"Whose idea was it?"
Both Unseens looked at each other and Sammie slowly raised his hand while saying, "I thought it was the best op-"
*BAM!*
Zenon punched Sammie with all of his might, making him take some steps backward while clutching his nose. Startled by the sudden action, both girls looked at Zenon, who was glaring at Sammie.
"Hey! What was that about you psycho?!" The girl shouted, making her Familiar jump from her shoulder and turn into a bow.
Zenon ignored her and took another step forward, preparing a punch once again. However, Aurea stopped him by forcefully putting her hand on his shoulder. He was surprised by how strong Aurea's grip became, not letting him move a single centimeter more.
Back in the shelter, he could at least shift a little bit.
Zenon stared daggers at her before clicking his tongue and taking a deep breath. Even Leviathan was confused as to why Zenon punched him without reason.
Sure, he could feel his emotions but knew nothing about his backstory unless he told him directly. It's not like their Souls could transfer memories, if so, Zenon's mind would have either exploded by information overload… or perhaps from a neverending emptiness.
"Are you alright?" She asked the boy, who was cleaning his nose.
"I'm okay, Vera. It just surprised me, not like he's that strong." He said while staring daggers at Zenon, only feeding his anger even more.
Aurea eventually let go of Zenon who walked toward the wall and just leaned on it, waiting for her companion to finish writing.
'Agh... what the fuck happened...'
It was the first time his mind snapped this way, making him go violent. After all, he trained enough just so that these situations don't occur, but he made the mistake of letting his memories drift into dangerous territories.
Some minutes passed fairly quickly. Vera and Sammie told how they got themselves into that situation and the girl said,
"Now that I think about it, you haven't told your names."
"I'm Aurea, he's Zenon."
Both Unseens showed mixed expressions when they heard both names because they knew perfectly who they were. The top-ranked and the last-ranked.
When they realized what this meant, they quickly made a smile while they approached Aurea and began asking questions. Of course, they treated Zenon like he didn't exist, the same attitude everyone showed to him back in the shelter.
'You could at least pretend I'm here. I saved your asses after all.'
Annoyed by the questions, Aurea started walking forward, quickly followed by Zenon as she said,
"If you want to come with us, I'll tell you a simple rule. Don't go around causing trouble least you want to end up in that river. Now let's go, we'll see that tree you were talking about."
"It may take us some days or even more, just saying."
Aurea nodded and the Unseens started walking toward her, pushing Zenon just so that they could walk beside Aurea. He tried to retort, but his voice drowned in all those questions to which Aurea indifferently answered.
He could feel not his, but also Leviathan's rage slowly building up.
'Old habits never die... I guess.'
---
"You saw all my shots?! I missed only five or six arrows! I never thought that killing a Second-Rank would be so easy!"
'Never thought?! Killing a Second-Rank is easy when they are wounded!'
Inside a cave, Zenon tried to eat peacefully but the noise coming from those two Unseens was starting to get on his nerves. Leviathan also tried to enjoy his food but was on the verge of snapping, making Zenon unconsciously mumble some curses. The day went past slower than Zenon expected.
The Shifting occurred but wasn't that much of a problem as they managed to find an opening fairly quickly. Not only that, but they found some Tarantulas here and there, this time in packs of two.
They found exactly three of those packs, but...
[Void Sacrifices: 10/1500]
... he only managed to kill one of them.
Well, not exactly one. He managed to leave three Tarantulas wounded enough for those two idiots to come and get the killing blown whenever Aurea was focused on the other one. Since she could effortlessly get rid of one, she made both Unseens help Zenon.
"Yeah, those were nice shots. But what about me? I think I handle the sword pretty well! I mean, I managed to hit the weak points of the Tarantulas multiple times."
'When they have their exoskeleton destroyed is fairly easy, yeah.'
He tried complaining to Aurea, but she just shrugged it off and replied with something like, "I'll give them a warning."
Of course, why would the great and strong Aurea care about some low-life like him? She's probably trying to find any possible excuse to get rid of him without leaving a bad taste in her mouth.
"How many Sacrifices do you both have?" Aurea asked calmly.
Both of them replied, saying six at the same time. It wasn't that much but it was something. After all, the real power behind Sacrifices isn't noticeable until much later, as it is a really small change in strength per Sacrifice.
Aurea wondered for a bit and said, "Whenever you kill a Second Rank, share a Sacrifice each. At first, it won't be much. But it'll be worth it in the long run."
"Alright, will do!"
Zenon looked at Aurea with dead eyes as he thought, 'And what about me? Am I not supposed to get any?'
He kept on staring at the three Unseens who were completely ignoring his existence. It was something he was used to but each time was as bad as the previous. The worst part was by far Aurea's sudden change in attitude.
Each time he thought about it, he doubted even more if their meeting was something good or bad, as it brought him some knowledge about fighting but nothing else. It was something like mutual help situation.
Now that she found other help, maybe he wasn't useful anymore.
'These thoughts are going to end me someday.'
Not wanting to hear them anymore, he said, "Are we going to sleep or what. I'm tired of fighting and walking."
Sammie and Vera looked at him with indifference for some seconds, before going back to chat with Aurea, who looked at him with her usual eyes.
Sighing, Zenon lay next to the campfire and tried to take a break. This day reminded him of the old days, something he wished to leave behind. But, seems like fate won't be merciful to him.
After some long minutes of trying to muffle the voices coming from the front, Zenon managed to fall asleep...
... only to be woken up some hours later for no reason at all.
'I hate it there...'
The campfire was long gone and the sound of steady breathing filled the cave. The smell of the cooked meat was still present but he had enough of it and tried to go to sleep again.
"I thought that he was awake for a moment..."
Zenon's eyes unconsciously opened and tried his best not to move and appear as asleep as possible. That was Vera's voice back there, why was she awake? What was she doing?
"He's a heavy sleeper, that won't wake him up."
'Aurea?! Why are they...?'
Now interested, Zenon tried to pay as much attention as he could.
"Anyhow, why are you working with him? You knew about the rumors, right?"
"The rumors are rumors. I won't judge a person because of some empty words, I judge them by their actions. But to be honest, he has shown me a fair amount of those as well."
"Actions only?" Vera said confused, "I think that words are more powerful than actions, it's easier to know about someone that way."
After some silence between both girls, Vera continued,
"But why are you working with him?"
"He's useful, more than I anticipated. He knows how to handle combat just fine."
Zenon's eye twitched for a second when he heard Aurea. He completely ignored that compliment and thought,
'Proven useful?! Who the hell do you think I am?! Fucking hell Aurea... what's wrong with you?'
His heartbeats increased, and cold sweat appeared all over his body as it began to heat up.
"Does that mean that you will throw him off when he stops helping you?"
Silence reigned in the cave when Vera said that question. Zenon's focus subconsciously increased at the thought of Aurea saying yes.
Honestly, he couldn't care less about her leaving him on his own. He had enough skills and knowledge to survive as long as he wanted to.
'Still, it hurts to be treated like this.'
"We should sleep already. Days are long and unforgiving, it's better to rest."
"You didn't-"
"I said, we should sleep already." Aurea muttered with a serious tone.
After some silence, Zenon heard how both girls accommodated themselves. His mind was running and running, trying to guess why Aurea would've dodged the question.
Being optimistic in this situation only brings problems, so he just went and concluded the most pessimistic, and realistic option.
'In less than a week I'm out of this little group.'
After a while, Zenon put an arm under his head and tried to sleep once again.