August Intruder- Chapter 214- You Are Good (Patreon)

The entire room went still. Chetam watched Madness stand in front of him. It probably said a lot about Madness that even though he had just stepped out of a portal, how he had done it without the use of Fendor was not the first thing on his mind. That Madness had come to him after he had refused to pick the Oath’s phone calls for so long was also not the first thing on Chetam’s mind.

What was on Chetam’s mind was supposed to be wholly unimportant, but it stood out like a sore thumb. Madness was wearing an actual suit.

Chetam could not believe his eyes. He couldn’t think of a time that he had ever seen the man in anything that was not casual.

Madness raised his hand and waved. “Hello,” he said.

Chetam blinked, unsure. He raised his hand as well and waved. “Hello?”

Ruth shrugged and did the same. “Hello.”

Madness looked at her, then he looked away without acknowledging her. Instead, he walked over to the furniture at the center of the office and sat down on one of the couches. He adjusted once, then twice. He moved his butt in a comical display of seeking comfort before finally settling down.

Only then did he speak again.

“Inevitability,” he said casually. “I have come to… bargain? I think that is the word I am looking for.”

Inevitability swallowed. For some reason, there was something terrifying about a Madness with no Aurora.

“I’m listening,” he said.

Madness nodded, then slipped his hand into his pocket. Ruth grew immediately alert and Chetam almost sighed. What did she think Madness was going to do? Pull a device powerful enough to kill an Oath in one shot?

He waved her down with nothing but a look. The last thing they wanted was to make Madness feel like he was in danger.

When Madness brought his hand out of his pocket, he was holding on to a handheld gaming device. He turned it on and selected a game that Chetam did not see on time.

“You have been avoiding my calls,” Madness said simply, matter-of-factly.

Inevitability moved over to the furniture, his steps careful. “You stopped calling eventually.”

“That is true,” Madness agreed without taking his eyes off the game. “It got boring.”

Chetam’s eyes landed on Madness’ left hand. It was a blackish-green. His eyes narrowed on the injury. Is that gangrene?

“The portal I was sent to was not the easiest thing to deal with,” Madness said casually. “I was forced to make… sacrifices.”

Madness talking like a normal person was beginning to unnerve Chetam. “What kind of sacrifices?” he asked.

Madness looked at the hand in question then shrugged. “Nothing too drastic. An entire civilization for an arm doesn’t sound too horrible.”

“You’re lying,” Ruth said very carefully.

“Would you like to have a seat?” Madness offered Chetam with a gesture to the chair right behind Chetam. It would place them sitting opposite each other. “I have found that trust is better when facing each other.”

Chetam nodded very slowly.

[You have used Oath skill The Love of Possibilities]

The world seemed to freeze for a single moment as the skill took activation. It lasted for less than a fraction of a second. Things moved about for a moment, outcomes predicting themselves, seeking the most inevitable. Unlike his passive skill that always activated when there was a certain inevitability in sight, giving him a feeling, this one sought out the most possible inevitability actively. The difference between both skills was that the passive skill activated on its own and only when something became inevitable. [The Love of Possibilities] found everything that could be inevitable.

He used this because the passive skill could not be relied upon so simply. It showed what will happen without complete clarity and only what will happen. If something could happen and ended up happening, it would not inform him. And something that was inevitable was always, at some point, evitable.

Chetam paused as things progressed along, flashing about at inhumane speed. His breath caught in his chest when an instance flashed by with Madness looking at the ground with a frown and not a stain. Ruth lay there with a broken neck and a lot of bruises. It slipped by to a scene were they were all seated drinking coffee with Aurora. Then it moved to a scene where Madness had his shirt off and was talking to him very animatedly while gesturing at his gangrene hand. Then there was a scene of him comforting Madness while he cried.

This was why Chetam was not a fan of dealing with Madness. Anytime he tried to analyze potential outcomes of dealing with the Oath, they were always so random and chaotic. Even when Aurora was present. Yes, with her there was some level of relationship with each other, but with only Madness, the sky was too far beneath the starting point.

Shaking the skill off, Chetam looked at Madness. “You said you were here to negotiate?”

“Negotiations are interesting things.” Madness’ attention had returned to his game. “I give and you give. But value is only determined by us. Is what I give to you of relatively equal value to what you give to me?” He frowned at his game. “I don’t like when the boss is easy,” he muttered. “And if we agree that it is of equal value why complain when the exchange has been made?”

Chetam had no idea what was going on. “What exchange would you like to make?”

