章節 323: Chapter 240: Noon
East Borough, Turmeco Street.
On what is considered one of the best streets in the entire East Borough, the normal calm atmosphere was now extremely tense.
People were looking over their shoulders, looking left, right, everywhere. Fear and uncertainty shone in their eyes but the biggest emotion in those narrowed eyes was a huge depression.
Of all Backlund, no other place suffered as much from the disappearance of the Fire Mage as East Borough.
That man had become the light of this abyss, a light that people living in darkness could cling to with all their might.
He became the vengeful force that punished their oppressors and set them free. He, alone, had improved the quality of life of all the other people there.
He became the shield and the sword of all these people.
And he also gave them something impossible, unthinkable to have before.
Hope.
Hope for a better day. That things will get better. That they could live. That they could sleep on full stomachs. That they didn't have to be afraid to go out on the streets in fear of being murdered, abused, or kidnapped. That they could give their children better lives.
Hope that they could be happy!
Hope that if they were in a horrible situation, a masked man would burn away all the problems!
The people of East Borough had put so much on that man that when he disappeared. The hole he left was impossible to fill.
The gangs still didn't trust that the man had really disappeared so they still kept an almost non-existent profile. But it was only a matter of time.
Perhaps the now huge police presence could stop their return to power but even if that was the case, it would only make people more disgusted.
Disgust because they knew that these forces were not there for them but to capture the one who had been with them in their worst moments.
The gap between the people of East Borough and the rest of Backlund had become almost impossible to cross.
Ding! Ding!
Accompanied by the tinkling of a bell, a slender woman emerged from a tent.
Black hair tied in a small ponytail that went over her shoulder, pale skin somewhat sickly. Deep-set eyes and multiple scars on her face, proof of the hard life this person had lived, and wearing a simple dress with several patches and carrying a paper bag strapped to her body...
Serena Williams, one of the survivors of the Cave and now a humble worker in a bookstore had just finished her shopping for the day.
With heavy steps, she began her walk home with bloodshot eyes and an expression that showed great distress.
She released a calloused hand from the bag and taped her chest four times.
"Please Goddess... protect Mr. Kenway..." Praying softly and in a dry voice, she repeated the action she had been doing all the time for the past two days. If anyone who knew her were to see her now, they would find the scene of her praying quite curious and somewhat surprising.
Her faith in the Evernight Goddes had never been strong and that was no secret, she had simply used it as a comfort in her time in the Cave.
She would forget to attend church on Sundays along with the other believers, she never prayed and often she even felt as if she didn't believe in it at all.
She didn't know if there was a word for what she was but Serena knew she was not a believer.
But these past 2 days she had prayed more than she ever had in her entire life. Praying for the safety and well-being of her Savior.
She still didn't consider herself a believer but if kneeling and saying a few words to a figure could help her... Serena would kneel and pray for hours on end until her knees bled from the rough fabric of her dress and her neck seemed to break from holding her head, she would pray.
Even in her work, she found herself praying in the hope that however small, it might help her Savior.
Shaking her head slightly to clear her mind a bit, despite the improved security it was still a very bad idea to walk absent-mindedly, and she learned that the hard way when she got captured by the now-gone Dead Rose.
After about 15 minutes, the woman finally reached Star Street.
Looking at the old apartment building she called home, Serena let out a small sigh and walked inside.
The first thing she saw as soon as she entered was how the Tenant was staring into nothingness with a blank expression on his face.
A man in his 50s with a huge scar over his left eye and a strong face. His name was William Actus but he preferred to be called Old Will.
Despite the man's tetric appearance, Serena could tell he was a good man and extremely gentle and kind. He was a widower, having lost his wife and son long ago in a horrible factory accident.
When she was looking for a new place after losing her horrible residence in the cave. The strange policemen who helped her and the other girls had recommended this place.
The rent was extremely cheap and even with her current salary, she didn't have much trouble paying. And Old Will always tried to help them where he could.
When she was kidnapped by Dead Rose, instead of doing the usual thing of renting out her room as soon as she didn't return one day, he had waited and even notified the police...
When she returned after disappearing for 3 days he welcomed her with open arms and even bought her a small cake and forgave her the month's rent.
