I basically crash landed on the part of the wall still standing separate from the others while Marc – the constable – fought against a bulky demon with green skin and four horns on his head.
While the primary weapon of the demon was undoubtedly the bow, his prowess with the two black daggers in his hands couldn’t be underestimated either. Otherwise the corpses laying around him wouldn’t make any sense.
True to the weird twins words, he did pick a fight with the weakest among us instead of fighting me head on.
But now, he was right in front of me which was exactly where I wanted to have him.
“Give up already. You are surrounded and your allies defeated.” I stated while he stepped assaulting Mark reluctantly.
“Oh? Are they? Or are we just fooling you all?” He asked which made me think about the twins right away. Maybe they really lied to me and feigned to be beaten by Lucy. But I couldn’t believe that at all. Lucy could resurrect herself and as I hadn’t seen any ray of death yet, I highly doubted she was defeated.
“Watch out! He can cancel out magic!” Louis shouted out, just as the demon general turned around and threw a barrage of attacks at me. I tried conjuring a gust of wind but true to Louis words, I wasn’t able to.
“Marc, get the other two down from here.” If they couldn’t use any magic, they were just standing in my way.
“I’m on it.” Marc said and turned his back towards the demon general in the worst possible moment as I nearly tumbled over a rock behind me.
“No you are not.” The general said, twirled around and threw a dagger at him so fast that even I had troubles following its path. Without any issues, the blade struck in Marc’s back. Thankfully, he was thoroughly protected by amour which slowed down the dagger somewhat and in addition to the demon generals surprisingly bad aim which was far lower than it should have been, Marc wasn’t in any danger to die right away.
But he still screamed nonetheless as he grabbed the two kids and jumped on top of the rubble that had been part of the wall previously.
“Now you only have one dagger.” I said, slightly concerned about my foster son and made myself ready to strike at the demon.
“That’s enough for my needs.” He said, threw a feint at my side which I avoided by stepping backwards a little and slashed at him, using my reach to the fullest. He hissed a little as I cut though his leather armour and jumped backwards. “Maybe, I should say that I am not an archer and neither am I someone who uses daggers very often.”
Opening my eyes wide, I stepped backwards once more and jumped off the edge of the wall as well.
“Hellfire.” A barrage of homing fireballs came for my life and without my magic to protect myself, I was largely defenceless against them. I managed to cut through the first one, second one and third fireball, but the intensity was quickly overwhelming me.
If not for the fact that the magic nullification only worked for casting spells, along with Louis’ quick thinking to cast a wind barrier around myself, I would have been toasted alive.
“Thanks!” I shouted out, landed on the stones and slashed at the demon as he was jumping after me. Our blades met once more and while mine remained steady, so did his.
But we had a way of fighting now. Louis would protect me and strike the demon from the side while I would occupy him and wouldn’t leave him any room for manoeuvres.
For minutes, both the demon and I danced on the rubbles, our weapons clashing loudly, scaring all the demons in the surroundings away.
I kept him at bay successfully for a rather long time, but my arms grew heavier and heavier which each time we struck each other’s weapons. But he seemed to have near endless stamina, even though he should have been at a disadvantage because of his dagger.
Even worse, my sword seemed to vibrate horrendously each time he struck it, making my arms and fingers even number.
Then he jumped away from me and grinned uglily as I didn’t follow him right away. My gaze wandered over my shoulder for a split second towards the bandaged Constable laying on the ground, Luna kneeling beside him worried and and exhausted Louis.
“Endless stamina and the ability to use every bit of my mana … these are the gifts that will end your life.” He explained loudly while I gripped my sword tightly.
I needed to strike him down fast, otherwise I wouldn’t be standing for too long. Haughtily, he opened his arms wide and grinned at me from outside the city. Breathing in sharply, I sprinted towards him, lifted my sword above my head and swung it downwards at him as fast as I could.
“Teleport.” And then he vanished in front of my eyes. My sword cut through thin air and I was left desperate. I twirled around and ran right back towards the three of them.
The demon teleported right behind Louis and without any way to defend himself and without even knowing that the demon was there, he would soon fall to his dagger.
