Chapter 91: Is he doing the right thing?

Kyrie's mana vibrates in the air, and he points his sword at Sil. He glances at Ian again.

"Sil Riverty… It does not matter what happened in the past anymore... I don't need your protection or saving!"

Kyrie's eyes blaze as he stares into Sil, indicating that his initial reluctance to fight him is wiped away. 

Kyrie slams his sword on Sil's blade, cracking his blade in half. Sil barely manages to avoid the sword that came at him without hesitation to slice him. The side of his arm that got into contact with Kyrie's mana sizzled, burning his skin off.

The blade hits the floor, creating a dent. Kyrie pulls his sword off the ground without a pause and rushes towards Ian. Withholding pain from his arm, Sil blocks him again.

"Why? We have been together for all those years…" 

Sil wants a chance to explain because he never was able to. However, when their eyes meet, Sil sees the lack of hesitations in Kyrie's eyes. The stare jars his heart violently, and his senses screams of danger. 

He watches the sword speedily thrusting towards him, so he lifts his broken sword to catch the attack between the blade and grip, centering enough power to swing Kyrie's sword away. However, before he could even take a breath, Kyrie charges with an orb of light towards his abdomen. 

Sil holds his breath as he looks at the orb closing in. He gets ready to take the blow, but his vision suddenly turns to the side.

"Wake up, fool!" Cynthia's voice rings in his ears.

Cynthia has intersected between them with her own body. After receiving the attack, her body slumps to the ground as if she has melted. 

The shock has left Sil frozen, giving Kyrie the time to rush to Ian. Anything that came to sight, whether demon puppet or evil spirit, Kyrie mercilessly strikes them down without a second thought.

[It does not matter if Ian is strong or weak… I will protect him!]

Kyrie slams the last demon puppet to the ground and mercilessly stabs the puppet with light mana. The body catches on fire.

[I am here now… I will protect him!]

Kyrie turns back, but Ian greets him with a stiff expression. Watching Ian avert his eyes downward, slumping his shoulders, Kyrie inhales a short sharp breath. 

[I… I am doing the right thing… Right?]

A sinister presence suddenly appears next to Ian, gripping his heart tight. He pushes Ian away from the sneak attack, and the strike lands on him. It sends him crashing into the ground, sliding meters away through the floor.

Ian falls to the ground, and his body shakes. He immediately turns his sight to look at the trail that Kyrie left behind when sliding across the chamber. Kyrie has crashed into the row of rocks. 

An insurmountable one-word question plasters in Ian's mind. The question that haunts him to no end from the beginning since meeting Kyrie - 'Why?'

Ian gnashes his teeth and runs towards Kyrie. Watching Kyrie injured with no power in his hands, Ian cannot accept it. He feels unworthy of such love when he cannot, in turn, protect Kyrie back. The shadow that struck Kyrie enters into the ground again and shoots towards Kyrie, racing Ian to the target.

Kyrie comes out of the rubble, landing on his knees first when his body has a sudden loss of strength. His hand runs over the sharp stones. Blood trickles from his open mouth while Kyrie gasps for air. He raises his head, and his eyes widen.

"Ian!!!" Before he could finish his sentence, his lungs squeeze, and he gets a coughing spree. His cough sprays on the ground with red.

Despite that, Kyrie yells at Ian, "Maya! Ian!"

Ian watches the shadow making an abrupt stop when Kyrie warns him. He turns to watch where Maya should have been.

Cynthia holds onto Maya's face, with a satisfied smile spread across her face. Maya stays limp and quiet. The woman finally appears in person instead of her shadows. 

He reluctantly turns away from Kyrie and runs to save Maya, but Sil intercepts his path midway. 

[It's my fault… This is all my fault!]

Tears rush down Kyrie's eyes as he forces himself to stand up. The blessings are working, but his wounds have yet to fully close. He starts by dragging his feet, leaving footprints behind. 

Kyrie runs towards Cynthia, but he knows he is not going to catch up.

Cynthia runs her chaos energy into Maya. Her small body tenses and shakes violently even though not a sound came from her mouth. The chaos energy breaks the consciousness that vessels inside, and Maya starts to light up. Her small body, enveloped in light, starts to turn back to her original form. 

A ring appears in Cynthia's palm with a flat circular gem with floating auras projected inside. The clear gem tints in black. She puts it on her index finger and extends her hand to look at the ring.

"What a bad design…" Cynthia sighs.

A crack runs across the gem, making Cynthia groan with the disappointment of its fragility.

"This is what you get for running away and making me look bad…" Cynthia whispers to the gem.

Then, she channels her mana in, and the gem lights up in a purple glow.

"Let's see how well you still work!" 

Cynthia giggles at the men's shocked expression, and she swings her hand from a side to another; a blast of wind sweeps across. Soon, from under her feet, purple mist dances on the floors, like powdered snow with the wind.

Kyrie stands there choked. He tries to hold in, but guilt submerges his entire conscience into its deep oceans. 

"Kyrie!" 

Kyrie hears two voices call upon him. He slowly turns, but all he encounters is a black shadow that swallows him whole, rendering his vision to darkness. 

---

When his mind fully adjusts to the sudden change, his vision returns to a town. He has never seen this town before. The sky paints in an uneventful grey, and the streets are tranquil. The sun has hidden away despite the sky clearly stating that it's still day. He steps forward once and hears his shoe make a splashing sound. He looks below and sees that his boots soak in blood. He freezes as he watches a hand on the ground just behind the heels of his feet. 

He slowly turns to a sight of a massacre. Have his eyes ever seen this scene? Maybe not. Yet, he knows this scene. This scene has turned Ian into the famed saintess's grim reaper. 

The mass murder of the cursed town.

His eyes meet a familiar figure with the familiar blue eyes and raven hair. Yet, Kyrie must say that he does not know who is in front. He does not recognize at once the strange bearing of those angry eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me, Kyrie?" The man asks him.

His voice resounds deeper but riddled with sadness. He turns around to leave, taking his sword off a corpse.

"Ian!"

Kyrie crashes his nose onto a black wall that suddenly appeared after a blink, and he falls back. He looks around to see that someone caged him in something resembling a closed black box. Even though the box is entirely black and close, he has no idea why he can still see.

His ears feel the ravaging beats of his heart. He has no time for this. He can't be trapped here when danger is outside!

He bangs on the black walls. Ian's angry eyes are deeply ingrained into his mind, and he slowly feels breathless. 

Ian's voice of blame makes him utterly hopeless. 

The walls clear again. 

This time, Kyrie watches Imogen facing Ian. She tightens her grip on her sword. 

He knows this scene thoroughly as well as the intentions of Imogen piercing that sword into Ian. He touches the walls that separate him from them. Just like before, he could only watch and see how everything unfolds - just like a reader.

"No…"

Ian does not move from the spot even though Imogen raises her sword. He yells in panic while banging on the transparent walls. 

[NO! NO! Please… No!]

Watching the scene unfold, he loses it. He gasps for air, but he feels like he cannot breathe.