“LIAR!” I never felt that offended in my life before. Schwarz was attacking me with my own weapon, only blocked by Hannah´s sword at the last second. Even though her blade was insanely sturdy, the hit still left a mark on it.
“Hoi, oi, calm down a little.” Stepping back, I gave Hannah all the room she needed to fend this absolute maniac off while watching how the demon king pressured Ellie.
“I loved you! You were mine!” Schwarz was always possessive, but he certainly carried it to a new level at this day. “But you had to betray us! You had to betray me!” What the heck was he talking about? I was trying to work together with them again for fucks sake.
“Schwarz, I bel-“ I was pushed backwards by a wall of wind ramming into me as he broke through Hannah´s defence, only to sprint towards me afterwards. I landed in the mud backwards with Schwarz sailing through the air above me shortly afterwards. He landed around two metres away from me on his feet, dashed towards me while I rolled onto my belly and missed my head by a mere centimetre. “I´m so done with this shit.” Annoyed, I pushed myself up while another burst of air shoved Schwarz away from me, but that seemed to be the last one as Hannah was immediately drawn into a three way fight between the demon king and Ellie with a little bit of Louis’ support.
“Why did you choose him?” He glared at me threateningly while I stood up slowly.
“What are you talking about? I’m here because I want to cooperate with you.” I told him, but had to realise that nothing I could possibly say got through to him.
“Liar!” My dark blade cut through the wheat cleanly as he swung it, missing by a mere centimetre even though I didn’t move that much.
“Schwarz, you need to cool down. That’s a weapon capable of dispersing the consciousness of a god, so please stop waving that around in front of me like you want to kill me with it.” I turned around hastily and rushed back towards the demon king, only to run around the whole group and hide behind them.
“I’ll kill you!” Schwarz shouted out hot on my heels. Unlike me though, he earned a little jab from the demon king who was still fighting against everyone.
“Oh … that’s quite unsettling if I’m honest. Hey, demon king, am I like that as well?” I jumped behind Sofie as Schwarz tried to impale me with my own sword strangely slowly tough.
“Shut up!” Well, it didn’t seem as if he wanted to chat with me at all, even though we had grown a little closer over the last few days.
“Okay … Sofie.” I grabbed her arm and pulled her away from Schwarz as he seemingly lost it completely. “You might need to watch out a little.”
“Thank y-“ She didn’t tell the rest, but rather distanced herself from me as soon as she got the opportunity to do so. It did seriously look like I had to explain a lot to them before they would be willing to work with me again. If even Sofie was this much on guard against me, the others would give me even less of a chance to explain myself.
“If this weapon can slay a god … it can hurt you for sure.” Schwarz grunted and swung my sword at me once more without even realising that he would miss me.
“Well, about that …” I just stood there, but he didn’t hit me again which didn’t just bewilder him … it made him furious. “Schwarz, you need to work on your anger management … since when was he like that Louis?”
“… three days.” He admitted, still standing around exhausted from having spent too much mana on battling the demon king.
“Interesting …” I didn’t think my influence on him would grow that quickly during the time I wasn’t around, but on the other hand I also had an aching heart which I didn’t expect a few weeks ago either. “But I …” He stabbed me. That fucker actually stabbed me. He must have realised that swinging my sword around like a madman didn’t do anything, and thus decided to go for a simplistic stab.
But the tip of my sword never reached my skin. The whole blade trembled in his hand as it was flung to the side and missed my belly by another centimetre.
“It’s the only sword capable of …” Aggressively, he brandished my sword with all his strength once more while I tilted my head to the side, giving him the best target to aim for. “… I wanted to say it’s the only sword capable of murdering a god.” And yet, the blade stopped on my skin, refusing to hurt me with all its might. “But it’s created using my blood and a fraction of my soul. I didn’t want to wield it myself because Aska would find that a little suspicious, but I see now that I cannot let a mortal wield it for me either.”
Without any issue whatsoever, I grabbed the blade which still wouldn’t move at all and smiled gently at Schwarz.
