THE GROWTH

The explosion caused ruckus to spread throughout the town, reaching even the Major, Sir Loras and Thalia and Parsia amongst others. Without exception, they all bolted towards the source, but suddenly encountered a massive, spacial barrier that all held them out from the very center of the explosion.

Meanwhile, Lynne grunted as he got up onto his feet, his eyes alarmingly looking around. He spotted Fen’er not too far away and quickly walked over, crouching down. She was unconscious, with a single, deep gash running through her left thigh, bleeding profusely.

Furrowing his brows, he gently tapped it and the wound began closing as he felt a pair of eyes lock onto him. Looking backwards, he spotted heavily crimson Selena standing not too far away, looking at him strangely.

“… you’re Lynne Hyorn.” she said in a rather flat, cold tone.

“Hai, looks like both of us were far different than who we pretended to be.” Lynne said, chuckling, as he got up and faced her. “What now? You may have created a spacial barrier, but it was in a hurry, and you know it will be broken within a few minutes at most. Were you confident you could kill me in that time and escape, you would have already. So, what now?”

“… you are awfully calm seeing as you’ve learned who I am.”

“Ah, realizing people around me aren’t who they seem has become somewhat of an everyday occurrence for me. So do forgive me for not seeming shocked, if that’s what you were going for.” Lynne chuckled lightly as he spoke.

“I may not be able to kill you in the time I have, but it’s not the same for her.” she pointed at Fen’er lying unconscious behind Lynne. “Now, the question is how much do you value her life?”

“Honestly? Not much,” Lynne said nonchalantly. “She’s already served her purpose, and has even tried to kill me multiple times. If she happens to die while I’m tying you up, eh, collateral damage I suppose.”

“Hah, you really do think you can bluff your way through everything, huh?” Selena grimly smiled as she spread our her arms, causing crimson blood to appear, floating around them like coiling dragons. “Besides, do you really think I’m alone in this town? Here’s the deal: let me go, and I’ll take my subordinates and flee the city. Win win for everyone.”

“Ah, considering you’ve seen Fen’er, and she recognized you, you’re probably part of Zen,” Lynne said as he reached out his arm and flicked his fingers, causing the Emperor’s Scythe to appear. “So, you probably know Fen’er betrayed you, and we know about the upcoming attack… in detail. Even if your subordinates escape, they’ll simply think you were compromised, but that’s the extent of their suspicion. So, it looks like you’re stuck with me until the barrier breaks.”

“Ha ha,” she laughed coldly. “You leave me no choice then, I’ll have to go out. You’d be too much of a liability during the battle to leave you unharmed.”

“You can try.” Lynne said, closing his eyes as he took in a deep breath. “Second stance: Seething.” Lynne grabbed onto the scythe with his right arm, holding it in a downward angle while his other hand spread out left. “Despair,” he said, his voice cold and indifferent. “Soul Siphon.”

“Sanguine Arts,” Selena roared, causing two bloodied swords to appear in her hands. “Blood Siphon.”

Lynne pushed forth as his scythe wreathed golden, causing heat to rise in its surroundings. Ground beneath his feet got crushed under each of his steps, while his free hand suddenly pushed forth, releasing a magnificent bladed arc of flames. Above him, suddenly, over a thousand Elemental Blades shimmering green appeared as they descended towards Selena at speeds far surpassing one’s ability to see.

Scythe overreached from above, cutting in a magnificent arc, tearing through the space itself as it attacked Selena. The latter crossed two swords, causing endless, agonizing screeches to echo out from within her blades. As she drew them back, a crossed, crimson light bolted outwards, clashing against Lynne’s scythe.

The following explosion caused a deep crater to appear beneath the two as they were flung backwards, but both forcibly stopped themselves midair. Selena’s face was choked in terror as she began panting; however, Lynne was seemingly far more wounded, as dozens of fresh, bleeding cuts appeared across his body. His blood seemingly gained a life of its own as it ran rampart through his veins, but his face remained indifferent, as if he felt no pain.

On the other hand, Selena seemed to have no injuries, yet her face had grown completely pale, sweating profusely. “S-soul attack…” she muttered in horror. “Impossible!!! You are just a fucking brat! Impossible!”

“Joy,” Lynne ignored her as he muttered yet again. “Soul Rendering.”

“No!! Dammit, no! Stay away you devil!!”

As if driven to craze, Selena turned around to run, her eyes nearly popping out of her sockets. Lynne chased after her, never letting her get out of his sight. Realizing she couldn’t escape, she bit her tongue and spat out a mouthful of blood, causing her eyes to go completely bloodshot as he looked back at him.

“Fine!!” she roared, her two blades disappearing, causing a single, towering one to appear behind her. “Sanguine Sacrifice!!” she yelped, her voice cracking. “Take it all!!!”

The towering sword exploded into raining showers of blood droplets, simmering like acid upon impact with a solid surface.

“Withdraw,” Lynne said in a calm tone. “Reaping Stance,” the Emperor’s Scythe flashed behind his back like a God of Death, causing the world around it to feel like kneeling. “Life,” he muttered. “Origin Atrophy.”

