Chapter 887 (2/2)

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 wouldn’t 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. Don’t 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 Decklan’s 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 didn’t 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.

And yet...

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 Decklan’s 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 Decklan’s 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 couldn’t that wasn’t 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 couldn’t bear the wounds a desperate man could inflict. Especially because Randidly used Aether Detection and could feel the dangerous contours of Decklan’s Class. He was a Level 61 Killer. And the nascent image of bloodshed associated with that Class hung heavy around his Aether.