“No!” But Luna had apparently noticed the demon and shouted out loudly. Gritting my teeth, I grabbed the hilt of my sword from the underside and threw it at the demon while he was already moving to strike Louis.
And for some stupid reason, that girl I swore to protect with my life reacted before anyone else could. She threw herself in between Louis and the demon, right in the path of the deadly dagger. She was stabbed right into her chest by a very surprised demon who immediately wanted to pull the dagger out of her again, but she grabbed his hands and locked them in place to the best of her abilities. The constables hand grabbed around the demons legs as well, locking him into place completely.
The wind whipped my sword forwards, directed exactly at a panicking demon. Even though he pulled on his dagger, Lucy still gripped onto him tightly, slowing him down just enough for my sword to reach his neck.
It cut through his neck right away and flew onwards for a little while before it hit the ground and slithered across the dirt for a few metres. Shocked, I ran towards Luna right away. Even though Louis held her up, or at least tried to, she still collapsed slowly and reached the ground before I could get to her.
“No … nonono.” I shoved Louis away and looked at the deep wound in her chest. Her heart was still intact, meaning she had a small chance of survival, but her lung was already filling with blood rapidly. “A healer! Quick!” Louis shouted out right away, but got no immediate answer.
“Ha … na.” Luna spewed out a mouthful of blood and grabbed my hand weakly.
“Don’t speak! I’m sorry … we’ll fix you up right away.” I said in a panic, pressed my hand onto her bleeding chest in an attempt to stop the bleeding.
And for the first time, I cursed myself for having so little proficiency in light magic. I wanted to heal this girl no matter the cost.
“Just stay still. Someone will come. SOMEBODY! HELP!” I shouted out, grabbed her hand tightly and looked at the tired healer limping towards us. “Heal her! Now!” I could see the desperation in his eyes as he knelt down beside her.
“Heal.” A faint green shimmer glowed from his hands, but it quickly died down again. “Heal!” He tried once more, but was way too exhausted and overburdened to keep his magic up for more than a mere second.
“Luna! Hang in there, I’ll get someone to help you right away.” I said, tears falling down my eyes uncontrollably.
“No … stay … please.” She rattled, struggle with speaking as she spewed up more and more blood.
“I … I … Luna. Don’t die.” I wept. I wept for the girl I was envious of. Every single tear was filled with sorrow, not because she died, but rather because of the impact it would have on a certain someone.
“Was … was I useful to … Lucy?” She asked under immense pain while her body slowly ceased to function.
“Yes! Yes you are! And she still needs you! So don’t go away!” I said, grabbed underneath her head and caressed her cheeks with my thumb. She smiled happily, her eyelids slowly getting tired and her hand on my arm sliding downwards.
Tears were streaming out of my eyes more than ever before as I took Luna into my arms and hugged her tightly.
“Don’t go …” I muttered as she turned limp slowly and all signs of life left her. And yet, I couldn’t let go of her. I couldn’t accept that she was dead. She did so much good just by being around …
Slowly, I laid her upper body back onto the ground and placed my hands on my knees. Quietly, I cried because of what could have been and because of how much it hurt.
Just because I wasn’t good enough …
Just because I failed.
I didn’t look up for a long time as I couldn’t bear looking away from this beloved girl at all. But at some point – when the sound of metal clanking onto stone resounded in front of me, I had to accept reality.
Lucinda fell on her knees on the opposite side of Luna, looking at her with wide open eyes. Sometimes I didn’t know what went on in her clever head at all, but I knew how she must have felt.
Disbelief was written all over her face.
“Lu …” Lucinda muttered and poked the corpses shoulder. “Lu?” She pushed against Luna’s shoulder with her hand, hoping to get any kind of reaction from her even though she must have known the best what happened.
“Lu … Lu?” Her voice was wavering as she shook Luna’s shoulders and the first few tears started to fall down her chin.
“Lu … Luuu.” And then, if flowed down like a waterfall. For the first time in ages, she didn’t care about anything else as her mind must have been overwhelmed by sorrow. She kept repeating the same words over and over again, still hoping for any reaction that would never come.
