Chapter 288: 288: Duplicity and Power

I watched Apollo slither through the tunnel below and sighed in disappointment, while Typhon sorted through the items from the ring.

I knew I should have expected something like this to happen, given the precedence of Morgana's punishment. However, a part of me wished Apollo would see the error in his ways and never harm Ophelia again.

Unfortunately, it looked like he was only biding his time and his good behaviour was only a ruse.

It seemed like he didn't intend to stay at all, and this made my heart tighten.

[What's wrong?] Typhon asked.

Having noticed the change in my mood, he slithered over to see what I was looking at, but there was nothing aside from colourful potion bottles and a mixture of scrolls on the ground, which made him more confused.

|[It's nothing.]| I replied. |[See if there's anything unusual in these items. I'll be right back.]|

Typhon looked suspicious, but he agreed, and I blinked into the underground.

I was upset that he chose to leave despite knowing about Ophelia's current situation, and for him to do so just proved just how much he truly detested her.

I wanted to confront him, but I wasn't exactly sure what to say.

Something must've happened between the two, because Apollo did not strike me as irrational.

Yet, as I swept through the underground, its surroundings were just as marked by the Abyss as the rooms above. The tunnels were full of dead bottom feeders, the dark marble walls peppered with its fair share of dead plants.

Fortunately, it wasn't everything.

Through the tangled mass of tunnels and dead plants, I saw the pathway linking the Nymph's forest to my cave was untouched, and below it was a line where the Abyss stopped. 

Behind that line, Apollo stared down into the tunnels containing half of the bottom feeders that were still alive. I quietly approached him in the dark until I was close enough. 

|[Are you going to leave us without saying goodbye?]| I asked.

Apollo jumped back like a scared rabbit, and looked around until he noticed my shadowy figure.

[L-Leave?] He asked. [I just came to see if any bottom feeders survived. I wanted to help them, but only a few of them are moving.]

He turned to look below the tunnel, his eyes watering slightly, and I joined him to take a look at the damage.

Apollo was right in that only a few of them survived. Most of the tunnels here had been touched by the Abyss and we had lost more than half of the original bottom feeders.

The surviving bottom feeders were currently devouring their dead brethren and I thought it ironic how Apollo seemed to want to do the same thing to Ophelia. Still, I felt guilty he had lost a good amount of the creatures he loved.

|[I know how much you cared for them.]| I replied. [I'm sorry so many were lost today.]|

Apollo looked up at me in confusion. [I don't blame you for this. You were the first to ask about them. Everyone else went by like they didn't care.]

|[But it's my fault they died.]| I corrected him. Considering it was my attack that killed them, it felt insincere to accept such praise.

[I don't blame you.] Apollo shook his head. [You were the only one who was truly interested in them. You even said they could evolve. No one really thought about them except for you. It was like they didn't exist. No one wanted to know about them - they were only tools meant to defend us.]

From how passionately he spoke, I didn't think he was talking entirely about bottom feeders.

However, Apollo fell silent soon after, simply looking on as the creatures continued gorging themselves on their dead.

|[So what happens now?]| I asked. |[Are you going to leave, now that most of them are dead?]|

Apollo twitched, his wide eyes staring earnestly at me.

[I never even thought about that.] He cried. [Where would I go? I only know of this cave.]

I gave him a once over, before sighing – it was about time I came clean.

|[I know it was you who weakened the traps. You wanted to attack Ophelia, but when you couldn't, you set them loose on everyone else. Was it your plan to bring down the cave? Or did you just want to cause chaos and escape unnoticed?]| 

Apollo's eyes grew wide as he backed away from me, but gradually his aura changed to something completely different.

[How long have you known?] He spoke in a sharp cold tone. [You can't possibly know that…unless you were there to see everything.]

I didn't reply, but Apollo chuckled as if he understood.

[I admit I have nothing against you.] Apollo confessed. [If anything, your return made me realise I was surrounded by enemies – one of the best things that could have happened to me after nearly dying.]

I was surprised by the change in his behaviour, but also glad he dropped the pretence fairly quickly.

[But I realised soon after that I don't have a future here.] He added.

|[If it isn't here, where else could it be?]| I asked out of curiosity.

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His description was exactly the sort of duality that thrived in difficult situations. If anything, living here sounded perfect for him.

