Chapter 449: The Cassius Of The Past

Steam curled like misty ribbons above the hot spring as the moment of affection faded into a comfortable quiet.

Skadi was happily swimming from one end of the spring to the other, her silvery bracelet glinting as she splashed about like a carefree dolphin, humming a little tune as her tail stirred the waters.

Meanwhile, Aisha and Julie had taken up residence at either side of Cassius, each of them leaning peacefully into the curve of his arms as if they’d always belonged there.

For a moment, everything was silent.

Peaceful.

But then, Aisha’s eyes opened.

And narrowed.

She leaned forward slightly and looked at Cassius from the side, suspicion radiating off her as if she’d just solved a puzzle that had been bothering her all day. "...Hey, Cassius."

"Hm?"

"You’re the one who threw the dead body into the village earlier, weren’t you?"

Cassius blinked. Then slowly turned his head toward her, the faintest curve of a smile touching his lips.

"Ahh...I was wondering when one of you would bring that up."

Julie’s eyes opened, while Aisha scoffed, crossing her arms.

"Bring it up? Cassius, I didn’t just see it, I felt it."

"Oh?"

"I’d just finished my patrol, walking out of the village—and bam!—something big slams right into the ground in front of me. Right at the village gate. The damn corpse exploded, Cassius. Exploded. Blood. Everywhere. Face. Hair. Eyes. Mouth. I tasted it."

Cassius winced dramatically.

"Ehh. Sorry. Seriously, I was aiming for the gate specifically so I wouldn’t hit anyone. I didn’t think you’d be standing right there—"

"You did hit someone! Me!" She snapped, shaking his arm.

And from across the spring, Skadi burst out laughing. "Pffft—HAAH! You should’ve seen her, Master. She screamed so loud the birds scattered!"

Aisha spun toward her. "Skadi—!"

"I’m not done!" Skadi grinned wickedly, swimming closer and perching herself near the ledge. "She got so freaked out she actually jumped up into a tree and clung to the trunk like a little kitten."

I always joke she’s cat-like—but no, no, no, she proved it! Full claws-out, clambering up like a wild animal. I was dying."

"You little—!" Aisha launched herself into the water toward her. "Im gonna drown you, you mutt!"

The spring erupted into chaos as the two began to wrestle—Skadi cackling as she splashed water in Aisha’s face while Aisha tried to shove her underwater.

Of course, neither of them were actually trying to hurt the other, it was just the messy, violent affection of people who had long since bonded over bruises.

Cassius chuckled, watching them fondly. But then Julie turned toward him, her voice cool and precise.

"The massacre outside..." She said. "That was you too, wasn’t it?"

Cassius blinked and tilted his head slowly. "You figured that out too, huh? I thought I was thorough about cleaning up the scene."

"Cleaning up? You call that cleaning up?" Julie raised an eyebrow. "There were blood puddles. Guts still tangled in the shrubs. Limbs. Skulls. Broken armor. You didn’t ’clean’ anything, Cassius. You just threw the bodies somewhere else."

"Ah."

"And the villagers? They’re terrified and in awe at the same time. I passed by three of them and they looked ready to bolt. I asked what happened, and they just shivered. One of them even started crying. It was clear something happened while we were away."

Julie’s voice lowered, her tone turning sharper.

"And with how brutal that scene looked...there’s only one person I know who enjoys that kind of work. The man who turns murder into performance art...You."

"Oof." Cassius made a hury face. "You make it sound like I’m some kind of butcher. Or a psychopath."

Julie didn’t flinch. "Aren’t you?"

"You really think I’m that bad, Julie?" He teasingly asked with a raised brow.

But in response Julie didn’t back off but doubled down.

"You’re not just ’bad’, Cassius." She said teasingly with a knowing gaze. "You’re beyond redemption."

"You don’t just kill enemies. You turn them into warnings. You dissect them. Dismember them. You leave no illusions about what death means."

"You don’t kill like a soldier. You kill like a force of nature. You don’t want enemies to die—you want them to suffer. You want the world to know you’re coming. You’re...utterly terrifying."