“I have done something terrible to you Schwarz. And all I can do right now is to make up for it.” I had used him as an experiment on how a soul would develop if it got in close contact with my soul, or rather what it consisted off. What I found out scared me shitless though.
If he got this twisted by a mere fraction of myself, how would Luna fare within my soul? I didn’t even want to imagine how I would taint her involuntary. I wanted her back like she was before … without all the darkness Schwarz carried in his heart because of me.
“What are you talking about?” Schwarz asked stunned while the sword in his hand turned into jelly slowly. It dropped to the ground like a dead fish, surprising everyone but me. “My precious … my … what have you done?!”
“Schwarz … look at me. I am tr-“ I must have given him a rather nice view, especially when a loud noise resounded beside us and brain matter left my head. Standing there a little bit stunned as my body fell to the side, I witnessed the rather satisfied smile on the demon kings’ visage and sighed unhappily.
“I really do hate guns.” I had no time to react at all. One second everything was fine and then … BANG. And I’m dead. It was quite tiring to deal with them to be honest. They were simply no fun at all, especially because my deaths were so quick! There was nothing to enjoy at all!
But as soon as I slipped out of my body, the shackles slowing me down vanished. My own body had little to no influence on my soul at this stage, which was why I reacted faster than most of the others. The jelly on the ground transformed into a snake, slithering across the ground while Hannah created a wind barrier in front of herself and Sofie. She had the priorities straight, but if her barrier was of any use was debatable.
“Barrier.” But at least Ellie could still create a flimsily barrier in front of the muzzle, thick enough to hold him off from firing yet again. While my snake slithered through the grass and the others fought with each other again, Schwarz used the opportunity of my suspiciously long healing time to scoot after the snake and throw himself onto it.
“What the actual fuck.” He didn’t want to let go at all. Like a completely fucked up creature, he hugged it with all his might, refusing to let go of my weapon at all. Even as I let sharp needles bore into his hands, he refused to cede it to me. “… great.”
Finally, my brain was back in one piece and I slipped back into it right away. Ignoring the searing headaches, I pushed myself back off the ground again, only to feel a strong wind and something biting into my back. The demon lord was apparently able to shoot me once more thanks to Ellie who refused to cooperate with Hannah.
“Now I´m angry.” Giggling a little, I stood up while glaring at the demon king who had his hands full once more. Reaching into my pocket, I picked out a single piece of bloodied paper, looked at its contents one last time and gave Sofie a rather pleading look. With the bullet plopping out of my back again, I strolled over to her and pressed the letter into her hands.
“I don’t want this, Sofie. I´d rather eat hamburgers with you if I´m entirely honest. I harbour no ill will towards you, trust me. But I don’t have any other choice right now, do you understand that?” I seriously didn’t want to hurt her at all. I had lost Luna already and I didn’t know if I could resurrect her with Irminsul’s help once more. That goddess still didn’t answer my calls after all.
“And so do I. I will fight against the evil of this world, no matter if I´m watched or not. Your goal might be honourable, but your methods are unnecessarily cruel.” Were they though? Well, she wasn’t with me as the devourer wormed her way though an army, or as the elves slaughtered every single warrior in it. So far, she hadn’t even scratched the surface of what cruelties were possible and I honestly wanted it to remain that way.
“… I´m willing to end this war, but I can´t. Aska won´t leave until there is nothing for him to do here anymore. Go to this place I have written down … a skinny vampire will wait for you there. You can end his life if you need to, but please bring balance into this world once more before that. I beg you, from the bottom of my heart.” I didn’t care about the potential risks of sending the four of them to the elven lands at all. If Tom lived or not was secondary for me, but I needed them to work with me for the time being.
“Why should anyone trust you at this point? For all we know it could be a trap.” Once again, a loud bang resounded behind me and the bullet hit my right shoulder, sending searing pain though my body once more. Forcing myself to supress that stupid giggle, I kept staring into her eyes to present myself as trustworthy as I could.
