Chapter 34: Trust (Part 2)

Ozyllus: "He did say that's how the tomb keeps going, didn't he?"

Abyss: "Yeah, he did. What about it?"

Abyss wonders why Ozyllus suddenly brought up that topic.

Ozyllus: "I wonder why he did that."

Abyss: "Why wouldn't he?"

Ozyllus: "There was no reason to actually tell Kais and Sona how the island keeps its supply of psychic energy ongoing."

Ozyllus seriously wonders about that question because he really doesn't know why the dragon did that.

Ozyllus: "Now that Sona knows that, she can use her spirits to turn it around and suck the energy out of the tomb. If that happens …"

He suddenly stops talking.

Abyss: "If that happens?"

Abyss asks with curiosity as Ozyllus wonders about it for a while and then looks him in the eye as he answers.

Ozyllus: "There's just no way around it. If that happens, he'll die."

Abyss: "The dragon would die if that happens?"

Abyss asks in shock.

Ozyllus: "Yeah, that's what I just said."

Abyss comes to understand why Ozyllus had become curious about that question all of a sudden.

Ozyllus: "Kais immediately started explaining the strategy to them so I didn't get the chance to question it because I didn't want to get distracted. But now that I truly think about it, there's just no way this wasn't a foolish decision on his part."

Abyss: "Foolish, maybe. Not pointless though."

Ozyllus narrows his eyes not understanding what Abyss means. On the other hand, Abyss comes to understand what was truly going on.

So the fact that both of them can do something that will end up killing the other is supposed to be the way they trust the other. Abyss smiles while coming to understand that.

Abyss: "Sona has probably sent out spirits to reverse things."

Ozyllus: "That's the point …"

Abyss: "But also told them to not do anything."

Ozyllus: "Huh? What does that mean?"

Abyss: "If the spirits are to feel that their connection to their owner, Sona, has broken, they are to pull it off."

Ozyllus: "What?"

Abyss: "If the dragon uses his chance to kill her, she has prepared a plan to kill him in return."

Ozyllus is left speechless.

Abyss: "You are thinking how foolish they are, aren't you?"

Ozyllus: "Of course I am. What kind of idiotic way of trusting each other is that?"

Abyss: "The dragon is going to die in a few days and so doesn't necessarily fear death because of how inevitable it is. But he also doesn't want to die right now because he wants to bring you down before he dies."

Ozyllus doesn't interrupt.

Abyss: "On the other hand, Sona has been ready to die in taking her revenge so if this surefire way of killing him presents itself to her, she will gladly agree to die herself."

Ozyllus: "What mockery of survival instinct is that?"

Abyss: "It is precisely the survival instinct that matters here, Ozyllus. The fact that the two of them would go so far as to completely mock survival instinct is the proof of how strong their resolve is. Even if what they have done is foolish, it is admirable in a sense."

Abyss' voice becomes louder as he goes on. Ozyllus, on the other hand, asks in a softer voice,

Ozyllus: "Admirable, you say?"

Abyss: "Yes, it's admirable; because neither you nor I will ever have that strong a resolve."

Ozyllus: "Tch!"

Ozyllus turns to the light. He is frustrated because everything Abyss has said is true. He is frustrated that they are indeed more resolute than him. And he's frustrated because …

Abyss: "How does it feel to know the tragedy you caused that should have broken the two of them ended up bringing about this result?"

Abyss asks with a smile already knowing the answer.

Abyss: "I wonder how things will go from here."

*******************************

Barry: "What's going on here? Why are you telling us all this like it's no big deal? I am sure you have never told this to anyone before."

Dragon: "Well, I have told this to two people before."

Irritated by the dragon's mocking smile, Barry glances at Ro and,

Barry: "I am asking this using telepathy so he can't hear, but why did you bring this topic up? Is there a connection between this and what he previously mentioned? Just think up your answer and I will know."

Barry asks him with telepathy.

Ro: "I thought from the way he said those words that he is working with someone. And the thought crossed my mind that his appearance could give us a hint as to whom."

Barry: "So you thought the reason for this appearance could give us a hint on who he is working with. And what you meant by that is to think of who will think up a strategy like that?"

Ro: "Yeah, that was my thought process. Does anyone come to mind?"

