Chapter 159: Overwhelmed

Laurel pants as she tries to hold her ground against the demon puppets that have no fear of death. Cathy hangs over her shoulder. She swallows the nerves, lumping in her throat, choking her from time to time when she gasps for air. 

She tries to convince herself that she is no longer the same girl in that trapped town. She is no longer that hopeless case that could not save those precious to her. She has endured through refinement from a scrap piece of metal to a weapon that cuts through flesh. Mere puppets will not subdue her. She refuses to let anything take her down. 

BUT.

But why does she feel so hopeless? Why does she feel so overwhelmed? No, the situation is overwhelming, and Kyrie is intensely fighting for his life, taking Saskia all on his own. The sparks that fall from the sky make her feel the intensity of his wish to live. She is ashamed to feel the way she feels.

'Imogen.'

She cuts through another demon puppet, and the blood splatters on her face. Then she turns to another that jumps towards her and restrains her by the neck. Cathy falls to the ground, and Laurel curses. 

If only Cathy can be stored in her dimension pouch, she could focus more on the fight!

She elbows the puppet and swings her sword to cut that puppet's head off. More blood soaks through her clothes. 

'Damn it!' 

She incessantly cuts through those puppets one after the other. 

'Don't think, just don't think.'

Laurel screams as she continues to defend her ground with all her might against those puppets that crawl to her like armies of ants. 

"I am not going to die here!"

Kyrie hears Laurel's scream and grinds his teeth. He injects more mana into his limbs for more strength and speed. Then, he locks his weapon on one of the heads' heels of the ax and swings the weapon off Saskia's hand. The ax spirals and slams into the stadium wall deep enough to remain hanging. Kyrie thrusts his sword towards Saskia's neck. The blade curves as if something propelled the blade away from cutting too deep, and the sword flies out of his hand. He grabs his scabbard and smashes it on Saskia. She flies away, indenting into the wall of the stadium.

Kyrie flashes from his spot to where his sword is flying off and grabs it in mid-air. He flies to Saskia, gathering all the strength to this one more hit. Once close enough, Kyrie swings his sword at Saskia once again. 

Then, he blacks out.

The next time he opens his eyes, he lies where the audience benches should have been. All his surroundings have been shaved off by that orb that Saskia produces from her body. Kyrie covers his mouth from the fit of coughs. He tastes that hated metallic flavor of blood. 

"Kyrie! KYRIE!" Shrieks of Laurel's screams pierce through his ears.

Kyrie glances at her as she tries to blast through the demon puppets to get to him. Laurel's scared expression softens when she sees Kyrie sitting back up. The debris on him falls off like tiny marbles to the floor. 

Saskia is still floating in the air, holding her body with both of her arms for a long time. Tears flow down her eyes as she slowly creeps out another twisted smile that governs half of her face. The contradiction in that expression shows her fear of death but also a rare enjoyment. 

Saskia does not care anymore. Why is she so desperate to live any longer? She has restrained herself from using corrupt mana since her body is breaking down. Why not enjoy it one last time before she is forced to give up! She lets out giggles that make her entire body shake. 

"And after that…" Saskia bites the nail on her index finger, "I will kill my way to death's door…"

Yes. Everyone must die. Heartless people must die. A flash of an abandoned girl eating from the floor enters Saskia's mind. Everyone must die. Only death and destruction will cleanse this hopeless world!

She screams with her high pitch voice, "Bless the fallen god, Erebus! May your powers cleanse this world! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Her body feels light, like she is high, and Saskia looks at the sky with one more grin before she lets her head drop. Her dead eyes look at Kyrie with intensity. Then, she appears like a ghost in front of Kyrie. That twisted face magnified close to Kyrie's view. 

Saskia holds Kyrie's collar, "You… You are not touching me again!"

Kyrie looks at Saskia's unfocused eyes. Although she is talking to Kyrie, she does not seem to be seeing him. An orb of dense, destructive energy forms in her hand.

"I will destroy you so that the world does not get tainted by anything anymore."

Kyrie narrows his eyes in confusion. He tries to move, but his body is not responding. Her presence on top of him is crushing him. The ground slowly molds into his form. 

[This feeling… This is chaos energy.]

Kyrie tries to build up a barrier surrounding him and deeply knows that it is not enough for the attack to pierce through him. 

Seeing the hopelessness on Kyrie's face, Saskia crazily throws a fit of laughs again.

With her unnaturally wide opened eyes and smile, she pushes the orb in her hand toward Kyrie. The barrier shatters as soon as it gets into contact with the orb. Kyrie's mind goes blank. 

[Is this it?]

-Bang-

Saskia's figure disappears after a blink of an eye. Kyrie looks at a man with long ropes standing in the same place that Saskia stood. Kyrie's eyes widen as he starts to focus his blurry vision on that man's face. Despite his long wheat-colored hair and pointy ears, Kyrie recognizes that face. His jaw drops as he shakes and tears up while looking at that man. This man… The one who has abandoned him and his mother to face persecution for those hidden whistleblowing documents. 

"Dad?"

The elf slightly turns to look at Kyrie from the corner of his eyes. That response is enough for Kyrie to confirm who this person is. He always does that even when he has that black short hair and human ears.