In amidst of the aftermath of a certain battlefield, four people stood with each other. One of them was the blonde prince, Julius. His armor were fully tattered off, but the shirt underneath it saved as his cover. His wounds were visibly covered by bandages, his right cheek had a scar. Beside him, there stood his sister and the Saintess. And like him, they were not in good shape either.
"Why are you just giving up!"
Julius raised his voice in frustration.
In front of the three of them, was a man that stood alone. But unlike the three of them, the condition of the man's body look much bizarre than any of them combined.
The man had his left arm missing. There was a huge hole on his left chest, even that alone made it look like a miracle that he was still alive. Although some of his wounds were already patched up, the blood on the bandages were visibly showing. Who knows what other grotesque those bandage was hiding. They couldn't imagine.
"Answer me, damn it...! WHY ARE YOU GIVING UP NOW, MAXIMUS?!" Julius held Maximus by his collar and tried to raise him up but inevitably failed.
Maximus down stared at his shoes. His cold, emotionless expression remained unchanged.
"It's not worth it."
"What do mean it's not worth it? Are you just going to waste Saber's sacriโ"
Julius sentence was cut short before he could finish.
"Don't you dare call his name!"
Maximus finally raised his head to look at the prince in the eyes. His cold exterior was suddenly replaced with hatred, his eyes full of contempt. This prompted Julius to let go of him and take a step back.
"Sacrifice? We asked for help on the east side, but no one came... You guys abandoned us."
The Saintess beside Julius tried to intervene with their conversation, but Maximus just glared at her direction to shut her up.
"Aren't you supposed to be his sister?"
"How did you...?"
"How did I know? Obviously I would know. Who do you take me for? A stupid prince?" Maximus laughed hollowly.
"You're supposed to be the one protecting your sibling as the eldest, but what did you do when we got swarmed by the monsters? You left. You left just to see if your "soon-to-be" husband is alright... In a middle of a fight! Seriously, just how much do you hate your brother? You didn't even bother calling anyone to back us up. If it wasn't for Saber pushing me away in the last moment, I would have died along with him!"
His words caused Seraphina to lower her head, her eyes watering. Julius became angry upon seeing her cry and turned his attention back to Maximus as he threw a swift punch towards his face.
Howeverโ
"I may not be blessed with your talents..."
Packโ!
Maximus easily caught his hand and broke his fingers with a grip.
"But Saber did taught me how to make use of my abilities."
Crackโ!
Julius screamed in pain and took a few steps back. The Saintess hurriedly went beside him to treat his broken fingers. Their scene was quickly noticed by the remaining heroes as they began to approach their direction.
"Even if I'm still severely injured, having a huge amount of blood lost, and broken bones around my body, I can still win against everyone here..."
Maximus turned his attention to the remaining heroes that was watching them and released a killing intent that made all of them quiet.
Five armoured angels began to appear out of thin air behind him, furthering the strength of the pressure he was releasing.
"Do not underestimate me, you useless heroes."
Before the fight could escalate, a woman approached their direction. She had an eye patch on her right eye, her body full of scar except for her face. Unlike her usual haircut, her disheveled hair was cut short into a blub.
"Aria..."
Maximus mumbled out her name, his expression slowly becoming soft.
After reaching him, Aria took a brief stop in front of him before slapping his cheeks. This caused everyone to become surprise. And then, she suddenly grabbed his collar, pressing her forehead on his chest.
"Please, don't fight..."
Tears began to fall over her eyes, drenching Maximus bloody bandages.
"I don't want to lose someone important to me again..."
Everyone became momentarily silent from the scene.
Maximus looked at her, slowly raising his hand to pat her head.
"Yes, I'm sorry...."
He hugged her using his remaining arm and pressed his
body much closer.
"I'm sorry... I won't leave you..."
...
..
.
"I promise."
***
(Loki POV)
"I promise."
As soon as I heard those words came out of his mouth, the whole world around me turned black. However, unlike the darkness I experienced back then, I could still see the two silhouette of Maximus and Aria in front of me.
[The Past of the Known Present]
The sudden panel that popped up from my view surprised me. I looked at it for a moment and read it in my mind.
"The past... of the known future?"
As I pondered about this deeply, I turned my gaze away slightly to glance at Maximus. I took a step forward, my face phasing through the panel.
"I promise, huh...?"
I didn't stop walking until I reached their direction.
"Yo..."
I stood before Maximus and looked at him straight in the face.
Unlike the bastard Maximus I knew in the novel, the him in front of me was different.
At first, Maximus and Aria would have never got along with each other if it wasn't for Saber. They would always bicker with each other whenever they had a chance to the poing Saber had to step in quickly each time he saw them together in order to stop them from murdering each other off.
However, after a certain incident happened between the two, where they got trapped in a dungeon when they were competing with each other, they became close after Aria saved Maximus when he was about to die. They got stuck in the dungeon for a day while heavily injured. Fortunately, Saber appeared on time by using a scroll he purchased to teleport to them and saved them.
