Chapter 32

A hard choice… eh not really (2)

Saiko raises her arm covered in Argus to catch the incoming tree root and crushes it.

The lyrebird opens its mouth.

-why did you hurt the tree? The tree was innocent. –

Saiko raises an eyebrow and looks at the talking bird as more tree roots rush at Saiko from multiple directions aiming to crush her.

Relying on her whiskers to tell her about the positions of all the tree roots, Saiko jumps backward onto the tree root rushing at her from behind, and uses its momentum to launch herself toward Melky or rather toward the talking bird on his shoulder.

The bird opens its mouth once again as Saiko swings her claws at it.

-for the record, I am not the bird either -

Saiko stops her claw inches away from the bird and jumps away as multiple tree roots come down crushing the ground where she was standing a second ago.

-do you understand now?-

Saiko jumps on top of a tree root that swung at her from the side and then runs on it.

- You can’t hurt me. –

Saiko’s whiskers twitch causing her to quickly bend backward as a leopard that was aiming for her neck passes above her.

-You can’t even reach me; I am hundreds of miles away. Not only that but also the attacks won’t stop, I will continue to use innocent trees and animals to attack you –

SCREEEEECH

The bird is interrupted by a screeching sound.

~I thought you were not supposed to be our enemies. what are you doing ~

Ken says while aiming the demon skull at the bird and the tree followers of nature.

The bird opens its mouth and the sound of laughter comes out.

-pffft, and I thought you were supposed to be the smart one. Child if I wanted all of you dead including your friend who is still hiding you would have already been dead. I am just making a point-

~and what point is that? ~

The forest stops attacking Saiko.

- the point is what we do, we do not do by choice. Sometimes you are forced to hurt innocent people in order to protect your own people or people you care about and to stop a greater evil. They built cities devoid of nature and built their facilities there where I can’t reach them. They let machines rule them relegate their thinking to the machines and follow their suggestions mindlessly even when the machines tell them to torture children.

Understand that what I am doing is mercy. If I wished, I could crush those cities with overwhelming force but that would kill many more innocent lives. They built those cities specifically to hide from me they are hiding behind the innocent lives you care so much about. Sending my followers to free the children is my way of limiting the death of innocent lives as much as possible-

Saiko cracks her neck and then looks at the talking bird.

_Your followers are killing the innocent people you are trying to convince me you are trying to protect_

-as I said before it is necessary. I can not ask my men to prioritize the lives of civilians over their own lives. Instead of being made at us who are forced to kill civilians why are you not mad at the world government which is using innocent civilians to protect their facilities from me –

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_oh, I am mad at the world government I am no fan of them but don’t act like you are forced to kill innocent civilians. You chose to prioritize your life over the lives of innocent people and made them pay for a sin they did not commit_

-I understand you idolize the way priest Si u did things but need I remind you his way of doing things led to his death –

Saiko’s nerves calm a little at the memory of the old priest and looks a little saddened.

_ and he died a hero. _

-do you not see it? If I kept attacking you, you would inevitably die without ever being able to reach me-

The silver cat looks at the bird with a firm resolve.

_Then I would die a hero and I rather die a hero than live to be a villain _

-what if I attacked your friends? –

_ Then I would defend them to my last breath but I would not take the life of an innocent man in the process_

The three followers of nature look at Saiko dumbfoundedly and then look at the bird their leader is talking through.

‘To think she is as reckless as him’

they did not expect the situation to turn out like this.

All the followers of nature knew about priest Si u and many of them idolized him much like Saiko, for he shared many of their goals and symbolized many of their ideals.

He stood alone against the world government, lived in harmony with nature, and didn’t let machines control or dictate his life but most of them also viewed his methods as reckless, and that view was validated when he was ultimately killed.

The bird once again opens his mouth breaking the moment of silence.

-I could treat you. I know you can’t go to a hospital and that you are injured. I could make you even stronger than before –

Saiko raises an eyebrow at the bird.

_ I am perfectly healthy though _

Four tree roots curl around each other like strands of a rope then swing down with tremendous force at Saiko.

Saiko raises her and covers it with Argus blocking the tree roots while Ken immediately turns to face the bird.

~ HEY I THOUGHT YOU MADE YOUR POINT ~

- relax, I am just showing her what I mean, look. –

Ken turns to look at Saiko and notices she is down on one knee with her arm shaking despite Argus forming multiple black pillars around Saiko that are carrying most of the weight.

~ Rin, what is happening? I thought you said she is healed. ~

-no, I said she is as healed as she will ever get without going to the hospital. Her muscles were damaged by the lightning and got weakened. for the most part, it’s fine since Argus can support her muscles or even create synthetic muscles if need be, but if the load on her muscles is too heavy or placed on the muscles too quickly before Argus can form synthetic muscles then her muscles would give out. The only way for her to fully heal is to have her damaged muscle tissue replaced with healthy one which can only be done in a hospital-

Rin responds to Ken through their aether channel.

- I can heal her and I can even make her stronger –

Water rises from the ground around Saiko and lifts the giant tree roots then throws them away.

Saiko slowly stands back up as her arm and legs shake rapidly threatening to give out again.

_I don’t need your help. Even if I am dying you can’t buy me and I will not be okay with what you are doing _

Ken watches Saiko struggling to stand up then immediately turns to face the talking bird.

~listen mister bird, I will convince the suicidal miss but you need to give me some time to convince her~

Ken internally sighs as he waits for the bird’s response.

‘Priority one is to get that suicidal maniac treated; I can deal with everything else after that’

Ken tries to end the confrontation quickly before it turns south and it looks like Saiko is adamant about making it go south.

Be it the followers of nature’s ability to track them down, their powerful information network, or their leader’s ability to seemingly control anything that breathes, he knows he can figure out a way to deal with them if he is given the time to think but more importantly this might be their only chance to properly heal Saiko and he is not about to let that chance go away.

_ It doesn’t matter how much time you are given my decision on this will not change _

~you are not helping ~

_ oh, I am aware but there is simply no way I am going to accept the sacrifice of innocent lives_

Ken instinctively facepalms.

‘Why can she never lie?’

The bird is silent for a moment then it opens its mouth.

-well, I guess I am fine with that you don’t have to be okay with it. In fact, that’s better for us-

Saiko raises an eyebrow at the bird.

_ What do you mean? _

-if you work with us and join missions to free the children yourself, you can make sure no innocent lives are killed in the process. It’s a win win, right?-

Saiko raises her eyebrow even higher then crosses her arms.

_ I am listening. _

The bird starts speaking in response.

- you want to save the children anyway, right? In that sense, we have a common goal. We can aid you with supplies and information and even backup if you need it and you can do the missions yourselves and not kill any people in the process, and if you do it my men won’t have to risk their lives and in turn, they wouldn’t have to kill any innocent people –

Saiko pauses to think for a while.

_ yeah, I think I am fine with that _

Ken blinks repeatedly at what Saiko said and turns to look at her.

~you are? ~

Saiko shrugs her shoulders.

_It’s not about the punishment. It’s about innocent people not dying. If they are going to kill more innocent people, they must be stopped to protect those people, but If they are willing to turn over a new page, I am willing to do so as well _

Saiko then looks back at the bird with a serious look.

_ but make no mistake about it if see even one more innocent person die, the deal is off and I will come after your life and I assume by that point I would know where you are hiding and I would be able to reach you _