Alpha Instinct-Chapter 60: "The Messenger of Death"
Leonard, incredulous, looked at his own card. "They told me it took years to increase stats. Is your device broken, Kaleb?"
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Profile Stats / Guild House Membership Card
Name: Leonard
Surname: Winston
Rank: Iron
Strength: 8 + 15 (23)
Agility: 13 + 25 (38)
Cognition: 11 + 21 (32)
Constitution: 9 + 12 (21)
Mentality: 12 + 8 (20)
Characteristic: Divergent.
—Unable to track battle traces—
—Affinity: Temporal Cognition—synthesis error detected—
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He handed the GHMC to Saito.
"My goodness, goodness, goodness! Oh hoo! 25 stats in 30 days! I never thought I’d see this in my entire life!" Saito looked like a child who had just gotten a new toy, his face beaming with euphoria.
Kaleb, with effort, managed to sit down in a chair. "What madness is this GHMC? It looks like a monster!" His fingers were still trembling, a tremor running through his entire body.
"Look at that. It seems that now the device managed to find an affinity!" Saito analyzed the information, a wide smile spreading across his face.
"It might be... I discovered it a short time ago too. I have a skill now that I can use," said Leonard.
"May I see, Sir Saito?" Mikaela asked.
Saito handed her the card, a gesture of trust in the paladin.
Mikaela, her eyes shining as if she were facing the sacred scriptures of her goddess, murmured, "Blessed be..." But a doubt arose in her mind. "Why can the device read your ELEV and my ability can’t?"
Saito pondered, his hand stroking his beard. "It’s an unknown, but if you analyze it well, Leonard’s ELEV pulsates instead of just glowing. It might have something to do with it."
"I don’t know if this counts, but Silica used an old device for the first time. It also couldn’t take the reading," Leonard added.
"Interesting..." Saito murmured, lost in his own thoughts.
Kaleb, recovering from the shock, addressed Leonard: "Don’t worry, Leo. I am good enough to help you grow and be strong like me."
Mikaela rolled her eyes and sighed, while Saito whispered something to himself in the corner of the cabin, walking from one side to the other.
Leonard, fed up with that situation, feeling impatience growing, realized that no one had explained to him what had happened or how he had gotten there.
"Enough, I’m leaving..."
The three stared at him without saying a word, surprise evident on their faces.
Leonard took the card from Mikaela’s hand and went to Kaleb.
"Can you rewrite my name? I’m a Winter, not Winston..." he asked.
"Win-Win-Winter?" Kaleb exclaimed, surprised.
"Yes, please..." Leonard asked.
"Oh, hoo! I knew it! Those eyes are unique," said Saito.
Kaleb rewrote Leonard’s name on his GHMC. "This will cause an enormous fuss in the future," Kaleb thought to himself.
Leonard checked the card again.
"Surname: Winter"
He then left the cabin, silent, his head down, but his shoulders now lighter, as if a weight had been lifted.
As he walked outside, he felt a mixture of relief and dread. He wondered why his colleagues, and especially Saito, his master, looked at him that way. Reverencing him and with a certain fear.
He felt confused.
He thought about the possibility of going back and questioning, but in the end, he shrugged.
Outside, he found his swords, still attached to the horse. He equipped himself and decided to walk. He needed to clear his head and organize his thoughts. It was too much information to absorb at once.
Roland’s death was still an open wound, but, strangely, it didn’t hurt anymore. He didn’t care. It was as if something inside him had died. Or perhaps awakened.
Leonard walked through the narrow forest that bordered Lake Zafir, seeking answers but finding only more questions.
"Damn... Damn... What a miserable life..." In a fit of rage, he punched a nearby tree.
A bang.
Wood splinters flew through the air. The tree trunk, thick and robust, split, the pieces moving almost two meters.
"What the fuck?" Leonard looked at his own hand, incredulous. "How did I get so strong?" He concentrated, feeling the energy rush to his ELEV like an uncontrolled waterfall.
"What the hell did the old man do to me?" A dangerous, almost insane smile appeared on his face. An idea blossomed in his mind, and he longed to put it into practice.
But a part of him, a small, weak voice, screamed in protest. "This is not you, Leonard. You are not like this." He closed his eyes, trying to push away the feeling of power and the thirst for revenge.
But it was useless. The darkness was there, growing, taking over. "Roland... I..." He opened his eyes, the coldness back.
"No. Enough weakness. Enough suffering." The old Leonard, the gentle and frightened boy, was disappearing, being swallowed up by this new, terrible force.
Leonard spent hours alone in a clearing, meditating and practicing the sword movements and fighting forms. He tried, in vain, to ward off the ghosts of the past, the cold, and the void that persisted in his soul.
When night fell, Leonard began to move. He headed towards the main road, skirting the river. He stopped at a small cliff and lit a fire.
Looking at the dancing flame, he pondered before the shadows on the rocks and the reflection of the fire on the dark surface of Lake Zafir. For a moment, he remembered nights spent in the clearing of the Vulture Forest with Roland, camping, laughing, training, and learning to live.
But the memory faded like smoke, replaced by bitterness and anger.
After reviewing his plans, his eyes glowed with a thirst for blood. "Tonight we will sing and toast with their skulls..." he murmured while sharpening and cleaning the blades of Smiling and Absolution.
Leonard put out the fire with the water from his canteen and prepared himself.
"It has to be impeccable. Tonight, I will be the messenger of death." He checked the sword scabbards, making sure they were secure. He checked the laces of his boots and the buckle of his belt.
Each movement was methodical, precise, almost a ritual. He did not unsheathe the swords but ran his fingers over the covered blades, feeling the promise of violence contained within.
There was no room for prayers or for hesitation. Only the cold determination to carry out his mission. He took a deep breath, the night air filling his lungs, and set off. The darkness was his ally now.
He went towards the city of Besen.
He had scores to settle.
