Chapter 4 — To kill or not to kill
*click* *clack* *click* *clack*
The small movements of chess pieces reverberated dully across the space. At one moment the space was an auditorium with a soundless audience around the two. While the next, it was the depths of an ocean with myriads of unknown sea creatures swimming within.
Amidst the changes, the only thing that was constant was the tempo at which the two placed their pieces. But it was evident that one was struggling while the other lazily made his moves as one leisurely took sips in between turns while the other had his mug full of black coffee grow cold.
“Hey Yu-nyan?”
“…”
The teenager with prismatic hair and interchanging card symbols for pupils called out only to receive silence.
“Nyaha. It’s fine if you don’t respond nya. But I have a question you know. Have you ever killed someone innocent nya? Excluding cultivation worlds of course nya?”
Yurei’s hand stilled, disrupting the tempo of the chessboard. He looked up to meet his brother’s, Sky’s gaze. His bright silver-blue cat-like eyes tried to peer into the essence of this sudden question before growing cold as he gazed back at the board and placed a piece.
—Again with the weird questions—
++Why’s it always when we play chess!?++
Meh. I’ve grown used to it. As for innocents…
—Killed several in cultivation worlds—
++Were they really~? What with their ‘fortuitous encounter’ crap and all?++
Moving on, excluding those worlds…
“No” He muttered, a voice resembling a pre-pubescent teen imitating an adult escaping his lips. But Sky could hear it in his tone. After all he was no different.
“Nya. Mmhmm~ Good nya” was all Sky said as he placed his piece on the board.
For a while, silence descended with the tempo of the chess pieces restored. But ever so slightly, it had picked up pace and the reason was all too obvious.
“Haah. Why do you ask nii-san?” He looked at Sky with as much annoyance his expressionless face could display. Yet...
“It’s because I have.”
The emotionless voice and absence of his trademark speech-trait washed away any sign of fatigue from Yurei’s face. His cat ears perked up while his tail swished around more powerfully.
Looking at Sky, Yurei took some time to frame a response, “…Was it worth it?”
By now, the melodic metronome of pieces had all but ceased as Yurei patiently stared at Sky. He had a firm conviction that whatever his older sibling did, he did it with a justified goal.
On the other hand, Sky with a solemnity unbefitting him watched the ripples in his mug as he quietly replied, “If weighed on a scale? Then yes. Maybe it really was?”
“…” Yurei could only wait as Sky continued despondently.
“Four thousand, eight hundred and fifty-one lives for billions of trillions.”
.
.
The silence persisting, Yurei took a sip of his coffee, pausing before he asked, “…do you-”
“No. Even now, I don’t believe it was worth it.”
An immediate response. Looking into his eyes, Yurei felt a familiar ambiguity in Sky’s gaze. In response to that, his own vertical pupils darkened, the murkiness within gushing out completely bare.
The two remained completely motionless as they each felt a foreign image invade their minds.
Yurei could see an illusion of disfigured corpses in a devastated world, some resembling humans, while others machines. On top of that peak of dead bodies was a familiar back looking up at a malformed sky, their hands smeared with blood.
On the other hand, Sky could see an endless landscape of frozen blood. A barren plain with no end in sight that complimented the abyss-black sky above. He as well, could see a familiar back eternally standing still with a blood-tainted scythe resting on their shoulder.
Neither of them ever forgot. They never had any intentions to forget the path they took.
* * *
Before long, both of their gazes had their usual radiance return, yet the mood around them remained the same. Peering into his mug again, Sky confessed, “Whatever you do my dear brother, never drag an innocent, ignorant lamb down no matter how much hate you have for them.”
“Because…”
“…”
“Many times…”
“…”
“That hatred is misplaced. It's simply hatred that one has lost sight of.”
“…”
Letting that out, Sky finished off the contents of his mug as Yurei stared at the board, both brooding over what they saw in their own way. Yurei let his mind wander as Sky felt exhaustion weigh on his mind. He felt his entire self being assaulted by a wave of drowsiness when—
*click*
“Check” Yurei replied as jovially as he could with his quiet voice in an attempt to rile Sky up and was rewarded handsomely with his dumbfounded gaze as he gawked at the board, the weight on his mind vanishing in a flash.
