234 Chaos [3]

I felt my entire body paralyze on the spot.

Staring ahead, my throat clamped up as I silently swallowed, a cold sweat drenched my back as I did so.

Cra... Crack!

The air was filled with the sickening sound of cracking bones as the neck twisted grotesquely in my direction.

Drip!

Black droplets stained the ground as I stood with my breath held.

"....What are you doing?"

It was the sound of Owl-Mighty's voice that shattered my thoughts.

"Fight it."

"Uh...?"

I almost looked back in shock.

Fight it...?

<nulli>'Can I even fight it?'

I could tell at a glance that whatever thing was before me was strong. I had hardly gotten any practice with my skills and had no experience fighting.

How could I fight it?

"....!"

Sadly, I never had the chance to retort as the creature lunged at me.

Swoosh!

It didn't make any sound as it did, but it was extremely fast.

"Ukh!"

I was able to avoid it just barely.

Cra... Crack!

Cracking sounds echoed once again as the creature stood on all fours, its belly grotesquely facing upwards, and its head twisted unnaturally in the opposite direction. Its pitch-black eyes glared at me as I felt my hand shiver.

Swoosh!

It moved again. Nimble and agile, it slithered around the cave, its body contorting in ways that defied human anatomy with its neck and back continuously twisting to aid its movements.

My mind processed the situation rather quickly, and despite my panic, I pressed my foot forward.

'Now!'

Thump!

The creature fell slightly down as the gravity around it increased, and threads started to emerge from out of my hand and head towards it.

At the same time, I reached out with my other hand and a purple magic circle manifested.

"Ukh...!"

I felt lightheaded as I did so, and the magic circle took a little while to form, but it still completed after a short while as a purple hand manifested before the creature, gripping it directly in the neck.

The mana inside of my body drained as the hand touched the creature, but I could vividly see the creature growing weaker as it started to fall further under the gravity impression.

<nulli>'This... I might be able to do it.'

I felt my heart race at the thought as I rushed the threads forward.

My aim was its neck.

<nulli>'Right, I need to kill it... It's not human.'

As the threads approached, I tried to hypnotize myself into thinking that the creature wasn't human so that I would have an easier time digesting the after-effects of the situation.

Time seemed to slow in that moment.

The threads approached.

They got closer to the creature.

.....They were now only a few inches away.

I felt my entire body tingle as anxiety started to kick in. This... it was close. So close.

I was...

<nulli>Snap, snap

The loud snapping of threads echoed within my mind, each snap echoing loudly within my mind, as I felt a hot breath brush the back of my neck.

"Haa... Haaa..."

My body jolted in panic, but there was something else that took my mind.

"A-ah."

Turning my head to look at my hand, I felt my lungs collapse as I lost my breath.

Drip! Drip!

In the area where my hand should've been, all I could see was blood as it leaked down onto the ground. Right towards my severed hand.

"Haa... Haa..."

The breath continued to run down the back of my neck as fear started to choke me.

But before I could figure out what was going on, something pierced my chest and blood spurted out from my mouth.

That pain was met with a sharp pain in my neck.

<nulli>Thump!

The last thing I saw was two bare feet.

***

It all happened fast.

But not to the point where Owl-Mighty couldn't see what was going on. Owl-Mighty stood at the back while watching the fight alongside the stupid dragon.

Yes, stupid dragon.

Because it was stupid.

"What do you think...?"

The stupid dragon spoke from the side. Owl-Mighty looked at it for a brief moment before answering,

"He will most likely die."

Such was his verdict after looking at the fight that was happening.

In particular, Owl-Mighty's gaze fell on the creature that was slowly creeping up from behind. It had been present the entire time, it was just that Emmet's attention was entirely focused on one of the people to notice.

"Are you going to help him?"

"No."

Owl-Mighty answered decisively.

There was no ounce of hesitation in its voice.

".....I don't see a reason to help him."

"If he dies, we will also disappear."

"That's fine."

Owl-Mighty's gaze remained fixed on Emmet in the distance.

<nulli>'Is it really not him...?'

The entire time, Owl-Mighty had been wondering if it was memory loss, or if someone else had taken over the body.

There were a couple of similarities between the two, but the more Owl-Mighty interacted with Emmet, the more he realized just how different they were.

Julien was decisive, ruthless, and calm.

On the other hand, Emmet was less decisive. He wasn't anywhere near ruthless, and he continuously panicked.

They were so different in so many ways.

.....And yet.

They also were quite similar to others.

"It's strange."

Owl-Mighty mumbled while staring at Emmet who was staring at his missing arm. The fight was pretty much over, and it didn't take long for his head to fly off in the distance.

