Book 8: Chapter 101: Reunion |
Zeke had a hard time coming to terms with what he was seeing.
That smooth, silvery hair, those large green eyes, and that permanent tilt to her lips, as if everything was amusing. Though he had not seen her in many years, there was not a single doubt in his mind about who had just fallen from the sky.
"Viola...?"
The young woman, still twitching from repeated lightning strikes, looked back at him with wide eyes.
Zeke opened his mouth. His mind went blank. He closed it again. This... was awkward.
The words that used to flow so easily between them simply wouldn't come. Too much time had passed. Too much had happened. There seemed to be no room left for the type of casual banter they had once shared.
"...Why are you here?" he finally asked.
That question seemed to awaken something in Viola, as she began to struggle in his arms. Zeke let her go, placing her on the ground in front of him. The moment her feet touched the ground, she took a few quick steps back, her eyes remaining locked onto him as if he were a dangerous animal.
Zeke couldn't help but frown slightly. Was that really how you treated somebody who had just saved you? Though he couldn't be all that mad either. Knowing Akasha, she had likely hounded Viola on purpose to deliver her here. That made him less of a savior and more of a kidnapper.
It was the same name she had called him hundreds of times before. And yet, it sounded different now. Uncertain. Worried. Distant.
Zeke raised his arm in an awkward greeting, slowing the movement even further when he saw her flinch. "Long time no see..."
Viola also managed something that almost looked like a smile. "Yes. It really has been. You've changed a..."
Before she could even finish her sentence, a full ten crimson strikes rushed past her face. She froze. Not just her body, but her entire being.
Zeke clicked his tongue. Did these people have no tact? Restarting their offensive on his area just when he had a visitor?
"Sorry about that," he said to the frozen statue in front of him. "I'm a bit busy..."
Viola took a slow breath and turned her head to peer behind her. There, on the ground, were over a dozen fresh corpses, warm blood still oozing from their narrow puncture wounds.
"...You kill so easily now."
Zeke was taken aback by the strange remark. For a moment, he didn't know how to respond. Was it a compliment? An insult? Or just a casual observation?
"I guess I do," he said eventually.
"Remember back when we explored those ruins during your first year? What was it, the Giger civilization? You were so skittish when I dealt with those lowlifes, like a startled rabbit."
Zeke thought back to that event. It had been the first time he had seen Viola kill somebody. She had shown no remorse, as if it were as natural as breathing. That moment had left a deep imprint on his Soul.
"It took some getting used to."
Viola remained silent for a moment, as if fighting an internal battle. But eventually, the girl who never shied away from speaking her mind still came through.
"You've turned traitor?"
Zeke's eyes widened. Traitor? Him? He was the traitor? He felt his hands ball into fists. Out of everyone who could have called him that, Viola was the only person he wouldn't have expected it from.
"You dare say that? You, a damn Windtänzer, dare call me a traitor?"
He could see the confusion and hurt in her eyes, but there was no stopping him now. The emotions he had buried for far too long had begun to rise to the surface like a boiling sea of magma finally breaking through.
"You betrayed me, exiled me, hunted me down like a dog, and you still want to act like your people are the victims in all of this!? Traitor? Is it now treason not to simply lay down and die before the MIGHTY EMPIRE OF ARKANHEIM?"
The moment Zeke's anger became so blazing hot that he felt like he couldn't stand it anymore, it suddenly flipped. It was as if a certain threshold had been passed, and his burning emotions had turned cold.
"Fine. I guess that makes me a traitor, then."
The eyes with which he looked at Viola had changed. Their sudden reunion had blinded him for a moment. But he now remembered exactly who was in front of him.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Viola Windtänzer. Daughter of the Windtänzer Patriarch and most beloved granddaughter of Victor Windtänzer. Victor Windtänzer. The man who had betrayed Maximilian. The man who had exiled him from his home. The man who was responsible for everything she was now accusing him of.
What sort of sick and twisted game was this? Acting like she didn't know anything?
His Magic acted before his mind fully caught up with what he was doing, and ten crimson claws slowly emerged from his fingertips.
***
Akasha was busy.
Ten strands of her consciousness were watching over the defensive formation and coordinating her forces. Another twenty-three were controlling the Alexandria’s arrays and keeping the enemy fleet in check.
Her Mana was draining quickly, and she knew she could not afford to waste even a single drop. And yet, her main body did not bother to pay attention to any of it. Her emotionless blue eyes were fixed on the ground, on the sight of a young man and a young woman standing across from each other.
Akasha had never met the woman before, but she recognized her at a glance, for it was precisely from this woman that many of her own physical characteristics had been borrowed. Her silver hair, her nose, her lips...
Viola Windtänzer.
She had done all she could to make this meeting happen, even at the cost of her own safety. It was simply that important.
