Return of the Tower Conqueror

  In Silence (III)

Cain snuck back into the complex and into his apartment without anyone noticing him, just before the dawn would descend. He snuggled stealthily into the bed next to Emma and quickly fell asleep, having exhausted almost all of his Mana in a single bout, not to mention running away as quickly as he could before all of the L.A.'s cameras descended onto that compound.

It was a dreamless sleep, a peaceful sort that he was slowly beginning to get used to. There was a distinct lack of waking up midway through his sleeping sessions as his paranoia would jolt him due to the fear of someone being nearby. For most of his previous life, the longest he would sleep uninterrupted would be a few hours, at most, with the average somewhere around an hour and a half. His newly-discovered, peaceful sleep didn't last long this morning, however, abruptly interrupted by a roar that shook the whole apartment.

"CAIN!!!!" Emma's angry and alarmed roar startled him awake immediately as he shuffled into a battle stance, charging Mana and looking around. Red-eyed and still half-asleep, it took him a moment to realize that the room was empty and that he sensed no other Mana being dispersed anywhere nearby. Tilting his head in confusion, he glanced toward the door where he heard the stomping of the feet approaching. Oh, he finally realized what had happened and chuckled bitterly, dissipating the Mana he'd gathered.

Emma stomped into the room shortly after, her hair still disheveled, a maddened look on her face. She was still wearing only a tank top and panties and looked like she hadn't even been to the bathroom to wash up. That mattered little to him, however, as she was fuming -- so much so that he could almost see steam coming from the top of her head.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?!!" she asked.

"Uh... what?" Cain tilted his head and replied nonchalantly, yawning in the process. "Did I forget to flush again? Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. I'll make sure it doesn't happen again!"

"--DON'T--don't fuck with me," she took a deep breath and managed to calm down somewhat, at least enough to stop yelling on top of her lungs. "What the hell did you do?!" she asked again.

"... I... I genuinely have no clue what you're talking about."

"..."

"Get your ass here!" she pulled his arm and yanked him out of the bedroom and into the living room, pointing at the TV with her finger. Right now, there were three people discussing the charred remains of the compound he visited last night, recounting the events of what had transpired. "So, you still have no idea what I'm talking about?!"

"Uh... no?" he put on a confused expression and looked at her. "What's that? A new movie? Looks kinda lame, not gonna lie."

"..." she crunched her teeth together as something seemed to snap inside of her, veins popping up on her forehead as she grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and forced him forward. "Just tell me, goddammit! Just tell me!"

"Uh... tell you what?" he maintained the charade. "I really don't know what's going on..."

"Oh? So, let me get this straight -- you did not sneak out of our apartment last night, visited a very rich man's compound, set the whole thing on fire, and then snuck back in here?"

"Nope."

"So, you're telling me... there is another Elementalist out there who can summon a sun-like fucking sphere of fire that turned the night into a day?"

"Uh, yeah?" Cain said, yawning again. "Big world, you know? Lots of crazily strong people. So, someone blew up a compound last night? Eeeh, scary stuff..."

"..." Emma went eerily quiet as she let go of him. Though he refused to look back and meet her eyes, he could practically feel her gaze shooting beams into his brain. "Nobody saw your face, right? I don't care about anything else, I just wanna know you are safe."

"..." Cain glanced back and met her eyes, at last, sighing. "As I was saying--"

"C'."

"... no," he sighed again, relenting. "Nobody saw it."

"Fuck! I knew it! You motherfucking liar! I knew it!!"

"W-wait!! You tricked me!! Fuck! You fucking tricked me!!"

"Serves you right, you lying bitch!! Didn't you tell me you were gonna be honest with me?!!"

"I never said that! Stop making shit up!"

"Oh--oh, we're doing that?! We're doing that again?!"

"What?! You wanna fight?! I'll kick your ass! I'm not just a scrawny bitch I used to be!! I'll boink you with a fireball! Just test me! Come on, test me!"

"Oooh, you've grown some balls you piece of shit! I'll--"

"S-stop fighting!!" an alarmed and squeaky voice interrupted the two's charade as they came to an abrupt halt, glancing to the side where they saw a teary-eyed Lana bunching her fingers into fists and staring at them. "Stop... fighting..."