“Hmph. Never saw it, did you?”
Looking at him with that same flabbergasted look in his eyes, Sky saw all the mischievousness and rascality Yurei could show him through his eyes and slight curve of his lips.
Returning his gaze to the board, he thought back to the pieces they both moved. He really couldn’t see how he managed to pull it off before now. It really did catch him unawares. And looking at Yurei, he could feel the joy radiating off of him. It was just like a child who successfully won against an adult. Like how a foolish noob even fooled the smart expert.
And just like how even the weak could slay the strong.
“NEVER SAW THAT COMING DID YA, YA SHITTY CONCEPTUALS!”
.
.
.
.
“Heh. You Foolish Fox.”
And remembering that...
“Pfft, hehe, nyaha, nya, nya, nyahahahaha!”
Heartfelt laughter escaped his lips.
‘Guess I’m the Shitty Conceptual now hah!’
Sky laughed and laughed for what felt like perpetuity to Yurei. Looking at him laughing his ass off, Yurei could only glare at him before pouring over the board with a gravitas that rivalled Sky’s laugh.
And yet—
“Nyahahaha!”
Peeking at Yurei do that only made Sky laugh all the more. He laughed so hard that tears began to form at the corner of his eyes as his sides began to hurt.
“Yu… nyan, are really, the best sibling I could ever ask for!!”
He wiped his tears as he petted Yurei on the head, caressing his furry silver-blue ears as well.
‘The roles really have changed huh’ Sky thought rather forlornly, hiding his realization with a smile.
“*purr~* !? Hss!!!”
Meanwhile, drowning in the pleasant strokes, Yurei broke out of his trance and hissed at Sky like an angry cat, his tail bristling behind him much to Sky’s gratification as his hand was swatted away.
Picking up a piece, Sky placed it in such a manner that it blocked Yurei’s check, as well as, “check.”
“!?”
Sky comically observed as one moment Yurei was full of anger and the next, sheer shock. It seemed like a lie that he was irritated as he marvelled the board, thinking back to Sky’s playstyle in his mind. His eyes held no negative feelings as he was lost in thought, only holding one single sentiment that tried to radiate out of his entire body.
Excitement. An all too familiar emotion to Sky as he felt a silhouette overlap Yurei.
“Hey Yurei?”
“Hmm?”
“Thanks”
‘You see me as a hero who saved you’
‘But in truth, you’re the one who saved me. It was always me that was saved and left behind’
‘I don’t think, no, I know with certainty that I don’t want to know how it felt for them... for her’
‘So… thank you. Thanks for saving me and fulfilling my foolish wish’
“If you’re thankful…” Yurei said, breaking Sky out of his reverie. His words shocked Sky as neither could read the other’s thoughts and yet it seemed like Yurei did precisely so.
“If you’re thankful, then tell me about it.”
“It’s a long story nya~” He replied awkwardly in order to avoid the topic.
“I can use Time Dilation” Yet Yurei once again shattered his common sense as he said so with a smugness that made Sky want to pat him again and actually confide everything in him.
“Hmm~ Nyaa~ You know what? Alright” Mulling over it, Sky acquiesced.
“Mmn” Hearing his response, Yurei nodded in happiness as he looked at the board. But Sky’s next words left him speechless.
“But” Sky grinned from ear to ear before continuing, “only if you defeat me here nya!”
“Tch”
—I hate him. I really hate him—
++I agree! Why now of all times!?++
He always left an impression whenever he was serious. So. What now Lunaire?
Yurei asked Lunaire in his mind as he quietly watched over him up till now.
‘Pl-ease.’
Feeling his foot being brushed, Lunaire looked down to see a hodgepodge that was once a woman. No words could narrate the state she was currently in as she pleaded to him in her mind, most of her faculties long since maimed, mutilated or outright destroyed.