“You shouldn’t … but if you don’t go there, I´ll be forced to murder everyone of your old friends eventually until Aska is satisfied.” Persuading her the friendly way didn’t work out that well, so I was honestly left without any other choice but to threaten her a little, even though I didn’t like doing so myself as it would surely put a huge strain on our already broken friendship.
“You don’t have to do that.” She balled her hands into fists and just as I thought she would hit me, the pacifist in her took control again.
“I want to live in peace from all the gods, including him. Getting rid of him isn´t my priority right now, but rather to end this surveillance of every one of us. And if you guys do as I say one last time, I would be willing to compromise on letting all the other reincarnators live. There doesn’t have to be any more bloodshed. I promise I will take the capital without puddles of blood on the streets and I will promise the safety of everyone who doesn’t incite a rebellion.” That was basically all I could give her. Blood would be spilt, there was basically no way around this, but I was willing to negotiate the amount with her as long as I could know her on my side.
“… or we beat you right now and we win.” She looked behind me to the fighting trio while my snake slowly weaselled itself free. It didn’t look good for them, especially because I hadn’t used my own magic yet. And I would do that, even if it meant allowing my emotions free reign afterwards.
“You cannot murder me, let alone Aska. So leave before I regret giving you this letter.” Now it was my turn to look behind her. There was something hovering in the air … a faint green light which vanished as soon as I noticed it. But that wasn’t the only change I noticed. My own soul was groaning underneath the pressure forming from within my chest. Deep cracks sprouted from that place, tearing though my whole being like a geyser. And yet, I stood steadfast in front of Sofie without showing a hint of what was happening within me.
“Give me something … I won´t leave with just this.” A bit desperate, I stepped forwards one last time and hugged her tightly. She tensed up a little, but thankfully didn’t resist my approach that much.
“Please. I don’t know what to do without your help.” I begged. I actually begged. How deep I had fallen was beyond me, but I knew for sure I needed her help. And I also knew she would listen to anyone asking for her help like this. Closing my eyes, I tried to ignore the silhouette forming in front of me and kept hugging her tightly.
“It´s hard to work together with someone who is partly responsible for so much pain.” Sofie told me reluctantly and pushed me away a little.
“Think about it this way … you are going to have more leverage after going there. And in the meantime, I will try to keep the chaos to a minimum. Sofie, it´s not going better if you continue to fight me like this, I promise …” I opened my eyes reluctantly and stared at a faint figure of myself, reaching out to me while attempting to say something. But luckily, no words left that mouth and the figure vanished slowly again.
“You have to go now.” My soul was cracking right at this moment, my hatred for everything was spiralling out of control faster than I could contain it and my soul was spilling death into the surroundings at an incredible pace.
“Don’t listen to her, Sofie!” Once again, I was shot the moment Ellie let her concentration slip, with fatal consequences. The voice of the system - my own voice – boomed in my head while I was frantically attempting to heal my own soul, right at the place where the bullet entered my body. Silver. Holy silver. I hated that shit far too much to be honest.
“I … was listening to her detrimental in the past?” Sofie asked a little desperate, already feeling unwell by my very core engulfing her soul with a poisonous substance for her.
“She lied! Time and time again … we need to fight her right h-“ Ellie gripped her own heard from above her metal amour and Schwarz laughed happily as the concentration of death reached noticeable levels for all. The only two not affected – at least mostly – were Hannah and the demon king, fighting against each other with all they got.
“Go … or what I did after Luna´s death will be your end as well.” I couldn’t control myself back then, and at this point it was even worse. Even without much of a catalyst, I could explode at every second which was kind of detrimental to everything I had worked on so far.
“I … we are friends, right?” She asked at the exact same second the thorny snake finally got away from Schwarz. Freed, it made its way over towards the demon king right away.
“We are.” I told her a bit hopeful, but also raging on my inside.
“Teleport.” A blue magical circle appeared beneath her feet and beneath her friends as well. Within a mere second, they were all gone from my sight, leaving me, the demon king, Hannah and a silhouette of myself fading in and out of existence behind.
“FUUUCK!” I never thought I was that crazy … but it apparently got to the point of schizophrenia.
