Chapter 117 - Up Above

Yin was in and out of sleep while the night continued to develop.

"A hero…"

He thought to himself.

"So, you are still aspiring to be a hero, huh?"

The Creator's voice was heard as Yin was trying to sleep.

Yin did not answer his question and just let himself fall into the realm of drowsiness.

All sorts of thoughts invaded his own as he slept.

Dreams of a faint and blurry image. An image of a man sitting on the chair in front of the piano inside the System.

Yin's vision was blurry so he did not really see it clearly. It was a vivid image only. But whatever he saw, it sent ripples of sadness down towards his very soul.

Someone was next to the man.

He could not make out who it was but it was in fact another person, that much was clear.

"W-Who is that?"

Yin squinted his eyes in an attempt to see better, though his efforts were still futile.

Whoever the person next to the man was, it was a feminine figure. Tears started to fall from Yin's eyes as he saw them both.

Yin looked down and was confused.

"Tears."

He said melancholically.

The Serpent Summoner and his brother, the Basilisk Slayer got some shut eye and woke up as soon as the faintest amount of the sun's light began to show itself.

Artorias Khalil yawned as his eyes began to get drowsy.

"Keep your eyes awake, we are going to be going somewhere a bit farther."

Gavin said to the top one ranked Slayer.

"Yeah, I know." Artorias was looking around outside of the tavern, he was missing something. "I could have sworn I left that little bugger here…"

The Basilisk Slayer said as he looked for his emerald dragon.

"You do realize that you can't just keep placing Amara anywhere, right?" Gavin said.

"But she is-!"

He got interrupted by the younger brother.

"I know she is harmless towards people, but they still do not think it is common occurrence to have a dragon laying around the Grand Castle's vicinity. It will startle a lot of people, Art."

"Drop the sermon, brother, I think I know where she is!"

He said giddily.

They both walked towards the stables where the horses where located and finally spotted the big emerald colored dragon, eagerly watching the majestic horses from afar.

"Why do you not go near them, Amara?"

Gavin asked, making their presence known to the dragon.

"Hello Gavin. These are gentle creatures, I do not wish to startle them in any way. I am happy to be observing them from afar where they can be themselves." Amara's eyes slowly turned towards Art. "I see you are there as well, Artorias."

Her happy expression turned into a bored one after seeing Artorias Khalil.

"You looked like you were much happier seeing Gavin than me!"

Artorias acted hurt and turned his back around the dragon.

"That is because I am."

Amara said with a chuckle.

Gavin took out some snacks from his backpack and fed it to the dragon.

Amara thanked the Serpent Summoner with a lick on his cheek.

"There, there." Gavin said as he scratched Amara's head.

"It is a good thing that you actually have the gall to put up with my brother, Amara." The Serpent Summoner said jokingly.

"To this day, Gavin, I still do not know why I put up with that blockhead."

Amara the dragon said jokingly.

The Khalil brothers were now riding the emerald dragon on her back, all the while Gavin was busy keeping track of where they were headed.

They were soaring through the clouds. Niflheim was getting smaller and smaller in their field of view.

"Are you sure this map is accurate?!"

Gavin shouted a question to his brother who was just closing his eyes and slowly vibing to the skies.

"Hm? Oh. Yeah. Do not worry about it, we will make sure to burn those hives down the first instance that we see them!"

The Basilisk Slayer exclaimed.

"Were you not paying attention to the old coots at the High Council? We are not to engage in combat, we are only here to do reconnaissance and snuff out where the nearest hives are. So that we are able to study the maturation stages of the hives."

Gavin corrected the Basilisk Slayer.

"Come on, are you really going to believe those guys? They're hacks. Sure, what they do to provide the Barriers are important, but they are self-important pieces of scum as well. Sitting high and mighty after declaring that their years of service has earned them the right to do that. It is detestable, honestly."

Gavin sighed. "I do get what you are saying, brother, but out orders are clear, we should mark the hives' potential locations in the map so that the other Slayers can depart for conquests themselves."

Artorias Khalil scoffed.

"It would still be a waste to go back home and not burn these Angels and their hives to the ground. Do those old coots not understand just how strong we both are?"

The arrogance of the Basilisk Slayer was showing, but it was not without reason. After the Reaper had departed and left the Slayer Corps and Niflheim as a whole, his closest friend and confidant – Artorias Khalil was all alone in his strength power group.

Luken Regalia was the closest thing to Adam Rosa's fighting style and overall finesse in combat that there was right now in the Corps.

Even though Adam Rosa did what he did, it was still commendable of him to take Luken and Gavin under his wing and teach them what it meant to be a mighty warrior serving Niflheim and humanity as a whole.

"How is Luken nowadays?"

Artorias asked his brother.

"He is doing well. I mean, he is doing as well as you would have expected someone like him to do in a role such as a commander." Gavin chuckled. "But on a more serious note, he is still immature and overly playful, yet his feet have filled the role seamlessly."

The Basilisk Slayer stared at the skies and smiled.

"To be honest, Ignis Silva might have been a better candidate and overall fit than Luken." Art's words made Gavin turn his head around. 

"Yet I would still prefer Luken Regalia as the Commander as he is right now rather than the Inferno Garden brat."

He said with a smirk.

"Why is that?"

Gavin was curious, his brother had never told him his feelings about the Commander's replacement.

"Luken Regalia possess something that Ignis does not have. Or rather he does have it but he cannot overtly show it, because of the burden that being a part of the Inferno Garden, not to mention being able to lead it, places on him."

Gavin knew the answer to his brother's words from afar away.

"Humanity, right?"

Gavin answered with an innocent smile.

"Precisely, brother. Take me for example, I would not be able to lead the Corps for long, I am not even a part of an organization at all. Tell me, Gav, how many letters do you think I receive from other orgs asking me to join them?"

"Now you are just bluffing."

His brother replied with a smile.

"No, I am trying to prove a point, dear brother…" He said as he threw out a toothpick down towards the world below.

"The point is that a lot of these organization recruit me because they expect my strength to correlate with my leadership skills and my ability to rally the Slayers. The truth it, I am not that kind of person, you of all people know that much, right, Gavin?"

The Serpent Summoner nodded slowly.

"Ever since we were kids, I have always resented having to work in teams and having to be brought down by other people less talented and understandably less strong than me."

The Basilisk Slayer said while shrugging his shoulders.

"That is because I do not think I will be able to move as freely as I do, I would have to worry about all the miniscule movements and little quirks that my underlings possess. Which means I have to play protection for them while combating all sorts of monsters and Angels outside the gates, and that is just not my style, little brother."

Gavin sighed once again. This time, he was sighing in annoyance. "Have you not told me about this before?"

"Be patient, little brother, I am getting to my point."

He said as he was caressing Amara's head.

"My individual strength might tower over many people and Slayers combined, I am sure that feeling is felt by you and Luken as well as I feel it." He proceeded to clear his throat. "But, do not get me wrong, individual strength and the ability to have the trust of others is another level towards being called 'strong.'"

Gavin understood what he meant now.

That having the ability to fight does not automatically mean that you have the strength to tout your power.. Or maybe he was misreading it altogether.