Ichijou' POV
It's been about three hours since the appearance of those Titana Cyclops. Some of us were lucky enough to barely run away from one of them that was chasing us. Unfortunately, we received quite a substantial loss during that event. Almost half of our group was wiped out by that creature.
Darren, Nyoko, and I were able to find a hiding spot inside the city's sewage system. Although the place is not perfect, it's better than staying above ground in one of the buildings that risk getting destroyed by the monsters.
By the looks of our soldiers right now, their morale has dropped significantly low. How can they not? Finding out that we entered an unexpected trap created by the Devil's army with almost zero chance to get out from this alive is definitely devastating.
Nyoko didn't look like she was in good condition either. Ever since the attack, she felt dumbfounded by the enemy. She hasn't really given any command to the group and stayed quiet this whole time. If she kept being like this, the soldiers would lose all of their faith in her. Then,
"Hey... Ichijou. Isn't the Cyclops that we saw kicking some buildings not long ago was at the same location where your friends are at...?" asked Darren,
"Yeah..." I replied casually,
"Does that mean they're dead...?" He asked again,
"Who knows..." I responded,
"So we're the only one left, huh..." said Darren as he let out a long sigh,
When I looked at Nyoko, she flinched when she heard what Darren said, and she slowly curled herself up,
"You look pretty calm even though your friends might already be dead out there, Ichijou. Don't you at least feel any sense of despair or sadness from that?" Darren asked me,
"Nah, man. Deep inside, I know that they're still safe somehow. Kiseki and Ellisa know really well how to take care of themselves..." I responded,
He started laughing at me for a while and replied, "Hahaha... Safe? How could someone be safe from that monster... You really have a high sense of hope for both of them... I commended you for that..."
I know Ichijou and Ellisa are still alive out there. Both of them aren't the kind of people who would give up immediately, even when dealing with impossible challenges.
I'm still curious about what's the deal with Nyoko right now. She hasn't talked to us nor says anything to the others. She has been curling up at the corner all by herself. The soldiers had been asking her about our next move, but she didn't respond to them. Her face showed an expression to those soldiers that even she didn't know what to do now,
"So, Commander. What's your call right now?" I suddenly asked Nyoko,
She ignored me and stayed quiet like a stone. She looked hopeless right now. I was getting a little irritated by how she was acting; so I asked her again,
"Com-man-der, you're order?"
She faintly replied to me, "I... don't know..."
"Excuse me?!- What do you mean you don't know? You're the fucking leader here! Find a solution for all of this!" I shouted at her,
She then screamed at me, "I don't know! I don't know!" while putting her arms over her head,
Darren quickly interrupted me and said, "I-Ichijou... let's take it slow, okay? She's probably having too many things going on in her head right now. Stay calm for now, okay?..."
"No! A moment ago, this bitch was nothing more than just an arrogant brat to me! Comparing her success in the mission with me! And kept reminding me about how much a loser I have been before! Now, look at her! She can't even act like a leader right now!" I yelled to them,
Nyoko didn't respond afterward. The only thing that came out from her was just tears and sobbing.
"Enough of this! Listen to me, soldiers! From now on, I'll be taking the lead. Your previous leader has proved herself incapable of continuing with her role," I said as I walked away from them,
Darren quickly came forward to Nyoko and tried to comfort her when she started crying even louder. I didn't care much about what happened afterward. I've said everything that I wanted to tell her, and that's all that matters to me.
A couple more hours go by. The noises that are coming from above slowly get fainter. I decided to take a peek at one of the manholes that we used to get in just now,
"Looks like the sun is setting down..." I said to myself,
The city looked reasonably calm when I peek out. The signals that used to be in the sky also has faded away. I guess we really are alone right now. The Cyclops might have annihilated the rest of our group out there. Talking about the Cyclops, when I looked around, they were still roaming throughout the city. As if they can sense that there are still some of us left in this place.
When I got back down and rejoined my team, I said to all of them,
"Apparently, it's about to turn nighttime. We should get some rest... I know we are all tired right now,"
The soldiers agreed with me and started to take off their helmets and put down their weapons.
Darren then spoke to me, "How long do you think we can stay here..."
"Not long enough... We only have food that could last for two days... If we ration it between the soldiers well. I doubt we even have backup coming to save us too. Sooner or later, we have to find a way out of this city. If not, either we will die due to starvation or end up as those Cyclops' dinner." I replied to him,
"I see," Darren didn't look fond to the answer I just gave to him. He eventually lay down and looked away from me.
I decided to stay on the lookout while the others headed to sleep. I don't have a good feeling of staying in this place even longer. The sewer is pitch black in every direction. The only light source available for us right now was the torches that Darren had made with his magic. Even that wasn't bright enough to shine the entire sewer line around us.
As I walked back and forth to the different passages, I could feel something was watching me across the sewer in the darkness. Maybe it was just my imagination. I still kept cautious and summoned my sword, though. Since then, I have walked through the sewer line on high alert, looking through every corner and direction that makes me uneasy.
A moment later, I heard a movement came from behind me. When I turned around and was about to swing my sword, I realized it was just Nyoko.
She has her head peering down to the ground. No word came out of her mouth at that time. Then I asked,
"What do you want,"
Her lips were moving, but I couldn't hear anything she was muttering. So I asked again,
"Speak up. What do you want?"
She flinched. Her ears pointed down, and her tail stopped swaying. Finally, her voice reached into my ears, "I'm sorry..."
