But, of course, she would never accept that. She's gotten this far, despite everything. To give up now would be the height of foolishness.
Reaching deep within her, she ordered her body to change, tapping into her hidden powers and abilities. As if possessed, her body began to convulse. Muscles began to grow, bones stretched and reinforced itself to bear her raw power, and her entire body grew in size. In a few short moments, her entire figure had doubled, with bulging muscles and thick black fur. Her childish face was entirely gone, replaced by lupine features reminiscent of a monstrous dark wolf.
Her clothes were ripped to shreds and rags, falling subtly on the ground, carried by an innocent wind. The red maid uniform that she wore, cherished, and hated the most was entirely destroyed, unable contain the full brunt of her new form. Even then, she still felt a sense of longing emanating from deep within her core.
The vine's thorns dug deeper into her arms as she grew, drawing more and more blood. Scarlet blood fell unto the ground, staining it. Eventually, however, the scarlet turned into a deep raw black, almost like ink. It singed the ground and all that was in it, eliminating all life within its reach.
The beautiful woman grimaced.
"…Liquid death: the essence of the God of Death itself. To think that you've gone that far. Are you that desperate?—to fulfill this wish of yours."
She gazed at the fading life, all that was in it, and all that it had turned into: nothing. The flora around her aged in the blink of an eye, decomposing into nothing just as fast. There was a cold look in the woman's eyes as she watched her domain due before her very eyes. A dark look was cast unto Red as the shackles binding her feet shattered, unable to contain her muscular legs. The thorns that dug into her disappeared as well, crumbling into nothing but grey ash.
"The world can be so cruel sometimes. Why must the beautiful have to a bear such a pitiful goodbye. It really isn't fair, if you ask me. But of course, you won't. That doesn't seem to be a concern, from the looks of it."
She looked up, staring at a pair of deep black eyes. To say that they contained the abyss in them wouldn't be an understatement, but a fact that all that gaze into it must accept.
A dark shadow that seemed to envelop reality itself swallowed the world, bathing then in deep darkness, casting a dark pressure upon all that was in it.
"Time to die, witch."
◇◆◇◆◇
The faint scent of rotten flesh hung in the air, carried by the wind, filling the atmosphere with its vile scent. Lieren ran faster than he ever had before.
His bones ached tremendously, he could feel his muscles ripping itself anew as he weaved through the vast expanse of enchanted trees. Great magic emanated from the burning collapse, powerful enough that if Lieren had not been using Fortification on himself, he would have already passed out from the thick density of the foreign mana long ago.
Harita hollered beside him. A worried tone bled from his voice.
"Lieren, stop! If you—if WE go there, we're certain to die! I can't let that happen."
He swiped at Lieren furiously, keeping his strength in check as he did so.
Lieren dodged deftly, all thoughts hidden and overturned except for his worry and agitation over her.
Harita's disruption only strengthened his resolve, as well as the continuous Enhancement he had focused in himself, raising his physical boundaries by leaps and bounds.
Eventually, however, Harita caught him. The two tumbling on the grass and spun uncontrollably as Lieren tripped himself to escape Harita's grasp momentarily.
A loud explosion boomed from the burning chaos happening just over yonder.
Lieren stood up on one leg and shouted:
"Why are you trying to stop me?! We need to help them!"
Harita glared coldly.
"No, we don't."
A cold shiver ran down Lieren's spine. This was not the Harita he knew.
"W—What?"
Harita stood up finally, his gaze trained on Lieren watching his actions intently.
"I said we don't need to save them."
He repeated, his voice growing louder and more desperate.
"We don't know these people, Lieren. None of them! They have never done anything for us; anything for you. At most, they're just strangers. Random, inconsequential, unrelated strangers. You owe none to these people, Lieren. Nothing. Whether they live or die is completely unrelated to us."
Lieren took an unconscious step back, feeling the world come down on him.
He already knew all that, he thought he had already all of it. He thought he was prepared.
He thought wrong.
No matter how many times somebody witnesses carnage and murder, they can never completely detach themselves from it. It was a part of life, the cycle that gave something everything; turning nothing to something. In a way, it made the world turn more than anything ever did.
Lieren swallowed, accepting the truth.
But he did not accept what it brought.
"E-even still…! To just abandon somebody, anybody like that… It's just… wrong."
Harita took a step forward.
Lieren yelled:
"S—stay right there!"
His voice had turned hoarse and gravelly, on the verge of shedding tears. In fact, a single drop was already dripping from his right eye. There was cold determination in his eyes.
Chains clamored.
"Even still…"
Harita gulped, glancing to his side.
A great fire, engulfed by a deep darkness and a powerful entity—two powerful entities, were clashing not that far away from where they were.
He grit his teeth.
"Lieren, we—"
The boy couldn't accept that.
"EVEN STILL…!!"
Lieren looked up, a profound steely resolution trapped in his blue eyes, ready to cut all that stood in its way. He glared directly into Harita's feline eyes.
"?!"
Harita's eyes grew wide as plates he gazed into the boy's soul, feeling his profound determination emanate from within him, carried by the invisible chain—the link that had brought them together.
They reminded him of her absolute determination and the will to carry on all that she ever wanted, as well as the one thing that attracted him to her like a beautiful bait laced in poison.
It was this very thing that brought him to ruin, and the thing that will pull him up from it.
Harita clenched his jaw, grinding his teeth.
After a while, he said:
"…Fine."
Lieren perked up.
"R-really?!"
Harita pushed his palm out, indicating that he wasn't yet done.
"However, the moment that I notice something is off; we leave immediately. No buts and ifs. The enemy… or whatever it is that reigns over this land seems to have descended. You have to stay within arm's length at all times. You got that? It's extremely dangerous to stay there for long."
Despite all that he said, Harita knew deep down that whatever lay waiting for them, was something that was beyond both of them.
Lieren, not understanding this, beamed. The light of hope radiating from his blue eyes.
He turned and clad himself in Enhancement magic.
"Come on!"
Not even waiting for a response, he dashed off, leaving Harita all alone.
"That kid…"
Harita distracted himself, ignoring the terrible sense of foreboding growing in his heart.
Releasing his mana, he activated his Reinforcement spell, and dashed off as well, catching up to the boy within seconds.
"I just hope didn't raise my expectations for nothing, Lieren."
The boy smiled.
"I promise."
Chains clamored in the distance, reverberating deep within the both of them.
"You better."
Lieren swallowed his fear. Despite everything that he said, he too was feeling the world swallow him.
And that was when it happened.