Advent of the Three Calamities

Chapter 723: Unpredictable [1]

The darkness embraced Toren from all sides.

It felt as though his body had been plunged into the deepest depths of the ocean.

It felt suffocating.

Cold.

...And something about the darkness also felt incredibly creepy.

Toren couldn’t explain it, but he felt his body gradually pulling inward, as if shrinking into itself into a fetal position.

He shrank further and further in the darkness that eclipsed it all.

But within the darkness, he could see something.

A certain light.

He knew what the light was.

He had seen it many times in the past.

He had even managed to get close to the light in the past.

But he had never been able to touch the light.

He could only watch it but not touch it.

He wasn’t capable of touching it.

But this time...

’I’m feeling something.’

Things were different.

This time, he felt closer to the light.

Almost as if he could touch it.

Toren didn’t want to let go of that feeling. This was everything he had been hoping for.

Therefore, he pushed himself.

He tried to reach for the light.

For the...

Source.

He was getting closer.

He could almost feel it now.

Amid the all-consuming cold and darkness, the source radiated warmth.

It radiated hope.

It... radiated power.

’Come on. Come on. Come on...’

Toren could feel something within him stir.

He wanted to grasp the source with everything that he had.

Swooosh!

Just then, colorful lights shot out from his body.

Green.

Red.

Purple.

Pink.

Blue.

...All sorts of orbs shot out from Toren’s body as they circled the source from all directions before diving into it.

The orbs flowed into the source, cloaking it in a colorful veil of changing rainbow hues.

Toren clenched his teeth.

He tried to get the orbs to seep into the source.

To find a way to become one with it.

But...

’No, it’s not working.’

The orbs only hovered around the source like some sort of veil.

They only worked in unison with it.

They didn’t become a part of it.

’No, no, no, nono...’

Toren felt a sudden sense of desperation. He was so close. He was so close to reaching the one thing he had been desperately craving for.

So long as he managed to grasp it, he’d be able to become invincible.

He’d be...

Silence.

Suddenly, the surroundings came to a sudden stop.

The colors that were veiling the source stopped before vanishing.

The darkness stretched in all directions.

The coldness turned even more suffocating.

And then—

Swooosh!

Space itself split apart, and from the rupture, a colossal eye stared through the void.

Toren felt his entire body freeze in that moment.

But that was merely the start.

Not long after, the space fluctuated once more as another eye appeared.

This eye was even bigger than the previous eye, and its large pupil stared right at him.

The space fluctuated once more, and another eye appeared.

Then another.

And another...

In mere seconds, eyes filled the surroundings from all directions.

They came from all sides and stared at Toren.

Toren felt his body freeze on the spot as an invisible pressure bore down on him.

The pressure was terrifying, and it nearly threatened to shatter him.

However, he resisted.

His entire body shook as he stared back at the eyes.

This wasn’t the first time he had seen them.

This sense of oppression and helplessness...

...The Outer Beings.

A smile formed on his lips as he stared at the eyes.

He wanted to laugh, but found himself unable to. The pressure coming from all directions was too suffocating for him.

But even then...

He wasn’t scared.

He had fought with them before.

He had... even killed one before.

They weren’t unbeatable.

They—

".....!?"

Suddenly, the eyes around him closed.

One by one, they started to fade from the spot.

The darkness around him became even more obscure, and the source that stood not far from him faded.

’Huh?’

Toren’s eyes widened as he stared at the spot where the source was.

’Wait, where is it? It was just there? Where could it...!?’

His thoughts were abruptly shattered by a massive throb to his head.

It overwhelmed his mind completely, and as he surrendered to the pain, the world around him began to stretch and bend, as if some immense force were pulling him backward.

He tried to resist, but it was useless.

Toren was pulled further and further back. Regardless of how hard he fought to resist, he couldn’t.

And then—

"Hueekk!"

Blood spurted out of his mouth as it fell on the marble floor in front of him.

"Haa... Haa... Haa..."

His chest rose up and down unevenly as he struggled to maintain his posture. His vision was blurry, and besides the blood that pooled in front of him, he could hardly see a thing.

No, that was a lie.

He could see something.

It was the outline of a pair of shoes.

"...Do you see it now?"

Emmet’s voice followed.

It was neither cold nor warm.

"You may be the strongest out of every one of us, but in the end, you’ll never be able to beat them."

It was just... even.

