Chapter 60: From person to person.

Chapter 60: From person to person.

"Katush." (Water.)

1,100,067,928.

The word fell from Gabriel’s lip, becoming a wisp of violet-black mana that scattered across the lake that now pooled all around him.

"Katush."

1,100,067,918.

With every utterance, the looming number shrank. It was honestly just tiny increments, but it shrank nonetheless. Thus, the water rose without end, thus magic drowned the mountains.

"Katush."

1,100,067,908.

He just needed to speak the words. With each utterance, the souls swirling ceaselessly within him were ground up, burnt down until nothing remained.

"Katush."

1,100,067,898.

Souls became mana. Souls became strength. He felt it within him, welling up with each utterance as he pushed it further. Each soul became mana. Each soul empowered the spell they were burned into.

The water around Gabriel moved. He could feel waves wash against him, water rushing over his arms as if it wanted to bring him down. The claw moved. He could see it cut through the air as it shot towards him.

A dark yellow orb met it before it could reach him. The liquid splashed against its scales and then evaporated, a bright smoky flower forming above it before collapsing onto it. The smoke slithered across its entire body, digging into even the smallest gap in its scales to bore into its body. For a moment, its movements grew stiff and twitchy, a tremble running through all its fingers as the energy leaking out from it shrank.

Poison was something that acted against the facilities necessary for life, that was how it was in Gabriel’s past world and it was how it was in this world. Thus, the poison that Teresa threw out to protect Gabriel was capable of more than just attacking the nerves of the claw, it could also hamper its mana.

A rumbling soon followed after the claw was forced to slow down. Arioch had arrived above it and brought it down, lumps of earth clumped around the arm that smashed the claw back down to the ground. They hadn’t allowed their shock to get the best of them and acted accordingly, thus giving Gabriel the time to keep going further.

"Katush."

1,100,067,895

A band of mercenaries.

"Katush."

1,100,067,894

A wise king.

"Katush"

1,100,067,893

A killer on death’s row.

"Katush"

1,100,067,892

A widow trying to raise her children.

"Katush"

1,100,067,891

A princess abandoning her own happiness to save her country.

"Katush"

1,100,067,890

A rapist escaping from his most recent crime scene.

"Katush"

1,100,067,889

"Gabe...I’m so... Gabriel, I, I, I... You have no id... I didn’t mean...Gabriel..."

She stumbled over her words. Couldn’t get out a single complete sentence. The voice he was so used to had become hoarse to the point that it sounded as if she had torn her throat. The face that previously almost looked frozen in time was now a mess of tears and snot. The hand that clutched his was colder than the snow, colder than the ice that used to be here.

Red and violet against a backdrop of grey, with a tinge of blue. The colours she had painted onto his world... they were currently twisting, and it was because of him. The hand she was trying to hold reached out and he touched her face.

"Real..."

Soft skin, just slightly warmer than her hands. It was a bit springy to the touch, bouncing back after he pushed it down.

"Real..."

Her eyelashes tickled his finger as he swept across them. Her forehead was wet, either from sweat or from the torrential downpour he created.

"Real..."

Her lips were softer than the cheek he just touched, a little moist, kept warm by the breaths that leaked from her mouth.

"Real..."

He traced her face like a blind man trying to see. Perhaps it would be strange to say, but everything he touched had substance, everything he touched reacted to him.

Yes... This was real. This world. Those knights. This person. Those tears. They weren’t words on a page, they weren’t words and characters in a show. They were people. They were Alice. They were her tears. And he... He was Gabriel. Another person in the world.

His hand rested on Alice’s cheek. He heard the sounds of battle a bit away from them so the others were probably taking this chance to assault the claw. They found out that it could bleed, so they knew that it could die.

But right now, Gabriel’s eyes didn’t leave Alice. He was looking at her, the mouth that kept opening and closing, the tearful eyes that looked back at him. He wanted to speak, to comfort her as he used to do when she cried. But what to say?

