Chapter 283   - 283: Debatable

"Wait!"

"...Please have a great reason for me to withdraw my bow."

"He’s my grandfather!"

"..."

Even though Artemis had her bow fully drawn, there wasn’t any sign of her hands trembling. It was as still as her eyes which still focused on the approaching Clark. She looked at Sarah for a few seconds, before turning her attention towards Van.

"Shoot him down," Van said without any hesitation.

"...Okay," Artemis slightly moved her fingers as an arrow made of light suddenly appeared on the strings of her bow, already pointed towards the direction of Clark.

"No, please, wait!" Sarah once again blocked Artemis’s path, "I want to talk to him first!"

"We can’t risk it, Sarah," Van said, "Your grandfather is almost as dangerous as Miss Charlotte, it is better to kill him now so we could prevent any more problems. Shoot him down, Artemis."

"We can still use him!" Sarah once again said, "My grandfather doesn’t deserve to die like this."

"I thought you hated your grandfather?"

"I do," the tone of Sarah’s voice then shifted, "And he deserves to see the organization that corrupted his mind to fall into pieces. Death is too merciful of an end for a bigot--"

"Shoot him down."

Before Sarah could say anything more, Van tapped Artemis’s shoulder. And as soon as he did that, Artemis did not delay any longer and released her arrow, no longer minding Sarah’s words.

"!!!"

Sarah could only take in a deep but short breath as she turned her head towards her grandfather, who had already burst into pieces even before the sound of the arrow being released pierced her ears.

"C..." Sarah did not really know what to say as she watched bits and pieces of her grandfather fall from the sky. Her eyes slightly trembled, but after a few seconds, she once again took a long and deep breath as she nodded her head, "...Let’s go."

Van and Artemis could only follow Sarah in silence as she suddenly hastened her steps.

"Do you want to go around?" Artemis said as they neared upon where Clark burst into pieces.

"No need," Sarah, however, quickened her pace even further until they reached an area showered with dots of blood. Sarah stopped for a few seconds to look at the aftermath of Artemis’s strike.

Artemis could apologize, but she chose not to do so as it would not be in good taste to do so now. Even if Sarah did say she hated her grandfather, familial bonds will always be tricky. And so, the only thing she could do was slightly walk ahead, but still keeping a close watch on Sarah.

Van, however, did not do the same as he stuck beside Sarah in silence, carefully looking at the surrounding area to see if Clark had someone else with him. But after a few seconds, there doesn’t seem to be anyone.

"Let’s go," Sarah said as she once again let out a deep breath, "We can’t fail this... mission."

She then once again hastened her steps as she approached Artemis. But as she was only a meter away from her, she could feel something tugging on her arm. She quickly looked back, only to see her arm melt. And like a straw, her melted arm dripped in a certain direction.

"So, you are involved in this, Sarah?"

A blob of blood then suddenly wiggled into the form of a human where Sarah’s blood was floating, turning into the shape of her grandfather which they all saw burst into pieces earlier.

"You truly are a disappointment in the family," Clark shook his head as his face slowly completed itself, revealing the scar he had on his face; even his beard was intact, "I should have forced the Circle to turn you around."

"...You’re alive?" Sarah quickly summoned a blade made of blood and cut off her arm.

"Why are you so surprised? You could do the same, what made you think that I, someone stronger than you, can not?" Clark Hearst then put his arms behind his back as he looked at Artemis, and then finally Van.

"And you were with this heathen? I heard that you were able to escape the Pit and even managed to become the leader of the Locals. Perhaps I have been too merciful, causing someone like you to still roam this land like a plague. I will not make the same mistake--"

"Are you satisfied, Sarah?"

Van did not let Clark finish his words as he summoned Aegis, "And now the last words you heard from your grandfather before he dies is that you are a disappointment, what a shit."

"You dare!"

Van’s body then slightly lifted into the air as Clark raised his hand, "Just because you survived the Pit, you think you are stronger than me? I have already been walking this earth even before your ancestors were born!"

"Let go of the King!" Artemis quickly drew her bow once again.

"Your mistake is having a runt as your compan--"

Before Clark could finish his words, he once again burst into pieces as Van suddenly appeared above him and hammered him down with his shield. And Van did not stop there, he stomped with his foot, causing an explosion with every move of his leg as he drilled to the ground.

He did not stop until Artemis and Sarah could no longer see him. And finally, after a few more seconds, he climbed up the pit that he dug with his feet.

