Wiping his tears away with the back of his wrist, Rue smiled as he outstretched his hand towards the tapestry of the sky, clenching his grip. "That was an experience I never fucking want to endure again, physically or mentally, geez."
Lifting his legs into the air, the inquisitor lunged up using his built-up momentum.
"Phew…," Standing to his fullest, Rue smiled. "I guess my positive karma really is finally having an effect." Reflexively he inhaled a deep breath.
The irony within this one was thick.
Scratching his chin, Rue glanced at the sword.
"Now that, I got that out of the way. What even is that sword?" he muttered. "Who even leaves such a sword in the open?"
A Weapon within the Sixth Destination, and even more one wielded by an Adapted of such strength, would have naturally cost a fortune… Yet, such a weapon was abandoned within this ghost town of a place.
It was very unusual.
"Hmmm, I'm really running out of fucks to give a shit about the random lore of some strange ass weapon," he said with a sigh.
"If we're being honest, I can probably guess why this place is like this."
Kicking a stone aside, Rue smirked.
"Opposition from procession."
"The people who once lived here, properly revolted, which would have led to a political skirmish or at the very least a dispute."
"Both parties believe their right, but the kicker is none want to say their wrong, so maybe out of spite or other. The stronger of the two territories sent one of their powerful Adapted to take that woman to make an example for other territories before—Boom!, and detonating a Nuke over this poor territory."
Pausing for a second, Rue continued.
"Or another theory, could be a collision—revolt, a ploy of a coup against the higher powers, but due to a lack of structure or simply a scarcity of manpower, they failed and ended up as this." He muttered as he glanced around the crater.
"An empty bland city with no semblance of a city, now amounted to mere rubble."
"Wow, I feel like dodging a bullet by finding that woman's body… just imagine if the wall had gotten the chance to absorb her Will." Reflexively shuddering at the thought, Rue quickly brushed away the alternate possibility.
Humming to himself for a few seconds, Rue, out of curiosity, felt out his Initial.
'It's nice to have you back buddy,' he thought to himself, resisting the urge to grin. "I can finally use my Will emission again, bloody hell, mutilating myself to make weapons is quite the painful endeavor."
"Oh, my facial hair is finally gone" rubbing his hand against cheeks and chin self-consciously, Rue, out of curiosity, tangled his hand through his hair.
"My long, luscious locks are back, damn it man, I bet I looked way older than I currently do, I'm still 92 years young." Rolling his eyes, Rue circulated his Will within his legs and torso before leaping into the air.
Clearing the several hundred meter radius of the crater with a few powerful leaps, Rue, without looking back, summited the sixty-meter wall with ease.
Landing on the gray ground, no noise was emitted due to Rue's surgical precision with his circulation of Will throughout his feet and body alike.
Brushing off any dust, Rue lifted his gaze and immediately began to look around the foggy landscape for the birdy.
It didn't take long for Rue to find the avian steed.
Noticing the human's presence after several seconds of idle wait, the bird's eyes widened in surprise.
The human now felt stronger than had earlier, but how?
Before the human had left going over that large, tall black thing, it had felt that it could confidently fight toe-to-toe with the human, but now… the difference between them was night and day.
If this human wanted to kill it, then the bird wouldn't even stand a chance.
How the hell did they even get this strong over the past thirty minutes?
Tossing his leg over the bird's side, Rue now mounted on the bird's back, snuggled on, adjusting in a more comfortable position.
"Onward comrade birdy! We don't want that blasted wall to kill us, no!" Rue voiced, chopping his hand forward as a fairy-tale pirate would when setting sail for treasure.
Rue was in an astoundingly optimistic mood. His Initial was back, his physical appearance was back to its normal glory, it made him look like he was the ripe age of twenty-five again, and most of all, the true strength of his path was brought out again since he healed his Initial.
Those pricks who had caught him and tossed him into that cell, had intended to cripple him from progressing his Path forward.
But yet… They failed!
Rested on the bird's back with feline grace, Rue perched, nuzzled against the bird's coat of dark crimson feathers.
Rue excluded a certain tranquility to his aura, but it also hid a deep violence. There was arrogance, but also a drive to be peaceful and humble.
It was odd.
They were very contradictory traits.
But this was why the church had granted Rue an Inquisitor title that suited his contradiction: The Tranquil Sword.
The Tranquil sword had returned, no. He, Rue Revan, had returned.
A man who had slain thousands of people all in the pursuit of his path.
This was his very self, he was neither a noble nor altruistic person.
Yet that didn't equate to him not desiring peace for the community, or violence.
It was a standstill of ideologies that had muddled to what Rue was.
He was a person who had been fucked hard by the world and tossed aside like a used back-street slut, but he had found his hope only for that solace to be stolen away.
"I want revenge, every fiber of mine inches to kill them and satiate my bloodlust, but…" he sighed "I'm not so childish, I'll forgive them." he mused. narrowed eyed.
Feeling the odd aura excluded around the human, the bird shuddered involuntarily.
Shaking its head, the birdy refuted his odd change of events to mere delusion. In a slow trot, the bird began to move forward before gradually increasing its pace to a blinding sprint.
FWOOM!
Rue and his avian steed once more resumed their journey through the gloomy landscape.