“Luuuuu!” Lucinda sobbed, and pulled Luna’s corpse up by her shoulders. “Lu …” She hugged her tightly and then I could feel it. The primal feeling of death being emitted out of her soul uncontrollably.
“Louis, Mark, get everyone as far away as possible.” I said, wiping my own tears away while looking at the mess Lucinda had become. She still couldn’t accept Luna’s death, tried to tickle her into answering, but that wasn’t doing anything.
“Lu …” She mumbled in sorrow, gently put Luna’s head back in the ground and fell over to the side, her right hand slowly crawling underneath her to embrace the corpse.
“I … I … I’m sorry. She … she loved you. She really did … her last words were … she was asking if she was useful … I’m so sorry.” Tears streamed back onto my cheeks right away. Her sobbing stopped while I was talking, but increased in intensity right afterwards.
“Irminsul … help me! HELP ME!” That were her only coherent words from the moment she fell onto her knees. And yet, they were left unanswered for a minute while Lucinda still cried her heart out.
“LUUU!” And that’s where she snapped completely. Pain was tearing her apart, and it was certainly not the one she could bear easily.
As the wind picked me up quietly, I felt my heart skip several beats.
Maybe … that was what she felt as well. Excruciating sorrow about the loss of the person who always drew a smile onto her face. And that sorrow let her to explode in darkness. A pitch black dome appeared from within her, swallowing Luna and herself right away while grinding everything else in its path to dust. Houses, streets, the kilometre long wall, a few soldiers and demons alike. Only as the dome reached from coast to coast did its expansion stop quietly.
The only thing moving was a boat in the distance as everything else fast enough fled the area already.
It was eerily silent as I landed right next to it inside the city. The few demons around feared for their lives while the surviving humans gathered on the main street. But I wasn’t in the mood to face any of them. Sitting down on a house cut in half by the darkness, I closed my eyes tired.
I had let my only friend down. And even if she was willing to forgive me that, I wasn’t so sure if I would do so myself.
I basically crash landed on the part of the wall still standing separate from the others while Marc – the constable – fought against a bulky demon with green skin and four horns on his head.
While the primary weapon of the demon was undoubtedly the bow, his prowess with the two black daggers in his hands couldn’t be underestimated either. Otherwise the corpses laying around him wouldn’t make any sense.
True to the weird twins words, he did pick a fight with the weakest among us instead of fighting me head on.
But now, he was right in front of me which was exactly where I wanted to have him.
“Give up already. You are surrounded and your allies defeated.” I stated while he stepped assaulting Mark reluctantly.
“Oh? Are they? Or are we just fooling you all?” He asked which made me think about the twins right away. Maybe they really lied to me and feigned to be beaten by Lucy. But I couldn’t believe that at all. Lucy could resurrect herself and as I hadn’t seen any ray of death yet, I highly doubted she was defeated.
“Watch out! He can cancel out magic!” Louis shouted out, just as the demon general turned around and threw a barrage of attacks at me. I tried conjuring a gust of wind but true to Louis words, I wasn’t able to.
“Marc, get the other two down from here.” If they couldn’t use any magic, they were just standing in my way.
“I’m on it.” Marc said and turned his back towards the demon general in the worst possible moment as I nearly tumbled over a rock behind me.
“No you are not.” The general said, twirled around and threw a dagger at him so fast that even I had troubles following its path. Without any issues, the blade struck in Marc’s back. Thankfully, he was thoroughly protected by amour which slowed down the dagger somewhat and in addition to the demon generals surprisingly bad aim which was far lower than it should have been, Marc wasn’t in any danger to die right away.
But he still screamed nonetheless as he grabbed the two kids and jumped on top of the rubble that had been part of the wall previously.
“Now you only have one dagger.” I said, slightly concerned about my foster son and made myself ready to strike at the demon.
“That’s enough for my needs.” He said, threw a feint at my side which I avoided by stepping backwards a little and slashed at him, using my reach to the fullest. He hissed a little as I cut though his leather armour and jumped backwards. “Maybe, I should say that I am not an archer and neither am I someone who uses daggers very often.”
