Chapter 79: Ch118. A ruined world
[THREE YEARS LATER]
Kurt stood in an open plaza, surrounded by beasts.
He had K’s daggers in his hands, but his right one was covered by a soft, black leather glove that covered the entirety of his forearm.
"On your left." Nadia’s voice sounded on Kurt’s earpiece.
’On it!’ Kurt thought, smirking, disappearing from where he was, and reappearing right where Nadia told him to.
It was right behind a very strong Boss-type Lizard-man.
The beast didn’t seem to understand what happened, until Kurt stuck his daggers on its neck, and it fell down, dead.
[YOU ACQUIRED BLOOD VIAL X1]
[YOU ACQUIRED BEAST CORE X1]
Kurt kept dodging attacks, vanishing from the beasts’ view and reappearing right behind them, striking down one after another like it was child’s play.
Until there was not a single beast alive to be hunted.
Kurt wiped the sweat from his forehead as he sat down and drank a few gulps of water from his canteen.
"Sorry if I didn’t say a word during the hunt, Nadia. I was trying a new trick, so I needed all my focus." He spoke, and Nadia answered a few seconds after.
"Oh... Did I bother you?" She sounded slightly awkward.
"Not at all. I was just trying to merge my senses to the beasts’ shadows, you know? Trying to see if I could sense their movement through their shadows."
"Nice one, man!" K said, enthusiastically through the communicator.
"Oh..." Nadia sounded disappointed.
"Don’t worry, Nadia. It’s a new way to use the [HEART OF DARKNESS] attribute, so it still doesn’t work very often. You helped me a lot up here, thanks."
He was able to practically hear the smile on her gasp.
Kurt smiled, silent for a while.
"I’m coming back, guys."
"We’re-" Evellyn began saying.
But Kurt immediately focused his senses, and his body became enveloped by shadows.
Not even a second later, he appeared inside the communications room, in K’s base, down the subway station.
"... Waiting. I’ll never get used to it, will I?" Evellyn gasped, as the mantle of darkness evaporated from around Kurt, and he sat down on an armchair.
"You’re the Red Oracle, Eve. It shouldn’t surprise you, right?" Kurt chuckled, having fun.
"Yeah, but I told you already. Strangely, you... And other versions of you are the only ones I can’t truly sense with my abilities, so..."
"Okay, sorry. I promise to not startle you again with my [SHADOW TRAVEL]." He chuckled.
Evellyn knew it was a lie, and secretly, she was amazed by seeing Kurt’s powers grow, so she never truly complained about it.
"How are things on Nikolai’s side?" He asked, looking at Nadia, like his arrival was the most normal thing in the world.
But Nadia took a few seconds to process Kurt’s question and answer it.
"Huh... Sorry, Nikolai’s doing pretty good. He just relocated half of the subway neighborhoods in West-Philly, and dealt with all the cannibals, so, with the help of a few Bringers, there will be plenty of grains and fruits for all people in no time."
"He also organized the network between here and the other Underzones, so we can get in touch with their leaders whenever we want." Evellyn added. "They’re also doing a pretty good job with the crops and the cattle. Food’s back on the menu, guys!"
Kurt sighed, amazed.
"I still can’t believe that there’s a world with wielders who have the power to... Nurture nature."
"Right?" K retorted. "Now, can we have a little chat... Outside?"
Kurt frowned, but followed K, after he told the girls to Watch Nikolai’s back and tell them if anything extraordinary happened.
On the outside, K turned to face Kurt, and his face carried the weight of concern.
"I know you just told Nadia that it was a new trick and all, but you told me that you’ve been working on [SENSING SHADOWS] for a few months now. What’s wrong with it?"
Kurt walked slightly further, sitting at the trails and letting out a big, stressed sigh.
"I don’t know, man. Maybe it has something to do with the system’s conversion, or whatever. But ever since I arrived here, killed Zaval, and acquired the Darkness attribute, it feels like the stronger I get and the more I level up..."
Kurt paused for a minute, remembering what happened a few days before.
"I don’t know. It’s like I’m getting some interference, like when you try to get a signal on an old TV and it just gets more and more static, you know?"
K raised a brow.
"Weird way to put things, but yeah. Nikolai told me about how things used to work a few decades ago, so I get it. But can’t you tell what’s causing this interference?"
"That’s where it gets even weirder, K... It comes from... Within the shadows."
K was about to say something in return, when Evellyn appeared all of a sudden, panting heavily.
"Guys... You need... To see this!"
"Communications Room?" K and Kurt asked in unison.
Evellyn nodded, and they disappeared in shadows.
She looked worried, but couldn’t help but smile at the synergy that the two of them had whenever they were together.
They reappeared in the Comm Room, with Nadia staring intently at one of the screens.
"Guys... I think we’re in big trouble."
The screen showed several places in the United States, Brazil, Mexico, and other countries.
And all of them had several starships, slowly crossing the skies.
Kurt had never seen a single one of them, neither in the three years he had spent on that world-line, nor on his own.
So he knew it wasn’t something to be taken lightly.
"Are these-" Kurt started asking.
"Ishir ships?" K finished.
"I don’t know." Nadia replied. "But just a handful of them were enough to cause all chaos we already know about here..."
"Whoever they are, if they’re trying to invade in such a large-scale..." Evellyn said, finally arriving.
"Can you see anything about it?" Kurt asked, looking at Evellyn, serious.
"They must’ve used something to block themselves from me, because I can get nothing from them." She retorted, almost stuttering.
Kurt half smirked, unsheathing K’s daggers and looking at the gleam in their blades.
"Kurt... You’re not-" Nadia and Evellyn began saying, in unison.
But Kurt interrupted them.
"If these are the remaining Ishir, at least in this world-line, we gotta get rid of them. Otherwise, me coming here will be for nothing."
"We...?" Nadia asked, perplexed.
"Yeah." K cut it short. "I’m going in, too. Also, I know that you two just wouldn’t leave us be, right?" He gave a lopsided smile.
Evellyn and Nadia rolled their eyes and looked at them.
"Don’t die, okay?" They said.
"Don’t worry. We’re not gonna be alone in this, right Nikolai?" K asked aloud.
Nikolai’s voice, then, sounded through the speakers in the screen.
"We seen them a while ago, and the communications team already sent out the word. We’re going to war, then?"
K and Kurt smirked at each other.
"Bye, girls."
And they vanished in a mantle of darkness.
