Chương 111: 24 - THE PRICE OF GREED

"Just do me the favor of killing me first," Uriel Grace had said. And for a moment, T'balt's mind had literally stopped. He couldn't decide if the man was a masochist or if this was another part of repentance. Even Vienna, who was usually stone-faced about everything, made a face that looked slightly disgusted. It was likely the casual manner of his smile that made her react that way.

Despite them standing in a pool of blood surrounded by the bodies of his followers, his expression was that of a neighbor asking to borrow some milk.

"You want us to kill you?" T'balt asked.

"I mean, 'want' isn't really the word," Uriel said.

"Think of it more as me embracing the things I don't want and welcoming it with open arms." The worst part was that he was still pretty much naked.

"Well? You might want to hurry. You don't want to take so long that—" Just then, there was a rumble throughout the whole place and a pressure that sucked all the air right out of the library. Each of them immediately looked up to see where the source of the distress was coming from. It turned out the entire roof had been lifted from their heads. Not just the roof but the building above it. Despite them being two stories below the island, they were looking up at the dark sky.

And floating there was none other than Mitas Corlander in his golden armor.

"Speak of the devil," Uriel said. Corlander flicked away his hand, and there was a gigantic splash as the building he held with psychic power landed into the ocean, causing a tidal wave to hit the shore of the island. T'balt and Vienna tensed up. But Uriel Grace was surprisingly at ease.

"Long time no see, old friend." Uriel waved. Corlander floated down gently into the library.

"You speak as if we know each other," Corlander said in that rusted deep voice.

"But we haven't met before. Unless we did business in the old world."

"No. No. We haven't met. But regardless, I know much more about you than you even think you know about me." Corlander's thick crocodile skin boots touched the floor as he kept an eye on Uriel.

"Alright. You have me curious. What is it you think you know about me?" Uriel pointed to the sky like he was having an epiphany.

"I know that you and I are bound together in an endless cycle. The one who collects and the one who bestows, trapped in a philosophical battle as old as time. All for one vs one for all. And you, my friend, are here to collect your due." The old man cracked a smirk.

"You are right about that last one at least." He glanced at T'balt and Vienna.

"I have business with all three of you. What a fortunate circumstance that you're all in the same place. The Bestower, the thief, and the Redeemer. All three of them will sit at the top of my collection."

"Vienna, we need to run." T'balt took a step back. They both had speed loots, so if they took off, they'd be able to escape.

"Run where?" she said through gritted teeth. Corlander started walking towards them, letting several elements swirl around his hands, controlling them with the same motion. Fire, water, earth, wind, lightning, all swirling around his flexing hand.

"She's right, T'balt. Run where?" At the end of the day, they were on an island. He couldn't run anywhere Corlander wouldn't eventually find him. They were trapped, and they were going to have to face him eventually. That didn't mean that even with their combined strength, they could take on this monster. He had to figure out something that wasn't just moving on to the next life, like he would usually resort to. Because he was certain he wouldn't see Vienna there. But what could he do? What could he do?

Corlander was coming at them, intent to kill. But he couldn't think in time. The elements were flying at him.

"Vienna, move!" he called. He went to move, and then suddenly he was falling over… into a bed of flowers after crashing through some sort of greenhouse. He landed in the flowers, and they seemed to roar like crashing thunder. He was looking up, and suddenly, there was Tyene with her plump and long red hair.

"You good, bro?" He sat up, holding his head, feeling some whiplash from having his reality bent so suddenly.

"What's going on?"

"It was a deus ex machina. German teleported in and got you just before you got pulverized."

"Does that mean…"

"You're safe and sound, somewhere very far away from that mean, mean man."

"Lady Tyene." Once Vienna put together where she was, she ran over to Tyene, bowing her head.

"I'm so sorry I allowed this to happen. I will personally punish myself for my incompetence." Tyene just petted her on her dark hair.

"No worries. I'm not dead, so you still get a passing grade." The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Vienna bashfully smiled, but with her head turned so no one could see. But that's when she noticed the overloaded man, face down in the dirt, and she immediately frowned.

"Is that German? What's wrong with him?" T'balt asked when he saw him convulsing.

"Just a bit of overload, no biggie," Tyene answered.

"No biggie? He's gonna die."

"Vienna?" Vienna straightened her posture.

"This man kidnapped you. I will let him die." Tyene turned to her, making a face that a thirty-year-old woman could pass as puppy dog eyes.

"Come on, Vi." Vienna groaned and knelt above German's body, extracting one of the loots from his neck. When she did, he started choking up black smoke and beating his chest until his normal breathing returned. After an extra moment to regain himself, he sat up.

"Which one did you take?"

"The Wanderer," Vienna said.

"So you can't pull a stunt like that again." He looked annoyed but ultimately accepting.

"Understood."He stood up and brushed off his collared shirt.

"T'balt." He said, nodding to him.

"Vienna." He did the same to her.

"I'm sure you're wondering why I brought you here."

"I'm wondering a lot of things," T'balt said with scorn in his voice.

"The first being, why your boss felt the need to destroy a city full of people." German took a deep breath.

