Chapter 58: Carrying The Strongest Woman in The World

Chapter 58: Carrying The Strongest Woman in The World

A second.

A minute.

An hour.

Perhaps even an entire day.

Rhys had spent an entire day walking without pause carrying several weights on him. Ayesha, aside from waking up from time to time to cuss at Rhys, have remained completely unconscious and unresponsive on his back. She wasn't the heaviest weight Rhys was carrying, however, it was the metal chains hanging on his neck — the lives of the Faceless Crew, compressed into simple dog tags.

Ayesha told him he had no time to mourn, but all he really seemed to have was time as he walked in the direction he assumed to be where the base of the Underworld Corps was. He really had no idea how far they've actually traveled.

How could he? When he spent all that time just talking to his friends on their rusted and almost broken down jeep... but even that was gone.

No. 2 and Ayesha called Arachnea a god. But gods, to his limited knowledge, never mingle with them at all. So why... why did Rhys even encounter Arachnea in the first place? She was after him — Rhys read her desires before everything went to shit, and she wanted him.

She wanted to eat him.

If Rhys had not meet Arachnea under the Hole of his school, then the Faceless Crew would still be alive.

Again.

It's him again — he had someone killed, and he was the only one to survive again.

He could have saved all of them if he just allowed Arachnea to eat him there and then.

"..." But then again... would the others just have let him be eaten?

No. They would have done the same thing no matter what. That... was just how they are.

"...No matter what," Rhys whispered to himself as he nudged his shoulder, slightly adjusting Ayesha as he continued to walk another mile carrying her. And soon, Rhys reached a field of grass; vast and almost completely empty if not for the long river surrounded by stones flowing across its horizon. And still, he continued to walk.

It wasn't until he found a large boulder near the river did he finally rest; carefully and gently placing Ayesha on a bedrock, making sure they were hidden as much as possible from sight. And as soon as the weight was literally taken off his shoulders, he immediately noticed that the warmth stayed. Ayesha's blood, completely soaking his jacket all the way to his white shirt.

He then turned to look at Ayesha, only to see that her wounds had barely healed, if at all.

"Ayesha... Commander Ayesha."

"!!!"

"Wh..."

What she found, however, was a field filled with blood, guts, and mangled flesh.

"...Recruit?" Ayesha stood up as she called for Rhys's name. She did not even mind that she was almost completely naked and started walking around; the sound of flesh squelching as she tried to find Rhys,

"...Recruit!?"

And as the endless body parts of all sorts of beasts and monsters served as a carpet for her to step on, she finally found a trace of Rhys.

His right arm... and only his right arm.

"Rhys!? Rhys!" Ayesha started running across all the blood and guts, following its trail until he reached the sea of grass with fewer monsters. And there, at the very end of it, he saw Rhys sitting on the ground.

"Oh..." Rhys very slowly turned around, revealing his body that was missing a limb—no. Limbs. Ayesha watched as Rhys tried to stand up, only to struggle as half of his right leg was missing too,

"...You're finally awake."

And with those words barely escaping his mouth; his eyes which were barely open fully closed.

"!!!" And before he could completely fall to the ground, Ayesha disappeared from her spot and caught him.

"Rhys...?" Ayesha quickly tried to hear Rhys's heartbeat, only to hear nothing but a minute thud, barely even drumming.

"I did it... Ayesha," Rhys whispered right into her ear, "I... protected you."

"Rhys, you... you didn't need to," Ayesha stuttered, as this time, it was Rhys's blood dripping onto her; his remaining hand, seemingly trying to hand her his own dog tag, "...These insects wouldn't..."

These monsters wouldn't have even put as much as a scratch on Ayesha's skin. But she did not say that, and instead, she just very gently wrapped her arms around Rhys and shook her head.

Protecting her?

Has anyone in her life actually ever done that before? No — because she didn't need to be protected, everyone was just using her to protect themselves. Everyone...

...except Rhys.

"Thank you, Recruit... thank you," Ayesha whispered back. And with a small sniffle, another one of the 5 hearts above her head started to fluctuate... with 3 of them now completely red, "But...

...hold on to your tag for now. Don't fucking think you're done serving under me."