"If you came here to just apologize, I'm not interested in it. Go back with the group and get some rest," I responded to her as I dispersed my sword away,
When I was about to leave the area, Nyoko said to me,
"All this time, I never knew or cared how you felt when you left the army..."
I stopped in the middle of her words and said, "What's the deal with that,"
"Back then... I couldn't believe that you walked away from the battle just because of one failure. I think to myself, 'the only person that I looked up for all this time gave up?'. I was stubborn when you asked me to leave the army... My mind kept telling me there's always hope in this war. We can still win this battle... But when I tried to convince you, you didn't believe in that..."
"My heart filled with anger and disappointment towards you from that time onwards... I saw nothing more in you but a coward and a pathetic leader... But I never actually hated you because of that... For days, weeks, and months I was hoping that you would come back to me and say, 'Yeah, we can still do this,' but it never happened..."
"I tried to forget about the past and moved on with life... But then, we stumbled upon each other at the border yesterday... I saw the way you fight... The way you believed in your team... I felt jealous; my blood boiled... After all these days, you seem to be happier than me after leaving the army... When you came to our aid, I treated you poorly... I mocked you for the mistake you've made in your past... it was all out of jealousy and anger that I had... I didn't actually mean to do that..."
"When we commenced the attack, I tried to prove to you how much I've changed after all these days... I wanted to prove to you that you're wrong... But in the end, all I did was showing you how incapable I am to be a leader... How ignorance and selfish I was during the battle..."
"What are you trying to tell me, Nyoko," I asked her,
"I'm sorry... My point is... After what just happened up there, I finally understand the reason why you chose to leave... You're right; we will never win against the Devil no matter what we try to do... When Cyclops appeared, I thought, this might be the end of us... Knowing that all my soldiers had died under my command finally showed me how you felt back then when we failed to protect Fearrun..." She said as she slowly tearing up.
"I finally realize the pain and regret that you had before... I was a fool to believe in something impossible... I'm sorry... I'm truly am..."
I gradually make my way back to her. Softly I leaned my hand onto her head and rustle my finger through her hair,
"I forgive you. Part of what you feel right now was my fault too. I'm sorry for leaving you. I should've put more effort into convincing you to come with me back then,"
She quickly wrapped her arm around me and hugged me tightly. Her body was shaking; she was crying indefinitely.
Then I said to her, "Don't lose all your hope yet, Nyoko. I know we will somehow get out of this situation alive,"
"What makes you think that way...?" She asked me while sobbing,
"Look around us, Nyoko. We're in a sewer. One of these sewer lines must be pointed in the direction outside of the city. If we can find that exit, we will be safe." I replied to her,
She nodded and responded, "You're right..."
"Now, cheer up. I don't think I could lead all these soldiers by myself tomorrow. I need your help too on deciding what to do and where to go," I asked her,
"But- I don't think they trusted me in leading them anymore... All I did was making a wrong decision for them... I lead them nowhere except to their death all this time..." she responded while looking away from me,
"Nonsense. Look at how you boost up their morale this morning with your pep talk. They all are well aware of what they get themselves into. Let's not make the death of our soldiers in this battle go to waste, okay?" I said to her,
She smiled gently and replied, "I- I'll try my best to help you in any way..."
"Good, now let's go. We will plan out our next move tomorrow early in the morning," I escorted her back to the group,
She followed me from the back and said, "Mhm..."
She then grabbed onto my hand and said, Ichijou... No, Grandleader... Thank you for making me feel better,"
"Anytime. And stop calling me Grandleader. I resigned from that role a long time ago," I said to her with a smile,
"O-Okay... Ichijou," She replied. Her tail was swaying left to right swiftly, and her ears were no longer pointing down to the ground.
The following day, we were woken up by a loud screeching noise coming from within the sewer that we were in. Each and every one of us desperately grabbed onto our equipment and put them on quickly,
"What was that?!" asked Darren,
We were all up on our feet when the noise was getting louder and closer. The soldiers were holding tight to their swords while trembling in fear for what might come to us.
Suddenly, something that may have looked like a slimy rope launched towards us and latched onto one of the soldiers at the front. They were pulled into the darkness almost instantly without having a chance to get themselves away from it,
"Everyone! Stay close to each other!" I shouted,
The sewer eventually filled with all sorts of snarling and growling noises. Whatever is we're dealing with, they've surrounded us.
"Darren, shoot a fire spell across the sewer..." I requested him,
"O-Okay..." He began to cast a fire spell and launched it into the dark side of the sewer.
It was a shocking revelation when the light came from that spell exposed dozens if not hundreds of frog-like creatures the size of a human was staring at us. The creatures opened their mouths, unveiling a multitude of teeth scattered all over. The soldiers started to scream in horror when all of those monsters suddenly rushed towards us at once.
"Kill all of them!" I shouted,
The soldiers are too scared and feel helpless to fight against those monsters. But then,
"Defensive formation, everyone! Knights, bring yourself to the front and up your shield! Archer, take your aim onto these creatures and prepare to shoot! Darren, light up this whole place! We will not let these creatures stop us from leaving this place!" Shouted Nyoko,
The soldiers were shocked by how Nyoko acted right now. She's no longer scared nor leading the soldiers unreasonably. She looked more confident in herself compared to how she was before. This put a smile on the soldiers and gave them a good morale boost to keep on fighting,
"Let's show them what's the empire capable of!" Nyoko continued,
The soldier was hyped up and roared bravely, "Yeahh!!!"
I looked at her and smiled softly while saying, "Let's do this!"