Was that truly it?
Satoya kept asking that as he was watching the blood pouring out from Roland's neck, even the metallic scent of blood was filling his sinuses as he started to notice the sheer amount of blood being leaked, but he was simply too unsure to clarify whether or not it was truly it. He remembered Yurina pointing out how Roland cannot die, but he never saw Roland recover in his own eyes. So he continued to look, his expression was numbness? His eyes shifted from the blood pool, and the decapitated head, yet nothing was out of the ordinary excluding the obvious.
He sheathed his katana hesitantly, and turned around to leave. He had the instinctive urge to look at his hands, and it turned out he was shivering uncontrollably without him even noticing. Then, he heard a rather grotesque sound, it was wet, crunchy, sounds of tearing, everything about it sounded morbid, so wrong.
He then walked slowly back to the corpse, and his eyes widened as he witnessed Roland's head grow back in such a slow, yet almost.. Too perfect manners. He couldn't help but watch in utter disgust and awe, and soon enough, Roland crawled back up, one hand simply touching his neck as he cracked his neck joints, yet his eyes remained closed. Roland then opened his eyes, his eyes were such a lifeless color of green, that it almost made him seem like someone at peace, but also a devil depicted in Celestial Nebulaian paintings.
Roland snickered, reaching over his shoulder with his hand, touching the back of his lab coat which was soaked in blood. He then returned his hand, and looked at it, the glistening liquid was deeper red than Satoya had realized. As Satoya stopped himself from being distracted by Roland's bloody hand, he felt a jolt of dread as he noticed those lifeless green eyes were gazing at him.
Were his eyes always that color?
The feelings inside Satoya were so inconsistent, so chaotic that he couldn't help but think of something irrelevant to distract himself from the sheer fear, and disgust he had for the man in front of him, that same man who was the Cataclysm of a Disaster so long ago.
"Would you like to know?" Roland asked, he made a sly smile, a devious smile, and a smile so hollow it felt like it was consuming the life out of everything around him. Was the true nature of this man— No, Cataclysm truly showing?
Satoya gripped his own hair with one hand, trying to shake himself out of it and then looked up again. He saw Roland reveal the inside of his lab coat, and the old fear he had for him was now emphasized ten fold.
Roland pointed up with his index finger, pushing it against his own lips, making a shushing gesture, as Satoya could only watch in utter shock. The inside of his lab coat were roots, countless small roots, red roots that spread like a mixture between cobwebs and the roots of a plant.
"By spreading these nerve endings of sorts from my body, I can branch them from my current location to every single living organism, primarily animals of any kind, and humans, allowing me to convert their bioorganic material into my own.."
Satoya stepped a single foot back, his eyes were dilated in fear.
"I am, but a fungus." Roland said in a low, quiet tone as if it was a confidential secret.
Then he spoke again.
"To put it into simpler words. I have created a network that expands to every organism that has bioorganic material, which includes things like organs, and flesh.. They are mine for me to steal and reconstruct myself."
Roland then stopped the shushing gesture, and pointed at Satoya.
"But fret not, I can only expand this to anyone who is freshly dead, insane, and unconscious, which includes sleep."
Despite this information pointing out how Satoya isn't able to be affected by this, network of sorts by Roland. He still felt this insurmountable feeling of complete and utter disbelief and was the first time he felt this much fear in his life, even worse than the Argoreas incident in the Rieamaius airport.
Why wasn't I expecting this? He is a Cataclysm of a Disaster after all… What else can he do? I feel so powerless..
Roland began to laugh loudly, then walked past him, but as he walked past him, he grabbed his shoulder.
"Come on, follow me, you seem like you have more questions than the last time we met one on one.. And, Yurina isn't here to eavesdrop."
Satoya could do nothing but comply, and so, they walked out of the room they had just fought in, the same room where Roland was decapitated by Satoya, simply left for the convenience of a conversation.
