Chapter 98: The Futility That Was That Battle (Part 1)

The human heart - it is a difficult thing to understand.

It gives one courage, yet makes them cower at times. It gives one hope, yet drowns itself in despair all the same. It gives one strength, yet remains everyone's biggest weakness.

This duality of it, this unmistakable division of what people may classify as 'good' and 'bad', this is what truly makes the human heart a subject that is hard to understand.

Yet, it isn't as big a deal as many think it is.

After all, at the base of it all, the human heart desires one simple thing - completion. It requires to feel whole.

And, as long as it doesn't feel whole, it will keep on demanding.

Sneha: "..."

No matter how much one has, it will keep on asking for more.

For every single penny one gains, it will desire two more. For every single victory one achieves, it will desire three more. And, more than anything else, for every single moment of fulfilment, it will desire five more.

Laurie: "..."

That, in the simplest form, is the essence of the human heart.

That, in the base form, is where all the cardinal sins come from.

Whether it is the envy towards someone even slightly better or stronger than one, whether it is the wrath towards being humiliated by an opponent, or whether it is the pride that stops one from doing something just because the opponent suggests it, it all comes from this simple want of a human heart to be whole.

And, while there are many moments of great change or importance in one's life that may stick and change the person and their desires somewhat, a permanent change is hardly ever the case and at the end of the day, one would return to their base desires when given a little push.

In most of these cases, these moments of change only end up being foolish memories that could accomplish nothing worth mentioning at all.

So, this moment,

Sneha: "... Tsk!"

This moment, this place, this carnage,

Laurie: "... Hah! Hah!"

Soon enough, it would lose its meaning too.

Sneha: "E … enough of this!"

Knowing all that somewhere deep within her mind, the Aural brings her hand, imbued with tremendous power, down onto the Hellfire trying to catch her breath.

And with that, it all ends - the moment filled with the human heart's foolish desires, it all ends right then and there.

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"My lady?"

In a polite voice, a man clad in a butler's uniform addressed the woman lying comfortably on her bed and staring into space,

Woman: "Yes, what is it?"

Butler: "There's someone on the door who wishes to see you."

He said so with a troubled look that he did his best to hide but was unable to. And so, this woman, Laurie Brown, sighed with a bored voice.

Laurie: "Isn't it well-known that anyone who wishes to see me needs an appointment? And I don't remember having any appointments today so whoever it is, tell them to go."

She did not care at all who it was that had come to meet her. And so, she was quick in giving her dismissing answer. However,

Butler: "I'm afraid, my lady, that you will have to see this man despite any of that."

Laurie: "What did you just say!?

A sharper tone by the butler led to a sharper tone by her as well, but,

Butler: "If you don't do as I am asking you to do then,"

With his polite smile gone and replaced by a tense and despaired face, he pulled out a gun from one of the pockets of his uniform and put it to Laurie's head, surprising her completely.

Butler: "Then I'll just have to force you."

Laurie: "..."

She was at a loss for words.

Someone had turned her loyal butler to put a gun to her head. Of course, she was at a loss for words. And so, despite not wanting to,

Laurie: "Oh yeah?"

After dismantling the gun with psychokinesis and putting the butler to sleep with a fist chop, She decided to go see who her visitor is.

She was in a mansion, a mansion she wasn't very familiar with because of only recently having come to live there, and so it took her some time to get to the entrance where that man was waiting for her.

But while this may not have been any more than some minutes, it felt like hours to her - all because of her constant irritation and anger. The worst part, however, was that she had no idea what she was so angry about or what she was so irritated about.

And then, she saw that man, and in an instant, something else took over.

Laurie: "Why are … you of all people …?"

She couldn't even word the entire question as she stood there awestruck by the identity of her visitor.

It was none other than Reid Vezalius Rosevelt.

Rosevelt: "Why so surprised? Since you are one of the most talented Psychics in the world, surely you would have expected to get a visit from me someday."

Rosevelt asks her, to which she replies with nothing.

Rosevelt: "Well, in any case, have a seat. Though, I guess I don't have the right to say that since this is YOUR place."

Not at all caring about the carefree tone of his voice, she prepared herself for teleportation so she could escape if she needed to, and then sat down to listen to what the Phoenix had to say, all while her heart's beating kept growing louder than her brain could handle.

Rosevelt: "Well, pardon me for getting straight down to business, Ms Brown, but I would like for you to join Vermilion - as a Hellfire."

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The gates of the old school inn opened and a woman walked in.

Noticing her, all pairs of eyes but one turned to her. And because of her clothing and her beauty, those already there couldn't help but stare at her, all except one man.

It just so happened to be that the man who didn't react at all was the person she was looking for. At least, it felt like it. It wasn't a logical deduction but an intuitional one and to people like her, that more often than not mattered more than logic.

So, she went over to that man and straight-up asked,

"Are you Ethan Kales?"

And then, the man answered.

Ethan: "Yes, indeed I am, Ms Stone."

Sneha: "I see. So you are the one who called me here, correct? What do you want from me?"

She asked, cautious and meticulously investigative.

Ethan: "Well, in simple terms, I want to team up with you and help you reach your goals. Of course, in turn, I want you to help me reach mine."

He said without a sliver of worry or anxiety.

Sneha: "Huh?"

To hear someone so casually talk about helping her reach her goal when she had not ever mentioned her goal in front of another person - it was either downright creepy or downright scary, either of which are not pleasant at all.

Ethan: "Don't look so surprised now. You do want to find out what really happened to the members of your now former Aural school, don't you? And you want to find out why it happened as well, right?"

Ethan suggested, making it clear that he really knows what the Aural's goal was. Some would say this was a simple situation. After all, the Aural just needed to answer 'yes' or 'no'.

Sneha: "..."

But, being asked something like that by someone who blackmailed her to arrange that meeting, she was truly overwhelmed … or did it leave her underwhelmed?

Ethan: "Something wrong, Ms. Stone?"

Maybe it did leave her underwhelmed. After all, to be given a choice to ally herself with someone who mostly spun everything in vague words, what else could she feel but underwhelmed?

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