“LIAR!” I never felt that offended in my life before. Schwarz was attacking me with my own weapon, only blocked by Hannah´s sword at the last second. Even though her blade was insanely sturdy, the hit still left a mark on it.
“Hoi, oi, calm down a little.” Stepping back, I gave Hannah all the room she needed to fend this absolute maniac off while watching how the demon king pressured Ellie.
“I loved you! You were mine!” Schwarz was always possessive, but he certainly carried it to a new level at this day. “But you had to betray us! You had to betray me!” What the heck was he talking about? I was trying to work together with them again for fucks sake.
“Schwarz, I bel-“ I was pushed backwards by a wall of wind ramming into me as he broke through Hannah´s defence, only to sprint towards me afterwards. I landed in the mud backwards with Schwarz sailing through the air above me shortly afterwards. He landed around two metres away from me on his feet, dashed towards me while I rolled onto my belly and missed my head by a mere centimetre. “I´m so done with this shit.” Annoyed, I pushed myself up while another burst of air shoved Schwarz away from me, but that seemed to be the last one as Hannah was immediately drawn into a three way fight between the demon king and Ellie with a little bit of Louis’ support.
“Why did you choose him?” He glared at me threateningly while I stood up slowly.
“What are you talking about? I’m here because I want to cooperate with you.” I told him, but had to realise that nothing I could possibly say got through to him.
“Liar!” My dark blade cut through the wheat cleanly as he swung it, missing by a mere centimetre even though I didn’t move that much.
“Schwarz, you need to cool down. That’s a weapon capable of dispersing the consciousness of a god, so please stop waving that around in front of me like you want to kill me with it.” I turned around hastily and rushed back towards the demon king, only to run around the whole group and hide behind them.
“I’ll kill you!” Schwarz shouted out hot on my heels. Unlike me though, he earned a little jab from the demon king who was still fighting against everyone.
“Oh … that’s quite unsettling if I’m honest. Hey, demon king, am I like that as well?” I jumped behind Sofie as Schwarz tried to impale me with my own sword strangely slowly tough.
“Shut up!” Well, it didn’t seem as if he wanted to chat with me at all, even though we had grown a little closer over the last few days.
“Okay … Sofie.” I grabbed her arm and pulled her away from Schwarz as he seemingly lost it completely. “You might need to watch out a little.”
“Thank y-“ She didn’t tell the rest, but rather distanced herself from me as soon as she got the opportunity to do so. It did seriously look like I had to explain a lot to them before they would be willing to work with me again. If even Sofie was this much on guard against me, the others would give me even less of a chance to explain myself.
“If this weapon can slay a god … it can hurt you for sure.” Schwarz grunted and swung my sword at me once more without even realising that he would miss me.
“Well, about that …” I just stood there, but he didn’t hit me again which didn’t just bewilder him … it made him furious. “Schwarz, you need to work on your anger management … since when was he like that Louis?”
“… three days.” He admitted, still standing around exhausted from having spent too much mana on battling the demon king.
“Interesting …” I didn’t think my influence on him would grow that quickly during the time I wasn’t around, but on the other hand I also had an aching heart which I didn’t expect a few weeks ago either. “But I …” He stabbed me. That fucker actually stabbed me. He must have realised that swinging my sword around like a madman didn’t do anything, and thus decided to go for a simplistic stab.
But the tip of my sword never reached my skin. The whole blade trembled in his hand as it was flung to the side and missed my belly by another centimetre.
“It’s the only sword capable of …” Aggressively, he brandished my sword with all his strength once more while I tilted my head to the side, giving him the best target to aim for. “… I wanted to say it’s the only sword capable of murdering a god.” And yet, the blade stopped on my skin, refusing to hurt me with all its might. “But it’s created using my blood and a fraction of my soul. I didn’t want to wield it myself because Aska would find that a little suspicious, but I see now that I cannot let a mortal wield it for me either.”
Without any issue whatsoever, I grabbed the blade which still wouldn’t move at all and smiled gently at Schwarz.
