Hello, what's up! How are you doing these days? If any misfortune fell upon you, then it's okay to feel stressed but not too much okay? Try to relax even though it's easier said than done.
Well, enjoy reading~
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Miyuu did not understand what Yukari was talking about as she was still not fully awake and dizzy. It was understandable as she had just casted more than several large-scale spells in succession. Although it did not leave any effect during her angel form, it did have some aftereffects as it was her first time to transform into an angel-like existence.
Yukari did not force her to sit up since she understood that Miyuu would feel sluggish. Spending all of her Mana like water, it would take more than courage and determination.
Nevertheless, Miyuu tried to get up despite feeling exhausted and listless. Seeing this, Yukari helped her up since she knew that if she stopped her, she would still try to do it herself. One thing she had similarity with Hiiragi was her stubbornness.
"I know you're feeling tired, so don't force yourself, okay?"
"...okay."
Miyuu answered with listless voice. She was totally spent as she could only manage to lean against the tent's pole. She breathed in and out a few times to calm down and looked at Yukari with inquisitive eyes. She did not remember much when she woke up.
Yukari understood her intention and explained slowly.
"Myu-chan, you've made a very good job. To make such achievement, you've overcome your fear and limit with flying colours. I'm so proud of you."
"Eh?"
Yukari embraced Miyuu's body gently as she said that. Miyuu tried to understand what was happening and what she meant but failed since she was surprised by her sudden action.
However, she did not reject it but also returned the hug. She realized that it was not a bad thing that happened.
Yukari explained as light as she possibly could to make sure Miyuu did not get surprised.
"When I arrived at the medical tent, I saw you floating in the air, shining brightly as your wings flapping gently. You casted powerful recovery spells in succession. Then, you flew to the battlefield and fought bravely there. I did not know what happened over there but I am sure that you've done your very best to defeat the enemies."
"...ah."
As Yukari talked, Miyuu could finally remember what had happened. She remembered that she had kill all those monsters using many magics and she also remembered the hostile man who tried to kill him.
However, as the genius genes inside her body functioned, she noticed that if she was here, then she was safe. The probability of her being caught was close to zero.
Then, she also realized one thing. The only thing that finally weighed on her mind. When she did it, she did not feel much as she was high on adrenaline and the Angel's Halo gave her the calmness and rationality to do so. However, when those factors were gone, all the emotions and feelings began to spill from her mind.
She did not want other people to realize what was going on with her. Therefore, she put herself inside Yukari's arms, as she was the only solace she could find since Hiiragi was not there right now. She managed to maintain her sanity because of her existence. If not, she would probably go in a rampage out of anxiety.
She tightened her embrace in Yukari's arms as she could not hold back the overwhelming tornado of emotions inside her. Yukari was surprised and asked her why.
"Myu-chan?"
"....Yu-nee, I...I had killed a living being...."
A drop of crystal-like water rolled down on Miyuu's cheek. Then, another one fell from her eyes. After that, it was followed by many more tears which fell like rain.
"Even though I know it was necessary, but....I just can't not feel horrible about killing....I, I have killed over a thousand and even possible million. Questions like, 'am I right?', 'is this the correct choice?', appear in my mind. I don't know... I felt confused, anxious, sad... I, I'm afraid of this feeling. I feel like I'm about to lose control. It was frightening...Yu-nee, help me...."
Miyuu pleaded. She was afraid. She was just a normal girl with an abnormal power. Although she displayed such a brave and powerful characteristics before, she was only a girl who had not even reached adulthood yet. The outrageous wave of emotions hit her like tsunami and her mind was not able to hold it back.
The act of killing burdened her mind. She had never kill before. She knew that the world was full of killing and it was necessary to kill in order to live . However, when she herself had to take one's life, she felt a huge guilt and responsibility on her shoulder. She hated the feeling. Despite her mind trying to reason with her the justice of the act, her emotions fought harder than her rationality.
Am I an evil person? Am I a bad person? Hiira-nii, will he accept me who had killed more than a thousand?