Old Will was easily one of the best people she had ever had the blessing of knowing.
That was why as soon as she saw him in that state she froze.
Eyes that once glowed with gentleness had turned into a vacancy that made Serena feel extremely uncomfortable and to make matters worse they were also reddened, as if he had spent the last 3 hours crying. His nose was a little dirty but because of the bad lighting, she couldn't quite see what the dirt was although it looked like dust.
This alone made her want to go outside again.
But her trust in the man made her ignore that discomfort.
'Maybe he's having a bad day...' Serena comforted herself as she took a step forward, gaining the attention of those vacant eyes.
Giving a quick salute, she kept her head down and with a quickened pace advanced towards the stairs avoiding eye contact with the man at all times.
When she was at the stair landing and was about to ascend to the next floor, her eyes moved slightly to Old Will.
The older man was looking at her with a vacant expression that the longer he looked at her the more uncomfortable it made her.
No more than 3 seconds could have passed but she immediately lowered her head and rushed up to the next floor, in her haste she almost dropped her bag with her food but managed to recover.
Running down the hallway and past the worn numbered doors, Serena reached number 13 and stuck her hand in her hair, pulling out a key she tried to fit it but in her haste, it fell to the floor.
"Shit!" cursing and extremely nervous, Serena bent down to grab the key but a horrible chill covered her body freezing her.
She could feel as if someone was watching her.
Turning her head quickly, she looked up the stairs in fear that Old Will would be there but there was no one.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Serena let out a nervous laugh as she shook her head, her skin had turned several shades paler.
Grabbing the key and unlocking the door, Serena turned the handle and was about to enter but the same chill from before returned. She couldn't help but remember her horrible days in the Cave and how this sensation was identical to the one she felt from the more... dangerous clients, but this time it was much, much greater.
Trembling, she turned around, towards door 7 behind her.
The door she could have sworn was closed before was now ajar. A pale woman's face peered out slightly and stared at her with the same vacant reddened eyes as Old Will. In the better-lit hallway, she could see how her nose was covered in pink dust, slender fingers with long fingernails gripped the door frame tightly, leaving marks on the door.
Pum!
Serena's shoulder slammed against the door and entering her room, she closed it with a bang and wasted no time in locking it. As soon as she did that a resounding Bang Bang Bang began to shake the door, as if someone was trying to force their way inside but couldn't!
Huff! Huff! Huff!
Her whole body was shaking, tears were falling from her eyes again and her breathing was extremely agitated.
'What's going on?! Is that Veronica?! And what's wrong with Old Will?!!! I've never seen them like this before!' Serena thought in terror refusing to believe that her friend and tenant could have such a terrifying expression.
Turning away from the door and not turning her back on it, Serena was extremely terrified. The bag with her food lay forgotten on the floor.
Before she could think of what to do, she felt her mind emptied and had to lean against the wall of her room to keep from falling.
"What..." Confused, she mumbled as she brought a hand to her face.
Her eyes moved outward and she felt her stomach drop.
Before she knew it, all the sound had disappeared.
BOOM!
A huge explosion sounded in the distance and Serena didn't have time to react before her window exploded.
"Ahhhh!" She fell to the ground and covered her head from the glass.
She was immediately grateful for her decision as not a second later the earth shook.
Her whole room... No. The whole building was shaking!
Serena's eyes widened in horror, her troubled mind suddenly sharpened and she did her best not to hit her head.
It felt like the earth was going to open up and swallow her!
Everything in her room began to move from side to side, the single bed crashing against the wall with force. The closet in the corner fell to the floor and crawled with speed to the other side.
Dust was falling from the ceiling and the creaking of wood could be heard everywhere.
It seemed like the building would fall on her at any moment!
Hugging her head and staying in a corner in a fetal position, Serena, not knowing what to do, stood still and waited for it all to be over.
But as more time passed, the earth shook even more, and the fear that the building would fall on her was now greater!
'I have to get out of here!!!' Terrified, Serena staggered towards the door of her room but halfway there she stopped.
Not only had she locked the door but Veronica was still outside!
Serena knew that opening the door in this situation was almost or even more dangerous than staying here so turning around in anguish and terror, she looked for another way to escape.
Her eyes immediately found the window.
