Chapter 292 - Just A Tool

"Things have started to pick up. Let's just see what the future has in store for me."

Arnold mumbled as he headed towards the room allotted to Devon's son, Gary. He had a few things to do, and he was sure Devon would've rushed over to his son as soon as his task was over. Sadly, only disappointment waited for Devon in that room as his son wasn't there. He hadn't been there for a day now, but Devon didn't know that. 

Arnold didn't inform anyone about it, the only exception being Talos. Both of them had been visiting Gary for a couple of days. Arnold could see the difference between the father and the son. Devon was nothing but a cruel and pathetic excuse of a man. His son on the other hand was the complete opposite. Gary didn't care about his life, not one bit. After all, he had already sacrificed himself to save his marine team when the first dungeon popped in the USA. Sadly Gary didn't have any memory of what happened that fateful day. 

Even now, being alive was more like a burden to him than a p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e. Gary had told this to Arnold himself. But after chatting with Arnold, Gary got to know one thing, whether he liked it or not, he was given another life for a reason. And by not accepting it he was disappointing everyone he sacrificed his life for. Within the days he had met Arnold, he had gone from a pale, malnourished, ghoul looking creature to quite a humane looking lad. For the first time, Arnold got to see what Gary truly looked like before his resurrection. 

Within two days, Gary went from being a hunchback goblin to a Disney Prince. He was still hairless and had scales over most of his body, but his sapphire blue eyes took the attention of everyone away from his hairless head. Now standing at 6'1", he could even walk around for about a minute as well. 

No, Arnold's charismatic personality wasn't the reason for Gary's glow up. But a result of the beast research Talos had been doing on the ogres. Arnold hated to admit it, but Gary was just a test subject for him at first. But now, he wouldn't think about Gary that way anymore. 

"At least his body readily accepted the augmentation," Arnold mumbled. 

As he turned the corner to where Gary's previous room was, only to hear Devon yelling and cursing at him. 

"This is gonna be fun." Arnold put on the nastiest smiled he could muster and entered the room, preparing to screw Devon over one more time. 

"What's with all the shouting?"

Devon immediately knew it was Arnold and grabbed him by his collar, "YOU SAID YOU WOULDN'T LAY A FINGER ON HIM!"

Arnold didn't utter a word and kept smiling. 

Arnold smiled while blocking Devon's weak punches. Suddenly, the punches stopped coming. Devon broke down and fell on his knees. 

"Looks like I went overboard with my pranks again... Tsk. Stop weeping, you man-child. Gary's safe. He wanted to surprise you, that's why we shifted his room yesterday."

"You mean he's alive!?" 

"Of course he is. My name isn't Devon Troy and I don't kill innocent people. If I had to kill someone it'd have been you. Now if you wanna see your son then stop crying under your mask and follow me."

"..." 

Devon didn't say a thing. He quickly gathered himself and left along with Arnold to visit Gary. 

****

"How... How did you do it?" Devon mumbled in a weird and emotional voice as Gary hugged him, "I've been trying to months no, years, to heal him completely. Yet you did it in just a couple of days?"

"You're not the only one who had been experimenting with the beast crystals, Dad," Gary told Devon, while Arnold chose to let the father and son have a moment to themselves and stood quietly in the corner. Even though Devon didn't deserve it. Also with the threat of demigods and paladins hanging over his head, he didn't have time to resolve his issues with a human. 

"Yes, dad, Arnold and his robot... I think his name was Talos, they are the ones who helped me get better!"

Devon turned towards Arnold. His movement was so sudden, his mask fell off. Although this wasn't the first time Arnold was seeing Devon's face, it was his first time when Devon's face wasn't bloodied or bruised beyond recognition. 

He had the same oval face cut as his son. His long ash grey hair ran down his tired yet charismatic face. His eyes weren't blue like Gary's but hazel. He had no facial hair either (apart from eyebrows). All in all, Gary had inherited most of his features from his father. 

"Why would you...? After everything, I did to you and countless others... Even after I took your arm away... Why?"

"You've answered your question yourself." Arnold finally broke his silence, "You're the one this world has a problem with, not Gary. You're the one who essentially destroyed our country, not Gary. He was innocent in all of this crap. He shouldn't have been brought back to this shitshow of a world, but since he had been resurrected, I wasn't going to let him suffer either. As for my arm..."

Arnold began flexing his prosthetic/bionic arm, "I think you've given me another one so let's just say we're almost even. Almost. Also, I'm not sure whether you've noticed it or not, but your mask fell off."

"I know." Devon slowly picked up the mask again, "I've always wanted to protect Gary from monsters. And didn't want him to see one either. But by the time I had realised what I was doing, I had already become one such monster. I didn't want Gary to see me and hate me for what I had done. That's the only reason I kept wearing a mask so that I could do what was necessary without hating myself for it. But now, I don't have any use of it."

He threw the mask towards Arnold, "I don't think I'll ever need it again. But you might."

"No need to give souvenir to your enemy." Arnold smiled but kept the mask inside his inventory, "I still need your help Devon, or should I say, your son and I both do."

"We did whatever we could to heal Gary, but as you can see, it wasn't enough. That's the limit to our knowledge about beast crystals. But with your help, we can help Gary go back to his former glory... To his prime."

"And how will it help you? Are you planning on selling the research work or-"

"Money doesn't matter to me, Devon. Strength does."

"But you're already one of the strongest people on earth!"

"It's not enough. Even being the strongest on earth isn't enough."

"What-"

"Let me ask you something Devon, do you believe in Gods?"

"I don't... Never had. But why are you asking this?"

"Because... We're not the only ones involved in the business of dungeons and monsters. Enjoy the rest of your day with Gary, Devon. Starting tomorrow, you have a lot to do." Arnold waved Gary goodbye and left the room. 

Outside the room... 

"Was it necessary to forgive him, master?" Talos asked Arnold as soon as he got out of Gary's new room, "After all, he tried to kidnap lady Nicole."

"Who said anything about forgiving him?" Arnold said with an expressionless face that put even Talos to shame. 

"Then?"

"He's just a tool. A tool when used correctly could enhance our strength manifolds. But that doesn't mean I don't understand why he did, what he did." Arnold gave Devon and Gary a last glance, "If something like that was to happen to Nicole or Nina, I wouldn't hesitate for a second before burning the world to ashes."