He pondered. What would be fitting? What would be a good thing to say? He thought of a lot of comforting words, soft things to say that would prove that he was alright. But none of them would leave his mouth. His gaze rose again for a moment, catching a glimpse of that bright blue spot above.

Looking at that little circle, his hand left Alice’s face and fell back down to the water. He was sprawling now, like a kid about to make snow angels. He stopped thinking about the best thing to say. And yet, his mouth opened.

"You know, Alice? I used to think that the world was nothing but white and grey as far as the eye could see."

For the first time since he awoke in this world, he spoke to Alice properly. From person to person, from human to human. This girl that made a human, he wanted to speak with her.

"I hate white and grey. They’re dull, they’re lifeless, they made the world dull and lifeless. There was just nothing, no matter where I looked. Nothing. No one. What’s the point in living like that, Alice?"

A whim. The walk up the stairs, the walk to the edge of the roof, the final step. A whim, always a whim. Because what’s the point? Everything was dull, everything was worthless.

"Just moving from mission to mission, moving around like a husk between each one. It was all dull, all pointless. But at least in the missions I had a purpose, I had a use. But even they were grey, even that purpose was white. It was all just dull, lifeless. So how could I not just act on the whims that struck me? It wasn’t like there was a point in any of it anyway, may as well just do it and see what happens."

A life that supposedly had purpose, after he was thrown away he realized that even all of that was just white and grey. The dull and lifeless world, he was just another part of it.

Even here. A whim. Make this pitiful villainess happy. He had nothing else so he may as well just do that, he may as well just cling to that so that he could pretend like he had a mission, a purpose. At least, if he was a dagger again he would be able to forget everything else again.

White. Grey. Dull. Lifeless. Such was his world. Such was his life. Be it this world or the last.

"But the world’s not really like that, Alice. You showed me that. Where there was once nothing but white, I suddenly found colours. Where there was once nothing but emptiness I found emotions. Where there was once nothing but missions I found desire."

And yet... Red looked down at him. Violet cascaded over her shoulders. Colours. Dark and powerful, bright and piercing. They had snuck into his world. She took that grey and the dull and she painted it over with her own colours. With her hand she did something he had never managed before, she gave life to the lifeless.

"I was a tool, Alice. If you’d just left me be I would have been a great sword, I would have been a page on which you could write your assured victory and long life."

She was crying. In fact, ever since he started talking she was crying more than before. The same tears as earlier, the same miserable face. So how come he felt that he could understand that these tears were different?

Happy... She was happy now. She cried harder because she was happy, she felt more joy than she felt sorrow. Gabriel’s hand rose from the water again, colourful drops falling from his fingers. He held it up slightly, almost as if presenting it. For a moment, his gaze drift past Alice again.

A tinge of blue high above. A little safe haven from the grey that rained down petals of white. He did that. It wasn’t someone else, it was him. With his hands, he tore it up. With his hands, he tipped over the bucket of paint.

"My grey and white world, Alice. You painted it red and violet, like a flower in full bloom. You gave a tool life, you turned a page into words."

This world... He was a part of it, he was influencing it. The dull. The lifeless. He could change it. He could take colours and paint it all. And perhaps... For one person he had already done just that.

"I want to live, Alice. I want to paint. My world. Your world. I want to paint them, I want to see how many colours there really are hidden behind all that dull white and grey."

Gabriel. Alice. Teresa. Lawrence. Trisha. He felt like he wanted to paint, he wanted to add colour. He could paint the world, he could change the dull. So he wanted to leave a bit of his colour there. And this girl in front of him, who once undoubtedly saw the same world as him... He wanted to paint hers the most.

"You painted my world, Alice. Will you teach me how to paint?"

Back when they were children, she asked for his hand and he offered it so that he could have a mission. Now, he offered his hand again. Of his own volition. Of his own desire. For his own desire. And in response, a familiar pair of fingers wrapped around his, a smile that couldn’t be covered by tears adding a bit more colour to his world.