Hey, you free? Can I talk to you about something?
My life was hard, sure… But to be honest, I didn't feel a single thing. Maybe the pills did too much.
Do prescript painkillers also numb the heart?
Well, that's what losing your family business and getting your wife work overtime does to you.
How did I live as such a shameful existence?
Whelp, I guess I'm just broken and morally broke.
Maybe a new prescriptions on its way one day. A painkiller could numb me, but it couldn't cure me.
I remember taking some alleyway prescription with a name I could barely pronounce in desperation.
And the dosage amount that I gotta take…
Boy, I really wished that I could count.
I just wanna see if this could make me happy.
Was that so wrong?
…Guess how well that turned out for me.
Maybe I should've caught up with my friends instead of leaving them hanging for a few weeks.
Now my situation is… that we're outta touch.
Friends help the dying heart, don't they?
Too bad.
So sad…
I've been feeling small lately. The world… it just feels too big. Nothing seemed to matter anymore,.
That thought weighed on me.
My heart was high up. A floating mind like mine bound to breakdown. Step off the roof of sanity.
Snap my hopeful psyche like a twig.
So…
There's one thing I wanted to check with you.
I just wanna see… if you felt the same as me.
Do you ever get a little bit tired of life?
No? That's good. That's good. Life would suck if all you did was keep thinking about the bad stuff.
But work with me for a second.
You must have felt something. You know…
Almost like you're not really happy, but you also don't want to die. You get what I'm trying to say?
…Maybe finding some like-minded is too difficult.
Even if you're hanging by a thread, life goes on around. Indifferent. You gotta survive yourself.
Even if no one truly understands you.
Why?
Well, like I said earlier…
You just gotta survive.
Life on Earth was like that with me. Days went by with nothing in particular moving me to act.
I'd let go of my hopes and dreams.
They were unrealistic to have. Too immature.
One had to live within their limits. The mood of your body in a room… when your heart isn't really there.
That kind of feeling.
Pretending apathy was just your own indifference.
Like you have empathy inside… but you don't really care about others. Not even your own parents.
You're fresh out of love. Even if other people are suffocating you with affection that's been in the air.
Am I the weird one?
Am I already past the point of repair?
A little bit tired of trying to care when I don't. Trying to make quick repairs to cope this senseless reality.
Trying to make excuses.
Excuses upon excuses upon excuses.
I have a good reason for everything I do.
Killing a molesting pervert didn't weigh on my heart one bit. Not killing my wife's killer? Now that sunk me down. My head dipped underwater. I couldn't breath from all this stress and regret I'd felt.
Maybe I should have cut her throat instead of setting her free. Did something more wicked.
But I was tired of being tired at this point.
Even if I went back to hold the knife, I might have still done the same. Or walked away from this.
A little bit tired of sinking now. Sure, there's still water in my boat. You couldn't really throw out the problems that suffocated you so easily, but.,, I could at least try to struggle for a better life.
If I stayed in that rut any longer, I'm sure I'd barely be breathing in the end. It's time to rise up.
Urging myself and trying to stay afloat.
It doesn't matter how many quick repairs I need to do to cope with this nihilism. Don't drawn with it.
I needed to keep moving. Crawling even if it's unsightly. Breathing even if it hurts. Like a lil' bug.
Just hope things go well in your next life.
…..
….
…
..
.
"Make peace with your Gods." These words came out since I assumed everyone followed a religion.
Wasn't the Holy Doctrine universal?
Whatever…
I shifted my head out of the way to dodge a laser beam. Max pointed his robotic arm at my face.
My body stopped any complex reactions and motions. Instead opting for far more manoeuvres.
The heated blade threatened to fall towards his exposed face. He dodged, which gave me the opportunity to alter the trajectory to place the Silver Weapon on his wrist. Tilting the hand away.
WOOSH. Another laser shot out, but the slightly altered direction of his palm changed firing line.
It shot in a completely different path from me.
The silver glean in my eyes became more intense while using some excess Haki siphoned from Miliv.
He wasn't using it anyway.
I healed my previous injuries and made the strain on my muscles less obvious, but that was my limit.
Miliv couldn't provide much power in his sealed state right now. So I could only scoop up the dregs.
My swordsmanship made up for this weakness.
One might think that there wouldn't be much difference between wielding a weapon and close combat.
But that was a lie.
Weapon users of any kind were better at fighting than hand-to-hand combatants. It was an advantage.
A natural one since weapons improved prowess.
I didn't have to worry about injuring my fists while using the sword. Only thinking about how to swing it.
"Ah… ARRRGH!" Max tried to do the same thing as last time and increase his strength, but that was it.
Even if he tried to maximise his size, it was…
…too pathetic.
One had to consider the situation when using any ability, and Max was way too in my face.
I got into a stance and swung my blade ceaselessly.
'Hummingbird Peeling.' I named this move something stupid since it had the effect of literally that.
My arms weren't strong enough to break through the tough shell of his golden body, but that was it.
Instead of waiting for him, I peeled off layer after layer of armour forming on his skin. The hot Silver Weapon blade cut through it like butter. Barely able to do anything but protect the skin underneath.
[You're such an idiot.]
My last strike struck him down. Dust rose into the air when my blade descended down in a killing motion.
But when the dust dispersed, he was still alive.
"I've heard about you." I spoke up to Max.
"What-"
"Shhhh." I put my feminine hand on his lips.
My physical gestures became more girly. Mostly because it felt right doing that in this appearance.
I continued without letting him talk nonsense: "You're the reason both my looks and Miliv's mentality."
"That isn't my fault." (Max)
"You should have left him alone that day. If you took a step back that day, this wouldn't happen." (Steve)
"You don't know that." (Max)
"Did you hear nothing from your father?" After I had spoken this, his face dramatically changed.
"My father is dead because of him!" Max had an outburst, but he didn't move in case I got angry.
Good decision. Good decision…
"And what did Miliv do?" I asked him patiently.
"He's a damn Demon!" The answer I got didn't make much sense, but I started to understand.
It was a common story in this world.
People died, and those who were left picked up the ashes to start again. Going forward in life.
I could imagine his thoughts.
Now…
"If you're going to get in my way, then you better just die." I no longer felt any curiosity towards him.
My blade swung down.
[There's a better option.]
This message appeared in front of my face rather than out of sight. Stopping me mid motion.
I hesitated to hear what he was going to say.
…..
….
…
..
.
"Where did they go?!" Graid became panicked when he saw Steve had disappeared with his son.
The child's restraints were undone.
Those around him also looked serious. This was a situation that needed them to look around closely.
They left the house and found their children.
Looking for them was easy. After all, there had been witnesses that saw all that the duo did.
He found three figures.
"What's going on there?" Graid was shocked to see that both of them were injured at the fenced trees.
Along with a third child that unwillingly walked with them with a sour face. An auburn haired youth.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Graid spoke up while the rest were watching this scene silently.
Seemingly falling into thought.
"I took him out to help me hunt." Steve stepped forward without fear. He had no shame talking.
Miliv leaned on his arm. His head was injured.
This caused Graid to be on the verge of exploding and lashing out, but then he'd realised something.
"…You managed to tame him?" Graid asked while looking at the half-asleep elf 'boy' on his shoulder.
"Pretty much." Steve daringly stared at him.
The situation was outside anyone's expectations and hard to deny the merit off. It was too quick.
To think someone could tame his psycho son…
There were some additional topics the man now wanted to talk about with the youth's parents.
He didn't pursue Steve's motives any further.