Chapter 258: 258
CHAPTER 258
DISILLUSIONED LIGHT
Golden gems laid embedded in the relatively small ceiling of a makeshift cave, exuding warm and pleasant glow, showering the entire cave in light . The cave's floor was entirely covered in strange, crimson runes and patterns rounding up in a massive circle, occasionally spitting out faint billows of the smoke .
There seemed to be neither the entrance nor the exit to the cave, as it was entirely closed-in with the rugged, dry walls . Within the cave's center was a steel pillory, carved out with circular runes, a pair of hands and a head veering out . The golden shine of Eos' hair had dimmed, muddied by dirt, dried up and interlocked . Her head was facing down, still seemingly unconscious, the rest of her body entirely naked .
Lino sat just a few paces away on top of a simple, wooden chair, currently drinking from a pouch, his eyes seemingly unfocused on the reality in front of him . His thoughts spun around the conversation he had with Eggor and a brief revelation he had; he was quite tempted to simply drop everything and go to the Descent's headquarters nearby, but held back for the time being as there were more pressing issues . Such as Eos who suddenly groaned, calling him back into reality .
His eyes focused back onto her, running up and down her body for a moment before faintly nodding . She slowly raised her head, clearly still drowsy, and met a pair of jet-black eyes which froze her once again . She hadn't even realized she was entirely naked, or that she was locked up without the ability to move .
Lino stared curiously into her eyes for a moment before cracking a faint smile, taking out another drink from the void world, and walking over, crouching and helping her to a few gulps . She devoured them with glee, only grumbling after, having realized it was an alcoholic beverage .
" . . . not a fan of booze?" Lino asked, putting the gourd away and walking back to the chair . "I can't go on a day without it . Could be it's me with the problem, though . "
" . . . " Eos said nothing, glancing around for a moment before finally realizing where she was and that she was naked . "A perverted maniac? Why am I not surprised?" she scoffed .
"While I won't lie and say I haven't looked at you," he chuckled . "Because, by god, I'd have sinned if I hadn't -- I promise you, I haven't touched you . . . nor I have any intention to . I'm a man happily in love, after all . "
"You all say that . " she said .
" . . . we do, don't we?" Lino smiled faintly . "It's a shame how little value words 'I love you' have these days . It's a powerful sentiment . . . cheaped far too much . "
"Oh, a romantic?" she chuckled . "That's rare, especially for an Empyrean . "
"Really?" Lino said, taking the gulp of ale . "From all my Archaic Records, I'd wager every single one was a romantic . Perhaps not 'I have the love of my life in my arms and that's enough' sort of a romantic, but more the type to poetically go on about their deaths . Gets kind of annoying after a while, actually . "
" . . . why am I still alive?" she suddenly asked .
"Why shouldn't you be?" Lino asked back .
"Because I can hardly believe an Empyrean is one with an open heart . "
"Ha ha, why not?" Lino chuckled . "You do realize that before I became an Empyrean, I was just another nutjob kid, right? A lot of it stayed with me . "
"I very much doubt that . "
The room fell silent for a short moment while the two had a brief stare-off . Lino had too much on his mind to truly focus entirely on her; after all, it was not only an entirely unexpected and unplanned meeting, he had no clue what she was like as a person . And while it could potentially be fun getting to know her and trying to talk to her properly, he knew it would take too long . From what he gathered, she's just a few years younger than Ella . Someone who's been fed whatever story for that long won't be abandoning it in a few days or weeks .
"Make the Vow . " he spoke out after the silent moment .
"Over my dead body . " she replied simply .
