A Wanderer's Lies - Chapter 107: Come after me

In a neat fancy wooden room, devoid of anything other than a few pieces of furniture and a single door, a female with glasses and dark hair tied in a bun, as well as a black and white robe, could be seen sitting with a few pieces of paper on her lap.

After a short period, she placed the papers on a small coffee table before her, sighing as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

“How exhausting…”

She muttered in a deflated tone. However, like a cat, her head instantly perked upwards as she looked toward a certain direction.

After a few seconds, her widened eyes seemed to relax a little as she stood up with a stretch.

Simultaneously, a Senkaimon revealed itself in the area she was previously staring at.

The doors rolled away from each other, revealing a blinding light as a figure stood out.

The female starched a few more muscles, standing straight as she stared attentively.

“Who are you and how did you get here?” She asked with an authoritative tone.

However, the figure failed to read the room as he spoke in a dismissive and almost playful tone.

“Jasmine Clover. It’s an honour to meet the Gatekeeper of Spawn.”

The figure revealed himself to be a tall male wearing a black trench coat that went to his knees, matching his deep black hair that Jasmine noticed to have grey streaks within it.

However, most interestingly was his blindfold over his eyes.

“You know who I am. Meaning you know It’d be within my power to take your life where you stand.”

Jasmine spoke while trying to assess everything about the figure before her.

“Now, you see, there’s only one part of that sentence which is true. Care to guess?” The man mocked, the Senkaimon closing behind him.

Jasmine paused for a moment, soon scoffing as she smirked.

“If you were planning to attack, you should have brought more than one person.”

Jasmine announced upon seeing the Senkaimon closing.

The blindfolded man shrugged with a grin.

“I thought that too, but most of my other acquaintances are off on a more important mission. A mission whose target you know quite well.”

Though Jasmine could see his eyes, she could notice him focus his gaze on her as he spoke once more.

“Oliver Clover, your Nephew…”

-BOOM

Before he could finish, an explosion of energy surged from Jasmine, her poker face faltering as she glared with dangerous eyes and clenched teeth.

The air thickened and it was as though the gravity’s force had increased. The power was so great that even gentle streaks travelled through the air.

“What a powerful Reiatsu. The strongest I’ve ever seen.”

Despite all this, the grin on the blindfolded man failed to waver as he raised his hand and pinched his blindfold.

“Tell me what business you have with Oliver,” Jasmine spoke in a heavy and threatening tone.

The figure pulled his blindfold off, revealing bright blue eyes.

“Why don’t you make me?”

[Name: Unknown]

[Inherited Character: Gojo Satoru]

[Verse: Jujutsu Kaisen]

-BOOM

Jasmine felt a wave of power counter hers as the man revealed his eyes. Yet, she didn’t back down.

-CRACKLE

No, her Reiatsu seemingly increased as one could witness electricity crackle at the end of her eyes.

“Then so be it,” Jasmine replied, bending her legs and tensing her fingers as if she were revealing nonexistent claws.

[Name: Jasmine Clover]

[Inherited Character: Yoruichi Shihōin]

[Verse: Bleach]

***

Isaac stood before who he once knew as Oliver and Zach at the far end of the living room, between them four cloaked figures.

Isaac could be seen with a complicated expression as he stared at Oliver…

Well, he didn’t know if that was the right name to call him.

Everything, from his now cold and unknown personality to his appearance which now consisted of slick back hair with a single strand falling down his face, his eyes devoid of his usual thick glasses and…

‘That smile.’

Isaac stared at the almost mocking grin Aizen had painted across his face.

“Zach, what the hell’s going on?” Isaac broke the silence, turning his head to Zach who looked back with cold eyes.

However, he was swiftly ignored.

“Answer me, damnit!” Isaac yelled once again, this time a voice replying.

“Now, now, is that any way to speak to your brothers?” Aizen asked, peering at Isaac.

“I don’t even know who you are.” Isaac retorted.

“Are you sure about that?” Isaac paused upon hearing this.

“It was I who congratulated you upon beating Eli. It was I who travelled with you from Aurelius. It was I who made the Blood Oath with you. Ever since Oliver failed his scenario, it was I who you grew so attached to. The Oliver you knew, never existed.”

These words hit Isaac like a bag of bricks, and his heartbeat quickened.

The reality of Oliver being dead and failing his scenario loomed in his mind as he could feel a wave of emotions overpower him.

‘He was dead…all this time.’

“Do you want to know?”

Isaac raised his head as he looked to Aizen who still had his grin plastered across his face despite Isaac’s agony, as if he were mocking the boy.

“Do you want to know how Oliver died?”

Isaac wanted to speak, but no words came out.

“Well, for once in my life, I’m clueless. The last thing I remember is being sentenced to 20,000 years in Muken. I don’t remember Oliver taking over my body nor do I remember the events which occurred while he did.”

Saying this, Aizen raised a single finger as he continued.

“But it isn’t so hard to realise there was only one outcome when Oliver possessed my body at that time.”

Aizen’s grin widened.

“In Muken, the 8th and lowest level of the Soul Society’s underground prison, Oliver simply went mad. With all of his senses being blocked and no one to tell about his predicament, he was left with his thoughts, soon being driven to insanity, most likely taking his own life.”

Isaac’s brain lagged as he tried to process everything Isaac had said.

He didn’t know whether to focus on the fact Oliver had killed himself or how much he’d suffered.

