The world was somewhat blurry, not because he had just woken up or anything but more because he just got clocked in the head a few times during a fight. Cyrus wasn’t big on martial arts and taking two on one was less than ideal. Despite those odds, he did it anyways and won. Not that it was doing him any good.

The reason he got into a fight was also stupid, some asshats at school thought it would be funny to fill his backpack with exploding confetti and cake, primed for exploding as soon as it opened. The problem was, he wasn’t the one who opened the backpack. He had asked Trinity to get it before she went to her next class because he left it across the school. She had noticed something looked odd and noticed it, only to have her whole outfit ruined.

There was any real reason for him to get mad from what could’ve been a harmless prank and normally she would get back at them herself since she’s tough like that. This time though she had been pretty upset since her mother bought that dress for her before she passed, so for the time being her mind was sort of scrambled.

Throwing caution to the wind, Cyrus had found the pair of idiot’s right outside the school and punched the closest one in the face. A fight ensued and there had been a crowd at one point until he had them both on the ground. That didn’t mean he really won, in the end her dress still needed to be cleaned and now he sported several bruises.

At some point during his self-reflection Trinity walked in the nurse’s office, wincing at his sorry state but smirking nonetheless. “This is what you get for doing something stupid, you know that, right?”

“Yea yea, I realize that now. I wasn’t thinking earlier and just took my anger out on them. It was stupid.”

“You’re right, you were stupid.” He winced but she continued. “Anger isn’t going to solve the problem, at least you could’ve waited so we could kick their asses together. Two is better than one.”

She was right, of course. He hadn’t taken the time to think things through and instead acted purely on instinct. Having evolved from primal apes, fighting would be the most basic response he supposed. Not that the realization was making him feel any better of course. That wasn’t to say that violence didn’t work as a solution, however it didn’t mean it was the only solution or even meant to be taken directly.

He found it hard to meet her eyes, ashamed of the way he reacted without thinking. “Next time, I’ll think of something else.”

“Oh don’t be stupid, fighting was the answer this time.” Her smile was wild and devious. “Just we’ll gang up on them next time.” Her fist raised to the air, like she was proclaiming it to the world.

The response was so much like her, not a care in the world. He wound up laughing.

Despite being in an entirely different world with plenty of dangers, Cyrus’ habits of sleeping late never seemed to fail him. Not that he was complaining, being lazy wasn’t a bad thing as long as you got stuff done in the end. Well, plenty of people would disagree with him but that wasn’t his problem.

Until now at least. Because he was getting suffocated by a pillow.

He thrashed and felt heard someone jump backwards giggling. Throwing the pillow away from his face he found Peluna’s eyes, full of amusement. Grim was quickly waking up from all the commotion, but for whatever reason she let him survive the pillow suffocating and only made him go through it. Only last night could possibly be to blame.

The grogginess of being woken up was finally beginning to wear off when he came to terms with his intentions for today. The goal, find Serence and hopefully find out as much as possible about any Bastion worshippers before killing him. The last part was non-negotiable and he planned on making that clear to his two companions. The three began getting ready for the day, breakfast came and was served by a different waitress this time, praise his lucky star. The new gear he had custom made felt great, a quick identify let him down that it was truly something different.

*Ant Prince Armor [Status: Epic]: Only to be attained from a Boss level kill, the Princes armor is tough enough to block low and some mid-level attacks. Greaves: +15 Con. Chest plate: +30 Con. Notice: Wearing this armor will cause Ants of all species to target you*

*System Update Notice: Wearing armor of rare quality or higher is strong enough to grant stat bonuses. Common and Uncommon will not grant bonuses*

Well, that explained why his leather and chain mail sucked so much earlier and was utterly worthless. He certainly had no intention on wearing it much longer once he could afford more replacements, but for now his legs and shoulders would have to survive. On the bright side, with those bonuses is Constitution had been boosted over 200 with that armor bonus. Peluna naturally wore robes so lighter armor below them was common. Grim came to the show with some good armor right off the bat, but repairs would become an issue eventually. He had another one or two fights before we ran out of money.

