Four Hours Later (No: POV)
Four hours had passed since Denzel passed out after combat, but after losing consciousness in front of Rika while severely bleeding. Made her distraught greater than before.
However, the bleeding stopped from the very small cut which the last assassin miraculously made. Since the Arkhalis itself was coated with both poison, terra, and venom. It made Denzel lose health in an extraordinarily quick way.
However, Denzel was suffering from a different cause. The moment he used the orb, his health took a horrible turn.
"Huuu, Denz, please." - Rika
In one of the rooms of the inn they were staying on, Rika was alone keeping an eye on Denzel. Tears dropped down from her eyes signifying her worry to Denzel being unconscious for a long time.
All of Denzel's wounds and body effects were cured the moment Seymour took notice of the occurrence.
"Fucking hell, fighting against five highly cooperated assassins is a terrible choice. But since it's Denzel we're talking about, he'll definitely fight alone as he has fate defying tactics." - Seymour
"Will Denzel be fine?!" - Rika
"Don't even worry, he will be. Denzel is the kind of person that would survive a disadvantageous fight due to his oath." - Seymour
The fact that Rika's worry towards Denzel's survival is clearly evident. However, Seymour noticed something in her eyes but he simply ignored it.
"Anyways, his life isn't in any danger except that he used the time-slowing orb which actually makes a large cut from the back without being noticed at all. Therefore, with this experiment, I'll relay this data to Karl so he could improvise before the actual fight." - Seymour
"Experiment? Do you think Denzel's life is only an experiment?!" - Rika
Hearing the words 'Experiment' was completely unnerving specially when Rika who loves Denzel hears it. This caused her to go ballistic when she thought that Seymour is just simply using Denzel.
"I have heard of his heroic acts to his friends willingly through himself! So if the perspective of the peers he looked up to is just simply using him, then he'll be safer if he stays with me!" - Rika
"Say what you want but he was the one who made an oath to the empire regarding how his life would work out." - Seymour
Upon hearing the word 'Oath', Rika was nothing but shocked. She was unable to interpret what Seymour said.
"Oath? What do you mean by oath!?" - Rika
Being unable to keep her worry to herself, she continued screaming at Seymour's face who simply kept a calm and resolute expression.
"Let me spell out what your lover said to me seven years ago." - Seymour
Seymour simply closed his eyes and began reminiscing what Denzel said before the major fiasco.
"I present myself to the empire, to assist this group to the success regardless of danger. Utilize my abilities to the utmost extent of my body without worry, as I will follow you as the worthiest man I have found since my isolated travels. You are officially the only one I could call my leader. Something like that." - Seymour
Completely infuriated, Rika looked at the unconscious Denzel with nothing but pain in her eyes. She just found out herself that she couldn't bring a change to her lover who is dancing to the palm of Seymour who he deemed as the perfect leader.
"Denzel, why?" - Rika
"Kid, you know that Denzel is hardworking, even beyond us he exerts quite a bit of effort to create the perfect place." - Seymour
"But, he-" - Rika
"He already found where his true happiness will be, and that's here in the Asylum. He found many friends he would treasure in this life he currently has, and the day he found you. Was simply a cherry on top to his ideal world. So take it with face value" - Seymour
And that sobbing face transitioned to a smiling expression while still tearing up regardless.
"He works so hard. Yet he's not really rewarded that much." - Rika
"We don't need to reward him, he rewards himself since he almost never smiles. By smiling and seeing happiness within his circle who accepted him regardless of his deadly personality." - Seymour
Being unable to say anything, Rika moved closer to Denzel's head.
"What you're about to do, is something you don't really want anybody to see. In that case, I'll take my leave." - Seymour
Seymour stood up and went towards the door of the room to leave but before he did...
He shot a bullet from his handgun which grazed Rika's scalp...
"Before that though, perform an attempt of betrayal and you'll die." - Seymour
A thick atmosphere filled with nothing but killing intent directed to Rika. Being unable to bear the terror, Rika immediately hid under the Denzel's blanket which made her blush out of embarrassment.
"Did he calculate this? He's wiser than Denzel after all." - Rika
Rika looked at Denzel's sleeping face that shows nothing but a poker face that's currently sleeping.
