[Two commands, huh.]
Isaac thought, staring at Katlynn who stood before him with a slight bow, the both of them residing in the middle of what looked to be the aftermath of chaos.
Merlin lay on the ground, resting after exhausting her Mana supply.
Before Isaac could say anything, his Scarlet Eyes deactivated as his vision blurred, turning darker while his legs became weak.
Despite this, Isaac was able to stay on his feet as he groaned slightly, pressing his hand over his eye.
[Are you okay?]
Merlin asked, peeking from the corner of her eye.
Isaac paused for a few seconds, regaining his composure as he stood up straight.
[I'm fine. Just some backlash.]
[Backlash? From the technique you've been practising for the past two days, I presume.]
Isaac nodded. From the physical and mental soreness, that his healing seemed to be taking its time in, after using two gates for a long period, as this new 'Technique', he was feeling drained.
[It's an interesting and creative concept you used to make that technique. But it seems your body struggles to control it. Especially your eyes.] Merlin commented.
Isaac said nothing. After using this technique once, his vision was deteriorating.
Nevertheless, he simply shrugged it off.
This was nothing his healing couldn't handle.
[I'll be fine. But more importantly.]
Isaac looked toward Katlynn as he moved his lips.
"I command you to tell me everything regarding your Curse." He spoke in a commanding and authoritative tone.
After a short silence, Katlynn replied.
"A dream of mine had always been to work in the S.A. I wanted to help people and become a symbol of hope."
Isaac raised an eyebrow, confused at why she fell into a rant about her origin. Despite this, he didn't interrupt.
"It wasn't long until I achieved this goal. The S.A. recruited me after I'd graduated from Aurelius, impressed with my talent and grit. But it wasn't just me who was recruited. My twin sister also shared in my achievement."
"I wasn't angry at this. No, quite the opposite. It wasn't only my goal, but our goal. Despite this, I always doubted her ability to succeed."
"She was…not the most capable in battle, her strongest ability being that of a supporter. As children, she would be called names. 'Weakling' and 'useless' being the most common. Therefore, I found from early on that it was my responsibility to protect her."
Isaac raised an eyebrow.
'You'd think she'd cut F-Rankers some slack.'
"Yes, I was the older sister who protected her. Yet, I always looked up to her. Her kind and empathetic nature was something that made her seem as though she was the light in a dark world. It was this light that made her so likeable and popular amongst everyone in the future. I always wanted to be like that."
"It was because of this she lived a tame life. Even as a member of the S.A. However, it all went wrong so quickly."
Isaac leaned in. This was most likely where she finally answered his question.
"A few years ago, a small team, including my sister and I, were sent on a mission outside Spawn. It was a simple retrieval mission after a fellow agent died whilst carrying an important item."
Isaac could almost sense a hint of sorrow in Katlynn's tone seep through as she continued.
"It was supposed to be simple, yet in a matter of minutes after arriving at the scene, most of the team had already died."
"It didn't matter that the squad was formed of elite members of the S.A., each being a master in their respective fields, as all it took was a single man to bring us to our knees. A single man who belonged to a group I didn't know much about at the time."
Isaac held his breath as he waited for her to speak again.
"Onyx."
Isaac narrowed his eyes as he calmed himself despite all the questions he had. He could be selfish. He only had two commands.
All he could do was wait for Katlynn to finish.
"I held my Sister in my arms as the life faded from her eyes. She'd exhausted herself, draining her life force to save the others, leaving her weak as the member from the Onyx finally took her life."
"I could do nothing, simply waiting for my turn. My Mana was depleted and I was heavily injured. Yet, the death I'd been waiting for never came."
"Instead, the man held his palm over my face, cursing me shortly after."
'So it was Onyx who cursed her.'
"The man cursed me with a single command. 'Create discord within Aurelius.' His Curse was never complete. He didn't explain how or when. Therefore, my mind filled in the blanks."
"Since the strongest emotion I was feeling at the time was my inability to protect my sister, it merged with the Curse. It increased these emotions tenfold, causing my emotions toward the weak being so strong, it shifted away from 'Good'."
The more she spoke, the more Isaac was starting to fill in the blanks.
"I returned to Spawn as the only survivor. The Curse made it so I forgot everything regarding Onyx, therefore, the S.A. weren't able to get anything out of me."
"Including the fact that the individual we went to save had died and the item he had wasn't taken by Onyx."
Isaac widened his eyes upon hearing, his inner greed flaring as the next words he heard almost made him cheer in happiness.
"The item, as well as the corpse of the agent, are still there."
Isaac grinned from ear to ear.
'An item so great the S.A. considered it an important objective. I want it.'
He thought, however, he calmed himself down.
"I soon joined Aurelius as a teacher. It was quite easy after the reputation I'd built for myself as a member of the S.A."