"...Is he dead?" Van then turned towards Sarah, his face fully covered in blood. Sarah, however, did not need to answer as the blood on Van’s face suddenly wriggled. "Euck, what the fuck!"

Van quickly shook himself off the blood, "How is your grandfather still alive!?"

"It’s because of the passive skill, [Blood Origin]," Sarah could not help but close her eyes and shake her head, "I also have it, but it is not this strong. Even Artemis’s attack earlier would have already killed me."

"Then--"

"But I can kill him," Sarah did not let Van finish his words as a wing made of blood suddenly emerged from her back, "You were right, Evans...

...this old man is a cunt."

Sarah then raised her hand, causing all of Clark’s blood to float into the air, like rain that was frozen in time. The droplets of this rain, however, were wriggling disgustingly as they all seemed to want to group in the same direction.

"I know you can’t hear me, grandfather," Sarah then said as hints of smoke started to appear from the droplets of blood that floated in the air, "But it doesn’t matter because you never really did. Even when you have ears, none of what I say enters them. I really wanted to give us a chance because you’re practically the only family I have left in this world...

...but fuck that, and fuck you."

Sarah then stretched her arm, and as soon as she did so, the individual droplets started to boil violently. It took a few seconds, but now, the only thing that remained of Clark was the steam that still persisted in the air... but even that disappeared.

Clark Hearst, one of the founding fathers of the Explorer Association, who was there at the dawn of the age of System Holders, evaporated into thin air. An anticlimactic death for such a prominent person in history, but his name will never be uttered, as Sarah had pledged to herself that once the Circle had fully been abolished from this world, so will the deeds of her grandfather.

"Let’s go," Van then said as soon as the steam disappeared, "We’ve already wasted enough time."

"Can’t you just lift the both of us?" Sarah said, no melancholy could be heard from her tone.

"I could, but if I make a mistake once, you would probably be squished," Van said, but afterward, he placed his hand on his chin, "But seeing as you’ll still live... maybe--"

"No, it’s fine," Sarah said as she gestured to Artemis to go, "My [Blood Origin] is not as strong as grandfather, it’d probably take an hour for my body to regenerate. And that isn’t a time we can waste, let’s go."

"...You’re the one who suggested it," Van shrugged his shoulders as he followed the two. With no more distractions, the three were able to quickly run towards the reservoir, where the entrance of the Circle’s hidden base was.

"She’s there," Artemis then quickly pointed towards a certain direction. And true enough, Angelica was there, waving her hand gleefully towards the three.

"What took you guys so long? I have been waiting for quite a while, please don’t reduce my already short screen time," Angelica said as she clicked her tongue a couple of times, "Small sister is already inside, making sure our path is clear and clean."

"We encountered a leech," Van said as he scanned the place, "How many are inside?"

"57. 221 if you include the creepy sleeping butt-naked Normies," Angelica said as she slightly shivered her body.

Van initially thought that Angelica would be the most normal of the three seeing as she... looked the most normal. But it would seem that all the Angel siblings have a few screws loose in their head. But seeing as they were also from a Relic Graveyard, Van couldn’t really react that much.

"Lead the way, then," Van gestured to Angelica to go ahead, he then glanced towards Artemis.

"I know, protect Sarah and protect myself."

"Exciting, isn’t it?" Angelica raised both her thumbs as she continued to lead the way, "Having a baby, imagined if they were triplets. Wait no, imagine if they were triplets, and then you gave birth to them in the past, because you know, Olympian births are weird as you said... then it turns out me, Angela, and Angelo were your children? How weird would that be?"

"..."

"That... that would probably explain why we didn’t have parents, right?" Angelica let out an awkward chuckle, "Because we were born in the past while our parents are in the future. I mean, who would abandon someone as cute as us? We probably would have even fetched money if they just put us into a circus or something. But for there to be no pare--"

"That’s enough yapping, Angelica."

Before Angelica could finish her... speech, Angela suddenly appeared in front of them, abruptly stopping them in their tracks.

"Small sister!" Angelica once again chuckled awkwardly, "What are you doing here, shouldn’t you be waiting for us far ahead?"

"There’s been a small mishap," Angela said calmly as she turned around, and as soon as she did so, a slightly dark-skinned man calmly walked out from the corner of the hall.

"It’s a Platinum-rank Explorer...

...perhaps the strongest."

"...Stronger than Charlotte?"

"Debatable."