This... ‘bitch’ as Lunaire designated her in his mind was the one he craved to butcher the most right now. This woman was the ‘bitch’ that made Yuuki break before his death. Even now, he felt his enmity could not be quenched, ——— shaving away at his sanity to eliminate the one who made his, Yuuki’s life a living hell...
And alas, even now, he was afraid of her.
The woman didn't or rather couldn’t notice, but Yurei and Solaire did. Their body was trembling minutely. Shuddering in fear at the simple act of her tugging at hem of his pants.
—Even-Even now. Fuck. Even after all this time I’m— *grit*
.
.
—Even now, I feel that she’ll— And I… and I’ll be just as helpless as I was back then—
...Lune
—I know... I know. Just give me a—
‘Ple-‘
“Shut up” Lunaire sharply answered, consciously stopping himself from reading the ‘bitch’s’ thoughts as he unleashed a sword strike again at the levitating lump of flesh. And once again, he missed. Once again, he damaged the surroundings, as well as the woman through the aftershocks.
For a while now, Lunaire tried to rip this mass of flesh and blood to shreds. It was the fetus that he had yanked out of the woman when he noticed that her eyes had clouded over but still retained their feeble glow of sanity and hope.
The moment he exhibited it to her, she started screaming. Alhough not physically, her mental screams were quite soothing to Lunaire. Shouting and pleading hysterically, she begged him again and again to take out his revenge on her and only her, shrieking and wailing in her mind that her unborn child was completely innocent.
Sadly to Lunaire’s dismay, it was at this moment he recollected the dialogue he had with Sky because of Superbia, influencing him to continuously miss the fetus by a narrow margin. Every time he missed, he felt Ira and Superbia clash inside of him, weakening him as their principle beliefs struggled and squabled against each other.
On one hand Ira wanted to lash out and burn everything at the unreasonableness of the predicament while on the other, Superbia wanted to defend their pride and Sky’s wishes by upholding his values that the trio imbued him with.
Lunaire himself was leaning towards Ira more and more as he wanted to kill everything of her’s. Yet every time. Every single, fucking time, Superbia would shove Sky’s words right in front of him just like now—
“That hatred is misplaced. It’s simply hatred one has lost sight of.”
—THEN WHAT THE FUCK SHOULD I DO WITH THESE FEELINGS!?—
Eventually, the weariness and exhaustion shaved away at his mind. This final push by Superbia acting as the spark, caused all of his emotions to ignite into a blazing inferno that superimposed itself onto Ira as he screamed.
—MISPLACED MY LIFE! THAT’S WHAT’S MISPLACED!!! I ABSOLUTELY HATE IT!! IT’S THAT DAMNED VIXEN’S SPAWN!! I WANT TO KILL IT! I WANT TO FUCKING KILL IT AND MAKE HER SUFFER EVEN MORE!!! I WANT TO BREAK HER!! REALLY FUCKING BREAK HER TILL THERE’S NOTHING LEFT OF HER’S TO BREAK!! TELL ME! TELL ME FOR FUCK’S SAKE! IS IT WRONG!? IS IT REALLY WRONG AFTER WHAT SHE DID TO ME!? FOR FUCK’S SAKE!! TELL ME!!!—
In response to his outburst, Yurei and Solaire could only silently watch on. After all, although to a lesser extent, they also wanted to kill.
Yet, like before—
“That hatred is misplaced.”
—I KNOW! I FUCKING KNOW IT ALREADY YOU DUMB FOX! I KNOW!!! I KNOW THAT IT’S NOT RIGHT!! IT’S HER FAULT! I KNOW!! JUST BECAUSE IT’S HER SPAWN I WANT TO KILL IT! BECAUSE IT HAS HER CRETINOUS BLOOD! THAT BITCH!! THAT FUCKING LOWLIFE WHORING EXCUSE FOR A WOMAN THAT BROKE ME MORE WITH HER WORDS THAN THROUGH RAPE! FU!-CKING WORDS YOU FUCK!!!—
.
.
