In a forest, it was almost pitch black when the first ray of light shone on it.
Sanosuke's body flinched when he felt the warmth of the light. His hand was covered in blood, with different kinds of wounds covering his body. He glanced at the wounds that were now visibly closing up.
Despite his wounds healing, it doesn't heal his exhaustion. He glanced and saw Elda's back facing him while she was lying down sleeping.
He slowly limped towards a tree and sat down while leaning against it. He looked at the few bodies lying around the campfire. None of these people was killed, but he felt it was more exhausting to make sure they were not dead than to directly just kill them.
However, he remembered what Elda told him when they were first under attack. She told him, "Only kill those that killed anyone you wanted to protect. They are also just protecting themselves by hurting you."
'That doesn't make sense.' He still couldn't accept that thought, but for some reason, whenever he tried to end their lives. He felt as if someone was controlling his arm, like a puppet.
His eyes slowly felt heavier and heavier. Soon, he didn't have the energy to open it and fell asleep.
When Sanosuke fell asleep, Elda slowly opened her eyes.
She rolled over and faced the bright blue sky. She stayed like that for a while, till she slowly stood up.
Elda walked over to Sanosuke and carried him on her shoulders, using her jacket to secure him on her shoulder.
She carried their bags in her hands and walked over to the desert. The dust blowing seemed to be avoiding her.
The moment she stepped foot on the desert, most of the ashes started moving away.
She stood still for a full minute, lowering her head as she walked forward.
It seemed like the ashes behind were pushing her forward as she started leaping forward.
Not long later, she reached the monster forest.
'Hm,' She saw the mass around, 'Was it the previous group I've met, or a different group?' She thought, as she untied the jacket.
Sanosuke fell off her back and groaned in pain.
"What the.." He slowly opened his eyes and saw a dark purple sky.
"If I'm not wrong, there was a village nearby here." Elda said as she placed Sanosuke's bag beside him, "You're healed enough, right? Let's go." She slang her bag over her shoulders and started walking towards the left.
"Hold up.." He slowly got up, one hand rubbing his back while the other took the big bag, as he tried to catch up to Elda.
He finally caught up to Elda after she slowed down and asked, "Where are we?" He observed his surroundings, seeing new flora he had never seen before.
"The monster plane." She replied as she placed her hands in her pocket, "Angels and demons are just like a name for a species. In the end, they just grow due to their environment." She explained, "Sanosuke, this world is bigger than you can imagine. Yet at the same time, when you visited everywhere already. It feels so small."
He listened and didn't add on anything, letting Elda finish what she was saying.
"Training here isn't good, so let's find the barrier that leads to the spirit plane." She looked up at the sky, "All this plane has left is scraps from the spirit and human plane."
"So there's three different planes?" Sanosuke became curious. Today was the first time he heard of such a thing.
"This world is split in three planes. Like a cake. At least from what I've heard. I've heard that a long, long time ago, the three planes were constantly at war." She looked up at the sky, "Where some grew sick of it and wished to stop the war. So when they've accidentally met with each other, they create the barrier. Not only just to separate the planes physically, but they also manipulated the time to be different from each plane."
"How did you guys become invaders?" He asked.
Elda laughed, "I've heard there was a group of creatures that wished to achieve peace between the three planes. But someone opposed it strongly. I'm not sure what happened, but they've become too arrogant." Her tone sounded more like mocking, "They've forgotten in the end that these chess pieces have their own feelings and will be affected by things outside of their control."
Sanosuke also looked up and followed Elda's gaze. He saw a distant light he hadn't noticed before.
"For some reason, I've always felt as if all of this had already happened. And this time, we can control the flow of our lives. Like someone else is helping us."