When I regained my consciousness, the first person I saw was Ellisa. She was sitting against the wall while having my head on her lap. Ellisa's soft hand pressed against my chest as she cast healing magic onto me. She was crying like a baby nonstop when she saw me waking up from her lap. I never thought she would be this worried for me,
"Ellisa..." I said to her weakly,
She was stunned and immediately wrapped her arms tightly around me, "Kiseki... Thank god, you're alive." Ellisa replied,
"Don't scare me like that... you were instantly knocked out when Cyclops slammed you onto the ground... I thought you wouldn't wake up from that!" She continued,
"I'm pretty much still alive now, Ellisa. You don't have to worry about me. You can let go of me," I responded to her while deliberately patted to her back,
She didn't bother with what I just told her and said, "No... Let me stay like this for a while... This is all your fault for trying to give me a heart attack back there,"
Soon Cicily walked towards me when she saw Ellisa and me hugging. She looked pretty relieved to see me woke up. She then said,
"You're finally awake, Kiseki. I never thought you would have survived from that attack,"
I smiled at her and replied, "I guess it's just a stroke of luck for me to not get exterminated by the Cyclops,"
Cicily expression turned sour afterward and responded, "Not all of us has that luck, though," She then pointed her head towards something else,
When I looked at what she was staring at, I was crushed to see a line of dead bodies covered with a sheet of cloths across the room we were in. It was a total nightmare to learn how many of the soldiers died in that event,
"How did you guys get away from that monster back then... Before I passed out, I saw you guys get smashed by Cyclops..." I asked her softly,
Cicily started to sobbed. Her tears gently rolled down her cheeks, and she said, "It was all thanks to Poloppo..."
I was surprised; I never thought Poloppo could defend Cyclops' strikes, "Woah! Poloppo managed to tank that Cyclops?!" I replied to her,
"No...Kiseki... He sacrificed his life to save all of us..." Cicily responded while covering her face with her hands,
"What... Do you mean...?" I asked in shock,
She gradually fell onto her knees and replied,
"When we saw you getting slammed by the Cyclops. We knew it was certain death for us next. But not for Poloppo... He didn't give up even after that..."
Cicily's POV
"Kiseki!!!" both Ellisa and I screamed,
This is impossible. Cyclops didn't have a single scratch from Kiseki's attack. That monster returned his attack as if he was not affected by it at all. Is this going to be the end for us? After all the faith that we had to win this battle, it got crushed almost instantly. I don't want to die. I don't,
The Cyclops realized our presence behind him. He let out an ear-piercing scream when he turned towards us. It seems this time, we are his next target. My leg started to give up on me after witnessing the horror that came from that monster. It's not budging even how desperately I tried to move it. Eventually, I dropped onto my knees, and my whole body trembled. But then,
"Soldiers! Get behind me!" Poloppo screamed as he pulled his shield out and sat in a defensive position,
"Poloppo... It's useless. We won't be able to run away from this creature..." I said to him while stuttering,
The look he had in his eyes was fierce. He wasn't afraid of dying at this moment. He then replied, "Nonsense! We can still make it out of this alive!- Now stand behind me!"
The Cyclops slowly makes his way towards us. From a walking pace, it gradually sped up into running. I was pathetic at that time. I quickly ran behind Poloppo and showed these people how frightened I was at that time,
"WARCRY!" Poloppo shouted. A reddish-white essence slowly glows around him as if he was in flame,
He also spawned multiple layers of aura shield surrounding all of us by shouting, "Knight's Protection!"
Eventually, Cyclops stopped mere inches from us and began to swing its ginormous left leg to kick us. We braced for impact in terror, but for Poloppo, he didn't flinch from his stance even for a second.
"AAARRRGGHH!" He screamed to the top of his lungs,
The collision between Cyclops' feet and Poloppo's tanking skill produced a loud bang that traveled throughout the whole alley.
Slowly the layers of the shield in front of Poloppo shattered into a million pieces. He gritted his teeth tightly while holding his guard up as long as he could. I knew we couldn't survive this. It's utterly ridiculous to even try fending this attack, to begin with.
In the meantime, enduring the damage from the impact puts a ton of pressure onto Poloppo's body. The Cyclops didn't give him a chance either to rest. He kept swinging his leg over and over towards us tirelessly. Due to that, every time an aura shield broke, Poloppo bled out from his mouth more and more until he fell down onto his knees.
