Arc 2 P2

Shiska barely evaded the stick as it whizzed past her ear. She then swatted off a kick aimed to her stomach and counterattacked. However, she noticed too late the stick at her throat.

"H-How..?" she asked in between pants.

Leroy let go of the stick. "Because you're not paying attention. I told you to always be aware of your surroundings."

"I'm trying, it's just so hard to keep focus as the fight continues."

"Well, it's dark for one."

Shiska blinked rapidly and scanned her surroundings. It's indeed nighttime already. The chirping of crickets all over the nearby thicket they're training in should've been a dead giveaway. "Already? Sigh, but I haven't improved yet."

"Of course you won't feel it yet," Leroy unsheathed the tactical knife on his thigh and used it to make a fire. The orange light danced and the twigs crackled and popped. Some embers landed on his hand as he prepared to heat up their rations. It didn't hurt, by the way. "You won't sleep in the camp tonight too?"

"Yeah. Gonna do some practice swings or something. We got some time off anyways so I'll maximize."

"Shiska, you know there's also guns—"

"No!" The flames crackled. "It has to be the blade. Any kind of close-ranged weapon. Even my fists will do. As long as I can…"

…feel the damage I'd inflict to the bastard.

Leroy heard enough times at this point. She even muttered something along those lines even as she slept, about the man who, not only stole the staff, but also finished off a dying Ambrosia.

To think even her dreams were plagued with revenge, Shiska truly was the sentimental type. The kind of people who often distance themselves but deep down would cross heaven and earth for a person. Poor girl, if only she took it as healthy motivation she wouldn't worry him so much.

It's his fault. He should've wrapped up his mission quickly and not spent so much time goofing off. Maybe by then he could've made it in time to save…

Who?

Her, of course.

Liar. You don't care about her. You don't even care about either of them. You're just like that girl, sentimental and vengeful. You saw yourself in her, that's why you could relate… pity her. Hah! What hypocrisy! You're also hell-bent on slaying someone yourself, Leroy. You're just too good at ignoring it, your desires, like how you ignore me…

Shut up!

He shot the knife ahead, shattering the illusion. He's back to reality.

"Woah! What was that?" Shiska was clearly surprised she looked around her in case there's something Leroy saw with his sharp senses.

"Nothing. Just practicing."

"Didn't look like a practice throw to me. Anyway, while we wait for the food, can you throw me pebbles? I'll do that thing again."

He gathered some pebbles and randomly threw them as requested.

While Shiska used a branch to strike the pebbles, she asked, "Say, do you think they really did something to her when they hauled her back to the city?"

"Most probably. That relic wasn't something they'd hand out to a random convict. Besides, our punishment was way lighter despite losing the relic."

"Yeah, I mean, you're the one who noticed it. Is it actually possible though? To alter a tainted's frequency enough to wield a relic different that what they're attuned to?"

During the mission, they both had a hunch Chernobyl did something to Ambrosia and was running tests on her with the pretext of monitoring the effects of the staff relic. After all, they got off lightly considering the results.

What's more, they're even let some time off without affecting their share of supplies. For the convicts in the outerfields, it's a no-work-no-pay policy and the special treatment did raise some eyebrows. However, since the entire camp knew Leroy and Shiska were often called on dangerous missions, everybody moved on. The extra food and supplies they got weren't worth the risk of the assignments they got anyway.

"If it's possible—Hyah! Then, wouldn't that mean they could just turn everyone else into humans and tainted at will?"

"Maybe they already did, who knows? However, the usage requirement of relics wouldn't change. People incompatible to certain relics won't get good results out of those types of relics. Ambrosia used a spear relic before, right? She couldn't even handle Gewher-Callisto despite being the same usage-wise."

"Surely, the same excellent, law-abiding humans figured that out way before us, Leroy. What's strange was the fact they still did it—Hyah! Hey, don't throw it too far! That's cheating!"

Shiska asked the right question. What's the humans', Chernobyl's point on conducting that test? They knew almost anything about relics. They surely knew about the mutations that happened to cause the birth of the tainted. Naturally, they've also studied those tainted that retained or got enhanced combat abilities in exchange for their sanity and classified them as 'corrupted'. Putting aside the news of the stupid terminology update which might simply be a political stunt, the scientists of Chernobyl knee too much they couldn't hide it even if they tried.

"I'm just saying that, maybe… I don't know…" She touched the ring coiled around her neck. The fact her Leash wasn't killing her right now meant it's still within acceptable behavior.

A streak of color lit the sky from afar. Some party must be happening at the city tonight. Looking at the same sky, one side saw another happy moment that'd be forgotten the day, while the other side saw nothing. It's just a little chemistry activity. Some of the guys here created something better, even going down in the databases as the worst criminals to be remembered for millennia to come.

"Hey," Leroy said, looking up. "Wanna dance?"

Shiska stifled a laugh. Leroy sometimes acted weird, but she never expected him to offer something as cheesy as a dance.

"Just kidding," he said, his flat tone never changing.

The smell of burnt food turned their attention to their dinner. Looks like they'd need the fireworks to forget the awful taste of the overcooked goop.