Chapter 525: Selfish?
Chapter 523
Trisha and Kai hurried toward the boy with eager steps and soon stood before him with worried gazes.
Their eyes scanned his body for any sign of injuries, but there were none.
Facepalming himself, Kai shook his head.
"I forgot that you can self-heal."
Ray simply looked at the duo before him, then lifted his head in the direction of the shocked Vanguard members.
"What are the both of you doing here?"
Trisha lifted a brow.
"Aren’t we Vanguard members? Can’t we come?"
Kai exhaled.
"What Trisha meant to say is that the Captain wanted to send some men to come harvest the beast cores, so we all wanted to tag along. But he said only two of us could come, hence we are here."
"Oh," Ray uttered, then fell silent again as if deep in thought.
Kai tilted his head.
"Is there something wrong? You seem troubled. Did something happen in the Gate? Shouldn’t you be excited for all you have acc—"
"—I’m exhausted," Ray simply replied, then looked at Trisha for a second or two.
He was about to walk away when some civilians rushed toward him with beaming smiles on their faces.
"Thank you for saving us. If it weren’t for your timely intervention, we would have all been dead by now. We owe you our lives."
"Yeah. We don’t care what the world thinks about you, but you are a kind human. You didn’t have to risk your life to save us, but you did anyway. Thank you."
Ray stared at the humans for a few moments, a look of disbelief on his face. He didn’t know how to react until—
Tug. Tug.
Looking down, he saw a little girl with a mark of soot across her face, blood splattered all over her dress.
She then gestured for Ray to come closer.
Seeing no harm in doing so, the Tribrid crouched down in front of her.
Though when he laid eyes on her, she seemed frightened, as her mind flashed back to the maddening look this stranger had worn while slaughtering beasts.
Then she instinctively thought back to the livestream when he had transformed, which made her body shudder all the more.
Seeing this, Ray lifted a brow for a moment before exhaling deeply.
Then, he smiled softly at the little girl.
Seeing this, the girl calmed down some more before leaning in.
"Muah."
She planted a kiss on his cheek before stepping back.
"Thank you, uncle. Because of you, my mum is safe. She was about to be killed by-by-by—"
As she recalled it, the girl’s body trembled some more, only for Ray to grab her shoulders and steady her.
"I’m a Vanguard. It’s what we do. I hope your mum is okay now?"
The girl brightened up and nodded vigorously before giving him two thumbs up.
"You are a superhero!"
The adults with her all bowed their heads smoothly and echoed as one.
"Thank you."
And then, they began walking away while the little girl continuously waved back at Ray, who returned the gesture.
Kai thought for a few seconds, and then his eyes lit up.
"I see. This was what the Captain wanted."
Trisha blinked, confused, as she lightly turned her head in his direction.
"Meaning?"
Kai sighed, then chuckled as if realizing how foolish they had been.
"He wanted to change public perception about Ray. Knowing how strong he is, the Captain didn’t bother to send any backup, knowing that Ray could handle it alone.
"If the public can see him actively helping humanity, they would gradually soften toward him, and the hate will lessen."
Trisha thought for a second as she looked at Ray’s crouched back before echoing,
"Oh."
After the girl disappeared, Ray stared down at his hands.
Slowly, he lifted one hand and touched the cheek the girl had kissed, his brows drawing closer together.
’I can’t believe that I was selfish. Even though the majority of these people wanted me dead, there were still innocent ones among them, and I almost let them all die because it was none of my business until my food was destroyed.’
Looking back at his hands, he ground his teeth angrily.
’...This wasn’t why I wanted to join the Vanguard. I had always wanted to join because I admired the Order. Watched these people and admired them because I felt they were heroes protecting humanity, and here I am with my selfish interests.’
«Uh, not to interrupt your self-reflection or anything, but I can sense some humans with more debilitating conditions. The Order are trying their best to stabilize them but can’t move them because of their condition. Go help if—»
Ray heaved an inward sigh and then left the chair, beginning to walk away.
’I’m not in the mood. Go help them instead.’
And with that, the boy walked over to a corner in the mindspace while Elyon blinked at the empty chair.
Had Ray actually left that chair for him after so many months?
Would he really be coming out after so long?
Excitement bubbled deep within the celestial as he wasted no time dashing toward the chair and taking control over the body.
This was the first time he had come out since becoming a Tribrid Master.
And in the process, his aura exploded exponentially.
The body’s eyes turned golden as a soothing, sudden calm aura blanketed the entire area, causing all eyes to turn in his direction.
The sudden explosion of his celestial energy stunned even Elyon as he looked down at his hands before taking several deep breaths and retracting the energy back inside himself.
’Right. People to heal.’
Flashing Trish and Kai a nervous smile, Elyon stood up and rushed toward the location to help.
The duo blinked several times before glancing at each other.
"Th-that’s not Ray."
They echoed in unison.
Right at that moment, high in the sky, in the heavens, a small tear split open.
The tear was so small that it went unnoticed, especially since no malicious aura seeped from it.
Deep within the tear, a void could be seen, as if another world lay beyond the opening.
And then, an eye could be seen peeking through the tear.
It was a golden eye.
It rolled around as if searching for something, until it landed on Elyon, whose hands were glowing as he healed the injured humans.
Then, the eye stopped searching.