"What they fear isn’t your strength."

Emmet continued.

"...What they fear is unpredictability."

He slowly bent over, and Toren’s face slowly lifted his head and met Emmet’s gaze.

"They fear me."

"....."

Toren remained silent while staring at Emmet.

Neither made a sound as they stared at each other.

But in the end, it was Toren who ended up smiling as he nodded his head.

"You’re right."

It had always been like this.

"...They probably do fear you more than me."

Emmet had always been the unpredictable one. His every move.

His every action.

Everything about him was hard to see through.

What he thought was a clever move, something Emmet would never expect, only led him straight into Emmet’s trap.

It was always like this.

Toren had always lived in the same fear that he was always moving in the way Emmet would want him to.

...And the paranoia slowly got to his head.

It turned him mad.

But at the same time...

It changed him.

And within that madness, he understood what it took to be unpredictable.

Lowering his head to stare at the blood on the ground, Toren’s smile stretched wider as the blood began to retreat, slowly crawling up his body before slipping into his mouth and ears.

His skin started to bubble at the action, and his head started to throb.

But the pain didn’t last for very long.

Only for a brief moment as he brought his attention back to Emmet while wiping the corner of his mouth.

With a flicker of his eyes, a notification appeared before his very eyes.

Ding!

A panel appeared shortly after.

...And through the panel, Toren stared at Emmet’s void gaze.

"I’m sure this is enough to be unpredictable, correct?"

***

"You’re rich, aren’t you? Why don’t you invest in a portal? I’m sure you can invest in it."

"...I know I can."

"But...?"

"I will."

"That’s good."

Leon looked relieved as he sat in the seat opposite me. From time to time, his body would shoot up from the seat, and his head would smack against the top of the carriage.

It was funny at first, but I had also hit my head several times.

For once, I had to agree with Leon.

’Portal. I need to invest in a portal!’

I couldn’t keep living like this.

"That aside, have you thought about who you’re going to invite for the Rite? From what I’ve heard, several people have been secretly aiding the Marquis..." Leon paused. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

I tried my best to keep myself from smiling.

However, I still ended up giving Leon a weird look.

"No, I’m just a little surprised that you know this much. This isn’t information that you’d be able to find without some research."

I propped my chin over my fist while looking at the window.

"...Looks like someone has been keeping up with the Evenus Household while they were gone."

I turned my attention towards Leon.

"You may be a prince now, but you’re still a knight at heart."

I pressed my hand against my chest.

"I’m touch—"

"Another word and I’ll fight you."

I raised my brow.

"You want to fight me?"

Him?

"...You are aware of the fact that I’m stronger than you, correct?"

This wasn’t something that I doubted.

After everything that I had gone through, I was sure that there was a gap between Leon and I.

And yet...

"Maybe before."

Leon looked at me with a thin yet confident smile.

This was enough to make me pause.

"Maybe before what? Don’t tell me you actually think you can win against me?"

"You won’t know until we fight."

"Hooo."

I felt my arm twitch at his words. This felt like a challenge.

’It’s been a while since I last fought Leon. This might also be some good training. In fact, I might even try to use him to train my sword skills.’

Thinking about the sword, my expression turned a little sour.

I could tell that I was somewhat talented in it. There were times when I just felt some things were wrong, and I adjusted accordingly.

But at the same time, something about using the sword felt a little weird to me.

I wasn’t quite comfortable with it.

At the very least, I much preferred my current fighting style to when I used the sword.

It just...

Didn’t feel natural.

It was hard to explain, but I couldn’t get into it no matter how hard I tried.

’There’s also the fact that I don’t really have much time to practice the sword.’

I had too many things to do and too little time.

Suddenly, the carriage came to a stop, and the coachman’s voice echoed.

"We’re here."

I stopped to look at Leon as he looked at me.

He spoke first.

"Do you want to bet?"

"...What do I get?"

"Hmm."

Leon thought about it before opening the door of the carriage, allowing for the sunlight to spill into the room.

"I’ll think about it once we get to it."

I stepped out of the carriage before he could.

"Think about it carefully since I need a certain portal to be built."

"Huh?"

Leon’s face froze as he looked at me.

"Wait."

"Let’s go. I can’t wait to fight you."

"No, wait..."

"What a good day."

"Wait, Julien, stop. That’s a bit too much. Ask for something else."

"Oh sunny day~"

"Julien!"