There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 156

Chapter 156: Chapter 151. Crossroad of Fate

Visiting his mother...

Bassena said it as if they were just going to the countryside where his mother was alive and kicking, living peacefully in a wonderful villa with nice scenery.

Which wasn’t really incorrect too--except for the part where she was alive and kicking.

From how Bassena described it, the cemetery they were headed to was on a hill with nice scenery overlooking farmlands. It should be a nice, serene place where the family could spend peaceful time with the remnants of their beloved.

As long as they were in the right mind to do so, of course.

Zein turned his head and stared at Bassena. Fortunately, the esper was no longer in his zombie state like last night. Zein did spend the night enduring the tight embrace as they sleep, and there were a few occasions when he woke up to the sound of restless whines. Wondering if it was the nightmares that Radia told him about, Zein would caress the esper’s head soothingly, until Bassena calmed down again. He let the esper nuzzle on his nape, sleeping while inhaling his scent. During a particularly rough nightmare where Bassena even groaned and frowned so miserably, Zein took the liberty of guiding the esper through that nightmare.

He understood now why Bassena chose not to sleep. Zein ended up spending the night stroking the platinum strands, wondering what kind of dream this man saw, until he drifted to sleep himself.

Thanks to that, Zein felt sleepy in the morning. But since Bassena looked better, he thought it was worth it. The flame inside the amber eyes had lit again, dancing as they greeted Zein good morning. And then here they were, taking an absence of leave--which the guildmaster readily provided--driving outside Althrea again.

The hill was located in the green-zone area outside the city, between the valley used for farming, and the plateau where a resort was built. They drove through the northern gate, where the roads were flanked by orchards. The road was filled with fallen leaves that swirled around the car as they passed through, and it brought a sense of melancholy to the silent car.

While Bassena looked better, he talked less than usual. As the car drove closer and closer to the hill, the esper just stared at the road wordlessly. He didn’t look tense though, just leaning slightly to the side, propping his elbow on the windowsill as if savoring the journey.

And Zein, being Zein, just followed the silence. Rather than worrying, it just felt serene, as if Bassena was in the middle of digesting his hatred and fury, so he didn’t have to show an awful face in front of his mother’s grave. In that case, the guide just decided to wait until Bassena was ready to speak.

It was when Zein looked at the browning apple trees that he finally heard Bassena’s voice. "Thank you, for coming with me."

"People usually said that on the way home, you know," Zein replied casually, to which Bassena responded with a smile. It didn’t look bitter or heavy, so Zein smiled in return.

Bassena didn’t speak again for a while, looking like he was deep in contemplation. Zein had the thought that the esper was trying to decide how to filter whatever he found in that vault, and continued to wait.

"I rechecked the logs, to see if there was anything Radia hadn’t included in that report," Bassena started while tapping on the steering wheel. "As far as the unsealed logs go, Radia didn’t seem to miss anything."

"If there’s an unsealed log, does it mean there’s the sealed one too?"

Bassena smiled subtly when Zein picked up the important key immediately. "Yes," he nodded, and continued in a slightly solemn tone. "Radia told me about the sealed logs, that his team had never managed to crack. He suspected that it would need a member of the clan--someone with Vaski blood--to unseal it. But he thought it was a bad time to tell me about it then, so he was about to wait until my...condition stabilized."

Zein bit the inside of his cheek, feeling a bit flustered about lashing out at the guildmaster last night. Seemed like Radia was really against Bassena getting anywhere near the vault. But there was not much he could do when the person himself asked about it, since inherently, those ’spoils of war’ also belonged to Bassena.

Zein promised himself to apologize to Radia once more later, and asked the esper. "And you manage to do it? The unsealing?"

"Took me a long time to figure out how, but I did," Bassena answered with a hint of annoyance in his voice. It got him to realize how much they hide from him. The Vaski had never told him the way to unseal anything, as if he wasn’t a member of the main family. From the start, the elders just saw him as a convenient tool, to be used and exploited. And yet the youngsters thought he was going to be made guildmaster.

How laughable.

Bassena chuckled bitterly, before shaking his head slightly and continuing with his story. "What I found there, I think, explained why they were eliminating the Templar."

And then, between the yellowing trees and the road of fallen leaves, Bassena started to tell Zein about the content of that log.

And the main point contained inside that log was quite simple; they wanted to have the fragment of Setnath to themselves.

"When the Black Viper division--the hidden killer contract division under Arja Vaski--received the request to hunt the Paladin and her wife, they were getting intrigued of the reason, since the client offer huge sums of money for the job."

Through that investigation, they managed to find out that their client was the elusive Templar of Arms Master. They managed to entice one of the members to tell them about the reason behind the manhunt, and the member told them about the seed of Setnath.

"I think you should know this," Bassena gripped the steering wheel hard and looked at Zein for a second, before continuing with a heavy tone. "Based on what the member told them, it seems like once Setnath descend through the vessel, he would still retain some power. He’ll lose his divinity, but that doesn’t mean he’ll be powerless. Especially, the most notable trait of the fragment--purification--will become...controllable."

Zein raised his brows. "Controllable..."

Bassena responded with a wry expression. "Yeah. The reborn Setnath might be able to purify contaminated places...like the Deathzone."

Zein parted his lips, seemingly wanting to say something in response, but everything was lost at the tip of his tongue. What kind of bull--

"Wait," Zein pinched the bridge between his eyes, closing his eyes at the sudden throbbing in his head.

Did that mean, if Zein became the true vessel and accepted the descent, he’d be able to solve the problem with the Deathzone, just like that?

Just when he determined to never let that Celestial Being claimed his body...

"I don’t think it’ll be that easy," Bassena said. "The power of purification would depend on the caster’s mana, so saying something like ’it’ll purify the Deathzone’ is nothing more than conjecture," he glanced at Zein, who was covering his eyes with clenched teeth. "Still, it’s a coveted power by many, which was why the Golden Viper decided to take the seed for themselves."

The car was silent then, but that was to be expected. For them--and especially Zein--who wished to eradicate the Deathzone, this information was... dilemmatic.

Zein took a deep breath and exhaled long, sinking himself further into the car seat. "Did they write about what happened to the vessel after Setnath descend?"