บท 113: Overwhelming Emotion
I stood on the railings. Desert Eagles in both hands. I watched as Alessa picked the cult members one by one as if she was playing with a claw machine. Though she was being wary of Arcy's and my presence, she didn't falter and continued to deliver her punishment to them.
With Dark Alessa being out of the scene for the moment, I intended to finish this once and for all. I was exhausted. Too tired already. Both physically and mentally. Too many things happened in the span of 24 to 48 hours and it started to take a toll on my body.
I glanced toward the poor people being bullied by her. As much as I hate these people and they deserved what was coming for them, seeing Alessa reeling in exhilaration at their misery, gave a bad taste in my mouth. I knew that her revenge was inevitable. I knew it very well because I'd been in her spot before.
But the difference is, that it didn't bring joy to me as much as it was to her. What Alessa was doing now was already past the boundary of revenge, she just wanted to massacre them at this point. This had to stop.
I took a deep breath and let it out, before glancing toward the blonde little girl who was on the verge of crying. Eve was looking at me with an expression I couldn't describe.
"It seems, I owe her an apology." I smiled helplessly, scratching my helmet with the barrel of the gun.
[You do, Sir. Poor girl seems to get attached to you already,] commented Regina.
"I wonder why," I replied, sarcastically. Of course, I know why. After what she's been to, she's in dire need of someone she can hold on to.
She was lonely, and maybe still is. No one bothered to give her the affection she craved as she was just a subject of an experiment. Even though there were some, they were only doing it out of pity, and that was not enough.
She needed a genuine love, not romantically of course, or else the FBI would whoop my ass and threw me behind the bar.
"Huh? Who's the old man next to her?" I muttered, looking at the old man who was standing next to her.
[From Rose's and Cybil's calm demeanor, it seems that guy was on our side, protecting her.],
"Well, I'll be damned. It seems there are still good guys in this place." I remarked as I switched the safety trigger off. With both guns side by side, parallel to my head, I deployed the Gem regalia for the first time. "Better end this soon, or we'll gonna run out of good guys."
Vhoeeeeng...
The Gem Regalia started rotating and pulsating, sending a wave of vibration through the structure of the building and the air surrounding me.
"Infinite Stratum: Ensnaring Suffocation."
With every pulse that spread through the building and the air, the movement of the barbed wires started to slow down and eventually halted its course. It didn't with only that, those who were inside this building were also forced to be frozen by the vibration.
To understand how it works, the Regalia used vibration to influence everything surrounding the regalia, whether it was small particles like sand or something big like an elephant. By transmitting the vibration at the lowest but heaviest frequency, the Gem Regalia could resonate the vibration that was coursing through it with the vibration it produced.
That was the principle of Gaia Road, the original owner's trick, Kilik's trick.
However, the downside of this trick was that I must stay connected to the ground, or else, I would release the paralyzing effect and the barbed wires would become a fierce danger for me.
"Arcy! Seismic Toss!"
Arceus's move set was very limited as he was just born less than 20 minutes ago. Those that I knew currently were Seismic Toss, Cosmic Power, and Hyper Beam. I could have just ordered him to attack, but I was afraid that he would use some overpowered move and it resulted in some irreparable damage.
A black ball of gravity formed in front of Arceus's chest, and with a stomp, it flew straight toward Alessa.
It didn't do much against her as the damage depending on the user's level. Currently, Arcy was level 1. Regardless, what I aimed for was to only incapacitate her.
"Arcy, protect the people behind me," I commanded, before jumping straight onto Alessa's bed. The paralyzing effect caused by my Regalia was released and everyone and everything could move again.
Some barbed wires that weren't affected by Seismic Toss started to pincer me from multiple directions.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
The reinforced Deagle snapped the barbed wires and it fell to the ground. There was not much resistance as I landed safely on the bed.
"I'm sorry," I said to Alessa.
She couldn't reply, because she couldn't talk as her vocal cords were heavily damaged from the burn.
I tossed the Deagles inside my inventory and clenched my fist, summoning the Oni Gauntlet along with Whitebeard.
[What are you trying to do, Sir?] questioned Regina. She already told me that killing her would be useless.
I know, but what I was about to do was not that. Hell, I'm not even planning to harm a single hair on her skin.
"Whitebeard's ability, it could erase everything I want, right?" I answered her question with one of mine.
[Yes, but be wise, Sir. We still need to test the value rate before recklessly abusing its power.] warned Regina.
