I Awakened My Game System! Now Three Great Houses Want Me Dead!-Chapter 106: Sleep

Socrates was someone ancient.

A being the realm itself had chosen to lock away.

Xenos looked at that ’being’ through the metal bars for a while, his eyes gleaming faintly in the dark.

"Well..."

He let out a long breath.

"I’m in good company, it seems."

He then chuckled, the sound echoing.

"No wonder you’re so strong."

Socrates tilted his head, the long curtain of matted hair sliding to one side; his similarly gray eyes’ dulling a little behind it.

"Is that all?"

Xenos blinked.

"Hm?"

It seemed Socrates was expecting more of a reaction.

Unfortunately, he was dealing with Xenos, someone who never acted the way anyone wanted, practically the most unpredictable existence in this stratum, one day perhaps even in this entire realm.

"You want more?"

Socrates stared for a moment, only to shake his head, actually giving up.

"No, never mind. Just... listen up, boy..."

He pointed at his legs, bound in thick, rusted chains that still shimmered with Divinity.

"I’ve been hunted ever since my irregularity was discovered. That was when I was just a Shepherd. Still, I survived, outran them, killed many of them, broke their rules, and tore apart their neat little hierarchy. For a while, I thought I’d destroyed their whole apparatus, their control."

He smiled bitterly.

"But Pluto caught me."

Somehow, the air grew colder.

"They experimented on me... learned of my irregular Soul Glyphs..."

He sighed, a sound that seemed to carry centuries.

"Then they locked me down here. I haven’t seen sunlight since."

Xenos crouched slightly, his expression surprisingly neutral.

"Socrates... may you be happy to know Pluto’s dead."

The prisoner’s head snapped up.

"Are you... sure?"

Xenos nodded.

"Besides the Gods Themselves, I’m the most sure one in this world."

He knew, rather, he’d personally seen Pluto’s death... in the game.

That could make it arguable, but Xenos was now sure that such information carried over...

And that made Socrates stare blankly, his lips parting.

"...then, who—?"

"His son, Thanatos."

Xenos answered quickly.

"He took over. And they caught me a mere day after I initialized my system."

For a second, Socrates looked alive again.

"Then... they built something from my ruin."

"Yes."

Xenos chuckled a second time.

"It seems after catching you, they’ve developed some sort of detection spell for those of irregular Soul Glyphs like ours."

The old man went silent while Xenos continued:

"I’ve already had three—"

’Four.’

Eris corrected in his mind, and he listened:

"—four assassination attempts on me. It’s only been two weeks."

Socrates lowered his head.

"...I’m sorry."

Ah. He was blaming himself.

Xenos waved a hand dismissively.

"Please. Don’t worry about it. It’s only more fun this way."

That got a small laugh out of the ancient prisoner.

"’Fun,’ he says... You really are a strange one."

"Hey, I take pride in it."

They both laughed at that—two lunatics who began to share war stories through prison bars:

"Once, they sent seven of Hades’s hounds after me, all Shepherds. I killed six before the seventh bit off my arm. I killed him with it and later reattached it at a healer."

Xenos sat down.

"Not bad. Well, a highlight of mine was a few days ago when I baited a group of assassins to poison my people before killing them."

"You what?!"

"They didn’t actually drink any poison; it was all acting to get the assassins in the hall and trap them there. It was a bit tough to act all enraged and regretful, but hey, it did the job."

"...you’re absolutely deranged."

"I know."

Their laughter echoed through the corridor.

In a place where nothing had truly lived for centuries, that sound felt almost ominous.

After a while, with Xenos finding himself sharing even more stories, Socrates waved a hand.

"Alright, alright. That’s enough of that; let’s talk about why you came here."

"Right."

Xenos turned around and relaxed his back against the metal.

"I need a Rune that can synergize with my Luck Element. And maybe, while we’re at it, you could teach me a thing or two about Synaxis, Blessed Socrates. Since you’re... Class Three. Beyond the complete transformation level. A Runebearer with an actual Rune Domain."

"Enough flattery, boy."

Socrates’s smile was obvious.

"Sure, I can give you advice and a Rune. But not for free."

Xenos’s grin vanished.

"...You want me to kill you, don’t you?"

That actually made the old man flinch.

"How did you...?"

"I’ve seen that look too many times."

Xenos answered flatly.

"Most would tell you to hold on, to try to find a way out, or to hope the world has something left for you."

Standing up and facing the cell, Xenos returned his sword.

"I won’t."

He looked straight into Socrates’ dim gray eyes.

"I’ll kill you."

There was silence for a moment before the prisoner sighed in relief.

"...Thank you."

His smile weakened.

"You won’t get any fragments of my Soul for it—I’ll have to destroy it completely to give you the Rune. But hey, don’t complain too much; you’ll get to see what a high-class death and Rune Domain look like."

Xenos nodded.

"House Hades did that to you?"

"Yes. They Rune-Leashed me before locking me here."

Hm, indeed, there was no other way.

The Rune Leash prevented him from passing any Rune.

That one Rune alone was supposedly impossible to remove, so the fact that he was about to do it, well...

"Tell me."

Xenos raised his sword.

"How do I trigger Synaxis?"

It neared Socrates’s barely thumping heart.

Socrates looked at the weapon, then at the boy holding it.

"Everyone has their own path. You... need to learn who you are."

Xenos tilted his head.

"I already know. I’m an unhinged, mentally twisted maniac."

Socrates chuckled, his body trembling all of a sudden.

"No. More than that... much, much more."

The blade touched the prisoner’s chest.

"Self-discovery, huh?"

Socrates tried to nod but couldn’t.

Fortunately, he didn’t need to; his Runes did the talking for him.

THUMP.

All around the two, Runes began to appear.

Runes in many a color, a few glowing gold.

Within moments, Socrates’s appearance changed.

What once was an old man turned young again.

Further than that, his gray hair changed to purple.

Strings appeared all over his body, propping him up.

He’d become a puppet, and the prison cell his stage.

Yes, it had literally turned into a stage.

Or rather, every single cell did.

And Xenos was its final act.

His sword was the key.

One that he pushed...

"Ah."

Deeper in.

"Yes."

It pierced through skin.

"Hm."

It reached past muscle.

"Kill me."

It slid through bone.

"...thank you."

Finally, the sword reached Socrates’ heart.

The man’s eyes softened, losing what remained of their brightness one breath at a time.

"Ah... finally... it’s so quiet..."

"So... so quiet..."

"I can sleep."

Xenos slowly pulled the sword free...

"Hm... your hell has ended."

And straightened up again.

"Sweet dreams."

The puppet fell.