“And before I knew it, I was here, with all the knowledge of Oliver and my past life. Knowledge like everything on Spawn and Inheritors, verses and even the toast we made.”

Isaac blurted out whatever came to his tongue as his voice held his flurry of emotions, most prominently rage.

“Shut your mouth! We made that toast with Oliver. You don’t know anything about what kind of man he was or what we meant for each other.”

Though ‘Friends’ weren’t a luxury Isaac could indulge in most of his life, his relationship with his two roommates wasn’t as simple as that.

Ever since that toast, whenever Isaac saw them, their drive and grit to reach their goal despite the odds being stacked against them, it never failed to reignite whatever embers he had inside him.

Before today, before the fight with Xavier that showed him he wasn’t simply a frog in a well, there was always some doubt.

Could he become strong enough?

Could he complete his future scenarios?

Could he stand against Spawn, the S.A. and those who tried to take advantage of him?

Could he truly find peace?

But knowing that he had others beside him also fighting for their dreams, seeing Zach reintegrate back into regular society and Oliver reject his legacy, it made him feel like perhaps ‘Peace’ wasn’t something to be attained at once, but instead gradually earned.

And remembering the day he thought Oliver completed his scenario, remembering the blissful nature that made him forget everything else…

‘It’s the closest thing to Peace I’ve ever gotten.’

Isaac thought as he forgot the Onyx members before him and walked a few steps closer; his fists tightened, and his face contorted in desperation to put his overwhelming emotions into words.

“What do you know? You may have the memories, but you can’t begin to understand what they mean. Freedom!”

Isaac yelled, his tone intensifying.

And for once, Logan’s uncaring and cold demeanour seemed a little less distant for a second as he turned to narrow his eyes.

“We were all fighting for our freedom. I know now that doing so doesn’t come spontaneously. It grows. And that toast was the first step to it. You can’t begin to understand that!”

Isaac yelled, his words seething with anger as he noticed Logan staring with his cold eyes, contrary to his distant self.

“Is that why?”

Isaac paused as Aizen’s expression didn’t falter for a second.

“Is that why you ignored the hints? The moment Logan told you he was close with Xavier, his lie he made up on the spot about escaping Section Z with countless holes.”

“What about his sudden friendliness toward only other late bloomer, Johnny, just so he could feed him an Onyx-made pill to induce a 90% guaranteed failure of an Inheritor’s scenario so that the facility’s equipment would be destroyed, securing my identity.”

Isaac widened his eyes as he froze upon hearing this.

For some reason, like gears turning in his mind, everything started to fall into place and make sense.

“Whether you like it or not Isaac, the prospect of having friends blinded you. It was your weakness. It held you back. You should be thanking me for possessing this body. After all, its previous owner was simply wasting it.”

Isaac’s widened eyes loomed for a few seconds, slowly changing as he tightened his eyebrows, veins bulged from his neck and he gritted his teeth.

“You bastard!”

He yelled, taking another step forward as he prepared to dash.

However, before he could move or even summon his Nen, one of the cloaked figures from before, the one who stood before the other three suddenly rose to his feet.

Turning to Isaac, the boy was barely able to notice the figure’s long hair that fell to his shoulders.

-SHHM

This was the last scene he was able to witness before a stinging sensation ran through his body.

“Atomic Sword.”

[Name: Unknown]

[Inherited Character: Cid Kagenou (Revolver)]

[Verse: Eminence in the Shadow]

The cloaked figure mumbled as he held a sword so long it was able to pierce Isaac’s heart from the other side of the room.

It was so fast that Isaac hadn’t noticed it, his brain only realising the wound after a few seconds upon Isaac looking down.

[Merlin, start contingency plan #1]

Isaac called out im his mind but there was no reply.

Under normal circumstances, Isaac wouldn’t be worried as he’s healed from worse injuries.

However, after a few seconds, he could sense something was wrong.

‘It’s…not healing.’

Isaac thought to himself, watching the cloaked figure’s sword retract as the boy dropped face-first onto the ground.

He was bleeding profusely and he was seconds away from falling unconscious.

‘Am I dying?’

He asked, unable to sense his beating heart as his vision blurred.

He could feel a cold sensation creep up in his insides as he could not move any part of his body.

“Now you know, Isaac. To trust in another is the same as to rely upon that person. Reliance is for the weak. It is of no use to us.”

‘W-Weak…’

Isaac could feel his consciousness inches away from fading, footsteps drawing closer to him as the muffled voice of Aizen seeped through.

No matter what he tried, whether it’d be summoning his Nen or even unleashing the Thing, nothing worked.

“You should not dwell on the betrayal that you can see. The truly terrifying betrayal is that which lies utterly hidden from your eyes, Isaac.”

The last thing he was able to catch was feet walking before him as a figure kneeled before him.

“I’ll be waiting for you, Isaac. Come after me.”

These were the last words Isaac heard as he finally entered a deep slumber.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Next chapter title: Unlikely Encounter

NNext chapter title:I am Daniel Euro!

NNNext chapter title: He isn’t an F-Ranker

Yup, you read that third chapter title right.

No more F-Ranker.

If you don’t wanna wait till the day after tomorrow, just check out my Patreon!

patreon.com/JustMYSTERY

Also, I’d like to add something about Lucy.

Her character has absolutely nothing to do with her Sword.

Just like how Jett has additional Martial Art training above being possessed by Tsuna.

BTW, though I’m late and you guys probably don’t have any left…

POWERSTONESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS