There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)-Chapter 479 - 472. Suppression

"Sorry for making you do this," Zein looked at Ron, who was in the middle of wearing his equipment. "You’re supposed to go back today, aren’t you?"

Ron’s role in this Operation should have ended when they arrived in this city ruin. Initially, he should be going back to the headquarters that day with the operation’s physical recording to be given to Trinity’s command post. But now, he had to become a pathfinder again for Zein and Bassena, since Kei had to manage the base.

"Don’t worry about it," Ron smirked while fastening his gloves. "It’s never hurt to stack people’s debt--especially the powerful ones."

Zein chuckled and patted the scout’s back in gratitude, before going to check on his kids. They were huddling on a dining table after finishing their breakfast. Zein could see a notepad in front of Dean, filled with a timetable and list of names.

"How’s your condition?" he asked, and all of them looked up at the same time like it was a reflex.

"Oh, we’re fine, Captain. Everything’s been digested already," Dheera said cheerfully, and despite hearing that they all had nightmares, the guides didn’t have any dark circles, and their eyes didn’t look dull. "We’re dividing the job now." freeweɓnovel.cѳm

"Good," Zein nodded. "You know your priorities?"

"Yep--tanks and scouts first," they all nodded. "Are you going to be away for long, Captain?"

"I’m not sure," Zein frowned a little bit when he recalled the fragment inside the tube. They still had no idea how to destroy it, honestly, and had no idea how long it would take for Ron to find a place safe enough for this experimentation. "I hope it won’t take too long."

Dheera turned around in her seat and stretched out her arms with puffed cheeks, prompting Zein to receive the hug with a chuckle. "Be good when I’m gone. Bother Shin from time to time."

"Yessir!"

"I heard that!" the healer yelled from the next table, and Zein left with the sound of laughter behind him.

Just what he needed before tackling the--literal--dark mission.

Zein took a deep breath and, although he was still in the shard’s safe zone, he wore his mask and goggles already. Past the entrance of the stadium, he could see Bassena and Ron on the path that sloped down the hill, a hundred meters from the stadium.

"You’re ready?" Bassena checked once more on top of a ruin that seemed to be a gate a long time ago.

"It’s been a while since I enjoyed Zein’s guiding," Ron moved his shoulder with a satisfied smile. "I think I can do well today."

Bassena chuckled and held out his hand toward Zein, who took it and stayed close to the esper. He turned his head toward the northeast side. "That way?"

"Yeah," Ron nodded. "There’s a mountain range in that place, so it’ll be a good place to start...I think? Well, see you later."

The scout disappeared--or rather, ’absorbed’ into Bassena’s shadow. "How convenient," Bassena chuckled while holding Zein’s hand tighter, before their body completely dispersed into a wisp of dark smoke that traveled fast and far toward the northeast. They appeared two seconds later at a cliff, away from the safety of the shards.

Bassena looked down at the deep ravine beneath them, and then shifted his gaze at the tall mountain range across--just like Ron said. It was an amalgamation of jutting rock formations that would be too dangerous for non-physical types to traverse.

"Seems like you need to stick to me, honey."

Zein flicked the esper’s forehead, but shifted closer nonetheless. As much as he trained his body, there were still things he couldn’t achieve as someone who wasn’t an esper. Bassena laughed softly and pulled Zein’s waist closer, before leaping across the ravine to seek a stable foothold among the jagged rock.

Only after they found a rather flat top did they call Ron out. "You’re okay in there?"

"Quite thrilling," the scout patted his pants as he stood up. "Got to see you being all flirty too, so I don’t have time to get bored."

"Get to work," Zein said dryly, to Bassena’s and Ron’s chuckle.

They started to look for a spot then; Ron went in front to see if there was a cave or a wider flat surface among the rock forest, while Bassena followed behind with Zein in his arms. As expected, it wasn’t easy to find one in the dark, and some of the rocks turned were actually miasmic beasts in disguise. They found a cave one time, but it was a shallow one and had a resident already, so they ended up fighting the creature instead.

"Let’s ignore the caves," Bassena said. "It might collapse anyway. Let’s do it in an open space after all."

They went further into the mountain range, and while the espers were running and jumping around, Zein tried to look around while holding onto Bassena. He tried to remember the map of Deathzone that was made from the ancient map of the Old Day--before the place turned into this deathly place. Together with Radia, he had made a prediction on where the other shards might be, based on the direction where the shards were falling.

