Chapter 15 A Glimpse of the Past "None of us will laugh at you..."
“None of us will laugh at you,” a low, husky voice drawled in his ear.
In that instant, Xingyun's first thought wasn't that Yangyan, that blond-haired bastard, was getting so close, nor was it because his warm breath tickled his ear, nor was it that Yangyan, who had recently been living as a woman, had dutifully worn perfume, nor was it about Ethan, whom Yangyan had mentioned, and who called Ethan a weirdo.
Instead, Xingyun suddenly remembered that a long, long time ago, Yangyan had spoken to him in such an intimate manner—and then cut off his ear after speaking.
When he recalled this incident, goosebumps instantly appeared all over his body, screaming that he wanted to tilt his head back and leave Yangyan.
But the meteorite did not move.
He glanced at Yang Yan's hand on his right shoulder, then turned to look at Yang Yan, who was still very close to him. Yang Yan smiled at him when he looked over, but still showed no intention of letting go, shameless.
The next second, his head flew off.
Xingyun suddenly realized that they hadn't even noticed the slight shadow they had left on the will of other cities during their early integration. He didn't know whether Xingyun had left a shadow on Yangyan.
However, Yang Yan left him a little.
In the early days, Kagerou didn't like to smile, stubbornly believing that he was right, regardless of what others thought—a damnably powerful but mentally challenged individual.
But this mentally challenged person, because he was born a few years earlier and was stronger than him, captured him and kept him as a pet after liking his face.
Yang Yan was particularly fond of his face. If Xing Yun wouldn't let him pinch it, he would cut off his head and pinch it while holding it. Novigrad tried to stop him, but to no avail.
Novigrad tried to let him go, but every few days, Yangyan would bring back Xingyun after losing his beloved collection. After this happened several times, Yangyan discovered that Novigrad was responsible and killed her.
Novigrad: "..."
Novigrad: "I really must unite with the wills of the other cities to seal you away!! Starfall is our ally!"
Kagerou: "Mine."
In the end, Novigrad was furious and chased after him for a while, but Yang Yan was unaffected. Novigrad then contacted other cities to suppress him.
Unfortunately, in the early days of the city's will, Yang Yan was the most powerful.
The seal failed, and suppressing the power was useless; Xingyun was still forced to be held like a doll.
At that time, Xingyun really hated her face. The city's will could take on different appearances, but it also had its own original face.
Starfall tried to transform into other people's faces, but Yangyan would always kill him. Even though Starfall had tried to transform into many beautiful faces, Yangyan only accepted his appearance.
Unfortunately, the star had only been transformed for a few days, and the city was young, weak, and small.
At first, Xingyun was unable to adapt to being killed. She often experienced phantom pain and convulsions, feeling both hatred and helplessness. Occasionally, she would dream of Yangyan and then be startled awake.
Over time, Xingyun became distorted in this state, especially psychologically. He hated Yangyan so much that he could only think about killing him every day and couldn't think of anything else.
Novigrad had tried to provide him with psychological counseling, but it was ineffective.
He had been preparing to kill Yang Yan, waiting for the perfect moment to strike him dead.
Fortunately, the meteor shower was successful.
At the moment Yang Yan breathed her last, Xing Yun never imagined that she had actually succeeded.
Even though Yang Yan wasn't really dead and would regenerate his body in a while, Xing Yun still found it unbelievable.
When did his power become so great? He could kill Yang Yan once and he could kill him countless times. Yang Yan's death was not a fluke for Xingyun, but rather that he possessed enough power to kill Yang Yan.
He almost burst out laughing at that moment, for his transformation, for finally escaping being treated as a plaything because of his weakness.
Despite being the will of the city, he was turned into a collectible, a puppet that could be manipulated at will, and made obedient after being killed a few times if he disobeyed.
Later, Xingyun realized that during the years he had been gone, Xingyun City had fallen into chaos and was known as the City of Sin; order was the reason for his incompetence.
It was chaos that made him stronger; it was evil that gave him power.
So he embraced sin and chaos, and stopped trying to control his city, allowing all sorts of different forces to take root in Starfall City.
He would even occasionally personally select people to incite them to make Starfall City more chaotic, selectively helping a few to reach the pinnacle of power; power is the best poison.
Of course, Starfall can get annoyed sometimes. If he's unhappy, he'll eliminate a faction he doesn't like to make room for other rising forces.
Starfall City became even more infamous.
Once Xingyun became stronger, he began a 150-year-long pursuit of Yangyan, usually through assassination, occasionally by capturing him alive and torturing him. During this time, he subjected Yangyan to countless tortures for the humiliations he had inflicted on him when he was weak.
Under Xingyun's furious retaliation, Yangyan was no longer the mindless man with only strength he once was. He learned to think, reflect, respect people and his companions, and pay the price for his mistakes.
Furthermore, you can't just kill anyone who shares the same will of the city, hacking and slashing, beheading people without regard for their bodies when you're angry, treating them like dolls.
Although it was forced upon them, it's still a cause for celebration.
Although Xingyun became stronger, it didn't mean his injuries were healed. It took him a long time to recover from those states, but that didn't stop him from killing Yangyan.
Even now, Xingyun still dislikes physical contact with people or the city's will, not to mention that when Yangyan gets close to him, he will have a PTSD attack, recalling his past when he hated being so weak and pathetic.
Xingyun still hated Yangyan, even though he was the one with the strongest will among all the cities, and even though he was tired of killing him, he still hated him.
