Solo Cultivation in The Apocalypse

Chapter 357 Looks Like Paradise

The explosions were happening in a series, so Kakashi had a way of knowing what would happen next. He knew it from the calculations he did in the little time; at which, Onogi just laughed.

He was sitting in a dark room with glowing hologram screens around him. "Took you long enough, bastards," he had said when they had arrived.

Then Hitori got close to the stairs, he had seen the dynamites. Onogi was sweating, he thought about pressing the button and blowing him – but his plan was to take as many as he could, so he waited.

Then, suddenly, they became aware of the trap from something they talked about on their stupid wand – that bitchy piece of wood. Onogi clenched his fists. He knew someone had told them about the dynamites. But who? No one knew except his father and him.

"Father," he muttered, his jaw clenched. "You are dead." Any normal person would have hesitated before saying that, but anger had taken over Onogi – making him a senseless, murderous, monster.

They were running, he had expected them to go inside, but they were running outside. Onogi knew this was his chance – no, he had lost his chance – so he did what he could within the given circumstances.

He pressed the button. The explosions went off at the end. "Fuck!" he screamed. "Where is that damn button?!"

He looked at the control monitor. It was filled with tens of buttons, one for each dynamite. He could not remember which one would blow the dynamite around the start. So he started punching random buttons.

And to his bad luck, all the buttons he punched exploded the dynamites around the other corner – not near the entrance.

Then he caught the button that was bigger than the others. He could not remember why what it did, due to his anger, but then realize it was connected to the explosives under the staircase, tied to cause a chain reaction.

A smile spread over his lips. He lifted his hand, clenched it into a fist, then bestowed the button with a hard punch.

Hitori glanced over his shoulder, hoping Kakashi would come, but he was still standing there and holding the fire.

He stopped, then spun and shouted, "Come out, Kakashi!"

He did not move. He waited till the fire had calmed. He pressed against the explosives, trying to suppress the impact. The floor beneath him was shaking, threatening to collapse any second now.

Reon grabbed Hitori's arm and tugged him hard. "Come on, now!"

But Hitori's eyes were fixed on Kakashi, he even ignored the blasts around Kakashi, they were getting closer, but he was still near the staircase.

Eya spun around and shouted at Hitori, "He will catch up with us! Let us go."

Catch up? Hitori had a feeling nothing of that sort was going to happen. So he did not want to lose his only chance – he had promised no deaths during this mission.

Someone had to die. It was necessary for the plot to move forward. It was necessary to give Hitori a sense of the monster's power.

With all the thoughts going through his mind, Reon trying to pull him with her, and Eya trying to drag him – Kakashi turned.

Hitori stopped himself from being pulled, and that stopped everyone. With his eyes raised, Hitori watched as Kakashi let go of the damn shield and spun around to leave.

Hitori opened his mouth to shout, "Hurry!" But a big bang came in as a reply.

Fire erupted from the staircase, enveloping Kakashi in it, and Hitori saw no more. The shockwave pushed him back along with Eya and Reon.

They covered their eyes and put their hands over their heads to protect them from injury. Hitori landed hard on his back. Ignoring the pain in his back, he rose to his knees and looked for Kakashi.

But it did not send with one. That explosion set the chain reaction into action. Another blast, then another, and it continued till the floor collapsed and filled the entrance with fire.

"No!" Hitori shouted at the top of his lungs. He raised his hands and fired the hydro pump in at the fire. With the given intensity of the fire, it was impossible to extinguish the fire.

Reon knew that. While Eya was processing the information and coming to the fact that Kakashi was dead, Reon lifted her off the ground. Then she looked at Hitori.

"Stop, I said." She strode towards Hitori. Then she spread her arms and grabbed him from behind. "Stop it, Hitori!"

Hitori jerked his arms and threw his elbow back. One hit her in the bicep and his struggling caused her to tighten her grip. "No, no, I can not let him die. He can not die. I promised. Leave me—"

"So did he!" Reon shouted back. Her arms were hurting and her biceps were in pain. Her tears stopped on the cliff of her lids, waiting for a slight push to roll down the hill – her cheeks. "Kakashi promised too."

Eya sniffed. Still staring in disbelief, she rubbed her eyes. "Himbo… that idiotic son of a…" Her voice cracked, then she broke down crying.

Hitori stopped spraying water. He lowered his hands and watched the fire engulf the area he had cleared – only the two steps at the entrance, and now they were back on fire.

He realized his efforts were useless, and that Kakashi died without even screaming – or the noise of the explosions covered his screams under them.

Seeing that Hitori is not struggling anymore, Reon leaned and pressed her face on his back. She smelled the disgusting smell of gunpowder, grass, and mud; she did not flinch.

She closed her eyes, pushing the boulders of tears rolling down the hill of her cheek. Then Hitori's back interrupted their flow and forced them to smudge on the back of his shirt.

"Kakashi promised he would protect us if things went wrong. In fact, you forced him, pushed the responsibility on him, yet he fulfilled the promise. Can you just calm down and respect his death?"

Eya scoffed. Then she rubbed her eyes and looked at Reon who was staring back at her. "We are accepting the fact so easily. But I will remember him."

The weight on Reon's arms increased, she could not hold it any longer, so she removed her arms. Hitori plopped on the ground with his head down. "H-Hitori?"

"Bastard," he said. "That killer psychopath will not stop unless he has killed everyone. He just would not. He will kill everyone—"

Reon rested her hand on his shoulder, then dropped beside him. "Not if we kill him first."