The scythe suddenly boomed downwards in a single strike, breaking through the shower of blood as if it were a piece of paper, rendering the sky seemingly dried of life.

Outside of spacial barrier, Major, Sir Loras and others who hadn’t seen the Battle for Holy Paradise stood with their jaws agape, nearly kneeling on the floor. As they witnessed the scythe manifest in the sky and then spiral downward in a strike, they nearly felt their souls being sucked dry as they all took a few steps backwards.

Inside, the scythe buried itself into the ground, but, unlike the last time Lynne used this technique, the billowing Skyfire and Hellfire didn’t appear, and in their stead were golden and green flame. In addition, they didn’t spread outwardly and uncontrollably, but rather in a streamlined fashion, either directly towards Selena or surrounding her.

The latter was utterly crushed under the overwhelming strength of the former. She couldn’t even muster enough strength or courage to get up from her knees, or even to look away from the terrifying creature hovering in the skies above her. The scythe and the boy, as if painted from an ancient tale about heroes and demons, seemingly towered over the world, looking down on all the world represented.

She had heard rumors of what happened in Holy Paradise, but had always simply dismissed them as exaggerated rumors. Yet, today, she had understood that rumors didn’t even do him enough justice. In stories, she heard him being described as maddened and crazed God of Death, with eyes deeply embroiled in entropy, destroying all life around him. Yet, before her stood an indifferent youth, bordering bored, while his eyes were calm, seemingly nonchalant, as they locked onto her figure. There was nothing mad or crazed about his appearance, which terrified her even more.

She kept kneeling, and even began prostrating as the golden and green flames reached her, as if she was begging for forgiveness in the last moments of her life. Yet, as her head was locked with the earth, she felt no heat or pain. Finally daring to look up, she realized that flames surrounding her were gone, as if they were never there. There weren’t even charred marks atop the stone, and instead of the sky, Lynne stood directly in front of her, crouching while smiling innocently.

“We’ve really missed an opportunity,” he sighed, shaking his head. “I just realized that a begging woman is quite a turn-on. Oh well, what can be done…”

“… w-why…” she muttered, her eyes egg-like as she stared at him.

“Hm? Why didn’t I kill you?” he chuckled as he got up. “What for? In the end, it is not my swing that will decide your fate. Ah, here they come.”

The spacial barrier was broken at last, as hundreds of soldiers – including Thalia, Parsia, Major and Sir Loras – broke through and began fervently searching the street. Sir Loras quickly spotted Fen’er lying unconscious in the distance and walked over, while the rest quickly found Lynne standing above a battered and tattered woman beneath him.

The Major and others didn’t even dare look at him, as it didn’t take a genius to figure out it was him who caused the scythe phenomenon. Instead, they focused on Selena, quickly cuffing her and taking her away. The Major simply expressed gratitude towards Lynne before quickly bolting away, afraid he’d anger him.

Soon after, only Thalia, Parsia and Lynne remained behind, at the scene of a battle that only had two scars: from two initial explosions. It appeared as if Lynne’s flames didn’t cause any damage at all, and as if all of what had happened was an illusion.

“… you’ve gotten better at controlling it.” Parsia said, smiling, his eyes exuding awe as he stared at Lynne. “Damn, I just feel like hugging you so tightly you’ll assimilate with me and we--”

“Let me stop you right there!” Lynne raised his arm, interrupting him. “If you ever use ‘I’, ‘we’ and ‘assimilate’ in the same sentence, I’ll disown you!”

“Please don’t!”

“… I had thought you’d given up practice.” Thalia said, looking at him sideways.

“Why the hell would you think that?” Lynne looked at her strangely as he began walking towards the inn.

“Aren’t you going to check on Fen’er?” Parsia asked.

“She’ll be fine,” Lynne said, smiling. “But, we should still be careful. Selena said she wasn’t alone in the city. Thalia, you should go to her house. I don’t think that family is as simple as they seem.”

“… you… you can’t think they’re all involved?” Thalia creased her brows as she asked him.

“Perhaps not all,” Lynne said, sighing. “But, who knows? Tell them Selena was arrested for some stupid shit and watch their reactions.”

“And you? Wait, you aren’t suffering a backlash!” Parsia noticed, immediately exclaiming.

“Of course he hasn’t, you dumb pumpkins!” a familiar voice sounded out as the monkey appeared atop Lynne’s shoulder. “While he didn’t practice any of his Spell Arts, or improve on his Mana, he did practice the Scythe technique quite a bit. He was just safe enough with that battle just now!”

“… why do I feel like you always appear just in the nick of time to explain something I could have explained myself?” Lynne grunted, looking coldly at the monkey.

“Hai, shut up, rotten brat! Here I am, praising you, elevating your status of a snotty playboy, yet you scold me! I spit on you! You hear me? I spit on you!”