[I'm tired of pretending to be something I'm not.] Apollo replied. [I only stayed this long to get revenge, and I wish I killed Ophelia myself, but looking at her now, I could consider my revenge complete. You already did more than what I hoped to achieve.]

I could feel the anger simmering inside of me, but I remained calm because he was clearly trying to goad me.

|[You know I can't let you leave after what you did.]| I replied.

[I know.] Apollo nodded as he stared at me. [But I must.]

He then turned around and dived inside one of the tunnels and disappeared.

I sighed.

The tunnels were far too small for me to enter, so I settled for shattering every section of the ground with darkness blades, until their inner workings were revealed, exposing the spiralling tunnels underneath and Apollo's retreating figure.

With him in sight, I reached out to grab him with [Dark Magic], quickly wrapping him in solid tendrils of darkness. However, the bottom feeders soon grew agitated, and they shot out of the tunnels in droves to attack me.

While they did not react to Apollo who was inside the tunnel, they swarmed towards me without a care for their lives, even after I cut through several of them with my magic. He was clearly using one or both of his [Puppeteer] skills, so he could escape.

However, I refused to let go of him and Apollo lashed out even more with [Poison Magic] although it was ineffective against his binds.

|[Stop struggling. It is not too late for you to make amends.]|

[Why should I make amends for standing up for myself?!] Apollo shouted.

Soon, more bottom feeders began to escape from the tunnels, rushing towards me like a writhing plague of rodents. 

I could only hold back so many at once, even with my dark blades slicing and crushing several with each attack. So, I quickly activated [Coercion] and ordered them all to stop before they completely overwhelmed me.

And I met little resistance.

The minds of the bottom feeders were simple and under Apollo's control they were even simpler – similar to a collective ruled only by one voice.

As soon as I overpowered him, the others quickly fell to form, and I was able to order them all to enter the tunnel where Apollo was.

[H-How are you doing this?] Apollo asked nervously as he stared at the bottom feeders approaching him. [It's not possible. They only take orders from me!]

|[They take orders from whoever is strongest.]| I replied with a scoff. |[I can tell them to do anything right now, and they will do it. I can even make them eat you.]|

Apollo's eyes widened in horror as more bottom feeders eagerly swarmed around him and before he could scream, they slipped through the gaps of his restraints to gnaw at his flesh.

And soon the underground was filled with Apollo's screams.

I ordered the bottom feeders to let him go and lifted him up to get some answers.

|[Why are you so set on killing Ophelia?]| I questioned him. |[Revenge? For what reason? Ophelia is your captain. What did she ever do to you?]|

However, Apollo stayed silent even as he kept bleeding from several wounds.

I was short of patience, so I lowered him down again until the bottom feeders were only a single leap away from accessing his flesh again.

|[Answer me or else.]|

Apollo let out a frustrated hiss and shouted in rage. [She left me out to die...like my life held no meaning to her except to be a pawn. So I wanted to make her feel just as helpless as I did. Why am I wrong for doing that?] 

I was surprised, but at the same time I was not. After all, I was the one he was used as bait for. 

|[Ophelia did so because you were all in danger.]| I replied. |[There wasn't much she could have done at that time, yet she prioritised saving more lives over a few because that's what a good Captain does. You can't keep holding onto her past mistakes when she saved you many more times after that.]|

[How do you know?] Apollo asked, clearly doubtful.

|[Didn't she save you and every other nestling from every monster that has attacked us since then. Isn't that enough to show you that she's not what you make her out to be?]|

Apollo didn't reply, remaining stubborn in his beliefs even though he knew what I said was true. So I lowered him down another inch, forcing him to yell while wriggling away from the leaping bottom feeders.

[Alright! I understand! I was wrong, I'm sorry!] 

|[Don't you think you should apologize to Ophelia instead?]| I asked with a satisfied smile.

[I'm not apologising to her.] Apollo hissed in anger. [But... I won't attack her anymore.]

I frowned at his stubbornness, perhaps the bottom feeders hadn't eaten him enough.

However, I decided to let him off for now and set him down before coercing the bottom feeders to sleep.

There was still plenty Apollo didn't understand and if I kept treating him badly, I was only doing more harm than good.

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