Chapter 68 Cheating Death - Decisions (Part 4)

Okay people! Four more chapters released! That is 6 for the day. 

That’s all for today, my aim is to knock out another two chapters Saturday and Sunday. 

My chapters will return to being their normal length after this chapter. I am home and writing from scratch rather than working from pieces I jotted down while away.

I’ve had a lot planned up to this point and where this is going… But even when I know what I am going to write and what plot points to include in any given chapter. Writing it out is still not that easy without inspiration lol

Also I see some comments about how some readers aren’t liking the “shorter” chapters. Even though they’ve been shorter, I’ve still released “more” chapters making them come out to the same word-count (in fact more on average), but readers need not worry. I will return to my former chapter format. 

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Kaden held Hannah with an expression of peace and relief as on the other side where no one could see. Hannah’s expression had turned into one of grief, injustice and a hatred that was blossoming from her very soul.

Kaden’s tight hug that held her with every bit of strength he still possessed intensified her hatred. She couldn’t even struggle to stop this even if she wanted too. Hannah began to curse Tael for making Kaden do those terrible things, for forcing them to feel weak.

“And… Daichi. He killed Kaden. He should have let me die, he should have let us go. Instead he killed Kaden because of some selfish reason. I don’t care what it is. I won’t let it go, and I won’t forgive him. I’ll kill everyone that was responsible for this.” Hannah thought the words as they engraved themselves into her heart. A determination to gain justice for everything they’d had to endure

Her determination to seek justice for Kaden was growing stronger as Kaden’s grip on her was growing weaker.

The more her vision cleared up the more the tears blurred her vision once again. The less light headed she felt, the heavier the weight on her chest felt. The quicker her cuts healed leaving her skin smooth once again, the more the pain she felt, from the ever growing wound in her heart.

She could feel Kaden’s breath growing haggard before his grip on her slipped away. She continued to embrace Kaden as his arms lay limp at his sides, the embrace now one-sided as she held on to him for a few seconds longer as she struggled to keep herself from letting her grief overwhelm her.

…

Daichi tried to think of what Kaden was saying but the only thing that came to mind were the words “Thank you”. 

This was the second human life Daichi had taken, and he’d expected to feel worse. He’d hoped he’d feel remorse or some sort of crisis of conscious after he’d touched Kaden and set his death in motion. Instead he’d only begun to reminisced about his own past. 

In having the realization of something so simple but that had shaped his very future, Daichi felt his mind waver for a moment. 

Seeing Kaden thank him for his own death or perhaps Hannah’s life. Daichi finally felt a twinge of something. 

Wanting to understand himself even more, Daichi stayed still as he watched. 

Hannah grieved silently, as she laid his body on the ground gently. Refusing to look up, her gaze stayed on Kaden’s body.

Daichi stopped staring at her and looked towards Ava. He’d hoped that Kaden’s life would be enough to heal Ava as well, and it seemed it had. 

Her face had turned less pale. Ava’s cheeks had regained some coloring and even her neck had glazed over as the poorly melted skin from her self-cauterization healed. The excess skin peeled off. 

But… She wasn’t waking up. 

Clapping brought Daichi’s senses back to his surroundings as he spun around to look for the source of the noise. 

Daichi’s eyes came upon Tael who was walking forward while clapping lightly with a wry grin on his face, “Quite surprising. I certainly didn’t expect you to have a solution to my little scenario. Very few humans have the insight you seem to have towards life and death.”

Tael’s expression slowly becoming darker with every passing word, “You can leave. Down the cliff you go.” as he motioned towards the cliff with both hands.

“Down the cliff?” Daichi startled couldn’t help but speak out.

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“Yes. Do you see any other way? Down the cliff is the only option available to you.” Tael said his face nonchalant but a hint of daring posed towards them. 

I can’t tell if he wants us to fight back or disagree so he can kill or whether he really wants us to jump off this cliff and just kill ourselves.

“Don’t worry, you won’t die. You’ll see what I mean once you jump down. I said I would let you live if you succeeded. I have to keep my word, but I don’t have to make things easy for you.” Tael spoke casually but his tone carried an undercurrent that made Daichi realize he’d been right all alone.

There was no way things were going to be as easy as he’d made it seem. 

This guy can really hold a grudge over nothing. We’re the ones who got hurt when we tried to attack those damn bull spawns!

Daichi thought as he cursed Tael in his mind as he walked over to the cliff and looked down.

The trees were even thicker below, so much so he couldn’t see the ground past the leaves and dense grouping of trees.

Out farther off, there was a section of mist that seemed to be spreading and something about it seemed to call out to Daichi.

Feeling some sort of calling coming from inside of himself. Daichi stared at that mist and no longer hesitated or questioned Tael’s motives. Instead he wanted to get closer, he knew where he needed to go now.

Daichi called out to Hannah hoping she’d respond, and make it easy on him, “Hannah we have to do what he says. I need you to get up now.” 

Daichi could only stare at the unresponsive girl before him, as he continued to try to get her to come to her senses, it was only as he neared her that she answered in a very low tone, “I am not leaving Kaden.” 

Even though he couldn’t see her expression, Daichi could tell she was being serious. It was even possible based on her tone that she would rather die here than leave Kaden behind.

Moving closer he could tell that she was trembling but instead of assuming she was in a state of fear, he assumed the worst.

Although he couldn’t even hope to understand how she was feeling, he had a pretty good idea of what she was thinking. After what she had been through which he could only tell from what he’d seen…

“She’s probably extremely angry. In the worst case scenario she’ll try to attack me or Tael which might set him off or make things worse for me. I need to get her out of here” Daichi thought.

Staring at her back, Daichi spoke in an equally low voice “Okay, we will take him with us. No, you’ll take him with you. Let me show you how.” as he reached down and grabbed her wrist.

Daichi held her wrist as gently as he could while maintaining a firm grip to stop her from trying to pull away. He pulled her hand to Kaden’s body only inches away and whispered “Will your mana into the ring and pull him inside…” 

Suddenly shaken by suggestion she did exactly what he said without giving it much thought as Kaden’s body disappeared into her ring. The moment his body disappeared Hannah could only stare at the ring on her hand as a wave of depression rushed into her heart. The fact that Kaden could enter the ring meant he was dead.

“He’s really dead.” the acknowledgement in her mind making her feel weak as she momentarily forgot her anger as it was replaced with grief.

Looking down at the still unconscious Ava and the unresponsive Hannah. Daichi lifted his hand toward Hannah and triggered his Chaotic Eruption. Moving to stand behind her, Daichi lifted her up and over his shoulder as he picked her up and walked her over to the edge of the cliff and then dropped her over the side. 

Walking back to pick Ava up in much the same way, Daichi glanced at Tael once more making eye contact with him briefly. 

If I ever meet you again. I’ll kill you. I’ll make sure I am strong enough by then, and I’ll kill you. 

Daichi wanted to convey those words with his eyes in that brief look as he turned around and walked off the cliff with Tael watching his every movement.

“Surprising. Almost fearless, he didn’t even question me… Did he know he wasn’t going to die if he jumped down? Hmm... I wonder if any of them will meet *him*.” Tael wondered as he walked to the edge of the cliff himself and sat down at the edge looking down.