Chapter 112

Companionship (I)

Jamal and Lukas advanced in very different ways through the soot-filled, gray-dyed, fire-decorated ruins around them. Craters appeared often, deep and wide, with most of the landscape being filled with rolling, rotting hills void of life and jagged and rugged rocks with scorch marks all over them. The sky above was blanketed by thick layers of smoke, preventing any light from falling through and casting an eerie shadow over the entire world, one only broken by the occasional jets of flame erupting from underneath.

Jamal walked nonchalantly, his weapon tucked inside his inventory, arms wrung back above his head, his lips pursed together as he whistled. Lukas, on the other hand, had his gauntlets at a ready, his pinkish eyes warily looking around and reacting at every sound and noise. His footsteps were cautious and even, and he always looked ready to strike.

However, even after ten minutes of high-alertness, the two didn't meet any enemies, nor did they come across any resources -- unless an unlimited supply of scorched sand was a resource, which they highly doubted.

"Relax, man," Jamal spoke out and even managed to startle Lukas, prompting the former to laugh. "What are you so tightly-wound for?"

“What--what if we’re attacked?” Lukas asked.

“Then we react.” Jamal shrugged. “You worry too much. We’re far stronger than you think.”

“We are?” Lukas quizzed.

“Of course,” Jamal scoffed. “I was just like you, though. That bastard skewed our views on what ‘strong’ is so much that I thought I was pathetically weak for so long.”

“... what changed it?”

“I saw other people in the Tower, fighting,” Jamal sighed. “They were... oh my god, it was kind of embarrassing, just watching them. Flailing around like morons and screaming like they’re on a voice-chat in the midst of a raid. You could probably take on fifty ordinary people by just standing still and doing nothing. They’d hit each other enough times to kill off everyone before you even started to bleed.”

"How... how strong is he? Cain, I mean?" Lukas asked as he unwillingly withdrew his gauntlets, not wanting to appear as 'less of a man'.

“... I don’t know,” Jamal replied after a short thought. “I don’t think anyone has seen him actually go all out. We’ve seen glimpses, maybe... and boy...”

“...” Lukas bit his lips, wondering once again whether he truly belonged to this group. Everyone was amazing -- no, beyond amazing. From Cain, the enigma that appeared to levitate above everyone at least ten whole layers, to Emma, Jamal, Senna, and even Diya. Every one of them was so strong that they could have likely ventured in here all on their own and been just fine.

“Don’t let that dissuade you, though,” Jamal, noticing Lukas’ expression, quickly spoke out. “He’s a freak -- it’s pointless to compare yourself to him.”

“It’s not just him,” Lukas said, sighing. “It’s all of you. You, too, are amazing. Whenever you fight, I feel like whatever meets your sword... dies.”

“... that’s ‘cause you only saw me fighting some basic boys,” Jamal shrugged with a sigh. “I struggled, mightily, actually. I still do. Nobody in this group is some mega-soldier, Lukas. If we were, we’d be out there on our own. We need each other to cover up for our weaknesses. Take Senna, for instance. I think you’d agree that she’s by far the most talented out of all of us.”

“Yes.” Lukas nodded, having long since realized that. She was the quickest when it came to leveling, killing monsters, and improving.

"But, on her own, she would have never been able to achieve as much as she did with us," Jamal elaborated. "She needs someone to stand in front of her and take the brunt of attacks, like you and Emma. She needs someone behind her to cover up for her when she screws up, like Diya. And she needs someone to stand by her side and help her cope when she gets overwhelmed, someone like me. And we all need someone to direct us, to lift us up when we're in the dumpster, and to shine at the front -- like Cain."

“...”

“That’s why... we are a party,” Jamal grinned as he glanced sideways at the wide-eyed Lukas. “And though we may bicker and moan and bitch about like nobody else... we know that, at the end of the day, we’ve got each other’s backs, no matter what. All I ask is that you believe that too and that, when others need you, you step in. ‘cause I promise... we’ll do the same for you.”

“I--I’ll step in!!” Lukas exclaimed as he curled his fingers into a fist.

“Ha ha ha, that’s the spirit! Hell yea’ you’ll step in!!”

“I will! Ha ha ha!!”

“Alright, don’t be so loud, we don’t want to attract any enemies.”

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!! What was I thinking?!” Lukas exclaimed softly, embarrassed.

