Aftermath (3)

3rd POV:

Eye contact was made, and the wind stopped blowing.

It had been quite a while since they had a meeting like this, the last time being when Spiravit blackmailed Quis. However, today was a different day. Back then both were weaker, one physically, the other mentally. Now, however, both had different leverages to use against the other in the battle of wits that was about to unfold. One would come out on top over the other, but by how much depended on their ability.

Quis resumed his movement and began walking towards Spiravit while saying to him, "Well, Spiravit, I'm here."

Spiravit got his back off of the root it was leaning on and also started walking forward, "I'm surprised you were able to even enter. Did you not get in trouble with a guard?"

Quis gave Spiravit a faded smile and explained to him, "I'm sure you know there are other ways to enter and leave the campus. Speaking of which, did you bring what I asked of you?" As he said this he stopped walking forward and instead waited for Spiravit to respond.

Spiravit too came to a stop and answered Quis' question, "Of course I have, otherwise I wouldn't drag you all the way out here. But I'm feeling reluctant to part with it. You see, recently my life was put at risk when I was fighting an enemy and now I'm starting to feel as though it might just help me get rid of this enemy who was after my life."

Quis' smile contorted slightly as he gave a similarly passive-aggressive reply, "Oh, is that so? Well, I'm afraid we already had a deal, and I'm unable to sweeten the pot anymore. You already are getting a lot out of this deal of ours."

Spiravit slightly shook his head and stated, "Oh really? I actually fail to see how I'm getting anything out of this at all. I said I would give it to you in return for my life, but that was then, and this is now. I feel as though... I want something more material. If you can offer something worth the video, then I'll be happy to trade."

Quis raised his eyebrow as the air between the two grew taut, "Trade? Spiravit, I think you fail to understand the deal I'm offering you. This isn't a trade, this is extortion. Do you think I'm afraid to kill just because we're on sect grounds? The speed that I can attack far outmatches how long it takes you to make a tree."

Spiravit gave a slight chuckle, "Haha, Quis, I think we both know that you're bluffing. If you killed me now, too much suspicion would pile up and your political campaign would crumble. Then, once news of you killing Pulchra gets around, you'll be done for."

Quis laughed in tandem, "Hahaha... Spiravit. While I am a logical person, you'd be better off not assuming that I can't be irrational. I'd much rather kill and deal with the consequences later than let you live and deal with consequences now."

He said these words and bloodlust seeped out of his every pore. The feeling Spiravit was sensing was that Quis would actually kill him right now if he didn't hand the camera over, but he wouldn't give up his ground that easily. He still wanted to get something out of this, and he felt like he could, so he kept on moving.

Spiravit, even after detecting the malice in Quis' words, pushed forward, "But then what? You can indeed kill me, but what is the point if afterward you die as well? Surely you don't think that you can escape both the sect and the surrounding ones as well. I'm not afraid of death Quis, and I want something out of this. As long as you pay up, we'll be on good terms."

Quis sighed to himself as if he was lamenting at the words Spiravit said to him. He shrugged his shoulders and said to him, "Then I guess we have to do this the hard way."

Suddenly, a familiar yet still distant power flew through Quis' body and into the ground around him. Soon, this power manifested and pillars of coiled wood broke through the crust of the ground. When Spiravit saw this, he reacted quickly and activated his Magic Art along with his Wooden Stealth Fruit. But just as he was about to transform into the shadow that would enter the tree, the wooden pillars circled his arm and tightened. The process was cut off and only the tree he made was left standing.

He recognized this and tried controlling the tree, but as he did so, Quis practically teleported next to it and kicked it in twine. With no hope left for him, he resigned to his fate and opened his ears to Quis' words, "Now let me ask you again Spiravit, would you rather give me the video, or lose your head?"

Spiravit gave another sigh, "... Maybe you are trying to kill me. Perhaps if I don't tell you where it is right now, you'll send a bolt through my head. In fact, if I were another other person, I'd give it over to you immediately. But Quis. I know you. You are who made me who I am today. If I didn't have a rough understanding of you by now, then I might as well stick a musical bow down my throat."

Spiravit took a breath as he thought to himself, 'This is my last chance to make a stand. I must win this, or else the future will prove much more difficult for me.'

With determination spreading through his mind like food in famine, he continued his passionate speech toward Quis, "I've learned a lot about you Quis. You're cunning. You're morally incapable. You're as intelligent as you are wise. And you're a hell of a leader. But I've also figured out your weakness. Quis... you are unable to accept not taking it all."

