Chapter 13:
My Darling Hero
BART HELD HIS SHIELD with trembling hands as he saw Gadhio in his line of sight, sharpening his will. Gadhio held his sword as if he were slinging it over his shoulder, bent his knees, lowered his hips, closed his eyes, and quietly faced the life within himself. The sight of Gadhio trying to transform everything within him into prana was so mystical that it added to the sense of terror.
They’re just simple movements, of accelerating straight ahead and swinging down with his sword. However, with each repetition, his moves become more refined and more powerful. How much more can my Iron Maiden withstand? This ability, which has no merits other than its sturdiness, and which can even defend against attacks from Chimera…
Bart lacked confidence in himself, but he believed that his “pathetic shield” was unbreakable precisely because of that lack of confidence in himself. This barrier had even held up when he was tossed into a herd of giant Chimera in the name of experimentation. However, Gadhio could see a future in which it could be destroyed.
The area around Gadhio Lathcutt now appears distorted… Could that be from the prana overflowing from his body? How much prana would have to be generated for a phenomenon like that to occur? It was because Bart was a petty swordsman in name only that he could understand how monstrous this seemed. No matter how much effort he put in, Gadhio was on a level that was absolutely out of his reach. Then Gadhio opened his eyes. He concentrated the prana he accumulated in his legs and leapt.
In an instant, Gadhio vanished. It was a level of acceleration that could only be described thusly. When Bart finally saw Gadhio and registered that it was him, it was the moment that the blade he swung had collided with its target. There was a burst of light in his field of vision. Until now, whenever Gadhio attacked, there was a loud clang sound as Gadhio’s sword was ultimately blocked. However, this time, Gadhio’s sword went through. The swing made no sound, leaving only a hole in its wake.
“Did I perfect it?” In an instant, the fissure that Gadhio made had spread through the entire surface of the barrier, and ultimately, the barrier shattered into pieces with a loud cracking sound.
“Ggah, guaaaaaaa!” Perhaps due to the backlash, Bart’s entire body was covered in a great deal of cuts, and blood was pouring out of him. As he collapsed on the floor, in agony, Gadhio struck the Origin core at the back with his sword and destroyed it.
Having accomplished his goal, Gadhio slung his sword over his back, quietly turned his back on Bart, and moved to leave.
“Wait…” Bart, aware of his own pitifulness, reached out his hand toward Gadhio’s back. “What…should I have done? How could I…have become like you…?” Gadhio stopped walking.
“Do you wish to be like me, seeing me as I am now?”
“Of course! Unlike me, someone pitiful and miserable, you fight with strong willpower!”
“I do not have much longer to live.” Gadhio looked at his own hands as he spoke. The warmth had long since left his palm. “There is a woman who loves me and a daughter who adores me.” He could no longer hold Kleyna and Hallom in a warm embrace. “And yet I have devoted my life to revenge.”
If you were to ask when his hesitation had been dispelled, it was probably when Tia had been revived. She may not have been the real thing, but…Gadhio had killed his beloved wife with his own hands. At that moment, he had decided to walk down the path of carnage, from which there was no return.
“The only thing this power can do is destroy things. If I were truly the kind of great man you aspire to be, wouldn’t I be risking my life to protect something?”
Living each day for Kleyna and Hallom. That would certainly be happiness. And if the afterlife truly did exist, then Tia surely would have approved and been smiling upon them. But that was not how things had turned out. He didn’t choose that path.
“You seem to think you acquired that power of yours for self-preservation, but that’s not it. It likely was because you went through suffering in the past and wanted the power to protect others that you got that power.” Gadhio understood everything. Even though he understood, he was a foolish man who couldn’t stop. Even Kleyna didn’t want to admit it. Still, knowing how much Gadhio loved Tia, Kleyna still offered him support and encouragement. Even though she wanted to tell him to give up on revenge and to live his life together with her.
“Don’t look up to someone like me. You, who even in death wanted to protect others, are an admirable father.” Rather, it was Gadhio who admired Bart. Gadhio thought that if only the power he had acquired could only be used to protect others, rather than hurt others, that would’ve been better. Then he wouldn’t have made the choice he had made. This time, Gadhio walked away for good. Bart’s eyes were filled with tears as he stared at his back.
“This power…is because I want to protect…because I don’t want to repeat those regrets…” Bart flashed back to the tragedy that he had seen countless times since childhood, so many times it made him sick. The crumpled car. A crushed corpse in the passenger seat. Cries of pain echoing from the back seat. Unable to move, all he could do was wait for someone to come help. While he waited, everything disappeared. He lost everything.
“That’s right… I never wanted to see that kind of sight ever again. But I…sought salvation at the church of all things… It was supposed to have been the power to protect, but—u-uhhhh, I…I…ahhhh…!” The man’s cries echoed vainly in the dim hallway.