Doubt filled the woman's mind, after all, this was the second floor. A fall could break something and she didn't have enough money for a visit to the doctor-
Criiiiiiiiiick! Crack!
Any doubts she had left her mind as she heard the creak of wood and a huge crack appeared in the wall next to her and also heard how a part of the door broke.
Moving as fast as she could and doing her best not to fall as it would mean death, Serena barely dodged her bed and grabbed the window frame.
Grabbing it, she opened it as wide as she could and jumped out. She felt something try to grab her heel but failed and could only scratch her.
With a loud Thut! Her body hit the ground and all the air left her lungs.
Tears fell from her eyes from the pain but forcing herself to stand up and even with the earthquake getting stronger, she moved in search of a safe place.
But she barely took a few steps when she froze again.
Deep in East Borough a huge plume of smoke was rising to the sky, surely the place where the explosion came from earlier.
All was absolute chaos, horses freed from their carriages running and trampling people, the same carriages lying across the street blocking it. Same streets that had huge cracks growing in them and she could swear that something was moving in those.
She could see how a person had been crushed by one of the carriages, by his clothes it might have been the driver.
But that wasn't the worst of it, down the sidewalks and alleys, she could see how people were lying on the ground and frothing with foam coming out of their mouths. Their bodies twisting in horrible ways and Serena was sure that if it wasn't for everything that was going on she could hear those people's bones snapping relentlessly.
The people who were not on the ground watched frozen as the skin of all of them peeled back showing red muscle that grew in size, their fingers elongated supernaturally and their fingernails grew into blades. Black veins moved where the skin had not yet fallen and where it had already fallen a thick black liquid like pus gushed out.
Crriiicccckkkkk Pum!
At the loud sound, Serena turned around and looked with pain as the building where she lived had collapsed, a huge cloud of dust spread through the chaotic street and she instinctively closed her eyes to prevent it from entering them. Her building was not the only one as several others also collapsed, surely killing the people still inside.
Serena looked around her and despite the thick fog of dust that was surely covering her, what little she could see she could see clearly...
And that was death.
Her mind didn't even have time to process even a sliver of what was happening before the whole world seemed to freeze. Every sound, action, thought, sensation, and emotion was killed and even the people and animals running in terror through the streets froze in place.
From one second to the next, similar or worse to the previous event, the whole world seemed to go dark.
Everyone who could still move looked up.
Defying all rule and natural order, at 12:00 p.m. and hanging in a clear black sky that a moment ago was covered in yellowish clouds, hung the huge crimson moon that shone with bloody light.
A Blood Moon!
But despite this supernatural event, what most terrified Serena and all who witnessed this event was how in the distance and piercing through the dust that seemed to cover all of East Borough, something was rising rapidly.
Rising into the sky as if it wished to pierce it like a spear, it pierced through the smoke and destruction that its ascension was causing... A huge redwood tree grew, illuminated by the bloody light of the moon, enveloping it like a mother cuddles her baby after delivery. Its branches stretched out into the void in search of their mother, but failing to find her they could only writhe in frustration like the legs of a spider.
The tree exceeded a dark bloody glow. A sinful glow, yet holy at the same time, a perverse and dark holiness, an attack on the divine and sacred.
Depravity taking physical form!
At that moment the earth stopped trembling, as the top of the tree reached its peak.
Illuminated by the bloody moon and with its back to the blasphemous tree. The people on the ground began to rise. Gray dust covered their bodies, but this only served to emphasize the horrible transformation they had undergone.
Those who were once normal people had become demons. Men, women, children, homeless, workers, it no longer mattered.
Bleeding red muscle stained the remnants of clothes that were torn due to the rapid swelling of the body and sticking even more dust. Elongated hands ending in sharp claws of white bone. Eyes completely black and foam falling from mouths full of sharp black teeth.
Nobody moved, all the people were completely frozen in front of the image that seemed to be taken directly from their worst nightmares...
Unfortunately for them, the monsters did not share the feeling.
Growls of bloodthirsty beasts came from these and Serena finally felt herself gaining control of her body again.
Turning around and making herself as small as she could to take advantage of the fog of dust that still covered the street, Serena ran as fast as she could at the same time as screams and sounds of flesh being cut sounded.
