CHAPTER 786: RETURNING HOME

Alice stomped her heel against the skull of the beast, ripping out her blade.

"Is... Is that all of them?" She took a deep breath, unable to believe the sheer number of beasts that they had to kill.

After the first wave of reinforcements, two more waves had showed up, forcing them into a battle of attrition.

Gwen tried her best to cull their numbers but the beasts learned their lesson and stayed far away, only attacking when her body locked up due to the poison.

But when that happened, Alice stepped in and covered for her.

It wasn’t a difficult fight, just an exhausting one.

"I think that’s all of them. I don’t see anything else." Gwen wiped her sweat away while coating herself with a layer of fire, burning away the poison and Abyss Blood.

But more importantly, she was concerned about Kaia’s body.

"Are you sure you’re fine?"

The poison was strong enough to even penetrate her purifying flames, albeit just for a moment.

Yet Kaia was completely unfazed.

Sure she gave her a small buff but it shouldn’t be enough to completely ignore the poison like this.

Gwen’s suspicions were beginning to increase once more.

She had previously suspected Alice of being the one responsible for the corruption. However, she ruled it off once they fought and got to know each other.

The fact that she was her aunt’s disciple was also helped.

But once again, she was having her doubts.

*BLERGH!!!

"Huh?"

Hearing the sound of throwing up behind her, Gwen turned back to see Kaia hurling up poison that sizzled against the ground.

"What the hell is that thing?!" Alice looked at the beasts in disgust.

If she hadn’t thrown it up, her body would’ve taken a while to digest it. Sure, it wouldn’t harm her.

But she’ll be walking around feeling like sh*t until it passes.

And with a difficult fight coming up, she did NOT want that kind of distraction.

Alice looked and saw Gwen’s surprise.

"What? Never seen a girl throw up? Trust me, give me a night of alcohol and you’ll see it in the morning." Alice rolled her eyes.

"Pft! No no, it’s nothing. Seems like you store poisons or impurities in your body if you’re throwing it all up now." Gwen laughed.

"Kind of? Urg... I feel like there might still be some left in my body." Alice groaned, feeling a lack of energy and not wanting to use this time to explain.

If Gwen had already come to her own conclusion, then so be it.

Seeing Alice struggling with purging the poison, Gwen felt bad for even suspecting her and hoisted her over her back.

"What are you doing?" Alice groaned, feeling the urge to throw up again.

"We can’t stay here since the blood will attract other beasts. I’ll carry you while we go after Syrion." Gwen reassured with a laugh.

"If I throw up on your shoulder, don’t blame me..." Alice closed her eyes.

"I won’t-"

*Blergh~

". . ."

". . ."

*Sizzle...

Gwen set Alice down and got herself a new jacket.

###

Syrion marched towards an unknown destination.

As of late, more and more memories began to resurface. They weren’t major memories, just his day to day life.

But even so, they were memories that urged him on for another day.

"So you’ve come again. If you wish to converse or simply to observe, why don’t you walk with me?" He glanced back, noticing Griselda watching him not far away.

Pausing for a moment, Griselda stood next to him and walked.

"They arrived." She spoke after a brief pause.

"Oh?"

"The one who claimed your bounty. A child of the Sun." Griselda explained with Syrion rubbing his chin.

"Then I suppose I’ll have to find my destination soon haha~ I wouldn’t want to die before finding it." He let out a hearty laugh, surprising Griselda who turned towards the Sovereign.

"Don’t look at me with such eyes old friend, you and I both now that I’ve been dead for a long time, wandering these lifeless plains in search of home." Syrion chuckled, taking a deep breath and looking up at the sunless sky.

"But what about your fam-"

"I may not remember but I can still make guesses. Every time I remember her face, every time I feel my son’s hand, I feel a stabbing pain in my chest. My mind is blank but my heart knows. The other me, the one who wanders with a single purpose. ’He’ probably remembers the bitterness clearly right?" Syrion interrupted, placing his hand over his chest.

From the fragmented memories, he started to piece together the clues of what truly happened.

What occurred at the end of his life.

How he ended in this state.

Griselda couldn’t say anything. As expected, it was too cruel to prolong her friend’s suffering. Doing so would just be fulfilling her own selfish desires.

