Rivers of the Night

Chapter 843: Kind

Theron left with a smile on his face, not caring much about the previous interaction. He felt that there was something those two were relying on that he didn’t know about, but whatever it was, it would probably benefit him in the end, so he let it slide.

That said… the real reason he didn’t care so much was because they were softer than he expected them to be.

That sounded odd to say when they had essentially threatened his life just now, but the truth of the matter was that they were smart enough to think of a million different ways to do this—ways that other cultivators certainly wouldn’t have hesitated about.

They didn’t need someone as talented as Theron. In fact, given their experience and strength, Theron might be weaker than them by a substantial margin after entering. There were certain methods and ways of using Resonance that Saints and Transcendents were capable of that Theron wasn’t even remotely able to grasp just yet—ways he wouldn’t grasp until he personally felt those levels for himself.

Of course, Theron didn’t actually believe that he would be far weaker than them upon entering. In fact, he didn’t believe he would be weaker than anyone when the playing field was basically equal.

The real reason he was doing this wasn’t because he feared them.

What he meant by thinking about things from their perspective was simple…

They didn’t need someone as talented as Theron, they only needed someone as young as him. In fact, what was stopping Ameridia and Messo from strapping a dozen babies to themselves and then entering the gate?

Such a thing would slow the curve around them so much that if they were already confident enough to risk themselves now, they would be nearly 100% confident in figuring out how to protect their own lives after they had entered.

So why didn’t they?

Theron had already alluded to this much earlier when he asked why he was the only one entering if everyone was reset to mortal status upon entering. He could remember that look Ameridia had given him so clearly…

Pity, sadness, almost like she was hurt that he would even think her capable of such a thing. Or…

That she felt it a pity that he had lived a life where he thought there were so many people capable of sending their children into such a hell.

Maybe it was because he was jaded by her Clan, but Theron truly never expected Ameridia to be such a… good person.

Theron had met good people before. Lyra, for one, was such a good person it warmed his heart. His fallen wife, Malaya… she was so pure, so kind.

Even in those final moments, when she faced her own mortality, Malaya had been thinking about how to make his life easier when she had every right to hate him with every fiber of her being. Instead… she had chosen to understand him instead of breed the same hate in her heart that he had for the world.

She was an unfathomably better person than him by such a wide margin that Theron found himself missing her every day.

He had never known love until that day. He had never thought that he could love again, quite frankly.

But in that moment, with the world bearing down around him, where every soul wanted his life, where he was facing nothing but a torrential rain of hatred…

He had felt it.

That purest and kindest of loves. No, maybe Malaya had never loved him. She had the right not to. But he had felt her kindness, nonetheless.

But then there was Ameridia.

She had the weight of the world on her shoulders, so many people looking to her for guidance and clarity. The world was waiting for her to make a decision.

Her Clan was incompetent and riding on her glory. The armies, filled with veterans, should have been guiding her, and yet she was lapping them. She had every right as well to do terrible things, to try to justify them in the name of what was better for the common good.

Granted, she did threaten him in the end of it all, but that only made Theron chuckle on the inside. He had seen so much darkness that such a thing hardly qualified to him.

As far as Theron was concerned, the more powerful you were, the more right people seemed to think they had in this world to demand whatever it was they wanted.

Ameridia was probably only weaker than a handful of people across the Human Domain. If that number exceeded the fingers on her two hands, it wouldn’t be by much. Maybe only a couple dozen.

And that was despite being a Saint.

Of course, Theron didn’t know that Ameridia was a lot weaker now without her Undefeatable Spirit, but the logic still remained.

Maybe Theron was giving her too much credit. Maybe it should have been only logical that anyone human wouldn’t just strap babies to their chest in pursuit of greater heights of cultivation…

But he didn’t want to think about that too much, he didn’t want to logic it away.

He just wanted to bask in the fact that…

There were kind people in this world with bottom lines.

Theron’s smile softened. ‘I really do like her.’

He clasped his fingers behind the back of his head and walked with a casual slow gait. However, the further he walked, the darker his eyes became.

He gave himself one week of time.

In that one week, he planned to do something he had promised in short order.

He never lied when he spoke from his heart. He really did plan on killing Kenton and he didn’t care about what consequences that came with.

The question was, how could he grow powerful enough to do that in a single week?

Sure, he could use the Dagger Call Platform, but Theron didn’t want to. Not because he was hiding it—though that was part of it—but instead because of his pride.

That man… truly pissed him off.

And he would pay for that.

No chapters tomorrow. Will be back on Saturday. But there won’t be chapters on Sunday. Will be back on Monday, lol. Basically the former one chapter days have been replaced by actual breaks, but we are about to hit the acceleration curve of this final arc. Hoping for nothing but bangers between now and the end of Part One of RN 🙂