Chapter 118 - The Tree Of Jealousy
Chapter 118 – The Tree Of Jealousy
Soon after, the girls finished their bath, and Ragnar and Cyanide used their side of the pool to clean themselves. It was a bit awkward to use the same bathwater in such a tiny pool, though, so the two both kept to themselves and remained silent throughout the entire bathing time. The girls, on the other hand, had been chatting happily earlier in stark contrast.
In any case, once everyone was fully cleaned up and the nasty odor was gotten rid of from their bodies, the group headed onwards. Beyond the pool was another stone door, and similar to the first one, it was closed but not locked.
This time, however, none of them were eager to open it—not even Ragnar.
"… You think there's another one of those things beyond this door?" Ragnar asked, and Luna shrugged.
"Who knows? They did not appear for Kirika's aura reading skills last time, so there's no way for us to determine whether there is another one beyond this door or not."
"I don't think they'll put another one here in the same fashion as before," Kirika stated, folding her arms. "After all, these mechanisms are all designed to be 'tests', right? What kind of test will have the same question twice?"
"That's sound logic, but… heh," Dianna snickered cynically. "Normal logic hardly applies to this world, most of the time."
"Well, it's not like waiting around will do us any good either," Ragnar muttered. "Not to mention… someone could fully tell us what's going to happen if we open this door, but refuses to."
Saying this, he glared at the floating ball in the air known as Lust, who beeped twice to show her disagreement.
"In fact, even I do not know what lays ahead. You all seem to be under the misconception that I am some all-knowing deity. That is not true. As I am right now, I am extremely weak, and have to rely on a vessel to even utilize my power. The most I can do is sense my brothers and sisters, the other Sentinels. That's all."
Tired of their hesitation, Cyanide stepped forward and gently opened the door, ready to dodge out of anything that was shot in his way. But to all of their surprises, nothing came. Instead, they found themselves staring at a mountain of dirt covered with grass and greenery. At the very top of the small hill, a large tree stood, illuminated by the tiny hole on the ceiling on the cavern, leaking a bit of sunlight into the chamber.
"What is this…" Kirika murmured, glancing around in awe.
"There—in the tree," Luna pointed out. "Is that…"
Everyone turned their gaze to where Luna was pointing, and saw a ball-shaped machine similar to Lust. It appeared to be off, however, and was being trapped within the tree trunk with some vines.
"… That's the Sentinel?" Ragnar arched an eyebrow. "Those bastards… they really caged 'em like this, huh?"
Slowly, the group moved forward, climbing up the hill and getting closer to the tree. It wasn't steep at all, so it was easily climbable, but as soon as they got near the tree-
"…!"
All of them froze in their tracks, and they stared straight up ahead at the emptiness in front of them. To an outsider, it would seem they just suddenly stopped and were now staring at empty space for no reason, but to themselves, it was a nightmare indeed.
Ragnar saw Cyanide with a happy family, friends, living in a world filled with joy and peace, rid of crime and evil. A Cyanide with everything Ragnar did not have but wanted, a Cyanide who evoked jealousy from him. He should be the one there, in the vision. He should be the one to be enjoying all those things, after how long and hard he's worked towards that goal.
And yet… it wasn't him. It was his mortal nemesis who benefited from his actions.
"…" Clenching his fists in anger, he turned to the real Cyanide a short distance away, and launched himself towards him.
But-
"Not today."
From nowhere, Luna leaped out in front of Cyanide and blocked the hit with her criss-crossed metal appendages, causing Ragnar to back away a short distance.
"… Move, Luna. This has nothing to do with you."
"Move? I knew you were plotting something like this all along. Cyanide should never have gotten close to you. His best companion is me—and me only. If you even think about touching a hair on his body… I'll cut you down."
Indeed, her vision was one of Cyanide and Ragnar sharing drinks and talking happily, like good friends who have known each other for years. They fought by each other's side, watched each other's backs, and vented to one another about life troubles. Ragnar was like a true friend to Cyanide, a true companion, in a way that Luna never had been. It should be her in the vision, not Ragnar.
And now… he was trying to attack Cyanide?
Luna had been right all along. Ragnar was not to be trusted. Fueled by jealousy, she and Ragnar leaped into combat with one another, clashing and slicing with their weapons and bombarding with artillery.
On the other hand, Dianna and Kirika were suffering their own visions as well. Dianna saw Kirika with a loving family, warm and complete, unlike her own. Kirika saw Dianna's confidence, able to handle herself perfectly fine no matter the situation she was in. She had intelligence on par with Cyanide's, and the two were a perfect match for each other. She was a lot more useful to him than Kirika could ever hope to be, and that made Kirika envious.
Normally, these visions wouldn't be able to cause anyone to actually start fighting like this. But under the influence of this test (clearly given to them by Envy) violence was being promoted, and thus caused them to turn on one another and fight.
The purpose of this test was to examine how much jealousy they could take. And amongst them all…
… Only one succeeded.
Why?
It's simple—he did not even see any visions.