“I have done something terrible to you Schwarz. And all I can do right now is to make up for it.” I had used him as an experiment on how a soul would develop if it got in close contact with my soul, or rather what it consisted off. What I found out scared me shitless though.
If he got this twisted by a mere fraction of myself, how would Luna fare within my soul? I didn’t even want to imagine how I would taint her involuntary. I wanted her back like she was before … without all the darkness Schwarz carried in his heart because of me.
“What are you talking about?” Schwarz asked stunned while the sword in his hand turned into jelly slowly. It dropped to the ground like a dead fish, surprising everyone but me. “My precious … my … what have you done?!”
“Schwarz … look at me. I am tr-“ I must have given him a rather nice view, especially when a loud noise resounded beside us and brain matter left my head. Standing there a little bit stunned as my body fell to the side, I witnessed the rather satisfied smile on the demon kings’ visage and sighed unhappily.
“I really do hate guns.” I had no time to react at all. One second everything was fine and then … BANG. And I’m dead. It was quite tiring to deal with them to be honest. They were simply no fun at all, especially because my deaths were so quick! There was nothing to enjoy at all!
But as soon as I slipped out of my body, the shackles slowing me down vanished. My own body had little to no influence on my soul at this stage, which was why I reacted faster than most of the others. The jelly on the ground transformed into a snake, slithering across the ground while Hannah created a wind barrier in front of herself and Sofie. She had the priorities straight, but if her barrier was of any use was debatable.
“Barrier.” But at least Ellie could still create a flimsily barrier in front of the muzzle, thick enough to hold him off from firing yet again. While my snake slithered through the grass and the others fought with each other again, Schwarz used the opportunity of my suspiciously long healing time to scoot after the snake and throw himself onto it.
“What the actual fuck.” He didn’t want to let go at all. Like a completely fucked up creature, he hugged it with all his might, refusing to let go of my weapon at all. Even as I let sharp needles bore into his hands, he refused to cede it to me. “… great.”
Finally, my brain was back in one piece and I slipped back into it right away. Ignoring the searing headaches, I pushed myself back off the ground again, only to feel a strong wind and something biting into my back. The demon lord was apparently able to shoot me once more thanks to Ellie who refused to cooperate with Hannah.
“Now I´m angry.” Giggling a little, I stood up while glaring at the demon king who had his hands full once more. Reaching into my pocket, I picked out a single piece of bloodied paper, looked at its contents one last time and gave Sofie a rather pleading look. With the bullet plopping out of my back again, I strolled over to her and pressed the letter into her hands.
“I don’t want this, Sofie. I´d rather eat hamburgers with you if I´m entirely honest. I harbour no ill will towards you, trust me. But I don’t have any other choice right now, do you understand that?” I seriously didn’t want to hurt her at all. I had lost Luna already and I didn’t know if I could resurrect her with Irminsul’s help once more. That goddess still didn’t answer my calls after all.
“And so do I. I will fight against the evil of this world, no matter if I´m watched or not. Your goal might be honourable, but your methods are unnecessarily cruel.” Were they though? Well, she wasn’t with me as the devourer wormed her way though an army, or as the elves slaughtered every single warrior in it. So far, she hadn’t even scratched the surface of what cruelties were possible and I honestly wanted it to remain that way.
“… I´m willing to end this war, but I can´t. Aska won´t leave until there is nothing for him to do here anymore. Go to this place I have written down … a skinny vampire will wait for you there. You can end his life if you need to, but please bring balance into this world once more before that. I beg you, from the bottom of my heart.” I didn’t care about the potential risks of sending the four of them to the elven lands at all. If Tom lived or not was secondary for me, but I needed them to work with me for the time being.
“Why should anyone trust you at this point? For all we know it could be a trap.” Once again, a loud bang resounded behind me and the bullet hit my right shoulder, sending searing pain though my body once more. Forcing myself to supress that stupid giggle, I kept staring into her eyes to present myself as trustworthy as I could.