"The child of the sun should take a while to find you. As for what you’re looking for, let me take you there. But..." Griselda hesitated.

The location of his home has long become a den of monsters. A piece of the surface that was swallowed into the Abyss centuries ago.

Even so, she had remembered its coordinates, cleared out the beasts when she went to visit and tried her best to maintain the home in its original state.

"It doesn’t matter what state it’s in, I simply wish to rest at home."

Hearing this, Griselda revealed a helpless smile.

Despite his tough exterior and expressions, he was a family man. Someone who cared more about his family than whatever was going on.

A guardian with a heart of gold.

"Alright, I’ll take you there."

This was her final gift to her old friend. A man who gave far too much to the moon, a man who lost everything he held dear.

This was her apology.

###

*Huff... Huff... Huff...

Blood on the walls, corpses on the ground.

She ran, ran and ran some more.

Behind her, a flickering crimson shadow chasing after her.

No matter what she did, it persisted.

"Stop watching already!"

But no matter how she called out to the one hovering above her, she refused to move.

"Oop, careful, there’s something else in front." The floating woman chuckled, pointing at a lunch of shadows that suddenly grew a pair of eyes and a mouth.

Gritting her teeth, lightning surged through the woman’s body.

Raikiri!

A quick draw! A thunderous arc and a destructive line. The ground tore apart from her attack but the shadow split itself into two before recombining.

Her attack missed!

Ria felt the sweat soaking her body, deep bags beneath her eyes as she hasn’t been able to sleep properly.

Beasts chasing after her from all directions, this suffocating pressure and miasma.

And worse of all, Astrelya who hovered above her like a lamp in the darkness. She projected her energy outwards, drawing beasts towards them in droves, forcing Ria into life threatening situations.

"CAN YOU STOP! I’m already struggling with two!" Ria howled, stomping down and forcefully activating her second resonance.

If the shadow won’t die, she had to kill the thing behind her!

Shinsei Raikiri!

Her fastest strike then combined with two fold lightning!

The afterimage behind her snapped forward as her attack pierced a hole into the beast.

Yet the crimson one looked down at the whole, smiled and watched it heal.

"Tsk! Perverted regen!" Ria cursed, crouching down and expanding a cage of lightning that encompassed all four of them.

Astrelya didn’t care, this bit of lightning could never hurt her.

One regenerated while the other split apart. What she had to do was to keep hitting like a furious thunderstorm until nothing was left!

Drawing her blade, countless arcs of lightning struck out as Ria’s body disappeared.

Fragmented afterimages that filled the area kept multiplying, converging, multiplying, converging.

Each conversion would cause a slash that destroyed a part of the beast.

A finely woven net of raw destruction in which everything in the area was reduced to dust!

*BANG!!!

With a final slash, Ria reappeared in the middle of a crater.

Everything within her cage was destroyed, even the surroundings yet Astrelya was completely untouched.

"Hm... that get s passable grade. But still not enough." Astrelya smiled.

Before Ria could even question what that meant, a chilling killing intent filled the area as shadows began to converge once more.

And within this shadow, sparks of crimson.

Both targets were still alive!

"You’re still lacking that killing edge my dear. So much potential bundled into one yet you’re refusing to tap into it. Don’t you think it’s a waste?" Astrelya asked with a sigh but Ria tossed a lightning bolt at her.

"Shut up. I don’t care what you think but I’ll deal with it my own way. So either you help out or shut the f*ck up and just watch." Ria glared, veins bulging on her next.

But as much as she hated it, Astrelya was right.

Against the beasts of Terminus, her blades weren’t enough.

She needed something more.

Speed wasn’t enough.

Her edge needed something else in order to properly kill the enemies she’ll be facing.

But to trust in the Eclipse was to walk past a line of no return.

A choice she refused to make!

"That arrogance and stubbornness will kill you dear Ria. You are not ready for these two." Astrelya spoke without emotion. Her eyes staring down at Ria who froze up.

A sudden burning hot sensation from her back and the creeping of pain.

Blood gushing from her lips as she slowly looked down.

Ria could see an arm piercing the side of her stomach.

A sense of death.