Chapter 500: Leaving Safety Behind

"New blade, same me," Aether said, looking at the blade. It was a beauty, but at the same time, did looks really matter? I mean, Voidpiercer could be considered an ugly blade by many, even if he personally didn’t think of it like that, and yet it was really powerful to the point that it had stayed with him to this day.

He was going to miss it; he really was. There were a lot of things he loved about it: how it came out instantly, and he didn’t have to wait for the summoning process; how its chains were attached to him, and he could pull off many weird things, like throwing his blade at something and either climbing onto it or pulling the blade back.

With Raven, he couldn’t just throw the blade; he would lose it, well, for a little time, since he could just let it go back into his Core and summon it back, but it took time. And in battle, who knew how much you could waste. Plus, the climbing part was impossible.

’Well, who knows; maybe it can. I don’t know what abilities it has.’

It was a bit awkward, he had to say, how he had no idea what abilities his own blade had.

But it was his decision, which again, was a dumb one.

’At least it’s a Bearer class...’ Aether clenched hard on it; it was nice how the silk on the hilt didn’t hurt his fingers. He could hold it just fine without scraping the skin off. There were worse things about it, but one thing that wasn’t nice was that, because of its form, a katana, he had lost the ability to use his swordsmanship skill, since it was only active with rapiers.

And, really, he was going to have to change his style just slightly; he didn’t know how well he could pull it off with a katana... Even more, he was going to have to adapt to it, since he had been using a rapier for years, one that had no idea how to cut. He had gotten used to only thrusting, and... it wasn’t recommended with a Katana at all; he could, but it would just be using it badly.

He was going to have to get used to slashing, since he was going to do it a lot.

Walking through the town, he noticed a bunch of Readers just hanging around laughing; it was a nice sight to see. After all, he had gotten too used to death recently, so seeing people safe and happy.

...

Didn’t feel right.

He thought he was going to be... happy, relieved, but instead he was paranoid. This didn’t feel normal at all... plus, knowing his history and his curse, he didn’t think staying here was a good idea at all.

’If I do, I’m going to get everyone killed.’

Was it dangerous... definitely, after all, even with a Bearer blade, he still wasn’t going to be able to kill a Bearer monster, only fight. If it was that easy, then every Seeker would have Harbinger blades to easily kill Bearers and be able to fight Harbingers.

But no, even with a really powerful blade, it’s hard for a Seeker to kill a Bearer. With a direct counter, like how Voidpiercer has against gods, it could, but you also have to survive until then.

But he also couldn’t stay here; he did need to continue his original plan. If he stayed here, he would be wasting time, and while a day or two might not matter that much, if you think of it, how much time it is going to take for him to tell the King everything, for Reinforcements to come and hopefully do something, it was going to take a lot of time, and plus, every day more Readers died...

’I’ll at least say goodbye. It’s the least I can do for saving me.’ Sighing, Aether turned his head back to the group of Readers, walking up to them.

...

"Bye," Aether said, as the heads of the Readers turned to him, confused. They looked at each other, not understanding who he was or what he wanted with them. After some time, one of them finally spoke up, a little hesitant. "All right...?"

’That was awkward.’ He said, turning away and walking to the next Reader he saw.

...

...

...

Knocking on Elise’s door, Aether patiently waited until the girl opened her door, confused at first, but then a small smile appeared on her face as she saw him. "Oh, Aether... is there something wrong?"

Aether shook his head. "No, no, it’s nothing. I’m going to leave... today, so I just wanted to say goodbye."

"You’re leaving?" Elise instantly reacted, leaning forward, her eyes wide open. "Why? Did you get in trouble or something? Why all of a sudden?"

He sighed, resting his hand on his hips. "I told you, it’s nothing. I just have other stuff to do than live inside this place."

...

"I know this is probably one of the safest places for a Reader inside the Wonderland, and I’m risking my life by leaving... but I don’t plan on wasting my life doing nothing."

Elise sighed, tapping her foot on the floor, before a smirk appeared on her face. "I’ll come with you then; I got nothing else to do, and civilization won’t miss me that much."

...

"Plus, I also want to get out of this place, and have wanted to for a while... It feels like everyone in this place has just accepted their new lives, and now just lives here, not trying to fight back... which is not something I want... this place has already taken my brother. I want my revenge."

...

"No," Aether said, firmly, without any hesitation in his voice.

Elise tilted her head, a bit shocked by his sudden comment. "What do you mean, no?"

Aether sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I mean, you’re not coming with me. I’m going alone. And that’s my decision, no changing it."