With his last few breaths, Dunkrieg closed his eyes. The grin was still plastered on his face. As if it was a sin for him to show anything other than that. "I'll be waiting for it, then."
To others, the heat from the wildfire might be the very last thing that they could feel before parting with every material possession and everything that the world had to offer.
But to this man, the blaze was a noble cremation for a warrior that fought hell to back. Starting from the moment he was born, and until this very moment.
"So when 'war' and 'bravery' dies, 'peace' will be left alone in this world."
I strapped Frieden to my back, and took my spear that was pierced to the concrete floor.
I looked back to his dead body once again, thinking to myself.
"It might be a noble way to depart, in your eyes. But to me, a death without honor in others' eyes is the worst thing that can be done to a man."
Once again, I impaled the ground with my spear before unsheathing Frieden. The cloud pattern on the double edged blade was moving and giving a faint glow of white.
"I see that you aren't satisfied as well, Frieden."
At first, it was surprisingly light, as if I'm holding a thin wooden stick.
To do the honor, I used both hands to hold the grip.
As the mist and the fire were stretching in, I prepared my stance, pointing the tip of the longsword to the sky.
The sword began to produce illusionary clouds, just like those that were coming directly from an ancient painting.
With every glow it had to offer, the blade became heavier.
Just like hurling an anchor to the sea, I used all of my force to swing Frieden.
The illusionary clouds were stretched and created a beautiful windscar, but instead of the devastating type like it usually hurled, this time—it was a cold and refreshing wave of water-like dense vapor, spiraling to the sky, clearing every mist and fire that was closing in.
At the end of the tall sphere-shaped spiral, it exploded into a glittering 'mist'. Although momentary, a faint rainbow could be seen.
The area was clear. I opened my mask and shouted at the top of my lungs.
"WE HAVE CASUALTIES!"
After that, I immediately sheathed Frieden and took my spear before sprinting to the direct frontline. But before I could go any further, I stopped between the intense Nihil suppression and looked back.
I saw three Streetlight Talons approach the lifeless body of Dunkrieg.
"A proper burial is more honorable, than being burned into ash, which only to be eaten later by the Cleaning Mist."
Later, I joined the suppression team that consisted of the elites of the Streetlight Talon and the local Patchers that got recruited into this mess.
As of now, everyone was avoiding a direct confrontation with Nihil. Their faces looked fatigued, and most of their combat uniforms were tattered or damaged.
I saw one of them had a green ponytail sticking out from her head. The giant cleaver was also there, currently in maintenance by another female with the same uniform. Her neck length dark-purple bob hair was resting on the fur mane hoodie.
I approached the one that helped me back then, tapping on her shoulder before presenting her the dagger she gave.
"Your dagger, miss."
"Oh, it's you!" Despite the enthusiasm, her voice was weaker than before. "I thought you would run with it. Now that you're here, I shall retrieve it."
"You mean that you're going to let it be in my possession if I don't give it back to you?"
"Yep." She examined her own dagger. Even without seeing her expression, I could tell that her mood was lifted from her tone. "I can tell that you're using it better than me, which Office you're in?"
"Maybutt Office, ma'am."
"..."
Both the ponytail woman and the maintenance woman stared at me. I could also feel another gaze from another person who heard it.
I continued as if nothing happened.
"Anywho, I can see that everyone is avoiding confrontation with the Nihil."
"Ah, that's because the Nihil is in its last stage."
As the time of the Cleaning Mist was coming to an end, the cloud dispersed to reveal the red moon and scarlet night.
The fire had engulfed five tall skyscrapers of the Hive, destroying the majority of the infrastructure, and removing the barrier that separates the upper world from the lower world.
In the middle of it all, stood tall a four legged beast, having the body of a great stallion.
All the time, the beast had a pair of glowing purple orbs that were shrouded in mystery because of the Cleaning Mist, wafting through the upper height of the Lowstreet like two mischievous evil spirits.
Turned out, it wasn't a pair of orbs at all.
It was the light coming out from the sockets of a gargantuan skull, with its towering skeletal neck connected to its stallion body.
Slowly, it moved forward to whatever it was facing, rattling its teeth that resulted in a spark that birthed numerous ambers.
Those ambers slowly became bigger and bigger, before flinging itself to a random object within its radius.
As the fire ate thousands of souls, the giant skull laughed, opening its jaw before facing the sky. There was a concise movement, as if it wanted to talk.
"London Bridge is falling down~"
No, the beast wasn't talking.
"Falling down~"
The beast was singing, singing in an unruly creepy voice, a voice that was overlapped by the numerous death souls that it had taken to the afterlife. The Pandemonium of the Damned.
"Falling down~"
Alas, the hellfire was only a mere background in its eye sockets.
"London Bridge is falling down~"
As it had not the slightest remorse.
"My Fair Lady~"