Chapter 164: The Whereabouts of Fate

Rein's eyes suddenly lit up with a glowing hope, a worried, yet ecstatic smile forming on his face, feeling the faint signs of life emerge from Voron.

"You're alive!" Rein said with relief.

"Re...in…" He uttered once again.

"You shouldn't talk! We need to get you to a medic as soon as possible," Rein ordered in concern, beginning to think. "There's probably somewhere in Stogue…" He thought out loud.

"Lis...ten to me boy… My parting gift to you… The secret of your power…" Voron struggled to speak, suddenly beginning to cough out blood.

"P-parting gift..? Why are you talking like…"

"Sorry kid, but… I'm not going to make it…" He spoke, making Rein's heart drop to his stomach. "But… I think an old man like me is fine with going out this way… I've got friends and family who'll keep me in their thoughts…" His weary voice was becoming weaker and weaker as the conversation went on. "And I've got you, Rein… Someone who I can entrust my will to…"

"No way… You can't die… You've gotta live Voron, you're the only one who can live out your will!" Rein's tears restarted, his words making Voron laugh through his pain.

"I don't think that's gonna be possible, kid…" He uttered, coughing promptly after, blood beginning to gush from his wounds.

"Please! Just don't talk!" Rein leaned forward and put his hand on his wound, trying in vain to stop some of the bleedings, his efforts futile as his lukewarm blood covered Rein's hands.

"Listen… You know about the truth… With Core, right..?" Voron posed as he raised his hand to Rein's face, clinging on to his final breaths of life.

"What's that matter right now?! Just, please… I don't want to lose anyone else…" Rein's body began vigorously shaking as he took his foster father's hand.

"Shit… I'm starting to feel my consciousness slip away…" He uttered as the life in his eyes dimmed, the glow that previously inhabited it becoming dull and gray. "All of my findings from the past 2 months… I've imparted on to him… The attackers took him and Saphrilla away… Find them…" Voron's strength was beginning to leave his body, which would be shortly followed by his waning soul, which desperately clung onto its final moments.

"Don't die… Stay with me… Please…" Rein's distressed cries now turned into small, weak weeps.

He began to regret his past actions. If only he had never assigned Significant Regeneration to Elaine. If only he had used his head, if only he hadn't given in to his emotion. All of these regrets resurfaced at once, killing his spirit completely, his current weakness not helping him in the situation.

"Rein… You're the hope of the continent… Of the world… Live out your destiny… Do what you must… To save… everyone…" With his last ounce of strength, he grazed his hand with Rein's eyes, catching his tears as they fell down his cheeks, his arm suddenly flopping back down to him as he lost all of his strength, and his final breath exited his body, the sound of the puff reverberating in Rein's ears.

Though Voron had caught his tears, it made little difference. Rein cried until he could not anymore. He didn't know what to do. Maybe if he still had his power, maybe if he had someone to confide in, maybe then he would have done something else. But as of that moment, all Rein knew to do was to cry, and cry he did. His wails of pain echoed through the dark, dead silent cavern, the body of his caretaker under him, resting in peace, entrusting the fate of the world to whom it trusted most.

After an unknown time of pained outcries, Rein's tears ran dry, and all that was left was an empty boy, his mind empty, his body still as clear water. Suddenly, the boy picked up the body of the lifeless old man sleeping under him and stood up, passionlessly walking out of the building into the dead silent town, the fires having burnt out since he'd previously explored.

The dissipation of the fires also dispersed some of the smoke clouds that blocked out the light of the glow stones, giving way to a melancholy blue hue that blanketed the surface of the surroundings, giving a chilling, ghostly air to the previously lively city.

Rein set Voron's body down on a patch of ground next to the building, then raised his hand, swiping it sideways, creating a small, human-sized hole, about 6 feet in depth, and 3 feet width. He picked up Voron's body once again, and gently set it in the trench, the downcast cerulean glow now encircling his body in Rein's view, to which Rein stood up emotionlessly, and stood in front of the burial, staring at it with a blank, yet pained expression, emitting the emotion of sorrow from his every pore.

He uttered his final words to the man, words that he would live by for the remainder of his life. These words became his principles of life, he lived to fulfill these words. He steeled his resolve and accepted his fate, then swiped his hand once again, closing the hole, and turning his body away from the grave, and walking away into the world, with a renewed hunger for vengeance, one so fresh he had almost forgotten the feeling.

"I'm coming for you, bitch… And don't think you're gonna have a painless death…" Though his body seethed with anger, his mind was tranquil, and his expression was still.

[Ultimate Skill Acquired]

He left the Hasbin Gulf and emerged in Orthlys, and looked around the very familiar scenery, the light of the moon providing a similar blue hue to the one he felt in the gulf. He squashed his regrets from this place, seeing the clearing in the long grass ahead of him, the same place where he gave Elaine Significant Regeneration. He coldly turned his head away and set his sights on the nearest city to the gulf. One of Orthlys' major port cities, Stogue.