Opening my eyes wide, I stepped backwards once more and jumped off the edge of the wall as well.
“Hellfire.” A barrage of homing fireballs came for my life and without my magic to protect myself, I was largely defenceless against them. I managed to cut through the first one, second one and third fireball, but the intensity was quickly overwhelming me.
If not for the fact that the magic nullification only worked for casting spells, along with Louis’ quick thinking to cast a wind barrier around myself, I would have been toasted alive.
“Thanks!” I shouted out, landed on the stones and slashed at the demon as he was jumping after me. Our blades met once more and while mine remained steady, so did his.
But we had a way of fighting now. Louis would protect me and strike the demon from the side while I would occupy him and wouldn’t leave him any room for manoeuvres.
For minutes, both the demon and I danced on the rubbles, our weapons clashing loudly, scaring all the demons in the surroundings away.
I kept him at bay successfully for a rather long time, but my arms grew heavier and heavier which each time we struck each other’s weapons. But he seemed to have near endless stamina, even though he should have been at a disadvantage because of his dagger.
Even worse, my sword seemed to vibrate horrendously each time he struck it, making my arms and fingers even number.
Then he jumped away from me and grinned uglily as I didn’t follow him right away. My gaze wandered over my shoulder for a split second towards the bandaged Constable laying on the ground, Luna kneeling beside him worried and and exhausted Louis.
“Endless stamina and the ability to use every bit of my mana … these are the gifts that will end your life.” He explained loudly while I gripped my sword tightly.
I needed to strike him down fast, otherwise I wouldn’t be standing for too long. Haughtily, he opened his arms wide and grinned at me from outside the city. Breathing in sharply, I sprinted towards him, lifted my sword above my head and swung it downwards at him as fast as I could.
“Teleport.” And then he vanished in front of my eyes. My sword cut through thin air and I was left desperate. I twirled around and ran right back towards the three of them.
The demon teleported right behind Louis and without any way to defend himself and without even knowing that the demon was there, he would soon fall to his dagger.
“No!” But Luna had apparently noticed the demon and shouted out loudly. Gritting my teeth, I grabbed the hilt of my sword from the underside and threw it at the demon while he was already moving to strike Louis.
And for some stupid reason, that girl I swore to protect with my life reacted before anyone else could. She threw herself in between Louis and the demon, right in the path of the deadly dagger. She was stabbed right into her chest by a very surprised demon who immediately wanted to pull the dagger out of her again, but she grabbed his hands and locked them in place to the best of her abilities. The constables hand grabbed around the demons legs as well, locking him into place completely.
The wind whipped my sword forwards, directed exactly at a panicking demon. Even though he pulled on his dagger, Lucy still gripped onto him tightly, slowing him down just enough for my sword to reach his neck.
It cut through his neck right away and flew onwards for a little while before it hit the ground and slithered across the dirt for a few metres. Shocked, I ran towards Luna right away. Even though Louis held her up, or at least tried to, she still collapsed slowly and reached the ground before I could get to her.
“No … nonono.” I shoved Louis away and looked at the deep wound in her chest. Her heart was still intact, meaning she had a small chance of survival, but her lung was already filling with blood rapidly. “A healer! Quick!” Louis shouted out right away, but got no immediate answer.
“Ha … na.” Luna spewed out a mouthful of blood and grabbed my hand weakly.
“Don’t speak! I’m sorry … we’ll fix you up right away.” I said in a panic, pressed my hand onto her bleeding chest in an attempt to stop the bleeding.
And for the first time, I cursed myself for having so little proficiency in light magic. I wanted to heal this girl no matter the cost.
“Just stay still. Someone will come. SOMEBODY! HELP!” I shouted out, grabbed her hand tightly and looked at the tired healer limping towards us. “Heal her! Now!” I could see the desperation in his eyes as he knelt down beside her.
“Heal.” A faint green shimmer glowed from his hands, but it quickly died down again. “Heal!” He tried once more, but was way too exhausted and overburdened to keep his magic up for more than a mere second.
