Author's Note: "Second Lead Syndrome" just hit 800k reads! *does a little happy dance*

Thank you so much, you are all such wholesome and amazing readers for sticking with the story the entire way ❤!

PS. OST above definitely fits some moments in this chapter, hehe.

Cecil read the notification from the system with a sigh, she was slowly getting used to how ridiculous the system could be. 

[ Mission #11: Pirates! Pirates! Pirates! And Veau, the big boss villain!
Objective completed!
Bonus mission failed!
Reward: 3000 points
Objective failed for bonus mission, no points will be awarded. 
Remaining points: 4000 points ]

“Yes yes, I failed the bonus mission. So what was stolen, a necklace? Jewellry? Money? Clothes?” 

[ A doll. ]

“A doll counts?!” 

“And are you telling me out of everything the pirates stole in the chaos, one of them stole a doll?!” 

[ Yes, a doll of high quality. 

It costs thousands of aupi. ] 

“...”

[ The doll is very adorable as well. ]

“...”

[ We had an upgrade to our system recently, where we are capable of forming a visual representation of an object and project it into the mind of our host.

Would you like us to show you a hologram of it? ]

“...” 

[ The doll is very adorable~ ]

“That upgrade feels redundant.” 

This time it was AI500’s turn to be speechless. 

[ … ]

At this point, Cecil found the group of pirates more eccentric than ever. It wasn’t like they could not steal anything in the chaos, moreover, the guests here wore their expensive accessories out due to the banquet. 

If you are a pirate and a thief, shouldn’t you think of stealing expensive jewellery first? 

But...to think they stole a doll. 

She started to recall how the pirates themselves were making fun of their captain getting beat up. Somehow, she started to think that a doll being stolen by them wasn’t so ridiculous anymore. 

“Thank god they are gone, I hope I won’t see them again,” Cecil sighed to herself, turning around and exiting the dining hall in a hurry. “Xue...and Veau, have they stopped fighting?”  

However, somewhere inside Cecil, she knew that their fight would not stop until one of them was incapacitated. 

In the end, the fight between Xue and Veau was brought to a temporary halt when the entire ship had been annihilated, sinking into the water. They were standing on the wooden debris floating on the water, glaring at one another. 

Alas, since Xue was no match for Veau in his current state, he had been beaten to a sorry state with cuts and bruises all over. 

On the other hand, except for the small cut on his cheek, Veau was otherwise unharmed. His cobalt blue hair, completely long now, danced to the wind.

Xue swung his spear around, building momentum before he threw it straight at Veau. 

Veau dodged his spear as it fell right into the water, and when he looked up, Xue had already controlled the water, transforming it into sharp, deadly icicles. He launched dozens of icicles at Veau, and Veau simply deflected them all with his claw-like hand. 

His hand moved at an unbelievable speed, and only trained experts would be able to see his movements. 

“If only it was light magic,” Veau spoke nonchalantly. “Unfortunate.” 

Xue clenched his jaw, anger swirling in his grey eyes. 

Veau caught the last icicle with his claw-like hand. A second later, he threw the same icicle coated in black magic, and larger in size, back at Xue. Xue moved to the side, dodging the icicle as he summoned his spear back to his side. 

The two of them prepared to launch another attack at one another, when they noticed a glint from the corner of their eyes. The two didn’t even bother to look, catching the object flying towards them at the same time. 

They tossed it into the water. 

“Oi!” 

Xue and Veau turned to look at the ship sailing past them, an orange blonde-haired man calling out to them on the deck. 

“You grey bastard! And you, temporary partner! I’ll remember this!” Haru hollered at them, raising his fist in the air. “If I see you again, you better pay me back for destroying our ships!” 

“Shut up.” 

“I can add on another ship if you want to.”

The moment Haru heard their response, he felt his face twitching in anger and he raised his fist even higher. 

“What did you just say?! Come here and fight me!” Haru exclaimed to them. “One on one!” 

Soon enough, his crewmates were holding him back as he continued yapping away. His face was still bruised from Xue and Veau hitting him, along with Cecil’s kick. 

“Captain! Let it go!” 