"... we're not fighting!" Emma and Cain exclaimed at the same time, rushing at each other and tossing their arms around each other's shoulders. "S-see?" Emma added, forcing out a smile. "Your dad and I aren't fighting! We never fight, right C'?"

"Yeah, yeah, no fighting! We love each other very much!"

"Yes, yes, we love each other very much! And people who love each other never fight, you know?"

"... o-oi, aren't... aren't you holding on a bit too tightly?" Cain whispered, beginning to sweat.

"Go on," Emma replied through her teeth, silently. "Shoot that fireball. Let me see you do it."

"... I had to lie, goddammit!" he whispered back angrily. "Or what? Did you expect me to holler in here and admit I committed a mass murder? Fuck off!"

"I don't care about any of that," she replied. "Just that you are safe! What if something went wrong, huh? I wouldn't even know where the heck you went to help you!"

"Oh, wow, I can't believe you just casually endorsed mass murder," Cain said, looking at her oddly. "What in the fuck happened to you?"

"Oh, I wasn't endorsing it -- we'll have a talk about that, trust me."

"Firefly, what do you want for breakfast?" Cain quickly freed himself of the conversation and asked Lana who just finished wiping her teary eyes.

"Bacon!"

"A-ah, bacon? Yes, let's have bacon. Hear that, mommy? She wants bacon!"

"..." Emma glared at him for a moment but found it impossible to sustain her anger. Rather, it wasn't even anger, she realized; just worry she manifested in a rather unhealthy way. She was too forgiving, she realized, and he knew how to abuse it. "Fine, fine, I'll make us some eggs and bacon. I've made some coffee if you want it."

"Sure do," he said, smiling lightly and pulling her back before she walked off, kissing her. "It seriously wasn't me, though."

"Oh, go fuck yourself."

**

Lander stared at the video of the behemoth-like ball of fire with a pensive look on his face, his throat feeling remarkably dry. Looking to the side, he once again scrutinizing the phantom-like figure in the photo, the unnerving mask making even him jittery. He'd made a miscalculation, he realized. Sighing, he shook his head and took out his phone, dialing a number. The person on the other end answered only after a few ticks, a somewhat lazy and bored voice coming from the other side.

"What's up, Lenny?"

"Don't call me that," Lander said. "Did you see the news?"

"Yup. Loud and clear. You fucked up."

"I didn't; there's no way to connect it back to us. What do you think that man's level is?"

"How the heck would I know?" the person grunted. "Elementalist in my party is level 28 and he says he can't make a sphere hundredth of that size even if he went all out. Make of that what you will."

"... it's impossible for him to be that ahead in levels," Lander said, sighing. "You guys have been in there virtually since the start, barely even leaving. It's most-likely an item. The question is whether it's a one-time item that he used to scare us, or whether he can do that any time he wants."

"It doesn't matter," the person on the other end said. "Just stop fucking with Rick and nothing's gonna happen. Why are you even scrambling over a few trash-tier items? If anything, I thought you lot would be grateful that he took the heat from the government and basically unchained you to do whatever the hell you want."

"It starts small, Kramer," Lander said. "Today, it's just a few trash-tier items. But tomorrow it might be something else entirely. What if the government assists him with monopolizing those herbs you occasionally encountered? Or some really good grinding spot? If we let him get too big without doing anything, he will swallow us up in the end."

"You're too paranoid, dude," Kramer said, sighing. "That Elementalist, however powerful he is, is just one dude. Just because he can bring out the firepower doesn't really mean much. There are skills, items, and even Titles that can entirely nullify that. He doesn't have a cheat of any sort that makes him invincible. Everything, everything, has a counter. You should lay low for now since we're planning to head back in later today and go to the second floor. I heard it's kinda bizarre so we wanna see what's going on. We won't stay long, a month at most, so try and grab some decent gear in the meantime since I plan on expanding the party."

"... fine," Lander replied, sighing. "I'll see what I can do. Good luck."

"Hear ya' later..."

Lander slumped further into his chair as the call ended, frowning and once again glancing at the phantom-like figure. No matter what assurances he was given by people who understood Classes far better than him... he wasn't able to put it out of his mind. Laying low isn't my style, he mused. I'll try and see whether there are any weak links in Rick's immediate circle and try and buy my way in... haah, let's hope this goes well...

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