“Good, you’re awake.” Said Paul looking down at him, his eyes heavy with judgement and his posture equally telling, his face uncomfortable with strain as he tried to pull his leg loose, pretending to not feel any pain as his leg began to fracture.
Seraph relaxed a bit upon seeing it was his father, his adrenalin subsiding and with it the majority of his anger, though still noticeably angry as his wraith abated so too did his strength. He relaxed his hold on the limb before freeing it all together, but the glaring continued as he looked away to wipe the dust from his face, and looked away to erase the evidence that he had been crying.
If Paul noticed the tears he didn’t say anything, instead focusing on the hard look Seraph seemed intent on giving him. Paul spoke, his voice sharp and accusing “I don’t know why you’ve got that look on your face kiddo. If anyone should be upset it's me and Erin. You were on guard and you went to sleep without waking your relief. If you were that tired, you could have woken me up, I would have taken over it wasn’t a big deal, but falling asleep on guard is a big deal. I know you never served, but I tell you, that’s a hard no, you can’t do that, lives depend on it, literally lives depend on it.”
Seraph looked away from Paul, the edge in his father’s eyes was uncomfortable for him, grating on his nerves and the logic behind it was not something he could easily argue away because it was true, he had fallen asleep. But he had fallen asleep in a designated safe zone, whatever the danger outside didn't matter as the dungeon had always honored safe zones.
No, forget it, he looked back at Paul and matched the look. Whatever his father might think, there was far more at stake than his pride and sense of duty as father or whatever this was and though Seraph kept reminding him, Paul kept forgetting that Seraph had lived decades longer than him already, even if his body was still that of a teen.
As Seraph looked into Paul’s eyes he knew the truth of things, the truth he had been ignoring. A truth he could feel deep in his bones, whatever bond of teamwork and companionship between them had existed was severed, if it had ever truly existed.
He knew the half truth of the lie of his resurrection was already unraveling, not because of its unbelievability but because of the over familiarity the others had towards him. He was young in body only, having already outlived both of them in the other timeline, and though his current hands and body were unscathed and unbloodied, his past shelf had waded through rivers of blood and survived not just one battle, but an innumerable number of battles over the decades.
As Paul’s glaring eyes bore into him, his face contorted in anger as he impatiently waited for a response from Seraph.
"Pathetic”. He thought as he decided to say nothing as he shifted his eyes to the other remaining member of their party Erin, and in her eyes she held the same edge as his father, her eyes darting back and between him and Paul searching for his father's approval. Within those eyes a familiarity that hinted of more between them than just the shared trauma of their current experience.
“When did they have time for that?” Mused Seraph.
Seraph shook his head in disgust, his face heavy with judgement of the two as they barely concealed their recent pairing.
“Hey” Interrupted Paul. “Look at me, don’t look at her for an out, look at me I’m the one that's your dad." It was clear to Paul, he knew that Seraph knew that something had happened between him and Erin, and the judgement he saw infuriated him.
Erin reached out a calming hand to Paul and finished the thought. "Its because one of us is missing Lucas, we can’t find Alexander and you were the last one awake and the last one to see him. We’re just worried when we woke up and went to find him”.
“Ah.” Thought Seraph, his face without emotion and showing no response to what they were saying. “That explains it, that explains all of it. They're suspicious of me, they must think I’ve done something to him or let something happen to him. Not completely a leap to make certainly and it was true, he had in a sense disposed of Alexander by sending him to the next phase of the tutorial, but they didn’t need to know all of that.”
“Yeah, he left of his own." Explained Seraph. "I was the last one to see him, he waited till you were all asleep and all but jumped me as I was searching through the nurses room back there for anything we might use. I was able to keep the medicine and the helmet I found, be he took the tokens from the room and left us behind.”
Paul and Erin looked at each other for a moment, the story sounded plausible enough to not question heavily, it was enough for Paul, and Seraph noted his father didn’t look like he had anything further he wanted to say.
It was Erin who first broke the awkward silence that had fallen between them all. “So he just what, grabbed them and took off?” She asked.
“Well no, not really.” Replied Seraph. “First he checked to see if I can find anything he wanted to steal and take with him, and then he took the tokens I'd found and then moved on. Important distinction, he tried to rob me first.”
Her gaze grew more suspicious and Seraph decided not to press further with his story. Meanwhile, Paul went to the nurses room to see if the story checked out as Seraph had described it.
“Maybe you're right, I see his footprints go into that room alongside yours, the two boxes on the bed I’m guessing that's where you found the tokens and the helmet you were talking about. Did you find anything else?” Asked Paul.
“I did, when I was in the principal's office I came across this report.” Responded Seraph as he quickly stood up and Erin recoiled from him as he reached into the interior of his overcoat, touching the guild mark as he did to reactivate the glamour placed upon the report and instead of pulling out the leather book, he pulled out the far bulkier grim covered binder and placed it on the counter for them to view.
