Return of the Fallen Volume 12 Chapter 46
Kazuki looked at Codex as if it were dumb.
(What should my reaction be? Should I quake in fear at my own prowess? Should I stop striving for strength and become complacent? The faster my power grows, the better. There’s no reason to freak out and lose my shit. The same goes for you. We are allies, my strength is yours, and yours is mine. Do not fear me Codex. Instead, celebrate knowing you are one step closer to being reunited with your master at this rate.)
(Kazuki, do you not see what you’ve just done? Look around and ask me not to fear you.)
Kazuki gave a casual glance around and saw the ground was covered in scattered parts. Pieces of shell, innards, and green blood blanketed the ground.
(That bug creature had no quarrel with you and was intelligent life. You once saught a path that brought no harm to the innocent. In your excitement to test your new power, you killed something unnecessarily. I don’t know what’s worse, the killing or the fact that you did not even recognize this as a problem in the first place. Tell me Kauzki if you saw someone growing as fast as you and they just killed the way you did, would you not have an ounce of concern.)
Kauzki’s eyes went wide as he realized what he had done.
Even though the creature was a bug monster, it was causing no trouble and was not a threat to him in any way shape, or form yet he had slayed it just to test his own powers. He had to take a step back in thought as it really wasn’t like him to just kill an innocent creature. Sometimes there were accidents and there was collateral damage but this was not it. This was deliberate on his part.
The thing of it all though was that he felt no guilt. So what if he killed a bug, why did it even matter he wondered.
In that thought process though he quickly saw something ugly within himself. This was not him. He could be cold but not this cold.
Kazuki quickly sat down and his eyes slammed shut as he inspected his body and soul. There had been a change, he could feel it. Something inside of him was more callous, more uncaring.
(The fragment. The piece of Arc that fused with me. Could this be the reason I felt nothing killing this creature? I thought the only thing I gained from the Arc’s fragment was a few new abilities but it seems I’ve overlooked something. This piece has only become a fraction of who I am as a whole, yet it changed something fundamentally within me. More so it went completely unnoticed until Codex mentioned it. Arc, what is this, am I going crazy or has there really been a change within me?)
Arc looked Kauzki over one time and just said it.
(Brat, did you think fusing with a piece of an Artifact would have no bearing on what you are? Your humanity…a part of it was completely broken away and destroyed the moment my fragment fused with you. You already knew that you’re no longer 100% human because of this. In the end, a few changes here and there are bound to happen. Just be glad you didn’t get something terrible from me. Though receiving a piece of this almighty one, there’s not a single part of me that could even remotely be considered as flawed. So yeah there are changes but at the same time, you’re welcome. Without my piece, you would not even be alive right now having this pointless chat about self-discovery. I’d say just be grateful and move on before you become bogged down in useless thoughts. Don’t we still have work to do?)
Kazuki was stunned.
But just as quickly as he felt this, the feeling vanished without a trace. Now he recognized that it was the Artifact part of him that was 100% the cause. He wondered how deeply this went exactly r if there would be any further changes. As it stands, it wasn’t actually all that bad. Yes, he killed a creature but it was a monster.
(Monsters are meant to be slayed…It may have not been a threat to me but if something weaker crossed its path, I doubt there would have been mercy shown on the part of the monster. It’s lucky its death was instantaneous and not dragged out. Some have to suffer before they are released from life.)
Codex was disturbed hearing this but had no real argument or rebuttal. How could it say anything? that did not come across as harsh judgment? In the end, it didn’t even care about the creature’s death but rather how easily Kazuki could kill something that bore no ill intent toward him. It knew it could not change Kauzki’s mind so easily with a few sweet words. Codex said nothing else but it observed Kazuki ever closer from this point on.
(Arc is right, I can’t dwell on such pointless things right now. At the same time, just killing things is not who I am and therefore I would ask that if any of you see me going down the wrong path…I would hope you help move me off of said path.)
Arc was nonchalant about it.
(I don’t personally see a problem with it either way. Who cares who you kill or don’t kill? It has no effect on me whatsoever but since you asked nicely, I don’t mind electrocuting you here or there when you are about to slip up, hehe.)
Codex sighed inwardly.
(Right, I don’t care who you take out but getting into the habit of doing something like that means you have no self-control, and someone who lacks self-control, no matter what they say, is, in fact, a danger to their allies. To keep you on track, I as well will help you avoid that path.)
Sword as well began to dance and slash around. It was saying something like, don’t worry, I’ve got you Kazuki.
With all that being said, Kazuki discussed the new plan before he took a step off the ground. The silver wings atop the golden Gauntlet pulsed and vibrated at a high frequency before Kauzki flew forward at blinding speed.
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Deep down beneath the surface of Satruss city, a small group of people was gathered in an underground room. These people sat quietly around a table. Each one a God, and each one incredibly powerful in their own right. Yet down here in the underground, they all looked quite ragged and desperate.
Earlier when Kauzki was in the city, he had sensed everyone around. At that time, he felt a fake smile and no ill intent from any of them, well from almost all of them. There were a handful of individuals that were unlike the others. They felt rage and despair at the same time. It was these people in the underground who he had sensed.
A thinly framed woman sighed. Her sigh was lengthy and drawn out and annoyed a few others. A gruff man with wide shoulders couldn’t stand it and called her out.
“For the love of all things, can you ever stop with that same stupid sigh? You are literally driving me insane.”
The woman was already in a mood and snapped back at the gruff and rough-looking man.
“Are you trying to tell me what I can and cannot do!? You of all people, constantly moving around like an enormous drunk Reaper Bear. Stomp Stomp Stomp. Are you trying to get us caught!?”
The two glared at one another before a man dressed in sky-blue attire stood between the two and kept them away from one another.
“Enough the both of you. We are all frustrated. We’ve been down here for far too long and we are reaching our wit’s end but have you already forgotten what awaits us if we are discovered? Can’t roam around the city can’t leave without being taken. Remember why we have to be cautious. Whatever that thing is, it took over everyone. If we didn’t recognize things when we did, we too would be nothing more than living puppets. We cannot turn on one another now. Our time of escape will one day come, we simply must hold out until then.”
The gruff man pushed away from the finely dressed gentlemen and huffed.
“You think we’ve forgotten. Funny! I watched as all of my friends became mindless fools and when I tried to help, I was almost possessed myself. I could feel my mind dulling and my powers slipping from my own two hands. If I was a second late, I would be no more. Even down here, we are just barely out of that things range of observance but the moment we try and make a move if we try and flee whether underground or high above, it would take notice and we will be no more. Even if we use a Ship, it won’t be quick enough to escape. We all witnessed what happened to those that thought they could flee. Asking me if I forgot, how moronic.”
The woman smiled cruelly.
“At this rate, I think I’d rather take my chances than spend even another moment with this brute of a man.”
The tension rose and just when it seemed like they would really go at one another’s throat, a loud explosion erupted in the city and everything shook.
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