Chapter 132: Something Small, Something Gained
Seo-jin watched the father and son from above and knew it at once, something was wrong between them. Ash shook where he stood, body drawn back a half-step from his father. Even his scent had shifted. Not nerves. Terror. More fear than the boy had shown the entire time he'd been under Seo-jin's shadow.
A fact, that for some reason, made him kinda jealous.
Seeing Grimm caged had almost dragged him down there on reflex, claws first. He forced it down. The ghost wasn't in immediate danger. Not yet. So Seo-jin waited. He watched to see if Ash would keep his word.
[Strange. By my read, the kid's stronger than the man. But that man's ghosts are built for killing.]
'D-rank ghost hunters. Cute. I don't need two. Let's see if the dad wasted his build too.'
Metal whispered behind Seo-jin as the Twinback Growths unfolded. Ribbons of saliva stretched and snapped as the mouths retched, vomiting wet slabs of meat onto the rooftop.
'Five will do.'
The flesh shuddered and shaped itself. Five lesser broodlings peeled free, bodies twitching, teeth clicking as violence crawled through them.
Seo-jin pointed down at the street.
"Quietly. Kill those two."
The broodlings' eyes blew wide. Screeches climbed their throats—
Seo-jin growled.
They froze. Winced. Then obeyed.
They crept to the edge, claws scraping stone, slid down the wall faster than they meant to, and hit the street running.
Seo-jin exhaled.
"Are they all gonna be fucking stupid?"
[Might change when you evolve. I wouldn't count on it.]
He shrugged and stepped closer to the ledge. Brains were optional. Teeth weren't.
Below, Ash's thoughts tore themselves apart. His mind bucked and spun, matching the tremor in his limbs.
'What do I say? He's gonna be pissed. Not angry—furious. So maybe I—no. He doesn't care. He never does. It's always money. Maybe I can get Seo-jin to—'
The thought died half-formed. He'd said he'd handle this. If he ran now to beg or borrow, he'd already failed. And looking at his father's back, Ash knew there was no world where the man would let him step away now, not even for a breath.
"We're about to be attacked. Stay behind me."
The words cut through his spiral. It took a second for them to land.
"W-what? Attacked?"
Ash's father didn't wait for him to catch up. He stepped forward as the ghost coiled tighter around him, scales brightening, body unspooling like a living weapon.
For a heartbeat, his eyes went pitch black.
"Kill them all, Joanna."
The response came as a sound caught between a hiss and a roar. The ghost snapped its wings once and vaulted straight up. Another beat of wings, and it shot forward, a green blur tearing through the air like a loosed blade.
From above, Seo-jin's eyes widened as the ghost tore across the street.
'Fast. Speed's at least C-rank.'
He tracked it without effort as Joanna curved around the charging lesser broodlings. Worse than a normal broodling at birth, the idiots rushed straight in. No spacing. No feints. No thought.
It was embarrassing to watch.
But that feeling died with the ghost's first strike.
The broodling never saw it coming. Out of all his brood, only Seo-jin and Snare could even perceive ghosts. For the lesser broodlings, it was a death sentence.
Joanna opened her jaws mid-flight. Inside, rows of teeth churned and rotated, grinding over each other like living saws. One beat of her wings and she snatched a broodling off the street, fed it into her mouth, and shredded it midair. Pulp and gore sprayed down over the others.
"Oh, damn—yeah! That had to fucking hurt."
Seo-jin grinned, watching.
Ash's father lifted a hand. Black light pooled around his fingers as he pointed. One broodling flared the same sick color a split second before a beam of green force slammed down, crushing it flat against the pavement.
"Yes. Fuckin hell."
A mass-projection attack. Crude. Effective.
The last three broodlings finally hesitated, screeching as their eyes searched empty air, tails whipping. One never finished the swing. Joanna dove, snared it by the tail, and hauled it screaming upward.
Higher...higher...still higher.
At a flick of her master's arm, Joanna inverted and dove, broodling laughing as it fell. She pulled up at the last sexond, swinging the captured demon like a club and smashed it into another.
They detonated on impact.
Mist. Meat. Bone fragments clattered across the street.
"God damn!"
Even Seo-jin winced.
At his current rank, he could easily survive that hit. Probably. But it would still hurt like hell.
With only one left, the last broodling finally broke. It turned and ran, sprinting for the nearest ruin, claws scrabbling as it tried to dive for cover.
Seo-jin almost felt proud. One of them was thinking.
The feeling died when Joanna's tail flashed. The broodling split midair, cleaved clean through. Both halves hit the street with a wet slap, still twitching, legs scraping uselessly as they tried to flee from a death already done.
[That was…impressive. The advantage borders on unfair. If you can't see them, you're already dead.]
'If it were truly broken, everyone would run ghost builds. Most users probably have sight or counters. Still—against anyone who doesn't? That class is lethal. Too lethal.'
Seo-jin watched the street, then the man and his son. His earlier certainty cracked. He weighed them again, this time without even considering taking both. He knew their dynamic was too fucked to keep the pair, plus, he didn't want to deal with family drama.
Below, Joanna coiled back around her master after he confirmed the threat was gone. He walked on, lifting Grimm's burning cage as he passed Ash.
"Why do you smell like piss?"
Ash shook himself out of the carnage, the bodies, the ghosts, the question of whether his boss would be furious his demons were dead. He blinked, looked down, and winced.
"Actually… that's…"
He faltered, sucked in a breath, forced his thoughts into line, then hurried after his father.
"That's what I wanted to talk about. I mean—to tell you. I ran into the Butcher of Shatterbay."
