All of this felt neutral. Usually, I would go green at such a sight. All the charcoal corpses. But nothing mattered to me anymore. If Archer, the real Archer, was gone. I wouldn't need to be here anymore. And I know that Jae-wun would probably be killed here if I died.
And even if we were both slaughtered here, I only wished to see his face one more time.
The last round of attackers came at us. They managed to hack through Jae's defence and one sliced neatly at my arm. I blinked boredly down at the wound as Jae shouted a curse and a ring of fire scorched the three front attackers left. The General was bleeding and it took a small nick of a blade to finish him off.
I didn't bother to ask the Mist to heal any of our cuts. Because even if we made it out. We had no idea what life would be like then. And besides, I barely controlled it. All the Mist did for me was heal my wounds. I had to attack with my own skill.
Once the shooters who had been hiding were found and disintegrated, we began to search the obvious hiding places for survivors. And if there were, Jae would kill them.
I held up my arm into the light and stared blandly as dark, too dark blood trickled down my arm. I continued to stare and slowly the wound closed up. Not even a scar remained.
I looked back over at Jae and she was shaking. I walked over to her side as if I was strolling through the park. She had a deep wound on her side. I knew that this was the true attacker's doing. I clicked my fingers and the Mist went unwillingly over to her, licking away at the wound with almost soft caresses until there was nothing.
"You should really be more careful—" I began in a scolding tone, but I noticed the incredulous expression on her face as she looked at something behind me.
I turned and swiped away a thin, deadly rope of red with a small flick of Mist. It zapped back into the palm of none other than Archer Crawsley. I feel a faint, ghost of a smile cross my features momentarily before I noticed he had cut both his palms. I frowned and it took me only a few moments to put the pieces together.
"They turned you into their puppet," I said in shock. I blinked back over at Jae.
"Oh shit." She muttered. I could see the cogs turning in her head as she tried to find a solution. Something to restore her hope of winning this fight. I grabbed her hand and sent her a reassuring look.
"We're bringing him home—even if one of us dies," I said sternly. She gulps and nods. I watched her warily and then nod to myself. We would take him back. If not her, me. If not me, her.
"Let's just wing this, 'kay Jae?" I said quietly. I could feel her confusion hit me in waves but she said nothing.