Chapter 153: Deadman Joke.

Chad watched silently as Seris’s sobs got quieter with each passing moment. The sound eventually became nothing more than the occasional shaky breath, but the silence that followed somehow felt worse. Finally, he worked up the courage to approach her.

But as he reached out his hand, she suddenly snapped, slapping it away.

"Don’t touch me... all this time, the reason you’ve been trying to be my big brother was because you killed my actual sister. I hate—I hate you."

Chad could only lower his head and not respond, in fear of making it worse.

Seris was shaking faintly. She couldn’t make up her mind whether she felt angry or sad. It was one of those feelings where you were experiencing so much emotion that you yourself couldn’t make sense of it. Her sister was dead, someone she had trusted had admitted to being responsible, and the person she had spent all this time treating like family was now standing in front of her as the person who had taken that family away.

She stood up and wiped the tears from her eyes, but more continued gathering almost immediately. "You know what, Yuri was right, you’re a filthy coward, a coward who runs away from responsibility... stay away from me, or I might just let you drop dead the next time you get yourself wounded."

Seris walked past him with eyes colder than ice. Chad couldn’t even try to stop her. His hand remained lowered at his side as he watched her leave, knowing that anything he said now would only make the wound deeper.

Chad could make up excuses from now till tomorrow, but it wouldn’t change a thing. He couldn’t get back her trust, or the trust of any of his friends for that matter.

He knew the mistake made couldn’t be taken back, but he still tried. He even accepted Andrea’s mission and followed them into the ruins. It was risky, but he steeled his heart and went anyway. He, the coward, acted selfless in the Eidolon war, and in the end, none of it worked out. He still lost all his friends.

Maybe that was the part that hurt the most. He had spent so much time trying to make up for something that could never truly be undone, only to discover that there were some things no amount of courage could repair.

"Are you okay?" A cold but somehow soft and worried voice came from behind.

Chad already knew who it was. Only one person could sound so bewitching and at the same time distant and reclusive. He turned and met Yuri’s soft expression, then he shook his head.

"No."

Yuri sighed lightly.

"Chad, I’m sorry, this is—"

"Please don’t blame yourself for my mistakes," Chad interrupted. "I’m trying my hardest to own what I have done here... perhaps that’s the difference between me and him, he always owns up to it, without caring what others say or think about him."

Yuri didn’t react. She knew who Chad was referring to. In fact, he was currently scheming something with Vincent over there, although no one seemed to have the time to care.

"Don’t try to be like him, you’ll probably end up dead."

Chad laughed softly, realising that was Yuri’s attempt at a Damien joke. It wasn’t particularly funny, but he appreciated the effort anyway. After everything that had just happened, hearing something even remotely resembling a joke was enough to loosen some of the tension weighing on his chest.

His laughter faded quickly, however.

Yuri spoke again. "Seris will get over it. The two of you have always been close, you’re like an older brother to her. She will come around. I promise."

Chad shook his head slightly. "Perhaps I don’t want her to."

Yuri’s expression changed slightly, but she didn’t interrupt him.

"I know full well I’m not strong enough to protect her in this world, so I should let others do the job."

He looked in the direction Seris had disappeared, his expression becoming distant.

"I’ve already failed once. I don’t want to make the same mistake twice."

There was no self-pity in his voice. If anything, Chad sounded as though he had already reached a conclusion and was simply trying to convince himself that it was the right one.

Chad walked past Yuri, but before he went far enough, she spoke again.

"Sounds awfully cowardly to me."

Chad stopped.

Yuri remained where she was, her expression calm and her voice as soft as ever. "Prove yourself by being there for her even when she doesn’t want you to. That’s the true challenge."

Chad turned, but by the time he did, Yuri was already gone.

He stared at the empty path for a few seconds, wondering whether she had genuinely meant what she said or simply wanted to stop him from running away again.

Either way, her words had struck somewhere his excuses couldn’t reach.

Chad lowered his head, then slowly turned back toward the others. He still didn’t know whether Seris would ever forgive him.

But perhaps that wasn’t the point, perhaps he simply had to stay long enough to find out.

...

The survivors were finally done preparing, and the march immediately began. Andrea and the Round Table members led at the very forefront, followed by the Awakened, then the injured and ordinary people. The wagons moved slowly behind them, carrying the supplies they had managed to gather, while those who could still fight kept their weapons close at hand.

Nobody knew what awaited them ahead, but after everything they had endured, there was no reason to turn back now. They had survived the Eidolon war, crossed the frozen wastelands, and endured more horrors than most of them had ever imagined possible.

They were finally going to take their prize, and perhaps with it, finally make it back to Earth.

Andrea turned to Damien. "How about some cover, it’s best we avoid wasting our time fighting low level monsters".

Damien nodded, and a thick blanket of miasma suddenly erupted from his body and spread out in all directions, swallowing the entire group and frightened away dormant ranked monsters.

Everyone else lost their vision beyond a few meters, so Damien was now the one leading the way.