abcnovels
Chapter 134: Real
Chapter 134: Real
Chapter 134: Real
Ash was at a loss for a words. He sat there, shocked to the core, unable to move. Unable to move until he started to tremble. Chills ran down his spine as he peered at what he thought was long dead. How was this possible? Were his eyes deceiving him? He had finally mustered strength to speak. But he had too many words to say. He wanted to say a thousand things at once, but his body couldn't allow for such convenience. A curious, concerned, terrified "Jin?" slipped his mouth.
Jin smirked; "Missed me?" He asked, leaning back on the seat, sitting like a king again. "Silence? I'll take it as a yes. But I'll tell you what," he looked up at the sky again, "I didn't miss you one bit. Because," he said, "I was watching you all along." Suddenly, Xavier's body, head bashed in, manifested, and collapsed in front of them.
"X-Xavier?"
Suddenly the bodies of all those he had killed appeared on the floor in front of where they sat. The slew of corpses built up on the floor, piling up on each other. And then, there was this one woman, standing, alive. Juxaposed, Rosa stood.
Ash grimaced, shaking. "Rosa? What is she doing ... there? How'd you summon ... her?"
"That's simple too," Jin said. "She was working for me all along. Placed under my Puppet Strings Hex. I was able to control her," he drawled, his eyes tired, "put her in autopilot where her own personality was there. She was never related to Dianne in anyway. I used Doll strings and made her pass my Decpetive Delusion to all of you. The delusion is 'I'm innocent and kind, and you should not be skeptical of me because I am truly who I say I am."
Ash felt uneasy. He began to sweat. "N-nuh-no! You're lying to me. Loki is a liar."
"Xavier was placed under my Puppet Strings Hex five minutes before he attacked you. The skill so cool that you could literally set a timer or a trigger that will activate the spell. Xavier's maclice for you was the trigger. But there was also a timer. Too bad he was so weak."
"You're lying to me," Ash said softly, frowning.
"Your whole life in this dome was a lie all along. But I did it to make you strong, Ash. To make you powerful. Can't you see I'm doing you a favor!? There is no place for a weakling in this world. Feeble beings never make it far."
Ash looked at Jin as he spoke. He looked the same. But more handsome. Yet, more arrogant. More evil. A tear slowly trickled down Ash's cheek as he peered at him. "I thought you were dead."
"Merely fools and weaklings die," Jin said, glancing at him from the corner of his eye, "I am neither of those. But you ..." he turned to Ash, "you're a weakling. Your whole life in here was all as per my schemes. All planned. It was a lie. But there is real to it. Let me tell you what's real. The fact that you have relived a year over and over again. That's what is real. I've been taking you back over and over again, and everytime I do it, you're supposed to loose more of those human emotions that hold you back.
"But you ... you never loose them for too long. This is taking too long. My plan is to make you strong. You're supposed to be able to watch the people you care about die, and not shed a single tear," Jin carried his hand to Ash's face, and wiped his tear with his thumb. "But you've failed again."
"But don't worry. Making you a stoic isn't my only goal. Let's just say I'm giving immense power to you, since you're the one who needs it the most. I've planned your life out. I'll make you my servant. Although old Jin had long perished, a part of him resonates within me. And that part is caring for my friends to some degree. Therefore, I will make you powerful. My servant.
"This is second time you've failed," he averted his eyes, "I've failed twice as well. But we can work together. You failed to become a powerful stoic and I failed to take a certain being down. The time is ruined. Fucked. You're supposed to commit suicide in exactly ten days after your wife killed Noah and then herself. And I'm supposed to get killed by this certain person tomorrow since I've failed again. But that's not going to happen. Because we're going back again. This is real. We get a third chance to go back one year before all of this.
"This," Jin grinned widely, "including both our lives, is scripted and planned. We will arise!"
Ash, tired eyes, looked him in the face. "Was ..." he quailed, "Tim ... a part of your plan too?"
Jin took a while to reply. He averted his eyes. "Unfortunately, yes. But not all of it. He would inevitably try slaughtering your family. The way time churns is fucked. I tried my best, but I can't change that. So I can't be blamed one hundred percent for Tim. But I can be blamed for what he's done to your son. My disciple ... she"
Ash, aquiver, sobbed. Constantly, his body jolted. He cried constant tears. "Why? Why me? My ... entire life ... was a lie. You killed my family, Jin!"
Suddenly, he clutched his hands to his bat, quickly swung at Jin's head while sitting. When suddenly, he received the blow to his head instead, pitching off the bench, and falling to the floor. He was atop a corpse, looking up at the sky with tired eyes.
Jin stood, towering over him. "That's an active skill of mine. It's called 'Mirror'. Should an assailant's attack be powerless, which means without any type of magic energy, the attack is reflected."
Suddenly, Cliff appeared next to Jin. He placed a green orb on Jin's hand, and looked ahead. Jin held the timestone firmly.