’Hahahahaha! Do you see now! This is the wonder of Qi! This is the greatest power source in the known Primordial Expanse! Bow down before the might of my greatness! Muahahahah!’
Jason felt an amused smile spread across his lips when he heard Esdeath’s gloating rant, and for once, Jason couldn’t even tell the bastard to shut up. Right now, Jason owed his mental health to this bastard, and Jason knew that he had to be very grateful. Jason spoke up to Esdeath.
’Thank you, really. I couldn’t have done this without your help.’
Esdeath rubbed his hand through his long beard and nodded sagely as he spoke.
’But of course you couldn’t have. What do you take me for? Some sort of crook? Perhaps now you’ll treat me with the respect I truly deserve. Hohoho. I am not an elder from a great sect for nothing, you know.’
’Yeah, I know. I owe you one.’
’Hmm? Then perhaps you can tell that stupid—I mean, that playful dragon of yours to stay away from me from now on. I need my peace from its antics.’
Jason huffed and nodded internally.
’Alright, you got it.’
’Ho? Really, just like that? Then maybe you can also have more conversations with me in the future. A man can only go so long without a proper conversation, and there is a lot I wish to tell you about my life and techniques.’
Esdeath had grown very bored inside of Jason’s mental scape because everyone else here was a Legion member, and he couldn’t talk to them. He needed some actual company! Jason let out another small huff, and he nodded once again.
’Yes, I don’t mind keeping you company now and then.’
Esdeath let out another small laugh when he saw how generous Jason was being, and he decided to push just a little further!
’And maybe you can keep my connection open when you’re in bed with your missus and—’
’Don’t push it, you bastard.’
Jason’s eyes immediately narrowed at Esdeath, and Esdeath let out another small laugh and shrugged. You really couldn’t blame a man for trying! Jason just shook his head, and he turned his focus back to Gina as she finally loosened her hands around his waist. Gina looked at Jason closely, and she asked him if he was okay. Jason just smiled and said that he was fine. There had been a small problem, but he already dealt with it. Gina obviously didn’t believe that it was a small problem from the look that she gave him! No small problem would be able to make someone like Jason look so vulnerable for that long, but Gina decided that she wouldn’t press Jason for an explanation right now. She would ask him what really happened when they were alone later.
"I’m glad to see you’re still alive. You ran off on me like that, and I come to find you looking like you’re about to die? Isn’t that fucking hilarious?"
Agiel’s voice reached the couple from behind, and Jason could see Gina’s face immediately sour when she heard it. There was a smile on Agiel’s face as she spoke, and her hands were folded across her chest. Agiel had meant what she said only as a joke. She wasn’t the sort of person to express feelings of worry to anyone, so even though she was glad that Jason was okay, she couldn’t help but tease him for what happened. But even though Jason could tell that Agiel was just joking, it was obvious that Gina took Agiel’s words very seriously! Gina was one moment away from confronting Agiel in anger! Didn’t Agiel see that they were having a fucking moment? But Jason put his hand on her shoulder to stop her, and he gave Agiel a kind smile before he spoke.
"How about you leave for now, Agiel."
Agiel blinked in surprise at the obvious dismissal from Jason, and her eyes narrowed in irritation. Agiel glanced at Gina, and once she saw the look on her face, she realized that Jason was sending her away because of Gina. Agiel was shocked when she felt an uncontrollable jealousy rising from deep in her heart, and for the first time in a while, she had no idea how to react in front of someone. Agiel turned away from Jason and Gina, and she spoke to Jason just before leaving.
"I hope you remember what we spoke about, Jason. Run from me for as long as you want, but in the end, we’ll always come back to each other. That is our destiny."
"This bitch—!"
Gina’s face twisted into a look of sheer fury, and Jason managed to hold her back again before he told Agiel to leave. Agiel didn’t bother to say anything more, and Jason watched her return to the disk and tell the superhuman that brought her there to take her back down. Once Agiel left, Jason let go of Gina, and he raised a brow when he saw the way she was glaring at the ground. Jason knew that if he had left Gina alone, the two women would have undoubtedly gotten into a fight. Both Agiel and Gina had very fiery personalities, and neither of them seemed like the sort of person to back down from a challenge. And even though Jason had been holding Gina back, he had actually been worried about Agiel’s survival. Agiel might be an SS Rank, but Gina was both an SS Rank as well as a Rook, so Gina would not only have enough firepower to match Agiel’s attacks, but she would have enough defenses to withstand anything Agiel threw at her. It was just better for everyone if both women didn’t get into a fight at all!
’What does she mean by ’what you spoke about before?’ Were you talking with her?’
Gina had a slightly irritated expression as she asked Jason this question through their mental link, and Jason nodded as he stretched a little.
’Yeah, I went to speak to her when I found out about this New Order nonsense. We had to go help the kids in Core City, but it’s no big deal. Come on.’
Jason put his hand out to Gina, and Gina felt a surge of nostalgia fill her body when Jason mentioned Core City. Gina shivered slightly, and she spoke while taking Jason’s hand and allowing him to pull her close.
’I completely forgot about that place. Ugh, I can’t believe people are still being sent there.’
Jason raised a brow at her and asked her why she disliked it so much, and Gina frowned as she spoke.
’It’s not really that bad. The teachers try to help you for the first few weeks, and they give pointers and tips, but after a while, it becomes obvious that they are very biased towards the superhumans with higher-ranked Gifts. They start having special classes with those guys, and they completely ignore the lower-ranked children. But if it was just that, then maybe it would be tolerable, but even the kids are horrible. All the higher rank kids kept forming these stupid cliques and acting like gang members. They’d bully the weaker students and make them act like their slaves. I managed to avoid all of it since I was a C Rank. I wasn’t one of the strongest, but I wasn’t weak either, so I just stayed away from the cliques completely. But all of it was just stupid.’
Jason rose a brow in surprise. Well, that was the last thing Jason expected to hear about that city. When Jason had been there, he had been wishing that he had the chance to go, and he had even said that it looked like a great place, but as it turns out, things weren’t always as they looked on the outside. Jason watched as Gina came close to him and looked him over one more time with a worried look on her face, and she spoke with a small frown.
"Are you sure you’re okay?"
Jason nodded and smiled.
"Yeah, I’m fine. I’ll tell you about all this later. Let’s go check on Janet and Maya."