CHAPTER 763: GASLIGHTING 101

Shiera wanted to deny it. Every fibre of her body was denying the possibility that she took on a disciple, especially one where she even taught the original Absolute Zone.

That was centuries ago!

Yet she couldn’t deny the habits that Kaia was showcasing.

Was there a gap in her memories? Why can’t she remember anything?

"Wuu~ Master forgot me~" Kaia pretended to cry as a vein bulged on Shiera’s neck.

She felt annoyed by her antics but. . . But. . . Was she REALLY her disciple???

"Tell me the lesson I taught you, I don’t believe we ever met before!" Shiera was running low on patience.

"You asked me what I wanted to learn after kicking my ass. All Guard Stance, Evasion Stance and the Zone Stance that I eventually picked." Kaia recounted as she crossed her arms.

"You mentioned that out of the three, Zone Stance was considered the hybrid since it can be used for offence and defence. After that, you expanded your boundary and showed me how you can adjust the range of it." She demonstrated by expanding her Zone.

Seeing the old habits, Shiera cringed internally.

It felt like a professional artist looking back at their drawings 10 years ago and seeing the giant gap in skill.

"I don’t know if I can copy what you do but I’ll try."

"Gwen, can you fire a small fireball at me?" Kaia asked as Gwen blinked her eyes and nodded her head.

Condensing her boundary to a 20 meter radius around her, Kaia focused her gaze and released her sword wielding hand.

As the fireball approached her, Kaia gritted her teeth as energy flooded her body.

She couldn’t replicate the exact power of Shiera’s body but the motion she can emulate to some degree!

As the fireball came into contact with the edge of the boundary, it began to disintegrate! Flickers of fire managed to get through a few small gaps but a majority was erased!

". . ." Shiera didn’t say a word.

Arax glanced towards her.

"F*ck off!" Shiera gritted her teeth.

"Pft ahahaha! That was your favourite trick to use when training newbies way back when. I think she’s telling the truth, you definitely taught her before." Arax laughed, patting Shiera’s back with his heavy palms while Shiera massaged her forehead.

Was the passage of time affecting her so soon? She occasionally wipes the unneeded information while keeping important ones documented. But a disciple. . . One where she showed so much to was something she wouldn’t forget.

Right?

But. . . That doesn’t explain her lack of memories.

"I. . . I need to sit down for a bit." Shiera let out a sigh, unable to make heads or tails of the situation.

Meanwhile, Gwen let out a sigh of relief and jogged over to Kaia’s side.

"You didn’t tell me aunty was your master!" She whispered over.

"Do you know how suspicious it would be if I came up to you asking to see an Apostle?!?! Master didn’t give me anything else other than these techniques!" Kaia whispered back.

Gwen always knew that Kaia had an objective that she didn’t mention and perhaps this was that objective all along.

And as she said, had Kaia mentioned wanting to see an Apostle, her guard would’ve been raised immediately.

"But why doesn’t aunty remember anything?"

"Hell would I know? Master only trained me for a short while, then disappeared. I wasn’t even sure it was Master until she started beating my ass! I can mistake a lot of things but that ass whooping is something I can never forget!" Kaia rubbed her wounded ribs.

"Your name was. . . Kaia right?" Shiera called out as Kaia glanced over and nodded her head.

Her guard was up, afraid of another ass whooping.

"How long ago. . . Did I teach you? I don’t believe I would’ve taught the unmodified Zone to anyone." Shiera asked with an apologetic expression.

Misunderstandings and missing memories aside for now, having Kaia use the old Zone was an undeniable fact.

Thus, at least for the moment, she’ll give the girl the benefit of the doubt.

"Erm. . . it was only like a few months ago? You didn’t look like what you look like now though. Maybe a bit younger?" Kaia tilted her head.

Shiera’s eye twitched for a moment.

"Do you think the moon did something? Or maybe it was a leak of memory." Arax suggested as Shiera wasn’t sure.

Travelling into a memory of the past wasn’t anything uncommon, especially with the Inverted World gateways scattered around certain parts of the Abyss.

But that still doesn’t explain why she would go out of her way to teach a youngster like her, especially if it was that long ago.

And yet. . . and yet! She can’t deny what she’s seeing with her own eyes.

"I’m not recognising you as my disciple. But I’ll accept the fact that it seems like I’ve taught you at some point, even if I don’t remember." Shiera sighed before walking towards Kaia.

Holding her hand over Kaia, a healing flame more potent than Gwen’s enveloped Kaia as she flinched for a moment but kept herself still.

