There was a desolate cemetery, filled with mournful silence. The setting sun cast a somber light over the gravestones as Cyril and Liam stood before Silvia's resting place, their faces etched with grief and sorrow.
The atmosphere was heavy with silence, sadness, and mourning. The wind rustled through the surrounding trees, adding an eerie touch to the scene. Dark clouds loomed overhead, mirroring Cyril and Liam's somber mood.
For a while, Cyril and Liam stood in silence, their hearts burdened by the weight of their loss. After a few moments, Cyril's hands trembled as he placed a bouquet of flowers on Silvia's grave, which had her name etched on the grave's stone tablet.
Liam watched silently, his eyes filled with redness, evidence of the tears shed over the past few days. Similarly, Cyril had bloodshot eyes, showing the effects of days spent crying incessantly. Dark circles encircled both Liam and Cyril's eyes, evidence of sleepless nights spent in mourning.
After grieving for a few days over Silvia's untimely death, Cyril and Liam finally gathered the strength to bid Silvia their final goodbye.
The two boys stood there, dressed in simple attire— clean brown shirts and pants. They couldn't afford anything fancier, having spent their hard-earned money from doing chores for others on buying Silvia a fashion dress. Despite her initial refusal, Cyril and Liam insisted, wanting her to have something special for her 14th birthday.
Cyril and Liam didn't want Silvia to wear ragged clothes like they did. Appearance and looks mattered more to girls around Silvia's age, while boys their age didn't pay much attention to their own looks or appearance.
The dress they had purchased for Silvia was a frilled silver dress, the very same one she had worn on the day of the awakening ceremony.
Regarding the awakening ceremony, the tragic incident had forced its postponement, with a new date set once the situation had calmed down. The reinforcements from the South Stronghold's main city had arrived to deal with the aftermath, offering compensation to families who had lost loved ones or suffered losses during the tragic incident.
At this juncture, the clouds above mirrored the gloominess of the boys' emotions, as Cyril and Liam continued to stand in silence for a prolonged time.
With a downcast expression, Cyril spoke in a melancholic whisper, his voice barely audible: "I'm sorry, Silvia. I couldn't save you."
Liam's voice trembled as he joined the conversation, his words filled with regret: "If only I had arrived sooner. Maybe she would still be alive."
"..."
Silence engulfed them once more, the weight of their loss bearing down heavily upon their shoulders.
In a sudden surge of emotions, Liam's anguish became anger, then he turned toward Cyril, accusation evident in his gaze. He spoke, his voice trembling with frustration: "It's your fault, Cyril! You should have protected her if you had the power to do so in the first place!"
Cyril couldn't believe what he was hearing. His eyes widened in disbelief, hurt piercing his heart at Liam's sudden accusation.
Without turning his head, Cyril asked in a doubtful tone: "What are you saying, Liam?"
Liam replied, his voice still trembling: "I'm asking why you didn't save her, Cyril! You were close to her!"
"Don't blame this on me, Liam!"
Cyril's voice was suddenly defensive, his body trembling with a surge of phantom pains that throbbed in his heart. He turned and narrowed his eyes at Liam, confronting him.
"We both failed to protect her, so what are you saying?"
Liam shook his head, calmly refuting Cyril's words: "No, you're wrong, Cyril. I didn't fail to protect her. I wasn't the one who froze when she needed us the most."
Disbelief washed over Cyril's face, anger replacing the pain in his heart. He walked away from the gravestone and grabbed Liam's shirt with a trembling hand, shouting incoherently: "You didn't do anything either! You were just as helpless as I was! You couldn't even save yourself! You're nothing but a liability, yet you dare try to blame it all on me!"
From an onlooker's perspective, Cyril, being shorter than Liam, appeared somewhat odd as he grabbed Liam's shirt.
After finishing his outburst, Cyril forcefully pushed Liam's chest, causing him to take a few steps back. With tears in his eyes, Cyril continued to speak, his voice loud and filled with emotion.
"Don't you dare put this all on me! You needed saving too! You were always in over your head since we were kids, looking down on me just because you were born with a healthy body!"
Liam, also consumed by anger, shouted back with a twisted face: "If you had the power to heal her wounds, why didn't you save her when we were in the infirmary, huh?!"
"What do you mean by that?"
Cyril's face displayed puzzlement as he retorted: "Didn't you hear Silvia herself say that it wouldn't work on her? Do you think I purposely didn't want to save her?!"
"How would you know that when you didn't give it a try?! Why did you listen to her?! Why did you believe her words?! And as I said before, if you had the power to defeat the monster or heal, why didn't you defeat the monster before it reached Silvia or save her then instead of watching her bleed out in shock?! You were clearly close to her, unlike me, who was held back?! How dare you say that I was a liability?!"
In one breath, Liam hurled these questions at Cyril, his face growing furious as he spoke. He couldn't understand why Cyril had allowed such a tragedy to happen when he had the ability to prevent it. Moreover, to add to his fury, like Cyril, he had believed Silvia's words at the time, but now he simply wanted to vent his frustrations on Cyril.
Acknowledging the validity of Liam's points, Cyril pondered silently. He found it strange that he had unquestioningly listened to Silvia's words and accepted them as truth. To add to the mystery, before Silvia was attacked, he had felt an overwhelming pressure on his body and soul.
Initially, Cyril had thought it was his danger sense, but after fighting the giant Chaotic Wolf monster and experiencing its killing intent, he realized that the pressure he had felt then was akin to a killing intent.
At this juncture, Cyril wanted to agree with Liam's words, but his grief over losing Silvia had clouded his thinking. Moreover, Liam was now blaming him for her death, which left Cyril feeling extremely aggrieved.
Unable to bear Liam's accusations, Cyril snapped once again, saying: "Then what about you? What did you do to help? If I hadn't saved you, wouldn't you have died to one of the Chaotic Wolves, implicating Silvia and denying her any chance of survival? By your logic, aren't you a liability?"
"What did you just say?!"
Liam reacted angrily to Cyril's admonishing words.
He coldly said: "I can forgive you for mentioning it once, but you have the audacity to say it twice. Do you think that just because you defeated some weak monsters, you can be arrogant? Have you forgotten that you were always the weakest one among us?"
"That was the past. Get your facts straight."
Cyril curtly retorted, wearing a scowl on his face. Unfazed by Liam's words, he stared directly at him and added brazenly: "Or do you think I'm still the same old me?"
Taken aback by Cyril's arrogance, Liam couldn't believe his ears. He coldly laughed, then snapped his neck and cracked his knuckles, his aura gradually intensifying as he took a step toward Cyril.
Soon, they stood face to face, and Liam looked down on Cyril due to his height.
He then menacingly said: "You know what? I never liked you since the first day we met. Over time, I've realized that you're nothing but a nuisance. I've always wanted to beat you senseless and put you in your place as a weakling every time I see you clinging on to your pathetic life, but I always held back because of Silvia. That was unfortunate. If I had taught you a lesson in the past, you wouldn't dare have the audacity to speak arrogantly in front of me now. But that's alright. Now that Silvia is gone, there's no one to protect you from my thrashing."
Liam's words belittled Cyril, deepening his scowl and fueling his anger.
Cyril looked up and stared into Liam's eyes. He coldly said: "That makes two of us. I've always wanted to wipe that smug look off your face. If not for my fragile body, do you think I would be afraid to pick a fight with you in the past?"
After exchanging their provocative words, a moment of deadly silence filled the cemetery, with only the cold wind whistling and swirling through the air. Then, in an instant, their poised figures moved. The two infuriated boys aggressively lunged at each other, their expressions filled with determination and an irreconcilable annoyance toward each other.