“... I’m just messing with you, dude,” Jamal sighed. “We’ve been walking for so long that I’ve gotten really bored. If you’d like, shout out on top of your lungs and drag some dregs toward us. I could use a fight to stretch my muscles a bit.”

“... you... you’re really calm and confident,” Lukas said after a momentary deliberation. “I... I envy that.”

“Hm?”

“How... how can you be sure we’d be able to defeat them?” he asked. “I... I don’t know.”

“You’ll get there,” Jamal said with a grin. “What? You think I was this nonchalant my first go-around this deep?”

“Hm?”

"I was a wreck," Jamal chuckled bitterly, shaking his head. "We all were if I'm being honest. We made a lot of mistakes and got yelled at all the fucking time. It's like, y'know, driving a car. In the beginning, you're careful, slow, worried about everything. But, eventually, you learn to relax. You're more confident, you're more relaxed, and things don't scare you as much anymore. The same applies here. Once you've experienced some of the worst shit this place has to offer... walking through a graveyard of the world that's blowing out fires everywhere... will, quite literally, be a walk in the park. Ugh, I just made a lame pun. Emma's right. Cain's been influencing me too much, that bastard."

“... pfft, ha ha ha...”

“What? Was the pun that funny?”

“No.”

“Ouch.”

“No, I--I mean, it was funny, but that wasn’t why I laughed.” Lukas explained, panicked.

“Oh.”

“I meant... I... I don’t feel as anxious, all of a sudden. I’m not alone, at least. I know you’ll be there if anything goes down.”

“Well, it’s good that you think that,” Jamal said as he suddenly withdrew his blade. “’cause something is about to go down.”

“E-eh?!”

“Take out your weapon.”

“Right!!” Lukas exclaimed and hurriedly put on the gauntlets, swallowing a mouthful of saliva as his eyes darted all around, looking for anything out of the ordinary.

“On three, jump to your left.”

“H-huh?”

“One, two, THREE!!” though confused, Lukas still obeyed the command and launched himself to his left with all his might while Jamal used Blade Dash to appear just a few extra feet to the side of where Lukas was standing.

Right then, the ground beneath shook and opened up like a balloon, chunks of earth thrown aside as a worm-like creature jumped out of the hole, good fifteen feet long, its exterior wound tightly by metal-like pipes in the shape of armor.

Its head was triangular, and it appeared to have no features save for the dips and extrusions running across it that wound into horn-like protrusions that wound down around to the front of its head, almost acting like ‘claws’ of sorts.

It appeared to have been angered by missing its target and roared -- or, rather, shook its body so hard that the vibrations produced a sound akin to a roar. Just as its whole body left the hole, and as it was about to dip back into the ground, Jamal finished charging Starlight into his blade, his eyes surging with the milky-white mist as he spun forward and left an afterimage, appearing right at the worm’s head and swiping the blade in a full circle, cutting cleanly through the creature’s body.

The head abruptly flew off the rest of the body, gray and green blood shooting out like rain and showering Jamal who quickly dispersed it through charging Mana across his body, nimbly landing back onto the ground and admiring his work for a moment as the giant creature fell to the ground, motionless.

Only then did Lukas recover, stunned through the whole ordeal, and unable to react. He stared wide-eyed at the broad back of the man standing in front of him, blade shimmering with green blood in his hands, dripping droplets from its tip. Just one swing -- that's all it took to fell a creature that Lukas, and many others he wagered, would consider unbeatable. Though it was far from the first time he'd seen Jamal and others fighting, it never got less amazing; he knew that his Class wasn't specialized in cleaving through foes like that, but he still felt envious.

“... you can do it too, you know?” as though reading his mind, Jamal suddenly said with a faint smile.

“H-huh?”

“It’s not about the Class or your weapon,” Jamal said. “It’s about knowing when and where to hit. Don’t worry, Lukas,” he walked over and grabbed the young’ man’s shoulder tightly. “We’ll make a legend out of you, yet. And one day into the future, there will be a horde of young people just like you are now, admiring you and looking up to you, asking the same questions you’ve been asking us. You got it in you,” Jamal fist-bumped Lukas’ chest roughly, causing the latter to almost stumble back. “We just gotta bring it out, okay?”

“... okay.”

“I need more conviction than that.”

“Okay.”

“MORE!!”

“O-OKAY!!”

“MORE!!!”

“OOOOOOOKAY!!” Lukas roared out from the top of his lungs, startling Jamal who felt the winds caused by the roar itself push him back slightly. Shit, what are your lungs made out of man?! Adamantium?!