“Spit on your mother!” Lynne roared back as he slapped the monkey off his shoulder. “Who’s a snotty playboy?! Screw you! I’m not a snotty playboy! If anything, I’m a gentlemanly playboy!” The key word is playboy you idiot!!! Thalia and Parsia thought at the same time.

“Pft, gentlemanly?!” the monkey laughed mockingly. “If you are gentleman in any way, I hope all women of your species go celibate for the rest of their lives and let your kind go extinct!”

“Hah, how cruel! To doom the entire race because of one Great Being!” Lynne said flamboyantly.

“I’ve seen everything,” the monkey’s eyes flashed with strange glint. “And, sorry to burst your bubble, but it’s not that great.”

“Hai!!” Lynne exclaimed in shock, covering his crotch. “How-- how can you say that?!!” he suddenly began crying. “You can attack all facets of who a man may be, but never his Soul, Heart and Mind! Didn’t they teach you that, huh?! How can you be so cruel?!” … these two truly never change.

“I’ll go and interrogate Selena,” the Prince said, sighing. “Thalia will go and check on her family. You really should go and see Fen’er.

“Ah, I suppose I should go and thank her,” Lynne said, clearing his ears and ignoring the snickering monkey at the side. “She was the one to expose that crazed bitch, after all.”

“Selena is part of the Lords?!!” Parsia and Thalia exclaimed at the same time.

“Hah, how cute!” Lynne mocked, his lips curling up in a smile. “Mom and dad are finally in sync!” the two flashed red in cheeks as they looked away. “… ah, it’s not fun if you just let blood rush into your face. Blood’s supposed to rush into other places at the times like this! Ah, whatever. Like the two of you would know. Anyway, yeah, I imagine she was. She’s also apparently that murderer we’ve been tracking.”

“Eh?!”

“And she also studies the main sword arts of the Lords,” Lynne added. “So I imagine she’s not low in the ranks. Get some information from her about the upcoming battle. She may know more than Fen’er does.”

“Y-yes…” the Prince stuttered out.

“Anyway, I’ll go and visit her,” Lynne said, waving at the two who still didn’t dare look at each other. The monkey had also climbed atop Lynne’s shoulder again, laughing uncontrollably as he looked back at the two. “You do you. Or each other. Whatever.”

“…”

“…”

“You truly never change, brat.” the monkey snickered.

“Says a monkey who’s grown ten centimeters since the day I met him,” Lynne retaliated. “Despite the fact I’ve been feeding him high-quality pills for quite some time now. Pills that apparently go for a lot of Mana Stones on the market.”

“Ah… about that… you see… it was totally that Prince Elynal’s idea!!” the monkey suddenly exclaimed under Lynne’s harsh glare.

“Well, let’s think about it from my perspective,” Lynne said. “I can’t blame a dead girl, now can I? I also can’t blame a half-cripple who helped me save my dad, now can I? So that leaves only you in the end.”

“… so unfair!!”

“You owe me quite a lot of Mana Stones. Lately, you’ve been bringing me nothing but fucking herbs and ingredients! Remember when we met?! How you told me you’d supply me, key word ME, with precious Natural Treasure?! I don’t need fucking herbs you gluttonous beast!”

“Hai, why are you so cold? I’m helping, aren’t I? I’ve already found you several dozen different types of flames to study, and I’ve even helped you unlock three other Laws inside of you!” the monkey said, crying profusely.

“What of it? You promised me, ME, Natural Treasures, you damned beast!”

“You are super cruel, rotten brat! Puff! I spit on you! Hear me? I spit on you! I’ll never bring you another flame, ever, ever! Instead, I’ll bring you my shit wrapped in a cocoon of gold!”

“… that doesn’t make any sense.”

“If you were from my clan, you’d feel really insulted right now!”

“… to be furred from top to bottom? I’d rather be a dying, impotent cripple.”

“No, no you wouldn’t.”

“Yeah, just a dying cripple is enough. Ugh, impotent? That hurt my soul.”

“… your priorities sure run all over the place.”

“As will you from now on,” Lynne added. “I need you to find some things to help us with the upcoming battle. I have a bad feeling about this Young Lord,” Lynne sighed, looking up at the darkened sky of the night. “False God, huh… to think such creatures existed as well.”

“Of course they do,” the monkey said, his expression growing solemn as well. “They’re just the tip of the iceberg Lynne. Since you’ve decided to train yourself to free that Dragon, you’ll have to learn far more than you know at the moment.”

“Ah, let us first deal with the imminent death, and leave the future ones at the side.”

“… the way you said it sounds really foreboding.”

“… yeah, I just hope the one to die is you, not me.”

“Nobody’s gonna die, you rotten brat!”

“Ha ha,” Lynne suddenly patted the monkey’s head gently as he smiled. “Your optimism sure is contagious.”

“… who do you think I’ve gotten it from, you rotten brat?” the monkey muttered, looking away, but still letting Lynne pet him.

“Hm?”

“Nothing, nothing. Just hurry up. You’re not taking a stroll with a lover here!”

“… ugh, thanks for the image.”

“What the hell did you imagine anyway?!!”