Such thoughts ran inside her mind. She felt insecure as she knew the weigh of killing in a society.
"Myu-chan."
"... Yu-nee?"
As she heard Yukari calling her, Miyuu raised her head and looked at her.
All she saw was Yukari's unchanging loving eyes which had been looking over her for these years.
"I, have killed something. Do you hate me?"
"N-no! How could I possibly hate you?"
Miyuu hurriedly denied. Then, Yukari continued.
"You see, I've killed more than a hundreds of monsters before. I also felt what you are feeling right now. The fear, guilt and wild emotions. I understand that. However..."
Yukari held Miyuu's hands as she looked into her eyes.
"Think about this. If I did not kill and I died because of it, would you be happy?"
"...no, I probably would be crying all night."
"Then, what if Hiira-kun died because he did not kill?"
"...I would follow him and die."
"...well, not what I meant, but you get what I'm saying right?"
Miyuu nodded. She understood what Yukari was trying to say.
"One more example, what if you died because you don't protect yourself?"
".... Hiira-nii would probably gone berserk and destroy everything."
"Yeah, I can imagine that. So, you see. Killing is wrong, only if you did not have a good reason for it. Sometimes, killing is the most suitable solution left after everything. It's okay to feel guilty and afraid of the act of killing. It's normal to feel scared to take one's life. However, never indulge and enjoy killing."
Miyuu listened to Yukari attentively despite not understanding some of the points. She could understand that Yukari was trying to say that it was not wrong for her to kill as a reason to live and protect.
Suddenly, Miyuu felt her body home weak. Perhaps, the exhaustion still did not completely disappear. Therefore, her body fell onto the bed and her eyes closed slowly despite her refusal to sleep.
Yukari knew that and let her sleep peacefully. She had done a very good job and deserved a good rest.
"You've done very well....good night, my angel."
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The next day...
"So, what did you get from that guy?"
Catherina asked Grayson who had left the interrogation tent with unreadable face.
Yesterday's incident had drawn its curtain and now, the camp was recovering. All the injured soldiers were being healed and recovering. Fortunately, nobody died. It was a miracle. No casualties against more than a hundreds thousand of monsters, it was hard to believe yet it actually happened.
The heroes who were currently recovering were Rina, Reiki, Hikari, Shiina, Shinya and Sakura. Catherina had already been alive and kicking as she was used to the situation while the others were still trying to familiarize themselves. Eiji and Haruto were fine, but they were told to rest and calm themselves to avoid their mental health from deteriorating.
Catherina and Grayson, as the leaders of the march, properly managed the aftermath of the battle. The corpses of the monsters were burned as not to cause a pandemic and outbreak of zombies and wraith. They need to investigate the cause of the stupidly high numbers of monsters and the only source that had was Alex, the guy who fainted near Miyuu.
He was forcibly waken up by Grayson this morning and was interrogated. When Grayson left the tent, Catherina thought that he had force something out of Alex's mouth. However...
"...nothing except his name, Alex."
"What? Was he so stubborn that he did not even spill the bean when you threaten him?"
Catherina was surprised that even Grayson was not able to make Alex talk despite Grayson's intimidation and threat. It was rare for him to fail.
Nevertheless, it was not that kind of reason that Alex did not talk. Grayson shook his head horizontally to deny that. His face changed from unreadable to confusion and tiredness.
"How about you go and see for yourself? I can't be bothered to explain this."
Grayson decided to let Catherina see for herself what was going on. Catherina, with a confused frown on her beautiful face went in with Grayson. Then, what she saw and heard was completely ridiculous. She couldn't believe what she was seeing.
"I'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorry...."
Alex was rapidly apologizing to no one in particular as his eyes were stuck to the ground. His eyes were sunken and black. His cheeks were like someone who had never eaten for more than a week.
Catherina covered her mouth to avoid exposing her shock yet it was transparent for those who saw her.
"He had been like this the moment I began talking to him. He did not react to anything I do or say. I only managed to get his name because of this."
