The SSS-rank Guide Doesn't Need Saving

Aisha didn’t understand why Nykos would say that to her.

Heartless? That can’t be right.

She turned to give him a sideways look, frowning slightly, before she said, ”If I were, I wouldn’t be here for my brother.”

Nykos smiled, lifting a finger to tip her chin slightly upward. He looked directly into her eyes and replied, ”Fair point, little bird. Now, I’m feeling envious of your older brother.”

He wasn’t even his real older brother. Nykos had already heard of the truth behind Aisha’s birth. She was no real Novalis. But for her to be so devoted in searching for Zenick...that was commendable.

On the other hand, since he’d observed her earlier, Nykos learned more about her.

Aisha was even better than any of his men in keeping her emotions in check. Frankly speaking, he had never seen a Guide act so coldly and indifferently towards death. They were known for their compassion and empathetic nature. The only exceptions were those who were already a veteran in the battlefield and had decades of seeing corpses. But Aisha was none of that. As far as he knew, she grew up in a wealthy merchant family and had never been around any dangerous situation.

Styx’s and Marlon’s deaths weren’t normal either. The way they both died could cause a catastrophic terror that would’ve spread and torch him down for it yet she seemed to have foreseen it as much. No one could’ve reacted so numbly like her.

So, what really made her numb to matters of life and death?

”I’m going to use the bracelet now,” Amar announced.

Upon hearing his words, Aisha and Nykos turned to look at him before they started to approach him.

Amar stood close to the necklace fixed in the air, swinging in different directions.

Amar held the bracelet in his hand while his eyes stayed closed. His senses penetrated through the bracelet’s memory of who created it and who had worn it. In his head, he could picture an old man smithing the bracelet into creation before it was finally sold to a store. He felt as though he had become one with the bracelet. Multiple people had stopped before the shelf were its at, looked at it, picked it up, before turning away.

Then, he saw Aisha. She bought it for 12,000 star credits and gave it to Zenick.

He saw how Zenick had never taken it off his wrist. Whether he was negotiating with people, bathing, using the toilet, fighting, or even when he went to sleep. For the entire five years, that bracelet had become one with his body.

And that was great. It made Amar’s task even easier since it held so much memory of Zenick.

Because now, Amar could see how Zenick was beaten by a Sentinel and taken by someone called Holden.

The only problem was the vision had been cut off the instant someone else had taken it from him. Amar continued to look into its memory and winced. He almost opened his eyes at the sound of Aisha’s voice.

The next memory the bracelet held had become cloudy. Strange... Amar frowned. From somewhere, a light so bright it could be mistaken for a distant star had started to flash, making it hard for him to get a clearer view of what happened between Aisha and Styx.

Amar struggled to stir the bracelet’s memories. His power wasn’t just a convenient tracker. It could delve into any object’s memories, control what direction of memory he wanted to see, and use that to locate anything he wanted. So far, nothing could evade him. Even the Association and the Federation’s stronghold and anti-tracking barrier wrapped around their islands were useless against this power.

But for the first time since he learned to control this power, Amar found that no matter how much he bent his power to do his bidding and clear away the cloudiness of the bracelet’s memories, he couldn’t!

Feeling challenged, Amar released more raw power into the bracelet, bending it to his will to open up and reveal everything to him.

Just then—

A flash of pure whiteness so bright that it felt hot suddenly came rushing into him as though to attack him.

”Kugggh!” Amar staggered and almost undid his power.

Nykos frowned. ”What’s wrong?”

”It burned me...” Amar muttered. He decisively cut off his link to the bracelet and tossed it at Aisha.

Aisha effortlessly caught the bracelet in her hand, wiping it gently before placing it inside her pocket. She had to inwardly remind Nibbles to prevent her spiritual beast from devouring it as it had with Irene’s bracelet.

”Guruu...”

A quiet complaint came from Nibbles, as though it didn’t like her assumptions about it. But it still moved closer to the bracelet, rubbing its tiny body on the cold silver, feeling Aisha’s power flowing from it. Then, hummed satisfyingly when it felt the remnants of Aisha’s power seep from the bracelet into its silken body.

It could feel the wounds that had never been healed in eons gradually showing recovery. Though it wasn’t much compared to the real extent of its injury, the spiritual beast welcomed it gladly. A long slumber couldn’t compare to a small trickle of her power.

Aisha was unaware that her spiritual beast had fed itself with her power again to heal.

”Did you find my brother?” Aisha asked.

Amar nodded his head, retrieving the map and the necklace in the corner. He gave her the map and said, ”He’s deep inside a contaminated zone in the west border region of the island of the Association. The X marked on the map is the entrance to the zone. You should be able to find it using the marks my power left behind. As for your brother... he’s still alive.”

Aisha sighed in relief.

”But I only felt a faint pulse coming from him,” Amar added, glancing at Nykos briefly.

”What does that mean?”

Nykos narrowed his eyes at Amar before explaining, ”It means he’s life is in grave danger.”

What the Commander and Second-in-Command of the Dark Knight Organization didn’t tell her was that the faint pulse was Zenick’s heart.

Amar didn’t just locate Zenick. Using the strong connection left behind in the memory of the bracelet and Zenick, he could also tell what his status was at that moment. He wasn’t just in grave danger...

Zenick already had half of his body dipped in the Netherworld. And it wouldn’t be long before he died. If Amar guessed correctly, Zenick only had a few hours to live.

Surprisingly, his commander did not reveal this to Aisha. Was it because he was feeling considerate of her feelings if she found this out?

Well, it didn’t matter to him how their commander handled this. Amar was done with his task and could return to drink what was left on the table. But instead of savoring the food and alcohol they’ve been specially served with, a more pressing issue had arisen with him.

That heat from that white light hasn’t completely faded yet. His vision still swam in that light, feeling like his brain was boiling.

He needed to find a Guide. The mental pollution of using his power these past few months was starting to show up. If untended, he could go on to the first stage of a Rampage.

Amar couldn’t allow that to happen. They still had an important matter to do in an hour.

Suddenly, a soft and gentle voice asked him, ”Are you alright?”

”What?”

He lowered his gaze and found Aisha standing in front of him, looking up at him with a pair of misty-grey eyes.

”You’re sweating a lot.”

But for a brief second, Amar thought that he had seen the same pure white light that attacked him earlier shine from those eyes.

He instinctively backed away as if he was burned.

Then, everything went black.