Chapter 194: Broken Boy

Ray was sitting down with his back against a tree, staring at the moon above with shaky eyes, his short, blue hair dancing in the wind. 

He was positive that the retrieval team would arrive and arrest him any second now. Yet, at the same time, he was not entirely certain since he had long given up checking the time, what had been only 40 minutes seeming more like an eternity from his perspective...

It had been a long time since the yellow barrier surrounding the area was shattered but he had yet to move from his exact location, that was because he felt like there was no reason to... He knew that no matter where he ran, in the end, there would be no escape. His fate had already been decided so he had chosen to make it easier on himself and simply accept it.

At first, he was filled with joy, when the barrier was shattered, he assumed that it represented the miracle of Moby's victory. However, now that it had taken so long with no news from either side, he was forced into rethinking his previous assumption, his thoughts of victory turning more and more morbid.

He now thought that the lack of contact no doubt represented Moby's loss, and now that they had won, they had already left the area, destroying the barrier in the process. 

And, now that they had captured their target, Moby, they did not bother coming back for him since he was now of no use to them, a bait and nothing more.

'Maybe I should have chosen to be a hostage… maybe I should have just killed myself... that would have at least saved him… Now we are both going to die…' Ray thought, a crazy look of madness in his eyes. 

He had gone through such a rollercoaster of emotions only in the last 2 hours than he had in his entire life, seeing his life flash right before his eyes multiple times as he felt the air of death surrounding him where ever he looked. Only when staring at the moon did he feel like his heart was somewhat at peace, but even then he could not shake off the feeling of craziness and despair that lurched deep down in his soul.

Ray had given up all hope… Not only did he fail at protecting one of his only friends in many years, but now he was also about to be executed for his actions. He was the one that should have paid the price, not him… 

Moby was once an abilityless F rank that had gone through more pain and torment than he could ever imagine, and now he was a powerful, kind-hearted, talented person that had both the strength and motivation to do great things. On the other hand, he was just a weak, broken little kid that had no motivation outside making friends and was not strong enough to protect himself or reach his aspirations. 

Moby's life was truly an inspiration to him... Unlike many other people, he did not see him as a person saved from a life of torture due to luck, but from his perseverance and hard work that was unmatched by anyone he knew.

In his mind, Moby's life was undoubtedly far more important than his own… 

'No wonder nobody ever wanted to be friends with me… I bring bad luck everywhere I go…' He thought, laughing heartily at himself.

*Crack*

Suddenly, a noise came from the forest… The sound of a tree branch cracking straight to his right. 

Other than the cry of the odd animal, it was the first sound that Ray had ever heard in the past hour. So, it somewhat piqued his interest since he assumed that his time was up at last and the retrieval team had finally arrived.

With lazy eyes, he moved his vision that was once focused on the moon to the area where he heard the sound coming from.

Thanks to his still working night vision goggles, he was able to witness everything ahead of him clear as day. 

In front of him was a large man, his bulging muscles easily seen through his heavy dark blue armour, the black bandana on his forehead emphasizing the obnoxious red hair that spiked up above his head. 

Unlike what he had assumed, it was not the retrieval team… No, far from it...

Ray was able to recognize that man at but a glance… How could he not when he was forced to live and suffer with him for over the past week? 

It was none other than Jason… A crazy, predator-like, twitchy smile on his face that looked slightly more damp than usual, walking rather stiffly in his direction.

Seeing him walking towards him ready to devour him, no injuries on his body like he had no care in the world only confirmed his earlier suspicions that Moby did in fact lose as he feared.

However, that revelation did not surprise him in the slightest since he had already come to terms with the outcome long ago. He was foolish to think otherwise, there was no way in hell Moby was able to defeat 2 A rank students fighting him, both being equal or above his power level. Even if not all at once, he would have been too drained from the first fight to even stand a chance in the second one.

What did truly surprise him was the fact that his earlier assumption of him having no more value to them was completely false, proven by Jason who he knew was no doubt there to take him along with him.

"So you came back!? Did you not have enough the last time? What do you want to fucking do to me now huh? You want to make me a full-time sweatshop worker!?" Ray yelled with mad, over the top hand movements, the craziness in his distorted smile and uncanny eyes growing wider and more immense as he spoke.

'Heh… Maybe working under them for a bit longer would not be so bad, they might be able to save me from the school's wrath… Plus, now I could be able to meet up and join forces with Moby again, and maybe we could take them out together from the inside… Maybe the heavens have not forsaken us after all!' Ray thought, his jittery smile that radiated pure madness growing even wider on his face as he started to laugh like a mad-man seemingly out of nowhere.

Yet, for some reason, he could not shake the feeling that there was something definitely off…

Despite Ray's clearly deranged provocations, Jason did not at all react, making him extremely confused. 

The Jason he knew would have snapped, both figuratively and literally, mocking and belittling him with an amused laugh. So, why now of all times was he quiet? It made absolutely no sense to him. It was almost like he was an entirely different person.

However, that confusion did not last for long as it was quickly answered by Jason who had now lifted his right hands, putting his index against his thumb ready to snap, making Ray laugh in the realization that he was most likely low on time and just wanted to beat his ass before yelling at him when they got out of the forest, making his already disturbing laughter somehow even louder and far more grave.