Chapter 61 Volume II - 27: Madness

Chapter 61 Volume II - Chapter 27: Madness

When I took my first step into one of the wooded areas inside the academy, the silence was so perfect, the atmosphere was so fitting to the scenario I had envisioned that the world was literally screaming at me, 'There is something here, run!'.

And yet, I kept walking.

As I got closer to the location Justin had sent me, I came out into a slight clearing, and even though there were still trees all around, the distance between them was increasing.

When I finally came to the center of this area, I paused, this was exactly the kind of place he would want me to stop.

"Ah, Aiden... you're here!"

I knew it...

I turned toward the sound coming from about five meters to my left and looked at the boy standing there, leaning against a tree.

It was Justin, with his long navy blue hair tied back behind his head as usual, his golden eyes that seemed to sparkle in the middle of the night just like his uncle's, and a mischievous smile on his face.

"I wonder..."

He approached me with slow steps. He was excited. His eyes looked like a child playing with a toy in his hand.

"Why did you betray me, Aiden? Your thoughts, your wit... You really impressed me, I could have put you in a very lucrative position. Your future would have been brilliant..."

After he said that, I started to hear a lot of rustling. About ten people came out of hiding, surrounding me.

I couldn't even notice them without Sith, but I wasn't surprised since this was something I had expected.

"So? Are you going to gather ten to fifteen people and beat me up? Or are you going to get mad at me for saying that, fight me one-on-one, and crush me like an ant?"

Justin burst out laughing after what I said. He was so relaxed that he thought he had me in the palm of his hand.

Don't worry, I'll play your game for a while... I just want to know what you're going to do, what's on your mind.

What are you going to do when the game you thought you were controlling suddenly explodes in your hands?

"No, of course not! That would take the fun out of it."

Justin clapped his hands three times, and then the two boys on my right came out, holding a girl and two boys between them.

I didn't recognize the boys, they were random, but this girl with black hair and dark blue eyes was Olivia Sue Gemma, the girl I had rescued from the bullies a few days before.

Her looks paled in comparison to the likes of Lucia and Alice, who had high charm stats, but the bruises and cuts all over her body took away even her ordinary girl vibe.

She seemed to have difficulty breathing. She might even have broken a few of her ribs, judging by the grimace on her face every time her chest rose and fell.

Seeing her like that made me feel strange, and there were a few different reasons for that.

First of all, I don't know why, but looking at her made me think of my own past for some reason. This was because when I was younger I had been beaten a lot by the elders at the orphanage and was covered in similar bruises. So I could empathize with her, but that wasn't the reason for the strange feeling.

Absolute Mind was activated for no reason, and it was constantly clearing my mind. So even if I empathized with her, these feelings would suddenly disappear as if they were nothing, and a tremendous calmness that could even frighten me would slowly seep into me.

Does remembering the past stress me out? Maybe, I guess...

"Technology has come a long way, Aiden! What do you think would happen if we edited the videos of us beating her and a few other people up, made you look like a bully, and gave the footage to the academy board? Imagine... The 'hero' himself bullies the girl he saved and a few other innocent students! Isn't that great...?"

He seemed amused. But I didn't change my expression an inch thanks to my skill.

"Not only that, if I post the video on the net, you'll be ostracized."

He approached me, put his hand on my shoulder, and smiled wryly.

"And you also had a sister..."

The words I didn't expect to hear from his mouth echoed in my mind, and silence suddenly filled the space.

Suddenly, I was stiffened, as if the dark, infinite emptiness I felt inside because of my skill... had suddenly vanished.

"I can't find her name or where she lives, but I know she exists. Wouldn't it be nice to get some gossip about her?"

I felt something strange surging through me, I felt anger, just the mere mention of Clara had caused it. Just that alone made me want to put Justin down for no reason at all.

I actually had another way of dealing with him. I was going to use Ulka and his family to show him what I could do to him, and I was also going to publish a little something in the media to show him how serious I was, but now; that plan had suddenly completely disappeared from my mind.

I wanted to put him in his place, I suddenly felt the urge to tear him to pieces. And yet I was still where I was, just standing there.