I closed my eyes for a brief period. I don't want to see my own death transpire in front of me. After that,
"C- Cicily..." Poloppo called me out,
He turned his head towards me and said, "Get these people out of here... and find somewhere safe to hide... I'll hold this fatso off while you all make the run,"
"I-" I don't know what to respond. Is Poloppo telling me to leave him here?!- I'm not going to do that,
"No- Poloppo, stop! It's not fair to just leave you here!-" I replied,
"Cicily- We don't have much time to argue-! I can't feel my entire lower body right now. I doubt I can escape from this place without being a liability to all of you. Besides, if there's still a slight chance for you guys to get away from this, I'll take that at any moment," He said,
"No, no, no!" I screamed to him. I don't want to let Poloppo stay here all by himself!- I don't want him to sacrifice himself just to save us,
"Cicily!- Please! I beg you!- Leave!" Poloppo begging me,
Is there really no other choice for us? Is leaving him the only option we have right now?- When I looked around me, nobody seemed on their right mind too. Ellisa was still shocked from what just happened to Kiseki while the rest of the group embraced their body onto the ground, all terrified.
"I-! I'm sorry, Poloppo... I'm sorry to leave you here!-" I replied to him, frustrated and dismayed at the same time,
"Calm down, Cicily. It's okay. It was my own choice..." He replied with a gentle smile written on his face,
The next thing I remembered was Ellisa, me, and the group fled the scene together while Poloppo diverted the Cyclops to only focus on him.
"FOR THE HONOR OF THE EMPIRE AND SPECIA!" was Poloppo final words that I heard,
Back to Kiseki's POV
"As I was running away, that was the moment Poloppo drained all of his stamina... His shield completely broken, and he got flattened by the Cyclops..." Cicily explained to me her story,
"Damn it!-" I shouted as I slammed my fist onto the floor.
"Right now, the Cyclops is demolishing every single one of the buildings in this area to search for us at the moment. We saw that the west part of the upper district has totally smoothed out. Every one of the buildings there is nothing more than rubbles now," Cicily said to me,
"I see. How did you guys find me, though?" I asked her,
Cicily gently wiped her tears away and responded, "We were looking for a place to hide after successfully running away from Cyclops. After a few turns through the alley, we were shocked to stumble across you lying down against one of the buildings ahead of us,"
"I thought you were dead at that time because you didn't really breathe. I was about to leave you there, but, Ellisa was stubborn enough and forced me to bring you along with us. She kept saying she could heal you up and make you feel better. I doubt that's even possible. I guess I was wrong now..." She continued,
I softly patted Ellisa's head and said, "I'm glad she did that to me. By the way, how long has it been since that event?"
"Quite some time. A day had already passed while you were unconscious. We've been switching spots from building to building to avoid getting discovered by the Cyclops. But, I don't think we can do that anymore," Cicily answered,
She then walked to the window and moved the curtain away to reveal the outside scene, "Come and see this,"
I let go of Ellisa for a while and carefully made my way to Cicily. When I looked out the window, all that I saw was a flattened ground spanned across the entire city created by the Cyclops. Meanwhile, I can still see some of them are still smashing some buildings over the distance,
"Based on the scouter I've sent out there, the only buildings left within the vicinity is this place right now. Once they've done with their work over there. Our location will be their next target," Cicily said to me in seriousness,
She then continued to say, "So we don't really have much time left. We need to plan out our escape as quickly as we can,"
"Or we can plan out a new attack again," I replied to her blatantly,
She was bewildered by what I just said for a brief moment. Then,
"Are you fucking joking, Kiseki? We did that once. Look at us now! We're outnumbered! There's no way in the world we can fight!" She replied to me angrily,
"I know- But hear me out" I wasn't able to finish my word, and Cicily interfered with me,
"No! I have enough talk about fighting! Stop being a hero right now, Kiseki! We've lost countless lives already!"
"I'm sorry," is the only thing I can say to her afterward,
She then walked back to the middle of the room and said to me, "You should get some rest. You're still injured from the previous fight. I don't want anyone else to get left out when we start making our way out of the city,"
Cicily really is on edge right now. Of course, forcing her to fight again seems like a stupid idea. But, I have to give it a try. Lucifer told me that I could defeat the Cyclops with my Sinner's System. I doubt she's playing tricks on me on that one. If she wanted me dead, she would have let Cyclops attacked me in the first place.
A couple more hours went by. Cicily has been walking back and forth around the room for quite some time. She still hasn't come out with a plan to go out from this place. Every single option has been considered, but none seems to be a viable solution for our escape.
Meanwhile, Ellisa is currently sleeping on a long couch on the other side of the room. I've heard that she stayed up all night to heal and take care of the other soldiers and me. She deserved this rest.
Things are getting pretty tense in this room right now. The noises coming from the Cyclops destroying the building out there are getting closer and closer. Eventually, Cicily broke character and screamed,
"Aaaaah! I can't think straight right now! It seems impossible no matter what plan I come up with," She rustled her hair frantically,
"Calm down, Cicily. Don't stress yourself too much. I know we will find our way out of this," I tried to relieve her,
She suddenly kicked onto the table located within the room and replied, "Our life is on the line right now, Kiseki! Poloppo sacrificed his life so we could find our way out from this hell hole! We can't let his death died in vain!"
