Gleam [Karma Cultivator Isekai] - Chapter 95: Pissed

Chance drifted back into consciousness. His entire body ached as if he’d managed to activate every single one of his muscles and work them until they were Jell-O. A soft, warm pillow propped his head up.

Strength gradually slipped back into his body and his eyes fluttered open, discovering that his pillow was actually Bella’s lap. She peered down at him, her face creased with concern. “Chance? Are you awake?”

“Yeah.” His answer came out gummy and thick. Chance grimaced and worked his lips, trying to bring some more sensation back into them. “Is the thing dead?”

Bella nodded. “You killed it, as far as I can tell. Its body just faded away and the uneasy feeling that this island was giving off is gone.”

Chance let out a sigh of relief. “Good. I don’t know what that was, but I never want to see it again. What about you? Are you okay?”

Bella paused for a moment, then nodded through a shudder. “Yes. You stopped it before it could break through the last of my defenses. I don’t want to think about what would have happened if you hadn’t. I felt so helpless. Did you see all those faces inside it?”

“I think it trapped the souls of people it killed somehow,” Chance said. More strength returned to his words as he spoke. “It was evil. Really evil. Somehow, it had obscured its Karma. I didn’t realize that was possible.”

“I guess anything is possible. It’s a big universe,” Bella said, her gaze shifting toward the sky. One of her hands idly ran through Chance’s hair, but she didn’t even seem to notice her own action – and Chance wasn’t about to point it out.

It feels nice, actually.

They sat there for several minutes, staring up at the night sky in silence. There were dozens of things that Chance wanted to speak about and he knew that Bella felt the same, but neither of them seemed to be able to find the proper words to speak – and so, they didn’t.

Bella suddenly seemed to become aware of what her hand was doing. She froze, suddenly going stiff. A few moments passed. Then, slowly, she let her fingers weave through his hair again.

“How did you do it?” Bella asked softly.

“Do what?”

“Resist the fear. I couldn’t move at all. It was like reliving every mistake I’ve ever made, magnified by a thousand. I was so confident that I was going to die. How did you resist that?”

Chance didn’t reply for several breaths. “I didn’t.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t think anyone can resist something like that. I mean, I’m sure Yamish or someone at his level could, but we’re nowhere near that. I was terrified too. If I’d tried to resist it, I would have failed.”

“Then how did you fight against it?” Bella asked, finally turning away from the sky to look back down at Chance. Her hair fell around her face over him, framing it against the sky.

“I accepted it. The fear wasn’t something I could handle, so I just acknowledged that it was beyond anything I could shoulder myself – so I released the feeling.”

“How can you do that? Feelings aren’t logic. You can’t just decide to ignore them.”

“I guess it wasn’t just ignoring it,” Chance admitted. “It just didn’t feel right to risk meeting the end of everything we’ve done on Centurion while terrified. There have been a lot of terrifying things that happened since I got here, but I wouldn’t trade any of it for a second. I feel like I’ve lived more in the last few months than I ever did on Earth, and I was thankful for that. So, when it all came down to it, I wanted to make sure I met my death feeling the way I had throughout all my time here, not just the last few moments.”

“You make it sound so easy.” Bella let out a quiet laugh and shook her head. “Maybe I should have known that would be your answer, though. Sometimes, I wonder if you’re a genius or just completely insane. Maybe a bit of both.”

“Right now, I think I’m just comfortable,” Chance muttered through a yawn.

Bella burst into laughter and ruffled his hair. She pushed the strands away from his eyes and sighed. “I think you’ve earned a rest. I’m going to need to catch up with you again now. Just when we’re on even footing, you rank up to Knight and leave me behind.”

“I’m sure you’ll catch up soon enough.” Chance blinked heavily, then let his eyes shut again.

I can afford to take a few minutes to rest. My arms feel like they’re going to fall off if I try to lift them. Just a few minutes…

His breathing slowed and he relaxed, slipping into the waiting embrace of sleep.

***

Sunlight beamed down, washing over Chance and rudely pulling his eyes open. He grimaced, closing them again and turning over to hide them and go back to sleep. Something shifted below him.

His nose wrinkled in annoyance and he repressed an annoyed sigh, letting one eye crack open to see what was bothering him. Bella was asleep, sprawled out perpendicular to him. His head was rested on her stomach as it slowly rose and fell with her breath.

The memories of the monster they’d fought flooded back into Chance’s mind and he stiffened, the sleep falling away from him instantly. He didn’t think he’d moved much, but Bella’s eyes snapped open and she bolted upright, accidentally tossing Chance off in the process.

He rolled to his feet as Bella spun, searching for the cause of her disturbance. Her lands lowered as she spotted Chance. She glanced up at the sky, then winced.

“Oh, crap. I think I drifted off.”

“You’re telling me. I completely crashed. We got lucky that nobody stumbled on us while we were asleep.”

“I guess we can thank you for that,” Bella said with a laugh.

“Actually,” a voice came from the ground beside them, “you can thank me.”

Chance and Bella both jumped as a pile of rocks shuddered and rose, forming into Ocie’s craggy golem form beside them. The golem had rough carvings where its features should have been, but while it couldn’t exactly be called featureless, it wasn’t much better. That said, Ocie had done a great job of making itself look fairly close to humanoid, aside from having several unnaturally long fingers on each hand.

Ocie raised one of the hands in question. Its carved eyes narrowed and one finger shortened – while another doubled in length. Ocie let out an irritated sigh and dropped the hand, giving up while it was still ahead.

“I kept watch while the two of you were snoring like babies.”

“I don’t think babies typically snore,” Chance said.

“What?”

“You used an idiom, but babies aren’t known for snoring. It’s meant to be sleeping like babies,” Chance explained.