I knew the risk that came with it. However, I couldn't afford to waste my time right now. The moment Dark Alessa returned, she would not let me get even a step closer to Alessa in the future. This was the only chance I had.
Ignoring Regina's warning, I moved Whitebeard and aimed it at Alessa's head, in between her eyebrows.
"It should be right around here," I muttered.
Beneath me, I could hear Dark Alessa screaming my name as she flew straight toward us. Too bad, my finger was faster in pulling the trigger.
BAM!
A round white bullet came out of the muzzle, followed by a cloud of thick smoke that covered half of my vision. As the bullet vanished inside Alessa's head, I felt a piercing pain coursing through my veins. Eventually, a line of blood came out of my nose.
<MP: –39/560>
That single bullet cost more than the entirety of my mana pool. Yet, instead of regretting my choice, I simply smiled. I succeeded.
[What've you done, Sir?]
"What did you do!"
Both Regina's and Dark Alessa's voices interlapsed with each other. I didn't answer yet and just nudged toward Alessa. Dark Alessa followed the trail of my vision and was surprised to find that...
...Alessa was crying. Droplets of tears flowed down her charred skin.
I took out a dry cloth from my inventory and wiped the tears on her face. Some might said, what I did to her was unforgivable and cruel. But there was no other way, it saddened me how much pain Alessa was going through for the past 30 years... No... her whole life.
Mocked, bullied, cursed... raped... and sacrificed for something so mundane.
"Answer me!" ordered Dark Alessa. She was the first one to feel the change. Her power started to weaken.
Outside, the Dark Dimension was slowly being lifted. Her influence in this world started to weaken as well.
"I erased her anger," I replied. That's right. I erased one of her emotions, but I still left her scorn toward these people. All that was left was sorrow, grief, and despair.
[What!?]
"What!?"
The two of them were surprised at the same time, not expecting the answer I gave. Regina was slowly coming into terms with it, but Dark Alessa couldn't as she didn't know about the existence of Whitebeard or its ability.
Once again, I deployed the Gem Regalia. None of us could move, but what I wanted to do now was to chat with Alessa. Even if she couldn't answer me, I just wanted to convey what I was feeling.
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry for taking the anger within you. You might be wondering why I did that, or maybe you already found the answer the moment your anger vanished." I said, carefully choosing my words.
I turned around and pointed at the terrified people crowding the entrance door. I continued, "They are cruel. They are. They didn't deserve your mercy. You waited for 30 damn years and nothing changed. If I was you, I would've killed them the moment you trapped them inside this world."
I turned to face Alessa. I saw her beautiful eyes, glistening in this darkness. She didn't want this. She didn't want to hurt more people. It was enough that only she felt the pain. It was enough that her mother was spared the torture she experienced.
"But, you didn't..." I paused slightly. My voice was choking.
"You wanted them to repent, didn't you? What a good girl." it was inappropriate for me to call her that, but there was no word good enough to express her gentle nature.
"Let it go Alessa. Let's just stop it. You've done enough."
Alessa couldn't hold the overwhelming emotion that surged into her heart. Her cry was indiscernible. Like a random sound coming from her throat. But I knew. I knew she was taking out the trauma that was breaking her heart. The trauma that Dark Alessa took advantage of. There was no sound except her heartfelt cry.
She forgot how to feel happiness. She forgot how to feel young and full of energy. She forgot how to feel.
A notification appeared in front of me. It was a question and I could only pick one of two choices, yes or no. An affirmation of Alessa's current desire to stop.
Turning toward Alessa, I said to her, "rest easy. I'll pray that you'll find happiness in your next life."
Then, I looked up, looking past the ceiling, far out of space, where nothing and everything exist at the same time, to The One Above All, "And I will make sure he heard it."
Alessa nodded, and I touched the Yes button on the screen. On it, there was only a single question, "Do you want to take control of the fog world, Silent Hill?"
Dark Alessa who have been watching everything from the start screamed at us, "NOOOO!"
Her body started to turn into small pieces of ashes. They floated up in the air and vanished. "I curse you, human! You don't know who you are fighting against!"
"Send my regards to Mephisto. I will pay for what he did to me, and her a hundred folds." I replied, with a cold tone.
"How did you—"
"Oh, that's right. I take it back. You can't even meet him since you'll cease to exist." I smirked at her and surely she snapped at me. Too bad, she didn't have the time. I was wondering how creative she could be with words.
