CHAPTER 565

EDIFICE OF DESTRUCTION (III)

Lino was currently staring dubiously at Ion who was seated across from him, inside a luminescent room of wall-embedded gems and wooden furniture, drinking calmly, a faint smile hanging on his face. Of all those in the room, only he eventually returned, causing Lino a deep-seated internal conflict. Had it been Lucky or Ally, or perhaps even Val, he'd have outright kicked them out, no matter what they might think of him afterward.

However, deep inside, he knew Ion hadn't made this decision on the fly, as the sort of 'let's give it a go' thought. The now-old lad had the same determination in his eyes that Lino himself had sported countless times prior – which meant that he knew the best it would be nigh impossible to dissuade him from doing it.

Just as Lino was about to try, however, the doors to the small room opened and a figure casually walked through; Lino groaned right after as he recognized Caleb, draped in macabre, black robes, walking over and sitting next to Ion, the two glancing at each other for a moment.

“You too?” Ion quizzed, taking a sip.

“Yup.” Caleb replied simply.

“Nice.”

“Hm.”

“…” Lino sighed, taking out a bottle of wine, not bothering to take out a cup, drinking straight from the bottle itself. “What devil urged you to come here?” he asked Caleb who joined in on the drinking as Ion handed him a gourd of ale.

“Revenge.” Caleb replied simply.

“… revenge?”

“There were a couple of bastard Agents who nearly killed my ass,” he said. “So I need to return the favor.”

“… oh fuck off,” Lino groaned. “I won’t even consider it if you don’t tell me the truth.”

“… does it matter?” Caleb said after a short silence, looking Lino straight into the latter’s eyes, unflinching. “Besides, I was honest. It is revenge. Back before I learned of the reality of things, I used to be among the best of my homeworld’s hitmen. People would pay me exuberant amounts of money to sap away at their loved ones, and in the course of nearly twenty years of my career, I had never failed any of the targets. Then, the Ashening happened. And, for the first few years, I’ve found myself repeatedly failing – failing and failing and failing. To say nothing of the day the Agent arrived and culled millions of the survivors down to a hundred in the blink of an eye. On that day, I decided I’d rip his face off and shove it up his ass before gutting his heart.”

“… oh wow. I didn’t take you for the empathetic sort.” Lino commented.

“Hardly,” Caleb shrugged. “I don’t give a shit he killed millions. It’s how he ignored everyone and just walked away right after.”

“… right.”

“It took me millions of years to uncover he’s one of the Prime Agents, whatever the hell that may mean beyond him just being ‘super strong’. I’ve yet to meet him again after that, the bastard.”

“You’re really fucked in the head, aren’t you?”

“Eh. Aren’t you the same?”

“… you’ll tell me the truth eventually, you know.” Lino smiled after a short silence, taking a sip. “That’s the thing about me; I’ve the uncanny ability to draw out people’s secrets over time.”

“…” Caleb remained silent, merely smiling.

"If you're letting him, then you're letting me too." Ion joined in from the side.

“… wait, don’t—”

“I also desire revenge,” Ion said, maintaining unashamedly serious expression. “There was this one bastard Agent, you don’t know him, who smirked at me once and told me he’d fuck my wife when I got married. It traumatized me so much I decided to never get married. The only way I’ll ever get married is if I first find him and kill him.”

“… Hannah’s waiting for you,” Lino waved his hand off, giving up; it was pointless, after all. Neither of the two were children, but rather fully-grown people with their own intentions. In the end, it was their choice, and not his. “I wish you both good luck. Right, what about Talisha?” Lino asked Caleb.

“She’ll stay here for now,” Caleb replied. “I’ve brought our family over, so she’ll probably spend some time with them. After, I imagine she’ll start stalking you and pestering you to disclose where I am which, naturally, you won’t know. So, over time, you’ll start losing your mind and probably lock her up. I’m saying all this to make it easier for you – just lock her up right now and tell her I’m undergoing the same training that might last a few billion years.”

“… fuckin’ hell man… is she your wife or your slave?”

“… you don’t know,” Caleb shuddered for a moment, a look of horror crossing his eyes in that second. “Lino. You don’t know. Talisha is… Tal is… anyway, I’m leaving.”

“See ya’, my dear Emperor!” Ion downed the remnants of his drink and got up as well, flamboyantly saluting toward Lino with a grin. “I’ll be sure to remind everyone I kill of your name, so it may spread throughout all the universes there are!”

“…” Lino wordlessly watched the two walk away, chuckling right as the doors closed, falling silent.

Besides him, there were three more now – or, at least, there will be three more in the future. As to their futures, Lino had little say in them – he could only patiently wait and trust in them. From what the Edifice told him, how long it would take for them to become full-fledged agents would depend entirely on them. It’s not as though they’ll spend millions of years out and about, but, altogether, it might take that long, if not even longer. Timescale he was yet to really understand, or, in a way, even believe in.

Just before he was about to depart as well, the doors opened once again – an unsuspecting giant walking through casually. Lino paused, his lips gaping into a look of surprise as Eldon walked up and awkwardly sat in a chair way too small for him. Though Lino himself was hardly on the short side, the man before him towered over even when seated, to say nothing of if he were standing.