She barely made it a few steps before something slammed into her back knocking her to the messy ground, her head hit first and the world went blurry and for a few seconds, everything went black.
But it was only an instant, as soon as the rest of her body hit the ground the world gained that horrible crimson color again.
"H-help me..."
Looking over her shoulder at what had hit her, Serena saw in a daze the bloody face of a young woman with blood pouring from her mouth in great quantities and extremely pale, her once bright eyes now looked dull and lost.
Before the panic could continue, her eyes moved down to the body of the woman who was wearing a simple dress, which because of the dust that covered her it was impossible to tell the color, and continued down until she stopped at the distinct lack of legs. Viscera hung like a tail and covered her legs with warm crimson.
She could see how a few paces away was the creature that had done that, if the legs in its claws were any indication of it, those abyss of eyes looked to where the rest of its prey had fallen.
Every muscle in Serena's body froze, she even stopped breathing and quickly closed her eyes playing dead.
'Please don't let it see me! Please don't let it see me!'
She couldn't see anything due to her eyes being closed but she could still hear and feel. Serena could hear the way those things tore people apart, the way various things fell to the ground with dry, wet thuds. The last breaths of life of the people as they died just a few feet away from them, she could feel how more warm liquid covered her waist making her want to vomit...
But what she could feel most of all was the horrible look of that thing on her.
Any hope that her performance had worked died and she immediately tried desperately to get the woman's body off of her.
Years of malnutrition, sickness, and abuse of all kinds came to the surface making her unable to do that, even if the woman on top of her was in a similar or worse state than her own, Serena didn't have the strength to get the woman off of her.
She could only watch helplessly as that monster tossed aside the rest of the woman's body It let out a horrible shriek and lunged at her.
章節 324: Chapter 241: Despair
The world seemed to slow down. The monster seemed to float in the air, moving extremely slowly. Serena could see how foam came out of its mouth, how blood dripped from its claws, and how those empty black eyes seemed to want to devour her soul.
Bang!
The familiar sound of a gun firing caused the world to move back to normal speed. The creature's head moved abnormally to one side and the side of the head exploded into a pink and black cloud.
The dead body of the thing hit the ground with a thud. The hole in its head released steam and she could see a small golden light coming out of it.
Her eyes widened in shock and she quickly looked at the source of the shot.
Standing on top of a ruined carriage and wearing a shirt that was covered in dust ruining the previous blue color, with an impossible-to-control brown hair. Blood was dripping from a cut on his forehead and his face was extremely dirty.
Around him were five people, all in a similar state to him. Each of them had either a revolver or a machine gun in their hands.
She was still frozen but she came out of her stupor when someone carefully removed the woman's body from on top of her.
"Can you move?" The man asked as he looked around with a gun in his right hand.
Soft features and blue eyes that conveyed tranquility, Serena only gave a weak nod, and taking the man's hand he easily helped her up.
"East Borough is no longer safe. Go towards Cherwood Borough, to any of the Churches there, you'll be safe there. Do you know how to get there?"
"Y-yes but I don't know any Churches." Serena stammered as she barely managed to find her balance and tried to ignore how warm her legs felt.
The man just nodded, Serena could see the slight disappointment in his eyes but it quickly left him.
"It doesn't matter. If you go to Tumerco Street and take exit 3 you'll just need to keep going straight until you get to Rose Street. The church there is impossible to miss."
Rumble...
They both turned quickly to the sound of moving debris and Serena watched stunned as from the rubble of her building, one of those creatures staggered out, a huge chunk of wood piercing her side but it didn't seem to bother her movement too much.
Serena recognized the shredded dress she was wearing as Veronica's!
The man didn't even take a second as no sooner had the creature emerged he had already raised his gun and pulled the trigger several times.
Bang! Bang!
Veronica's head exploded in a pink and black cloud and her body fell motionless to the ground.
But she was not the only one to emerge from the rubble, some of the creatures that had survived the collapse of some buildings were slowly getting up, horribly wounded and barely able to move but even that would not stop their bloodlust.
"Go!" shouting that order, the man pulled the trigger of his gun several times killing several of those creatures that had rushed towards them.
