Chapter 54 - Outcome 1/2

Athena had greatly exceeded the forty seconds that should have been the skill's time limit in the game.

But this was the real world, it wasn't a game. The only rule in this world was "the strongest survive" and as long as Athena had the strength to keep the skill active, that's how it would stay.

When she finally got rid of the demon, her body burned from the inside out and the air was heavier, but she couldn't stop...

Athena advanced through the city exterminating the enemies she saw until she reached the temple of all the gods and then had a better view of everything.

She cast {Storm} and {Meteor} with authority and power in her voice. The two ninth and tenth cycle spells merged and the sky darkened.

The torrent of mana that swept through her body and inched toward the sky seemed to want to drag her along.

Athena felt her insides throb with violence and her skin pull without releasing her flesh.

The world darkened for a moment and Athena staggered, but then she gritted her teeth in a snarl and held herself upright.

"Those who don't want to die, leave!" That was the last thing Athena said and heard.

After that, she couldn't hear anything else, let alone speak. And if her blood hadn't been practically replaced by mana, it would have been gushing from her orifices.

When it was all over and Athena canceled the skill, she was breathing, no, she was trying to breathe. But her lungs weren't working right, her skin, now reddened, steamed and her hair still emanated light.

Intense pains spread through Athena's entire body, but she couldn't scream.

The people around her were still stunned by the sight of part of the island burning alongside the heretics and did not see that Athena, their savior, was in a critical state

As the pains intensified, Athena was hit with heavy weariness. Her lightless eyes closed and then her awareness fell silent as her body fell to the ground.

***

On that moonless night, the flames from the hundreds of pyres crypted. The people there wept and said goodbye to their dead with grief on their faces.

The Valkyries were all with their heads down in front of two pyres.

Mercenaries were always prepared to die, but never to say goodbye. They all cried, some louder than the others, but all with the same sadness.

"I hope we can meet in our next lives…" Lobana said in her choked voice. "May they be happy and the world be better when they reincarnate."

There weren't many words to say, words were unnecessary there.

The emptiness of the hole left in the heart, the loneliness of being left behind, the longing that will never disappear. This was something that would mark them forever, until their deaths.

They stayed there in weeping and silence until the flames were extinguished and there was nothing left of the two people who were lying there.

***

Everything was white.

The world was like an endless sea of ​​mist.

Even if looked around, looking for a way forward, everything would look the same, nothing different.

She was alone.

It wasn't possible to hear anything, but even if it was, there was nothing to be heard in that place.

She crouched down.

Cringing in her loneliness and waiting for someone to save her from that place.

But nobody came.

Athena looked at that scene with a complicated expression.

She wanted to run over there and say she wasn't alone, but every step she took was a futile action and even if she tried to say something, in that place there was no sound to be heard.

The girl remained there, with her back to Athena, unaware of her presence.

Athena did not understand what and where that place was. She had woken up there, but it was like she had been there for a long time.

(I...) All she could hear were thoughts of her and Athena had gotten very good at talking to herself. (...I must die...)

*Let's get things pretty messed up now...*

(What are you talking about, me? We can't have died. Anemus and Fotiá wait for me.)

(To be realistic, we kind of fried my body, so the chance I'm dead is pretty high.)

(High? Realism is pessimism. I hate pessimists.)

(We all know you hate us.)

(Hate? Come on! I don't hate anybody, I love everybody!)

(So ​​it must have been your fault that we were in this state.)

(How could I? It was our part of the decision!)

(For the love we feel for our precious girls. Shut up!) Athena ordered and all voices fell silent. (I have to find a way out of here or at least find out where I am.)

***

Lobana was sitting alone in a clearing near a hut when she saw Sahari leave the hut.

Before Sahari closes the door, Lobana could see the white glow coming from the dark building.

"How are the two?"

"Mifa is recovering well. Lera's magic is quite efficient, as Athena... Lobana, we need a more powerful cleric, healer or shaman." Sahari said with a bitter expression.

"What about the temple priests?"

"They're not spellcasters at all, they're just people who like to serve the gods..."

"Then we have no other choice."

"Yes, but will the Gloria of the Goddess hold until then?"

Lobana looked thoughtfully at the ship hovering above the city and sighed.

"If only we had black iron chains... We could have her suspended on the two masts without touching the ship."

They talked about the state of Athena.

The mana that still resided in the woman's weakened body, without a mind to control, was like a weapon that destroyed everything it touched.

Even the ground where she rested was being slowly destroyed.

However, that didn't mean that this mana was protecting her. Athena suffered from mana poisoning, it made her natural mana mix with the surrounding mana, bring it in and expel like needles from the inside out.

"Then I'll send Hale and Mhia to go buy it. The town of Hekta is just over a week away. We just need to make sure Athena survives until we reach Basilian." Lobana said as she got up from her seat.

***

As instructed, Mhia in her dragon form flew with Hale on her back to Hekta and the others did their best to take care of Athena.

Hale and Mhia had been away longer than anticipated and it had been three weeks before they returned with thick black chains.

"We had to come back little by little because of the chains." Hale said and no one questioned.

Black iron was the only metal that resisted anything involving mana and also inhibited the use of any spell or skill.

This had been an arduous journey for Mhia. Neither Hale nor Mhia had the skill [Dimensional Bag] and because of that, Mhia always had her draconic strength undone when her mana was maxed out by the chains.

The Valkyries wrapped Athena in chains and hung her on the two masts in a way that prevented the woman from touching the deck or any other part of the ship, and flew south, back to Basilica.

***

(It's been so long that that girl has been there... Who the hell is she?)

Athena was still "alone" in that unfamiliar and misty place.

(She might be the key to getting me out of here...)

The girl remained in her repeated routine. She would get up, look both ways, take futile steps, and then sit back down, lonely and with her head bowed.

(If only I could reach her...)

Athena rested her chin on her arms folded over her knees and sighed without making a sound.

It was then that she heard a crying, desperate voice.

(Help me! I don't want to be here alone anymore... *sob*... I want to see Mommy! I won't be a bad girl anymore... *sob*... I promise I'll be good... *sob*...)

Athena widened her eyes when she heard the voice filled with loneliness and regret. She didn't hear the voice with her ears, but in her mind.

(Huh? W-who? No, how? Am I finally going crazy?)

(Hm! Who's there?) The girl raised her head, looking forward and sideways, looking for the source of the voice.

(You... Can you hear me?! I'm behind you!)

As soon as Athena said that, the girl got to her feet and turned to Athena.

The rosy cheeks that reminded her of Athena de Fotiá, made the woman miss her daughter.

The girl had long white hair, long white eyelashes and white eyes, and she looked to be ten years old at most.

(Who are you?) They both asked.