Chereads / Arcanist Tales / Chapter 32 - How it started I

Chapter 32 - How it started I

In front of a familiar elevator, in a familiar parking lot, and in a familiar building, stood Jargon and Neth, in wait.

Clicks echoed as Jargon flicked his tongue. He eyed the elevator that kept opening and reopening. Its doors gleamed crimson, morphing the space around them. It flickered like the gates of hell: a clear entrance to the devil's chambers.

Jargon observed it repeatedly and muttered: "Guess it was a successful infiltration."

Then his less-than-mute clicks continued. The man beside him slowly turned, staring, disturbed. Eyes twitched.

"Can you stop that?" Neth declared, hands moving to the knife, slightly retracting from its sheath. He prepared, armed, and readied to cut 'anything' in half.

Jargon looked at him. "Stop, what?" He raised his brows.

"The clicks." Neth faced the doors, and his body wiggled slightly. "They're annoying, and it sounds… wrong. No flavor. So bland. Downright disgust."

"This is part of the plan" — he paused and took a soft breath, and continued — "YOU DIMWIT!"

Jargon gritted his teeth, and veins protruded on his red forehead.

Neth noticed him, but he only shrugged. He massaged the handle of his blades and whistled.

"Make a new plan," he answered cheerfully. "My mentor always said, 'Plans are for weaklings who can't afford a little chaos.' And he's right: You're a weakling."

"You bastar–Wait, didn't you kill your teacher? Are you even qualified to quote him?"

"Yes, and so? Aren't students supposed to kill their masters? Didn't you? Oh yes, it was pathetic classmates in your case." Neth squeezed his face and reeled; "So disappointing, and such a weakling behavior."

"I- whatever," Jargon grunted, not wanting to take part in the argument any longer. At the same time, the door opened with a shuttling sound slowly.

Neth prepared himself, allowing the blade to dance around his body. The wait stopped. The door sprung open like the string of a bow, and strip, it resounded. From its depths, roared torrents of flames, bright and deadly.

Yet Neth remained calm. Gaze tightened. He manipulated the flames with a swift movement, and the blade of light sliced the air.

The fire spread. It swam around them. Air burnt. And sparks flew.

The whole action happened in a second —, and it ended in a second.

The entire parking lot burnt to hell and back. Vehicles exploded in synchronicity; ground broke apart and transformed to ashes; banners — ashes; bulbs — glass.

It was a beautiful infernal region: a ritual of an inferno of destruction.

Jargon looked, eye agape, at the parking-lot-now-turned-ruin. Neth seemed a bit–too strong. However, the man wore a stoic expression, hid his eyes, and contemplated.

'He better follow through with this, or I swear to god I will skin his damn flesh and shove it down his bloody throat.' Jargon thought as he walked past Neth and strolled to the wreckage of an elevator.

He glanced down the empty long path of melted white cables, searing hot gears, pipes with missing parts, and flaring wires.

"That's a huge distance," Jargon said. "We should get moving fast."

"Hmph, I've jumped far worse, but I guess a mutt like you would not be able to experience that, let alone understand it." a harsh zeal filled Neth's tone.

"Not the time," Jargon cautioned. "Don't fail your part, it's the easiest… Understood."

No answer.

"Understood?"

Same result.

"Bas—"

"I understand. Don't deaf me!" Neth challenged. "I was getting in the mood."

He walked to Jargon's side and looked down. "How much time left?" he asked.

"30 seconds," Jargon answered, still gazing at the bottom.

"Race you there." Neth smiled with his mouth, then smiled with his eyes.

"This is not a game—"

"Weak."

"Fine, you're on."

Therefore, without warning, Jargon jumped down into the endless abyss, and his silhouette disappeared in a matter of seconds. However, Neth didn't follow. He turned and glanced back. As he peeked into the distance, he smiled.

'Is that the man who injured Jargon? Impressive.' Orange light spewed from Neth's body as he commented, eager for a fight. However, he remembered the promise, so he paid no more heed to the approaching figure.

He nodded with a simple gaze and stepped back, allowing himself to descend into the destroyed depths. Their rush was greatly appreciated.

As soon as they fell, the entire building rose. Its foundations collapsed as one last explosion took it to heaven.