His father stopped.
Ash didn't. He clenched his teeth, shut his eyes, and dumped it all out before fear could choke him.
"I was hunting ghosts and I saw one with two Users. I didn't know if it was theirs, so I followed them. They caught me. I didn't know it was Seo-jin—I swear. They forced me to join the Dead Hands. I was gonna escape but he marked me. That part doesn't matter—to you, I mean—it does, but—sorry—he's—"
He bit down hard, pulled in air, then said it.
"The ghost you have is his! He wants it back. He's really pissed. When I saw you had it, I told him I'd get it back. So please—give it back. Father, I can make money. A lot. Double. Four times. Whatever you want. I'll pay it. Just give it back. Please!"
Ash shook worse than ever, but something inside him eased at the same time. The weight lifted. In its place—something firmer.
He opened his eyes and nearly stumbled back.
His father's face was inches from his own.
"Joined the Dead Hands? When did I give you permission to do that?"
The ground seemed to vanish under Ash's feet. He tried to cling to the courage he'd scraped together, even as his tongue went dry and his throat locked.
"Father, please… you have to—"
Smack!
The blow spun him sideways. His chin cracked off the concrete, teeth clacking as his vision burst white.
"I asked you a question."
Joanna coiled around his father, eyes cutting down at Ash like he was less than dirt. The same look was on his father's face as he struck him.
Ash pushed up on shaking arms. The taste of iron flooded his mouth. Something warm slid down his wrist as he cupped his chin. He swayed, fought it, and forced himself upright, eyes swimming.
"Grimm—matters—to the boss. Please—just give him back and I swear I'll—Oomph!"
A fist buried in his gut. Air fled his lungs. Pain blinded him. Ash folded, clutching his stomach like his insides were about to spill out. He barely registered the hand patting his back.
"I really thought you'd grown past these lessons, Ash. No matter how much I try, you keep circling back to your mother. You remember what happened when she didn't listen. You know what happens when you don't listen. Don't you?"
His father hooked fingers under Ash's chin and lifted his face. Sweat stung the split skin. Ash gagged air back into his lungs, legs trembling.
"Y—yes. I'm listening. I really am…"
The sobs pressed up anyway, hot and ugly. He hated them. Hated himself. Wanted to stand tall, wanted to be strong. But he couldn't. No matter how many times he'd imagined being different. No matter how often he'd pretended to be brave. Every path led back here.
Small.
So fucking small.
Ash hated himself the instant his own voice came out thin and cracked. He stared at the pavement, blood dripping between his fingers.
"W-when you don't listen… you die. Like mom."
His father sighed and rested a hand on his head, almost gentle.
"Good. Tell me where Seo-jin is."
Something cinched tight in Ash's chest. The sobs locked up halfway out.
"I—I don't know. I left him where they caught me."
The grip tightened. Panic spiked.
"South! Five miles south in the Dead Zone."
The pressure vanished. The hand lifted away. Like a storm cloud passing, the air lightened just enough for Ash to look up.
His father had already turned. He raised Grimm's cage, tilting it, studying the ghost like merchandise. After a moment, he set it back down.
"Not worth the risk."
Relief hit Ash so hard his knees almost buckled.
Then—
"Kill it."
The words slammed into him.
Ash knew they weren't meant for Joanna.
They was meant for him.
"Father—Seo-jin—"
Black fire bled from his father's aura as he turned, eyes dead and flat.
"Kill the ghost, Ash. Now."
"He'll kill us! You don't understand how strong he is!"
His father stepped forward, seized him by the hair, and dragged him across the concrete. He threw Ash down in front of the cage.
"The Church will protect us. The Butcher of Shatterbay will have bigger problems than avenging some weak little spirit."
Joanna snarled low on his shoulder. His father looked down at Ash, voice cold, final.
"Prove you can listen. Show me you won't end up like your mother."
He paused.
"I won't say it again."
Ash stared at the glowing skull trapped behind black bars, feeling Grimm's fear and grief seep through the cage and into his bones. He had never felt smaller. He knew his father. There was no bargaining left to try.
[Ash… he's going to hurt you. Just do what he says...I'm sorry.]
The world tilted. Time closed in. No prayer helped. No fantasy saved him. He wasn't enough. He was never the hero.
He looked back at Grimm, and felt warmth instead. A soft brush against his cheek. A steady touch at his arm. Pressure on his hand. Triss. Onion. Gruff. All three pressed close, their worry rolling off them in waves.
He smiled.
"I'm sorry."
Then he turned, flung his arms wide, and planted himself between Grimm and the cage.
"I won't do it! He has family—family! Something you don't know...jack shit—!"
Blood fanned across the pavement as Joanna's tail carved his cheek open.
Ash stayed standing.
"Kill me instead! You've always hated me—ever since mom died! Ever since you found her! Just do—!"
Another strike. More blood. His other cheek split, the impact driving him to his knees.
Triss sprang in front of him, fur bristling, hissing as she slashed at Joanna's withdrawing tail. Onion drifted forward, eye blazing as light gathered. Gruff waddled to Triss's side, body swelling as he drew in air.
Ash knew what came next.
"No—!"
Too late.
Triss screamed.
Her body snapped through the air, spinning past Ash's wide eyes.
The world slowed. Horror stretched thin and endless, a moment burned so deep it would never leave him.
Onion surged forward, eye flaring brighter. Gruff puffed larger, limbs shaking as he filled himself.
His father didn't move. Didn't blink. His face stayed empty as Joanna struck again, jaws opening, teeth churning like saws.
Everything crawled...
Everything except his voice.
"Good job, kid."