Then again… if they killed Serence he would probably have a ton of money. From the bounty on his head and however many other parties he took the time to steal from, Cyrus imagined that would rack up quite the fortune eventually. Come on, whoever said that violence wasn’t the answer?

A lot of people said that actually, but one of them wasn’t Cyrus.

“So boss, you mentioned that the first target was going to be that Serence fellow. Any idea how we’re gonna find him and lure him somewhere to kill?” Grim asked openly between bites. His manners sucked but thankfully neither he nor Peluna care much.

It was a good question, though Cyrus had some rumination of an idea. “We met him last time just roaming around the dungeon entrance, we could always start there?”

Peluna shook her head at the suggestion. “No way, there’s always a chance he already skipped town. We’re better off just asking the Guild, they usually know information like that.”

“I agree, we just have to be careful not to tip him off. A couple of masked marauders asking about you tends to put someone in hiding.” Grim pointed out.

He had a point, if Serence caught wind of trouble than this would all be for nothing. “We just need an excuse to be looking for him than, so that if he does catch that we’re looking for him than it’s a good reason. Or at least something that attracts him.”

Grim rubs his chin in deep thought before his eyes light up. “We could just tell the clerk to pass word to him once she sees him that an old bounty was spotted again. Specifically you, Cyrus. From there it’s just time and place.”

“The forest to the east is definitely the best spot, but if we want information keeping him in the woods is a no go. He’ll be too loud and I don’t wanna get caught in the woods by other people or monsters.” She suggests with a shudder at the latter thought.

Cyrus sighs, he had a place in mind they could go from the forest but it was going to raise a lot of questions if he brought them there. They were trustworthy enough… but that didn’t mean he needed to tell them about earth or what his intentions past that were.

“Guys… I know a place so don’t worry about that part. It’s actually in the woods out there and very secluded.” Cyrus added, careful not to let much slip besides the needed details.

Both Peluna and Grim raised an eyebrow each at that, as if it was suspicious that he had a place out there. Then again, it was pretty suspicious to have what the probably were thinking was a murderer’s cabin in the middle of nowhere, but he was out of excuses.

“So… you just have a place in the woods.”

“Somewhere private enough that we could literally drag a prisoner there if we wanted?”

Their doubts made sense, as it was pretty much out of left field but Cyrus had a solution for that. His Charisma was truly a reflection of his go to response as well. Deflection.

“Listen guys, I’m not really going to explain it to either of you, but just know that the place will work. It’s private, that’s all that matters in this situation I’m pretty sure.” Cyrus replies, their concerns were clearly not alleviated but that wasn’t his problem for now.

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“I guess we can live with that. For now.” Peluna retorts, her tone more than indicating that she isn’t happy with his lackluster and non-descriptive answer. Cyrus thinks of slapping back with a worse reply but ultimately thinks better of it before he says anything.

“With that settled, I should be the one to let the Guild know about your whereabouts as you both had ties to Serence down in the dungeon. Even with masks, it’s still safer this way.” Grim butts in, stopping further disparity between Cyrus and Peluna.

All three of them at least agree on that note, Peluna is less than amicable about this plan just due to the sheer violence they’re intending to bring about but there’s little she can do. Cyrus was going to follow through whether she agreed or not and Grim seemed pretty on board after he had learned about what that monster had done. It probably didn’t help that they intended to slaughter Serence’s entire party of assholes, but they had it coming.

When this line of thinking had first started, Cyrus had been less than comfortable with the way his mind was becoming. However, during his time spent with Albus he slowly believed that what he was feeling wasn’t nearly as bad as he might have believed prior. The real point to grasp was that this was an entirely different world and that meant different rules to follow as well. While murder wasn’t exactly smiled upon here, it wasn’t something that people were at odds with either.

Anyone could reason themselves in or out of justice based on why they killed someone here, and he damn had a good reason for this one. Odds are, no one would miss Serence anyways, so no love lost. Plus he just really wanted to get revenge, his feelings weren’t much more complicated than that.