Quis' eyebrows furrowed at Spiravit's words. His mind rattled, wondering where he was going with this. It wasn't that he was being affected by Spiravit's words, but he was curious about what Spiravit was trying to pull. He had a far too good understanding of himself to let simple words affect him.

Spiravit's jaw moved, speaking like a slow current, "You must've planned to kill me from the start, but you were unable to. Why? You could just say that you were unlucky, or perhaps you didn't plan well enough. But I see it differently. You were so busy trying to make everything perfect, that you didn't accept some of the cons that your plan had in it. You tried so hard to make everything positive that things went awry."

Quis's jaw, on the other hand, moved like a machine gun, "What point are you trying to make here? I've already accepted that my plan had some fails in it. It doesn't at all change the position you're in right now. Instead of focusing on the past, why don't you focus on what's happening right now."

After he said this, he opened his palace of thought and began brainstorming, 'Spiravit is an interesting character. Even in a situation like this, he's not willing to give it, and it's not out of pride either. He did this out of the confidence that I won't kill him. He is wrong though. If he doesn't give me this evidence, I'll truly kill him, just not in the way he expects. For me, it is like this. Spiravit is only worth killing when he has the evidence on him. Once that evidence is gone, however, the scale tilts, and suddenly killing him isn't as good of an idea.'

Spiravit's mouth twitched as he gave one final try at the tactic he was taking, "The point I'm trying to make here is that what you're doing now is the same. Things would be much easier if you just fairly paid me for the video. But instead, you jump right to killing. Isn't that extreme? You're trying to make everything exactly how you want it, and because of that you've locked your mind into choosing between two extremes when all you have to do is take a more middle path."

Quis let his words sink into him as he reviewed them. If he was being true, what Spiravit said wasn't completely wrong. If he had just settled, then he'd probably not be worrying about Spiravit right now. If he had settled, he wouldn't even have killed Pulchra. If he had settled, many mistakes wouldn't have been made.

But... he's already known this for a long while. Walking the path of least resistance is easy, and he'd probably die a peaceful death. Perhaps he'd find love and settle in a lesser area spending his days raising children and feeling warmth. Perhaps he'd live a nomad's life, living in the wild itself, unworried of politics and communicating. Who knows what peaceful, happy, emotionful life he could lead if he settled for less?

Was that what Quis wanted though?

No! No, it was not!

Quis leads the life he lives not for stability, not for the warmth of love, nor for the sake of survival itself. He lives to achieve revenge. He lives for ultimate strength, one that keeps him at the top, one that guarantees his ability to choose the life and death of others. He lives to not be weak! To live weakly and let the strong torment him with the excuse of, "I'm happier this way", is a fate worse than death itself!

So he teeters between the sides of life and death, constantly swinging one way and then into the other. He stabs his soles on the thorns of the path he walks and then he picks up a spike and shoves it into his own heart! He refuses to live ordinarily, and he'd go to any limit to prove he's extraordinary. He's known for the longest time that his actions will most likely end in his painful demise, and he's accepted it. The life he's been given is too precious to waste on an ordinary existence.

Never again would he try to accept that he'll forever stay ordinary.

Never again would he let morality be placed between him and the power he desired.

Never again would he walk the way of the passive!

Quis suddenly let out a laugh larger than himself, "HAHAHAHA! Spiravit. You say you know me, but you don't if you think what I seek is stability. Now, give up on resisting, and give me the video," he paused, getting rid of his jovial attitude, and refocused his eyes onto Spiravit with a stare of bloodlust, "or I'll kill you."

Spiravit received these words harshly as he mauled over them, 'It seems that I've made a mistake... I assumed that Quis had a goal more normal than me... why?... I guess the only answer is that I've yet to fully change how I think about everything. Back when I had pride, I thought that my goal was much grander and better than everyone's, so I must've not corrected that yet, and in the intensity, it automatically came out of me. Damn it. It looks like I've lost this round. A pity too. If I could use that video to blackmail Quis again, it would be great... but it's not in the cards. It's good to know when to concede, and this is one of those moments.'

He raised his head and looked into Quis' eyes. They were deep blue eyes, but they held much more than just color. They held an unshakable will that almost nothing could penetrate. They held the deepest of all patience. They held the absurd goal he worked toward.

They held who he was.

Spiravit sighed in defeat as he relaxed his head and said to Quis, "Alright, you win. I'll tell you where it is."

As he said this Quis mentally sighed in relief. Like this, a large burden would be taken off of his shoulders. The evidence Spiravit held had been a pain in his back for the longest time, but now it was leaving.

He was finally free.