Chapter 20 New Start Rosie

A/N: For the love of god, please read to the end of the chapter before commenting...

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I constantly sustained attacks from Rosie.

Non-stop, blast after blast, I was forced to raise my shield and be knocked to the ground. My entire body was starting to get sore from the constant beating. I needed to, however, commit to my ideal of not fighting back, at least for the time being, it was the only way I could win.

It was painful.

Whilst I had had many experiences being beaten before, I never once was in a position where my decisions held so much weight. Every time the water hit my shield, I felt as if my arms had just been beaten by a baseball bat. Every time, it became more and more difficult to pull myself up from the ground.

Ah, it was really getting hard to move my body around.

I had been completely soaked several times through, luckily, the heat emanating from the fire was enough to keep me warm, however, it would only last so much longer. After that, I would just be a wet, freezing cold person standing on a windy cold night.

Hope was not lost, I could tell that her attacks were slowly getting weaker.

I knew that there had to be some sort of limitation on her abilities and I was finally starting to see it. She could only continuously attack me like this for so long.

Again and again, I pulled the shield up and blocked her attacks. The water splashed all over my body, splattering all over my already-wet clothes. The weight of the attack felt as if I was being pushed down by a sumo wrestler. It was tiring, really tiring. Even the shield felt like an infinitely heavy dumbbell, pulling down against my arms.

Eventually, after countless attacks, even she had to slow down and catch her breath.

"W-why, aren't you fighting back?" She asked.

"I still want you here with us."

"But why... I'm trying to kill you guys."

"That's not what it looks like."

After hearing my words, she choked on her words and looked as if she couldn't say any more. Tears flowed from her eyes before she quickly covered them with her hands. She looked down at the ground, not even making eye contact with me.

"N-no... the r-reason I ever came here... was to sabotage... you."

I walked closer.

"That's a lie."

"No! That's not a lie!"

I still wasn't exactly sure of her intent.

She was incredibly dangerous, her attacks could easily wipe all of us out if she was actually trying.

Her voice cracked as she hurried to rebut my statement.

"You're just going to manipulate me so you can find out who the mastermind is!" She cried.

"I have nothing to gain by doing that."

She began gathering water at her palm for another attack.

"All that matters is that you stay here with us, where you came from doesn't matter."

"No! No, no, no, no, no..." Her voice trailed off.

"We're friends aren't we?"

Suddenly, she looked up at me.

"The story you told me..." I explained, "what you said wasn't the full thing, right?"

"W-what do you mean..."

"The full truth is that you weren't forced to be her friend, you wanted to be her friend... you were always looking for someone to confide in."

She continued to gather water in her palm.

"You're afraid," I said, "you're just afraid of getting too close to someone."

She fully charged her next attack, the water gathered at the point of her palm had concentrated into another powerful weapon. Bits of water dripped to the ground, but the main core of the water was as solid as a rock. The water flowed freely around in a ball as she controlled it with her power.

"Hahaha, you're just a coward, aren't you!" I shouted.

She suddenly looked at me in shock.

"Huh...? I-I'm not, they made me d-"

"Stop hiding behind your excuse, what are they going to do if you don't follow through?"

"I mean... b-but..."

"Come on, prove it to me, prove to me that you're not scared!"

I stuck my hand out towards her.

"I knew you were a traitor from the moment you got here, but do I look like I care?" I took a deep breath, "I want you to stay here, it doesn't matter where you came from and what your reasons are!"

The water on her hand slowly began to dissipate.

"Forget everything else, stay with me, I'll figure out the rest, all you need to do is to take my hand!"

As tears freely flowed down her eyes, she began taking steps towards me.

"W-why... why aren't you a-angry at me...?"

"Anger, hate, sadness, who cares! Maybe I really should be angry at you, but at the moment, I don't care about any of that."

Water began cycling around her again, it looked like her heart was still locked.

Eventually, she began taking more steps towards me, however, water was still orbiting her like the moons of Saturn. All of a sudden, she stopped again.

"I-I just can't... I promised..."

"Who cares about promises? What does your heart want?"

"I-I d-don't... k-know..."

I dropped my shield to the ground and looked at her.

"If you want to kill me, now is your chance."

p "W-wait what are you doing...?"

"I am willing to gamble my support for you, whatever your heart wants, do it."

Tears were flowing more rapidly from her eyes. They were now a shade of red, her hair was all messy and covered most of her face. However, through the tough, dense fa?ade, Rosie's true feelings lain dormant. Under the bleak, unyielding mask she was wearing, Rosie's true feelings lain dormant.

I needed a few more seconds.

The silence was deafening.

At this moment, nothing was happening. The fire had stopped, her water barrier had ceased and there were no noises. However, a few seconds later, the sound of zombies appeared from just outside the forest.

Elrich and Chloe quickly rushed off to fight against the hoard of zombies which had just arrived.

Still, Rosie and I stood, facing one another.

"I'm going to kill you..."

Water began gathering in her palm once again.

Well, that's your decision and now you're going to take responsibility for it.

This entire time, I had been buying time for my Warrior Minion to sneak up behind her. She suddenly noticed the presence of my Warrior Minion and quickly launched an attack at it.

In the split-second opening, I summoned my [Stone Sword] from my inventory.

In the dark, bitter woods of this new world, with the icy-cold wind blowing against us,

I killed her.

I won't let anyone betray me and get away with it.