“Interesting question.” Madness looked up from his game. “I prefer Shield. She isn’t the brightest, too driven by a focus, but she’s rarely ever dissonant.” He cocked his head to the side. “You, however, are most dissonant today. Do you really not know what to do?”

“I don’t want to get into a fight with you,” Chetam said carefully. “I don’t want you to see me as an enemy.”

“Oh.” Madness’ eyes went flat. “I guess that’s alright. We are not enemies. We might not be enemies. If it’s any consolation. Shield will never be my enemy.”

Sheild scoffed. “Like I care. I will always do what is necessary.”

Chetam had a lot to say to that, but he ignored her just as Madness ignored her.

“Is there something you would like from me, Madness?” he asked.

“I cannot think of anything,” Madness said, returning to his game. “But I have something to offer.”

“What would you like to—” Chetam paused as Madness pressed a button and the game he was playing became audible. Chetam blinked twice while Ruth flushed a littled. “Are you watching porn?”

Madness held up the console and turned it so that he could see it. “Hentai game,” he said simply. “It keeps telling me to… It doesn’t matter.” He returned to playing the game. “I am looking for a gift, and I saw something in the ad that someone I know might like.”

Please let it be Aurora, Chetam prayed. Clearly what Madness had seen had to be related to sex, and he could only imagine what they would have to deal with if the woman ever found out that Madness was cheating on her.

It brought another interesting concept to mind. For all his insanity, Madness had never cheated on his wife.

Chetam’s train of thought paused as another thought came to mind. It was Madness he was dealing with here. It was very possible that what he had seen that led him to playing a sex game had nothing to do with sex at all.

A frown crossed Chetam’s lips. This whole analyzing a person was so much easier when it was not Madness.

“What are you offering?” he asked, pulling himself away from his own thoughts.

“That’s simple.” Madness pressed a button and the unnecessary moaning of a girl filled the room. “I’m offering the real time location of the [August Intruder].”

Chetam and Ruth looked at each other.

“And what does the woman who chose you have to say about this?” Ruth asked.

“So what will you offer?” Madness asked Chetam, ignoring Ruth once more, to her chagrin.

Chetam leaned forward on his seat. “What does Aurora have to say about this?”

“She does not know,” Madness admitted. “I am hoping my gift will be enough for a bargain of forgiveness.” He took his shoes off. “If it is not, I will have to find another. Perhaps you can help me. Perhaps not. So, what are you willing to offer.”

Chetam could not believe what he was hearing. For all his chaos, Madness’ conversation was too… sane.

You always communicated through Aurora, he reminded himself. It begged a new question. What if the reason he did not converse with them was not because they would not understand him but because he simply did not want to communicate with them?

Wouldn’t that be the greatest fuck you of all time.

“What do you mean by real time location?” Chetam asked.

“I will tell you where they are right now,” Madness said.

“In this moment?” Chetam asked. “As we are speaking.”

“Yes.”

“How specific will you be?”

“As specific as I wish.”

“That is not fair,” Ruth objected, not speaking to Madness but simply objecting.

Knowing that he would not care for her words, Chetam repeated them. “That is not fair.”

“Perhaps,” Madness said. “But I assure you that I will not say that they are on Earth.”

They definitely couldn’t be outside Earth. That was for sure.

“Alright,” Chetam said, not happy to concede. “Where is the [August Intruder]?”

“What are you offering?”

“I have an SS-rank spear,” Chetam said. “I will offer you that.”

“Is it of worthy value to you?”

“Yes.”

“Is it of worthy value to me?”

Chetam opened his mouth, then paused. He had almost forgotten about Madness’ one trump card over all the other Oaths. He sighed and closed his mouth as he answered honestly. “No.”

Madness took one hand from his console and started undoing his belt. “Unfortunate,” he said. “Offer me something else.”

“How about a skill?” Chetam asked. If he remembered correctly, Madness was a [Faker]. He did not know what requirements the Oath needed to copy skills, but he had skills to give, powerful skills that he was sure would assist the man.

Madness paused his game. He looked at Chetam. “I will use Shield to show you something. Why? Because I can.”

Then he moved his hand without looking at Ruth and pointed at her. Ruth moved immediately, ever suspicious of Madness because of his madness, she darted to the side where she ran into thin air, hitting nothing. She frowned, then placed her hand on the air. It flattened against something. Her jaw dropped as she and Chetam realized what it was.

She moved her hand, touching her other side. It flattened against nothing, too.

Among the Oaths, there was a confusion, a belief that Oaths did not have world skill. In truth, it was a false belief. The Oaths only believed it because every who spoke on the subject claimed that they did not have one. Ruth had, though. She had a skill called [Aegis of the World].

