Zero looked at Alada as she slowly resigned herself, her body hung from the arm of the beast behind her until it pulled its arm back and she stumbled to the ground like a lifeless doll.
"I warned you before. Working me with isn't beneficial," he mumbled, all the more blood dripping from his mouth as he spoke.
Then he cast his dead and tired gaze toward the single demon beast standing just a few steps away from him. He raised his hand and tried to use elemental magic once again.
He'd intended to create a sword but what came forth was a short shard of ice; and even that he was able to create with tough luck. The elemental magic was working, it's just that every time he used it now it felt like he was burning his own soul as fuel.
But he didn't have the luxury to give excuses, thus he held that shard like a knife and got in the posture to tackle the demon beast. He moved forth but the demon was severed in two with a slash of [Dark Edge] before he could even reach close.
It was Req, of course. But this time she didn't say anything.
He didn't care about it either. And this time too, he didn't know why. It was like he was beginning to lose his mind from all the pain and pressure and stress.
He turned toward his parents, and seeing the view there his heart sunk even deeper. Since Alada has left Anya's side and he was no longer stopping the beasts in the middle. After Req, all the remaining beasts were directed toward Anya and his parents.
She was single-handedly protecting them and somehow keeping herself alive at the same time.
Zero felt an intense pain inside his chest—more painful than anything he'd felt—when he saw the state Anya was in.
Her clothes and face were stained with blood, and she had injuries all over her body. There were cuts so deep that even he—from that distance—could see them clearly. She was panting and clutching her sword as hard as she could.
Even someone who wasn't a warrior could tell, she wasn't going to last much longer.
"A-A…A…" Zero wanted to call her name, or rather scream it out. But all that came out of his mouth were gulps of blood.
He wanted to run quickly to her but his legs were not moving, he was barely walking. Just a little dis-balance and he would fall. His consciousness was fading away and he had just a nick of awareness left.
He was also losing his vision. And through that blurry and distorted vision, he saw Anya, and he stretched out his hand toward her as to hold her within his grasp.
He clenched his fingers, but all he caught hold of was air. He stumbled forward, his feet struck a rock, and he fell.
As he fell he saw that Anya had looked in his direction, and despite the miserable condition she was in, she passed him a comforting smile. Her lips moved, but since he was too far away he couldn't make anything of what she said.
His head hit hard on the ground, and everything turned black. At last, he fell into the slumber of unconsciousness in the midst of all this chaos.
***
My body felt light. It was like I was floating deep inside a nice cool ocean, covered with water and a comforting environment. My body was so relaxed that I didn't even feel anything.
Strange, isn't it? I thought so too. Just that I wasn't able to think at that moment. My mind seemed to have stopped working for a small span of time. It was the worst thing that could've happened, and it did.
Why? I didn't know.
How? I didn't know.
For what reason? I didn't know.
All I knew was that this was happening because I was careless. I forced myself into believing that I had time before the calamity hits, and that was my biggest mistake. I should've prepared everything as if the calamity was going to strike tomorrow.
'Ah, so careless I was. There was just one thing I wanted to do, just a handful of people I wanted to save. Yet I failed. Again. Like last time. Even though this time I was the one who wanted to protect, I failed.'
The gears of my mind began moving again and feeling flooded back into my body. I didn't know for how long I was out but I was surely knocked out.
The first thing I heard was a loud ringing noise that seemed to have torn through my ears, then the pain came in, along with the memories of what had happened before I passed out. I'd gained quite a lot of injuries, so the pain of obvious. Thus pain was what I got.
Then my hearing resolved and things became clear, I felt like I could open my eyes now, so I did.
Light came rushing into my eyes, and it took a moment before I got used to it.
I tried to make something of the situation around me. Right now I was lying on the ground in a different position and place from where I'd fallen. And it was a bit strange since I wasn't feeling the hard rock below my head.
Rather it was something soft, like someone's lap. Looking up I saw mother's face. She was gazing at the side with tears dripping from her eyes.
'What could have happened?' The question rose in me.
I followed her line of sight and turned my head to the side, and the world stopped for me when I saw what was there.
It was nothing scary, of course, it was just my sister.
She was lying on the ground over a deep red carpet of no particular shape with her eyes gently closed. She still held the sword in her hand, though there was no use of it now I guess. It was fine, she was sleeping.
But one thing still bugged me, she seemed shorter than usual. I took a moment to notice the difference, and then I finally found it.
The lower half of her body was missing, she was ripped in two from her stomach—the place where that deep red carpet was coming out.
But it was fine. She was just sleeping, after all.
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