"Yes. Well, that was Corlander's plan since the inception of Graceland. He wants the Bestower loot."

"He was willing to kill so many people just for one piece of loot?"

"It isn't just any loot," Tyene added.

"It's his missing piece. The thing he believes will make him all-powerful."

"What do you mean?" German answered.

"I'm sure you've wondered how Graceland gets the loot it uses to run itself when they don't interact with the mainland, where all the demons are. That's because Bestower loot has the power to create loot, just from the mind." T'balt considered.

"So Uriel Grace could just give people powers whenever he wants. No wonder Graceland worships him like they do. But if Corlander gets it…"

"With the Collector loot, he would be able to give himself power endlessly without ever having to hunt it down. Needless to say, he would be an unstoppable force." T'balt scratched his head. It made sense, but he couldn't picture a man like Corlander having that kind of power. He could bend anything to his will whenever he wanted. To make the world his. Especially when everything else was already broken down. He did not trust whatever world that would be.

"That doesn't explain why any of us are here."

"To escape," German said.

"I don't think any of us would survive the world Corlander is looking to make with that power. He thinks he'll save the world, but his ambition blinds him to the suffering of what that means to him. He wouldn't have hesitated to kill Tyene if she were in that city. I won't be a part of his world anymore, and Tyene has decided that neither will you." Tyene shrugged.

"That isn't exactly it. I was just upset that he interrupted our conversation before." German crossed his arms.

"Regardless, we need to take this chance to get to a place where Corlander won't be able to find us. Without the Wanderer's loot, he won't be able to catch us easily." T'balt nodded.

"I get that, but… I can't."

"Why not?"

"My friends are still in that city. I can't leave them behind. You have to take me back."

"Did you not listen to a word I said? Everything in that place is forfeited now that Corlander is there. If you go back, there isn't likely to be anything to save." It was Tyene who spoke up for him.

"It might be fine. If he had the Wanderer's loot. He could get in and out, possibly before Corlander even notices. Vienna." Vienna thumbed the loot piece, taking her name-calling as instruction to hand it to T'balt.

"I can't let you do that." German blocked her off, looking down, a head taller than her. Even then, Vienna looked like she could slice his throat if she was allowed to.

"The Wanderer's loot is our only means of avoiding him. I can't let you risk him getting his hands on it." Tyene stepped between them.

"So when it's your life on the line, it's fine, but when it's his friends, suddenly it's a problem."

"You know it's not that simple."

"It's only as simple as you make it… like this." Tyene flicked her finger, and suddenly German was propelled forward by a small explosion at his back. He crashed into the wall before his body went limp on the floor. Vienna looked oddly satisfied.

"What the hell was that?" T'balt was the opposite of satisfied. It felt like everything just ended with violence with these people.

"I'm sure he's fine. It was just a baby bomb. Just knocked the wind out of him."

"Bomb?"

"I'll show you later. But here," she grabbed the Wanderer from Vienna and handed it to him.

"Go find your friends." T'balt took, inserting underneath his speed loot. When it went inside him, his body physically cringed. It felt like it sent shockwaves through all his nerves. He hadn't felt this uncomfortable with a new loot since the first time one touched his neck. But still, it had the same effect that they all did, somehow communicating to him exactly how it worked. He envisioned the island and knew the loot would take him there.

"I'll find you after," he said.

"I'll be waiting." Tyene gave him a cheeky smirk, and he disappeared a moment later. He appeared right in the middle of the city. He didn't know where Cannon had led them or even if they were still alive. The best he could do was look around and hope. He couldn't find him. But everything was oddly quiet, considering the place was a warzone when he left. He wondered if Corlander had gotten what he wanted, if he'd killed Uriel Grace. He was the only one left behind.

German probably assumed that if he left behind Corlander's main goal, he wouldn't bother with the rest of them. Then there was angered yelling from near where the library was. It was Corlander.

"YOU'RE A LIAR!" T'balt looked around, trying to find his way to the voice, curiosity getting the better of him.

"Whose he talking to?" He was dragging Uriel's body through the street. He was beaten bloody, eyes swollen to the point of barely opening, pale skin painted red with his own blood. And yet there was a giant smile on the Bestower's face.

"I told you. We're trapped in this cycle together. You… and I. If you don't believe me, check my mind. You know it's true." Corlander's eyes transformed into the vicious red glow as his face continued to twist with anger.

"I WON'T LET YOU TAKE THIS FROM ME!" T'balt had no clue what either of them was talking about. But he saw Corlander rearing his hand back, ready to shove a handful of lightning straight down Uriel's throat as the man laughed at him. T'balt instinctively moved, and with his new loot, that meant he appeared right next to Corlander, looking to grab Uriel out of his hands. Corlander reacted. Before T'balt could grab the man, he smacked him with the backhand of his fist, sending him crashing into a wall.

It was Uriel who yelled at him.

"Let him see. The price of his greed," he laughed.

"What are you talking about?" But then Corlander yelled too, a deep, painful yell as he drove his fist so hard into Uriel's head that it disappeared into a red mist.

"You died." T'balt stared at the screen in his grandparents' house.

"Well, shit."