166 Savior

A blue light covered Haru as he noticed Ed's falling body. He was little more than a blue blur as he rushed towards Ed. Unfortunately, he had to force his way through hordes of elemental giants, as Ed had fallen quite close to the Purple Origin Sect's barrier.

'Sensei!' Haru's eyes narrowed as he focused, worry worming its way into his heart.

Suddenly, a lightning sword, flame sword, and ice sword blocked his path, forcing him to abruptly stop. Three elemental giants had blocked his way forward, and even more had surrounded him on all sides.

'I don't have time for this!' Panic appeared in his eyes as he looked for a solution. 'I've got no choice. It's too early, but I'll use that technique.' Haru recalled his training in the Purple Origin Sect. He had learned the body cultivation technique that was created just for his unique starlight body constitution. In fact, Sect Leader Fang himself had taught him. On the surface, the technique seemed like a completely ordinary cultivation technique. However, it held a secret ability within. Starlight bodies relied on the stars for cultivation. In his own case, he relied on the sun and the moon. The former provided him with excessive yang energy and the latter with excessive yin energy, which was why his powers changed so drastically depending on which one he chose to use. The secret ability, however, allowed him to use both at once, but the conflicting energies would rip his body to shreds. He wasn't supposed to be ready to even attempt it for several more years.

Haru took a deep breath. 'Here I go.' A mix of blue and yellow light swirled around his body, radiating energy so fierce that even the nearby wind and elemental giants were pushed back. Shockingly, the moon appeared in the sky, and it was visible to the naked eye despite it currently being the middle of the day. Light from both the sun and moon were absorbed beyond his body's ability to handle. Bloody cracks appeared all over his skin as his muscles tore.

'Can't hold it for long,' He thought as he pushed off the ground. If before he was just a blur with his speed, then now he wasn't even visible to most observers. The combination of his speed power and strength power had both increased several times over. He didn't even bother to avoid the elemental giants, instead destroying them as if they were cheap rocks in front of a bulldozer.

Right as Ed neared the ground, Haru reached the purple barrier and caught him. He looked somewhat awkward holding his much older teacher in his arms. 'Sensei... With your healing abilities, what could do this to you?' He wondered as he turned around to return back to their own forces.

Suddenly, Haru felt his strength leaving his body. The moon in the sky vanished, as did the light surrounding his body. 'No, not now!' His eyes widened in panic and fear, not just for him, but also for his sensei. He collapsed to the ground on his knees. Looking down at his body, he couldn't make out one part from the other. He was covered head-to-toe in blood, and steam radiated off his body. The pain stung, but it hadn't hit him fully yet, perhaps do to adrenaline.

The surrounding elemental giants would not let this opportunity go to waste. They prepared to attack with their large two-handed swords.

'No!' Haru struggled, trying to reactivate even his basic powers but failed. He had planned on relying on his newfound chimera healing abilities to retreat, but it wasn't good enough. The damage to his internals were so bad that his healing abilities hadn't even made it to the surface at all yet.

Just as the elemental giant's swords were in full swing, a shadow shot out from Haru's sleeve. "Scrub?!" He called in shock at seeing his recently acquired pet go on the offensive.

The tiny blue monkey forcefully kicked against the swords while simultaneously being slammed into the ground. It seemed to have broken a leg in the process. It was to be expected though, as the monkey didn't even hold a mana-core or any elemental abilities. Before the chimera transfusion, it was just the most ordinary of monkey mutants, and unfortunately, the Water Nightmare flesh mostly just increased healing abilities and water affinity, having very little impact on things like strength.

"Scrub!" Haru shouted in panic. Fortunately, the little monkey was still mostly fine. It struggled to stand on one leg, and its other leg was already beginning to heal. 'What do I do? What do I do?' His eyes trembled as he looked anywhere and everywhere for a solution. 'Hina?!' He struggled to rub his eyes, not quite believing what he was seeing.

...

A few moments earlier, when Ed had still been falling from the sky. Hina was busy fighting off the elemental giants with Flair, Haru, and Tao. Her vines whipped back any elemental giants she was good against. Especially water and light elementals, as they didn't do well against her plants at all.