Dragon: "What's wrong? Why go silent all of sudden?"

He asks with a mockingly innocent smile.

Ro: "Will you shut up for a second?"

Dragon: "Oh? Don't want me disturbing your telepathy?"

The two shrink back as they hear those words.

Ro: "You …"

Barry: "One man does come to mind."

Barry says, not telepathically, but from his mouth cutting off their conversation. The dragon and Ro look at him in surprise.

Barry: "Damn you!"

He says with a low voice before gripping his hand in sheer anger.

Barry: "Damn you, Ozyllus!"

Hearing Barry utter the name of the man who came to his mind when thinking of a strategy like 'stealing psychic energy from other psychics', Ro is left speechless as the dragon smiles – this time, a genuinely happy smile.

Silence befalls the three. What breaks that silence is the voice of the woman whose aura full of spiritual energy would give her away.

Sona: "You may or may not have realized this already,"

She says as she steps out of the trees and comes into their sight.

Sona: "But you have been surrounded."

Ro and Barry look at her with different expressions. Ro is the first to react.

Ro: "What are you …?"

But he doesn't get the time to do anything. And that's because vines of the numerous trees around him bind him and constrict his movements while a vine is also put at his neck as if it's a knife to threaten him.

Ro: "Do you …"

Sona: "Don't bother thinking you'll be fine since you are ghost and any of that nonsense."

Ro falls silent after having his thoughts read.

Sona: "Those vines are imbued with spiritual energy and they have what it takes to disperse energy. If they cut you, the link from your head and body will be cut. Permanently"

Ro: "Don't joke around …"

Sona: "It's not a joke. You do remember Ethan Kales mentioning of a way to turn ghosts into spirits, right? This is it."

Ro tries to retort but falls silent when he sees the resigned expression on Barry's face telling him that she is telling the truth.

Barry: "How did you avoid my aura reading?"

Sona turns to Barry to answer his question with a mild smile on her face. Barry, on the other hand, only has cautiousness written all over his face.

Sona: "I didn't avoid it."

Barry: "What?"

Barry looks at her in surprise and suspicion while the dragon chuckles.

Dragon: "When you both saw me, I told you to look at my foot. For that one moment, both of your eyes were off me. I hit the tree with my head at that point. Even if, by chance, you had seen me though, I could have made that look natural."

Ro: "Don't … screw with us."

Dragon: "I am not. That was the signal for a bird of this forest to go to her."

Sona: "And when that bird came to me, I was teleported here. After which I had to guide the spirit constricting you right now to you and use the right opportunity to bind you."

Ro: "Tch!"

Barry: "So you are telling me the spirit was already in the ground?"

Sona: "Yes. It is in the form of a mole so it can go underground. Since your aura reading doesn't cover that area, it was the perfect place for it to be."

Ro: "You are telling me a mole is doing this."

He says as he looks at the vines constricting him.

Sona: "Different spirits can have different abilities, you know."

Sona answers while looking at him with a little bit of sympathy.

Barry: "Don't you think your plan was a little too flawed?"

Sona and the dragon both turn to Barry with a questioning gaze.

Barry: "If I had used aura reading once again, I could have easily detected you."

Sona: "Well, we needed to trust each other for this. I trusted that the dragon would be capable of distracting you and he trusted that I will be able to guide the spirit perfectly."

Dragon: "And it worked."

The dragon added to emphasize.

Barry: "It was still a foolish plan, you know."

???: "That it was."

A voice comes right from the middle of the four.

???: "But someone once told me that you can never be too smart, so turn your opponent into a fool to win the battle."

The voice of the mastermind rings clearly as a knife appears on Barry's throat out of nowhere. And just in progression, a hand begins to appear and then the rest of the body.

Kais: "Remember those words, and the day you said them to me."

He says while having a knife at Barry's throat.

Kais: "It was that day 12 years ago."

It was no surprise to Barry that he is also working together with Sona and the dragon. The moment Sona mentioned 'teleport', it had become clear. So he didn't look at Kais with surprise or shock. He only looked at Kais with pity.

Kais: "What's that expression for?"

Barry: "What's this knife for?"

Kais: "It's to make sure you answer …"

Barry narrows his eyes.

Kais: "When I ask you to tell me – everything about this war."

*******************************