Chapter 230: Rise of a Hero Part 9 (2/2)
”You're fighting the wrong fight here, Alton. No matter how much you fight my authority, everyone eventually falls victim to the truth. It happened to Gale and Zinnia, and soon you will accept this reality with open arms and be glad of it. V.I.R.A.L has used your time and time again, and yet you are fine with that. For that, I have no use for failures like yourself. Fall into the deep and drown in your own self-doubts as you never find your truth.” Dozens of icicles appear, flooding the area leaving Alton with no means of escape. Acceptance twists his hand around, staring blankly at Alton. ”Know this, though. You never cease to entertain me, Alton. Your suffering has only fuelled me further. But this is far enough for the Hero of Rhinefield to go.”
All the icicles flew towards Alton with his time all but out. That was until dozens of portals matched the attacks saving him at the very last moment. Acceptance turned as all his attacks were sent right back at him. Before he could counter, he felt his whole body slow down to a crawl like time itself was stalling. The attacks landed, blowing the second floor apart, forcing it to collapse to the ground. Adam appeared behind Alton, tutting. ”You're seriously going to give up after all that ranting and raving you gave to us back then?”
Eve stood balancing on her scythe, staring up. ”It seems that won't be enough… Who the hell is this guy?”
The smoke faded as Acceptance stood with his cold dead eyes ignited with a yellow glare making the two siblings flinch in shock. ”That's not possible!”
”Adam and Eve… You both amuse me very much.” He spoke before vanishing into a haze of icy wind.
”Any of you hurt?” Adam asked, turning to his allies. ”I have no idea what you were thinking…”
”It was my idea,” Eve whispered, jumping off her weapon. ”I thought we could take Shane alone.”
”That turned out to be a shitshow, huh? Jasmine and Shane are both taken out, meaning we should have won… Yet why does the Garden's presence feel even stronger?”
”That person back there… That was me.”
Both of them turned to Alton, shocked. ”What? You mean you from the future? How is that possible?”
”It shouldn't be,” Adam muttered. ”Those powers, his looks. Everything might have been Alton, but that look, that sheer power and will weren't him.”
Alton gripped his fist, his head sunken. ”I don't understand any of this anymore. Wasn't this what he wanted to show me? Was everything I'm doing a lie to hide my true feelings… Maybe I am just a tool of destruction for others? If you hadn't worked it out, yet that was one of the five stages of grief Acceptance. He's the one who brought me here.”
”Acceptance… That bastard, out of all the stages, that one pisses me off the most.” Adam rants. ”Always twisting and bending the rules to his own liking making whatever he wants into his own truth, and no one can dare challenge that…”
”What do we do now?” Eve whispers, with the air getting colder by the moment.
Alton collapsed to the floor, slouching over, feeling each of his defeats piling up, being almost unbearable to keep up with. ”what can we do? He's right… I've truly lost this one…”