"He looks quite cute when he sleeps." - Rika
Rika's face went closer to Denzel's cheek as she kissed him. Being enveloped by embarrassment, she went out of the blanket immediately with reddened cheeks and went out of the room.
Half an hour later... (Denzel's POV)
I woke up with the hazy feeling of being lost in a gray forest with nothing but fog.
However, I was laying down on a bed which means this is the inn.
My vision finally became clear so I looked around if my equipment are safe and sound.
A crack was seen in Omnitelum for my left hand. Damn, it took quite a toll huh.
It seems I am now fully healed but how the flying fuck did I get injured and bled heavily.
I stood up to grab my Omnitelum and sent them into the magic storage.
I went to a nearby mirror and I found out the cause by seeing a large cut behind me.
"How the fu-"
"Denz? You're awake!" - Rika
Rika entered the room with a sigh, but the moment she saw me standing upright. She immediately ran and gave me a tackle hug.
"You're alright!" - Rika
Geez, she's sobbing with her face trying to hide in my solar plexus.
I pat her in the head to reassure her of my safety.
"Yeah right, I'm all good now. Call Malech and the others, I need to discuss a few things with them."
"Sure!" - Rika
Rika wiped off her tears and immediately called for Malech and the rest.
While waiting, I started performing my routines which is simply an attempt to reach the pinnacle of the "One Punch Man" workout.
"One! Two! Three!"
After a short while, I finished the routine. Yet, they haven't arrived yet. Dafuq are they doing?
I made a widespread scan and it seems Jerald is stuck in the comfort room, and William is running through the rooftops of multiple buildings to get here quickly.
I think they'll take a longer time.
So while waiting, I opened the window and looked out to the town while waiting.
I checked my watch and saw that the time is around two in the afternoon. Crap, I have to eat lunch after this meeting.
William arrived to the venue by suddenly appearing from above.
"Yo! Can I come in?" - William
"Sure, wait for the others though."
William entered my room through the window.
"So, how are your injuries?" - William
"You were there too?"
"Yep, specially on the part where you literally ignored something that cut your back after using the time-sucking orb." - William
"So it's still defective huh? Was a report sent to Karl?"
"Yeah, we took all orbs and had Karl calibrate them before the war starts. Mitch was completely stressing out since he's the only person that's providing cover." - William
Poor guy, so he's trying to help clear out some waves huh?
"Anyways, what else happened while I was out?"
"Aside from minor sieges showing up, we've been holding the front line quite well. Today is Seymour's turn, but he went here first to cure you." - William
"I wonder what the look of their faces will be if they saw him running around the perimeter."
"I guarantee you, he's literally just running. He used his summoning weapons to wipe out enemies." - William
"So he's using his summoner items to just blitz through the enemies?"
Seymour has quite a collection of items actually. He wears summoning armor usually to bring out a large amount of summoned monsters. These mobs are invulnerable since they came from summoning items.
"Sup guys, am I the second one here?" - Malech
Malech finally arrived to the room and sat down on the floor alongside William.
"Yep, let's just wait for Vince who's on top of the inn's watchtower."
A few minutes later, Vince arrived.
"Guys, we're clear... So Denzel, be quick since it's your turn next... Symor is 47% done with his lap." - Vince
"What do we do with Jerald who's taking a crap then?"
"Don't worry, I got an idea." - Malech
Malech phased down through the floor, he turned upside-down which caused some noises below.
"Holy fuck!" - Jerald
"Done taking a crap?" - Malech
"Dude! Don't do that so casually!" - Jerald
"You're taking up too much time, Denzel called for us to meet in his room." - Malech
"Alright alright! Hold up for half a minute." - Jerald
Malech returned to my room with a smiling face that had successfully pulled a prank.
"Bruh."
"Quite the usual Malech." - William
A few seconds later, Jerald arrived to the room.
Rika arrived a little later bringing food and sugarcoated drinks for our satisfaction. She sat beside me and leaned her head to my right. I then wrapped my right arm around her to respond properly and began the meeting.
We discussed about the positioning on holding a large wave of monsters with complete deliberation.
And with after that, we went to rest as I was caught by Gayle and Thrish sleeping with Rika. They had shocked faces after my explanation but we did rest before the fight.
The war draws near...