"Eh, r-really!? Quickly, what is it!?" Exclaimed Yuki in surprise as she looked at Alexander, who was slowly losing consciousness, and he would've already if it weren't for his trait [Heroes Will].
'Heh, she's not going to like this.' Mused Alexander with a wry expression as he grabbed Trina before handing it to Yuki, who, despite being confused, quickly took the greatsword without any hesitation, given their dire circumstance.
"So, quickly, what do I do?" Asked Yuki quickly as she glanced at the greatsword, which looked more like a normal sword in her hands, before glancing at Alexander.
Now, when I say I've figured out a way for us to escape, I wasn't necessarily lying; I just wasn't exactly telling the whole truth; if everything works out correctly, we'll both escape; I'll just be dead for some time. Monsters attack and eat anything with a soul, which means after it killed Lucy, it should've gone right after us, except it didn't and instead chewed Lucy for some time before it eventually set its sight on us, which simply means ones soul doesn't immediately leave the body after being killed.
During that short window, Yuki will have a brief moment to escape from the monster while it's busy chewing on a corpse, which still has its soul in it; now, the only problem is to find someone who would willingly give up their life for ours. However, even if such a person did exist, they weren't down here with us, which meant either Yuki or I would have to sacrifice ourselves for the other to escape safely, and unlike Yuki, I could come back to life.
"Okay, s-so it's simple, Yuki; d-decapitate me and leave my head in the monster's mouth while you escape by climbing up the wall with my torso." Said Alexander seriously as he looked up at Yuki, who nodded before suddenly pointing the sword at her neck, and before she could stab herself through, the sword disappeared from her hands, repairing within his.
"THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING, YUKI!?" Exclaimed Alexander furiously as he glared at Yuki, who angrily glared back
"I'M SACRIFICING MYSELF SO YOU CAN LIVE!" Yelled Yuki as she glared at Alexander before reaching forward and grabbing his sword, only for it to vanish inside his body.
"Stop being fucking stupid, will you!? If you kill yourself, we can't both escape!" Remarled Alexander angrily, wanting to kick Yuki though he had no legs to do so.
"You gave a plan to kill yourself, which means we can't both get out of this alive; one of us has to die, and I'd rather it be me than you, so give me that fucking sword; we can't stay in here forever!" Declared Yuki aggressively as she eyed Alexander before reaching down and grabbing his arms, trying to find the sword.
"Like I fucking said, stop being stupid; I wasn't lying when I said we can both get out of here alive, so will you just shut up and listen to me!" Stated Alexander as he used some of his remaining strength to headbutt Yuki, causing her to wince in pain while grabbing her head and glaring at him.
"Listen, as I said initially, I can get us both out of here alive, so can you just trust me and do as I say? I lost someone I deeply cared about months ago and I could do nothing but watch, I'm not going to allow someone I deeply care about die if I can prevent it, it was painful enough the first time, I don't want to ever experience it again. So, please, Yuki, trust me; trust your best friend." Added Alexander solemnly as he gazed deeply at Yuki before reaching forward and placing his bloody hand atop Yuki's cheek, conveying his raw emotions to her.
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Feeling Alex's emotions enter my body, I had no idea what he was trying to convey, but I knew he wasn't lying. He had a way to get us both out of here alive, and if that were the case, I'd follow through with the plan; I was willing to sacrifice myself for Alex if it meant he could live. However, it's not like I wanted to die, I wished to spend more time with him, and possibly, become something more than a pair of friends.
"A-Alright, I-I'm listening, Alex. t-tell me what I must do." Said Yuki solemnly as she took a deep breath and looked into his purple eyes.
"You must kill me and leave my head, the body part that houses the soul, inside the monster's head; it'll buy time and allow you to escape up the wall; however, you must take my torso with you. Otherwise, everything will be for naught. Trust me, you will be killing me, but I'll live, okay. Trust me on this, Yuki." Declared Alexander with a faint smile as he looked up at Yuki, who clenched her fist and bit her lip, only being soothed by the confidence and calmness she could feel entering herself from his hand.
