As Melina vanished in a flash of light, Al's heart sank. He hung in the air, freefalling toward his end, with the monster still snapping at his heels. A whirlwind of emotions consumed him—betrayal, frustration, and fear.
For a moment, he clenched his fists, gritting his teeth. "Unbelievable!" he muttered bitterly. "I trusted her!"
But as the cold wind whipped against his face, anger began to give way to something else—a weary sense of understanding. His thoughts slowed, and memories of their brief time together flashed through his mind.
"Even though I've only known you for a day," Al said aloud, almost as if speaking to her, "I trusted you. At first, I was just here for the bounty, but you... you saved my life in there. And even now, you gave me a reason to fight, a reason to believe."
His lips curled into a faint, resigned smile as he stared up at the sky. "If I were in your place... I might've done the same. Thank you, Melina... for everything."
As the ground came closer and hope faded, Al glanced at the snarling monster. He sighed and spread his arms wide, a strange calm settling over him. "If I'm going out... at least one of us will eat," he muttered darkly.
The monster lunged forward, its jaws finally finding purchase on Al's shoulder. A bloodcurdling scream tore from his lips as sharp teeth sank deep, blood spraying into the open air like a crimson mist. The pain was excruciating, consuming his entire being as he thrashed helplessly.
The sight of his own blood scattering through the sky struck him in that fleeting moment. "So this is it..." he thought, his vision blurring as darkness threatened to swallow him. But even then, the faint memory of Melina's face gave him a strange comfort amidst the agony.
As Al's vision faded into darkness, the searing pain from the monster's bite sent his mind spiraling. But just before he blacked out completely, something deep within him stirred—a dormant force, primal and unrelenting.
In an instant, a surge of energy erupted from his body, an unseen power that tore through the air. The monster that had latched onto him was obliterated, disintegrated into nothingness by the overwhelming force.
Al's body hovered mid-air, bathed in a faint, otherworldly glow. The deep gash on his shoulder began to knit itself together, the pain subsiding as if it had never been. Slowly, his eyes opened, but they held a different light—an aura of confidence, almost cocky, radiated from him.
He glanced down at himself, brushing off the remnants of his torn clothing. "Tch," he muttered, rolling his shoulder. "That piece of crap really took a nasty bite out of me. Guess I can't let my guard down like that again."
Looking around, he frowned, as if noticing his situation for the first time. "Wait a second... Why the hell... am I in the middle of the sky? And what's with all these monsters?"
As the realization struck him, his lips curved into a mischievous grin, as though the chaos amused him now. "Whatever. I've got better things to do than fall all day."
Without hesitation, Al extended a hand, and the strange energy coursed around him. With a sharp burst, he propelled himself upward, soaring effortlessly through the air. The power felt natural, as though it had always been there, waiting for this moment.
"First things first," he muttered, gazing at the horizon. "Find a way back home. After that... maybe figure out what the hell is going on and why was in falling?!"
With that, he flew into the distance, the remnants of his former self left behind in the sky as a new, far more powerful Al emerged.