" . . . I can force you to do it," Lino sighed . "But, I'd rather not . "
"Hah, you think you can overrule my Will now that it's recovered? That bitch took me by surprise the last time . You two won't get lucky the second time . "
" . . . from what Ella told me," Lino said, slowly getting up . "You should be around Level 15,000 . Quite a tall order for me to swallow, actually . " he chuckled, taking a sip as he walked over . "She couldn't specify how many Laws you have mastered, but it's probably quite a few . Your Will stands entirely erect from the self-imposed image that you have of yourself," he stopped next to her and crouched down . "A noble, lofty, out-of-this-world existence levitating above the rest of us . It's a powerful Will . . . but it's only an extremely feeble concept of it . Whether you want to admit it or not, the only reason you managed to evolve it to this point is entirely due to the innate protection associated with your identity . "
" . . . "
"Me?" he cracked a faint smile . "I had to claw and crawl, beat and get beaten, snuffed to the inches of death time and again, see and do things that . . . well, let's just say they didn't sit well with me . If our Wills were to clash, you'd no doubt be able to suppress me . . . but you could never overwhelm me . Even without the Writ's interference . I mean . . . even now, the Light remains silent . Snuggled into a corner, trembling . "
" . . . "
"What would happen to your Will," Lino said, stretching his arm suddenly and lifting Eos' chin up, forcing her to meet his eyes . "If I were to somehow discolor your entire identity? . To smear it in dirt . To take the Nobility of your grandeur . . . and begrime it to the point where looking into the mirror would show you someone else entirely . "
" . . . hah, now you're back on track . " she chuckled, smirking . "Now you do sound exactly like an Empyrean . "
" . . . talismans embedded in your Soul, I imagine?" Lino smiled faintly . "Not too shabby . Makes it a bit more plicated, but not impossible . "
"Give me your worst . " she spoke out defiantly .
" . . . I make it a point not to torture people," Lino looked her deeply into the eyes before getting up and walking back to the chair . "You see, I decided to pretend that at least by not being a torturer, the pile of corpses I leave behind somehow lessens in weight . Doesn't help that much, actually, but hey . . . that's a lot of corpses to hold . Even a small decrease is magnitudes large for me . "
" . . . ah, the delusional, noble-type Empyrean, huh? Came across quite a few of your type in my own Archaic Records . In the end, they all turned out to just be self-pitying morons who couldn't deal with the fact that they're murderers and decided to make up excuses . Not very threatening . "
" . . . haii, looks like the word therapy would take some time on you," Lino rubbed his temples in frustration . "I imagine we have at most a week before your pimps start asking questions . " Eos' eyebrows twitched for a moment but she said nothing . "What? They aren't your pimps? Sorry . I just figured, you know, since you seem so fortable being naked in front of a stranger, you'd met a lot of strangers . My bad, my bad . "
" . . . if you fucking me will get me out of here, go at it champ . " Eos snickered . "Give me your worst . "
"Wow, how'd you miss the perfect pun there?" Lino exclaimed in slight anger . "I mean, dear god . It was right there! 'If fucking me will get me off . . . ' you suck . You just . . . plain suck . Ah, whatever . Sorry to disappoint you, but I've as much intention of fucking you as I do of shoving a sword through my dick . "
"We all have our kinks . " she winked .
"That's true," Lino suddenly smirked . "There is this one thing that my girlfriend never lets me do to her . " he suddenly walked back to her and crouched down yet again .
"Oh? And what's that?" Eos asked seductively .
"Well, it's kind of embarrassing," Lino leaned into her ear and whispered . "But, uh, I'd very much like sometimes if she would allow me to screw her corpse . Apparently, she's not very much into being dead . "
" . . . " Eos' held back a scream of frustration, realizing she's being played with .
"Ha ha ha, don't be so disappointed," he smacked her back lightly while laughing . "I mean, that stuff you're doing? It would have worked on a lot of guys . And by a lot I mean majority of guys . You're a beautiful woman Eos," he said, walking back to the chair . "But, despite the fears of sounding a bit too chummy, I say the beauty inside matters far more . Attractive heart is far more difficult to find than attractive hips and tits . " he smiled faintly . "So, if you wish to stand a chance against her, you probably ought to start re-configuring . . . well, you know, everything about yourself . Making the Vow is a great start, though . "
" . . . " Eos stared angrily at Lino, doing her best to keep the facade; while trying to stall for time, inwardly she was worried about too many things -- the Sword Maiden having gotten that strong, essentially in bed with the Empyrean, any signs of Hannah pletely gone, Empyrean's ability -- human ability rather than one linked to the Writ -- to entirely endure her advances, pletely casually at that, and the fact that her own Writ had indeed withdrawn into the reaches of her Soul, entirely unwilling to surface . She knew that however she played the role in the following story would e to define not only her own, but the future of the entire world for the long time to e .
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