Lino absentmindedly stared at the calm Eldon for a long while before jolting himself back to reality, taking out another bottle of wine, quickly drinking it.

“Don’t tell me…”

“I wish to become Agent to seek vengeance…” Eldon said.

“You ran into those two?”

“Yeah.”

“… what the fuck are you doing here?” Lino asked straight out. “Aren’t you fucking tired already? I figured that, by now, you’d be merrily going out and about with Reli, readying to pop out a few kids already…”

“… I wish to seek vengeance…”

“Vengeance my ass!” Lino interrupted, slamming his fist against the table, cooling the atmosphere. “The other two, I sort of get. You? No. Not at all. Again… what the hell are you doing here, Eldon?”

“…” the latter looked deeply into Lino’s eyes for a moment before sighing. “I’m too used to it, Lino. The life of struggle, of battles that never end. I’ve spent billions of years entrenched in it. That isn’t something you simply walk away from…”

“What about the rest, then? Are they coming as well?” Lino asked.

“No,” Eldon shook his head. “They’re stronger than me, in that.”

“The hell they are.”

“They are,” Eldon reaffirmed. “They can look at the future and see themselves as a part of the world you created, Lino. Me? I can’t. I see no future limbering around, ‘finding’ myself all over again. I’ve already found myself, many times over. And each time it was in the wars and battles.”

“… did you talk to them?” Lino asked, calming down.

“No.”

“… why?”

“For one, I’m fairly certain Reli would have a nervous breakdown,” Eldon said. “And, secondly, they’d follow me.”

“…”

"I don't know what Hannah told you," he continued while Lino took out yet another bottle of wine, his nerves stretched tautly. "But… I'm still in love with a ghost, Lino. I can't respond to Reli’s, or anyone else’s, heart. The sole purpose I see for myself is entrenching myself back into the life I’ve known for what seems an eternity.”

“… what if I say no? Will you follow in Primul’s steps?”

“… I don’t know.” Eldon replied honestly, his wide shoulders slumping. “I truly hope… from the bottom of my heart… you will let me.”

“… you’ll regret it eventually.” Lino said.

“I might.”

“No, you will,” Lino ascertained. “Nobody, no matter how broken, is meant to spend eternity shedding blood, Eldon. One day, you’ll look back on today, on the words you said to me, and wish you could go back in time, turn around, and walk back to your friends.”

“… I might.” Eldon said firmly, causing Lino sigh.

“You may have more years under your belt than me,” the latter said. “But, by god, if you aren’t at least twice as dumb. Go. See if I give a shit. Go and chase whatever it is you need to find.”

“… thank you.”

“Nothing will bring her back, Eldon,” Lino added just before the latter walked out of the room. “I just hope that, during your journey, you will finally accept that in your heart.”

“…” not letting himself be blindsided again, Lino flashed out of the room and vanished, appearing on the small balcony of the fortress, just outside Hannah’s and his room. To his surprise, Aaria was already sitting there, her back facing him, dressed in uncharacteristically ugly clothing – something Lino himself might wear – a broad canvas in front of her, her hand tracing over it gently.

“… isn’t the color of the sun all wrong?” Lino commented as he walked right up to behind her, stroking his beard.

“AAH!!” Aaria cried out, stumbling back and nearly falling as Lino reached out and held her, all the while focused on the canvas.

“Also, what’s with that dog? Did it evolve into the breed that has completely abandoned the sense of proportion? And what of these mountains, huh? Why are they shit-colored?”

“—could you ever, ever, give me a warning before you pop out?!!” Aaria growled, quickly setting herself back up to her feet and covering the canvas with her body, her cheeks flushed red.

“… you do realize you’re just outside my room, right?” Lino asked, smiling.

“… I needed a place nobody would bother me.” She said.

“… so, whatcha doing?” Lino asked as he walked back over to the table and a set of chairs, sitting down. “I mean, besides failing.”

“Hey!! Didn’t you say you would support me at whatever I decide to do?! Is this your version of support?! To belittle me?!”

“… how am I belittling you?” Lino asked. “Are you really going to claim it’s good?”

“… well, no, but I’ve just started. Of course, it's not going to be good!"

“… paint me.” Lino said all of a sudden, ignoring the daggers she was throwing at him through her eyes.

“Huh?”

“I want you to capture me right here and right now; just remember, the portrait you make will be hung just above the throne, and will stay there until the end of time.”

“…” Aaria was stunned into silence at that moment, quickly recovering as she saw her father’s cheeky smile, fire in her chest igniting. “Fine!!” she exclaimed, ripping the canvas and putting up a new, fresh one, turning it over to face the seated Lino. “Just you wait, old man! I’ll paint you better than you can ever even look!”

“… less yappin’, more paintin’.” Sheesh, he thought, barely holding back his laughter. Tricking her is easier than stealing from babies… wait!! Have neither Hannah nor I ever taught her about the most basic manipulation?! Hell!! If I hadn’t realized, I’d have been sending her completely unprepared… I’ll have to properly sit her down and teach her all the tricks. Hm, maybe not all… messing with her is kinda fun…