After that incident, Maximus fell in love with Aria. It took him a year before he decided to man up and confess his feelings after.
Unfortunately for him, she rejected him and confessed that she was already in love with Saber. But instead of going nuts and forcefully pinning her on his bed, like what the Maximus I knew would according to the novel, he accepted it, laughed at himself for being rejected before going to a nearby bar to drink until he was fully drunk with Saber accompanying him.
Nonetheless, their adventure continued without much problem as they faced more foes and got stronger each time. As for Aria's feelings, considering how dense Saber was, every time she would try and make a move on him, he would mistook this as her kindness rather than flirting.
It gotten to the point that Maximus had to help her plan to kidnap Saber to a love hotel and force him drink a aphrodisiac. But unfortunately, their plan was unsuccessful each time they would do this to him. It was as if the FATE itself was preventing it from happening... I guess even in this world, Saber was fated to remain a virgin in the end like in the novel. I'm not even sure if I should laugh or cry about it.
[One minute remaining before the user get sent back to reality...]
The new notification sudden appearance of the new notification caught my attention. I glanced at it before turning my attention back towards Maximus in front of me.
"If only the Maximus from my world were similar as you, we would have been a great friend." Unknowingly, my lips began to curl up into a smile. And then, I turned to look at Aria.
"Forgiveness, huh..." I recalled some of the events that happened between the Saber and the Aria from this world for a moment.
Should I forgive her for what she did to Saber...?
That wasn't for me to decide.
The Aria from this world and the Aria I knew were different.
...But I guess, I should try and go easy on her from now on.
"Ugh... Now I'm starting to feel bad for the two of them."
While I was in deep thoughts, I noticed that my lower body began to fade into light. I glanced at the panel beside me and sighed.
[Forty-three seconds remaining before the user get sent back to reality...]
"...."
With a yawn, I stretched my back and waited until the countdown reach zero.
"This is taking forever..."
"๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ?"
"I meant the countdown... Huh?"
As soon as I heard another person speaking, I raised my head forward and looked at the two in front of me as they smiled back.
"๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต'๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ...? ๐๐ถ๐ณ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ?" Maximus smiled mischievously as he crossed his arms on his chest. I was about to say something when Aria suddenly smacked the back of his head.
"๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ... ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ! ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐จ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ข๐บ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฃ๐บ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ'๐ณ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต!"
Seeing her upset pout, Maximus couldn't help himself but chuckle. He looked at me and said, "๐๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด... ๐๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ'๐ท๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ."
"Umm... Uh, okay?" I don't really know what's the appropriate reactions to my current situation. Honestly, I felt a bit awkward seeing them like this.
"๐๐ฉ๐ฉ... ๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ, ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ?"
It seems like I'm not the only person...
"Fine, I guess..."
The atmosphere between us became more awkward.
"...๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ."
Out of the sudden, Aria raised her foot and stepped on Maximus. The suddenness caught him off guard as he fell on his bum due to the excruciating pain on his foot.
"๐๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ข๐บ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฃ๐บ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ."
"๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ฆ!!"
While Maximus was sitting on the ground, Aria stared at me directly in the eyes. I could feel the longing and regret deep within her eyes. She didn't have to say it since I could already tell what her gaze was about.
"๐'๐ฎ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ณ๐ณ๐บ!"
Her eyes began to water as she said those words.
"๐๐ง ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ... ๐๐ง ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ๐ซ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ... ๐ ๐ค-๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ... ๐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ. ๐-๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฅ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ... ๐๐ง ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ... ๐๐ง ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ...!"
Maximus appeared behind her and stroked her head. She looked down, clutching on her white dress as she cried her tears out.
"๐๐ข๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ..."
He took a brief pause before continuing as his expression suddenly turned serious.
"๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ."
"๐๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ณ๐บ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต."
"๐๐ฏ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ถ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ, ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ ๐ข๐ญ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ข๐ค๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐. ๐๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ข๐ณ๐บ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ง๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ง๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด."
"๐๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ... ๐๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐น๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ."
Maximus smiled at me before he finally said his last goodbye.
"๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ถ๐ค๐ฌ, ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ."
***
While this was happening, Aria finally recovered her composure and wiped her tears using her palm.
"๐..."
[Twelve seconds remaining before the user get sent back to reality...]
The sudden notification caught the three of them in surprise, causing Aria's words to remain stuck on her throat.
Maximus noticed this as he couldn't help but shake his head helplessly.
"๐๐บ๐ข๐ข!!?"
Suddenly, Maximus pushed her forward.
"๐๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ! ๐๐ฐ ๐ช๐ต ๐ข๐ญ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐บ!"
[Seven seconds remaining before the user get sent back to reality...]
His words finally made her steel herself. She fell towards Saber as he spread out his arms in attempt to catch her.
๐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ...
[Three seconds remaining before the user get sent back to reality...]
Aria noticed that his lips was wide-open and decided to take advantage of their situation.
"๐๐ข๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ..."
She let her body fell towards him as she placed her arms over his neck.
"๐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ."
And so, she kissed him.