"I'm well aware of that! But, putting pressure on yourself didn't bring any good to us either, so relax!" I yelled at her,
As Cicily and I were arguing, a couple of soldiers that Cicily sent as a scout outside the building came running into the room. Their faces looked terrified, and their breathing was tense. A moment later, they said to us,
"We need to get out now, Captain! The Cyclops is finally here! They found our location!"
We were stunned after hearing the news and asked them, "How?! Did any of you give away your position to them?!"
"When we were scouting along the alley, we heard a scream came from underneath the sewer system!- We tried to check what that was, and as soon as we opened one of the manholes near us, a frog-like creature jumped out,"
"That thing starting making weird loud noises, and we weren't able to make it stop! We're sorry!" The soldiers explained,
Being angry at these guys seems pointless right now; we didn't waste a minute and woke up the rest of the soldiers who were resting.
"We need to leave now! All men get into formation! Our position has been jeopardized!" said Cicily to the others,
While the rest of the troops preparing their gears and getting ready to go out, I went to Cicily and whispered to her, "Do you even know where to go?"
She looked at me frighteningly and replied, "I don't know- If possible, as far as we can from this place."
The thumping sound suddenly immerged outside of the building. Ellisa was awoken by that noise and said confusedly, "Wha- What was that?!-"
"Ellisa, gear up! We have to leave now! The Cyclops is here!" I said to her,
"Eh-?! That's too fast!-" Ellisa answered while being shocked,
When we walked out of the door, it was already too late to get away from this area. There were about eight Cyclops in total surrounding our position. We have nowhere to go,
"Fuck!- We're trapped!" Cicily shouted,
One of the Cyclops was holding a huge pillar in his hand. By the time he saw us, he quickly swung that pillar right towards us,
"Hero stance: Blockage!" I shouted,
I managed to spawn out Olympius and make a dome of shield around us just in time before it hits us. The impact was torturing to embrace, especially when I was still hurt due to the previous fight.
"Aaaaargghh!" I screamed when the pillar hits the dome,
Sadly, the rest of the Cyclops didn't wait around after that. They all simultaneously pounder us with their attacks over and over. My shield wouldn't be able to hold for much longer if this kept on going!-
"Cicily!- I know you're against my decision to fight back!- But we have to do it!" I yelled at her,
"Kiseki!- We're going to die no matter what we do right now!- Fine! If you want to fight, then let's fight these monsters!- But how actually you want to do that! We're completely cornered like a rat right now!" She replied,
"Trust me on this, Cicily! I think I found a way to get all of them!" I responded as I eagerly defended the attacks,
She then replied to me while taking for cover, "What do you mean by that-?!"
"It's hard to explain! But I need Ellisa to launch me up in the air like last time!-" I told her,
"What-?! You already did that before, and look what happened to you-! If it's not working at that time means, it will not work again right now too!" She said confusedly,
"I'm not doing the same thing!- Trust me!-"
She looked at me for a brief moment. I can tell from her looks that she's worried about this. Nonetheless, she still complied and said,
"Ellisa! Launch Kiseki up in the air with your magic!"
Ellisa was startled by her request and responded, "What?!- No! He will die this time if I do that!-"
But Cicily quickly interrupted her and said, "If you don't do it, WE ALL GOING TO DIE, DAMN IT!"
Her scepticism finally faded away, and she nodded at Cicily. She began to cast her spell under my feet, and before she launched me up, she shouted at me,
"Whatever you do this time, make it work! Kiseki!"
I was quickly launched up when she completed the spell. While I was up there, I said to myself,
"It's now or never. I need to do this. I need to find a way to use my Sinner's System right now,"
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath for a few seconds while still rushing upwards. Then I shouted,
"RELEASE THE SIN!"
An eerie jet-black liquid suddenly gushing out from thin air and surrounded me. I can feel the lust of power crying from within me, begging me to use it right at this moment. But I still didn't know how to. The crest that Lucifer put on me was shining brilliantly for some reason as well.
When I looked into the blob of liquid, all I could hear coming from it was a scream of terror. Who's voice is that? Why is this thing not giving me any hint on how to use it?!- When I took a closer look upon my Sinner's System, I saw that as we were going up, it's letting out a black misty trail from under it.
In the end, When I finally reached the maximum high of my projectile, I found the answer to my question. I pulled my halberd out and swiftly let it goes into the blob.
To my surprised, it worked. As my artifact passed through my Sinner's System, it reacted the same way I flowed my Karma into it. The tip of my halberd was eventually exposed itself on the other end of the blob. It was the same color as my Sinner. Yet the shape has totally changed into something otherworldly,
"So Sinner's System really is the opposite yet worked the same principle as Karma does..." I said,
When I grabbed onto the artifact, it gave out a whole new different knowledge of how I could use it. Other than that, I saw countless visions appearing right within my mind as if those were my memories when I was a child. Although, most of it was totally unrecognizable to me.
The power stored within the artifact when I flow my Karma was incomparable to what I just felt at the moment. I don't know why but right now, all I think is,
"I'm enjoying this power..." I said to myself sinisterly,