Soon, her wounds disappeared.

"So. . . Are you going to teach me Vision then?" Kaia asked curiously with Shiera’s eyebrow twitching.

"Just because I recognise you as someone I might’ve taught in the past doesn’t mean I’ll teach you now. There are more important things than teaching a kid right now." Shiera scratched her hair before turning to the Abyssal Pathway that was created.

"Arax, can you put a seal on that breach for the time being? We’ll need to have someone organise an evacuation for the people in the city. Unless they want to risk being destroyed by an outbreak, staying here isn’t safe."

"Sure, that should be easy enough." Arax nodded before turning to his daughter. Pausing for a brief moment, he smiled. "And I think we have a bit of extra time right? It’s been too long since I’ve spent some quality time with Gwen, this time she even has a friend with her as well." Arax grinned, patting Gwen’s head.

"Dad!" Gwen felt embarrassed. With was phrasing things, it sounded like he just called her friendless in front of Kaia. But at the same time. . . it wasn’t exactly far from the truth.

But that wasn’t the most important thing.

Shiera was silent, she looked at Arax who was giving her a silent plea before turning to Gwen who looked at her with an expectant light in her eyes.

"I suppose with have a bit of time on our hands." Shiera relented with a helpless smile.

The balance between duty and family was one that even Apostles struggle with. Hence why she decided against starting a family. But she also can’t deny that happiness Arax expresses when talking about Gwen and by extension, she felt the same.

They might not be blood-related but she treasured Gwen as her own family.

Gwen felt a beacon of hope in her heart, the joy that surged forth. She. . . She wanted to get her hopes up again.

Running towards Shiera, Gwen lunged forward and hugged her aunt with all her might.

"Thank you thank you thank you!" Gwen found herself unable to hold back her wide smile while Shiera chuckled and patted her head.

Seeing the smiling Gwen, Shiera felt her heartstrings tug and hugged her back.

"If you want to blame anyone, don’t blame your dad okay? Blame Solaris for not wanting to do anything. I swear, he is one lazy god." She grumbled while Kaia choked on her saliva.

"Master, aren’t you afraid of Solaris being annoyed?" Kaia’s smile twitched.

"First off, don’t call me that. Second of all, even if he was here, I’d say the same thing and he is fully aware of how much the two of us do for him." Shiera shrugged.

With the two of them agreeing to spend some time with Gwen, Arax quickly set up a ward around the passage, stopping the beasts from escaping while also delegating the task of ordering an evacuation to his subordinates.

On their way back, Gwen talked nonstop, sharing her stories and battles with Arax while he listened patiently.

She talked about how she learned to cook, how he should take some of her meals away with him as lunch boxes since he kept eating rations.

Even if he’s an Apostle, he should still eat well.

As for Shiera, she would occasionally quiz Kaia on how they trained. The more she asked, the more undeniable it became and the more confused Shiera was.

She felt as though her world was flipped upside down.

When they arrived back at the city, the sentinels were shocked that the Apostles were visiting and felt fear coursing through their bones.

However, Arax reassured them that they were only here with Gwen and that they can carry on about their day.

But no matter what the Apostles say, the soldiers couldn’t relax and Gwen brought them to her apartment.

"I’ll make something quick okay? I know you’re taking a lot of time out of your schedules. Kaia, can you help me?" Gwen asked as Kaia smiled and nodded her head.

Getting an apron herself, her hands moved swiftly with Gwen’s instructions as she helped prepare some veg and some of the meat.

She wanted to make something impressive but simple. It couldn’t be something that took too much time to make since she’s working on a short timer.

So instead, she’ll focus on making her dad’s favourite meal that her mom made when she was still around.

Then a flicker of energy appeared in the room and Gwen’s movement froze.

"This. . ." Arax look at Shiera who was hesitating as well.

"It’s alright dad. People must be getting hurt if you’re being called to action already." Gwen forced a smile as Arax let out a sigh.

"I’m sorry Gwen, next time okay?" Arax hugged Gwen from behind before leaving with Shiera.

Slowly, Gwen turned off the fire and sat by the table.

Kaia didn’t know what to say.

"I should’ve expected this you know? Getting my hopes up for something that just can’t happen." Gwen sighed.

She looked at the table where her dad had sat just a moment ago. She could feel the beating of her heart, the rushing of blood.

This rising anger in her chest, this blaze of fury that she can’t contain. The twitching of her muscles. Everything. . .

"GOD!!! DAMMIT!!! GOD F*CKING DAMMIT!!!"

Gwen cried.