“At this rate, our only ship will collapse too!” 

“And we’ll die too!” 

Xue and Veau disregarded the person yapping in the background, looking back at one another. Without hesitation, the two of them threw an attack at one another, one with the force of his spear and the other with the force of his claw-like hand. 

Their attacks met halfway when all of a sudden, an unknown presence landed on the floating debris between them, directing their attacks away which cut across the sea. Fortunately, the person was smart enough to aim it away from the cruise ship. 

The person turned out to be K’xug, irritation flitting past his different coloured eyes. 

Xue and Veau paused in the movements, K’xug glancing between them both, a look of warning in his eyes. 

There’s a place and time for fighting, you idiots. 

This is not one of those places. 

K’xug gestured them to the cruise ship. 

One of the icicles that was shot by Xue and deflected by Veau had punctured a hole in the ship. The mechanics were scrambling their way to patch up the hole. 

If not for K’xug deflecting the rest of the icicles away in the chaos, the entire cruise ship would have sunk into the ocean, along with its passengers. Some of the passengers would have been killed as well. 

There was a reason why there was an unspoken rule to never bring the fights from the heavenly and demon realm to the mortal realm. 

The mortal realm could not withstand the impact of the fights between their realms. 

Meanwhile, on the ship, Xue noticed a raven-haired woman gazing at him with sad eyes, her petite hands clasped together. 

Cecil did not expect Xue to bring about this question this early. 

Cecil also did not expect Veau to admit it so readily. 

Hearing that one of your closest friends betrayed you because he wanted revenge. 

...or that he had never been on your side in the first place. 

When you do not know the reason behind this either…

She clasped her hands even tighter. 

In fact, the author never revealed what kind of revenge Veau desired, only that it was to do with the heavenly realm. 

Cecil only knew that all the characters in this novel had been through their own share of pain and misery. 

I can’t even imagine the pain they all went through. 

Hang in there, Xue. 

Just...hang in there. 

Xue blinked his eyes rapidly, his gaze focused on Cecil on the cruise ship. Her gaze was equally focused on him, and gradually, the boiling anger within him started to quell. 

Now, the pain and the sadness was more apparent to him.  

There was a small, wry smile on his face. 

“You are right, Veau, I know nothing at all,” Xue pointed his spear at him. “And, I do not want to understand you at all either.” 

Veau remained composed, though he was still full of rage on the inside. “You understood my words after all, perfect.” 

“Understanding your words?” Xue scoffed. “It’s not that I understand your words, I know you simply do not want anyone to understand you, even if it was in the past.” 

The cobalt blue haired man furrowed his eyebrows, glancing down. The words replayed in his mind, these few words were once uttered by someone else before. 

...those words, they were said by...

Veau slowly brought his head up, and he widened his eyes in disbelief. Xue was replaced by a mysterious, blurry figure. However, despite the figure being blurry, Veau knew who it was. 

The figure had been embedded into the deepest part of his mind. 

For four hundred years. 

“You know, Veau, you are hard to understand. But more than that, you simply do not want people to understand you, and that made me frustrated to death at times.” 

“I just...I just think it is alright to open up a little sometimes, Veau. It doesn’t have to be too much, just a little will do.” 

In that instant, the blurry figure became crystal clear in Veau’s eyes. 

“Oh sorry, I didn't mean to force you. I’ll wait until you are ready.” 

She started to chuckle softly, her voice clear and gentle. There were stark white wings on her back, and anyone would know it was an angel. 

“I can’t deny it was this enigmatic aspect of you that made me fall for you. Though, it’s strange, now you have opened up more, I find myself falling even harder.” 

She breathed out heavily, hands on her cheeks. 

“Oh wow. A-admitting those words, it’s even more embarrassing...than I imagined.” 

Veau inhaled shakily, his claw-like hands reverting back to normal. All at once, he felt his anger dissipating. 

He forgot what he was even angry about. 

“Eona…” 

Xue noted the weird reaction from Veau. He seemed visibly shaken by something in his direction, but there was nothing around him. 

K’xug nudged at Xue, telling him to head back to the cruise ship. 