“That should work, while you head to the Guild Peluna and I can get set up in the forest in advance. He likely will rush to the forest as soon as he catches wind of me, so I doubt it’ll take long. You can just follow his party rather than meet up with us.”

“Why shouldn’t I just meet up with you two? Once I’m done I won’t have anything to do besides wait.” Grim asks confused.

“I think what he means is that if someone from Serence’s party sees you going to the forest where you claim Cyrus is than it’ll just look more suspicious. I also think it’ll be better for you to wait until their party comes after us.” Peluna replies for him.

“In that case I won’t wait any longer, it’s still early which means most parties will not have gotten up and gone to the Guild yet. As long as I make it there before Serence or one of his cronies would then we’ll be fine.” Grim remarks as he gets up. Wasting little time, he begins gathering his gear and weapons before donning his mask. Cyrus and Peluna wish him good luck as he departs.

There was little reason for the pair to wait around either and they get their own gear and masks on as well. Worst case scenario, Serence shows up to his own death party early and they’d rather not be caught off guard. There was no telling how many people he would show up with and how strong, but the party from the dungeon wasn’t all that much compared to last time. Cyrus knew him and Peluna had grown far stronger together, though it always paid off to be careful anyways.

Walking outside was always a refreshing feeling. After being trapped underground for so long, Cyrus had never missed the feeling of the warm beating sun on his body until now. The smell of fresh air rather than soggy cave also was nice. There wasn’t much of a crowd like there had been yesterday other than a few early risers. The sun was barely rising over the horizon and an orange gleam shone through the blue sky like a fading gaze. Even though the number of people were few, Cyrus couldn’t help being paranoid. The feeling of being watched or followed just never seemed to leave his chest, like it was clenching his heart with every move.

Just like last time, Peluna seemed to take notice but this time she chose not to comment. Something could be said about her keen observational skills, or maybe she just had really high Charisma which should surprise no one. On that note, perhaps it could be a hidden effect? For example, if you had a higher Charisma than you would be able to read someone’s emotions or pick up on how their feeling. He had no way of confirming that information for now at least, or until he found a good time to ask.

The walk to the edge of town had been peaceful and the sun began to rise higher into the sky by the time the pair made it into the forest. Only around half an hour had passed but the sun rose far earlier than he had expected. Truthfully, Cyrus wished this could’ve been done at night but the timing just didn’t line up. It wasn’t like they could just tell the Guild at night and expect Serence to find out about it when he was already asleep. While it wasn’t ideal, they could do without.

The agreed spot was far off the main trail at least, odds were that no one would go so deep in the woods without an equally nefarious reason. On their way they encountered a couple of boars with the highest being level 8. Nothing that a single swipe of his sword couldn’t take care of like the trash they were. Memories of his early arrival flooded his mind; it was funny how bad his encounter with his first boar a few weeks ago was. It was a struggle just to beat down one of the small creatures. He collected the boar skin of each one he killed, there was money to be found with each skin and having a cosmic space allowed him to carry however much he wanted anyways.

While walking into the forest, Cyrus paid a point to leave deep footprints leading to where they were going to be hiding. The point was to not so obviously lead their party to their location, so there needed to be a trail to follow. Except they probably thought Cyrus was still an idiot and wouldn’t be able to fight back like last time.

This was not going to be like last time.

He was brought back to reality when Peluna finally broke the silence. “We can hide between the bushes right up here. They’re thick enough that we won’t be spotted unless someone is on top of us. At least you should be able to get the first attack in.” She contemplated, pointing at the sea of green just ahead.

“I almost want to catch a nap while we’re waiting, who knows how long it’s going to be?” Cyrus sighs as he walks with Peluna behind the bushes, sitting down on the hard ground with a groan.

Peluna rolls hers eyes at his comment and gives a lighthearted smile. “How can you even think about napping in a situation like this? Shouldn’t you be alert when waiting for the enemy?”

Cyrus scoffed and shook his head. “I haven’t had a real chance to rest since I got here, plus with a party we should be able to hear them coming from a mile away, so I’m not all that concerned.”

“Since you got here? What does that mean?”