Thump!

Rolling on the floor, it stopped right before Owl-Mighty.

Looking down, Owl-Mighty could see the expression of terror etched on his face.

A small pool of blood began to form around his head, spreading slowly, as the creatures in the distance turned their attention toward the two of them.

Crack! Crack!

They looked like they wanted to kill them.

"Miao~"

Stepping forward, the stupid cat's eyes glowed a strange glint.

The gravity surrounding the place increased dramatically, forcing the two creatures to a halt.

"They are weak. That human should've been able to take these two out without a problem."

By the human, the stupid dragon was referring to Julien.

Indeed, the things in front of them weren't strong. They were rather weak, and the previous Julien would've been able to handle them easily.

It was unfortunate that he was no longer here.

Pftt, pftt!

It took no time for the stupid dragon to get rid of the two things as blood splattered all over the place.

Taking its paw off their heads, it turned around to look at Julien's body.

"....Weak."

A strange glow enveloped the body, halting the flow of blood. The blood that had seeped out began to reverse course, slowly coalescing towards him and forming a pulsating, crimson ball where his head used to be.

Owl-Mighty looked at the vial that was resting on his arm.

It was now halfway full.

"Two times."

That was how many lives he had left.

....Those were also the number of mistakes he was going to grant this Emmet person before discarding him.

***

"....."

Aoife woke up to the sight of two glaring red eyes.

Her mind was blank, and she could hardly think. Or at least, until she felt a certain stinging pain over the side of her face which was accompanied by a loud slapping sound.

Slap

'That sounded like it hurt.'

Aoife thought while her mind registered the sound.

Slap

Yet again, the sound echoed and Aoife started to frown.

'What's going on?'

What sort of hatred did someone have to slap with that much force?

'They must really hate the pe'

And then it registered.

The pain.

....It came from both sides of her cheeks and her face contorted.

"Ahh!"

Aoife held the sides of her cheeks as she felt a certain heat come from them. Touching her cheeks, she realized that they were both swollen.

"I-it hurts!"

The corners of her eyes started to water from the pain as she sat up and wiped the tears away.

It was also then that she turned her head to glare towards the source of her pain.

"You...!"

Standing innocently beside her was Kiera who tilted her head and wore an expression that seemed to say, 'What? I didn't do anything.'

Aoife clenched her fist.

However, her anger subsided rather fast as she realized something.

"I'm alive?"

"Uh, yeah. It's not like it's the first time you died."

"Ah..."

Memories started to flash in her mind and Aoife understood exactly what had happened as her gaze turned to look at the vial on her arm.

As expected, it was now only one-quarter of the way filled.

'One more life left.'

It sounded like a lot, but Aoife didn't even understand how she had died in the first place.

"Stop!"

From the corner of her eyes, Aoife spotted something as she hastily waved her hand, stopping Kiera's hand from reaching her face.

Slap

Then, out of pure instinct, her hand reached Kiera and she managed to land a clean slap to her face.

"Uakh!"

Kiera hastily covered her face.

".....You bitch. I was just checking to see if you were still there yet. Your face looked like it was still out of it."

"Well, now you know."

Aoief stood up from her spot and patted her clothes clean.

She then looked around her.

"Where are we?"

It seemed like they were in one of the chambers.

Massaging her face, Kiera glared at her.

"We're in one of the chambers. I don't know what happened but you went all ape shit and stuff so I burned you into a crisp."

"Oh."

Yeah, that happened...

Aoife felt her hand twitch.

'Maybe I should've hit even harder.'

"What? Don't look at me like that. You're good now, right? That's all that matters. I carried you all the way here and watched over you until you revived."

"....What about the others?"

"They're outside helping out the others."

Kiera turned her head and scratched the side of her face.

"I stayed back here."

"...."

Aoife opened her mouth but found the words stuck in her throat.

Scratching her head as well, she turned around and headed for the main door of the chamber.

Rumble!

Just before going out, she stopped and mumbled something,

"Thank you."

It was low, but loud enough for Kiera to hear.

She looked a little stunned, but soon shook her head.

"It's fine. I did slap you and burn you after all."

"....."

Aoife almost tripped over herself.

'She's right.'

All her feelings of gratitude disappeared and she moved out.

"Hey, wait!"

Kiera followed from behind, only for her to bump into Aoife's back shortly after.

"Ukh? What are you doing"

Her words were cut short by the sight that greeted her.

"Ah, this..."

Body and limbs were scattered everywhere as over a dozen familiar faces stood on the opposite end staring at them with black eyes.

The worst part of it all?

Their necks were twisted.