They both walked beside each other, their footsteps making a small echoing tap through the hall. The walls felt darker, way too dark, too ominous, too mysterious, was it from Satoya spiralling from despair? He wasn't too sure anymore. In his peripheral vision, he saw Roland turn his head to him, a barely perceivable smile on his face.
"Go on, you are the type of person to ask questions."
"What's the Three Hundred Sinner Party?"
"Ah, that was somewhat disappointing, the results at least.. As if that was the goal."
Roland continued to speak, as they walked through the hallways, turning to the right, entering Hallway 001, Section A - 01.
"During the 8th Disaster, specifically when I was around 25-26, I concocted the Diluted Wrehtched Blood vial, which you may be aware, was the product of me diluting the blood of a Wrehtched with my own cerebrospinal fluid. That whole thing." Roland said as he opened a steel door by pulling a lever down. They then entered a containment facility, where the observation window was closed off by a metallic curtain. He then pulled another lever, opening the curtains revealing an entity that was contained in the facility.
It was simply a dog, a dog whose face was blurred completely.
"Allow me to indulge you in some trivial information. Wrehtcheds take the form of any animal, or human, yet the common characteristic they have is. Their heads are blurred, it is not an eyesight problem, even I, a Cataclysm, cannot observe their heads, except the amalgamation of distorted and blurred colors." Roland explained, turning around to sit against a control panel. He then started fidgeting with his finger tips, continuing to lecture him.
"Wrehtcheds are the kindreds of the Falsity, an Ancient Crucible, as you may or may not know. Not a lot of people are aware of the Falsity y'know. Probably because Eloquentism, the most prominent religion in the world, the religion revolving around the Sovereign Mother of All Life diminishing as time passes due to, you know, the internet and what not." Roland sneered at Satoya, but Satoya tapped the ground loudly with his scabbard that he was gripping intensely.
"Get to the point." Satoya demanded, which made Roland smile in amusement once again.
"Well apologies, I had gotten carried away. The Three Hundred Sinner Party was me releasing 300 Wrehtcheds, similar to the Wrehtched contained in here, into the 3rd Capital's Rosenlund country. If I were to approximate the results, which I never paid attention to, what was it.. Ah yes, the complete massacre and reproduction of nearly 66 thousand Wrehtcheds in the span of 6 days." Roland lectured, before switching the lever up, closing the metallic curtains.
"How did they reproduce? I thought Wrehtcheds multiplied." Satoya asked, gripping his katana's scabbard harder. He wasn't very sure why he was becoming aggravated, but was it simply his fight or flight instincts kicking in, and his body picking a fight? Even if he chose to fight, there's also something in him holding him back like shackles to a prison.
"Well, I engineered the instincts of them to reproduce with anything they find, but let us not get too carried away, I believe I have elaborated enough on this topic." Roland stretched as he stood up from the control panel. He then motioned Satoya to follow him once again.
This time, Satoya asked him a question again. "Did you let me decapitate you?"
"Oh? I see you're becoming more proficient at understanding me… Yes, indeed."
"Why did you let me?"
"Well, I was simply wondering if I can get the attention of The Sanguine Light again, after all, I hadn't really done anything that interested IT."
"The Sanguine Light? Is IT also an Ancient Crucible?" Satoya raised an eyebrow, he wasn't sure of who or what Roland was referring to, but he decided to let Roland continue speaking to see if he'd tell him.
"Indeed, The Sanguine Light has countless names, some notable names being, The Illuminating Red Star, The Vermillion Prophet, and another name I had forgotten."
Roland chuckled again like usual, before coughing in an obviously fake manner. He then pointed out something that made Satoya feel a shiver down his spine. "I can tell, you have a question that you want answers for, a question you believe I have answers for.. So, go ahead, ask away, ask that question."
Satoya's act of seriousness was shattered like fine glass, and nervousness flooded back in again. But, Roland was right, ever since he heard of this, he just wanted an answer.
"What is that Unreachable Solace?"