Right now, that obstacle was looking down, avoiding Sunny's gaze. His hand was resting on the sword handle. As always, the young slave had no idea about what was going on inside Hero's perfectly shaped head.
"Can you stop glazing?" Athena asked.
("Sybau.đ„đ„đ„" Sunny responded, the roses at the end appeared simply from his grand dormant will comparable to the sovereigns, appearing even to the people sitting in the teather that did not read but heard his voice.)
The uncertainty was making him nervous.
Finally, after some time had passed, the soldier spoke:
"I have only one question."
Both Sunny and Scholar stared at him while holding their breaths.
"Yes?"
"You said that one of us must be sacrificed to save the other two. Why him? From what I see, you are far closer to the grave."
Athena nodded, "exactly what I said." (Previous chapter, dummy. Not that long ago.)
"Akshually, you said that he is far more exhausted. Not closer to death, a small but important distinction." Mordret replied to the glutton.
'A great question! I was just about to ask it myself.'
Sunny turned to the older slave, trying very hard to suppress a mocking grin. But to his dismay, Scholar had an answer ready.
Caster snorted, "deserved, you mongrel."
"I hope it'll feel painful, when you'll turn comes" Sunny whispered, his spitefulness fully visible to mordret who smiled.
"Before the first attack, he was already bleeding because of your senior's whip. During the attack, he was drenched in the blood of a fellow slave. His cloak, too, was soaked in it when the previous owner died. The boy already reeks of blood. Keeping him alive will put us in danger. That's why he is the best choice."
"That's also valid." Athena said, making Sunny's neck Crack as he moved it to face her couple rows down while also to the side.
"Just get your daily calorie intake glutton! I see your future already as one of those dirty warmongers and helping them!" Sunny whispered full of malice.
The grin died before reaching Sunny's face.
'Curse you and your big brain!'
Scholar's reasoning was appallingly solid. Hero listened, his expression growing darker with each word. Finally, he looked at Sunny, a dangerous light shining in his eyes.
"That is true."
Mordret gripped his chest, as if he was getting a heart attack, "no, th-this can't be... you can't die yet my friend... we didn't yet destroy those dirty warmongers together! Noooo!"
Noctis patted him on the back, saying that it'll be alright... "we'll do it on our own, I in my time and you in ours, we'll extinguish the lives of those filthy warmongers for ourselves and our dear friend... May he rest in piece... one piece... is real!"
"I---I am still alive..." Sunny looked at the two of them beside them, a drop of sweat trailing down from his forehead...
"It's... it's almost like his still here, I hear his voice!" Mordret said
"It's alright... it's all in your mind, a mere genjutsu... a genjutsu of that level shouldn't work on you..."
"I can still see him...! His ghost..."
"Than just bleach your eyes"
(Give me the shotgun, I'll do it myself.)
Sunny just sighed... jet in turn could not stop laughing.
Sunny felt his mouth getting dry. Cold sweat was running down his spine. He tensed, ready to actâŠ
But at that moment, Hero smiled.
"Your logic is almost unassailable," he said, unsheathing the sword. "However, you failed to account for one thing."
"Oh, maybe this isn't the end but rather the beginning after the end!"
"It might be his solo arc... solo leveling arc... till he meets one of us to destroy the warmongers."
"He'll have to be the lord of mysteries till than, guarding our plans..."
"Some might think his going insane... an reverend kind of insanity..."
"He just needs to be careful, otherwise we'll have to make a new plan to bury those warmongers and redo it from zero... re:zero..."
"But first he'll end up in a classroom preparing for the dream realm, an classroom of the elite perhaps...?"
"Let's just hope he won't become an steward while also a demonic emperor!"
"I doubt that he would ever become a steward! The bigger problem would be if he became a part of a count's family... the trash of the count's family..."
"It would be truly an tragedy, almost as big of a tragedy as if he would die... and be reborn as a slime... that time he was reborn as a slime"
"Let's hope he has a perfect run!"
(I'm actually gonna end it all.)
Scholar raised an eyebrow, trying to hide his own nervousness.
"What might that be?"
Some were actually interested in what the scholar missed instead of the antics of the back row.
The young soldier turned to face him, the smile disappearing from his face. Now, he was radiating thick, practically palpable killing intent.
