Chương 29: Independence

[POV Syrin] The situation escalated. She felt a tinge of betrayal claw up her heart. The feeling was intense, unbearable. It was her fault—she shouldn't have revealed her ability so casually to this person. She'd known that to be a bad idea since the moment she'd set foot in these plains and gotten it. She knew people would do a lot of horrible things to her just to get her to use it for their own desires. To a fleet, it was invaluable, except this person, Nyx—not even her own crewmates knew of her ability.

They just knew that whatever ability she had made her wealthy, without ever having to fight. They hadn't followed her, hadn't joined her crew because of the protection her power could offer, but the protection her wealth could offer. A relationship always started on the basis of self-interest, after all. After coming to these plains, that had become abundantly clear to her. And yet, she'd still been unable to resist the impulse to repay her first savior in these plains.

The person who'd gone out of his way to help her despite the meager resources she'd offered. Even now, as Nyx stood in front of her, his abyssal dark pupils staring her down, making her feel smaller and smaller, somewhere deep down, she still held an unbreakable trust toward this person. Call it trauma bonding, call it Stockholm syndrome—it didn't matter. The trust remained unfaltering, despite the anguish trying to drown her. Her mind spun while her eyes grew blurry with the welling of tears.

Two desires warred fiercely within her: the desire to remain independent, free and proud, and the desire to remain free of responsibility, and safe. Two things couldn't exist in one place. Right then, pulling her out of her thoughts, came the crisp hum of energy. A familiar one, followed by the roar of an equally familiar voice.

"How fucking dare you threaten us, you bastard!" It was Max, his voice tearing through her sinking thoughts. He moved in front of her and clenched his hands into fists. Nyx's eyes widened as four transparent silver barriers surrounded him from all four cardinal directions at once. Max grinned—it wasn't his usual cheerful one, but one of pride and disdain.

"Now try escaping that. Let me see if whatever ability you have can save you before I do this," he said, pulling his hands back like tugging on a rope. Almost immediately, the barriers surrounding Nyx started rapidly closing in on him from all sides at once. Her mouth moved before she could form the thought.

"Hey Max, stop that!"

"Huh?" Max responded, dubious.

"Why?" Right, that was a good question. Why was she asking him to stop? Nyx was threatening all three of their lives, not just her own. She shouldn't stop him—everyone had the right to defend themselves when their lives were threatened by someone else.

"It's... it's—" she tried to respond, but no words came out. And it was already too late as the four-directional barrier slammed flat from all sides at once, Max's smile growing wider.

"Don't worry about me, Syrin." Nyx? His voice came from behind them. Turning around, she found him back at the cave entrance.

"Why, you!" Max roared, clenching his fists again as another set of barriers enclosed him from all sides before immediately slamming against each other. Max was fully trying to kill Nyx.

"That's useless, Max." It was Nirun who spoke up, pointing a finger toward Max's back.

"Turn around."

"Huh, why?" The handle of an overly heavy handgun cracked across Max's skull, his balance immediately growing unsteady. His eyes widened at the sight of the culprit—it was Nyx, again, somehow having teleported behind his back. If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

"How...?" That was Max's last word before he lost consciousness, the back of his head bleeding as he fell forward. Nyx pointed his gun muzzle at Max's head. His dark pupils eyed them both. A faint smile played on his lips.

"Choose, Syrin. If you agree, I'll immediately heal this guy up, and everything will go back to normal." He shook his head.

"Not just normal—things will get even better. And if you don't—" he left the rest unsaid, his positioning telling enough. Syrin felt the anxiety in her heart grow heavier and heavier until she found it hard to breathe. Her legs no longer seemed able to support her weight, wobbling beneath her. The world felt darker, narrower, more indifferent than ever before. The situation, the feeling, the exact list of choices and the results tied to them.

Individually, they were each chaotic fragments, but together, they resurrected a memory. Inside her dilapidated campervan, zombies clawed at her vehicle's windows, cracking it apart bit by bit. Reaching their hands in to get her. To kill her. Unable to properly hold a weapon and shoot, her life had also hung on a thread of choices back then—reach out to others for help, beg them to save her, or keep it all to herself and fight her way out. Forge her own path forward instead of relying on others.

History repeats, does it? She felt the tide of emotion in her heart start to recede at the realization. Her teammates' lives were in danger. Refusal would get them killed. It wasn't the same as before, because history didn't repeat—it rhymed. But did that mean she should let go of the exact desire, the goal which had prompted her to form this fleet in the first place? In this juncture, the stern voice of Uncle Nirun echoed in her ears. Words he'd said when she'd asked him how to be a good leader, a good captain.

"Chase a path, girl, fervently, and those who wish to follow you will. Dying for a leader who has no spine, no ideals, is the worst death a soldier can be granted." The words echoed in her head. Despite the weakness in her posture, her still-wobbling legs, she tried to stand a bit straighter, with more strength behind her ideals and desires.

"N-Nyx," she called, her voice coming out lower than she'd have liked.

"I-I refuse. I won't surrender the majority share!" she yelped. Nyx stared at her for a good moment before raising the muzzle of his gun toward her..... [POV Nyx] What was wrong with this girl? Seriously. She hadn't been like this the first time he'd met her. Calling them here and laying out the requirement after they'd seen his Tier 3 vehicle—he'd been a hundred percent sure she'd agree immediately. Who wouldn't? She was getting the protection of one of the strongest rankers.

He wasn't even bluffing; the firepower that Tier 3 Combat Rover brought to the table was too much for anyone to ignore. He was certain even Julius would concede a good share of his fleet in exchange for recruiting him. Maybe not the majority, but any other fleet outside the top tier would be all too happy to.

He'd talked with the CabbageGod when he'd bought his Spirit Broccoli to boost his mental energy recovery rate—even that guy had been willing to part with a huge 40% of his fleet's share in exchange for recruiting him. Fleets larger than Syrin's had been willing to hand over as much as 70%! Why wouldn't they? Bringing him over meant their short-term survival was assured. And in these times, most people thought in the short term, not the long. And yet. Is it because she sees the potential of her own skill?

Likely, very much so. Her skill was by far the best one for building out a fleet. Hiring and sifting through people with garbage skills to find the most useful ones would be a cinch. But for some reason, as he held the gun to this clearly terrified girl, he didn't see that kind of clear-headed cost-benefit analysis in her eyes. It was something else entirely. After a while longer, Nyx finally chose to pull back. It wasn't worth it—or rather, he didn't want to push any further.

He'd reached his limit; the act of scaring and forcing someone into a deal was already too much. He could fire some shots at her legs and arms, injure her further, scare her deeper to get her to agree. But there was a limit to how deeper he wished to go down that path. Especially so when this girl had come here purely out of trust in him. Sure, she'd taken some precautionary measures by bringing along this barrier guy. But her intention hadn't been to harm him anyway.

He lowered the gun and put it back in his inventory. Crouching down, he placed his palm over the wound he'd made on Max, healing him with a bit of his healing mana. Right then, he heard someone suddenly collapse. It was Syrin—she'd fallen unconscious. Uncle Nirun went over.

"Did a number on her, didn't you, lad." He said, gently picking her up in his arms.

"So, what's your plan? As a former Field Marshal, I'd normally advise you to be a bit more ruthless in getting what you want. But you clearly understand your own flaws. So I won't go there." Nyx shook his head.

"We'll talk later. First, let her recover and wake up. Don't try to leave." Nyx said, focusing on healing Max.

"Roger that." After the surface wound had healed, he paused his use of healing mana and simply wrapped the rest with a bandage, before carrying Max over to Syrin's RV.