I just looked at Justin's face; expressionless, cold, and calm. I was angry, yet calm, as the harsh, cold winds of November blew past us, and I felt a warmth radiating from my chest to my body.

Justin smiled and looked into my eyes, but when he saw that I was still unresponsive, his smile slowly faded.

"You don't care about any of this?"

I didn't answer his question and continued to stand there.

"It seems... you obviously underestimate me."

Justin took a step back, and turned his back to me, but then suddenly his vision blurred.

I didn't defend myself as I watched the extremely 'sudden' punch coming into my face. It landed directly on my cheek.

Yet I hadn't even moved, the punch hadn't even shaken me, I was still standing like an indestructible tower, and Justin was staring meaninglessly at his fist and then at my cheek.

If this scene had happened a few days ago, I would have collapsed to the ground. Now, as a half-wiera, all my stats had suddenly increased dramatically. So much so that my general level had jumped two grades at once.

So physically there wasn't much difference between me and Justin, and since he was the one who relied on his agility, my stamina and vitality stats might even have been higher than his.

Of course, if we fought, he would beat me without exception. Because I was all about raw strength. I lacked any technique, battle strategy, or experience, and unlike me, he had been training from a young age. He had honed his own abilities to the core and he was still doing it.

"Justin..."

I took a deep breath and fixed my cold eyes on him.

"What do you think people's roles are for other people?"

I looked at Olivia, who looked rather battered, and our eyes met.

She had an expression of being sick of life. I could also strangely read 'regret' on her face.

"No one knows most of the people in the world. Everyone is a stranger to one another, but there are people who know each other. These people can mean a lot to them. One can be a 'savior' for another. Another can be a 'friend' to that person, another can be someone really 'precious' to them."

Justin looked at me blankly, looking puzzled. He must have thought I was stupid or something, but I didn't care.

The heat radiating from my chest to my body was accelerating, I was getting hotter and hotter. The only thing I could do, though, was to keep going.

"My sister is everything to me. The savior of my past. My best friend who listens to my troubles and is the most valuable person in my life. And do you know what I am to her now?"

I could feel it. I could feel the sadness, the grief, the regret, and the anger spreading through my soul.

"I'm a fraud to her now, a liar and a bad brother who broke her heart."

Again I felt an emotion surging through me, a familiar yet distant feeling.

It was not simple anger, it was much more complicated and deeper than that. For the first time, I felt so heavy and found it so hard to speak.

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That notification again... What was that? What did that percentage mean? What was this warmth I felt in my chest...?

Why wasn't the Absolute Mind working, though? Why wasn't it fixing the emotional breakdown I was going through right now?

I don't know... I just feel like I need to keep going.

"When I first helped her, she was like someone clinging to a branch of a tree to keep from falling off a bottomless cliff. So at first, I gave her hope, I helped her climb up that abyss, but then I took that hope away from her in such a way that she fell even deeper than where she used to stand on that abyss on her own." n0velUsb.c0m

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My blood was boiling, my muscles were trembling energetically. I wanted to move, standing still felt like torture.

I wanted to satisfy it all by tearing the person in front of me to pieces.

"Do you think I would send her deeper and deeper into the abyss she still hasn't reached the bottom of?"

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Does the world look strangely purplish, or is it just me?

"Of course not!"

I feel the urge to laugh for no reason, I feel even stranger... as if... I can do anything.

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My vision blurred so that I could barely make out Justin's body, but I kept talking.

"The one thing you shouldn't have done was threaten my sister..."

The person talking... Is it me?

I... Who am I? What am I doing here?

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"I hope you don't die..."

Ah... Right... I remember now.

All I have to do is punish everyone who targeted my sister... The rest is unimportant.

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All I have to do is...

I paused before I could continue my thoughts.

What was I supposed to do? I... can't remember.

I... I feel so bored.

I need to do something... It hurts me to just stand there.

I want to let out this strange energy I feel inside me, to relieve my boredom.

"Ah, I found it!"

My whole world has gone pitch black. I was completely cut off from the outside world. I was just in an endless void, but then a faint purplish glow caught my attention. Then a voice that sounded very similar to mine, but not quite mine, echoed through the void.

"Let's play a game!"

That was the last thing I heard after the purple glow intensified enough to take my sight.