“Humans and your hangups. Snoring, sleeping – trust me, I heard both of you last night. They’re the same thing.”

Bella reddened. “I snore?”

“Like the siren of a firetruck going down a busy highway.”

Chance tilted his head to the side. “How do you know what a firetruck or a highway is?”

“What is that?” Bella demanded. “Is it loud?”

“It’s a barely noticeable buzz,” Chance told Bella. He turned to Ocie and narrowed his eyes. “Seriously, how do you know that? Do you have knowledge about Earth? Does that mean you know other things about it?”

“A little. When Yamish bound us together, I got to see a few surface level memories. Nothing too deep. Why does that matter?” Ocie asked.

“A firetruck doesn’t sound like it would be something that’s quiet,” Bella muttered.

“It’s so the firefighters don’t scare the fire away before they get there,” Chance said, hiding a smile and letting out a sigh. “And good. I really didn’t want to consider the implications of you knowing enough about Earth’s weapons to somehow integrate them into their cultivation.”

“You can’t say that and then expect me not to want to know more,” Ocie protested. “What are you talking about? Are firetrucks weapons?”

“They carry things called firefighters,” Bella mused. “They must be.”

“They’re not weapons,” Chance said through a laugh. “And no, Ocie. I’m sure there are cultivators from Earth that have somehow integrated that sort of thing, but it doesn’t fit my path. If I teach anything about it to you, I’m going to feel responsible for what you do with it and it could impact my cultivation.”

Ocie harrumphed. “Stingy. You’re just trying to keep it for yourself.”

“No I’m not.” Chance glared at the golem. “And we’ve got a much more important question to answer, anyway. This isn’t relevant.”

“We do?” Ocie asked.

“Why didn’t you help us fight that monster?” Chance asked. “I thought we were supposed to be a team, but you were about to let Bella die. What if I hadn’t managed to defeat it in time? A second of difference and she could have been dead!”

Ocie’s carved features were unreadable, but its shoulders lowered slightly in disappointment. Chance wasn’t sure if he could read that as shame, as several fingers all fell off a moment later and Ocie had to grab one of its ears before it could slide down its neck and onto its chest.

“I couldn’t help you.”

“What’s that mean?” Bella asked with a frown. “You’re Gleam. Did Yamish say you couldn’t help Chance or something like that?”

“No,” Ocie said. It fell silent. Chance and Bella both stared at it, waiting for an answer. Finally, it let out a rumble. “I didn’t want to die.”

“You mean that thing was a threat to you as well?” Bella’s eyebrows rose. “How strong was it?”

“It was from a group of monsters called Essence Eaters,” Ocie said. “And that particular one ate Karma. You’re right to be surprised. There aren’t many creatures that can seriously injure me, and there are even fewer that are technically weaker than I and still have the strength to give me pause. Essence Eaters are one of them. They are beyond deadly, especially for a sentient object such as me. It could have drained me of all my power.”

“Apt name,” Bella said with a shudder. “It was horrible.”

“And we could have died too,” Chance pressed. “Bella nearly did. Were you at more risk from it than we were?”

Ocie shifted its stance. “Not more effective, but equally effective. Normal cultivators at or even a little bit above your level pose little threat to me, but this was just as deadly as Yamish. I did not want to die.”

“And you think Bella did?” Chance demanded. “I understand your desire to live. That’s why I did everything I could to help you with Yamish. But we’re supposed to be a team, aren’t we?”

“I am–”

“Not more important than Bella. Nor is she more important than you,” Chance interrupted. “I would have fought just as hard to protect you if you’d been in danger, and I’m sure Bella would have done the same. And yet you’re willing to sit around and do nothing while she dies?”

Ocie quailed under Chance’s verbal onslaught. Even Bella looked surprised at the scolding tone in his words, but he didn’t let up.

“What would you be doing right now if the Essence Eater had gotten to Bella before I stopped it? Just shrugging and going ‘oh well, at least it wasn’t me?’ We’re supposed to be a team!”

“I watched over you after the fight was complete.”

“And after you were safe,” Chance pointed out. “You just said yourself that you aren’t scared of other normal cultivators. Teamwork takes sacrifice. If you expect us to put ourselves at risk for you, you need to do the same for us. I’m not asking you to get yourself killed, but if you just stand around when someone that needs your help is about to die, I don’t know if we’re going to be able to continue to work together.”

“You’d sacrifice all the potential power I could offer you in the future?” Ocie asked, its head tilting to the side in befuddlement. “Do you even comprehend the power I will wield, and that you will gain through me? There is a reason that Yamish himself sought me.”

“I want you to repeat that question to yourself and look me in the eyes while you do it,” Chance said, his eyes cold. “And then I want you to think about every single interaction we’ve ever had. Now, if I had the choice between all the power you’re offering me right now and the ability to keep my friends alive, which one do you think I’m going to choose?”

Ocie was silent for several seconds. “But my power would let you save many more in the future.”

“Why do I care about the future if I can’t bring the people I care about with me to it?”

Ocie went to respond, but Chance raised his hand.

“No. I’m sorry, but I’m pissed at you. I don’t fault you for wanting to survive, but I’ve already heard your argument. Maybe you should think about it yourself before you try to explain it any more.”

Ocie’s body crumbled away. Bella sent Chance a concerned glance.

“Do you think you were too harsh on her?”

“No,” Chance replied. “It needed to hear that. I was serious about everything I said. If it’s just going to be self-centered, I’ve got no reason to work together with it. That’s enough of this for now, though. The Essence Eater is dead. That means the island should be pretty safe to loot, right?”

Bella let a smile cross her lips. “That’s a really good point. It would be a shame to leave now and not see what’s been waiting around for us.”