“Luna! Hang in there, I’ll get someone to help you right away.” I said, tears falling down my eyes uncontrollably.
“No … stay … please.” She rattled, struggle with speaking as she spewed up more and more blood.
“I … I … Luna. Don’t die.” I wept. I wept for the girl I was envious of. Every single tear was filled with sorrow, not because she died, but rather because of the impact it would have on a certain someone.
“Was … was I useful to … Lucy?” She asked under immense pain while her body slowly ceased to function.
“Yes! Yes you are! And she still needs you! So don’t go away!” I said, grabbed underneath her head and caressed her cheeks with my thumb. She smiled happily, her eyelids slowly getting tired and her hand on my arm sliding downwards.
Tears were streaming out of my eyes more than ever before as I took Luna into my arms and hugged her tightly.
“Don’t go …” I muttered as she turned limp slowly and all signs of life left her. And yet, I couldn’t let go of her. I couldn’t accept that she was dead. She did so much good just by being around …
Slowly, I laid her upper body back onto the ground and placed my hands on my knees. Quietly, I cried because of what could have been and because of how much it hurt.
Just because I wasn’t good enough …
Just because I failed.
I didn’t look up for a long time as I couldn’t bear looking away from this beloved girl at all. But at some point – when the sound of metal clanking onto stone resounded in front of me, I had to accept reality.
Lucinda fell on her knees on the opposite side of Luna, looking at her with wide open eyes. Sometimes I didn’t know what went on in her clever head at all, but I knew how she must have felt.
Disbelief was written all over her face.
“Lu …” Lucinda muttered and poked the corpses shoulder. “Lu?” She pushed against Luna’s shoulder with her hand, hoping to get any kind of reaction from her even though she must have known the best what happened.
“Lu … Lu?” Her voice was wavering as she shook Luna’s shoulders and the first few tears started to fall down her chin.
“Lu … Luuu.” And then, if flowed down like a waterfall. For the first time in ages, she didn’t care about anything else as her mind must have been overwhelmed by sorrow. She kept repeating the same words over and over again, still hoping for any reaction that would never come.
“Luuuuu!” Lucinda sobbed, and pulled Luna’s corpse up by her shoulders. “Lu …” She hugged her tightly and then I could feel it. The primal feeling of death being emitted out of her soul uncontrollably.
“Louis, Mark, get everyone as far away as possible.” I said, wiping my own tears away while looking at the mess Lucinda had become. She still couldn’t accept Luna’s death, tried to tickle her into answering, but that wasn’t doing anything.
“Lu …” She mumbled in sorrow, gently put Luna’s head back in the ground and fell over to the side, her right hand slowly crawling underneath her to embrace the corpse.
“I … I … I’m sorry. She … she loved you. She really did … her last words were … she was asking if she was useful … I’m so sorry.” Tears streamed back onto my cheeks right away. Her sobbing stopped while I was talking, but increased in intensity right afterwards.
“Irminsul … help me! HELP ME!” That were her only coherent words from the moment she fell onto her knees. And yet, they were left unanswered for a minute while Lucinda still cried her heart out.
“LUUU!” And that’s where she snapped completely. Pain was tearing her apart, and it was certainly not the one she could bear easily.
As the wind picked me up quietly, I felt my heart skip several beats.
Maybe … that was what she felt as well. Excruciating sorrow about the loss of the person who always drew a smile onto her face. And that sorrow let her to explode in darkness. A pitch black dome appeared from within her, swallowing Luna and herself right away while grinding everything else in its path to dust. Houses, streets, the kilometre long wall, a few soldiers and demons alike. Only as the dome reached from coast to coast did its expansion stop quietly.
The only thing moving was a boat in the distance as everything else fast enough fled the area already.
It was eerily silent as I landed right next to it inside the city. The few demons around feared for their lives while the surviving humans gathered on the main street. But I wasn’t in the mood to face any of them. Sitting down on a house cut in half by the darkness, I closed my eyes tired.
I had let my only friend down. And even if she was willing to forgive me that, I wasn’t so sure if I would do so myself.
