CH 57

The ground is dark red.

My field of vision is blurry, my legs are limp.

My body is unable to move, something I’ve never experienced thus far.

Something is flowing out of my mouth. I feel like I can hear a creaking-like sound from the inside of my body.

Surely, without a doubt, absolutely, I’m at my limit.

There’s a pure white girl before me, from what I saw when I checked her status, her name is Stella. My fight against her was, an overwhelming one sided fight. Ever since the first clash, given her overwhelming speed, I was beaten into pulp without even able to land even a single attack on her.  For her, my attacks were nothing but worthless efforts without any needs for her to mind about it.

However, to the kept on standing me, she still expressionlessly fought me. Without I noticed it, her lance was nowhere to be found, and she only attacked me with her fists.

Her white dress is dyes red with my blood, as well as her fists.

Nevertheless, the reason I haven’t collapsed is because I can’t feel any pain, and more importantly, I definitely don’t want to lose. Losing to the hero, I lost Finia and Lulu-chan, and now thinking that I’ll lose Leila-chan if I lose to this white dressed girl, I really don’t like the idea.

“…I really can’t understand, why do you go that far to protect that demon behind you?”

“…*cough*… well, why… I wonder…??”

She asks so while inclining her head in wonder. I do feel like my mind is almost blank, but, really… why haven’t I collapsed, I wonder?… I’m sure I’m already at my limit, I don’t feel like I can do anything further.

When I fight the hero, as well as when I fight Leila-chan, it was also like this. I couldn’t win, ever since I came to this world, I experienced nothing but lose. Moreover, I always loss something importang for me because of it.

At my fight against Leila-chan, I lost my left eye.

At my fight against the hero, I lost my cherished bond.

Even the mask, which was my only bond left with Shiori-chan, was snatched away by that miko, just what will be left for me later? For the weak, frail, and keep losing me, now I only have Rishe-chan and Leila-chan.

How many have I lost? How many times have I to lose, how many times have I to have my precious ones to be snatched away this way?

This world is surely unkind to me, my former world was just like so as well, just why I must always suffer like this? Outrageous, irritating, I hate it.

“I just, don’t want to, loss anything, again…”

“Loss anything?”

“Finia-chan… Lulu-chan… the bonds I desperately created… that finally I got… it was snatched away… that’s why, I won’t let anyone snatch anything from me… ever again!”

That’s why, even if it’s Leila-chan, I won’t let anything within my grasp to slip away from me. That’s why I keep on standing like this. So that I won’t ever lose again, so that nothing will be snatched away again, I don’t want to lose.

No matter how effeminate, pathetic, disgraceful, miserable, and unsighty I become, I want to make everyone to not looking down on me. Or else I’ll Insistently, tenaciously, or even irritatingly keep on biting on you.

“Even if you kill me here… I can’t afford to lose here….”

I don’t want to loss anything again… I won’t let anything precious to me, to get snatched away ever again!!

Suddenly, my heart geartly and violently… punds.

“Gu…!?”

I immediately hold my chest.

Then, my body is suddenly attacked by an even greater change. I can feel my blood is accelerating and hot as if boiling. Suddenly my pitch black vision brightens. One by one, everything looks so vivid. The creaking sounds from my body is, stopped. My legs are stopped trembling, and suddenly I can breath so smoothly again.

At first I think ‘Near-death experience’ is activated, by since none of my wounds is healed, so I understand that that isn’t the case.

Then what? What is happening?

“…!”

Then, for the first time, the white girl before me shows some changes in her expressionless face. Nevertheless, it’s only her eyes that very slightly widen, though.

I don’t know what is happening here, but my body can move again, my body isn’t creaking again, that means I can still keep going.

Grasping tightly the miasma knife from Leila-chan, I focus my vision solely on the white girl. When I thrust the knife forward, her slightly widened eyes are returning to its expressionless state.

“I don’t understand what happened to you, but… just now, you look very… pretty.”

Saying so, along with pricking sounds, a pale lance appears at her hand. Destroyer lance that even makes Leila-chan frightened. Weapon for the sake of slaying god, scorching heat lance.

And yet, somehow, right now… I’m not scared at all.

“If you want to hit on me then please do it with emotions in it.”

