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The Martial Unity (Web Novel) - Chapter 4672: A Light Shift
Chapter 4672: A Light Shift
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When he pulled back, she stared at him like she was still having trouble accepting his identity. He was just so... different. The first thing that stood out to her was the fact that he was literally glowing, not just metaphorically. There was light that his body was actively generating that emanated from him, like he was bioluminescent.
But that wasn’t the only odd part out.
She could tell that he was... metaphorically glowing too. It was a truly bizarre way to describe someone unless one was heavily abusing literary license, but his personality had shifted to become more... bright.
His smile was more sincere and earnest while his silver eyes gleamed. He felt less fickle compared to how he was in the past, though the changes weren’t to the point where he felt like a different person, just like a more cheery version of himself.
The inflections of his voice had shifted; their emphasis had grown more hearty. Compared to the damaged state of mind he was in back then, his current self was so much better that she couldn’t have even imagined what had happened for such a change to occur in a short period of time.
Even though she knew he had been using the manifold, not even a few years was enough to explain such a radical improvement.
"You look... well," she managed to say with a smile that was half-amazed and half in disbelief.
"I’ve been well." He smiled at her earnestly. "Come, walk with me. Let’s head to my personal quarters so we can talk in privacy. There are too many eyes here."
She became self-aware of her surroundings, noticing the many eyes on them and on her. It appeared that her identity had already begun spreading to several people within the manifold who directed respectful and wary gazes towards her.
She recognized those eyes. Those were the eyes that saw the shadow of the Emperor of Water looming over her, rather than her herself. This time, however, she was unfazed, returning her attention to him with a nod.
She studied him as she followed him through the corridors. He was wearing traditional Martial attire, rather than his exo-Martial suit, which was strange for him. The attire, however, was equipped with esoteric matter that gave it properties she couldn’t quite put her finger on, but seemed to allow light above a certain intensity to pass through it, making his glow radiate through the fabric.
It allowed her to catch a glimpse of his bare body through the fabric, which made her blush. They ultimately secluded themselves in a modest, cramped set of quarters that Runark had taken residence in temporarily.
"Ginger-honey lemon tea with extra sugar as always, right?" he asked her, pressing buttons on the automatic tea maker.
"...Yes."
They both knew each other too well, though he clearly knew her better than she did him at the moment. It was only after he sat opposite her, taking a sip from his cup of tea, that he finally decided to talk.
"You must be curious as to what happened to me in the past few years," he spoke with a clear voice and eyes.
She nodded. "...you were extremely hurt and in a bad state the last time we met. And now you’re glowing, literally. And your power..."
The sense of threat she felt from him was not low, something that had never been true, not even once, from the day she broke through to the Apprentice Realm. Since then, he had always lagged behind her very far in terms of combat power.
But now, she would have reflexively kept her guard up if not for the fact that she knew and trusted him.
"I’m not sure how much my parents told you, but I’ll start at the start."
He began with the description of his trauma from his time in the coma as well as the severe nyctophobia that he had developed. He was soon to be healed by the Psyker’s personal treatments, which had a guaranteed success rate.
But that was until his first training session with her father.
"Uncle Rui told me that this trauma could become a great source of power," Runark continued with an earnestly serious voice. "He told me that I could heal myself if I wanted to, but if I wanted to catch up with you, then..."
His expression tightened. "...I could keep my trauma and nyctophobia and mold it into an extraordinary talent that would allow me to catch up with you and to ensure that I can keep up with you in the future."
Ria’s expression frosted over at those words. She wanted nothing more than to teleport back to Vargard and scold her father for forcing such a horrible set of choices upon Runark. She knew her father well enough to know that he probably could have found other ways to give him the opportunity to keep up with Ria without needing to preserve his PTSD.
She didn’t even understand how in the world trauma could even be converted into talent, but that detail didn’t matter with how livid she was with her father for making Runark suffer this much.
"Don’t think like that." Runark shook his head, as if reading her mind. "The truth is, your father warned me about how painful and difficult this path would be. He didn’t tempt me or undersell the suffering that this path would entail. He even gave me a lot of time to think about it and consult my parents about it if I wanted, but... I chose this path anyway."
"Why?" Ria asked with a bewildered tone of voice. "Why would you live with that pain for the rest of your life when you have the option not to?"
He gazed straight into her eyes with a clear smile.
"I want be strong enough to stand by your side, not out as a result of your pity or protection, but as an equal. Not just now, but also in the future. Ria, I... I love you, and I want to be with you forever."
