Arc of the Souls Chapter 57: Arc 2, Chapter 34 - The Secret War (ACT 5: THE MOUNTAIN WAR) - PT. 1

Read chapter 57 of Arc of the Souls by Noyr on NovelPedia.

The jungle was now any children’s nightmare. Once a lush forest, now a desolate, burning Hell Incarnate. A graveyard for the wildlife. An oven for the living. The sky was still a shade of orange and red as ash and fire resides in the air. The ground was cracked and molten, the trees were burned to a crisp, and the air was thick with the smell of smoke and death. And Heios was amongst all of it, trapped in his subconsciously, albeit panic-ridden placed barrier. He was still healing from his leg wound, but the heat was making it worse. "...If I didn't pop my barrier, my feet would've been toast... Literally and figuratively. Heh." Heios said, looking around at the destruction Mikael caused. He looked up at the sky and saw that the sun was starting to set. The sky was turning from orange and red to a dark shade of purple and black. The fire was starting to die down, but the heat was still there. "That was smart... that was smart... Spear Man..." His anger started to bubble up inside him. His own turrets. His own plan. His own masterpiece, destroyed by a single attack. He truly felt like he was on the winning side this time. Having the ability to kill Mikael would definitely break Nanasu entirely. That's how he would win. But Mikael was always one step ahead of even the mastermind Heios. This one plan proved that no matter how smart and level-headed he could be, anyone will be unpredictable. That's why he needs more power. Not just physical power, but mental power. Heios's mind was not as strong as Avu's, nor was it as strong as Jasper's. He didn't have the same kind of cunning as Aria. But he had something they didn't have. Pride. He took pride in his work. He took pride in his creations. He took pride in his strength. He was a Venusian, after all. And Venusians were known for their strength and their pride. But this time, he felt pride in someone else. Not Avu, not Jasper, not Aria, not even Lord Veyron. It was Mikael. For the first time in his life, he felt a sense of respect for his enemy. His leg was almost healed, but his pride was wounded. He felt like he was back to square one. Back to being the brute that everyone thought he was. It felt truly disheartening. Frustrating, gut-wrenching even to develop forms of personality that everybody accepts as a norm but still being viewed as a brute from Venus. Everyone in Venus was seen as a monster. They only knew how to fight, scream and cause war. Heios wanted to break from that stereotype that deemed him a monster. He was asking too much, though. He has killed people; he likes killing and he likes fighting. It's all he has ever lived for. Betrayal, war and death is all he ever knew. Kyuga was his only true friend he knew who didn't treat him as some Venusian monster. He treated him like human, accepted his flaws and acknowledged him as a friend, nonetheless. That is what it means to be human. That is what it means to be someone that isn't who they think they are. That is his pride. Pride in being different. Pride in being someone else. But that is all gone now. Kyuga is gone, and Heios is left with nothing but his own pride and his own anger. And his own loneliness. "... I wish killing wasn't all I knew." He didn't have a hobby like Jasper, nor a sense of justice like Aria and Avu. His hobby was clawing at people. That's it. It wasn't a hobby; it was his job. His job was to kill. Right now, the only thing on his mind was if it was too late to learn how to love. Heh, that would be a funny phrase coming from a Venusian. Heios looked around before disintegrating his Soul-Barrier. The ground under him had a minute to survive before the fire consumed it. He had to move. His leg was fully healed now, and he started to walk through the charred forest. The heat was still intense, but he could tolerate it better than most. He looked at the sky, which was now a dark shade of purple and black. The stars were starting to appear. "... Kill or be killed, that’s just how it goes." - ... ... "WA