Suddenly, Haru noticed Ed falling and took off on his own.

"Haru!" Hina yelled, trying to stop him. 'Has he gone crazy?!' she bit her lip in worry while looking back for help. Unfortunately, Flair was completely occupied with shooting her prey with her new sniper rifle. She was so absorbed in her own little world that she didn't even seem to notice that anything was wrong. Tao was also busy protecting Flair from any elemental giants that got too close.

'Ooo!' She looked back-and-forth between her separated teammates before choosing to follow Haru. 'When did he get so fast?!' She wondered as she struggled to keep up. Unfortunately, his abilities were far beyond hers, and she was soon left behind. The elemental giants soon surrounded her, and she was forced to fight the horde all by herself.

"AHH!" She screamed in pain as a fire giant's sword ripped through her vines, directly cutting off her right arm. Tears leaked from her eyes as they turned red. She could feel the blood pouring out, and she did her best to seal the wound with her plants. She quickly formed a new giant arm from her vines. On the outside, she looked perfectly fine, but on the inside, she was anguishing in pain from her missing arm. 'Can't stop now.' She breathed heavily while doing her best to deal with the elemental giants. 'Gotta save the stupid idiot.'

Her vines transformed into spike-like tentacles, stabbing through multiple elemental giants that blocked her path and flinging them out of her way. 'Stupid!' She thought as she killed a few more elemental giants. 'Dumb!' Tears poured from her eyes. 'Idiot!' She tore through the last of the giants blocking her path and finally reached Haru.

'Ah, he's hurt...' She smiled. 'I really am an idiot, but it's a good thing I came.' Her vines formed a protective barrier as she moved towards Haru, who was kneeling on the ground completely unable to move. She hurriedly controlled some leaves to wipe the tears away from her face, hoping to make herself look better. However, her eyes were still red and her face still pale, making it unlikely that she'd be able to fool anyone. In fact, her body was so pale from the blood loss that she almost looked more white than green for once. She controlled her vines to reveal her face, and she did her best to pleasantly smile.

Haru stared in shock upon seeing Hina arrive. She was the ray of hope that had just arrived in his darkest hour. He hadn't felt like this since the time he had been saved from Camazotz. Though at that time, Hina had been part of his darkest hour. How ironic that she had now become the complete opposite.

Hina leaned in close, and there almost seemed to be a hint of blush on her pale face. Shockingly, she kissed him on the forehead!

Haru stared dumbfounded at the unexpected development. 'Is now really the time for this?' He wondered.

Hina's smile grew even more brilliant as she blushed even more. "Now we're even." She said in a voice so quiet it was barely a whisper. Her vines shot out, wrapping Haru, Ed, and Scrub into a cocoon. Then her giant arms transformed into a shape like a catapult, launching them high into the air and flying over the enemies towards the front lines.

Hina was now alone, surrounded on all sides by elemental giants. It was unlikely anyone would help her. She wasn't important to anybody here, as she was just a young foreigner. Besides, everyone on the battlefield was already risking their lives, and they wouldn't make sacrifices for a complete stranger.

A fire elemental giant's sword came swinging towards her, and she struggled to block it. More of her plants were lost as a result, weakening her defenses even further. There were only so many plants she could call on in the surrounding area, and as they were atop a mountain near a civilized area, there was mostly only grass and flowers in her surroundings.

A lightning elemental giant's sword cleaved through her vines, shocking her ribs and leaving a large bruise behind. "Ugh." She vomited blood as she held onto the wound with her remaining arm. 'Was it a mistake to choose Haru that day?' She wondered as she continued fighting. She hurriedly managed to dodge the attack of two wind elemental giants. 'No.' She shook her head. 'The other captured espers were taken away before Ed got involved. Haru was only saved because I had coincidentally chosen him.' She chuckled to herself. 'I wonder how he would react if he knew I chose him because I thought he was cute.'