Cyrus winced inwardly at his slip up, things had been getting far too casual around Peluna and it was making him constantly drop his guard. It had to be due to her Charisma again, being able to ready facial expressions and drop his guard during social interactions must be hidden benefits. Otherwise, why else would it happen only around her? When he was with Albus this never happened a single time.

“I just mean for the past couple of weeks is all, there’s barely been a moment without any action or safety.” Cyrus attempts to repair his mistake but to little avail.

“Fine, you don’t have to tell me. You don’t need to just straight up lie about it though.” Peluna says with frustration, her eyebrows are creased as if she’s studying him like some experiment.

Cyrus winces, but at the same time he can’t help but feel a rise coming out of him. He didn’t like that she was challenging his privacy like that. “It’s not that I’m lying to you, there are just some things I don’t want to talk about.”

“I understand that and ever since we were with Albus all that time ago it was clear that you didn’t want to talk about your past, but now that we’re risking our lives maybe you could be a little more lenient?”

“How about I make it plain and simple, I’m not obligated to tell you anything so perhaps you should butt out? You realize telling me about your own past was your choice, I never asked you to.” Cyrus growls, his own voice rising out of his own anger.

There was no reason for her to be pushing his privacy like this, she should just leave well enough alone. Unfortunately for him, that doesn’t seem to deter the brave beast woman in the slightest and she gets more heated as well. Despite being on the calmer and more docile side usually, she chooses strange times to become assertive.

“I’m making it my business! There’s too much about you that doesn’t add up and it’s frustrating me. Grim mentioned it to me last night too, simple information that everyone knows seems to come to a surprise to you. You’re acting like you have no friend or family at all and the only thing you focus on is revenge. That’s the only thing you talked about when we were underground!” Peluna yells, shocking Cyrus. This was probably the loudest he had ever heard her voice go, for a smaller framed girl she had a hell of a voice box. There was no chance that he was going to let his go though.

“You don’t have the right to know the answer to any of those questions. Haven’t you thought that maybe I keep my secrets because I have a reason to?”

“And you think I hadn’t thought of that? I’ve had over a month to think and even Albus talked to me, there’s no reasonable explanation on why you can’t tell me.” Peluna’s voice still has an intense heat to it but she says the next sentence a little softer but with the same fire. “I’m here to help you not make you hide in a shell.”

Regardless of her reasoning, Cyrus just couldn’t understand. It wasn’t her business, so she should have to real reason to inquire so much. Maybe she had an angle and he just wasn’t seeing it. “I don’t owe Albus, I don’t owe Grim, and I certainly don’t owe YOU an explanation. I’m not forcing you to stay here, you’re welcome to leave at any time if you have a problem.”

That was not the right response. Charisma failed again.

Scratch that, Charisma had nothing to do with it. He was just acting like an entitled jerk.

All that heat and frustration flushed out of Peluna’s face like a river. All the anger that was built up disappeared from her body like a ghost and her shoulders sagged in defeat. When they were arguing and even normally talking her eyes always met his with confidence that didn’t befit her kind stature, but now they were downcast. Hurt was evident in her expression; he didn’t need Charisma to determine that.

Suddenly, he wished he could take back what he said. Even if he still didn’t want to tell her about everything, his responses when he was angry weren’t helping and only served to separate them further. She only wanted to help him and had no real obligation to help with his revenge, yet she was here anyways.

“I’m sorry Cyrus.” Her voice was like a whisper. Broken and regretful, as if she was entirely the one at fault.

When in reality he was the one shutting her out. The problem was, he couldn’t find the words. Not that he had ever been good gentle situations, but this was a first for him. Trinity and he had never really fought like this, so he was truly at a loss.

“Listen…Peluna I-I… I didn’t me-“

“Well well, I don’t mean to bother but I’d know those voices anywhere.” Someone interrupts their argument, causing them both to twirl in shock.

There stood Serence and Billo with 6 party members standing behind them. All wearing that same crooked smile as they had down in the dungeons. So much for the element of surprise.

“I’ve been waiting for you…Serence” Cyrus smiles as well, matching Serence.