“I have no such intention, but I’ll keep that in mind.”

I don’t know what’s the true nature of the changes that happened at my body, but mysteriously… I don’t feel like losing right now.

◇　◇　◇

Here, let’s do some explanation regarding ‘innate skill’ that exists in this world.

This innate skill was, compared with the common ones, it was a fairly more powerful kinds of skill.

Like, Trisha’s demon eye, as well as the skill that were solely possessed by the hero, there were some types of innate skill.

There were ones that were acquired through acquiring a certain title, or ones that were inherited through bloodline, but fundamentally, innate skill was a gift that was gifted to those who were gifted.

However, there were rare cases where ones obtained innate skill through sheer luck.

Naturally, everyone possessed innate skill, it was just not just everyone could awaken it.

Training hard for a long time periods, receiving a sudden great shock, there were many causes of it, but there was something in common out of it, that was, one ought to face some life-changing great experience, that was when one could awaken one’s innate skill.

Those skills were possessed innately, and numerous braves, who were recorded in history, were born upon awakening it.

One was a hotheaded king, he brought his country upon its prosperity.

One fought against a raging dragon that endanger humanity, he saved the world.

And then, there was one who turned the whole country into his enemy to protect his precious ones, he faced them with this power.

Furthermore, there were numerous braves who brandished this power, and their powers were ‘way above the common skills’.

The current hero possessed ‘Ray of hope’ whose effect was pretty easy to understand, since these ‘innate skill’ were all clearly more powerful than common skills, no matter what kind of common skill it was, it wouldn’t be able to overthrow the effect of an ‘innate skill’.

That was why, there was an overwhelming gap between the one who possessed it and the one who didn’t posses it. No matter how large the disparity between their phisycal ability or their sword skills were, the victory and defeat might be decided simply by the existence of ‘innate skill’.

That was just how powerful these ‘innate skill’ were.

—then, here’s the talk about the changes that happened at Kitsune’s body.

With his strong will of not wanting to lose, and his strong feeling of not wanting to loss anything again, he surpassed the injuries on his body, surpassed his sense limit even though he was already on the verge of death state.

His sharpened mind unconsciously surpassed the unconscious domain, and reached the center of his very being, his soul…

And the result, not just he couldn’t feel any pain on his body, the limiter that was constantly placed by the mind was forcefully released.

His muscles might torn apart simply by moving it, his mind was so worn out to the point he might be collapsed anytime. However, for Kitsune who couldn’t feel any pain, those things were irrelevant. As long as he could move, as long as he could stay alive, he didn’t care about what might happen later. Right, for Kitsune who was confronting the threat called as apostle…

…he undertook it with the resolution to put his life on the line because ‘he didn’t want to loss anything’.

And that resolution, brought about a great change upon his body.

Right, that was the awakening of his ‘innate skill’. The one that the apostle sensed was, the great presence upon its awakening, and the pure resolution and feeling that were hold by Kitsune. In her eyes, those pure emotions were very noble.

And then, Kitsune hadn’t realized its awakening yet, but he had subconsciously exihibited a portion of its effect.

“…!?”

After awakening his innate skill, Kitsune showed his will to continue the fight… then the apostle, Stella, brandished his lance and confronted him once again.

All of her attacks, either it was the one to press or even the one to seriously kill him, Kitsune ‘evaded all of it’.

“… just, how could he….”

Stella took some distances, and mumbled so.

Kitsune precisely evaded all of her attacks as if he could forsee it. Right, even that comet-like attack which Leila couldn’t react to at all.

Smiling faintly, Kitsune unsteadily yet eerily moved. He could sense that his muscles torn apart, and his veins ruptured every times he moved. Bloods were flowing out all over his body, and his pale yet calm face was eerily… frightening.

“…I can see it.”

Murmuring so, he smiled.

“Right now… I feel like I can dodge any kinds of attack.”

No matter how powerful it was, no matter how fast it was, it was as if he could dodge all of it. He could feel that his body had far surpassed its limit and about to collapse, nevertheless, he kept on moving. His sense surpassed what his body capable of doing, but his mind kept on sending signal to his body to keep and keep moving.