"You—"
And thus, the final piece of her face faded into ashes. Dark Alessa was no more.
With a flick of a wrist, I opened the door of the church and released my bindings on everyone. Disregarding everything that just happened in front of their eyes, those who survived Alessa's wrath immediately chose to escape once the door opened.
They stagger outside the entrance after witnessing a certain fat bird "pile-driving" pyramid head down the stairs before making a victory pose which I leave to your imagination. When I used the Radar Sense before coming out of that hell hole, I already the bird and the butterfly duo, working in tandem, giving the pyramid head the time of his life.
'Thank you.'
Hearing the two words in my head, I turned toward Alessa. She also started to vanish, bit by bit. Her body, the bed, and the barbed wires started to crumble into ashes as they float into nothingness. Before she entirely left, she turned toward her half.
'I hope she finds what I didn't have. I hope the other me could feel what I couldn't feel.'
"I will make sure of it," I promised.
At her last moment, Alessa let out a pure and genuine smile.
I jumped toward the second floor before I lost my footing and fell. That would've made it awkward for my cool and mysterious image.
Meanwhile, seeing that everything was done, and I was not in danger, Arceus turned into a light and vanished inside my pocket.
I changed the AT to normal boots. I have to admit, it was weird if I just glided on the floor, moving toward them like knockoff ghost prankers. I'd rather walk than have to face the embarrassment later on.
"Who are you?" said old man Charles, rather nervously.
"Some people called me Killswitch. Just call me that." I replied, keeping my cool.
"It's big bro Edward!" yelled Eve happily while running toward me for a hug.
"Not now Eve, I need to keep my real identity a secret," I whispered to her.
"Big bro sucks at lying."
I gasped and said, "Who taught you that, lady. That's a no-no word. Bad word."
Eve playfully covered her mouth while smiling joyfully.
Regina also chimed in, [says the guy who keeps mouthing vulgar words before each word.]
"That's too exaggerating," I replied with a whisper before apologizing to her.
Then came Rose with Sharon in her arms, while teasing, "Isn't it already too late to hide it from us? Besides, the girl was saying the truth."
I just sighed and accepted everything that was thrown at me. I didn't mind it. At least we knew that we could afford to relax now. Especially me, knowing that I had already become the new owner of this realm. There were a bunch of notifications, but I chose to ignore them for now.
"Someone needed to do an explanation. What the hell happened, what was that white horse thingy, and what should we do now?" said Cybil, the policewoman that took care of the group's safety when I was gone.
"Fine. But before that..." I pointed toward the old man that was watching everything from the start. He didn't feel like he was trying to escape this place like the others.
Rose started to explain everything that happened to me when I was gone. She told me about how they met Cybil, her speech, the grenade, how Charles was the first one to point a hand at Christabella, and his valor in making sure the group was much safer.
I nodded at her explanation and told her about my small adventure as well, minus the Dragon Shrine and Mephisto's hell.
"So we finally can get out?" mumbled old man Charles, falling on his butt. It didn't take long for his bewilderment to turn into joy. It has been 30 years. Even I would've turned crazy if I was at his feet.
"Do we have to go back to where we came from?" asked Rose.
"Ah... there's no need."
I snapped my finger and an oval portal the size of an adult appeared. On the other side of the portal was the same exact church, just in a different palette and it was clearly in shambles as it was abandoned long ago.
I turned toward the gasping adults and said, "Well, ladies first."
The first one to get in was Rose and Sharon as they were already missed the outside world. Then, Cybil made sure that we were really in the outside world as she started observing the surroundings. And so our turn came as I called the two creature that was still playing outside.
The bird and the butterfly ran toward us, climbing the steps, and reunited with Eve. She seemed to have been worried about them as she kept hugging them, forcing Pon to carry her on her belly with its feather wrapping the sweet little girl.
When I was about to walk through the portal, I turned toward the old man. I asked, "you're not coming in?"
The old man just shook his head.
I glanced at the crumpled picture in Charles's hand, "Don't you have family out there?"
"Who will be waiting for a dead guy? I'm pretty sure no one would miss an old fart like me. And it's better that way. Besides, if I step through that thing, I won't have the face to meet my family, knowing I took part in burning a little girl." while his statement was true, the last part was a bit far from it.
When Alessa was being burned on the stake, he was actually out of town, finalizing a deal to buy a farm in the south. It was his bad luck when he got back that Alessa decided to take everything away with her.
