Chapter 73: Aleron's Exchange, The Playground (4)
Chapter 73: Aleron's Exchange, The Playground (4)
As the group walked toward the cube container, Aleron, and Yueha, the two who had souls awakened, felt a subtle killing intent and hate aimed at Aleron.
His eyes moved as he spotted the owner and paused, his eyebrows raised. It was a group of three.
Yueha, Mei, Hua, and Fang also silently stopped a step behind Aleorn.
The boy trembled as Aleron saw fear filling his eyes. 'I shouldn't be scary.'
'But after what I did, that's given I guess.'
"What happened?" Rias asked upon seeing them stopping.
Lily and Yom were also startled and became nervous, as Lily grabbed Teo's hand.
"Wait a minute," Aleron said as he started walking towards them.
Ben turned at Aleron and followed his gaze before getting taken aback, 'That boy...his brother was executed.'
'I believe he was dark red, and according to what Mr. Melkern told us about marks, that means execution...'
Teo trembled upon seeing Aleron walking towards him.
Lily immediately appeared before him and knelt down, "Please forgive him if he did something."
Aleron's face fell, and seeing it, everyone started sweating.
"Get up, please."
Lily looked at Aleron and seeing his face, she felt even more scared. 'He looks clearly upset now...'
"Get up," Aleron sternly said seeing that she didn't get up.
"Y-Yes."
Lily got up and Yom also appeared beside him, scared as he was, he still stood, "He is a good boy..."
Aleron rolled his eyes, "I know. That's why he needs to know."
"Teo," Aleron said with a smile as he twirled his finger and gently pushed aside Lily and Yom
to see Teo.
"Do you hate me?" Aleron had scoured his memories like a scan matching the boy's face and immediately found a memory in which he appeared, so he knew his name and also the terrible sins of his brother.
Teo's eyes were tearful and slightly red, "My brother was good. He took care of me alone after our parents died when I was three. He was kind and good."
"How can he deserve to die?"
Aleron waved his hand, projecting some photos from his memories into pictures using Magilore.
It showed four photos of boys, who appeared slightly similar to Teo in one or other ways, with ages ranging between 11 and 16.
"W-What is this?" Teo took a step back, startled at the pictures.
"All of them are boys that your brother encountered during the last 10 years. They are orphaned now because your brother killed their parents in front of them and..." Aleron paused and didn't continue as he just sighed.
His brother did much worse and more, but he didn't want to list the deeds.
"I won't tell you the worst things your brothers did," Aleron sighed and shook his head, "but, based on this, what do you have to say about your brother?"
"You are sixteen years old, and an Exceptional-rank adventurer. You are kind and love to help people, so tell me," Aleron walked forward and gently put his hand on Teo's head, "If you found out what your brother did, what would you have done?"
Teo trembled and his tears started overflowing.
Lily and Yom were shaken as well. They didn't know because Teo's brother was truly kind and gentle. They had never seen him pointlessly angry.
"I-I am kind because of my b-brother," Teo spoke while crying, his throat lumped.
Aleron didn't extract full memories, so he didn't know fully, but he still found enough things and also knew about Teo's brother who was silently taking the punishment in Hell at the moment.
"Your brother was indeed kind and loving to you...in front of you. I don't know how his mind can take on this twisted turn, I don't know the cause, but he at least didn't want you to be like him."
"That's why you are kind and good," Aleron smiled. "Your brother is taking his punishment silently because he knows he deserves it. I have his soul in my Hell."
Everyone was startled hearing this, but they had more disbelief.
'Hell? Really?' Ben squinted his eyes. 'No way, right? So he captured souls and is giving them punishment in his hell...what the hell?!'
"Brother's soul in your hell?" Teo looked at Aleron in confusion.
"Yep," Aleron grinned and waved his hand as he showed them a scenery of hell.
Everyone used their various skills as they wanted to see the small screen Aleron created clearly.