Before long his vivid vision lost its colors, and his ear couldn’t hear anything, all he saw was nothing but a mere silhouette. His field of visio was, as if a paint with white background and white line in the center of it, he filtered all the unnecessary informations.

That was clearly a dangerous domain, but Kitsune with his faint life was standing there.

“…why do you struggle that far? Why do you protect that demon? Is that demon really that important to you?”

That was why Stella asked so. Why did he go that far? She asked so once again.

Human was demon’s enemy, there should be no reson for a human like him to put his life on the line like that. And yet Kitsune still confronted her, an apostle, even while burning his own life in exchange.

Was there something in that demon that was worth to struggle that far? What was the reason for him to go that far?

However, even if she asked so, Kitsune’s ears couldn’t hear anything already. He was at the state where it was even strange for him to still alive. If he moved any further, perhaps Kitsune would really die.

Somehow ‘Near-death experience’ wasn’t activated. Perhaps it was because of the effect of his just awakened innate skill, but for the current Kitsune, that fact was severly dangerous.

“….”

“You couldn’t hear me, huh….”

“Kitsune-kun!”

“Hmm….”

There, the one that never moved at all up until now, Leila, suddenly interfered and stood between Stella and Kitsune. Her body was shaking and unsteadily standing before Kitsune as if protecting him from Stella.

“Don’t… hurt him any further.”

“…is that because you’re also targeting him? Or is it because he is your prey?”

With tears streaming down, Leila glared at Stella. Stella couldn’t understand why Kitsune protected Leila, and this time she also couldn’t understand why Leila protected Kitsune. Why those two, who were supposed to be hostile to each other, were doing so, she couldn’t understand it at all.

That was why she asked Leila what her reason was. And Leila answered her question as such.

“I don’t know! But… when I see Kitsune-kun being hurt… it feels as if my chest is torn apart… somehow I just don’t like it! That’s why don’t hurt him any further!”

The answer was, she didn’t know it. Even she herself didn’t know, why she didn’t want to see Kitsune being hurt, why she wanted to protect him, she didn’t know why at all.

But she didn’t like something she dislike. Simply hers-like selfish and egoistic answer.

“…I don’t understand… but, I do understand that you two hold no hostility to each other at all.”

“….”

“Very well, given your pure emotions to be together even even though one is human and one is demon, it appears I don’t see the need to purify both of you. I have to chase after the hero after all, I guess the sooner I leave this place the better.”

Hearing Leila’s answer, Stella decided to back off. She wasn’t influenced by it, nor had she understood it, it just she had understood that their feelings to be together were genuine despite the fact one was human and one was demon.

Or perhaps she saw some kind of possibility from them, the possibility that perhaps there were demons that were ‘okay to not be purified’.

“Let me apologize for giving such unnecessary injuries. I’m very sory.”

“Eh? Ah… um.”

Toward Stella who bowed her head, Leila was dumbfounded.

However, Kitsune, who was behind Leila, was collapsing forward and collapsed on her back. Leila flusteredly held his body. Looking closely, his eyes were still opened, but he was already unconscious.

“Kitsune-kun… Kitsune-kun, hang in there!”

While holding and laying Kitsune on the ground, Leila desperately calling out to him. And then, perhaps the effect of his innate skill had worn off, ‘Near-death experience’ activated.

Receiving resistance stat equaling double of Stella’s offensive abilily, his injuries were very quickly healed. Kitsune’s body that received resistance stat that was way higher that the time with Leila, all of his injuries were all healed in around ten seconds of time, and Kitsune’s life had also gone steady again.

“…haa… thanks god….”

Leila let out a relief as if she was relieved from the bottom from her heart.

Looking at such her, Stella walked toward the lying down Kitsune, and crouched down beside him. And then, she peered into Kitsune’s face, and looked at his left eyes with the azure eyes of hers.

“…his left eye, looks like it isn’t healed as well, right?”

“Ah…. Um, seems like so….”

“I see… very well. Then, let me heal it.”

“Eh? You can do it?”

“Take it as an apology for giving such unnecessary injuries. May I?”

Hearing what Stella said, Leila thought about it for a bit, and after arriving at a conclusion that it was all good if she really could do it, she nodded to her once.