“Haa-haa”
Due to Superbia’s ploy, Lunaire voiced out all of his resentment, inadvertently smothering Ira’s flames to a certain point. This then granted Superbia the chance to radiate an iciness that slowed down Lunaire’s chaotic energy, allowing for more rational thoughts.
—Haa. That hatred is misplaced right? I know. I of all people know how fucking misplaced it is. And I hate that. I fucking hate it. Even now Moonlight’s shaking. Just one strike. One stupid fucking strike and Moonlight will cleave it. It will be over. But... but—
Despite cooling Lunaire’s mind like that, his anger seethed and broiled underneath. Understanding that this would be it’s last chance, Superbia put his all into this; as concretely as he could before being suppressed by Ira.
“never drag an innocent, ignorant lamb down no matter how much hate you have for them.”
.
.
“Fine.”
*pulse*
Instantaneously, both Ira and Superbia felt their Origin Energy increase as Lunaire stood there, completely motionless within the room; while in their Domain, he lashed out by releasing massive waves of energy into the abyssal sky, the energy density increasing so much that Origin Crystals formed and dropped down near his feet as he collapsed to one knee, panting and wheezing as he reverted to his bishounen form, yet still releasing torrents in bursts, each successive burst exponentially weaker than the last.
Right now, all Lunaire wanted was to exhaust himself and being an Energy-being, the only way to so was to, naturally, expend Origin Energy.
He had two reasons for doing so. One, he needed to rampage like Ira wanted to calm himself down. And two, he didn’t want to weaken Superbia by going against Sky’s teachings.
.
.
—Haah—
Finally having calmed down to a certain extent, Lunaire finally sensed ‘it’ in their Mental World.
—This?—
Mmhmm.
++It’s been going on for a while++
Silently agreeing, Lunaire once again focused his attention on the unborn. He felt bitterness simply by looking at it. But he didn’t act upon it. He could feel that right now, Ira and Superbia had both grown tremendously due to his earlier understanding and were currently in a precarious balance by simply regulating each other as they waited for him to sever this tie.
Turning his head around, his eyes landed on the woman. Despite her charred empty eye-sockets, Lunaire could sense her looking at him, still with a baseless hope in her eyes.
Looking at her like that, he felt a bone-chilling wrath from Ira and mind-numbing pride from Superbia. But more surprisingly, he sensed Ludificor transmit to him a simple ploy as it supressed ———. A scheme that he all too gladly fulfilled as it helped him forget his fear of her by drowning out his memories of their past.
Crouching down to face the near-dead woman, he transmitted a single cold thought to her.
<<No way in hell>>
*squash*
Hearing the ominous squelch of her child’s death, the woman’s head went limp as she seemingly stared at the floor and yet didn't. An all too familiar scene in Lunaire’s mind. He could feel her lose all hope as her body tried to protect her mind, hastening her breaths. But before she could breathe her last, he ripped her soul out of her body before ——— lashed out and engulfed it, leaving not a speck of her reality behind.
Right after doing so, the mental strain of ——— undergoing a qualitative change as well put both him and Solaire to sleep.
—+Damnit+— was the last thought the two had.
* * * * *
Tch. I always hate this part. Lusio still hasn’t integrated otherwise even I might have fallen unconscious due to the strain.
Slowly standing up, Yurei trudged over to the fetus still floating midair.
Now, before it actually perishes… Yurei controlled a sliver of Origin Energy, adding more strain to his already overtaxed mind.
Light & Dark Unity – Harmony Attribute : Restoration
Bear with it fuck.
Slowly but surely, the fetus shrank in size as if time itself had reversed. Eventually, it shrank so much that it was invisible to a Human’s naked eye, yet Yurei could still see the zygote it reverted to.
But before he could do anything more, energy burst forth from his back making him fall to one knee as he used Moonlight as a crutch. Deducing that the pseudo-soul he made could no longer bear the strain his mind was in and was about to erupt in a blast of highly corrosive Origin Energy, he carelessly sent the cell to the one place he could think of before rushing into his Domain— The [Divine World].
Arc 1 — Forced Start
Fin~
