Chapter 130: 127. A Fight to Lead (Part 13)

Tullian reeled from the shockwave caused by the leviathan falling over. It fell to the side it was leaning the most to, which was where Rai was fighting it from. Tullian knew that Rai wouldn’t have been hit by such a slow falling behemoth, so he looked over at the opposite side of what was left of the reservoir.

Tullian saw that Rai was holding Sin up like a baby. They both stared at the fallen leviathan, almost in shock.

They... they did it... was there even any point for the rest of us to be here? No... we all contributed in some way. My arrow bought Sindyl space, and the others protected me and each other throughout the fight while I looked for angles... I just couldn’t find any other than the one that Rai pointed out! FUCK!

Tullian was furious with himself more than anything. From how he acted before, to how useless he felt.

For all I claim to be a great archer... I needed help from someone else...

“You all seem to be a little tired!” Sapphire yelled as she stared down at Tullian.

“Why don’t you rest a little while we explain the results!” Ruby said.

“We’ll also have a little chat about the grievances you all have. Perhaps that way, you won’t react like children in a heated situation again.” Kallad said. His voice boomed throughout the area.

Then, he snapped his fingers.

They’d all been teleported away from the leviathan, and back to the start of the island.

Tullian watched as everyone came to the realisation that they’d succeeded. They celebrated the kill with each other. On most of their faces, there was surprise. Surprise that they were able to do such an amazing thing. For Feris and Hiron, however, there wasn’t much but a gentle smugness.

I don’t know why he’s smiling... Hiron cut up like 2 tentacles and that was it!

*Clap. Clap. Clap.*

Kallad walked over to them as he clapped slowly.

“I will admit... I didn’t expect you all to actually kill it.” He said.

“Huh?! Why’d you put it there if you didn’t?...” Sin asked.

Kallad shook his head.

“That wasn’t up to me. That was decided by my ‘two gems’.”

“Wha... oh you psychos!” Sin shouted up at the two gems.

They stuck their tongues out at her.

Sin pouted.

“This whooole thing feels like something Kallad would do, and you’re telling me that those two were the ones to set ALL of this up?! That’s insane...” Rai said.

“First of all, yes it is insane. Second of all, I would have done this much better. Do you really think so little of me Rai?” Kallad asked.

“Yes. I do. Definitely.”

Sin laughed as Rai teased her father.

“Right. For the record, there were contingencies in place for if any of you came close to death, but we were fortunate that no one was close to that point.” Kallad said.

Amy was anxious about what happened earlier, but anger seeped into her spirit as Kallad spoke those words. Normally, Amy wouldn’t dare speak up to an Aspect, but now...

“What? What did you just say?! Maya was literally dying! Where was your contingency then?!”

Kallad stared at the girl. She was trembling. Anxious. But she was still standing up and asking the questions she thought mattered the most. Kallad mentally commended her for doing so, especially when it was up against an Aspect.

“Did her heart stop?” Kallad asked.

“... Huh?”

“I asked you, did her heart stop?”

Amy looked at Maya, searching for an answer. Maya shrugged.

“I... don’t know.”

“Of course not. You didn’t check before you healed her. Which is fine, but if you had done that, then you’d know that her heart was still beating. If you have a heartbeat, then you’re still alive. Our contingency activates when one of your hearts stops beating. On the off chance that you were beheaded or something stupid like that, then I could’ve easily saved you. I give you my word as an Aspect.”

Amy looked like she didn’t accept that answer, but she didn’t say anything further.

Tullian, however, was amazed. His understanding of Aspects was different. He knew that they were powerful, but most of that power he’d expected to come in the form of combat capability. Not in the form of healing, especially in Kallad’s case.

Kallad seemed to recognise Tullian’s amazement. He winked at Tullian.

“Aspect’s secret.”

Tullian audibly gulped.

Kallad then paced around a little while seeming to think about something. There were a lot of things that he clearly wanted to talk about.

“Okay. Before we talk about the results, I would like to address the elephant in the room.”

Everyone paid attention. Though, very few of them even knew what elephants were.

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“Sin, Tullian.”

They listened.

“...”

What, he’s not gonna tell us what to do?

“What, you expected me to tell you what to do? Sort it out, like I said. Go on.” Kallad said with a shooing motion.

Oh. I see.

Tullian looked over at Amy, who looked back at him. He was confident that his justifications were fair, even if he may have taken things a bit too far. Tullian knew, right after the moment he pushed it, that getting physical was unnecessary.

He sighed.

“Sindyl. I’m sorry for taking it too far. I... really am. I messed up, and I can’t just ask for your forgiveness when I did what I did. I can only work on it, and promise that it won’t happen again...

But... I’m not sorry for getting angry about what happened. You used a spell that put us all in danger. We need to know what that spell is, and that we can trust you to always be in control of it.”

Kallad stared at Tullian through wide eyes. He was surprised that the kid he thought was a lumbering brute was able to identify his own fault.

Amy stood beside Tullian and nodded, supporting his statement.

Sin stared at the two of them.

She stood her ground.

“I can’t. I can’t tell you what the spell is, or you’ll be in danger. I need you guys to realise that, because I will never choose to put you in danger!”

“You didn’t choose to before, but we ended up in danger anyway, right?” Amy said softly. “Why don’t you give us a choice, instead of expecting us to bend a knee at your word?”

“I... can’t.”

Silence fell unto the group. They were at an impasse. Neither Tullian nor Amy were wrong in how they thought. But Sin was justified in thinking how she did, knowing what she knew.

“She killed ALL of the treants you know?” Kallad said.

Amy nodded. “I know. But that doesn’t change that we got hurt, and that our lives aren’t just pawns to be toyed with.”

“I know you can’t trust me to not lose control again after that... but I cannot risk putting you guys in danger in good conscience and I’m going to stick by that for as long as I live! Where that leaves us... I don’t know.”

“Looks like that’s it then. You might be powerful, but I won’t choose to fight beside someone who I cannot trust.” Tullian said. His eyes betrayed none of the pain he felt by even saying such a thing.

“What? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that... I need more time to think.”

Feris had heard enough.

“Why are you fucking pussies even debating this?! Hey dumbfucks! Who killed all the big tree fuckers? Who got the final blow on the leviathan? It was the fucking Princess! You seriously can’t get past the fact that she’s got a secret?! We all do! Knowing her, she’ll work her ass off to always remain in control anyway, so move past this already!” He said. Feris panted by the end of his outburst.

They all stared at him. No one expected Feris to even care about this, but he’d popped a fuse before anyone else.

“What about you guys?” Sin asked everyone else.

“Don’t care.” Hiron said.

Maya shrugged. “Me neither. You saved us already. I don’t need to care what spell you used to do it.”

Lina took a deep breath. “I’m with M-m-m-maya. The spell was scary but... I think techniques should be private, no matter what happens.”

Rai shot Sin a soft smile without saying anything.

Tullian and Amy were a little shocked. They didn’t think that the others wouldn’t care as much as them... in fact they thought that they’d care a lot more.

Maybe... are we still going too far?

“Alright. That’ll do. You’re all so boring that I genuinely couldn’t care anymore.” Kallad yawned. “We’re going to talk about the results now.”

Tullian didn’t feel like the conversation was over, but if the Aspect in front of them was telling them it was over then... it was time to move on.

“Right. Ruby, Sapphire, pull up the board please!” Kallad pointed to his left in a dramatic pose, waiting for the board to appear.

Ruby giggled. She looked at Sapphire, who shared the same expression.

They both clapped their hands twice together.

The board with the bunch of numbers appeared to Kallad’s right.

 

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