CHAPTER 798: CURSED WORDS

Wiping away her sweat, Gwen finished another day’s worth of training.

She got some more tips, some pointers, but she too understood that she was stuck at a bottleneck.

Unable to progress no matter what.

There was something she needed to change about herself but she didn’t know what it was.

All she knew was that she couldn’t stay like this.

"Alice~ I need a recharge..." Gwen groaned, dragging her body upstairs.

But as she approached their room, she saw Alice sat by the table.

Using her own blood, she was drawing diagrams on the table.

"No... This wouldn’t work. Too inefficient... No, this one is too distracting... this method wouldn’t work, Syrion proved it..." She mumbled under her breath.

She flicked through countless iterations of her design.

The method, the theory, the foundation of her idea.

Gwen wasn’t sure of the key details behind it.

But she was certain it had something to do with her new Vision.

"No, doing it that way would kill me instantly. It won’t give me a chance to counter it with exile..."

Gwen felt like she just heard something dangerous but her brain was already beginning to filter it out.

"Are... you okay?" Gwen approached hesitantly as Alice stopped what she was doing.

"Hm? Oh yeah I’m fine. Seems like you finished up with your training, how was it?" Alice dismissed the blood and smiled.

"It was so so. Nothing new ya know?" Gwen sighed, sitting on her bed.

"So what’s it this time? Which attack isn’t working the way you want it to?"

It felt like Alice was reading her mind as Gwen revealed a helpless smile.

"Unfortunately, all of them. What little surprises I have in store for him have become boring now. Too predictable, too organised he says. That I go through a sequence of actions rather than formulating plans on the fly.

"If something messes up, my sequence gets ruined and my power decreases drastically. Or at least that’s what he’s saying. But who am I to refute that? I haven’t even landed a single good hit yet ya get me?" Gwen ranted, flailing her limbs around like a child, causing Alice to laugh.

Gwen pouted.

"What are you laughing at?"

"Nothing much. Haven’t you noticed?" Alice grinned.

"Noticed what?"

"You started to copy me. Started to use Ya pretty often don’t you agree? The little ’ya know’ and ’ya get me’ at the end of your sentences. Seems like I’m pretty influential." Alice pointed out.

Gwen wanted to retort but her words were stuck in her throat.

"F*ck... Arg! It’s just easier ya k- ..."

"See?" There was a sh*t eating grin on Alice’s face, a smug smile that made Gwen want to smack Alice.

"Urgh... What? Are you going to tell me to stop using it?" Gwen pouted.

"Oh no, far from it. It just means you’re feeling more comfortable around me now. ’Ya know?’"

"Argh! You ruined it! Now I’m feeling conscious!" Gwen tossed her pillow over in annoyance.

It was something she did subconsciously after hanging around with Alice.

But now that she pointed it out, Gwen couldn’t help but think about it all the time whenever she or Alice says it.

"But you know what’s better than being you feeling conscious about adding ya know at the end?"

There was a slight glint in Alice’s eyes.

A Hunter who found her prey.

Right now, Alice wanted to bully Gwen.

"What..." Gwen was on guard, cautious.

What could Alice possibly say that’s better than being conscious about-

"How about~ Breathe manually."

". . ." Gwen’s smile twitched.

"Your tongue can’t find a comfortable spot in your mouth? Can’t rest it properly?" Alice giggled.

". . ."

"What about... You start noticing every time you blink? Hehehehe~" Alice let out a gremlin laugh.

Gwen felt her eyeballs becoming dry, the urge to blink.

But...

But!

It was manual this time!

"I hate you." Gwen groaned.

"Muahaha~ I got more where that came from! You haven’t swallowed your saliva yet have you?" Alice went on the attack, Gwen wanted to stop Alice but she was too fast.

"Your jaw has weight~"

"Shut up already! I can’t do this anymore!" Gwen pleaded but it only served to ignite Alice’s desire more.

"When you swallow your ears click~"

Gwen paused. She furrowed her brows for a moment and swallowed her saliva.

"Huh... That’s just cool, I don’t see why that would bother me?" She blinked in confusion.

Alice tilted her head.

"It doesn’t? Hm, might need to remove that one then." Alice made a mental note of it before looking back at Gwen.

"You’re now aware that your clothes are touching your skin."

". . ."

