.
"You?! Why are you giving up so easily! Since when were you the type to give in and die in a ditch!? Huh?! Aren't you Lilith?! Stand up and fight!" (Cress)
It felt like time slowed down even further, droplets of sweat stuck still in the air as she turned her delicate face into my direction while she held her sword to block the enemy's blow. Her brittle arms seemed like they would snap at any moment, pressure akin to a mountain's weight was pressing down on her sword, forcing it to clatter loudly. Yet it did not give in.
In itself, defending such an absurd attack was like bending reality when looking at their individual stats. It was obvious that she had used a skill. Absurd as it looked, I still lost myself to something else. Her expression, a mix of melancholy and anger had completely mesmerised my conscious.
Why? Why was she sad? It makes me happy to feel treasured by such a close friend, but was that really it? This anger...this frustration... Was not directed at the poor opponent that got ignored along with his devastating attack. No... This anger was directed at someone else. Who? After spending a while, many years in fact with a close friend, you can usually tell how they're feeling. That was exactly why in this world, Cress was the closest existence I have to a family member. It was only a given to be able to read simple emotions when they burst out of her facial features similarly to the current situation.
Naturally a new feeling started welling up in my chest. A new liquid different to the one I usually see started leaking out like a broken tap. Unlike with a broken tap, this liquid wasn't bursting forth into the air though, it was streaming downwards from gravity like a river. Why tears had started flowing was beyond my current understanding. Was it born from the fickle hope that I could survive? Or was it from the overflowing guilt that engulfed my heart when I had apparently caused Cress to be sad.
Isn't this a problem? If... If my death were to affect someone else... Or someone close like Cress... Wouldn't that be unforgivable? How troublesome. How troublesome. How troublesome. How troublesome. How troublesome. How troublesome. How troublesome. How troublesome. How troublesome. How troublesome. How troublesome. How troublesome. How troublesome!
Observing my expression, Cress had decided to speak up. Her eyes narrowed as her pitch lowered. As if staring through my soul, she inquired.
"... My mana pool is not going to keep up. I will turn into a blood mist in a few seconds. So? What is your choice now?" (Cress)
"Are you kidding me... What other choice is there... but to fight!"
"... Hahah! I knew you could..." (Cress)
Holding up her warning, her arm collapses under the pressure, turning her right arm into a mist of red. A faint glimmer flickers around, exposing it's existence and exerting itself right on her lower eyelid. It was the mere woes of a dying light that reflected from a slick shiny liquid that didn't felt put of place on her face. Was it pain? Yes it was painful. But was what her expression truly pain? What painted her face was not a cry of help, nor was it a cry of pain.
It was unadulterated frustration.
What leaked down her warm smooth cheeks was not tears, it was blood. Using too much mana had caused enough damage to her insides that she was crying blood. In the end, everyone gives in to their instinct of self preservation. And then try to escape death. What she was frustrated by wasn't my cowardice, my inability to fight. No, it was at her own self for not being able to protect me as she let's the attack pass through. Sacrificing her arm, her body was pushed by the air pressure into the rough ground.
"...!!!" (Kuraver)
A surprise attack. An ambush that even the one pulling it didn't expect. As my muscles quivered in fatigue, my will faltered like a candle in the wind. Even so the flame wasn't blown out, not it couldn't be blown out after coming this far. It was only fight or die.
Wrapping my arms in ultra dense [demonic energy], a black covering accompanied by an ominous aura engulfs my small stature. Tanking the blow that far exceeded my capabilities, my overwhelmingly superior strength stat could only aid my own attack to roughly 1/8000th of the enemy's attack. A micro vacuum was formed by [shadow step]'s anti-gravity, attempting to block the force of Kuraver's attack.
Multiple sources of anti-gravity form all over Kuraver, pushing deeper and deeper into the category of black holes as they inch ever closer to the gate of such an absurd concept. Busting through every form of resistance, Kuraver's fist heads ever closer to my defenceless face. Double gravity - 1/4000, quadruple gravity - 1/2000, octuple gravity - 1/1000, sexdecuple gravity - 1/500, duotrigintuple gravity - 1/250. Only a little more... Quattorsexagintuple gravity - 1/125... More! Just a sliver more hope...
[Demonic energy]. Just because the explosions it caused were avoided, it didn't mean that it couldn't cut through the enemy's defenses. A soft clanking sound echoes throughout the sub-dimensional room as thin threads of ultra fast vibrating [Demonic energy] fill in space left by air, cutting through air to cause deep bass noises akin to an absurdly destructive wind. The soft clanking was caused by its ever forward movement and constant expansion.
Connecting his fist to my countless [demonic energy] barriers, a rough blow flows through destroying each one and consequently newly formed ones with mere air pressure and recoil, causing a big cavity to form in between my arms. Severing my arms off with [demonic energy] to prevent the force from reaching my vitals, they were used as an impromptu shield while a multitude of [Demonic energy] threads fly past Kuraver.
In an instant, he had been cut into an innumerable amount of pieces. Zooming past, whizzing through every molecule and severing bonds, the air pressure of his fist stopped in mid air had assaulted my face beyond repair. My vitals and skull kept safe, regeneration seemed to be possible. Hope had not run out.
"...how... You had just lost your will earlier... How did you recover? A psychological state is far much worse than a physical handicap... " (Kuraver)
His mere adrenaline and will keeping his flesh and cells together for one last moment, he inquires the source of my strength. Unfortunately I could not answer for my face was ruined and the pain of my amputated arms was flooding my conscious to the point of fainting. Pure luck, a coincidence... No... A miracle. For some unknown reason Cress was here. Perhaps she could answer as well.
" She didn't lose her ability to fight, she just didn't had any in the first place." (Cress)
"I see... So much power, yet she was hiding it to live a normal life, I suppose. It seemed I had mistaken you for a monster... Perhaps a final gift is necessary for your future endeavours..."(Kuraver)
".... You can't give anything I can't..." (Cress)
"...! I see, so she is under your protection... I should have believed you earlier... I see... *faces Lilith. It seems you are in good hands... "(Kuraver)
"Huh?! You just tried to kill me and you're running?! Do it! Fulfill your last words... Give me something!"
"..." (Cress)
" You should stop depending on your surroundings and take things more seriously." (Kuraver)
Dissipating into mana before explaining anything, I was left with an empty feeling and the trouble to tell my classmates, "Teacher is dead on the first day of school. "