บท 43: Helluva

"Cheeky bastards, you want me to enrich the name of the Streetlight Talon for a while, ey? Good effort, but don't take my kindness for granted.

"You know that I could just order a new combat outfit from a great workshop after the payment though, aight?"

The Cheshire Cat didn't flinch, not even an inch.

"You won't, there won't be any combat ware below 3,000,000 Solus that would fare against the worth of the prototype, you knew it yourself, on how much worth that second layer of protection is."

What he said was right.

Immediately I unleashed his tie from my grip.

It was not really about the stamina enhancement, or reflex heightening—it was about the second layer of coat that could convert any kinetic impact and movement made by the wearer and the outsiders into a surplus of energy.

Such technology might be at its premature state, but its potential was more than enough to be nominated as a Tesseract of the World if improved enough.

I doubt that even Tenniel, the White Rabbit, realized what kind of absurd piece of work that he was developing.

With it being the second layer, it means that the Streetlight Talon could create a ton of combinations of utility in the future. The customization potential would be extreme.

Heh, while I appreciated the benefits, he started to get cocky.

So I removed the third layer of the multilayered apparel, the black long coat with the fancy branching golden boughs at each side. Afterward, I merely threw the damn thing to the grinning cat in front of me, which landed perfectly on his head, hanging from a human hanger that needs to know his boundary.

The naked reveal of the orange layer with complex energy formation, that was pulsating up and down, allowed the trapped steam to disperse visibly into the air.

To top it off, I threw the fancy tie to his head, landing perfectly vertical on top of the hanging long coat.

"Thank you very much, regardless. Once again, it's true that I like the second layer of this outfit very much, but I didn't say anything about needing protection. Heck, I'm not even scratched by a single bit within the whole hunt."

Toronto uncovered his sight again from the hanging long coat, the unhinged grin was still there.

"The second layer of that set is as fragile as a paper floating above a pond, you don't want to damage it."

"Don't worry, I'm not even going to wear it."

"Hmhmhmhm, HAHAHAHAHAHA!" The crazy cat placed his palm on his face again. "Is that so, it seems like I have underestimated you. I apologize for that."

I faced away, to the direction of the exit from this site. "No problem, I'm sure that we will strike a better deal in the future."

While most of the crowd was paying attention to the passed out Nusa, I walked past them, unnoticed as I didn't let any of my footsteps nor presence be perceived.

This Thursday was the most profitable yet. Even then, I still had many things that I needed to do to start up my foundation to achieve bigger things. Not to mention, I need to buy some premium black forest.

Tomorrow will be a fun day. I can't wait to come here again to see the Yugen Extra's reaction.

I didn't remember my journey, but I knew that I had arrived at my haven.

"Haaah, my vision is all blurry."

I leaned my back to the wooden chair that was barely sitting within my apartment. The first and second layer of the combat coat was hanging on the wall, while Adust was laying down on the edge of the broken table that I once experimented with.

"So many things to do, yet so little I can do."

My heart was beating too fast for my liking, even when there was nothing to raise my adrenaline even further.

If the Golden Beard said that his veins were lightning, my veins were wires with pain receptors that got electrocuted twenty four hours without rest.

So for one final chance, I reinforced the debris that was sealing the hole on the front of my apartment.

"Yeah, ahaha, this should do."

I sat back at the wooden chair once again, only coated by my white shirt and pants.

Slowly, my breath rhythmed itself out without any of my consent. Neither my bubbly head nor the stress within my chest could handle the fatigue anymore.

As soon as I forgot to stay awake, my consciousness drifted into the depth of a silent lullaby that started to keep me in the corner of dread.

Dreams and thoughts were racing to get the first place into my heart. Whether it was my subconscious wills to prevent any of those to enter, or it was perhaps that I no longer believe in the light that was guiding me all along.

Within this place of darkness.

I felt the most calm out of everything that the City had thrown.

It might be because it was the first time in a year that I mustered as much energy as today, but something felt different than usual?

Despite not having any incentive to stay conscious anymore, I felt a mellow yet dim hue of orange passing through my right eyelid, followed by a rhythmic clang of steel being tempered.

While fully aware of the potential of a bad situation, instead of waking up like a soldier sniffing the presence of a drill sergeant knocking on the door, I gradually opened my single hazy eye, only to realize that a lot of things didn't match the memory that I have of being inside a broken apartment.

The wall seemed to be made of cobblestone, lightly reflecting the dimmed source of light, in which, when I dragged my vision across the antique wood interior, I saw a single lantern on the very corner.

There was another source of light. Continuing to shift my eyesight, I saw a headless figure with a black cloak, heavily reminiscing Adust when the first time I saw her real appearance inside her consciousness realm.