Grayson talked and went to Alex. He then grabbed his left arm and uncovered the robe Alex was wearing. There was a tattoo carved on his arm which stated his name 'ALEX'.
"After that, nothing I did manage to let another word except apologies left his mouth."
Catherina's brain met a dead end. She could not think of anything to solve this problem.
"Is there any possibility that he was acting?"
"No, it's impossible to act since I've tried to torture him a little and he had the same act."
"Now, this is a problem..."
Catherina tried to think of a way for them to get information from Alex. However, none of the solution she thought would work with the condition he was in right now.
"When you found him, did you see anything weird?"
Catherina asked Grayson to see if there was anything she could relate to. Grayson answered her as descriptive as he could to help Catherina understand the situation.
"Well, before we met him, there was that huge black thing. He was inside it. I don't know what happened inside and I don't think I want to know. When that black thing disappeared, only he and that lass, Miyuu were-"
Before he could end his sentence, Alex suddenly cut him off with a desperate voice.
"Miyuu! Did you say Miyuu!?"
Grayson and Catherina both turned their heads to him with shock. They were surprised that he reacted to Miyuu's name.
Due to this, Grayson switched mood from a bodyguard into a general.
"What do you want from her?"
"Please! Please let me meet her!! Hurry! I beg you to let me apologize to her!!!"
Alex desperately begging Grayson to let him meet Miyuu despite knowing that it would be almost impossible. He even grovelled on the ground for his good will.
Not only Grayson but also Catherina made a surprised face when they saw his actions.
"There's no way you're meeting her. Dream on."
"Please, before he take my life!! I don't want to die! Please, I'll do anything. Be a slave or starve, anything!! I beg you, before he come to kill me!!!"
At his words, Catherina and Grayson finally found something to investigate. Thus, they began to question him.
"Who are you taking about? Who is going to kill you?"
"No, I can't speak of him or I'll die! Please understand me!! He'll kill me!!"
"Whether you say it or you'll never meet Miyuu. Choose."
"I can't, he will kill me!!!"
Alex was going crazy. He was very frightened of something that Catherina and Grayson did not know.
Grayson was tired of this. He glanced at Catherina and asked her with his gaze. Catherina understood and went out of the tent to get someone. After a few minutes, she came in with a girl.
Miyuu was surprised and frightened when she saw the man who tried to kill him. Despite her improvement, she still could not face someone who was hostile to her. Back then, it was the Halo and the angel form which gave her a peace of mind and the resolution to do so. But now, she was only a normal girl.
Alex who saw Miyuu, immediately made a desperate expression and knelt, with his head on the ground. The wet soil was sticking to his forehead due to his action but he did not seem to be bothered of it. Not only Miyuu, but also the others were shocked to say the least when they watched his sudden act.
Then, Alex voiced out loud.
"I'm very sorry of what I've done! Please forgive me! I beg you, I really am regretting it! I'm willing to do anything! My arms, legs, tongue or even eyes, you can take it! Please, just let me live! Even if I have to die, please don't let him kill me!"
Miyuu who was not accustomed to this kind of behavior, shivered a little as she did not fully recovered from her mental trauma. Although she knew that Alex was apologizing, she was still afraid of him since his behavior freaked her out. Moreover, his appearance did not help the situation. As a result, she could not say anything.
On the other hand, Catherina and Grayson on the sidelines were intrigued by the contradiction in Alex's last sentence. Die but don't want to get killed? What does it mean? Furthermore, who was 'him' that Alex just mentioned?
Since Miyuu was frozen by fear and shock, Grayson decided to take this opportunity to ask Alex some questions.
"Who did you just said would kill you? Tell us."
"N-no, didn't I say he would kill me if I told you!? I can't say it!"
Maybe due to excessive fear, Alex forgot that he was apologizing and rose to his feet, only to be shackled by chains around his wrists and feet. His face already described his emotions.
"Milady, please understand me! Don't force me to speak of him, otherwise my life will be gone! I will do anything you ask! Just please, don't let him come out!!"
