chapter 35: REAPER'S NEST

"wake up sleepyhead" Timothy opened his eyes to find June looking at him with a smile

"You might have forgotten who you are but to me I still see the same man I married, you still snore and drool slightly when you sleeping hehe. Even now you giving me the same look you used to give me when I told you of your sleeping tendencies"she giggled at the last part

Timothy got up the bed went to the sink to wash his face with June standing near the bed looking at him with a slightly pained expression

"What have I done for you to punish me with silence Stephen ? You haven't said a word to me for 2 months , it's like your one of father's robots even your eyes *sobs* you don't look at me like you did before , why? Is it because of the incident two months ago but I apologized for it , my body and feelings got the best of me I'm sorry"tears filled her eyes as she tried holding them back

Timothy now had a better understanding of what was happening with this body everytime he left this place , the body seemed to function on its own without a soul inhibiting it . It was like everytime he came to Concilia he was transferring his consciousness to this body inhibiting it for a while but why does it seem like he was always here when something good or bad was brewing . Timothy stopped thinking about it for now and turned to look at June but then a load of memories rushed into his mind.Everything that happened the past two months resurfaced in his mind and Timothy immediately felt guilty seeing that June was with him almost everyday the past two months.

Timothy smiled at her"Thank you for everything you have done for me the past two months thank you so much June , I don't want you crying because of me it's just that I have so much I'm trying to comprehend" Timothy explained to her

"I would do it everyday *sobs* for a thousand years without stopping" June spoke as tears gushed down her eyes , her voice cracked as she spoke

Timothy subconsciously moved to hug her , they stayed in that position for a while .June stopped crying and gave Timothy a peck on his cheek

"Now dress up we have to leave " she left him alone , Timothy quickly wore his steampunk coat and boots before following june. June was busy equipping herself she had also put her steampunk military jacket on

"I've already prepared your weapons , but I don't no I'd you would want the ray gun " June handed Timothy the weapons consisting of two daggers , a short sword with rotating blades and a ray gun

"Thank you , but uh I suggest you keep this "he handed her the ray gun as he still had a lingering fear of it

"Okay , now the plan is to go and destroy their airship hangers in order to make them divert their attention and focus on me , while you go to to the Esteemed Republic's headquarters and rescue moraine " June explained, Timothy remembered every detail of the plan Clearly

"Are you sure the revolution will support you with this?" Timothy asked as they made their way out of the basement

"Yeah , I have already told them the benefits of this." June smiled

"Okay Mr Bellanour we'll meet back here after everything is all done , remember if you don't find her inside retreat ,take care of yourself"

"I will , take care of yourself too Mrs Bellanour" Timothy winked at June with a feint smile on his face then he leaped onto the tree , June stood there with a look of shook on her face before smiling so brightly as she vanished

Timothy leaped from tree to tree as his eyes focused and his breathing relaxed , he recalled the high movement spell June taught him or the body he was also confused since he didn't want to get credit for somebody else's work , Timothy let the aether flow from his soul into his legs and eyes , once the aether reached his eyes the world became different in his eyes he saw the tears in space that were releasing aether .This movement spell was based on utilising the tears in space to travel , as all the tears were connected Timothy could step onto a tear and step out of a different tear far far away and he need his eyes to navigate between the different tears in space as one wrong step could and you could find yourself in a dangerous place or in the middle of a war , but this spell was draining and since the people of Concilia haven't found a way for their souls to produce their own aether from the amount they already have in their soul , Timothy couldn't overuse the spell

"Broken steps" Timothy spoke as he stepped into a tear , the moment he stepped into the tear his body felt as if it was breaking down but Timothy could see all the other tears and where they led ,it was as if it was a hall full of thousands of portals all leading to a different place around him . Timothy recalled the location of the esteemed republic headquarters and a tear that showed the headquarters appeared infront of him but Timothy knew stepping into this tear would drain his aether reserves so he thought of a landmark that was near the headquarters and a tear appeared infront of him revealing a wasteland filled with skulls and bones this was a place called the Reaper's Nest . This was the only place closer to the Headquarters so Timothy took his chances and stepped into the tear as his body couldn't handle it anymore .

"Reaper's Nest huh? It sure gives a weird vibe" Timothy spoke as he deactivated the broken steps and tried to stabilize his disoriented body

He stood in exact location for a while until his body stabilized , he released aether into his eyes and everything went purple . Timothy's eyes were like a super x-ray able to see everything around him and he saw that he was surrounded by 7 creatures he couldn't quite make out but then knowledge of the creatures resurfaced in his mind making Timothy click his tongue in annoyance

"Reaper's hollows tskkk I'm in so much trouble this time"Timothy recalled their abilities and the most important one was the fact that they couldn't be seen with the naked eye , if one couldn't utilize aether they would be as good as dead since these creatures can only be damaged by aether and their attacks were all aimed towards the soul

Timothy took out his sword with rotating blades and poured aether into it making the blades revolve with a purplish light "let's get this over with" Timothy protected his whole body with a membrane of aether , the creatures clawed at him their attacks passing right through the membrane and his body hitting his soul but Timothy had also covered his soul with a membrane of aether so the attacks did little damage and Timothy unleashed his attacks on the creatures he swung his sword at the three hollows infront of him his sword slicing through them like butter as they fell to the ground and their bodies materialized revealing Three creatures that were sliced in the middle and putrid stench spread out , Timothy looked at the disgusting creatures and he heard wails coming the other four as they started clawing at him crazily , Timothy defended with his sword slicing the hollows claws in the process making them materialize and fall to the ground , the hollows got even mad and wailed so loud before stopping their attack on Timothy and merging into one big scazy hollow

"Scrregggggggghhhh" the hollow roared after merging , Timothy couldn't see much detail like the changes on its body and eyes since his aether vision didn't show much detail

" Why didn't I get memories of this merging ability?!" Timothy yelled in his mind, the monstrous hollow attacked so fast that Timothy had a hard time keeping up as the creature clawed at him , this time he could feel a bit of coldness when the creature's claws passed through his body and hit his soul making Timothy feel as if his soul was being corroded

"If this goes on for long I'll die here"he thought to himself as he was rummaging through his memories trying to find a spell that could help him defeat this monstrosity attacking him , a memory of June showing him a spell where he had to compress aether on his finger tip in order to blast release a highly compressed aetheric bullet surfaced in his mind and Timothy began releasing aether onto his right index finger but the creature seemed to sense his actions and it opened it's mouth as it prepared an attack with it's mouth . Timothy started compressing the aether on his index finger until it became the size of a marble at the same time Timothy could see a red light in the mouth of the creature indicating that the creature had finished it's attack Timothy raised his finger and shot the aetheric bullet towards the creature as it alsed released it's attack , the two attacks passed through each other and continued to their targets with great speed , Timothy spread out his aether in order to block out the attack but the attack passed through without much resistance as it headed for him

"Reverse steps " Timothy yelled a spell as the attack had almost reached , the bullet he sent out hit the merged hollow right on the head and it exploded , the hollow's body twitched for a while before materializing revealing a huge black slimey body with horns on the shoulders and huge claws the area where the head was supposed to be hand mangled flesh and green blood flowing out of it .

"Close one " Timothy exhaled deeply as he was happy that a memory of the spell reverse steps appeared at the last moment saving him from sudden death

Timothy looked around and he could see many hollows approaching fast and he sighed

"Broken steps"