Erin reached out to grab it as Paul stood behind her and peered over her shoulder to read this. “This is just blank papers” They both said in unison, clearly annoyed by what they thought was Seraph playing games with them. It was not lost on Seraph that suddenly Erin and his father were a team working together, nor was the way they seemed to be gravitating towards each other. He would need to do something about that, women could be a distraction and Seraph did not need his father distracted.
“It didn’t use to be” Replied Seraph as another lie easily flowed from his lips. “When I came across the report I promise you it wasn’t blank paper. This was written by somebody named Timothy Reverend in a version of the future that has yet to come to pass. He was the principal of this school and his job was to study the green haze outside, he referred to it as a miasma, but also as Wormwood. When I was done reading it, the words on the pages disappeared.”
Erin looked at him suspiciously but Paul just nodded his head, questions prepared. “Why did he need to study that? When we first got here you called those things out in the green mist Infernals right? Wouldn’t that be dangerous for him?”
Seraph nodded. “Absolutely it would be dangerous, his report read that he actually lost his hand when he reached into the miasma. He said he was forced to sever his arm and that when it fell to the ground it actually sprouted legs and walked away on its own.”
The two adults shuddered at the thought. Likely thinking of vivid images in their head of spider like appendages on a walking severed limb. It was not the most pleasant of thoughts.
“Well that horrifying disclosure aside, did you learn anything else?” Asked Erin.
Seraph nodded. “I did. This Reverend wrote that he had planted something called a dungeon seed within this school, in hopes I'm guessing to get the school under the influence of the dungeon and maybe try to connect this place to the main dungeon hub to evacuate the students.”
“Was he successful?” Asked Paul? “Did it work?”
Seraph could only shake his head for now before answering. “I don’t think so, I have no memory of his success, and this is the first I've heard of planting a dungeon seed. I've my guesses about what that means but I'm pretty sur
e we need to find it. What's more, I don't think we're alone here.
"What do you mean, alone here?” Questioned Paul “Like do you mean we're not alone here like there's more monsters like what we saw then gymnasium?"
“I wouldn’t rule out more monsters, not even for a second, but not what I meant.” Replied Seraph. “I mean like the people who were left behind, I think are still here. What I read heavily implied that when the green miasma the warm would spread this far the kids who were still going to school sheltered in place here the principal was their caretaker their family said abandoned them.”
“What? That doesn’t make any sense Lucas.” Interjected Erin. “Why would their parents just abandon them, or did things just get that bad?”
Search shook his head and ignored the continual casual use of his real name and instead looked at Paul “What I read said the kids weren't abandoned by their parents for safety reasons. What I read said the kids were abandoned by their parents because they were handicapped or their parents just didn't have enough resources to keep them alive. The principal this reverend had been their caretaker.”
Paul clenched his jaw and ground his teeth at this revelation, his fists clenched in anger his body showing signs of irritation as a parent who of a handicapped child who until very recently hadn't been able to walk he had zero sympathy towards those who would abandon their children. But whatever angry thoughts he had he kept to himself his body language said more than enough, and in that contradiction of behaviors Seraph found confusion.
“Alright. SO What are we supposed to do about it? Shouldn’t we just try to find more of those tokens and move on?” Asked Erin.
“We look for them.” Responded Seraph with cool indifference. “If they were left behind, they might still be here, and if we can, we save them.”
Seraph didn’t truly think that the students who had been left behind were still alive, but he did expect to likely find their bodies, it would take nothing effort wise to take care of the bodies and put them to rest, a venture that he was positive his father and Erin would support. A venture that would let him further explore without hindrances of his companions second guessing his motives, while allowing him the presence of allies to minimize his personal risk, what he needed to do was find the dungeon seed.
“If you’re so interested in risking your life, you can go first.” Said Erin mockingly as she motioned toward the door. “I agree with her.” Said Paul quickly. “We should just look for these tokens and be gone, I don’t think it's safe here anymore in this, graveyard or whatever it is.”
Seraph looked at one and then the other, a brief look of surprise on both of their faces as Seraph pushed past them. He didn’t have time for this, and whatever internal debate Seraph may have been having about whom to kill and not kill, this woman had condemned herself, she wasn’t going to be leaving this place, she had become a liability.
As he opened the door to step out into the hall, hands shot out and pinned him to the wall. His father’s hands. Seraph with a cool look of indifference in his eyes looked into his fathers face, contorted, red, and ugly with anger yelling “What the hell is wrong with you.”
Seraph didn’t respond, scum like this didn’t deserve an answer. As he jerked his body to get free, his father applied even more pressure to keep him in place, the veins in his arms starting to bulge as he strained his muscles. “I’m still your dad. You can’t just do whatever it is you want to do, I won’t allow it, no son of mine is going to act this way.”
