Chapter 44: Suicide (2)
Shameless author~, missed me? Well, I’m here to shamelessly beg for gifts... Now give me those castles, power stones, and stuff. Have fun reading (I hope you cried). ’What_______
"What is going on here?!" Veronica repeated.
The atmosphere became unbearably tense as Kurt’s eyes focused on me.
Veronica bent her head downwards slightly, causing a few strands to brush my face as she stared at the corner of my hollow eyes and spoke softly.
"What happened in there?"
Had someone asked me this question a few days ago, I would’ve opened up or burst into tears, but now...now I didn’t feel anything.
In a flat tone, I spoke, "Aunty, I just need the sword for training."
"Is ’training’ also the reason you have this deep cut in the middle of your chest?!" She countered.
Biting my lip hard till it bled, I tried prying myself out of her grip and reaching for a broken vase that fell when she came in, but she was stronger than I thought.
"You’re not going anywhere, Kurt! Don’t just stand there! Help me!"
Kurt jolted back to life, gripping my shoulders with a guilty look. "You could see what was happening, couldn’t you?"
My eyes, hollow and wet, drifted past him. "I saw... every second of it," I whispered, my voice splintering around the words.
I felt his grip loosen slightly and took the opportunity to escape from the clutches of the confused Veronica.
"CLARK, STOP!" She screamed.
Ignoring her, I stumbled towards the ground where the sword lay and hastily picked it up with trembling hands, pressing it against my already scarred chest. I took a quick deep breath and attempted to end it all.
But suddenly, the walls tilted sideways, a ringing built in my ears, and before the blade could pierce my skin, the strength bled from my body.
Black. Nothing
A dull thud sounded in the room as the lifeless body fell at the feet of Kurt.
There was a momentary silence as Kurt picked up the boy’s body and placed it on the bed with pain in his eyes.
"Tell me everything that happened. Now." Veronica asked seriously.
Sighing as he sat on the bed and cleaned off the sweat that had formed on his forehead, Kurt spoke, "I told you about how he suffered from soul dissonance, but what I didn’t tell you was that he fell into it while he was fighting Matthew Virsch."
Veronica clenched her fists hard and spoke, "Go on."
And so Kurt laid everything out—from how he’d acted when they first got on the carriage, to the Dragon Ball games, to the trio who triggered him so easily, and finally to how many times he’d slammed his hammer into the poor boy’s head.
"But... there was a skill he used that was far too disturbing to call mind control," Kurt added, his expression tight with thought.
Veronica stayed silent, leaning in as she listened.
"When he touched my head, everything I’d built up—my will, my strength—just drained away. All I wanted was to relax under his touch. Every part of me felt... happy. And when his scythe came near my neck, even death didn’t feel all that scary."
Kurt’s shoulders shook as he spoke, the memory of that strange calm twisting in his gut.
"...How did you escape?" Veronica asked with a low voice.
He let out a long breath. "The entity didn’t have good control over that power. The second it took its hands off my head, the effects started to fade—just in time, too. Otherwise..."
Veronica gripped his hands firmly and gave a small, grateful smile. "I can’t imagine how you must’ve felt when you fought against him while knowing how much Clark means to you. Just know that I’ll be here with you every step of the way, no matter what you decide."
Placing a kiss on her lips, Kurt smiled, and a thought hit him. "I think I heard the name of the skill."
Veronica raised an eyebrow. "Good. With the name, we can actually figure out what he used."
"Uh... I think it was—"
The room went dead silent.
Outside, every sound stopped. A man halfway down the street froze mid-step. Birds hung in the air with their wings in a single position. Inside, a faint white mist slipped across the floor and swirled around their chairs.
Kurt’s chest tightened. He could hear his heartbeat, nothing else. No wind, no voices, no creak of wood.
After a few seconds, everything lurched back to normal. Voices carried in from outside, the birds moved, and the mist was gone.
Kurt blinked, confused. "What were we talking about again?"
Veronica tied her hair into a bun, her face unreadable. "You were telling me how you kept smashing Clark’s head with your hammer."
Guilt washed over him as he defended, "I didn’t want to do it..."
Glancing at his pitiful expression for a while, Veronica sighed and played with his plaited beard. "I know you didn’t, and the fact that you did it proves just how much you love him."
With a foolish smile plastered on his face, Kurt faced the boy, who currently had a terrible expression on his face, and cleaned the droplets of sweat that had formed there.
"We could take him to the elven therapist?" Veronica suggested as she watched his constantly twitching fingers.
Covering him with a blanket, Kurt stood up and sat on the desk where a battle mage manual, amongst other tactical books, lay.
"I want it to be his decision." He spoke solemnly.
She walked up to him and placed her hands on his shoulders as she replied worriedly, "We both know he’s not in the best frame of mind to make such decisions."
"And what if he kills the therapist and then himself, huh?" Kurt asked agitatedly.
"Calm down." Veronica warned, "You’re letting your emotions get the best of you, and although I’ve grown attached to this child, if he poses a risk to you or any of our relations, I will not hesitate to put him down."
