New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Next to him, Kloud was still slouched over, crying in silence. Astaroth was having a hard time understanding the situation.

“This is all my fault,” Kloud uttered, his voice hoarse.

“Don’t you pity yourself, muscle brain. Atone for what you did, instead of crumbling like a shattered mirror.”

Astaroth stood to his feet. Looking at him, Aberon liked the look in his eyes.

“I agree with old man Aberon. Stop your self-loathing already. I’ve seen what demonic possession does to someone. Instead of crying here alone, you should be over there, apologizing to the survivors.”

Astaroth pointed to the center of the settlement, where the fire was still blazing.

Kloud lifted his tear-filled face, seeing where Astaroth was pointing.

“I can’t. I killed my friends. Their friends. I took away from the surviving ones the means to feel fulfilled at the end of the day. I can never face them again.”

Astaroth’s face morphed into a mask of anger.

“Where is the proud warrior who raved on and on about honour?! Get a grip on yourself, teacher! Do the honourable thing!”

Kloud looked at him, despair filling his eyes. He then looked to Aberon, who was acting like a bystander.

“Don’t look at me. Look at him. Your student is right.”

Kloud gazed back at Astaroth, his eyes still streaming with tears.

“I can’t do it. I can’t face them. Not after what I did to them.”

Astaroth growled in anger. He scanned Kloud, verifying if what Aberon had said was still true.

*Kloud Stryph*

Level: 80

Grade: Rare

Health: 249,000

Mana: 7,800

‘Looks like he still has his extra power. Good.’

“Fine. You want to act like a wounded dog? Let’s see how long you stay that way.”

Astaroth melded with Luna, reaching what was approximately the same level of strength he could gauge from Kloud at this moment.

Aberon had already caught on to what Astaroth was about to do, and only gave him fair warning.

“Don’t hurt anyone or break anything. If you do, I’ll punish you myself.”

Kloud looked at Aberon, confused, until he felt a hand grab him by his collar. Looking at Astaroth, who was now up his face, with a crown of antlers on his head, and an air of authority to him, he gulped.

The next thing he saw was the settlement pass under him at an extremely fast pace, as he slammed into the opposite wall of the cavern to his tent. Falling to the ground, he coughed up a bit of blood.

‘He’s gotten so powerful.’

But looking up, Astaroth was already in his face again.

“I’m not done, old man. Get a grip, or I’ll really kill you.”

Astaroth, of course, wasn’t intending to go through with that threat. But he was going to bring the man to the brink, if that was what it took to snap him out of his pitying mindset.

With a kick to his stomach, Kloud felt the air leave his lungs before he went flying up, hitting the ceiling. The commotion had roused everyone in the settlement from their daily activities, and they watched in horror as Astaroth pummeled Kloud to a pulp.

Kloud wasn’t even defending himself. He just let Astaroth batter him like a living punching bag without resisting.

Once Astaroth had brought his health down to ten percent, Kloud already looking like someone had shoved into a blender with dull blades and pressed burst a few times, he brought the battered man into the center of the settlement.

Dropping him next to the bonfire, Astaroth looked around, seeing some looks of anger on the older men, most of whom had served with or under Kloud, back in their younger days.

“Look at them, teacher. Look at their angry faces.”

Kloud sat up, looking through his swollen eyes, and noticing the stares. He looked down at his hands, thinking they were aimed toward him.

“I can’t make it up to them. I’ll never make it up to them. Not after what I did.”

Astaroth spat on the ground.

“You idiot. Can’t you see?”

Astaroth grabbed Kloud’s collar again, rearing his fist for a punch, before someone intervened.

Aj’axx was holding his arm back, and lodged right against Astaroth’s throat, a very sharp dagger. Astaroth looked at the one holding the dagger and smiled.

“I knew you still had some fight left in you. Kloud. If Korin can still find the strength to fight, how dare you sit on your ass and cry? How dare you pity yourself?”

Kloud was looking at his two ex-subordinates, who were currently holding back Astaroth, and tears streamed down his face again.

“Why are you stopping him? I hurt you so much. Let him kill me. I deserve it”

Astaroth could have broken away from Aj’axx’s grip, or knocked the shaky Korin to the ground. But that wasn’t his intention.

The dagger lowered from Astaroth’s throat, and the latter used his free arm to support Korin. The blind man spoke up.

“Why are you crying, Kloud? None of this is your fault. The demon could have possessed anyone of us, and rampaged like you did. Yet, I know you would have held onto us until we were back to normal. Just like we did.”

Kloud didn’t know how to respond to his friend.

“But… I killed our friends. Slaughtered them. And I injured you so much… How can you still think of me as the same man?”

Aj’axx let go of Astaroth’s arm when he felt the young man would not do anything, and he saw him go back to normal. He walked around Astaroth, extending his arm backward.

*Slap!*

“Snap out of it, General. We are at war with the demons. What happened was regrettable?, but it wasn’t your fault. The true enemy is still the demons. We still need you to fight off the threat. Our young ones are not ready or strong enough to do so.”

Kloud looked at his two friends, crying like a baby.

Aberon stepped into the tent circle and looked at the scene. He could already sense from Kloud’s mental state that he was reconnecting with his normal self.

“Alright, that’s enough. Night is about to fall. Let us all rest and revisit this discussion tomorrow.”

Walking up to the group of four, Aberon lifted Kloud to his feet, and Aj’axx grabbed Korin. Aberon started walking his old friend to his own tent, stopping next to Astaroth.

*Whack!*

“Ow! What was that for?!”

“That was for being so ridiculously rough with him. I’m sure you could have stopped before almost killing him and gotten the same result. Now, go to sleep. We’ll finish talking tomorrow.”

Rubbing the back of his head, Astaroth walked toward where he had left Genie earlier that day. She was laying there, waiting for him to come back.

He laid down next to her, resting on her belly, as she covered him with her puffy tail.

“I guess I could have stopped before that. I think melding with demons so often has made me slightly more violence-prone. I’ll have to be careful.”

Turning his head slightly, Astaroth closed his eyes and fell asleep almost immediately. He hadn’t realized how tired he was until he stopped and relaxed.．𝗻𝐞𝘁