Rage flooded through Seraph’s veins as once again his physical prowess was multiplied by the power of his dark heart ability, as the power flooded his body so too did his awareness, he grew in stature and in build, seeing the changes Paul recoiled in fear and withdrew his hands from his Seraph’s body as elsewhere a glow of white light began to build up as Erin tried to back Paul up.
Thinking the matter settled Seraph turned to leave, only to see his father spring forward in an attempt to tackle him to the floor. For Seraph it was a reminder of how little they took him serious. His father may have served in the military, but what is a few years in the Army verse a lifetime of combat in the dungeon. Seraphs hand coiled into a fist, and he threw a vicious hook that connected with his fathers jaw that sent the man sprawling unconscious to the floor of the office. If Paul had still been a regular human the punch would have killed him instantly, severing his brain from his spinal cord and rupturing all of his internal organs from the impact as the kinetic energy dispersed throughout his body. Instead, the man would sleep it off, and in a few short hours his body would finish repairing the damage, and he would wake up.
Seraph pulled out 10 tokens for Paul to use once he woke, for whatever comes next, they would be going their separate ways, and in spite of everything, Seraph did not want his father to die.
As he finished placing the tokens, the white light that had been building up finally exploded. A light that blinded all of those who would see it except the caster, in this case Erin. As she approached Seraph, her body trembled in fear, but armed with her Cat’s Claw she was ready to strike him down, and when her attack swiped at air where previously he had been she could only gasp as ghostly arms reached out and grabbed her, arms of ethereal mana energy that didn’t just grab at her body, but at her soul.
“What's going on? Let me go, let me go, I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die.” She screamed.
“You just tried to kill me. Why would I let you go?” Answered Seraph. “You didn’t listen to me when I told you I’ve been here before, I’ve seen tricks like yours before, all I did was look away, not that it mattered, with how loud you're breathing and how heavy your fear is, I could hear and smell you regardless.”
“You’re a monster, you may think you’ve got everyone else fooled but I saw right through you, you’re a monster, you’re a killer. I know men like you, I know what you are. Just, please, let me go, I won’t say anything.” Cried Erin.
“No, that won't do.” Replied Seraph. “You see, I am a monster, I am a killer, something I’m reminded of right now as my thousand arm ability keeps you immobile, but what you don’t seem to understand is that I value a little discretion, discretion you haven’t shown, and have a mission I won’t let anyone interfere with, something that you’ve just tried to do. So if nothing else, thank you.”
“Thank me? For what?” She asked, fear evident in her face.”
“For this” Seraph responded as he tore her soul from her body and consumed it gaining her ability. “And for this” He told her lifeless body as he equipped the Cat’s Claw.
Chapter 16: Loose Ends
* * *
Notification: You are “Fatigued.” For the next 5 minutes you will be unable to move while your stamina recovers.
Heavy breathing echoed down the hall from the interior of the office as Seraph collapsed onto a knee in complete exhaustion, his stamina and his mana completely depleted leaving him in near paralysis from fatigue, unable to move and unable at the moment to defend himself.
He let out a short and manic laugh, amused that he had been brought so low by something so simple. Even his body of mana passive ability had been disabled. There was a time in that other life when he would have simply killed someone for showing the same sort of weakness he was showing now. A silent thanks went out that the only danger to him currently was likely far down the hall, and his stamina would probably recover before any monsters could reach him.
Though Seraph was fairly positive nothing moved in the dark towards him in response to his labored breathing, he wasn't sure, and in such a state as he was, he lacked the ability to focus any of his senses to follow up with pinpoint accuracy to hear if something moved towards him.
The rapid use of his abilities had left him drained, his low stats a liability, as shown by his exhaustion from the brief confrontation with his father. Though he no longer possessed the body or abilities of a normal human, he was still not so far removed from the human condition that this sort of e
xertion would not exhaust him, it was a good reminder of his limits before hitting any further confrontations, he was not yet a god.
Most notably though was the effect his thousand handed ability had on his stamina and his mana, he had misjudged his mana consumption, and in doing so had lost his mana body ability which was the primary reason he was no longer a cripple. For now, the temporary loss of some of his boosted stats left him drained and weary, a fatigue he would never be used to. Something that no amount of training could prepare a body for, and as for his body, it felt different in a way, sick almost.
A mental projection of the ability popped up in his vision, it was a good time to check his progress with the ability at least.
Notification: Thousand Handed - Current ability progress 7/1000
The ability had barely increased. He would just need to find a safer way to use it if this was the effect it had on him, he couldn't be paralyzed from stamina and mana fatigue every time he used an ability just for the sake of trying to level it up.
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