And Madness had just used it on her. More horrifying was the precision with which he had used it, predicting her movement without looking at her.

“[The Love of Possibilities] is an interesting skill,” he said to Chetam’s horror. “Mixing it with a sense of dissonance makes for near perfect prediction.”

Chetam gritted his teeth. “If you know that I have nothing that I can offer you, then why are you even here? Have you chosen to mock me? Have you come to display your power?”

Shield looked as if she was beginning to panic. The walls of the skill he had used on her were beginning to close in on her.

“Release her,” Chetam said, making sure that he did not sound authoritative.

“Shield is powerful,” Madness said, unfazed, back to playing his game. “But she is not so powerful that she cannot die. Now, I will tell you this for free.”

He placed the gaming console on the cushion beside him, leaned forward, and looked into Chetam’s eyes. Chetam was petrified for a moment, frozen stiff by the amount of sanity he saw in those eyes.

“Shield is only alive for one reason,” Madness said with venom and hate in his voice. “Because the woman who chose me wills it. I have been banned from taking her life unless she attacks me or mine, and I decide what constitutes an attack. Is this understood?”

Somehow it felt like he was talking to both Chetam and Ruth. It didn’t matter. Chetam nodded quickly.

“I understand,” he said as Ruth was forced into a squatting position, hands out to keep the skill from crushing her. “We understand.”

Madness remained in place for a moment while Ruth continued to be crushed. Then the sanity left his eyes.

“Good,” he said cheerfully, and Ruth was released. “My apologies, anger has always been a difficult emotion. Since you have nothing of value for me, I have decided on what I want.”

Chetam released a breath he had not known he was holding. “What do you want?”

“On a day of my choosing,” Madness said, “you and I will go to antarctica where we will duel. Your duty is to do everything in your power to kill me while I will do everything in my power to survive the inevitable.”

Chetam frowned. “What happens if I kill you?”

“Then I will be dead.”

“Aurora will come for me.”

Madness shook his head. “She will not. The woman who chose me has honor, even if she often pretends not to.”

“And if you survive the inevitable?” Chetam asked.

Madness’ countenance fell a little. “Then I have survived, and you will offer me your services of my choosing for a year.”

“That is bullshit!” Ruth barked.

“SILENCE!” Chetam returned in anger. Did she not understand that even insults could be deemed as attacks?

His interface popped up suddenly.

[Oath skill Outcome of Certainty is in effect]

Chetam froze.

What was inevitable in the future now?

He allowed the effect of the skill to wash over him and realization dawned on him then. Madness’ request was basically a declaration.

Whether he said yes or no, whether they fought or did not fight, Inevitability had been shown one simple truth: Inevitability will offer his services of Madness’ choosing for the next year.

He ran a hand through his hair in frustration as the realization settled on him.

It was unreasonable.

It was impossible.

The entire thing made no sense.

It was…

He looked at Madness in horror as he understood how it was possible. It was possible because it was madness.

Madness was not just insanity. He was not the embodiment of madness or insanity. He was the embodiment of the concept of madness. He was everything that anything alive thought was ‘madness.’

“You have a deal,” Chetam said in defeat, to Ruth’s shock. “You pick the date and time.”

Madness got up and pocketed his gaming console which had no right fitting into his pocket. “That is good. The [August Intruder] is currently in the United States of America. The [August Intruder] currently occupies one of the Gifted schools in the country due to their occupation.”

With that, he turned and walked towards the exit.

Ruth had taken a seat at some point and was looking on with shock and sadness, as if she had just watched Chetam get used and abused without being able to do anything about it.

Chetam could not blame her. There was nothing she could have done about this.

Ironically, this very outcome had been inevitable.

“Why?” he blurted out when Madness got to the door.

Madness paused, turning back to look at him.

“Why me?” Chetam clarified.

“I went looking for death and those who had survived death once,” he said. “All I found was how to ensure death. No matter what I did, death remained far away from me, always evading death.” He paused, his eyes growing distant. “I could not find death. As such, I could not conquer death. So, I seek the next best thing.”

A philosophical Madness was proving to be the most terrifying thing alive.

“But why me?” Chetam pressed even though his mind was filled with confusion on if Madness was talking about death or Death.

Madness eyes refocused, but there was no sanity in them anymore. They looked like the same stoic uncaring eyes Madness was known for. Still, he answered.

Standing at the door, a teleportation gate opened and swallowed him whole. In its wake, it left behind Madness’ answer.

“Because you are good.”

…

Melmarc woke up kicking and screaming with a searing pain in the back of his eyes.