He turned to Miyuu as he shouted out loud. Miyuu who was still not used to his extreme behavior, took a step back in fear as she was frightened by his reaction. Her mind was telling her to leave right away.
However, she didn't want to. She wanted to try and face her fear despite the constant warning of danger inside her head. She took a deep breath and looked at Alex, straight into his eyes. Then, she said.
"I understand. Then, I will not ask about whoever you were talking about. Instead, I want to ask a few questions and I hope you answer them as honest as you can."
Her voice was literally shaking. Catherina could see Miyuu's hands were trembling as she stared at her. Grayson on the other hand, was impressed by the positive change inside Miyuu's behavior. Although he did not know her for long, he saw how Miyuu had been raising the morale of his soldiers albeit unconsciously. The mere existence of her angelic presence even without her transformation gave his men enthusiasm to walk forth.
Therefore, he felt grateful that Miyuu was trying to face her fear, which was quite admirable in his opinion since he knew Miyuu was afraid of many things.
In response to Miyuu's words, Alex was ecstatic since he had been given a chance to prove himself.
"Yes, yes!! Please ask me anything!"
Miyuu took another deep breath and asked him. The shaking in her voice had lessened quite a bit.
"First of all, who are you?"
"My name is Alex, one of the eleven leaders in an organization or cult that worships the god of darkness, Kakos. I am considered as the tenth in the ranking of power in the cult."
Catherina and Grayson eyes were wide opened as they heard his answer. Their bodies tensed up to the point that it was noticable. Miyuu who saw this, was confused.
Then, she resumed questioning him.
"What do you mean by cult?"
"The cult that worships the god of darkness, Kakos. We name ourselves as Abyssal Cult. We worships and have been working on summoning our god, Kakos for a long time. We are spread across the whole world. This region is under my rule. Every member of the cult will have a tattoo on their bodies which is a skull while the leader will have their names carved on their bodies."
Miyuu's confusion only got worse. She couldn't understand it yet. Therefore, she asked for more information.
"Who is Kakos? Why are you trying to summon him? How do you summon him?"
"Kakos, also know as the god of darkness who once fought against Anastasia back in ancient time. He lost and was exiled from this world. By summoning him into this world again, we will be given the salvation and immortality by him. This is his own words, recorded in the Gospel Of Darkness. 'For those who seek and summon me, they shall receive my gift of immortality once I again resurrected into this world,' said our Lord, Kakos."
Alex told them as honest as he could, which in return gave those who understood his words terrible fear of the possible future, especially Catherina and Grayson. Miyuu who could not understand him perfectly, knew that his organization was by no means had a good goal in mind.
"The Gospel Of Darkness recorded that Lord Kakos can be summoned into this world by fulfilling three conditions. Even if one of them is not perfectly conducted, he will fail to be summoned. The first condition is the death of more than a million of humans, demons and other races. The second condition is a devil's body. The last condition is-"
Merely hearing the two conditions made Miyuu grimaced and paled. They were already horrifying and frightening as they could be. For someone who was softhearted like Miyuu, the death of one being would shake her heart yet it was supposed to be the death of more than a million? This made her heart felt like it was grabbed strongly.
However, the last condition completely frightened her. Her eyes became wide-opened as Alex said the words.
"-The screams of children as they are dying."
Miyuu's world felt empty when she heard it. Her mind gone completely blank. She tried to understand what he was trying to say as she repeated the words in her head.
The screams of children as they are dying? Children's scream? Dying? What does it mean?
"W-what exactly you're trying to say?"
Miyuu tried to confirm what she heard. Since Miyuu could not understand it properly, Alex spoke of it again and explain.
"During the full moon, around a hundred children will be brought into a huge room. They will be tied from head to toe. Only their mouth would be left opened and their eyes closed. As the summoning begin, we shall tear their skins like paper and draw out their blood. The blood then will flow into the altar as their screams will be used to fill the dark energy. The end of the summoning will be the end of the screams, which means the children will die. Then, our god shall be summoned into this world."