"My thought when joining was to train the next generation so that something like the events with my squad would never happen again. But anyone who wasn't gifted would immediately be targeted by me."
"Of course, this was the Curse, but I didn't know this. My protectiveness toward the weak was simply so strong, that I thought by hurting, crippling or killing them, I was saving them from a fate similar to my Sister."
'That's…'
Isaac wanted to say it was poor reasoning and simply idiotic, however, he couldn't. After all, her mind was being corrupted.
'Hmm, that's troublesome. I thought she was acting on free will when I was taking my revenge. I guess I have yet to take revenge against someone who truly deserves it.'
Isaac scratched his head.
"However, upon seeing you, my obsession over the weak increased and focused on you specifically."
Isaac nodded. He had no trouble believing this.
"From the day I met you, the odds were stacked against you. Being an orphan, attacked by Lordic and being a Wanderer, there was no reason for you to survive."
"Yet you still emerged from your first scenario. When you did, it looked as if you had nothing to show for it. You were writhing on the ground and I could sense no PS from you."
'Yeah, 'cause I was feeding all my Nen to the Thing.'
Despite his retorting inwardly, he understood where she was coming from.
"You were simply a weakling who didn't know how to die. Didn't know when to quit…like my sister."
Katlynn paused and so did Isaac.
'Ah, I see. Her strong emotion toward the weak was derived from her sister. With me sharing most in common with her, Katlynn's emotions and attention were naturally all directed toward me.'
"If my Curse had remained inside me, I'd have soon started a war between the upper and lower echelon of students as the weaker students would suffer heavy discrimination, as well as me taking things too far, causing the professors to step in and put me down as I resisted."
Isaac nodded in satisfaction. He was the reason why these didn't happen, therefore, Isaac enjoyed thinking of himself as the hero of Aurelius.
"But I thank you. I thank you for breaking my shackles. I thank you for stopping me from tainting her name any further. My dear sister, Jayne Wilson."
Isaac remained silent, his expression unchanging as he stared.
'You shouldn't be thanking me. After all, I'm planning to use you just like Onyx did.'
Despite his thinking this, Isaac didn't say it out loud. He didn't want to say anything that could be considered a command, and he was too tired to think carefully of his words to avoid that.
[You have one more command. And I suggest you make it quick. You're out of time.]
As Merlin said this, she hopped away, disappearing into the forest as Isaac and Katlynn were left alone.
'If I'm not mistaken, with the timing of everything, there are two possibilities. Onyx either wanted to have this disruption between the students as another distraction for whatever they're planning in Ashton, or this was for something completely unrelated.'
Either way, Isaac was frightened by the analytical and preparedness of Onyx.
They were countless steps ahead of Spawn and the latter didn't even know it.
But not Isaac. He'd rather die now than be played like a fool and be killed by Onyx later.
And so, Isaac spoke once more.
"I command you…"
***
A boy with overground hair that reached his shoulders, seeming as though it were bear fur rather than a human's hair, as well as a determined and prepared expression soared through the sky as he drew closer and closer to the surge of power he'd felt not too long ago, which had not disappeared.
Directly behind him running on the ground was a girl with long hair reaching her waist. Its colour seemed to be black, however, it was only while under bright light that one could see the purple hue hidden among it.
Not too far behind her was a boy who flew while lighting up the dark forest with bright orange flames erupting from his forehead and gloves.
The three of them, Cain, Lucy and Jett respectively, spoke no words as they headed in the same direction.
After arriving in the area where the colossal blue pillar of flame had erupted, and finding nothing, this was their second destination as they felt the power coming from this direction.
As well as the obvious trail of battle that left the forest in ruins.
It wasn't long until Cain's body lowered, soon dropping to the ground as his feet made contact with the ground, Lucy and Jett soon arrived after him.
They, like Cain, all paused as they'd arrived, staring at the single figure that stood before them.
Lucy, her expression usually neutral and calm, felt her eyebrows tighten as she narrowed her eyes.
Even Jett, who was no different to a statue while his flames were active, couldn't help but pause as he saw this.
They could only see the back of the person. With a sleek black armour which looked to be metallic, the figure stood over a corpse.
Even in the dark, they were quickly able to notice the laying individual.
It was Katlynn.
Seeing this, Cain was the first to snap out of his trance as he yelled, breaking the eerie silence.
"Get away from her!" Cain took a step forward.
Yet the figure stayed quiet. Instead, the figure turned his head until his eye was staring straight at them, causing the hairs on their neck to stand.
They could tell.
They could tell from those cold eyes that words wouldn't cut it.
"You want a fight?"
Cain muttered, bending his legs as Lucy summoned her white sword and the flames of Jett burned brighter.
"You got it."
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Next chapter title: Golden Six Vs the Figure [2]
NNext chapter title: Aftermath
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