I faced over fifty clones who were throwing punches and kicks at me from all directions. The guard, who was watching me fight, was walking around slowly as if he was about to attack me. Despite his presence, I couldn't pay attention to him because of the chaos around me. As the clones began to attack faster, I started to take harder punches.
Suddenly, one of the clones kicked me in the stomach, throwing me back, and another hit me in the jaw with his elbow. Seizing this opportunity, the guard leaped towards me and delivered a powerful punch to my stomach, causing me to fall to my knees. He then placed his hand on my face and said, "Everything you did was just a waste of time. You know that what you did had no effect, right?"
Feeling determined, I responded, "Saving a life is never something that has no effect. Only you will never understand it. You can try to stop me, but I will not give up!"
In retaliation, I bit the guard's hand, causing him to pull it away. Then, I executed a reverse somersault with one foot and hit the guard with the other foot, but he disappeared from sight again and got mixed up among his clones.
Despite the setback, I was determined to fight on. I saw a big iron bar lying on the floor and quickly changed my strategy. Instead of attacking the guard directly, I decided to use the iron bar as a weapon. I picked it up and moved among the clones, dodging their attacks by moving left and right and jumping over them.
Finally, I leaped high into the air and held the iron bar above my head, waiting for lightning to strike. When I heard the sound of thunder, I hurled the bar into the middle of the clones, and lightning struck them all, including the guard. The clones vanished, leaving the guard alone on the floor.
I immediately went after him, aiming a powerful kick at him. Though he seemed powerless after being hit by the lightning, he managed to get up. But I didn't let that stop me. I attacked him relentlessly, delivering punch after punch to his face.
As he tried to regain his footing, I spun around and hit him with a punch, then leaped again and landed a spinning kick. Despite his confusion, I continued to hit him, never giving up until he was defeated.
I took his breath away with a hard hit to his throat. Then, I kicked him in the left knee and dropped him to his knees. He looked up at me, gasping for air.
"You may have won the fight, but you won't win the war!" he said.
"How do you know we'll fight?" I asked.
"Why else would you want to save these people?"
"We save these people for freedom so that they don't die here. Not for anything more."
"You can't even lie to yourself. You'll only use people here as pawns in battle. That's why you and your friends are here."
"No, you're wrong."
"So why are you here, warrior?"
"I'm here because everyone has the right to live freely. I can't force anyone to fight, but I can get them out of here and give them a chance to choose what to do."
"A chance? No one can live the fate they want, kid. Like everyone else, you will see in time. No one was here of their own free will, not even me."
After the guard's words, somehow the brightness in his eyes went out and fell to the ground. As he fell to the ground, the totem disappeared, the rain stopped, and the sun began to rise from behind the mountains.
The prisoners emerged from the cave entrance and looked at the sun with admiration. Finally, Hiroshi, Lezlie, and Babu appeared. Babu was carrying someone in his arms and seemed very upset. As I got closer, I saw that the person in Babu's arms was the prisoner who helped us.
All the prisoners were shocked when they saw him. Everyone seemed to know him. Their brief joy turned to sadness.
The prisoners took the man who helped us out of Babu's hands and buried him in a beautiful place. I wanted to say something, but I didn't know what to say.
We arrived at the rendezvous point and boarded the horse-drawn carriages waiting for us to take us to the Naiton bloodline's nest. Babu, still grieving the loss of our friend, remained silent throughout the journey. His sorrow was evident from his expression.
As we reached the nest, everyone rushed out to embrace their loved ones who they had not seen in years. The people we had rescued also joined in the celebrations, hugging the ones they had missed dearly. The leader of the bloodline greeted us with a smile on his face.
"I am grateful to you. My people have been made whole again. I would like to invite all of you to join me tonight to express our gratitude."
I knew I had to tell him about Xolis, but I didn't know how to break the news to him.
"Thank you, but unfortunately, we couldn't save everyone," I said, struggling to find the right words.
"What do you mean?" the leader asked.
Babu spoke up, "One of the prisoners, Xolis, sacrificed himself to save the others."
The leader's expression turned to one of horror. "I want to see him. I need to make sure it's him."
An elderly prisoner approached the leader with a sorrowful expression. "Leader, we buried him. He was definitely Xolis. He sacrificed himself to save us all."
"The blood of Xolis will not be left on the ground. Whoever gave this order, whoever is responsible for his death, will face my wrath," the leader said before storming off.
I asked the prisoner why the leader was so upset, and he revealed that Xolis was the leader's brother. They shared an unbreakable bond, but circumstances had forced them to part ways, making his brother's death even more painful.
We were all taken aback by this revelation, and we stood there in stunned silence, contemplating our situation.