Chapter 64: Bloody Retard.
The snow began to evaporate into countless dust like particles that floated steadily into the air, dissolving into the distorted space around Ryan. His uncontrollable Dormant Ability continued expanding in every direction, the invisible pressure growing heavier by the second until the grin on Damien’s face slowly turned upside down.
Powerful winds rose without warning as space itself twisted and buckled, creating random whirlwinds that ripped across the frozen plain and sent Ryan’s black hair whipping violently in every direction. The air seemed unstable, occasionally folding in on itself before snapping back into place, producing faint cracks that echoed across the empty landscape.
He was in pain, even though he wasn’t bleeding. Ryan had never been in love before. He’d had several crushes throughout his life, but he’d never gathered the courage to approach any of them. Jessie was different. He actually tried this time. He genuinely believed she understood him. He thought she loved him. He thought she cared about him. But it was all pretence. She hated him. She despised who he was, and the only reason she ever responded to him was because she was afraid.
Ryan’s grip tightened, and sonic bangs began echoing from his clenched fist, as though the surrounding space could no longer endure the pressure gathering around him. Then something strange began happening right before Damien’s eyes.
As warm tears streamed down Ryan’s face, his body actually began shifting between tangible and intangible, fading in and out like a mirage. But that wasn’t all. At the very same time his body flickered, he was also blitzing at terrifying speeds without ever truly leaving the spot where he stood. Countless afterimages flashed in every direction before collapsing back into one another so quickly that it became impossible to tell which Ryan was real.
Damien’s face became even uglier.
"I’m definitely not liking this guy’s true face. Now how would I fight against this and possibly win? I have some advantages, but I’m seriously weak against masters of space. But again, I still don’t know enough about my own Dormant Ability. Perhaps if I spend more time studying it, I might be able to come up with a counter for this freak show."
The wind suddenly exploded outward, forcing loose snow across the ground and knocking Seris off balance. She stumbled before landing on one knee, shielding her face from the violent gusts with both arms.
"Uh, Damien. Shouldn’t we do something?"
Damien merely glanced down at her before returning his attention to Ryan.
"No, it’s fine. I think she’s got it."
Seris frowned in confusion.
"Who? Jessie? She’s scared out of her mind."
Damien really didn’t want to interfere. Fighting Ryan over a random trap that he had set himself was beyond foolish. Besides, this was exactly what Damien wanted to see.
"Look, something is happening," Seris said, pointing toward Ryan.
...
Ryan’s clenched fist slowly relaxed. The rage burning inside his eyes gradually settled, and almost immediately, the violent winds and shuddering space around him died away as though someone had suddenly extinguished them. The countless distortions disappeared one after another until the frozen wasteland became silent once more.
Tears still streamed down Ryan’s cheeks, but somewhere amidst the pain, he realised something.
"Damien went out of his way to help me... and this is how I repay him? By losing control just because I got rejected by you."
He slowly lifted his head.
"You don’t like me... I’m cool with that. You don’t have to be scared of me. I’m not going to hurt you, or anyone else for that matter. I’m also going to leave you alone. I won’t visit your tent to check up on you. I won’t ask you how your day was, even though I watched you heal people from daybreak until nightfall. I won’t smile awkwardly whenever I hear you scold the guards that keep sneaking into the medical camp to steal drugs... I-I won’t be there anymore."
Jessie’s mouth hung open, but she couldn’t find the words. Not because she was still terrified, but because she genuinely didn’t know what to say. She could finally see just how deeply she had hurt Ryan.
"I’m sorry," she managed to squeeze out before springing to her feet and running back toward the camp without looking back even once.
While Ryan was making peace with his conflicting emotions, Damien’s heart was about to burst from his chest.
"The hell is this? Are you a bloody retard? You’re a high-level Awakened. Kill her. Strangle her. Do something worse. Don’t you care about your reputation?"
...
"I should go after her," Seris said before sprinting back towards the camp.
Damien didn’t like how things ended. He wanted to see Ryan’s enraged side so he could determine whether he was truly capable of murdering Leslie or not. Based on what he’d seen, Ryan was definitely capable of killing Leslie, but Damien was equally certain that he wasn’t the killer.
The trials of the Tower had changed many people, but perhaps Ryan wasn’t like most people. He endured all of it without truly changing. He was still the same timid, awkward man who had first stepped into the Tower.
Just as Damien was about to curse again, he suddenly felt a hand gently tap his shoulder from behind.
His face froze.
Ryan was still standing right in front of him, wiping away the tears on his face. So that could only mean.
"I daresay you’ve been keeping yourself rather well entertained in my absence, Damien."
Vincent stepped past him with his usual refined composure, his neatly pressed blue suit somehow remaining immaculate despite the frozen wasteland. Slung casually over one shoulder, however, was a large burlap sack that looked completely out of place with the rest of his gentlemanly appearance.
Damien’s left eye twitched.
"Why does everyone think they can sneak up on me from behind like that?"
"Vincent, what’s with the sack?" Damien asked a moment later, unable to contain his curiosity any longer.
Vincent merely shrugged.
"Come along, Damien. I have something most intriguing to show you. I rather doubt you’ll believe me until you’ve seen it with your own eyes."