"AGHH!" She screamed in pain as an ice giant managed to bludgeon her leg with its sword. The ice giant's eyes glowed red, indicating it followed the path of red water. Its sword constantly had reddish steam emitting off it. 'Ah, I missed that one because I thought it was just an ordinary ice giant...' She sighed to herself while feeling that she was on the verge of losing consciousness. Desperate, she looked around the battlefield, but it still seemed that nobody was coming for her. 'Figures...' She struggled not to cry.

"HINA!!!" Haru's anguished voice echoed across the battlefield. She looked towards that direction, feeling momentarily hopeful, but Haru was nowhere to be seen. Clearly he was incapacitated when she had saved him, and even if he got help, they wouldn't make it to her in time.

Hina smiled, finally allowing her tears to pour down once again. 'Is it okay to think that Haru might have liked me? Even if only a little bit.' She looked towards the various elemental giants, which had only grown more concentrated around her. She had only held on until now because of how weak the elemental giants were in general, but they were a huge problem in large quantities. 'If given a choice, I'd rather not die to the giants...' She sighed. 'Is there a way to stay with Haru even after I die?' She wondered. She closed her eyes as the next wave of swords came, finally accepting her defeat.

...

Meanwhile, on the other side of the battlefield. Haru laid incapacitated on the ground, though his wounds were quickly healing due to his chimera flesh. "LET ME GO!" He yelled at the healer that was wasting their time on him. How could a healer compare to his own body's natural abilities from the Water Nightmare?

"Just hold still." The healer, a tall and slim man, frowned. "You're lucky to even be alive." He glanced at Ed's unconscious body. "And who even knows what's wrong with that one."

"HINA!!!" Haru shouted in anguish, hoping for her to survive.

Suddenly, Flair appeared in front of him, seeming to have heard his shouts. Tao had shrunken back down in size and was riding atop her shoulder. "There you are." She frowned as she saw Haru's damaged body. She must be truly worried, as it was rare to ever see the usually cheerful Flair frown. "What happened to you? And Where's Hina?" She asked.

"You've got to save her!" He yelled in panic while struggling to point in a certain direction. "She's behind enemy lines. She won't make it if someone doesn't get there soon!"

Flair appeared hesitant when looking at all of the horde of elemental giants, but she nodded anyways. At the very least, she had her jetpack and her seven-elemental sniper rifle. She should be capable of making it behind enemy lines and back as long as they continued facing the elemental giants. She turned around and flew away, attempting to go and save Hina.

'Damn!' Haru struggled to clench his fists. 'It's my fault! It's all my fault!' He recalled the way he had always treated Hina. He treated her as less than garbage 99 percent of the time. He was still angry over what she had done at him. Still disgusted by the fact that she used to be one of the so-called elites that governed over the commoners. But now, he only felt tremendous, unbearable guilt. He had always done things he believed to be right, but he wasn't given a choice in the matter this time. He would rather have been killed than saved by somebody he had hated so much.

...

Flair flew over the battlefield. The ground was like a sea of elemental giants, making it difficult to spot anything. 'Where is she?' She looked around in confusion. 'It shouldn't be this hard to spot a 10-meter-tall plant...'

'There!' She spotted a blotch of green amidst the horde and flew towards it. The elemental giants were everywhere on the ground, forcing her to clear them away. 'Well, I had to use the good ammo eventually.' She sighed while loading her expensive seven-element mana-ammunition. She aimed through the scope and fired, making sure to keep the blast radius far enough away from Hina that she wouldn't be harmed.

BOOM! The ground trembled as a storm of elemental energies devoured multiple elemental giants. Flair quickly reloaded and fired several more times. Explosions formed a circle, destroying almost all the elemental giants in the vicinity. She quickly finished the remnants off with more ordinary mana-ammunition.

'All done!' She smiled. The ground was now hazy from all of the elemental explosions, making it difficult to see. She disregarded this and flew down anyways, landing on the ground. She moved through the haze towards Hina, and when she finally reached her, her eyes widened in shock. "Oh, Hina..." She gasped as tears appeared in her eyes. "Just what in the world did you go and do?"