"It's that I know who you are, Your Grace. I also know what you've done, and how you ended up a salve. Just one of the revolting crimes you have committed would be enough to make me want to kill you. So if there is someone among us who deserves to be sacrificed⊠it's you."
"Yes! Sunny is saved!" Mordret exclaimed, teary eyed, probably because he rubbed his eyed so much they became red and can to some extent cry on call... but he still was teary eyed...
Scholar's eyes widened.
"But⊠but the smell of blood!"
"Don't worry about it. I'll make you bleed enough to overpower whatever residual scent the boy carries."
"Truly too merciful to be one of them filthy, disgusting, barbaric, worthless, glory seeking, warmongers!"
"I'm telling you, he is just a spy, a spy in a family... of warmongers."
"He's a hero... a my hero... academia..."
"He just might jujutsu all over our kaisen..."
"Let's hope he'll get a clover... a black one because of the darkness of the shadows that our dear friend is tied to..."
"This is truly our bizarre adventure!"
(Bizarre adventure of my reverend insanity, I'm gonna end it after this... don't pay attention to this too much.)
It all happened so fast that Sunny barely had time to react. Hero lunged forward with a speed that seemed almost inhuman. A moment later, Scholar was shrieking on the ground, his leg broken with one strike from the flat side of the young soldier's sword. Not giving him an opportunity to recover, Hero stomped on his other leg, and a sickening sound of shattering bones could be clearly heard. The shriek turned into a sobbing howl.
"This spy is truly great, too great to be with the warmongers... I hope that the worst fate befalls those that sent him to spy with those vile creatures of war..." mordret said...
Noctis nodded... "I feel he's Fated for great deeds... God slaying feats even maybe. Truly as noble as it gets... unlike those filthy obnoxious warmongers." Noctis continued...
"Why do the two of you even think he is a spy?" Morgan said, "do you two think that only people that are part of the war domain could be inhuman?"
"Aha, so you admit it that you warmongers are also inhuman?" Mordret exclaimed.
"What kind of... logic spinning is this?" Morgan questioned, appalled.
Just like that, Scholar was done for.
The brutality of Hero's actions was in such stark contrast with his usually graceful demeanor that Sunny felt blood turning to ice in his veins. This was⊠scary.
"Those filthy warmongers are already infecting him with their brutality! It might be too late to save him... atleast he was a part of our noble cause..." mordret shed a tear...
The soldier gave him a calm look and said in a placid tone:
"Wait for me here."
Then he grabbed the older slave and dragged him down the path, soon disappearing behind a rock outcropping. After a few minutes, terrible screams could be heard echoing through the wind.
Cassia was frozen, a hand before her mouth that was open from shock... aiko wanted to go back to her gambling den... Kai wanted to go back to the hell that was the dreamrealm...
On the other hand... there were also those filthy warmongers like Morgan who were silently screaming for blood like ravens... and the beast God was supposedly the blood God... filthy creatures...
Sunny was left alone, trembling.
'Crap! This is⊠this is too much!'
He still couldn't believe how sudden Scholar's demise came to be. And how ruthless it was.
"It's gonna be the same like the demise of the warmongers, believe it!" Mordret exclaimed.
At this point even the sovereign, ki song was getting annoyed from a couple rows down, king of warmongers on the other hand didn't care or seemed not to care... too busy being a filthy warmonger.
Some time later, Hero was back, acting as though nothing had happened. But it was exactly that normalcy that unnerved Sunny the most.
After sorting through the contents of Scholar's rucksack and throwing most of the firewood out, the young soldier put it over his shoulder and nonchalantly turned to the young slave:
"Let's go. We need to hurry."
Not knowing what to say, Sunny gave him a nod and headed forward.
"Good job sunny, just don't let your guard down just yet. It might not work with him!" Mordret said, a smile on his face again.
Sunny just facepalmed,
Now there were only two of them left.
It was sort of stupid, but Sunny suddenly felt lonesome.
Noctis smiled, "Don't worry sunny, you have us! We are like family and family can do everything together!"
Sunny was thinking of how much better it would be if he wasn't a part of this 'family'.
Walking on the stone path was much easier than scaling the mountain wall. He even had time for unnecessary thoughts. A strange feeling of melancholy descended on Sunny⊠somehow, he began to feel that the end of this nightmare, whatever it might be, was not far off now.