Cassius arched a brow, slightly impressed by her bluntness.

And Julie smiled faintly, but this time...it was warm.

"But that’s only for enemies." She added. "Only for those who deserve to see you at your worst. When it comes to your family...to us...you’re the kindest person I’ve ever met."

Cassius blinked again, this time slower, as Julie reached up, brushing her fingers lightly over the necklace he’d given her.

"I’ve read your maids reports, Cassius. The ones back home. Some of them said they cried just from how gentle you were. How softly you spoke. How you never raised your voice, never got angry."

"...One even wrote that she forgot what fear felt like when you were in the room."

He said nothing.

"And I’ve seen it myself." She continued. "The way you look at us. The way you touch us. You’re careful, Cassius. You’re so gentle it almost hurts. You treat us like we’re the most precious things in the world."

She looked up into his eyes with a doubtful gaze like she wanted understand his soul.

"But that puzzles me...How can the same man—the one who could call fire from the sky just to burn a criminal alive—also be the one who massages his wives feet every night like it’s sacred?"

For a moment, there was no sound. Not from Skadi and Aisha, who had stopped wrestling. Not from the wind or the water.

Cassius’s gaze was distant. Still. His mouth slightly open, as if caught in a thought.

Julie blinked. "You...don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. I didn’t mean to—"

"No." He said quietly, eyes still locked on something far, far away. "It’s alright."

His voice was different now. Lower. Slower. A man not speaking from pride or confidence, but memory.

"You know, there wasn’t always a ’gentle’ Cassius." He said. "Once...there was only one version of me. The kind that knew how to kill. How to torture. How to silence entire towns without ever drawing a blade. That was my world. That was my job. That was me. Nothing more than a blade in someone else’s hand."

Julie’s breath caught.

"I didn’t think about kindness. Or families. Or futures. I didn’t care. I was empty. I existed to fulfill orders. To be useful. To clean up messes but those who get too ahead of themselves and leave no witnesses. A shadow that only the dead got to meet. A man who only existed to keep in the world, the ’peacekeeper’ they called me."

Aisha looked stunned. Even Skadi stopped floating.

"But..." He exhaled, a heavy sound. "At some point, I don’t even know when, I started noticing something."

"Families. People laughing. Holding hands. Little kids chasing each other with sticks while their parents watched from porches."

He looked down at the water, watching the light ripple over his reflection.

"I didn’t know what it was. Just that every time I saw that, it made something ache inside. Something warm. Something I didn’t understand. And eventually...I realized."

His fingers curled slightly.

"I didn’t want to be a ghost anymore."

He looked up, his expression firm.

"I wanted that. I wanted a family. A place where I could laugh. Where people hugged me, not because they were afraid not to, but because they loved me."

Julie swallowed thickly, her fingers tightening around his.

"And I told myself..." He went on. "...that if I ever got that family...I would never let them see what I really am. I’d never let them feel the weight of what I’ve done. I wouldn’t drag darkness into their light. I’d leave that world behind. Lock it away. And keep it buried."

He looked at her, and this time, his smile was faint. Pained. Real.

"It’s not that I don’t feel the darkness, Julie. It’s not that I don’t have it anymore. I just...refuse to show it. I’ll carry all of it. I’ll hide every scar, every memory, every drop of blood. If it means the garden I’ve built stays green."

She trembled. And then, slowly, she reached out and touched his cheek.

"Cassius..."

He turned toward her, and for the first time in a long while, his eyes shimmered, not from pride.

Not from power.

But from vulnerability.

And seeing him like that—not the boisterous noble, not the teasing protector, not the smug, all-knowing hero—but this quiet, thoughtful man, they couldn’t help themselves.

One by one, Aisha and Julie both leaned in, resting against his sides, their arms wrapping gently around him. Julie curled into his chest, and Aisha pressed her temple against his shoulder, while Skadi, who had stopped swimming, sank down into the spring beside him and leaned on his thigh like a lazy dog lounging at her master’s feet.