"B-But, if I kill you, h-how will you survive?" Asked Yuki as she glanced at the greatsword that suddenly appeared in Alexander's hand.
"I'll tell you about it back at home; now, you better get to it, and please be quick about it, Yuki." Replied Alexander with a confident smile as he handed Trina to Yuki, who outstretched her hand and hesitantly grabbed it, noting that it felt thousands if not millions of times heavier than before.
Clutching the sword with my hands, I slowly stood up within the monster's mouth and looked down at Alex, who was gazing back up at me; knowing what I was about to do, I took several deep breaths, trying my best to calm myself, but, it didn't help, I was still shaking in fear that I was about to kill my one and only best friend.
"C'mon, Yuki, we can't be all day; I've got a beautiful elven woman waiting for me to return." Said Alexander with a faint smirk, his words causing Yuki to frown slightly as she looked down at him.
Positioning myself until I was standing overtop Alexander, I looked down at him, biting my lip as I hesitantly opened my mouth.
"Y-You'll be fine, right Alex?" Asked Yuki nervously, only for Alexander to confidently nod without any hesitation.
"Yes, I'll be fine, Yuki; you're worrying too much." Remarked Alexander softly, his calm voice soothing Yuki just a tad bit.
Nodding at his words, I closed my eyes and took one final deep breath before opening them and glaring down at Alex while my heart beat erratically in fear as I finally followed through with the plan.
"ARGHHH!!" Yelled Yuki loudly as she flexed all her muscles before swinging Trina down toward Alexanderer's neck, slicing right through it with ease before cutting some of the monster's tongue in the process.
Seeing Alexander's lifeless head just roll around, I wanted to scream and cry in agony; I'd never felt such heartbreaking pain before; even when my mother died, I didn't feel like this as she sacrificed her life in battle to protect me and the villagers and to us Oni's there is no greater death than that. Dropping the sword onto the monster's tongue while I trembled all over, I felt myself shake, wanting to vomit everything I had eaten this morning, but I remembered Alex's promise.
'He'll be fine, Yuki; you can vomit later; we need to escape right now.' Thought Yuki as she forcefully closed her mouth, swallowing the vomit in her throat before she reached down, carefully picking up Alexander's legless and headless body.
Squeezing through the monster's mouth, which was just barely big enough for me to get through thanks to the great sword propping it open, I used my hands to push myself off its snout, flinging me to the wall, causing it to roar while the sword that kept its mouth open to fall out. However, just as Alex had said, the monster didn't immediately come after me and instead started chewing on his head, and the crushing noises I heard nearly caused me to vomit right then and there, but I was on a time limit, so I powered through the disgust I felt and started climbing the wall as quickly as I could using three arms while the fourth one held Alex's body.
Although the climbing part was slightly difficult since there wasn't always a spot for me to latch onto, forcing me to jump sometimes, though, besides that, it was a rather smooth process; the monster never once roared at me, causing me to think he was either still preoccupied with Alex or I had left it's range, but either way, I didn't question it and just continued climbing.
Once I finally reached the fifteenth floor again after a few minutes of climbing, I placed Alex's body on the ground first before pulling myself up and quickly kneeling beside him. However, I wasn't even able to say anything as suddenly, his body released a blinding light that forced me to close my eyes.
"Well, well, well, would you look at that Yuki, we made it out of the- ugh, t-too tight." Said Alexander with a faint smirk as he glanced at Yuki, who suddenly embraced him in a tight hug, nearly squeezing him to death.
"I-I thought you h-had l-lied." Said Yuki softly as tears streamed down her face, causing Alexander to wryly smile while hugging her back.
"Heh, no I would never; I coudln't lie to such a loveable Oni, now could I?" Replied Alexander with a sly smirk while huggin Yuki, who didn't bother to respond and just silently cried.