"The souls that feel angry and don't repent during this punishment are getting forceful purification that will kill their sense of self and wipe them out."
"But souls that repent and accept the punishments are getting normal purification instead. They will keep their memories and will become with no negative or evil thought."
"I don't know if I can revive them by putting them in a new body, but I'm going to try doing that," Aleron smiled.
"W-What?! Then can you give me my brother when you can do that?" Teo anxiously and hopefully asked.
Everyone else was dumbfounded.
'What the hell?!'
'That can't be real, right?'
Meanwhile, Aleron shook his head to Teo's question or rather plea, "Your brother's punishment will go on for 3 years according to his sins. Once he is done, it will be up to him
what he wants to do."
"I will give him that choice."
Teo wiped his tears and nodded. He then bowed.
"I don't hate you. And I will live the way I think is right and be kind as my brother taught me."
"Humu," Aleron proudly smiled, "If you are good, then stand strong. Always keep your mind busy by doubting and thinking. Don't be hasty and find out reasons because whether they make sense or not, they run the world."
"And in my path, I will run through my justice that is being shaped. This is all new to me too, but I am not going to back down now."
"So, don't cross some lines and be good," Aleron looked at the people as he glanced around while grinning with a jolly smile, "If you do that, I will not punish you."
Aleron turned around and walked towards Yueha and the others, who were smiling.
Meanwhile, Rias and Roxen who thought they had seen everything and wouldn't get more shock from Aleron were shocked yet again.
"Let's start now," Aleron said to Ben with a nod and added, "How did I handle it, Ben?"
"Extraordinary, fantastic, mindblowing, sir," Ben said as he slightly bowed his neck and gestured to Aleron with his hand to move towards the cube.
Aleron burst out laughing, "You are hilarious. How about joining my entourage as a public
handler for me?"
Ben was dumbfounded as he thought he heard wrong, "Hai?"
"Never mind," Aleron grinned and walked past him towards the cube, "I'll ask you again after
this night ends. You can answer at that time."
Ben had a premonition hearing that. 'Is he gonna drop another bomb?'
'No wonder he said he would half-half. He definitely wants to do something big after
finishing playground.'
However, there was no use thinking about it, so he focused on the present, "I am opening the safety information. Only you and I will enter the container, as you can see it is not that big."
"Don't bother opening it," Aleron said as he put his hand on Ben's shoulder before both of them vanished and appeared inside, right in front of the cube.
'Teleport?! B-But this formation is supposed to prevent even that...' Ben was dumbfounded.
"What do I do now?" Aleron asked.
"Cough, yes. Now, please touch the cube."
Aleron touched it and a digital hologram sprung up from it.
[Select Difficulty.]
Aleron saw the difficulties listed and pressed the Dread-mode difficulty.
[Dread mode is locked. Proceed to start the trial to unlock it?]
[Yes] - [No] Just as Aleron pressed [Yes], a notification also rang in his head from the system.
[A new banner is in creation...]
[Gachapi: Master, I'll turn this banner into a Banner Print, so it won't take a slot right away. You can activate it if you want to summon from it.]
'That's perfect! I only have two slots right now, and the next upgrade is bad.]
[Gachapi: You can remove a banner from the slot, though it will be permanently destroyed.]
'I'll do that later, yeah,' Aleron replied while watching the progress bar that appeared in the
hologram.
"Young master Aleron, once that progress bar fills up, you will receive an option to start the
trial in your mind. When you select yes, your consciousness will travel into the trial while your body will remain here."
"I see. So how long is this trial?" Aleron curiously asked. "The playground will start in like 20
minutes right?"
"Indeed. However, the playground will start from Easy mode and players will get eliminated
from each mode based on their speed of clearing it, so we'll have plenty of time," Ben smiled.
"I see. Don't worry, I'll still finish it fast," Aleron chuckled as the progress bar was about to be
filled.
In the next second, Aleron heard a digital monotone voice in his head.
'Let's go.'