Miyuu could barely hold in her tears and the feeling to vomit. She could not stand to hear what would happen in the future. As Hiiragi's sister, she had a vivid imagination and could easily imagined what would happen. Furthermore, although she had not the same experience, she had a similar situation of it.
Catherina noticed her condition and took over the questioning. She took this matter seriously as it would be dangerous if she did not face it as serious as she could.
"Where is your organization headquarter?"
"Our organization's headquarter is at the border between demon and— bought!"
"....?"
Before he could finish, his face suddenly bulged out. Catherina made a confused expression as she could not understand what he was doing.
"Bigghhh! Bigghhh!!!"
While Catherina could not understand, Miyuu's intuition kicked in and she could feel the rise of Mana inside Alex's body. It was rising drastically like there was no limit. Nevertheless, despite having the supernatural intuition like Hiiragi, she did not have his insane reflex and reaction speed. Due to that, she could not react properly.
Grayson on the other hand, relied on his trained instinct to realize what was happening. Despite having only a little mastery of Mana and magic, he knew that something was happening to Alex, which he did not meant to.
His body moved to cover Catherina from Alex as she was the closest to him and Miyuu was not far but out of his reach.
Then, in a split second, Alex's body bulged out more on many spots and his body shone brightly. The shine was so bright that nothing could be seen inside the tent.
Then, a huge explosion occured in the middle of the camp.
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"Cough, cough, what.....just happened?"
Catherina spoke weakly as she could finally let out her voice. Her eyes could not see anything as the shine blinded her eyes. Although her sight would return later, it was a problem for her.
"Are you all right, Miss Princess?"
She heard Grayson's voice above her. His voice sounded so normal as if nothing happened despite the huge explosion. Due to that, she knew that she was in Grayson's arms as she could feel two big arms taking her in. She knew that it was him because she had became used to these arms ever since she was a little girl. Whenever she was in danger, her bodyguard, Grayson would protect her, which would make her sad since he would get hurt every time he did so.
"I'm fine. What just happened?"
"Well, don't ask me. He blew up before he could finish talking. Maybe it was something like safety measures when a follower tried to expose some secrets."
"That's logical. Now, can you release me? It's hard to move like this."
Hearing that, Grayson let Catherina moved out of his protection and helped her stand up. Her eyes were slowly recovering her sight.
Somehow, she felt like Grayson was moving strangely. She could tell that much since she was holding on to him.
"Grayson, are you all right?"
"I'm alive and kicking if you ask me! Hahaha!"
Grayson answered energetically. Then, a group of people were running toward them. They were the heroes and Sylvia. On their faces were worries and concerns, especially Sylvia, Haruto and Yukari.
Sylvia who saw her beloved elder sister trying to stand up while relying on Grayson, shouted her name worriedly.
"Catherina-onee-sama, are you all right!?"
"Sylvia? I'm fine, my sight is slowly recovering now. It will return later, don't worry too much."
Meanwhile, Eiji and Sakura were staring at Grayson with shock on their faces. Sakura had a genuinely concerned face as she looked at Grayson's back. The same with Eiji, while the others were trying to understand the situation.
The reason for their concerned reaction was Grayson's back, it was burned like crazy. It was as if someone splashed petroleum on it and light up a fire, or rather burned his back with flamethrower.
Eiji tried to speak out of concern but Grayson put a finger on his lips, signalling him and Sakura to keep quiet as he made eye contact with Sakura to heal his back before Catherina noticed.
Eiji didn't understand why he wanted to keep quiet about such a bad injury but, he obeyed. Sakura held in her tremble as she silently chanting the spell to heal Grayson's back. Since her Mana was not fully recovered, she held back from casting any high level healing spell. Therefore, the healing process took longer than it should be.
Nevertheless, before his back could recover even a quarter, Catherina, with her blinded eyes, noticed that Grayson's behavior was strange. Therefore, she stopped Grayson from doing anything.
"Grayson, whatever you're doing stop it right now. What are you hiding from me?"
"Nothing really, Miss Princess."
"I know you're lying since you only call me Miss Princess when you try to hide something from me."
"...….just a little bleeding in my body. Nothing too bad. No need to worry."