Therefore, he must overcome and break free from the influence of the Yang Yan on him; only then will he truly win.
So he shoved Yang Yan's severed hand into his mouth, but the man beneath him refused. He had no choice but to resort to a second-best option: using a scalpel formed from magic, he gouged out his eyes and fed them to him.
The meteor received sounds of gagging and complaining from Yang Yan.
Xingyun thought that he often felt nauseous and vomited, which was caused by Yangyan.
Then Yang Yan finally fought back and started fighting Xing Yun.
Starfall didn't use magic, engaging in pure hand-to-hand combat with Yangyan. Then, during the fight, a voice came from the city's will nearby:
"If Xingyun or Yangyan were human, I would think Yangyan had feelings for Xingyun. Wait, that would be considered sexual harassment, right?"
Xingyun froze for a moment, then a wave of nausea washed over him, and he felt like vomiting again.
Because of the pause, Yang Yan didn't stop as quickly as Xing Yun. Xing Yun took a punch, his head was turned to one side, and a little redness appeared where he was hit. Yang Yan stopped moving after he finished hitting him.
Xingyun's eyes slowly turned to Yangyan, staring intently at him.
"Starfall, they say I'm interested in you." Yang Yan looked at him, then suddenly laughed, a bright laugh as always. His only remaining left hand trembled as he placed it on Starfall's waist, his fingers drawing an ambiguous circle. Yang Yan even whistled a lewd tune: "That's real sexual harassment~"
To be honest, Xingyun was really grateful that he had set up a spell to prevent Yangyan from speaking before she did, and grateful for his intuition that he had been frantically shouting about a bad premonition. Otherwise, he would have killed everyone present until they lost their memories or wanted to lose their memories.
Xingyun felt an overwhelming urge to vomit. The nausea was so intense; how could it be so disgusting? Was he really going to throw up? What could possibly be in his stomach?
When it comes to being disgusting, Yang Yan claims to be second to none. He always manages to disgust Xingyun for a long time with the fewest words and the simplest actions.
Xingyun must have driven Yangyan crazy over the long years. He's capable of anything to disgust him. How come his bottom line is getting lower and lower?
Moved by Yang Yan's generous example, Xingyun kissed Yang Yan's cheek with her fist until it was completely bruised.
Yang Yan is dead, and it will take some time for him to be resurrected. Xingyun turned to look at the corner where the city's wills had been standing and found that only Novigrad was there.
Novigrad noticed Starfall looking at her, and felt a little embarrassed and uneasy: "Uh, shall I go now?"
Starfall watched Novigrad for a while, making Novigrad feel extremely uneasy, and fear slowly began to grow within him.
Starfall could feel himself getting better; it was... Novigrad's fear of him that restored him.
Starfall knew that Novigrad, like him, had PTSD related to Yangyan. Very few city wills survived that period and did not disappear into the river of time. Including Novigrad, Starfall, and Yangyan, there were only five.
Those who have experienced the brutal and unruly rule of Kagerou all suffer from PTSD related to Kagerou.
The current City Wills were created later, and Starfall doesn't pay much attention to them. They have some fear of Starfall, but not much. On the contrary, the City Wills who experienced the early Yangyan have developed PTSD related to Starfall.
They witnessed Xingyun's vengeful nature and his lifelong grudges; Xingyun's ruthless methods made life worse than death.
Not every city's will is like Yang Yan's, and not everyone can remain mentally sound despite so many deaths.
Xingyun gave a soft "Mmm": "You can go now."
Novigrad breathed a sigh of relief and soon disappeared from the room.
After waiting for a while, Xingyun felt the fingers under his feet moving. Looking down, he saw that Yangyan had almost been revived.
So he picked up Yang Yan and punched him, instantly waking Yang Yan up.
A new cycle has begun. Because of his resurrection, Yang Yan's severed hands and feet have healed, his gouged-out eye has grown back, his strength has returned, and he is full of energy.
They started fighting again, and it seemed like it would never end.
At this moment, the two city wills are unaware that their guardians will become allies with the other's guardians in the future; right now, these two mortal enemies are just fighting desperately.
Just as they were unaware that their guardians would have a good relationship in the future, and couldn't be stopped, Ethan and the others were also unaware that the City Will was holding a gathering, and even the past of the City Lords was unknown.
A note from the author:
----------------------
Meteor Shower and Blazing Sun are mortal enemies.
Yang Yan's feelings are complex. At first, she felt guilty when she realized she had made a mistake, but this guilt was worn away by Xing Yun's crazy vengefulness. She is a bit crazy and is still disgusted by Xing Yun.
Did I say that cities aren't purely white? If I didn't, let me clarify: the early stages of the game weren't just about Starfall and Sunfire Bloodshed; other cities weren't much better off.
Currently, the combat strength of Yangyan and Xingyun is 3.5:6.5, with Xingyun holding a dominant position in the city.
The next chapter is about Ethan, but I got stuck so badly I questioned my existence.
Novigrad's PTSD flares up when the two are fighting.
Kagerou also has Starfall PTSD now.
PTSD, or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, is a delayed or prolonged anxiety response to exceptionally threatening or catastrophic events or situations. [From Baidu]
I was writing until after 1 a.m. and still had to get up at 8 a.m., hehe.
No, I've had a headache ever since I woke up after staying up all night. I don't know if I'll be able to update tomorrow or the day after.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