“You shouldn’t … but if you don’t go there, I´ll be forced to murder everyone of your old friends eventually until Aska is satisfied.” Persuading her the friendly way didn’t work out that well, so I was honestly left without any other choice but to threaten her a little, even though I didn’t like doing so myself as it would surely put a huge strain on our already broken friendship.
“You don’t have to do that.” She balled her hands into fists and just as I thought she would hit me, the pacifist in her took control again.
“I want to live in peace from all the gods, including him. Getting rid of him isn´t my priority right now, but rather to end this surveillance of every one of us. And if you guys do as I say one last time, I would be willing to compromise on letting all the other reincarnators live. There doesn’t have to be any more bloodshed. I promise I will take the capital without puddles of blood on the streets and I will promise the safety of everyone who doesn’t incite a rebellion.” That was basically all I could give her. Blood would be spilt, there was basically no way around this, but I was willing to negotiate the amount with her as long as I could know her on my side.
“… or we beat you right now and we win.” She looked behind me to the fighting trio while my snake slowly weaselled itself free. It didn’t look good for them, especially because I hadn’t used my own magic yet. And I would do that, even if it meant allowing my emotions free reign afterwards.
“You cannot murder me, let alone Aska. So leave before I regret giving you this letter.” Now it was my turn to look behind her. There was something hovering in the air … a faint green light which vanished as soon as I noticed it. But that wasn’t the only change I noticed. My own soul was groaning underneath the pressure forming from within my chest. Deep cracks sprouted from that place, tearing though my whole being like a geyser. And yet, I stood steadfast in front of Sofie without showing a hint of what was happening within me.
“Give me something … I won´t leave with just this.” A bit desperate, I stepped forwards one last time and hugged her tightly. She tensed up a little, but thankfully didn’t resist my approach that much.
“Please. I don’t know what to do without your help.” I begged. I actually begged. How deep I had fallen was beyond me, but I knew for sure I needed her help. And I also knew she would listen to anyone asking for her help like this. Closing my eyes, I tried to ignore the silhouette forming in front of me and kept hugging her tightly.
“It´s hard to work together with someone who is partly responsible for so much pain.” Sofie told me reluctantly and pushed me away a little.
“Think about it this way … you are going to have more leverage after going there. And in the meantime, I will try to keep the chaos to a minimum. Sofie, it´s not going better if you continue to fight me like this, I promise …” I opened my eyes reluctantly and stared at a faint figure of myself, reaching out to me while attempting to say something. But luckily, no words left that mouth and the figure vanished slowly again.
“You have to go now.” My soul was cracking right at this moment, my hatred for everything was spiralling out of control faster than I could contain it and my soul was spilling death into the surroundings at an incredible pace.
“Don’t listen to her, Sofie!” Once again, I was shot the moment Ellie let her concentration slip, with fatal consequences. The voice of the system - my own voice – boomed in my head while I was frantically attempting to heal my own soul, right at the place where the bullet entered my body. Silver. Holy silver. I hated that shit far too much to be honest.
“I … was listening to her detrimental in the past?” Sofie asked a little desperate, already feeling unwell by my very core engulfing her soul with a poisonous substance for her.
“She lied! Time and time again … we need to fight her right h-“ Ellie gripped her own heard from above her metal amour and Schwarz laughed happily as the concentration of death reached noticeable levels for all. The only two not affected – at least mostly – were Hannah and the demon king, fighting against each other with all they got.
“Go … or what I did after Luna´s death will be your end as well.” I couldn’t control myself back then, and at this point it was even worse. Even without much of a catalyst, I could explode at every second which was kind of detrimental to everything I had worked on so far.
“I … we are friends, right?” She asked at the exact same second the thorny snake finally got away from Schwarz. Freed, it made its way over towards the demon king right away.
“We are.” I told her a bit hopeful, but also raging on my inside.
“Teleport.” A blue magical circle appeared beneath her feet and beneath her friends as well. Within a mere second, they were all gone from my sight, leaving me, the demon king, Hannah and a silhouette of myself fading in and out of existence behind.
“FUUUCK!” I never thought I was that crazy … but it apparently got to the point of schizophrenia.