And now, while looking for the place to get rid of the Fallen Star’s fragment, he tried to find the direction of where the closest shard might be. Surrendering himself to Bassena’s guard, he closed his eyes and spread his consciousness to look for any sign from the shard.

Vaguely, Zein could vaguely sense a s soft vibration; like an echo of a whisper. Before he could pinpoint the place, however, a husky voice already called him.

"Zein?" Bassena patted his arm. "Honey?"

The blue eyes flew open to see they were standing above a flat rock surface about twenty meters in radius. Bassena put Zein down carefully before looking around. "I didn’t find any beast around, so I think we can start."

Zein nodded and Bassena turned toward Ron. "Stay behind me."

Ron scurried to hide behind the couple, and the dark surroundings suddenly turned darker. Even his vision, which was better than anyone, needed time to adjust. But instead of the stifling sensation, the darkness pressed on him with a different kind of force; mana.

Ah--Ron realized he was inside Bassena’s domain; Nightfall.

Inside the darker-than-black dome, Bassena took out the gradually decaying tube from his sealed storage space. Within just a few hours, the tube had decayed even more, and it only holding on because it was made from high-quality materials provided by Mortix. Zein coated his body in mana and, as Bassena had a finger on the tube’s hatch, he tapped on the power of Setnath he rarely used.

"Go on," he said through the mask.

As soon as the tube opened, the fragment immediately shot out of it, only to be grabbed by a hand coated in a power that burnt it. A shriek that reminded them of yesterday’s battle filled the dome; it would have rang through the mountain range if it wasn’t for Nightfall. Ron covered his ears with his hands, but Bassena had to face the sound assault up front since he was busy covering Zein’s ears.

Good thing he spent a thousand days among the Celestial Being’s thunderous interaction.

Zein grabbed the fragment, which tried to spew fumes of miasma toward him, with both hands. Thanks to being inside Bassena’s domains, the miasma was instantly suppressed by the esper’s higher-quality mana, and Zein had an easier time handling the fragment.

Unlike the Specter’s core, the fragment didn’t come inside his head and try to corrupt him. Perhaps, since it was made of the Fallen Star’s fragment instead of naturally cultivated by the Deathzone itself, it had a different nature. It did not attack mentally, but physically with a burning, poisonous gas.

They had anticipated it, however, and Ron took out anti-toxin serum tubes, pouring the content over him, Bassena, and Zein. The guide--the fragment of another Celestial Being--sent the power he took out from that hidden place he was always afraid to use before, pouring it into his hands and straight toward the Fallen Star’s fragment.

It was a gamble, because honestly, none of them knew what method to destroy this fragment exactly. But countering a fragment with the power of another fragment was the most logical answer, so that was what they were trying to do. By overloading the fragment with mana from a fragment of Setnath, they hoped it would cease the fragment’s existence.

And Zein had a lot of mana from cleansing Bassena last night.

From the grating, shrieking sound coming out of the fragment, it seemed to be the right answer. The more Zein poured out the mana that had been infused with Setnath’s power, the more the fragment tried to run away. At one point, Bassena had to support Zein’s shaking hands, but the guide was just as relentless as the fragment--if not more.

He gripped the crystal tightly, with all the hatred and anger he had toward the one who plunged this world into chaos. He gripped with the intent to shatter the crystal into unrevivable dust.

And he did.

After who knew how long, after the dark purple sheen of the crystal gradually turned grey, and after the crystal lost its vigor more and more, he gripped it tighter and crushed it.

At first, they heard the sound of cracking. And then, it was as if a glass shattered. A storm of miasma hit him, like a bug getting out of a sealed space, but it crashed into a black shield before dispersing.

Ron had closed his eyes and crouched when he heard the cracking sound, waiting for an assault. But after a minute of silence and nothing, he opened his eyes and looked around.

"What? That’s it?"

"Seems so," Bassena chuckled. Perhaps because the fragment was not made of miasma--unlike the Specter core--it didn’t have the effect they were afraid of. "Are you okay, Zein?"

Zein, who had been leaning silently against Bassena’s chest, blinked slowly in a daze. "Yeah...yeah," he nodded with a frown. "I think I saw..."

"Another vision?" Bassena raised his brow. "Could it be about that Fallen Star?"

"Maybe, but...let’s talk about that later--can you retract the Nightfall?"

"Sure."

Bassena waved his hand, and once the dome of darkness retreated, Zein closed his eyes again. It seemed that the presence of Nightfall and the Fallen Star’s fragment finally woke it up.

"There," Zein pointed at the edge of the mountain range, further away from where they were. "I feel another shard around there."