224 Give up?

Ellie was hearing a voice screaming inside her head. It was a familiar voice that she hadn't heard in a long time and almost forgot how comforting it sounded.

[ELLIE!!!]

"Aunt Evie??" the girl gasped after widening her eyes.

She raised her head and saw that part of the terrain had been completely erased on her left side.

The girl was in Gustav's arms while Marcus was carrying Leona on his back. They both had used their blessed metal armor to move out of the way on a quick leap.

For the first time, the three of them were looking just as hopeless as Ellie herself while watching the aftermath of Mia's attack.

"This is ridiculous..." Gustav whispered.

The hole Mia created was so deep that they could not see the bottom and just kept extending itself all the way from where she was standing to just past West's portal.

The goddess herself was looking rather pale as she had just witnessed the power of terminal energy so close to her for the first time, the power to kill any living being in existence.

All the way from the other side of the portal, the rest of their friends were not doing much better.

Detra and Ashley were frozen with their mouths wide open, Claire and Joseph were trembling in absolute terror, and the rest of their army just felt like they had lost any chance of winning.

The only one who seemed slightly ok was Lilith who couldn't see what was happening but still felt the ground shaking for a moment while holding Daren in her arms, which made her heart throb with worry.

All of their fear was, of course, only working to make Mia even stronger right now.

Ellie kept staring at the situation still unsure of how to proceed.

Gustav finally dropped her and she returned to stare at Mia once again.

The beast's eyes were wide open like a pair of flaming orbs that were staring at the girl's soul while a small mass of steam continued to exit her mouth from where she unleashed her blast of energy.

Ellie dropped on her knees at the sight of the creature followed by an immense pain appearing on her body.

"What the-!!??" she cried.

She didn't know why, but all her limbs suddenly felt like they were about to burn out of nowhere.

[This is hopeless...]

[She is going to kill us...]

[We can't win...]

[That thing is an abomination of nature...]

All of a sudden Ellie started to listen to voices speaking inside her head as if someone had placed a radio on her brain.

"What is happening!!??" she mumbled.

[We can't give up now... We still didn't save Evlin!!]

[The goddess of the East granted me the power to keep fighting... I can't fail her!]

[I already failed to protect Evlin... I can't lose Ellie as well!]

If she tried hard, she could also hear the voices of Ashley, Lilith, Detra, Claire, Xadi, and Joseph. All of them either worried sick or shaking in fear.

Ellie then understood. She touched Gustav, and now she had the same telepathic ability as him, allowing her to listen to everyone's thoughts. And what she heard a little while ago were the voices of her army feeling like they already lost.

However, she now had seven powers in her, and her body was starting to reach the limit of how many abilities she could store.

What was worse, she ended up getting the wrong power she wanted and missed her chance to get a purification ability.

"Damn it!!! I messed up again!!! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!!!" She screamed while tears kept appearing in her eyes. Ellie was really getting tired of making mistakes that kept putting others in danger.

The other three just stared as the girl continued to smack her fist against the ground and shouting.

"WHY CAN'T I DO ANYTHING RIGHT!!!???"

Ellie glared at Mia and was one second away from charging at her to release all her rage, but her future sight appeared once again and alerted that nothing she tried would result in her returning alive.

Her legs quickly gave up and she dropped once again.

"It's over..." she whispered.

"Like hell it is!!!" Marcus shouted.

Ellie heard the lad's voice and raised her teary-eyed face to look at him. His eyes were filled with determination.

"Stand!!" he ordered, "the fight is not over yet!"

"Bu- But... I can't beat her..."

"Says who!!??"

Ellie was feeling strange from seeing Marcus using a tone she never saw him using before.

"M- My future sight... It doesn't show me any future where I can win..." Ellie replied with a trembling voice.

Marcus grabbed the girl's shirt by the collar and pulled her closer, "Ellie... You listen to me... and you listen to me very closely..."

The girl was completely silenced by the sound of his voice. Of all the people she ever met, Marcus was the only one who never dared raise his voice against her.

"Your future sight does not decide who wins and who loses... You do!!"

Mia finally got tired of waiting and began to recite her chanting once again.

"We did not enter that godforsaken forest, faced a never-ending barrage of monsters, battled with the memories of the people we loved, stared into the deepest fears of my mother, had Lilith lose her vision and you lose your hand, and gathered all these people here today that risked their lives to save Evlin and your family... just to fail and die in the end!!" Marcus declared.

