Chapter 96: Bullshit Screaming
’Fuck it. I’m going to the stupid part of the plan without a guaranteed answer.’
Cillian couldn’t help but want to slap himself on the cheek after this revelation, as he watched the person in front of him react as if he had received the greatest shock of his life.
Arthur’s face continued showing that crack in his expression, fully not expecting those words in particular from Cillian just right after he had entered his room.
But then, Arthur removed the reaction he had shown after noticing that he had made a mistake, before smiling lightly.
"The ancient ruins? Is that something I was supposed to be concerned with about them?"
Cillian noticed the shift in his tone.
The lies that are contained in them.
Cillian stared at Arthur for a moment before a small smile escaped his lips, appearing rather confident after the mistake he had made.
It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. He should’ve created a situation where he’d pry Arthur’s secrets without appearing like he was being interrogated.
But he screw all of his previous plans after coming.
[Mental Load: 15%]
It might be because his mental load is slowly decreasing, which still has some value, or it could be that the image of the dead faces of his family might be the two reasons why he made this clumsy mistake.
Yet, Cillian wasn’t shaken. Not even a bit.
He’s going to try this more aggressively now that Arthur is in this pitiful state, fully vulnerable.
’I’m going to make you so uncomfortable and make you confess things that you hide from your little innocent face. Spill everything now, you shitty ass therapist.’
His lips curled even more upwards.
"Don’t show me that ridiculous face. It gives me the fucking creeps."
"..."
Cillian scoffed as he saw Arthur become silent, but his expression slowly began to change. Cillian pressed even further while getting more confident.
"I’ve watched you all this time, you know. Innocent face, helping people in need, giving heartfelt advice from mentally unstable people. Yet, all of it was just an act, wasn’t it? Beneath all that face and action, that’s not the real you."
Cillian paused and pointed at his eyes.
"I can see it, you stupid. So stop fucking pretending."
He slowly pointed his finger at Arthur’s eyes.
"Show me the real you."
Cillian threw yet another question.
"What are you, Arthur?"
"What am I...?"
Arthur repeated the same question that came from Cillian’s mouth. It was probably because Arthur had hit his head when the explosion at the ball happened, or perhaps because he was tired from all the people who had already visited him today.
But the memories he wanted to bury deep inside and make disappear resurfaced in his mind after hearing Cillian’s question.
-Sir Arthur, I’m sorry...
-Arthur, take care of yourself, okay?
-I love you, Arthur. Goodbye.
It was all pouring onto him like a broken dam, endless water pouring down towards him.
Arthur clutched his head and grabbed onto his hair, trying to pull them out before he shrieked like a crazy man.
"AHHHHHHH!"
Cillian was shocked at first when he saw Arthur scream, but his expression soon shifted into a scoff that slowly turned into anger. It was no different from the bullshit scenes that happened in many webnovels, where characters would break down and do some nonsensical screaming.
Cillian will not buy this bullshit.
"AHHHHHH!"
Cillian snapped.
"Hey!"
"AHHHHHHH!"
Feeling that asking any further would lead to nothing, Cillian walked forward and grabbed Arthur’s collar.
He didn’t care about whatever reason Arthur was screaming like this. In fact, Arthur might have simply been acting as he usually does.
But if this was a legitimate scream that stemmed from the real Arthur, Cillian also doesn’t give a shit if he offed himself right now.
The anger that was felt within his heart, Cillian held onto it and shouted in a spiteful tone.
"Stop giving me this bullshit scream! What the fuck are you?! What are you planning to do with those Ancient Ruins?!"
"AHHHHHHH!"
Cillian created a Fireball spell and pointed it directly at Arthur, who was still screaming but remained unfazed by the danger inches from his face.
Baaaang—!
Suddenly, the door of the room exploded, and people entered to stop the confrontation between Cillian and Arthur.
"Cillian!"
Eve separated them by pulling Cillian away with an invisible hand as he was about to release his Fireball spell. If not for the fact that the Shepherds might be related to the discovered Ancient Ruins, obtaining information from Arthur would not have been a priority.
In the Death Flag Probe, there were black-robed individuals scattered around, mixed with the dead corpses of civilians from the destroyed Viola.
If Arthur is not part of the Shepherds, then the only connections he has with the Shepherds of Creation are the Ancient Ruins of the past era.
Yet what was it? What made these two things connected?
"That guy is going to destroy everything here!"
Cillian shouted one last time before Eve and Cale grabbed him and dragged him outside of Hensel Hospital, away from Arthur.
...
"What is wrong with you?! You asked us to watch Arthur, didn’t you? We’re doing our job right now, and you ruined it!"
[Death Flag]
Eve shouted in an annoyed tone while putting Cillian inside a cell from a nearby guild owned by the Star Breaker. The Death Flag placed above her head is not changing.
[Black Flag]
Cale remained poised and continued watching Cillian, who was patiently waiting in his seat while looking somewhere in the air.
"What are you trying to do, kid?"
Cale asked the rather calm Cillian, who glanced at him after looking through something in the air. He then saw Cillian wearing a small smile.
"I’m going to expose that bastard."
Cillian knew that meeting with Arthur was going to make him go unstable. He remembered how angry he had felt when he slept yesterday, and when he woke up, the hatred didn’t die down. In fact, it only grew stronger.
That’s why he had already devised a plan that would only work if he crashed out and was unable to keep himself composed.
"Because I revealed something that only he should know about. If I’m correct, then Arthur will definitely make a mistake and try to further hasten whatever he was planning. You can use it as justification to arrest him once you find out what it is."
The scene from the previous Death Flag Probe showed the aftermath of Arthur steadily advancing his agenda and carrying out his plans without anyone to disturb him or make him doubt himself.
But now Cillian had made a move and told Arthur in a way that he had been found.
All that was left was to make Arthur impatient.
And there was only one thing to confirm it.
That’s why Cillian was currently waiting for something to change on the part of the screen he was viewing through his eyes.
[Currently Marked Flag: 1/3]
[Target Flag: Arthur Potter
Current Flag: Death Flag
Status: Stable]
Eve clicked her tongue and hasn’t been able to understand any of his words from the beginning with before hearing Cale, her hidden boss, talking from the side.
"Nothing is currently happening to Arthur thanks to the immediate actions that we took after your outburst in that room. This might be your deliberate plan for exposing Arthur. Now that I think about it. Exposed what? You could’ve just said what you were trying to expose him for in the first place."
’I would’ve done it already if I had an inkling of what type of person Arthur is and what his plans were! You think that didn’t cross my mind?!’
Cillian had to force himself to speak inside his mind, as there was definitely no way he was going to keep that information a secret if he were ever to land it for himself.
Why was he doing all these tiring things to begin with?
Yet throughout the time Cillian was in a cell, the Flag Mark screen wasn’t changing a single bit. Hours had already passed, and the status of Arthur’s Death Flag remained stable, and Cillian was forced to eat his words after appearing confident to Eve and Cale, who were already gone for the day.
’I can’t stay here...’
Cillian looked around the dark cell, where a few people were present, before a decision came to his mind.
"Fireball."
His facial features began to change before he aimed his Fireball spell at the lock holding him inside the prison.