12 Someone will die

"Ahhh, it hurts. I'm cold," Ryan inhaled sharply, opening his eyes to find he had been moved out of his hospital bed. White smoke was leaving his mouth due to the freezing temperature inside.

He found himself sitting in an uncomfortable position, with half of his body dangling out of the chair.

His burned back felt unbearably painful at the sensation of the hard wooden chair.

"Ha ha-aah," he let out a painful groan.

'Where am I?'

'What happened? Ah, we lost; Elsa pulled the flag. And then... and I almost destroyed my body... and then what? Tracy and Jacob were crying, and Astin also came to visit.'

"You're finally awake." The consistently gentle voice wasn't so kind anymore as the 'seer' pulled a chair and sat in front of Ryan, helping him sit up straight in passing.

"Grand-pa," Ryan uttered, already knowing this would happen, but he had prepared a countermeasure for this kind of situation the moment he messed up and showed his fire ability.

A lot of things changed in Ryan's life. He wasn't Hiro, so there was no way he'd lead the same life.

"Did you get a good night's sleep?" The seer said gently.

"Do. Not. Mess… With- Me... You're. not. That's O- older. Than. Me - I've. spent- T- too much time- pretending. I'm some innocent child."

"I almost forgot my real age," Ryan said slowly.

Unbeknownst to the seer, at that moment, radiation started seeping into Ryan's hand, where the parasite resided.

"Hmmm," the seer mused and asked in a gentle voice, as if talking to a child.

"So, how old are you, my dear grandson?"

"Why. Don't. You. Drop. The. Act. Already. It's. no . fun," Ryan said, suppressing a groan.

"Huh, you don't seem to realize the situation you're in." The seer sighed helplessly.

"The Seer lost his real name in the search for the truth of the world and was erased from the world record."

The stuttering disappeared at irregular intervals, yet the seer didn't seem to notice.

The seer patiently waited for Ryan to finish talking.

Ryan continued, "32... years old. The seer lost half of his lifespan in the process."

The seer's hand that caressed the armrest paused.

"Who sent you to me?"

"Nobody sent me. You brought me here," Ryan said.

It was true; if the person in front of him hadn't betrayed Hiro, he probably would have never transmigrated here.

"Since when?"

"Cough. Since... the beginning."

"Who are you?" the seer asked.

"I am Ryan Cassier."

"So, you're not going to answer." The seer relaxed his shoulders.

He was tempted to use his power to see Ryan's past. But unfortunately, even that was costly for him.

"You already know why I brought you here." The mark that he left on the boy has disappeared, meaning the brainwashing was lifted.

"To. K- kill- me," Ryan said, closing his eyes tiredly.

The seer nodded.

He didn't need a pawn that didn't listen, much less one that wasn't his from the start.

He wasn't planning to let him die just yet; however, this little fellow in front of him was dangerous to keep alive.

The chair started burning, and Ryan's pain-filled screams could be heard.

"Ahh AHH!"

Sizzle-

"You're the one who didn't understand." Ryan, whose whole body is covered in bandages, reappeared from behind, sitting on a chair, while the same chair in front of the seer's eyes was still being burned to ashes.

Agonizing screams echoed inside the room.

The cold black interior of the room was closely oppressed by the sense of dread; the fire formed a cracking pattern as if the surroundings were crumpling rather than burning, casting out folded paper lantern-like 'artworks.'

Coldness and warmth were intertwined, while darkness and light coexisted.

"I've never been in danger the whole time." Ryan's voice echoed beside the seer's ears; the screams faded into the background.

Crackle-

Another Ryan appeared from the other side."Pressure from society and the union."

"Don't mess with me. The whole time, you did this for the sake of one thing." Ryan, who was burning, stopped screaming and smiled.

"This is just an illusion," the seer said calmly. "I don't know how you got your hands on an ability card like that. It doesn't matter what rank it is; it isn't enough to trap me."

"You're wrong," Ryan said, "that power is just a medium to put radiation into something more powerful than a mere D-rank illusion ability."

"The parasite?" Seer's eyes widened in realization and shock.

"So, what are you going to do now? You're trapped like a rat with no escape, a useless puppet with no purpose, a worthless existence born to serve a master."

Another Ryan in a chair talked to him from the side in an expressionless voice, neither at a slow nor fast pace, uttering the same words the seer had once told the caged Hiro.

SCREAM.

"There is nothing you can do, even if you know." The fourth chair spoke.

The four chairs simultaneously started to burn, and she cried out, "I was forced to; I only wanted to retrieve my lost lifespan." Ryan cried tears of blood.

Flames swallowed them until all four Ryans burned to ashes.

Ryan stood on both legs, no injury to be seen, staring straight into the seer's eyes.

"I'm the one to set the rules here."Ryan reappeared behind him, but the voice echoed from everywhere.

"Immortality!"

