After finishing his discussion Decklan had no doubt that Randidly would climb upward to join him on the deck
An old impulse stirred in Decklan’s chest While climbing over the deck it would be very difficult for Randidly to keep his guard up There would be a single moment where Decklan could strike With his unique combination of Skills and Stats Decklan had the utmost confidence in his burst damage against an unguarded foe
The memory of those emerald eyes had erased any confidence Decklan possessed Even now that gaze seemed fixed on him peering through the wood of the boat They ripped apart all unnecessary substances to peer through his actions and ascertain his goals It was a gaze that seemed to suggest that Randidly had seen it all and now he was simply waiting for everything to play out as he expected
Those eyes were the sort that only one who had long danced with death would possess Even on such a common activity would Randidly drop his guard Even if he did was DecklanÆs damage truly enough
So Decklan just waited Numb and bitter and tired and furious with himself Decklan waited for Randidly to come join him on the deck
“You’ve got quite a reputation ” Randidly said lightly wanting to shift the conversation away from the strange unpleasantness from earlier
Decklan grunted “Mostly a series of arranged deceptions The connection with the Danger Zone was immediately discovered by the frogpeople and they sent clippers out immediately to explore Earth Neveah pulled me in and put me on the ship in order to mop up the ones that escaped before she could put a cap on the portal But those clippers found and massacred quite a few vessels When people heard about the disappearances and investigated we already controlled the seas in that area We made an example of them “
“So your ship was the assumed culprit because that was all that could be seen in the scene of the crime ” Randidly said feeling strangely relieved Negative emotions roiled off of Decklan with an intensity that neared that of a palpable image Honestly Decklan probably was the individual closest to being able to use images as was done on Tellus that Randidly had encountered on Earth
Which made sense Decklan had the same sort of violent determination that the people of Tellus had His Path would eventually lead to the development of a powerful image
Although those violent negative emotions had settled after DecklanÆs outburst Randidly’s Crown seemed strangely keyed into the radiating anger and hatred from Decklan It fed on it somehow And it also made Randidly realize that the images he was encouraging in the world weren’t always solely the positive ones For all that there were moments where Randidly would be motivated to help the strange girl with the brilliant sapphire eyes there were also these moments
Moments were his willingness to ignore emotions would be mimicked and slowly lead a man toward madness
Yet even though he knew that was the case Randidly would say nothing even though he could see the ways that Decklan was nearing a more dangerous variety of breakdown He couldnÆt that wasnÆt the Crown that Randidly wore
And what could Randidly offer him If it was a fight that Randidly could engage in for Decklan’s benefit maybe If Decklan needed to shatter some expectation to live his life in a completely unique way
This emotional problem Randidly knew his weaknesses He was not very emotionally savvy Besides this sort of downward spiral wasn’t something that could be easily solved with a word or two There was something rotten in Decklan’s outlook Until that infection was removed this strange emotional instability would continue
Until Decklan was willing to address it there would be no way to move forward
Although Neveah was relying on Decklan now it might be a good idea to search for more dependable support in the future Otherwise
Humanity likely couldnÆt bear the wounds a desperate man could inflict Especially because Randidly used Aether Detection and could feel the dangerous contours of DecklanÆs Class He was a Level 61 Killer And the nascent image of bloodshed associated with that Class hung heavy around his Aether
Chapter 888
“So what is Neveah up to ” Randidly asked finally moving to the topic at hand The strange interlocking concepts of responsibility that were present were starting to unnerve Randidly
Randidly didnÆt regret the time spent sitting in his hut and refining himself in order to be prepared to face the opponents that would soon be coming his way He needed quite a bit of power to deal with the impending Judgement after all For all that it sometimes felt he was letting life pass by it was necessary
But even Randidly would admit that it was easy While he was in the hut he was cut off from most of the consequences of his choices
It was quite hard to walk out of the hut and see those who suffered because Randidly had focused on improving his own strength rather than building a base for Donnyton In his mind Donnyton wouldnÆt have grown half as much as it had if he had remained and led the town forward But there would have been lives saved Randidly didnÆt doubt
Randidly pressed his eyes closed All Paths have consequences It’s precisely because the other Paths seemed worse that I have acted this way I probably didn’t make the perfect decision but I made a decision I can only do so much alone
To wear a Crown is to bear the weight of lives you were not able to save
” It’s probably easiest for you to simply see her in her element ” Decklan said His voice was still rather subdued but there was a certain amount of awe in his tone as he spoke of Neveah “It was a creative solution One that required her constant presence but it bought us time Which we desperately needed These Frog People generally are much stronger than the average humans “
“How much stronger ” Randidly asked Idly he turned and looked over the ship’s railing Behind them the Long Minnow was bobbing after Decklan’s huge vessel Small lives dragged haplessly along after Randidly as the proceeded directly toward the World Crater as the Danger Zone was called After his recent train of thoughts he suddenly paused and considered that impulse to bring them along