The two of them turned around to look at Veau once more, realising he was gone. 

***

Once the panic had calmed down completely on the cruise ship, the next few days were smooth-sailing. 

There were no other appearances of pirates. 

Veau did not make an appearance either. 

Xue had a constant gloomy air hanging around him, after his conversation with Veau. He did not want to share his thoughts with anyone, even K’xug. After all, the problem was mainly between him and Veau. 

“You are fine like this.” 

Hana nodded. 

“You don’t need my help, so, train as you wish.” 

Hana nodded again, glancing towards Xue who turned and walked away. 

“Xu-Xue!” 

Xue turned to look at Hana, his face impassive. 

Somehow, the courage in Hana faded away entirely. “Ne-nevermind.” 

Xue turned and walked away without another word, his figure disappearing out of the training hall. 

K’xug and Cecil were training at the same time, both of their eyes following Xue as he exited the training hall. They looked back at one another, a look of understanding flitting past their eyes. 

“It’s like Xue going back to his closed-off state again,” Cecil bit on her lower lip. “The conversation between him and Veau, it really…” 

K’xug raised his hand, pointing to himself. 

“Are you saying...you will talk to him or something?” 

K’xug nodded. 

“That’s right,” Cecil smiled softly. “Right now, you are the best person to talk to him.” 

K’xug headed towards Xue, whereas Cecil went to accompany Hana. 

***

The soul fragments in Xue’s mind could feel the turmoil within Xue, and some of them started to make some noise, questioning him out of concern. There was only one of them relishing in Xue’s turmoil, a wicked glint in his eyes. 

Xue clicked his tongue, instantly blocking all of them out. 

He stared out into the sea, the sound of soft waves was soothing, along with the occasional chirping of the birds flying across the vast, blue sky. It was completely cloudless, the sun beaming down. He leaned against the railing, releasing a long sigh. 

Xue ran his hand through his ash blonde hair just as someone stepped in beside him, he didn’t need to look, he knew who it was. 

K’xug supported himself with the railing, his arms across his chest. 

“Veau admitted it,” Xue started to say, remaining indifferent. “He said everything he ever did to us, it was all for the sake of revenge.” 

K’xug did not show any visible reaction, still listening. 

“Before we found you, I even asked him, what I had ever done to him to make him betray us,” Xue scoffed. “And he replied with “nothing”, that I had done nothing to him.” 

K’xug raised his eyebrows.

“It doesn’t make any sense. He lured Hana into a trap when she was in her weakest state, and used her as hostage to strike a deal with me. Either she dies if I continue to fight back, or she lives if I split my soul into fifty pieces, and never set foot in either realms ever again, to stay in the mortal realm forever.” 

Xue let out a bitter scoff, his tone scathing. “The choice was obvious, I did not want to have anything to do with either realms after they stabbed me in the back a million times.” 

K’xug glanced at Xue. This was his first time hearing the events that occurred to Xue, since he only had an inkling from the conversations between Zeau and Veau. 

“It was then I made a mistake, to trust Veau in his words to let Hana go. I thought...somewhere deep inside him, he still treated me as a friend,” Xue remembered the dreadful memories decades ago. “As my soul was splitted apart by his black magic, I watched as he locked Hana up in a cage and brought her away.” 

Xue inhaled deeply, a dark shadow over his eyes. 

“His last words to me were, if both me and Hana managed to survive, we could meet again in the mortal realm.”  

It was obvious how conflicted and baffled he was. 

K’xug began to recall the tortuous times he had in the cave, mostly with Zeau. Veau hardly made an appearance, but when he did, it only left an extremely bitter taste in K’xug’s mouth. During his time down there, K’xug understood something from their conversations. 

Veau was never on their side to begin with. 

When he first approached them, he already had ulterior motives in mind. 

...and none of them were good. 

These were the exact words he wanted to tell Xue, face to face. 

Not with his thoughts, but with his voice.

"The pain of being ripped apart into pieces, and being betrayed again and again," Xue said lowly. "I'll never forget it."

