"Ivaru?"
Xiao tried to call Ivaru out to get a response, but she didn't respond, for she was barely conscious.
The energy around Ivaru was now visible to the eyes. It was gold in colour and scorching hot, so hot that any leaves and grasses on the ground got burned to crisp.
"I am...sorry, mister. Couldn't...hold...much...longer!" Ivaru looked at Xiao as she called out to him. The immense pressure she suffers made her fade in and out of consciousness.
The gold energy gradually expands, burning everything that touches it. The air got filled with mana, and the concentration level of it was so high that it suffocated anyone.
Xiao felt that the area would explode anytime soon because of the high pressure in the air.
To make things worse, Xiao also found out that Ivaru's only remedy to suck out excess mana was lying on the ground not far away from her, broken.
The bottle got squished into an unrecognisable shape, and the dark matters inside were long gone.
("The bottle must have fallen from her hand, and that brute bastard involuntarily stepped on it while it was running away.")
With her only remedy gone, there is really nothing else Xiao can do to stop the mana expansion.
"Get...away. Far...far...away...from here." Ivaru used the remaining ounce of her strength to tell Xiao to run far away from her.
As Xiao looked at her, he saw something from his past. The feeling of déjà vu where Xiao experiences his close one dying before him. He remembers his brother, Kang, who told him to run away before being brutally murdered.
Every time he ran away from something, he was left to face the consequence. His family's death and Lars's death, though he didn't kill them, he was the only one who survived, and people blamed him for that.
Everyone Xiao came to know and care for was taken away from him, except for Owen, Xiao's only friend during his time in the army. Still, even his fate remains unknown to Xiao, as he got teleported by Xiao to another place because that was the only way to save him.
("No more. No one is going to die again under my watch. I am going to see it through this time!")
Xiao made up his mind. He will be staying with Ivaru no matter what happens.
"Don't give up! Hang on, I am coming!" Xiao shouted. He then rushes towards Ivaru.
Xiao still doesn't know how to stop the mana explosion and save Ivaru, but he knew Ivaru needed someone to stand by her side right now.
"...No...Stop." Ivaru saw Xiao coming to her and asked him to stop, but Xiao remained firm in his decision.
Shockwave pulsing from the ever-expanding energy, and each pulse was stronger than before, making Xiao much harder to reach Ivaru.
And when Xiao came into contact with the gold energy, he instantly got burned, causing him to shirked a step back away.
"Goddamn! It's freaking burning!" Xiao yelled in pain. He looked at Ivaru again and wondered how she could bear such a high temperature and not get burned alive.
("So this is what Iva has been suffering the whole time. Her body must have gotten so used to it that it developed strong resistance against high concentrate mana burn.")
"...Please...just...leave me...alone..." with her trembling voice, Ivaru continues begging Xiao to leave her be and get to safety.
"Just shut up! I am not leaving you here. We are going home together, so just hang in there!" Xiao argued back in anger. He won't back down because of the burn or the upcoming explosion. He was determined to reach Ivaru no matter the cost.
Thanks to his undying ability, the burn he received was already gone.
Xiao took a deep breath to brace the incoming burning pain. On the count of three, he rushes into the gold energy once more, bitting his teeth as he bears the scorching hot energy that burns him.
When Xiao finally reached Ivaru, he was already half burned, and most parts of his armour disintegrated.
"Mis...ter." Ivaru looked at Xiao in shock. She still can't believe him to risk his life to come to her.
"Don't worry, I got you now." Xiao resisted the urge to scream in pain. He tried to keep his tone calm as he comforted Ivaru, ignoring that his whole body was being burned.
Seeing how Xiao risked everything for her, Ivaru finally breaks down. Her tears start flowing like rivers as she lets out her feelings, how she hated herself for her curse, about her fate as the cursed child.
"I shouldn't be born! They are right! I am the cursed child. The purpose of my life, the end of my life, is nothing but to invoke calamity and destruction. So why, why did you raise me, grandma? Why did you have to leave me all alone in this world?! Why! Why!"
Ivaru continues her lament. All her grief and feeling she had kept deep inside her heart were pouring out like a torrent. Xiao didn't utter a single word. He holds her tightly in his arm, allowing her to express her true self and cry till her heart is content.
When Ivaru stops crying, Xiao caresses her hair as he speaks.
"And I will say again and again. You are not a cursed child, Iva. You are just an ordinary girl who likes to eat a lot and clean a lot. Your life is definitely not invoking calamity and destruction, and your grandma firmly believes that. That's why she raised you and kept you safe, all because she knew that you would one day live the life you wanted."
Xiao never knew Ivaru's grandmother, but he believes that her grandmother believes in Ivaru to overcome her fate as the cursed child.
"And I intended to give you a normal life. So rest for now. Close your eyes, and let me handle it." Xiao reassures Ivaru with confidence, and she believes in him. She slowly closes her eyes, letting Xiao decide her fate.
Xiao knew what he had to do. As he was making his way to Ivaru just now, all the burn he received was immediately treated by his undying ability. While Xiao's undying ability was on the work, it also released a lot of dark matter, absorbing the energy as they got in contact.
So, to stop the mana expansion, Xiao needs to produce enough dark matter to absorb all the mana within Ivaru's body and the hot energy around them.
And there is only one way for Xiao to produce the needed amount of dark matter.
He needs to die.
Xiao was already holding his short sword, aiming at his heart. Although he had recovered from a life-threatening condition before. Still, to destroy his own heart and kill himself? This is still a first for him.
The more Xiao thinks about what he is about to do, the harder it is for him to execute it. He began wavering. His breathing tempo was rapid.
Right now, this is the only way he can come out with, and he doesn't even know whether it will work.
A painful cry from Ivaru woke Xiao up from his dilemma. He looks at her and tells himself there is no more time to hesitate. It is now or never.
("Please work. Please work. Please work.")
Xiao steels his mind. He lifts the short sword high up into the air, and the next instant, he cries out his deepest hope as he drives the sword into his heart.
"Please work!"