In that moment, Cassius looked...delicate. Pure. And their instincts as his companions, lovers, and comrades didn’t hesitate: they coddled him.

But Cassius didn’t let the silence drag for too long.

He gave a soft chuckle and then straightened his back, brushing a hand through his wet hair.

"Alright." He said, voice light again. "Enough about the brooding past. Let’s shift gears. Tell me, what’s going on with the Leviathan situation?"

Julie blinked, startled by the sudden pivot.

"You know..." He said, looking between them. "Big scary snake—water monster—probably the size of a temple? Did we catch it yet? Or at least track it?"

The air changed again, and Julie let out a weary breath, her gaze dropping to the rippling water.

"It’s not good." She admitted, tone quiet and tired. "Honestly, it’s not going well at all."

That caught Cassius attention immediately.

"We’ve been going from village to village." She explained. "Following rumors. Tracing where the Leviathan was supposed to have passed through. But al we’ve found are ruined dams, shattered buildings, collapsed bridges, flooded farmsteads...places left in absolute wreckage."

"No sightings?" Cassius asked, frowning.

"Not even a single scale." Julie muttered. "It’s like it disappears between attacks. Nothing reliable. We’ve spoken to dozens of survivors, and the only consistent thing they say is: destruction and fear."

"It’s worse than that, even. It’s random. That’s the real problem." Aisha chimed in from his other side, arms folded across her towel-covered chest. "There’s no pattern to how it moves."

"One day it’s spotted downriver, and then two days later, someone claims to have seen it at western shoree. Sometimes it doesn’t show up for weeks. Sometimes it hits again the next day. It’s like trying to predict the mind of a storm."

"No nesting point?" Cassius asked.

"None." Aisha said, frustrated. "And every time we think we’ve found one—it’s a bogey. It doesn’t stay anywhere long enough. We’re always a step behind."

Cassius sighed. "Then...if it’s not on land...it must be in the water. Have you explored the lake?"

Skadi cut in then. "That’s what I thought, Master. I was ready to dive in and drag that damn snake up myself. But Captain stopped me. She said it was a stupid idea."

"Why?" Cassius raised an eyebrow.

"Because that lake isn’t a lake. It’s a bloody abyss." Aisha’s tone darkened. "It’s deeper than any mountain is tall. If the Leviathan is hiding down there, it has the full advantage. There’s no fighting it underwater. No tracking. No nothing. It’s like trying to stab shadows."

Cassius grunged, slouching slightly. "I see...so today wasn’t kind to you all either."

"No." Julie admitted, shoulders slumping. "We’ve made no progress. And the worst part is..."

She hesitated.

"...Tomorrow’s our last day." She finally said. "We’re out of time. We have to shift focus to stopping whatever the cult is planning, and right now, none of us have a damn clue what we’re doing."

"The Leviathan’s still out there, and we have no manpower, no pattern, no method. It’s a hopeless mess."

Everyone fell silent.

The water lapped gently around them. No one wanted to speak, because no one had an answer.

That was, until—

"...Hopeless situation?"

A curious voice glided through the air, gentle but clear. All eyes turned.

Nala had returned, slithering back into the spring with a satisfied smile on her face and steam rising gently from her scales.

"Why do you all look so grim?" She asked, curling into the water beside Cassius. "Did something happen while I was gone? Grandma Wanda really loved the ring, by the way."

Cassius chuckled. "That’s good to hear." He sighed. "As for the grim faces...it’s the Leviathan. Things haven’t exactly gone well."

"Oh?" Nala tilted her head.

"No progress at all." He admitted. "We have no way to track it, no way to lure it. We’ve tried everything we could think of, but it always escapes us. Everyone’s out of ideas."

"...And honestly we done know if we’ll be able to catch it."

Everyone braced for Nala to look disappointed, to recoil, to maybe chide them for failing when they were trusted to protect the people here.

But instead, she tilted her head and said. "Oh. You guys want to lure the Leviathan?"

Cassius blinked. "...Yes?"

Nala nodded once before saying, "Then I might know a way to lure it onto land."