They walked in silence for some time before Hero spoke.
"Don't feel guilty about what happened. It's not your fault. The decision was mine, and mine alone."
"Indeed sunny, the same way that the decision to slaughter those warmongers is ours and only ours!"
Sunny just sighed... it was becoming a bit unfunny...
The young soldier was a few steps ahead, so Sunny couldn't see his face.
"Besides, if you knew this man's sins⊠actually, it's better that you don't. Just trust me when I say that killing him was an act of justice."
"Now I wonder what crimes he committed..." nephis said aloud.
"He called him grace... so a high official... seeing that it was thanks to crimes instead of invasion seems to point into the direction of him being from the old war domain..." Cassia mused aloud along with nephis...
"Exactly as I said, he can only be a warmonger like the rest of those lecherous vile creatures." replied (I forgot who said this bit in the previous chapter and am too lazy to check)
'I wonder which one of us feels guilty.'
These people⊠always trying to rationalize their actions, always desperate to maintain an illusion of righteousness even while doing most foul things. Sunny hated the hypocrisy.
"Don't blame him sunny, it's the infectious influence of the war domain and its filthy residents!" Noctis said.
Not getting an answer, Hero chuckled.
"You don't like to talk, do you? Well, fair enough. Silence is gold."
Noctis nodded, "and speech is silver!" (Ginkaku from naruto(I know most of you uncultured swines don't know so I decided to tell you all where from, truly the most gracious to grace the earth.))
They didn't speak again after that, each preoccupied with their own thoughts.
The sun was setting, painting the world into a million shades of crimson. This high up, the air was clean and crisp, pierced by streams of scarlet light. Below them, a sea of maroon clouds was slowly rolling past the mountain. The stars and the moon had begun to reveal themselves in the vermillion sky.
It was quite beautiful.
"What are you saying Sunless? It's disgusting, it reminds me of those disgusting and vile crimson capes they have, it makes me want to puke." Mordret said, decisively. Noctis nodded putting his hands around his body almost protectively.
However, Sunny could only think about how cold it was going to be once the sun fully disappears.
Before that happened, Hero had found them a shelter. Not far from the path, hidden behind some tall rocks, was a narrow crevice that extended into the slope of the mountain. Happy to be safe from the piercing wind, they explored the crevice and ended up in a small, well-concealed cave.
Sunny made a move to unbundle some firewood, but Hero stopped him with a shake of his head.
"Today we will camp without making a fire. The beast is too close."
Camping without the warm flames to keep them company was not going to be pleasant, but at least they weren't going to freeze to death inside the cave. In any case, the alternative was too frightening.
(It's just a mere tyrant, Sunny. If it's your will to kill it, who will dare to stop it?(yes, as a nephis and cassia hater i am mocking nephis, did i mention that i hate nephis and cassia?(i hate disgusting warmongers more(agenda slave?))))
Sunny sat down, putting his back against the cave's wall. Hero settled opposite of him, looking downcast and thoughtful.
He was obviously in a strange mood. If nothing else, it was apparent from the fact that today, for the first time, the young soldier had failed to care for his sword after making camp.
Soon, the sun was gone, and their small cave became completely dark. Sunny, of course, could still see perfectly well; Hero, on the other hand, was now completely blind.
In the darkness, his handsome face looked noble and, for some reason, sorrowful. Sunny studied it, not willing to fall asleep.
"No... no... don't do it hero-kyunn!" Noctis screamed.
It was now, mordrets turn to comfort noctis...
After a while, Hero suddenly spoke in a quiet voice:
"You know, it's strange. Usually, I can feel someone's presence even in absolute darkness. But with you, there's nothing. It's like you are just one of the shadows."
With only silence to answer him, he smiled.
"Are you asleep?"
"N-no... it can't be... hero-Kyunn will betray us and kill sunny!" Noctis screamed in agony, his voice pained. His
The question echoed in the darkness. Sunny, who had never spoken with Hero unless there was an urgent need to, and even then only using a few words at best, felt like there was a strange intimacy between them now. That's why he decided to talk. Maybe the darkness gave him courage.
Besides, there was an occasion.
"Why? Are you waiting for me to fall asleep before you kill me? Or will you do it