[A/n: This chapter is for the few guys who kept donating power stones everyday! Thanks!]
Asher's shoulders sagged as he dragged his feet toward Nephis and the rest of the cohort.
He'd told Nephis about Harus, sure… but guess what?
They were on a time crunch. No detours, no "wait a few days," no avoiding the problem. And yet they didn't want to fight the sinister hunchback either.
She asks Effie —who had just returned with Sunny— about the catacombs and decides to direct go through the damned place!
"Hey, Poster Boy! Hurry it up!" Effie called, her usual cheer threaded with grimness. She still looked skeptical about his strength. Honestly, so was he.
He got a bit late giving his goodbyes to Aiko and Hou and dawdling along in hopes to delay his death sentence.
Asher glanced at Caster, who "inadvertently" avoided his eye-contact.
"Greeting Asher..." He murmured for pleasantries. Asher nodded while looking at Sunny with a frown.
Asher gave him a slow nod before turning to Sunny with a frown."Hey, you bastard—did you hand out soul shards to everyone without me?"
Sunny's eyes widened. "How did you—"
"My eyes," Asher interrupted, tapping his temple. The faint, bluish shimmer of residual soul essence still hovered near everyone's sternum like tiny ghost-lanterns.
Sunny shrugged. "Your fault for missing my emporium."
Asher clicked his tongue. "I'm surprised you even know what emporium means."
Sunny frowned, but Asher shot back before he could retort. "Now, now. How about we leave before you embarrass yourself further?"
Nephis nodded quickly, as an attempt to diffuse the two's bickering. Honestly, even after 4 months, their bickering was the only constant.
Effie's expression turned serious, "I need all of you to not hold back even a little in 'that' place we are about to go. Got it?"
Everyone nodded as the began the walk.
A walk that would take them back to the Forgotten Shore.
Asher had a somber expression when, "Hey Asher, didn't you cause like an altercation two days back?"
He scratched his cheek, "You see... I was always a bit of a fan of lord Zerei, so it was shock to me when I heard that he was announced as a criminal by the bright lord."
Sunny frowned a bit, as he listened in, to the conversation.
"Wait, what did you do?" Effie asked, curious.
Asher opened his mouth to answer when, "He beat Tessia." Nephis answered for him as Effie simply nodded.
Asher sighed. Of course. Aside from Nephis, Sunny, and maybe Cassie, no one had a real sense of what he could do.
Even Caster had looked like someone had dropped ice water down his back when he'd heard about it.
There wasn't really much to say.
Asher's face immediately grew uncomfortable as he looked at Sunny, who looked at him with narrowed eyes.
Asher froze. Sunny's eyes pinned him.
"Why didn't you?" Sunny's tone was flat, but his words cut. "The consequences are pretty much the same if you kill him or not. Gunlong will hunt you anyhow. But, we will, however, have one less lieutenant to worry about."
He narrowed his eyes back at Asher once more.
"So, why didn't you kill him?"
Asher, opened his mouth, before closing it once more.
What was Asher supposed to say?
His face contorted a little as he bit down on his lip.
Sunny didn't pry further. He somewhat understood but...
Asher never killed someone. Sunny had an easier time killing people due to his upbringing in the outskirts but Asher? As far as Sunny was concerned, he was supposed to be from the outskirts but...
His behavior always spoke otherwise. The records say that he is from the outskirts and even if Sunny thought otherwise, it's not like Asher could be the son of an legacy. No, they could kill without a second thought.
Sunny glanced at Asher once more.
'Yeah... No way...' Fresh chapters posted on 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩~𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢~𝔫𝔢𝔱
Asher couldn't be a normal civilian either. His Attributes were to bizarre for that.
Sunny sighed, shaking his head. Why should it matter to him?
As long as they weren't crossing blades, Asher could be anyone—a runaway prince, even.
'Though… if I returned a runaway prince, I'd get a nice fat payday, wouldn't I?'
Maybe, Sunny was a little curious...
Right in front of Asher, the floor of the tunnel was broken, forming a narrow crevice. It was filled with darkness, leading deep down into the ground… and then deeper still. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't see what was at the bottom.
This was it... The Catacombs.
"I hope you survive this Ash. It would be a loss to the world to loose a pretty face like yours." Effie said with a sardonic grim.
"That's pleasant to hear." Asher gulped looking down once more
Asher inhaled a bit as he jumped in.
Making gravity around him lighter, he slowly glided down.
'Uh... This is fine.' The his face expression changed as he felt the gravity shift. Asher looked up with a surrendered expression as Sunny was falling from above.
The collision between the two was anything but pretty. Falling for a few seconds and shouting louder than he would want to admit, he finally hit the hard stone as He gritted his teeth.
"Bastard, you know I can glide right, why did you jump so early?"
Sunny had a pained expression for a moment as he let of a cackle. "That thought didn't enter my mind."
Asher groaned, getting up. "Fuck you."
Asher had troubled controlling his blood pressure.
'I'll kill this guy.'