"Let me tell you a secret." He whispered, "The world laws will never allow an immortal existence on this land, much less a God."

The seer looked at what appeared to be his younger version, his eyes blanketed by confusion.

"Tell me, Grandpa, can you do something for me?"

The seer nodded dully. "Yes."

"There is someone I need you to get for me," Ryan said.

"Yes," the seer nodded as the parasite integrated itself into his brain.

"Thank you, Grandpa." Ryan smiled slightly.

*****

Powers in this world are largely imperfect; no matter how strong one's ability is or how tricky it is, it could never destroy the natural laws of the world.

Only another world's law can destroy another, and even then, it is against the rules.

As a testimony to that, abilities that involve some being able to manipulate time and space are nonexistent in this world. Not even a magician would be able to reach a higher level than an archetype.

Taking the power of brainwashing as an example, you cannot just brainwash someone; you need to establish a connection with the target.

Now, it could be anything, and it doesn't need to be successfully established as long as you make the effort; the brainwashing would be successful; however, the effect would be minimal.

Referring to the seer as an example:

The connection he tried to establish with Hiro and Ryan in both timelines is 'family'.

The word 'grandpa' is good enough to set the link, and the brainwashing would work, mainly because the parasite was strong enough to overwhelm the mind of an ex-rank potential individual.

The other way is the connection Ryan established with the seer: 'curiosity' and 'fear', fear of the unknown, of someone who knows his goal.

Whether he succeeded or not, establishing a distraction was the best he could do, taking into consideration his body's condition as well as the fact that it was too sudden.

According to the novel and the script, the seer should have been busy dealing with the lows of society, cleaning up some dirty businesses of his that went slightly out of control.

"Hah huh..." Spoon feeding Ryan on the side, Tracy was cheerfully humming a melody, while Jacob was recounting what they did in class, and Ryan listened absentmindedly to some random general knowledge.

The nurse entered soon after and clapped slowly with a smile on her lips. "The visit time has ended. It's time to leave. I need to change your friend's bandages."

The two of them bid their farewell and left, one reluctant and the other pretending to drag her feet.

Ryan sneezed. He looked at his right hand, which no longer had a sleeping parasite in it; instead, a 'Seer' written in purple energy the size of his fingernail appeared on the back of his palm.

Indicating that the brainwashing was successful.

The nurse handed him a card, and all his wounds disappeared the moment he broke the S-grade healing ability card.

"How useful." He commented, relieved. He wasn't fond of being in pain after all.

"The thing you asked for is waiting for you, young master Ryan." This same nurse was one of the maids who served him in the mansion, she said with a flattering smile on her face.

He got up from his bed, changed his clothes, threw all his bandages in the bin, and left through the front door using invisibility, followed by the nurse, who closed the door afterward.

"Let's go."

Walking out of the academy grounds, a helicopter was waiting for him at the foot of the beach, where he met a guy wearing silver clothes.

The radiation running through his body was much faster and stronger than that of any of the students or teachers in the academy. He took off his mask and bowed slightly to Ryan.

He had silver hair that was as bright as snow under the illumination of moonlight and a pair of vacant silver eyes that looked at nothing.

The nurse was taken aback by how unbelievably handsome he was.

She thought Damion was impressive enough.

"This is the man you asked for. He would be a loyal dog and surely follow your commands," the man who was accompanying him said in a flattering voice.

He looked curiously at Ryan.

He didn't know why his master had ordered his most promising trainee to be given away to this young man.

But for sure, he must be related to the seer, right? he thought secretly.

The maid's cold stare sent a shiver down his spine.

"Cough, in this suitcase is a set of poison and an antidote. As long as you inject the poison regularly, he'll remain forever loyal to you."

Ryan's expression remained unchanged as he tolerated the chilling feeling of not being able to notice the predator despite being followed, spied on, and observed the whole time. No wonder the seer came back early.

It seems like one of the characters that his sister didn't mention and played no role in both the original novel and the script is to die.

An extra character, one of the Seer's shadows, has been assigned to him in this timeline.

It seems like he needs to dismiss her from his side soon enough.

Ryan shifted his focus back on the man and nodded, hearing him go on and on explaining how many doses he needed to inject and that he would probably never need to use the antidote unless it was an emergency.

"That's enough," the maid coughed slightly and said. "You can go."

"Hahaha," the man quickly hopped in the helicopter, leaving as silently as he came.

Ryan walked up to the silver-haired guy in the silence of the night.

As the footsteps grew louder and closer, the sound from Ryan became quieter to a whisper only the two of them could hear.

"Someone... Will-. Die. Tom_ Tomorrow. I- Need... You... To- Get. Rid... Of. The. Corps."

He said with difficulty, trying his best not to bite his tongue."If... you do. I will. give. you- the antidote, Noah."

The silver-haired guy nodded his head, his shadow wiggling at Ryan's words and soon a mangled corpse appeared.