Chapter 270 - Reasons Involving

"Master..."

Rynold put his hand over the Mech Knight's shoulder, and the four octahedron drones separated from his body. As X explained what had caused him to become this damaged, Rynold listened attentively to what he had to say.

Apparently, things were getting a bit shaky back home. At least, that was from X's perspective.

With Rynold gone for a couple of weeks, the Mech Knight felt restless. It hadn't been a day since X left him alone that he felt that way. Rynold couldn't necessarily visit him either, considering how busy he was.

So, with that in mind, the Mech Knight then decided to act of his own accord. Rynold had at least made it clear that X was free to do as such. After all, stifling the Mech Knight's freedom during its infancy was nothing more than limiting his growth.

Thus, in the act of self-development, X decided to leave the Tree for a rift in between dimensions. Whatever rift the Mech Knight went for, though, Rynold didn't know. The details were hazy. As X wasn't a linguist, it wasn't strange to see why.

Nonetheless, one thing happened after the other. Fights happened. Somehow a mauling too? Rynold couldn't quite understand what the Mech Knight was saying. But he got the sentiment.

By the end of X's explanation, Rynold nodded and felt pride rise up in his heart. But, that pride soon met guilt, as he knew that he shouldn't have left the Mech Knight all on its own all this time. Seeing X at such a state stung. Rynold felt as though the Mech Knight had gone too far.

At this point, though, there was nothing Rynold could do. He gently patted the Mech Knight on the shoulder, met him in the eye, and nodded.

"Good work," Rynold softly spoke as he acknowledged the Mech Knight's efforts, "I'll get you fixed up in a minute. But, we have to find someone first. Let's go."

That said, Rynold left for the main building once more. Along the way, Rynold thought of ways to improve the Mech Knight, formulating something that would upgrade his supposed subordinate. While the self-repair function X had helped, Rynold tried to think of something special to make things more interesting.

As they went on, though, the thoughts in Rynold's head turned to something else. He wondered what had happened to Crimson while Rynold dealt with the mechanoid.

Rynold knew that things weren't what they seemed. He noticed it the very moment the mechanoid showed up. And, for some reason, it had only chosen to attack him instead of Crimson. While all this commotion was happening, none of the supposed security measures ever acted.

And, with all this taken into consideration, Rynold had no doubt that Crimson was safe. Given the circumstances, it was a bit of a long shot to think something like that.

But, Rynold knew better.

Wherever Crimson was right now, Rynold was sure that he was safe and sound. As bizarre and confusing as the events were, Rynold was sure of that one irrefutable fact.

However, Rynold had no clue as to where the guy was. Soon after he left to find Crimson, Rynold walked up the same stairs before. He took the same long staircase upwards and walked inside the building with the Mana Crystal at its center. And, there was nobody there.

"Crimson! Buddy!" Rynold called out as he walked forward and into the building, "It's safe to come out now!" To which there was no response.

Sighing, Rynold shook his head. He knew it wasn't the weirdest thing to think Crimson would've run away. He might have even called for help. Who knows, really?

"Break," Rynold ordered as the four drones separated from him. "Recon," he added as the drones went about their ways and started searching the vicinity. They maintained a mental link to Rynold while searching nearly quintuple the size of what Axiom could have done.

It was impressive to say the least. Rynold definitely thought so. Although, as much as Rynold wanted to take credit for making something like this, it wouldn't be entirely honest.

Thanks to some plans he found, Rynold found some inspirations and workarounds to his previous creations. While he wanted to keep the line of Accord Spheres, Rynold knew they had their limitations. Thus, ultimately leading to Rynold using the plans he had found in the Mech God's archives to his advantage.

In other words, Rynold's creations weren't cutting it anymore. He had to make a change, much to his displeasure and discontent.

Making those four drones took less than four days. Rynold found them easy to make. Well, especially considering he just had to follow some instructions. While he adjusted them to his specific configurations, the whole process felt like he was playing.

And Rynold hated it.

Rynold clicked his tongue as he watched the drones get to work on his behalf. As they went on, they relayed information to Rynold in real time. While he held some bizarre resentment in his heart, the drones soon found their prey.

"He's all the way out there?" Rynold looked out the door, eyebrows furrowed. "What the hell?"

Sighing in defeat and frustration, Rynold called the drones back together. They, along with X, followed Rynold back down the flight of stairs and headed towards where Crimson was. Of whom was, for some reason, two blocks away from the building.

That said, Rynold didn't take very long to get there. He stepped inside the building, the same one they've been staying in for the past two weeks, and looked for Crimson. The first thing Rynold saw when he got inside was Crimson pacing.

"Why are you here?"

Rynold asked as soon as he arrived, causing Crimson to halt his manic and frantic walking back and forth. Crimson then looked at Rynold in shock, followed by horror once X appeared behind Rynold.

Noticing the sudden change in expression, Rynold caught Crimson's gazed and traced it back to X. He then notably shook his head in disappointment and slowly walked over to Crimson. "It's fine," Rynold said, comforting the panic swelling in Crimson's heart, "What're you doing here?"

Crimson heard the calmness in Rynold's voice. A part of him freaked when he saw X. But eventually realized that he was overreacting. He then met Rynold's gaze and responded with a simple nod.

That wasn't really an answer to Rynold's question. But Rynold could tell that Crimson wasn't in the best condition to talk or explain anything rationally.

"You okay?" Rynold asked as he sat down next to Crimson, "Wasn't exactly expecting something that, huh?"

Simple yes and no questions was the best solution, given the circumstances. To which, Crimson responded with a slight nod.

"That was crazy, you know. That thing came out of nowhere and just kept swinging and swinging. Really hard to believe that something like that would come up here."

Crimson fell silent, wanting to respond but couldn't find his voice. He only looked at Rynold with a horrified expression, causing Rynold to tilt his head in confusion. Whatever Crimson wanted to say had something to do with the look he was giving Rynold. But, the latter could never know what Crimson was thinking, given how quiet he was.

Rynold's eyebrows furrowed, not getting what Crimson was trying to say. He then looked at X, who, by the way, wasn't exactly comfortable with the size of the room. And, at that moment, Rynold moved towards his Mech Knight.

"How are you still moving?"

In a stunning turn of events, Crimson suddenly spoke. Crimson asked Rynold a simple question but baffled him all the same. That was until Rynold decided to look down.

"Oh, this?" Rynold saw the grime on his shirt, mixed in with some bloodstains, "I dunno. A couple of things, probably. Adrenaline. Endurance. Stamina. Luck. Or, being completely pissed off with someone that I just might tear their ear off before dying."

All of those things had something to do with why he was still moving. Probably. There really was no way to tell. But, the last reason he gave Crimson, though, was something Rynold could testify.

"Really? Who?" Crimson ignorantly asked, curious and afraid all the same.

"You, for one," Rynold stared at Crimson with unblinking, cold eyes, "For another, the bastard who brought us here. That guy has some questions waiting for him when he gets back here."

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh," Rynold became upset as he let out another deep breath, "Look, okay. I could kinda get why you would run away from the fight like that. It wasn't your fight, and you weren't obligated to save me. But I just don't get why you weren't telling me the truth."

"The truth?"

"You regret coming here," Rynold looked away from Crimson as he spoke without trying to accuse, "I'm guessing that you never thought things would've gotten this ugly. I don't blame you. I just want to know why you didn't say anything."