[You are an evil b*tch sometimes...] Cayla was facepalming behind her desk.

Anyone who heard Alice’s words were affected by her, all of them.

Even Alyss who realised what Alice was going to do found herself holding back the urge to smack her twin.

As for Alice, she simply stuck out her tongue. Breathing manually, blinking or being aware of things didn’t bother her. Seeing the chaos it causes brought her greater joy than the discomfort she felt.

"Seems like you two are still excited. Should we go for more training?" Syrion asked from outside the window.

Alice stared at Gwen.

Gwen started at Alice.

Alice’s silent stare was all Gwen needed to know.

Gwen shook her head but Alice nodded.

"Do it." She grinned.

"I can’t."

"Do it, it’ll be fun." Alice nudged, her voice sweet like honey.

Gwen hesitated. She stood at a cross road, a conflict of choices. What should she do...

In the end, she poked her head out from the window and looked towards Syrion who’s waiting for an answer.

"Is something wrong?" Syrion found it a little strange that Gwen was just staring but not saying anything.

"Go on, do it. It’s just two words, nice and simple." Alice whispered from behind, urging her.

Gwen bit her lip then she opened her mouth.

"Breathe manually."

Syrion’s finger twitched.

"You little..." He had to hold himself back from letting out a curse.

Gwen held her laugh in.

Maybe Alice was right. This was pretty fun...

No! She shouldn’t think like this!

...

But what if.

"Your tongue feels uncomfortable."

Syrion didn’t want to say it. He didn’t even have a tongue so why is it working?!

"Your training will be twice as tough tomorrow." Syrion’s smile twitched.

"Wha!? That’s not fair!"

"Fair my ass go to sleep already." Syrion sighed, walking away while the sound of Alice and Gwen could be heard.

He only had a son but if he had two daughters, maybe this is what it would feel like.

The two of them messing around with him.

Shaking his head with a slight smile, Syrion walked over to the tree and sat beside the swing, staring off into the distance.

"I’m surprised. I thought you would’ve either killed them already or have gotten yourself killed. But not this." A voice rang out. A figure appearing on one of the branches of the tree, her presence concealed.

Had she not spoken, Syrion wouldn’t even have noticed her.

"Really? I spent my years wandering. Now that I finally found my home, what makes you think I’d want to turn this place into a bloody battlefield?" Syrion chuckled.

"It’s going to happen sooner or later." Griselda shrugged, jumping down and taking a seat next to Syrion.

"You don’t want to kill them, do you?" Griselda turned towards Syrion.

"No, no I do not." Syrion let out a sigh.

He’s someone who had already died long ago. What use is there to cling to life where there is none?

"But just letting them take the easy kill won’t be good for them."

"Is that why you’re training them?"

"Partially. I simply won’t want to kill the daughter of another father. She took the time to converse with me, to understand me. So I’ll do the same, I’ll converse and I’ll understand. I’ll see their circumstances for what it is. And I will use the rest of my life in the best way possible." Syrion chuckled.

Griselda let out a sigh.

"It’s going to be hard for those girls. The longer you take, the more of a connection you build. And when that connection is formed... Breaking it feels like a knife to your chest." She hugged her knees, eyes softly gazing at the ground beneath her.

"I know... But it has to be done. They’re not ready for this world yet. It doesn’t matter how long it takes, I’ll keep going until they’re ready to take my Sigil."

Griselda paused. She looked up at Syrion and smiled softly.

"You feel more relaxed."

Previously, Syrion was always looking for his memories, his home and wandering this land.

A husk of his former self.

But now, he was feeling more lively. More human.

He was enjoying his life and Griselda loved to see it.

"I won’t deny it. Though playing with those girls come with their own set of headaches ahahah." Syrion laughed.

"Oh? What do you mean?" Griselda blinked.

"Nothing much. They just taught me a set of cursed words I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget." Syrion smiled ominously.

"Cursed words? I didn’t know they worked with curses."

"They’re not curses in the literal sense. More of a... psychological impact." He licked his lips.

"Well that’s a first. Care to share?"

"Oh naturally. The words are..." He trailed off.

Griselda listened intently.

"Breathe manually."

". . ."

"You should blink."

". . ."

"Your tongue feels uncomfortable."

". . ."

The sound of a fist hitting metal armour could be heard that night.