It didn’t take many steps before Riley got to the front of Kabal. He slowly moved his right hand.
“…”
Riley’s hand was headed to the handle of the sword on his waist.
‘First, I’ll cut this bastard, and then…’
Holding the handle, drawing the sword, cutting Kabal’s arm, stomach, neck, or anywhere… Riley thought that’s what he should do.
‘If I cut him…’
Riley’s hand, which was headed to the sword handle, suddenly flinched and stopped.
“…”
His hand lightly shivered.
‘After cutting him with sword… what will happen?’
His sword handle was only a few inches away, but he was unable to draw the sword that was hanging on his waist.
‘Young Master, have I changed a lot?’
Before he grabbed the sword, he thought about Nainiae’s question.
It was because of the sword.
Riley had been swinging the sword throughout his past life and even in this life. He stopped his hand and thought about the reason why he wielded sword.
‘To begin with, why am I wielding a sword…’
In his regret filled past life, because of a sword, he was grinding away and then some for nothing. While he was at it… He swore that he will never hold a sword ever again and will never have hope that he would be able to save someone by wielding it… However…
‘Why?’
To himself who swore never to wield a sword ever again, Riley asked why, and he found an answer soon.
‘Why? Isn’t that obvious? My father… My father lost his right arm because of this bastard. I can’t leave a bastard like Kabal be when he hurt my family. So, that’s why I…’
In his past life, due to his lack of attention, he lost all of his family. When Riley was born in to this new life, he swore that he will protect his family no matter what.
So…
During last spring, when Oruli made Iris eat poisoned soup, he felt his heart sink. Unable to sit still, Riley picked up the sword.
‘Now is no different. It is the same. This bastard hurt my family. He is the bastard who took away my father’s arm. He is the bastard who hurt my family. To him… I should…’
Looking at Kabal in front of him, Riley, who had his hand just inches away from the sword handle, started to twitch his fingers again.
Thinking about what would result from this action, Riley feared about his current life ending up just like his past life, a life full of regrets.
‘Which one is it?’
Riley asked himself another question.
‘Do you want to rest easy? Do you want to continue swinging sword? Which one is it?’
He could not make up his mind.
Sometimes, he just lay down, saying he didn’t want to bother with the problems. In other times, he swung the sword, saying he won’t sit back and watch.
It was as if he was trapped in a maze. Riley could not make up his mind.
‘I…’
During this year’s spring, since when he saw his mother coughing blood after eating a poisoned soup and picked up a sword… Riley had not been able to make consistent decisions.
It was because he never quite decided clearly if he wanted to wield sword again or not.
It could be that he had a foolish desire left.
In his past life, he swung the sword to the very end and defeated the Demon Lord. However, his life ended before he could hear anyone telling him that he had done well or that he worked hard. It could be that he just wanted to hear some words of recognition as a reward.
Like a ghost with grudge or obsession…
“…”
Facing the question, he was not able to make a decision quickly. A phantom voice could be heard in his ear.
Coward.
Lazy bum.
The voice was criticizing him. Listening to the voice, Riley was hesitating about holding the sword. It was around that time. Kabal, who was immobilized because of the deadly aura, started to move slowly.
“You bastard…”
Of the purple people, of the six parts, the power that he possessed was the monstrous strength. Last time, although Stein possessed superior skill, he still lost an arm because of Kabal’s ability.
“You dare…”
Although Riley was restraining Kabal with his deadly aura, Kabal started to move his body using his monstrous strength alone. His face was completely red in fury. Kabal snorted toward Riley.
He was like a bull in a bull fighting arena. Not just his face, but the white parts of his eyes were bloodshot. Using his strength, he made a fist with his right hand and punched Riley’s stomach with it.
“… Kup?!”
Riley was still organizing his thoughts about his past and his reasons for wielding the sword. Feeling the shock in his stomach, Riley crumpled his face.