Chapter 301 - No Answers in Silence

"Are you even in a position to say something like that?"

That was Skeem's response to Rynold's snide remark. While Rynold wanted to make things uncomfortable for the ogre, it was clearly a far cry from what ended up happening. Rynold had become the injured one, after all, and Skeem was unpleased at best. Even if the ogre didn't expect Rynold to unleash such powerful magic, it was still nothing Skeem had to fret about at that point. Because, by the look of things, Rynold couldn't even move from where he was standing.

"You know," Rynold smirked, finding it hard to put out a full smile, "It may not look like much, but I can still kick your ass."

"Oh, can you now? Because, from where I'm standing, you can't even defend yourself when I do this."

Rynold, barely able to keep his senses straight, lost sight of Skeem, who had been standing in front of him. The ogre flickered without a trace and appeared just behind Rynold. Of whom, Rynold didn't even realize what had happened until Skeem kicked Rynold from the back. It caused Rynold to fall down face first, emphasizing the power gap between the two.

As Rynold struggled to push himself off the ground, Skeem watched the pathetic display the human had expressed. There was nothing to say as the ogre looked down on the cockroach Rynold was.

"Okay," Rynold coughed up blood, dangerously losing his head, "Okay. You're right. I can't really do anything here but hold you and buy a few minutes. It's suicide. I admit that doing something like this was pretty stupid, even for me. So, I'm a dead man. Mind entertaining a dead man's wishes?"

"No," Skeem looked down on Rynold, his eyebrows furrowed in frustration. He had answered immediately, not even entertaining the thought. "You're dead either way. And, as soon as you are, I can leave whatever this place is."

"Fair enough," Rynold said as he flipped himself over, looking up instead of down on the ground, "Although, I kinda am surprised that you're not in a hurry to get back. Killing me is easy. Really easy. So, why don't you do it already? Get this whole thing over with?"

"You're dumber than you let on," Skeem responded condescendingly. "Really, how have you survived this long? Besides, I have no hurry to return. My army can take care of itself."

"Right, of course," Rynold nodded and closed a System window, "I guess whatever taunts or anything I say to you won't matter, huh? Can't say I'm surprised."

The ogre looked down on Rynold one more time before looking around the white space around them. Rynold, on the other hand, knew just how much the stakes were against him. There was no room for victory or survival anymore. But, even for a fraction of a chance that Rynold's sacrifice could stop Hell from spilling out, he'd gladly take it. But, even that seemed like a long shot.

Nonetheless, Rynold could understand why Skeem didn't want to leave the Arena of Order anytime soon. He would have faced a dragon. Even just looking at it seemed like a bad idea. Rynold assumed as such. Waiting for the old man to run out of Mana seemed as good a strategy as any.

"Okay," Rynold babbled on, "Say things go your way. What then? You're freeing Hell for what? Because of your vendetta with some god? You seriously can't think that siding with whatever's down there to be a good idea. Huh? You listening to me?"

"No, you listen to me, alright?!" Skeem suddenly cracked, calling out Rynold, "You have no idea what we are trying to accomplish. You, all these other humans, are all in over your heads. While you have barely been a part of this war for a year, you lowlifes seem to think that you know everything about everything. You cannot possibly imagine what it is that's happening here. You, for one, have barely even scratched the surface. What our — my purpose here is beyond your understanding."

Rynold flinched. It was a knee-jerk reaction to the sudden outburst Skeem had shown. While there was some rage in his voice, there was truth in it as well. It seemed as though this was something of a sore spot for him. It was that, or, well, Rynold's incessant ramblings had gotten to him. Although, Rynold was betting on the former.

"Okay," Rynold nodded, his tone of voice noticeably weaker, "I'll drop it."

After that, the two fell silent, each of them looking away from each other. From Rynold's side of things, though, he could barely look straight. The absence of Mana and his ragged state was far worse than it had appeared. Chances were Rynold was going to pass out soon. And in doing so, the Arena of Order would cease to exist. It was, really, only a matter of time.

"Hey," Rynold suddenly called out after minutes of silence, "Whatever it is you're after, you seriously think it's going to work?"

Skeem shot Rynold a glare, expressing a general disdain over whatever Rynold would end up saying. It was clear that if Rynold had said anything else, a fight would break out. Well, more of a slaughter, if anything else.

"Woah, woah," Rynold chuckled and then coughed, "I'm not asking just to spite you, alright? I'm genuinely wondering, okay? I'm practically a dead man walk- sitting here. So, just humor me, and I'll shut up. Believe me. I don't want to spend my last few minutes talking to some bastard."

However, even in Rynold's near-death state, it was not convincing. No part of Rynold was capable of changing Skeem's mind. The ogre's self-awareness and sense of duty weren't something that could change in an instant, especially not for some cockroach.

"Hm."

Deep in thought, Skeem suddenly started walking. It seemed aimless at first, but then Skeem turned to Rynold and walked straight towards him. A threatening, looking-to-kill expression was on the ogre's face. It was a different kind of intimidating, compared to Skeem's arrogant look. But, it was intimidating all the same.

"What are you?"

That was the question the ogre asked as he picked Rynold up from the ground. Holding him by the collar of his shirt, Rynold suddenly got a closer look at the ogre's face, much closer than he was comfortable with being.

"Now, which one of us is asking the dumb questions? Hm?" Rynold's expression became complicated as he found it curious that Skeem would ask something like that, "I'm human. You know that. A human that I'm guessing you find to be much more annoying than most."

"No, that's not all of it...," Skeem suddenly trailed off as he pulled something out of thin air with his free hand. It appeared to be a cylindrical metallic stick that did nothing in particular. But then, Skeem added, "Let's test a theory, shall we?" with a big smile on his face.

Without warning, Skeem sent Mana to the stick and stabbed one end of it to Rynold's chest. It didn't puncture the skin or anything that would physically hurt him. But, with the right amount of Mana, the stick resonated and blasted Rynold's Mana Core with something concussive.

"GRAH!"

Rynold couldn't believe the pain he felt, as the symbiotic tree inside of him echoed the pain throughout his entire system. Rynold stared blankly into the white ceiling as the pain slowly subsided. He couldn't wrap his head around it. Hell, he couldn't even formulate a thought.

"Interesting..."

Once again, Skeem trailed off. He appeared to be studying Rynold's chest with extreme attention. It was as though something inside Rynold had caught his attention. While Rynold wasn't entirely conscious of the situation, the ogre was free to do whatever it wanted. And, Skeem did just that as he proceeded to point one end of the stick to Rynold's chest once more.

"D-don't," Rynold barely let out that one word, still unable to move. It appeared as though Rynold's subconscious had taken over him. Either way, it did less than nothing to stop Skeem from proceeding.

"GRAAHHH!!!"

Rynold yelled out in pain once more, this time screaming until his throat wouldn't let him anymore. After which, Rynold consequently passed out. Doing so released both Skeem and himself of the Arena of Order. The two returned to the castle courtyard. Or what was left of it.

"We're not done yet," Skeem murmured underneath his breath to no one in particular. He dropped Rynold on the ground without so much as caring for his safety. He then turned to the man standing alone in the ruined courtyard. The man, exhausted, then promptly took note of Skeem's return.

"Good work," the man saw Rynold out of the corner of his eye, not knowing if he was still alive or not. "It seems that you and I are left, hm?" the man asked Skeem as the ogre approached.

"So it is," Skeem nodded, "Before we proceed, however, might I suggest a discussion first?"