Chapter 272 (1/2)

The power I received was great, and everyday I grew stronger, but it was not enough. The mountain that they had put in front of me… was high beyond belief. Although I knew the curse of the Eternal Witch, I could not dissuade myself.

She obtained for me an ancient, evil rune, that would let me give my soul to obtain power from defeated enemies. As long as I use it on the front lines, against them…

But first, I must deal with the Engraving Guilds. I must agree to ridiculous demands that have me working on special missions on the front lines, obtaining materials for… dark experiments that don’t bear thinking about. But there is no choice. Both sides are playing with dark forces, and we hold in each other a mutual agreement for silence.

For two years they struggle to understand the rune, creating prototype after prototype. They are broken, dangerous weapons, which can destroy a man. But after two years, while my strength is sharpened and I must spend almost all of my waking days away from my beloved, and my two sons, one freshly born, one I’ve never even seen… they’ve done it.

Over the next three months, at the cost of my soul… my power doubles.

I am… death. The Spear Phantom. I can feel it so clearly, as I hollow out my insides for power. This… is who I am.

But I still remember. I still know the purpose of the man who I was, before I was emptied.

So I return… triumphant. I have killed the enemy that I promised to slay, and returned with its head…

To find my eldest, Pronto, holding one of those cursed prototypes I had stored at home. Standing over the cooling bodies of my wife… and my unnamed son, who I never got to see take a breath.

“What….” Shal was crying now, his hands balled into fists. “WHAT DOES THAT MEAN!”

Sensing something, Aemont lowered his spear, his clear eyes running up and down Shal, as if considering what to say. And to Shal’s surprise, Aemont sighed. “My son, of the woman I had sworn to love… died that day. You….”

Shal slowly froze. “You… didn’t name me. Pronto did. You never visited me, like you visited him. You… To you, I’m just…”

Time slipped past, silence hanging between them. Neither had anything to say.

“Then…. What am I….?” Shal mumbled.

Aemont’s eyes were profoundly sad as he raised his spear in salute. Then, for the first time since Shal had become stuck in this world, Aemont began to advance toward him, taking the initiative.

Although he was struggling to figure out what was going on, whether to believe the shade of Aemont and the strange memories he saw, Shal’s instincts still kicked in as Aemont advanced. Once more, energy twisted and flowed out of the misty ground, filling Aemont, making him seem more real, more solid, even as the ground around him faded away.

Soon, it was just the two of them, standing in a dimly lit darkness, only them and their spears on a flat plane.

“Damnit…. It was only ever this, huh…?” Shal whispered, looking at his hands around the spear. “This… this was the only way you could- the only way you tried to bond with us. If I’m… not your son, why did you even bother…?”

Suddenly, Shal just felt profoundly tired, as he looked at Aemont, rushing towards him, looking as if he had completely reincarnated. But in the face of this… Shal couldn’t care about this final confrontation. He simply let his spear go, letting it fall to the dark floor with a clatter.

Aemont paused, giving Shal a look. “...pick up your spear.”

“I’m tired of these games.” Shal said, sitting down, sighing to himself. “Just kill me, if I really am an imposter son, a fake to appease the Endless Heat Style or something reanimated corpse, why bother?”

“Because… you are my son. It is your destiny to hold a spear.”

Shal waved his hand airily. “Perhaps, perhaps not. I cannot find it in me to care. I have a disciple now, you know. I’ve been just as poor a teacher as you have been a father.”

Shal’s head jerked up as Aemont nodded. Then the shade looked at him critically. “You think I did not know? I dwell not only in your chest, but in the remnants of my will in my writings. That boy threw himself upon the teeth of my diary many a time. He has far more comprehension than you. It is a pity that his path does not lie in the spear. Still, you have done well to find him. He will bring our legacy honor.”