"What kind of bleedi—"
At that moment, her sight completely returned as the scene of the burnt back of Grayson filled her sight. She froze and turned into something like a statue when she saw his condition. Then, her body trembled greatly, as if she was trying to hold back her anger.
"This...is a little bleeding? Not too bad?"
"....Princess Catherina, it is my duty to protect you."
"How many times have it been? Once? Twice? Thrice? Or more than ten times? You! Taking whatever attack directed at me like a damn shield without thinking of yourself! As if you're a damn shield for me! Just now, even if the explosion hit me, I will survive despite the damage on my body. But, what about you? If the explosion directly hit you, you could die since you barely had any magic protection on your body. You survived just now because of luck! But , what about later, in the future! Will you be able to survive!? You—"
"Even so, if you receive the damage face on, it will leave a scar on your face. I couldn't handle that guilt if that happened."
".... you.....just....you..."
Catherina's outburst definitely shocked the eyes of their comrades as her image of cool and collected woman was broken.
Hearing Grayson's words, Catherina fell on to her knees and covered her face with her hands, desperately fighting her tears as she held back her emotions. She couldn't bear to be angry to her loyal subordinate and bodyguard who had protected her for more than a decade and saved her more than tens of occasions. His pure intention to protect her made her weak in her knees.
"....now, don't cry Lil' Princess. You're making me fell guilty here."
"You should feel damn guilty for making me feel like this... don't you know how worried I am...?"
Grayson scratched her head as he knew what his princess was talking about. However, what could he do? It was a natural reaction.
"....Sakura, please heal this blockhead's back. And make sure he stays on bed until he can perfectly moved without any pain."
"Okay, Catherina-san. Don't worry, I know how you feel and what to do."
Sakura replied. While light magic could aid him, it could not perfectly heal him with lesser spell which Sakura was casting. To perfectly heal an injury, it would take at least intermediate spell to do that.
The other side of the crater left by the explosion, Haruto and Yukari we're glad to see Miyuu sitting on the ground without any injury. However, they were surprised to see the perimeter around her to be perfectly fine. It was as if she was protected when the explosion occured. Haruto recognized the pattern. It was the same when he found Miyuu inside the black thing.
Miyuu's face showed that she didn't know what happened obviously.
"Myu-chan, are you all right?"
"Y-yes, I'm fine..."
Yukari called out to her worriedly and checked out her body for any injury. Fortunately, there was none. Then, she moved on to questioning her after releasing a sigh of relief as she was safe.
"How could you were unharmed by the explosion? Not that I wish that you were hurt but, it was strange."
"I, I don't know. It just... happened. There was nothing except....."
When Miyuu was talking, she felt like she had an idea what was going on. Haruto and Yukari waited for her answer patiently.
Miyuu was hesitant to say it since she felt like it was illogical for it to happen. However, it was better to speak of it rather than keeping it for herself.
"Right before the explosion, I kind of heard someone saying something to me, if I'm not mistaken..."
—It's all right. I'll protect you.
".....that's what the voice said. Ah, the voice was the same one before I fainted on the battlefield."
Yukari and Haruto were confused of what Miyuu said. They couldn't comprehend what was happening actually.
Haruto asked to gain more clue of what the voice was.
"Do you recognize the voice?"
"...well, the strange thing is, I recognize the voice and I'm completely confident that I am right. But, it's kind of impossible though... Because, it was Hiira-nii's voice."
Haruto and Yukari were shocked to say the least. While it was unbelievable, they believed that Miyuu would not tell them a lie like this since she would never lie even if the situation forced her to do so.
However, before they could ask further, a soldier's voice rang throughout the camp.
"A messenger from the Holy Kingdom Of Stacia has arrived!!!!"
Thus, the first meeting between the otherwolders and their first other kingdom will begin...
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Done guys! Sorry for the late update! I didn't know how to end this chapter, so sorry if it doesn't end that great.
Anyway, thanks for reading, voting and commenting all this time!
Well, Cyclone out! Peace✌️✓~