"Please... Don't kill me..."
'As expected...'
With Sebastian lying down on the ground, soaking the stone floor with his blood, I finally managed to get him to give up.
It took a lot from a person to have convictions great enough to give their lives and there was not a single fraction of me that believed that the boy in front of me had them.
Seeing the pitiful purple-haired man beneath my feet, I didn't get the rush of excitement that I expected. Instead, I just felt a wave of boredom wash over me, knowing that this play was now over.
Bending my knees and crouching down, I brought out a contract from my inventory and put it in front of him. "Then sign it. If you sign it, I will let you go."
It didn't take long for his shaky arms to desperately reach for his redemption, tears slowly making their way down his face. As his fingers were already bloodied, there was no need to make a cut, and as soon as he touched it and willed his mana to accept the deal, I felt the familiar connection being established.
While this was happening, I knew that I had to make the conclusion short, as my other body was in quite a predicament, having just gotten my head sliced off by Arthur's surprise attack. Taking a couple of potions out, I gently put them beside the fallen man, "Happy making business with you. Now, I'll contact you shortly, before you return to Mensch. Please make sure to answer my call."
And with that, I left the broken boy alone, trying my best to look fine although my consciousness was in torment, and made my way outside of the dungeon.
****
[Sophie's Pov]
'Something's up...'
In the end, I had no choice but to follow my teacher's directions, having to complacently wait for Arthur to come out of the dungeon by himself. As the cold wind licked my cheeks, I suddenly had a premonition, a feeling that I had to go somewhere.
"I'll be right back!"
"What, Sophie?!"
Not giving Anna an explanation, I was already on my way, dashing around the mountain, knowing that I had to get there as soon as possible. As the cold pierced through my short hair, the inner voice inside of me screamed louder the closer I got to my destination, a destination I didn't even know where it was.
Still, I knew I was on the right track, and it didn't take long until I found a gray-suited man leaning against a big rock, looking so incredibly weary, his chest noticeably heaving even from a distance. I had expected to find one of the missing men here, but this wasn't the missing man I had expected to find.
My mind blanked as I saw the masked youth, an ocean of emotions welling up inside of me as I remembered everything that had happened. How I had cried my eyes out when I saw him on the platform, how my heart broke when the king swung his sword.
However, my feet didn't stop moving, now slowly dragging me toward the man who should have never gone away, who should have stayed by our side at the academy. At my side.
We were sent here together, and although I knew that we didn't actually have a real connection, something within me wanted it to be so, craved for the sense of security that it brought knowing I wasn't alone.
But now, I knew that wasn't the case.
"James... Is that you?"
A silly voice came from the man, the same bright voice that I had heard so many times before. "Haha... Yeah. It's me, Sophie..."
I never took myself to be an overly emotional person, but now I could feel tears welling up in my eyes again, both happy and sad at the same time to find him. There were so many questions I had for him, and yet nothing came out.
Having no idea what was going through the mind behind the mask, I slowly kept walking. Before long, I was less than two meters from him, now being able to scrutinize him with more detail.
His exterior was still completely clean as if nothing had happened at all, but the way he breathed heavily was proof that he wasn't in the best of states. Now there was no doubt that he was in some way involved in the situation at hand, that he had somehow manipulated the dungeon so that Arthur and Sebastian would get split up from us.
Scrambling up to his feet, trying to look as strong and fine as possible, the mask dissolved into mist and revealed a familiar, yet unfamiliar face to me.
His dark hair and dark eyes were no more, now replaced with a majestic white mane neatly put up in a ponytail and heavenly blue eyes. But other than that, he was the same. From his boyish good looks to the way he forced himself to smile, it was all the same as before.
Then, his thin lips moved, "Say, why do you look so down? Didn't you get what you wanted? You finally got the hero! Shouldn't you be celebrating?"
I had no answer to give him, letting the whistling sound of the winter breeze take my place, the rustling of the sparse greenery filling out the empty space.
"Hmm? Sophie?"
"...shut up..."
He was just so annoying, most likely fully understanding why my tears wouldn't stop rolling. It was something he knew ever since he gave me that last smile at the square, as if he had known how everything would play out since the start.
"Sorry, what did you say?"
"I SAID SHUT UP!
Everything inside of me finally broke, the last amount of restraint that I had was now gone. My heart heated up as blue fire started to envelop my body, and the snow around me started to get colored red, evaporating my tears.
"I'm bringing you back! I'm bringing you back and then we are going to fix this!"
Both of my beings had both come up with the same conclusion; No matter what Arthur had said, James was also one of mine, and therefore I would fix everything for him. Right now, I couldn't have cared less about whatever circumstances surrounded him, I would break them all down.
Sadly, I was met by the response that I expected, a response I knew would come. Scratching the back of his head, his blue eyes smiled sadly, "I'm afraid that it's already too late, Sophie. Even if I did want to return, it would only lead to my death. And I don't really feel like dying yet."
"I won't let you die! I'll protect you!"
His face turned cold due to my irresponsible words, and suddenly two black wings sprouted from his back. Then, the heavenly eyes started glowing with a dim blue light and I felt the heavens crash down on me as he spoke with dominance.
"Protect me? Get over yourself, Sophie. Just because you are insecure, and feel the need to bring someone else into your mad delusions of having to fight with Arthur and protect humankind, you are not allowed to bring me into it.
I am not someone who wants your protection, nor am I someone who needs it."
The pressure he exuded was so intense that it made it hard to breathe, suddenly reminding me of what he had done to the king, how he had overwhelmed an entire city just by existing.
As I felt a lump in my throat grow, I couldn't help but ask him the question that I didn't want to hear the answer to, "Did you truly sell yourself to the demons? Is that how you got so strong?"
Then, the overpowering ambiance disappeared, while James looked like he realized what he was doing, "Oh, my apologies, I didn't think I would react so strongly. Now, did I sell myself to the demons? I can't tell you, you have to decide what you believe for yourself."
The tears that had stopped suddenly emerged again, as I felt the same powerlessness as I had done so many times these last few months, "Why aren't you telling me anything? Can't you just tell me what's going on, at least?!"
It was so insanely frustrating to be kept in the dark, to not know what was going on with him, and worse, to not have the right to know in the first place.
What truly put the nail in the coffin was the forced smile that emerged on his face again, already telling me the answer before he opened his mouth, "I'm sorry, Sophie, but do you remember what we talked about before we got transferred here?"
"I remember... That we... shouldn't get in each other's way..."
"That's right, and I don't want to drag you into this more than necessary. After all, that would disregard our promise because you would inevitably get in my way. Now, I would love to keep talking to you, but I just don't have the time. Goodbye, Sophie, I hope that the next time we see each other, maybe we don't have to meet as enemies."
After he had concluded his words, I felt a small stab in my neck, and my vision quickly darkened. Then, everything went black.