Kurt stared into her cold eyes for a long moment, then slid a drawer open and pulled out a ring set with a red gem.
Veronica’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion as Kurt held out the ring to her.
"Whose ring is that?" She asked
Following Kurt’s gaze to the sleeping boy, Veronica nodded in understanding and spoke, "Should I?"
Kurt nodded solemnly. "Although I have mixed feelings about using your skill without his permission, we need to know the root cause of the whole issue."
Veronica hummed in response and stretched out her hand to receive the ring.
Placing the ring in her hand, Kurt watched as she closed her eyes and clenched the ring tightly.
A hazy gold aura with a pale blue slowly emanated from the body of Veronica and swirled around the ring.
’I hope nothing goes wrong; this skill is extremely fragile to handle, and if there’s a disruption of any kind, then I’ll have to step in.’ Kurt thought whilst watching the constantly changing expressions of his wife.
A while later, the golden aura receded from the ring and was channeled into her chest with a heavy exhale.
Standing from his position, Kurt went behind Veronica and patted her back with a worried expression and asked, "Did you see anything?"
Finally catching her breath, Veronica answered, "I’m not sure".
Kurt’s eyes widened in surprise at her response and asked, "Your skill didn’t work?".
Shaking her head, Veronica set the ring back in the drawer and rubbed her forehead.
"The ring’s only a day old," she said. "Even with [Eidolon Gaze], I can only read memories tied to the ring. There just isn’t enough yet to work with."
"But there was something very strange when I was watching his memories". She added, "Just to be sure, Clark came here alone, right?".
Kurt nodded, his expression tight. "What did you see?" he asked, unease written all over his face.
"I don’t know how to put this without making him sound crazy," she admitted, hesitating.
"From what I saw, Clark left the house before your Dragon Ball appointment, went to the market, bought an earring and this ring, then climbed back in through the window." She gestured toward the drawer.
Kurt’s expression tightened, but he held back, waiting before judging Clark’s state of mind.
"When he sat on the bed," she continued, "it was like he was listening to someone. He even made a few comments....but the thing is....there was nobody there."
The air in the room felt heavier. She drew a long breath, closed her eyes, and pressed on.
"A few moments later, he looked like someone about to lose something he loved. Tears streamed down his face as he stared at the corner of the room like it was his enemy. Then, almost suddenly, he turned his gaze to the table beside it."
"The rest you know. The Dragon ball games, the trio and....the possession". Veronica’s voice trailed off.
"I think I understand why he wanted to kill himself". She admitted with wet eyes.
Kurt’s body jolted and he pressed his hand against his forehead and asked with a weary face, "You saw the fight?"
"That was far too disturbing to be called a fight". Her voice cracked, "That...person wasn’t Clark. And to think he saw everything that was happening to him but couldn’t do anything about it....dear god".
Veronica’s breath caught in her throat as the memories replayed—every image, every sound from Clark’s point of view. Her face twisted with quiet pain.
Kurt stayed silent, watching her tremble. He didn’t reach for words, just let her cry for Clark when Clark couldn’t.
Sniffing for the last time, Veronica declared resolutely, "We’re going to get to the bottom of this".
Kurt nodded immediately and fell into deep contemplation.
A few minutes later, he spoke, "We could go to the inn where he was staying and find out if anyone knows anything about this". He suggested.
Veronica hummed in approval and muttered something under her breath before walking over Clark and watching his body constantly writhing in pain.
"He’s in pain....". She muttered absentmindedly.
".... He deserves a little time of peace before he awakens". Kurt responded as he fiddled with a wodden cup.
"Shut down his consciousness.....just long enough for us to have answers to this". He added.
Veronica wiped the corner of his eyes with a sad smile before tapping two of her fingers on the middle of his head.
A small golden dot extended into his head and his face visibly relaxed and the frown on his lips loosened.
"What a pitiful child...". She spoke
Watching him sleep for a while to make sure nothing went wrong, Veronica ran towards Kurt and buried her face in his broad chest as her body trembled.
Kurt had a weak smile on his face as he hugged his wife and stared in the distance, "He truly is a pitiful child".
...
A red mist could be seen floating aimlessly in a black void and a voice that caused the fabric of space and time to tremble called out, "Voxliak...what do you have for me".
The red mist solidified and knelt on the intangible floor with a fearful expression on it’s red reptilian face.
"I found the boy that had the ancient level of divinity, but there was nothing on him when I possessed him".
The being hummed and gave it the signal to continue.
With a trembling body, it continued, "I controlled his body and tortured him the best way I could. Continually making him experience death in the hands of someone he loves, but I felt something for a split second when he tried fighting back".
He continued without waiting for the being to ask, "It was oddly similar to the aura of the Edict halo".
"....Did you get any information on the divinity?". It asked after a moment of silence.
"N–no, he took a blood bound level oath, so his voice dissapears anytime he’s about to speak of the main subject". It explained
The space trembled and the being spoke with hidden anger, "Get out of my sight".
The reptile’s body shook visibly as he immediately left without a word.
"This is a problem....". It mumbled.