Emperor Time And Realization

__________ POV Ashton__________

After Kurapika was done pondering the information I just spoon-fed him, he looked at me again, this time in resolution.

"Why... Why did you want eyes from our clan?" Yep, this was the obvious next question.

"I wanted... No, I was testing out a hypothesis. You see, our eyes have a certain ability..." He was surprised once more, a better reaction than what I was expecting.

"Y-You can also use 'Emperor Time'?!" So that's how he named it?

Well, it's certainly a fitting name. After all, activating the scarlet eyes grants one 100% proficiency in all aura techniques.

All for the small price of draining an unnoticeable amount of vitality every minute. Well, it's unnoticeable to me. A normal human wouldn't exactly find it convenient.

" 'Emperor Time' huh... Fitting name... That, my child, is the inherent ability that our Scarlet Eyes have." His eyes showed a look of realization.

"Unfortunately, not many of our clansmen practised Nen... I needed the eyes to make sure that no one else would be able to gain that ability."

"B-But, the eyes of the Kurta clan don't shine when transplanted..." He said, a bit confused.

"And who do you think made that knowledge public? I did my best to dissuade greedy pigs from purchasing our clansmen's eyes..." Now, it's my turn to crack something.

I tapped my foot in the ground, turning the marble floor into fine dust underneath me and forming web-like cracks throughout the entire bar.

What I said just now isn't even a lie. I did make that knowledge public after learning of the clan's massacre.

I didn't want the Phantom Troupe to make all that much profit off my request after all...

Although the eyes still sold like hotcakes, turns out people like to keep odd things in their collections.

Most weren't even used for anything. Just preserved on shelves and left there to look 'pretty'.

Which is, in my opinion, a disgusting waste of an extremely powerful eye and a quite decent research subject.

The scientists of the world weren't interested/paid enough to start researching ways of implanting the Scarlet Eyes properly.

And since most of them know diddly squat about Nen, they have no incentive to do anything of the sort.

There also aren't any hunters(besides me) that noticed the subtle change in their aura while the Kurta Clan still existed.

I only noticed it by chance too. If I hadn't, maybe the Kurta clan would've lived... But that's unlikely, especially considering how quickly their eyes sold out.

"It didn't work... Rather, it didn't help at all. Those disgusting pigs bought our clans eyes just so they could put them on shelves..." Saying what I think is the best way to go here.

"I-I see... I won't blame you... Thank you for telling me the truth." He shut his eyes in contemplation.

"Hey... The two of us could hunt down the Troupe. I already know the location of some of them. But two people out of them are non-targets." I said resolutely.

I will always have a soft spot for these Zoldyck brats. No matter how much they try to kill me, I've seen fragments of Zigg in all of the... Although that might be exactly because they tried to kill me...

" But... Keep something in mind... Whether it was by the Troupe, or someone else, it would have still happened at some point." He didn't seem to believe me, he even seemed mad at this statement of mine.

"What do you mean? They were the ones to kill our clan... If they didn't do it-"

I could see him not believing his own words more and more as he spoke, he gave up on his sentence and looked down once again.

"I'm sure you've realised this by now, there was a lot of 'need' on the black market for them. One doesn't just slaughter an entire clan without somewhere to sell their valuables to." I won't explicitly mention that I was the first buyer for the eyes.

Doing so would ruin his impression of me by quite a bit. But I will hint at it a bit.

Things like informing the world about the eyes, and attempting to take attention away from them.

He just looked at the ground and gritted his teeth. I guess he would love to be able to pin all of his sufferings onto only one group. But that's simply foolish...

I should know, that's exactly what I've been doing for a large part of my life... Blaming humanity for all the bad things that never happened to me and ignoring the actual issues.

He still has a chance to see the bigger picture, before it's too late. I took a long damn time to understand that not all of my problems stem from one group...

And I didn't have any help whilst doing my rationalisations... My fear drove me to push everyone away from me...

Only Netero stubbornly remained by my side through everything. Doing his best to make sure I wasn't going crazy by myself.

Every time I tried to move my location he would pull every resource he had available to find me. Only to strike up the most casual of conversations like 'Fancy meeting you here in this bunker underneath a random mountain...' He was a strange man, but he was dedicated. He also proved to be a much better friend than I deserve.

I will do my best to right my wrongs. I'll start by helping this child in front of me.

The broken-down bar was silent for a while. Both of us pondering on our own issues. We've not let vengeance eat away at us for a long time. Mine a 'bit' longer than his.

I was the first one to recover. I have had enough time to reflect on my mistakes. But I also need to sleep, rest is crucial after all.

I may have ways to disregard the need for sleep. But feeling well-rested is something that I find joy in.

"Kurapika... Regardless of all that. We will still hunt down the Troupe together. Even if our clan would've ended anyway, they were the ones that ultimately did it. And they need to pay." My words woke him up.

He nodded, but I couldn't see the same intensity and hatred radiating from him. It seems he's no longer drowning himself in vengeance. At least not now.

But it's a start. Revenge is only good in small doses. Too much will make one go crazy.

"Let us head to our respective rooms and get some rest." I stood up, ignoring the sorry state we left the bar in. We both left silently, neither wanting to pay for the damages.

A simple goodbye was all that was needed. We established another meeting in a few day's time. I don't want to kill off the Troupe just yet.

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Hope you liked the chapter.

Didn't get to write more yesterday(sry)

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