"I will just become a burden for my family." said the old man, his nose was red as he tried not to choke up.
"But still, there must be someone who will miss you." I insisted. I didn't like him because of the bias I had toward everyone in this town. But, the more I converse with this man, the more I sympathized with his circumstances. No one wanted this, yet here they are. Maybe. Just maybe, Alessa's 30 years of waiting wasn't meaningless.
"Then, can you wait for five minutes? No, three minutes is fine."
"Take your time, Sir. No need to rush."
===°°°===
-In the real world.-
The group was waiting outside the abandoned Church. They were bathing in the orange sky of the sunset. For the first time, the sunset felt like a blessing for them. Anywhere here was better than the gloomy gray sky inside the other world.
A moment later, I walked outside under the somber sky toward them. They saw me putting something inside my pocket but didn't question what it was.
"What took you so long?" asked Rose. I could only smile at her and she picked up the answer immediately from my expression. There was nothing she could do.
"Where's the old man?" asked Eve, bluntly.
I ruffled her hair and replied, "He's not coming. He's can't leave his hometown."
We talked a little bit as we watched the sunset. We didn't want to go anywhere yet. It might be a short time, but we missed this calm atmosphere, where no immediate danger could be found. It was peaceful and quiet. There was a reason this place was called Silent Hill.
After a while, the curtain of the night started to blanket the sky. Now was the time to part ways.
"What to do now? I don't think my car is in a good shape to take us home," said Rose. She turned to Cybil, but the latter also shook her head.
"Neither do I. My motorcycle was wrecked by one of those creatures."
"Umm... I can take you all home." I offered.
"Oh, do you have some kind of vehicle? Now that I thought about it, where did you guys come from? And what did you use to get here?" asked Cybil.
I didn't reply and took something out of my inventory. I took out Blackbird, X-Men's private jet. All of them were jaw-slacked at the sheer size of the plane. And how it appeared out of thin air. Of course, I didn't explain anything to them. This was a state secret.
It has been a long time since I last use the jet plane. It was trapped inside my inventory for quite a long time.
I turned toward them and said, "Then... Shall we go home?"
===°°°===
-Somewhere in the Southern countryside.-
The night sky has glittered with sparkling stars and a crescent moon. A young mother was telling a bedtime story to her son. When she saw the boy sleep quite soundly, she tucked him and kissed his forehead before going downstairs.
She followed the sound coming from the kitchen and saw an old lady washing the dirty plates and mug.
"Mother! You shouldn't force yourself. Let me do the dish."
"It's fine, I need to occupy myself, or I would be reminded by that old fart."
"Mother..." mumbled the woman, feeling a bit sad.
"Don't worry about me, Abby. Go fetch your husband. He hasn't had dinner yet," told her mother-in-law.
Leaving the back of the woman who had raised her husband single-handedly, she walked toward the barn with a torchlight in her hand. Walking past the mailbox, she noticed there were several letters inside.
"Pretty late for a mail," wondered Abby.
She resumed walking toward the barn while checking the letters. Some were just ads for vacation programs, while the others were just a formal invitation to a wedding. When she stepped into the barn, she noticed that there was a particular letter that didn't have an address or any information written on the envelope.
"What is it?"
The voice startled her because it suddenly came from behind her.
"Don't surprise me like that. One of these days..." mumbled Abby, complaining to her husband.
"Okay, fine. I won't do it again."
"Go wash. You're reek of oil smell."
"Oh ho, aren't you an impatience one? Should we just make a little sister for Hansel in here?" whispered Curtiss, his hand wandering under his wife's thin clothing.
His wife giggled while playfully attempting to stop her husband from enticing her.
"Let's get you a bath first, Mr. horny. And dinner for stamina if you want to put your hand on these bubbles." teased her while groping her own breast.
Curtis just laugh helplessly as he opened the envelope in his hand. His wife was already stepping outside the door when she called him.
"What are you doing, spacing out like that?" asked her wife.
But her question was answered by a silent gasp. And in the next moment, tears came out of her husband's eyes.
"Curtis?"
She ran toward her husband, trying to calm him down. But nothing worked. He just stood there, crying, while hugging the only letter, the only belonging, that his father left for him.
ความคิดของผู้สร้าง 
NightHowl
NightHowl For god's sake, the Silent Hill arc was too damn long, I didn't expect it to drag this long. Anyway, after an event, there will be a time skip, finally, Edward will be a teenager.
Anyways, see you in the next chapter!!
(づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ
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