K'xug remembered the torture he went through in the cave as well, and he remembered how the person he considered to be a friend just stood aside and watched him suffer. 

Not standing in to help, not even once. 

K'xug grimaced, his face growing considerably pale as he reached to pat behind his back. 

The wings were the worst part.

I don't think they can recover back to the same way ever again.

In fact, his wings were taking the longest to recover.  

Xue looked at K'xug, noticing his adverse reaction and the way he patted his back with trembling hands. 

It was then a thought occurred to Xue. 

"Sorry." 

K'xug snapped his head towards Xue, his eyes wide. 

"...?!"

It was as if he was asking why Xue was apologising for no reason. 

"I didn't mean to make you remember those bad memories. Sorry."

K'xug frowned. 

I was the one who remembered them on my own, why are you apologising? 

Xue noted K'xug's bewildered expression and his lips curved into a sad, little smile. 

"Sorry as well--"

K'xug covered Xue's mouth with his hand, his eyes wide in confusion. 

What's wrong with you? Why do you keep apologising?

The Xue I know doesn't apologise this much. 

It's creeping me out. 

K'xug rubbed at his arm subconsciously, with his other hand, feeling as if goosebumps were going to break out at any moment. 

Despite Xue not being able to understand K'xug's thoughts, he could tell that K'xug was getting weirded out by him constantly apologising. 

Xue narrowed his eyes, smacking K'xug's hand away. "Just listen to me, you idiot. I know I will never say this again, so just let me talk."

"...?"

"I am sorry for not coming to find you earlier, to help you," Xue sighed, glancing away as he began to feel awkward. "You were unintentionally dragged into this situation...and hurt pretty badly, because of me."

Xue remembered their first meeting in the heavenly realm. K'xug was extremely aggressive and he was out of control. It wasn't common for him to beat people up, no matter if they were angels or demons. 

...but that was because people treated him like a monster. 

Just because, he was neither a demon or an angel. 

"If I hadn't befriended you at that time and dragged you along," Xue mused out loud. "You probably wouldn't have ended up in such a situation."

The bewilderment in K'xug's different coloured eyes started to dissipate. 

He had been by Xue's side for over a hundred years. 

He knew Xue was feeling guilt and regret now. 

Is it because of Veau? And his revenge? 

He felt that he did something wrong to both me and Veau, and right now…

The only person he can apologise to...is me.

K'xug heaved a sigh as he raised his hand, giving Xue a harsh smack on his back. 

Xue stumbled forward, his eyes growing wide in pain and horror. If he tilted any further, he would have fallen off the cruise ship. 

"Oi! That hurts!" Xue barked out, glaring at K'xug. "You wanna push me off the ship?" 

K'xug showed Xue a rare, playful grin. 

Xue grimaced, rubbing at his sore back with a wince. 

Without warning, K'xug proceeded to shove Xue, as if he was really planning to push him off. Xue hastily balanced himself, disbelief written all over this face. 

"You bastard, come here!" Xue growled out, lunging at K'xug. "I'll throw you over the ship first!" 

K'xug found himself in a chokehold, letting out a breathy laugh. 

Of course, he wasn't going to sit back and let himself be tossed over the ship. 

K'xug struggled against Xue, and the both of them eventually got into a scuffle. 

Just then, the doors leading to the deck opened behind them with Hana and Cecil popping their heads out. The two women were worried since the two men hadn't returned for quite a while, wondering if they got into a fight instead. 

It was then the two women saw the scuffle between the two men. 

"They are really fighting?!"

"The two of you, stop--"

A second later, their entire bodies tilted. 

They fell off the ship with a big splash.

"Xue?! K'xug?!" Cecil exclaimed, dashing forward. 

Hana screamed, running forward as well.

"Oh my god, someone fell off!"

"Stop the ship! Tell them to stop the ship!"

"Save them, hurry!" 

***

《 start 》

Xue, did you know?

If you had not been a persistent idiot to befriend me. 

...to drag me around

...to stand by my side. 

I would have started killing...more people. 

And in that process of killing, I would have died somewhere as well.

Somewhere cold, and alone, with no one standing on my side. 

There are many regrets I have in my