Strongest Nova: Path of Vengeance

Chapter 108: The Outside World

Stanley sat there in the dark cave, his face hauntingly drained while he realized that he was staring at the person who was most directly responsible for the death of his mother.

He almost attacked her, but held off by sheer willpower.

"You killed my mother," he said, his voice growling as he did so.

"No," Sheila quickly replied, but her voice stammered afterward since she knew she was lying.

It was her fault. It was her fault that so many people died back then. She had been feeling guilty about it for so long since that day that she couldn’t deny it right now.

"You’re correct," she said while holding the side of her face. "It’s my fault. I killed all those people. Their blood is in my hand."

Stanley saw her shaking slightly as she was distraught from the memory, just like he used to be, except this time it really was her fault.

He pitied her but found it hard to find forgiveness still. After all, how could he forgive someone who had brought on the death of his mother?

"You came from outside?" he asked her, remembering how her story started.

Sheila took a deep breath and sat back down as she nodded. "Yes, I came here from outside," she said. "It was a random chance that I even found this farm in the first place. I was roaming this section of the land for some other reason."

Stanley looked at her, slightly confused. "If you’re used to roaming the outside then you should know how dangerous the Crawlers are. Why did you drag them along with you into the town?" he asked, his voice slightly loud, almost as if he was shouting. "Why did my mother have to die because of your mistakes?"

"Why should I know anything about these damn Crawlers? That was the first time I even met them," she said with an annoyed voice.

Stanley paused. "Huh? What do you mean that was the first time?" he asked.

"Exactly what I’m saying," Sheila said. "That was the first time I saw them. I had no idea such a thing could even exist."

Stanley only got more confused. "B-but the Crawlers are everywhere outside, aren’t they? How could it be the first time you’re meeting them?" he asked.

"No!" Sheila shouted. "There are no damn Crawlers outside. It’s just in this damn place that they exist."

"N-no? But... what about all the monsters that forced us here? What about the monsters that wiped out almost all of the humanity outside," Stanley asked.

Sheila looked at Stanley and sighed. "You’ve been lied to," she said. "Humanity outside of this place is fine. In fact, it’s even overpopulated. There was no apocalypse that wiped us out as you have learned, and no monsters that threatened our existence. That is, in fact, the worst lie you have all been told here on this farm."

"And it is obvious why you’ve been told as such."

Stanley felt his world crumble around him. First, his brother had died, and now... now he was being told that everything he learned about the world since a kid... was it a lie?

"But..." he tried to find his words, but he couldn’t. His mind moved in a million different directions, none of which made for a coherent question.

"Take your time," she said. "I know this is too much to process for you right now, but you need to know it. The others I’ve told this knowledge to have reacted even worse."

"Are... are you sure you’re not lying?" Stanley asked. His mind refused to believe that what she was saying was true. "Why should I trust your words?"

Sheila looked at him for a while, before scoffing. "You’re not an idiot," she said. "You are just confused. As I said, take your time. Accepting it will be hard, but you will accept it."

Stanley sat in a daze as he tried to make sense of what he had just learned. Was she really telling the truth?

Giving it even a bit of unbiased thought, the answer was apparent to him. The glowing metals, the flashing lights, those machinery, that wall... everything he had seen today in the Mayor’s mansion was something that he had never seen before.

If they were truly from the outside then... this girl wasn’t lying at all.

He sucked in a deep breath as the realization that he had been living a lie hit him. "Why?" he couldn’t help but ask. "Why would anyone lie to us?"

"So you won’t venture out into the world and instead stay here for the rest of your life," Sheila said. "That’s what the Nova wants."

"Nova?" Stanley looked at her with a weird look. "What’s a Nova?"

"A Nova... it’s hard to explain it right now. Just know that if you see a dark-haired girl with dark eyes, run away," Sheila said. "She was the one that killed those 3 people in the warehouse a few days ago."

Stanley’s eyes widened. "Are you sure?" he asked. "How do you know?"

"I know," Sheila said. "I was the boss of the little resistance group trying to fight against the mayor to free you all from the shackles you’ve been put on in this town."

"You were the boss of that group?" Stanley asked, somewhat surprised, somewhat angry.

Sheila nodded as her eyes drooped down. "I thought I was doing something good with those people, teaching them to fight for themselves so that they could find a way to get out of this fake world they’ve built for themselves."

"In the end, I failed to anticipate just how thorough the mayor’s planning was in all of this. As soon as we got a tiny bit bigger, he squashed us to the ground. He knew exactly what to do," she said.

"And then that girl... that monster," Sheila said as she remembered how strong she was. "I can’t even imagine how many lives were lost for her to grow that strong. How many people she has killed just in this town alone."