Out of everyone who knew Ezekiel, Akasha was the only one truly aware of the place this girl occupied in his heart, and of the wounds their sudden separation had left behind. Wounds that had already begun to fester. Sleepless nights and countless shed tears had been only the first symptoms.
She could tolerate it no longer.
Her first instinct had been to simply kill the girl. It would have been easy, too. The most straightforward solution to the problem. But she knew it was not the right choice. It would not solve the problem at all. After all, the problem was not the girl herself, but the lingering attachment her Contractor still held for her.
So if anyone were to end her, it would have to be him.
Though it sounded malicious, Akasha held no hatred for Viola. She did not even fully understand what hatred truly was. But what she did understand was that the confused state of her Contractor was a problem, and a problem required a resolution.
This was the best and only thing she could do. She would give him as much time as she could. And in the end, his attachments would be severed.
One way or the other....
***
Viola’s body froze for a second time. Despite having steeled herself, she could not help but tense at the sight of those claws. Her head whipped around. The least she could do was warn those poor souls before they threw their lives away for nothing.
But she soon realized that nobody had crossed the barrier. The realization sent a jolt through her entire body. Slowly, she turned back and met those frighteningly calm eyes looking at her.
When Zeke had quieted down earlier, she had believed he had gotten over his anger at being called a traitor. But now she realized that had never been the case at all. His anger had not subsided. It had transformed into something far more frightening.
Those spikes were not for any new intruders.
They were for her.
In that moment of absolute crisis, Viola found herself calming down rather than panicking. Instead of fear, a familiar stubbornness took hold of her tongue.
“Is this who you are now?” she heard herself say. “Killing people simply for saying things you disagree with?”
Zeke remained unmoved. Not a hint of emotion crossed those golden eyes as he replied in a voice so cold it could have frozen over a volcano. “Is this your next play? Trying to strike at my heart?”
Viola did not understand what that meant. Next play? What was that supposed to mean?
“What are you...”
“It won’t work,” Zeke said, cutting over her. “You should know that I’d rather cut it out than allow your poison to infect me.”
She saw him raise his hand, and the five claws pointed directly at her. Could she escape? No. Not in her current state, and not at this distance. If she had been in the air, maybe. But on the ground, with only a few steps between them, there was no chance.
This was her end. How unfortunate. Of all the people who could have ended up killing her, Zeke was the one she had expected least, and the one she had hoped most it would not be.
She closed her eyes. Not out of fear, but simply because she no longer wanted to face this infuriating reality. This reality in which she had endured years underground, endured her hellish time as a scout in the Legion, endured months of slaughter and bloodshed, only to be killed in the end by the person she had missed most. The person she had yearned for most. The person she...
“...Damn it...”
Her eyes flew open at that familiar voice, thick with frustration.
"...Damn it all," Zeke repeated as he slowly lowered his hand. He glared at her, as if she had wronged him somehow. But Viola was glad. Anything was better than those cold, murderous eyes with which he had looked at her before.
“Just... go,” he said after a moment of silence. “And do not ever appear before me again. I mean it, Viola. Next time, I really will kill you.”
Viola felt both profoundly relieved and inexplicably wronged. All this, for calling him a traitor? All their past, the hundreds of hours of shared memories, erased in a single moment. Did that make any sense? Damn it. Did he think she had wanted their reunion to be like this? If not for that stupid lightning, would she even have come?
But there was nothing she could do. She was literally trapped behind enemy lines, and without Zeke’s help, she definitely would not make it out of here alive. Even so, a not insignificant part of her still felt indignant about the way he was treating her, enemies or not.
So she could not help herself from leaving one final comment as she turned to go. “When I get back home, I’ll tell Grandpa Max about this...”
It was nothing more than a petulant remark. More likely than not, Maximillian was already well aware of his student’s actions. Even so, Viola did not want to leave without getting in at least one last jab.
However, the words she heard Zeke mutter froze her in place before she could take more than a single step.
“Do that,” he said. “And when you stand over his grave, please tell him that it won’t be long now. Tell him that I’ve finally found the path he left for me.”
Viola remained rooted to the spot for what felt like an eternity. She could not comprehend what she had just heard. Her neck seemed to creak like a rusty door as she slowly turned back once more. Even the voice that emerged from her throat sounded hoarse.
“His... grave?”
Zeke’s eyes flickered with something peculiar. Surprise? Shock? Doubt? She did not care. All she wanted to know now was what he had meant by those last words.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Zeke’s mouth opened. However, just as he was about to explain the very thing she wanted to know most, he froze. It was as if he had heard something, a sound, a voice, something that made him stop.
He closed his mouth again and slowly shook his head. “It seems our time is up. Please remember my words. I truly hope we do not meet again.”