"You don't understand!! I'm not strong enough to beat her!!" Ellie cried.

"What the hell are you talking about?? You're not even trying!!! What about your secret weapon? What was the point of acquiring terminal energy if you're not even using it!!??"

His words stabbed Ellie like daggers in her heart. The truth was, she was terrified of using terminal energy after what happened with her arm. She was planning to save it for the last moment to only use it when it was absolutely necessary.

But now, she had just gained yet another power by accident, so the risk of the terminal energy destroying her body was even bigger.

"Marcus!! I'm scared!!" she admitted with crying eyes, "I wanna save my family, I really do!!! But... But..."

"But what!!??"

"I don't wanna die!!!"

Marcus closed his eyes for a second and proceeded to look at her again, "of course you don't wanna die, silly... of course you are afraid..."

"Then..."

"But so is everyone here as well!!!" he interrupted, "You think I'm not scared?? You think I don't want to run? And hide? You think I don't wish someone else could deal with this in my place instead??"

"B- But..."

"Everyone is afraid! Everyone is worried if they will manage to get safely back at home or not after today!! It's not just you, Ellie!! But it's just you that has the power to change this!!"

"But- But-"

"I believe in you, Ellie!! I know you can do this!!"

Ellie didn't know what to answer. Just like Marcus said, she wanted to run away and hide. But everyone had placed their faith in her. Everyone came to this fight believing in the hero that would defeat the monster and save the day. But she simply wasn't that hero.

Suddenly, Ellie began to listen to other voices inside her head.

[Someone, please save us...]

"Ah..." Ellie gasped.

[Please... I don't want to die...]

[I want to see my wife again... Just one more time...]

[Please, someone help...]

[Let me get back home safely...]

Every one of the soldiers and mages that came to fight for her was praying for their lives for someone to appear and rescue them. Except nobody would. Nobody had any power to stand up to Mia.

The red beast was finally done gathering the power to unleash another beastly howl and aimed it right at them.

"In the end, you also turned out to be a disappointment... Just like all of those that came before..." Mia whispered.

Ellie then realized, she was going to lose. She was going to lose to that thing. To a child that tried to hide in the body of an adult, who right now was nothing but a mindless beast just spreading destruction and suffering for anyone that entered its path.

She was going to lose to something that pathetic. To a sad little girl that couldn't even get one person to be on her side of their own free will, while Ellie herself had gathered hundreds that would fight believing in her victory.

"I don't want to lose..." she cried once again, "I don't want to lose, Marcus!!! I want to win!! Just this one more time, I want to win!!!"

Marcus finally dropped the child on the floor and patted her head.

"You wanna know the secret to not losing?" he asked.

"Sniff, sniff..." Ellie wiped her eyes and nose, "w- what?"

"Keep fighting until you win!"

Mia finally finished her chant and released another terminal howl upon Ellie and her group.

"Will you help me!!?" Ellie asked while raising her crying face to look at him.

"Of course!" the silver-haired lad replied with a smile on his face.

he extended his hand and Ellie accepted it with her own, and as soon as they touched each other, an explosion of light took over them.

Leona and Gustav were temporarily blinded by what appeared to be as bright as the sun itself in the middle of this endless darkness.

The two then noticed the blast of terminal energy was about to reach them, but a hand just appeared out of the light, a hand covered in a diamond gauntlet surrounded by flames that kept changing color from red, green, and silver, and blocked the blast.

Leona and Gustav were left with their mouths wide open while a figure walked out of the light.

It was Ellie, with her entire skin covered in metal, her hair drenched in a pale tone of silver, and her entire body covered in a warm flame composed of terminal energy, blocking the blast like an unmovable wall and repelling the energy away.

[Ellie... Do you trust me...?] Marcus asked inside her mind.

The girl raised her amputated arm and summoned her weapon, another gauntlet made of diamonds with silver claws that acted as her missing right hand.

"Yes..." she replied.

Mia started to walk towards then while slowly gathering power in her jaws one more time.

[Do you trust yourself?] Marcus asked again.

Ellie closed her gauntlet to make a fist and glared at Mia.

"YES!" she replied.

[Then let's win this!! And bring Evlin back!!]