Serena nodded with tears in her eyes and with staggering but swift steps, she ran towards Tumerco Street.
Looking at the woman Kowalski had helped, Deacon of the Machinery Hivemind Ikanser Bernard, held a smoking revolver with a bitter expression as he reloaded a fresh batch.
"What's going on..." The man muttered as he pulled the trigger again and a modified demon-hunting bullet for added power ripped through the head of another one of those things making it explode.
'Not only an explosion followed by an earthquake, but it also summons something that seems straight out of Emperor Roselle's horror stories...' This day can't get any worse...'
Pushing those thoughts out of his mind, the Deacon raised his voice and shouted, drawing the attention of everyone in the ruined street.
"Everyone who can move help the wounded and get them out of here! We'll take care of the monsters!"
Glancing at his team, he expertly stowed the revolver in his holsters on his belt and grabbed the machine gun at his side.
"Permission to use artifacts. Help as many as you can and stay together!"
The entire team nodded and following their captain's orders, they opened fire on the monsters.
While the Hivemind Machinery was firing left and right, the street below was still in chaos.
Some of the people wasted no time in following the orders and helped the wounded people while many others simply fled the scene. Everything remained in chaos, which only hindered the Hivemind Machinery and helped the monsters kill more people.
Similar scenes happened all over East Borough. Teams from the three churches that were originally there to capture the Fire Mage were fighting the monsters while trying to help the survivors.
Wind blades slashed and shredded, nightmares put monsters to sleep who were then finished off, and golden bullets pierced and annihilated the monsters.
East Borough had become an all-out war zone where the main objective was to survive.
...
Forgotten had been the pages she had been writing, the table had been knocked over and the ink fell, staining and ruining several of them, but the writer couldn't care less.
Fors Wall was now writhing in pain in the arms of her best friend who was desperately at a loss as to what to do. A pool of blood was growing around her from the wounds that were appearing on her body.
The writer's brown hair had grown long and almost down to her feet, her veins were visible as they swelled and throbbed like worms under her skin. Blood was dripping from every orifice of her face and her skin was taking on an abnormally pale hue.
"Fors hold on please!" Xio cried as she tightly hugged her friend who could only sob from the pain. Despair was clear on her face as she saw how one of the most important people in her life was transforming into a monster.
Fors sank her head into her friend's chest and sobbed as if she were a little girl, "It hurts Xio! It hurts so much!!!"
With tear-filled eyes, all Xio could do was hug Fors tighter against her.
She didn't understand what was happening!! A second ago it was daytime and now it was night. A night of Blood Moon!
"Grrrrr!" Fors was trying to swallow the pain but she couldn't. She could feel her body breaking and something wanted to come out.
The ravings that were roaring in her ear were the worst she had ever suffered. They had never been so loud, so clear, so close as they were now!
Her mind was sinking and she could feel her sanity slipping.
If this kept up, at any moment she would lose control!
And Xio knew that too as her grip on Fors grew tighter, refusing to let her go.
The Sheriff looked around for anything that could help her but the whole room was in chaos, the natural disorder of the room didn't help but with the disaster of the earthquake it would be impossible for her to find the first aid kit. And if she wanted to find it, she would have to let her friend go.
And it seems that Fors noticed this too because she stopped holding her head and wrapped her arms around her waist. Her fingernails that now looked more like claws scratched her back causing blood to come out but Xio couldn't care less.
"Don't leave me don't leave me don't leave me don't leave me..." Fors pleaded in a deep voice with tears of blood falling from her eyes that were bloodshot.
"I'm here Fors. I'm here."
Xio could only hug her tighter against her body as she tried to comfort her friend. Her eyes moved to her triangular sword that was on the ground a few feet away from them but as soon as she found it she looked away and returned her attention to her friend.
She didn't want to think about what would happen if Fors lost control and turned into a monster... She didn't know if she would be able to keep her promise to her friend if that happened.
Helplessness filled her and Xio could only curse to herself. This was just like when her father died and she was forced to flee along with her family, how weak she felt on that day when she had to abandon everything, she was feeling it again now.
She could only close her eyes tightly as she held Fors close to her, whose grip was getting weaker and voice lower to the point that her arms dropped, her strength unable to keep them up.
"No no no no NO!" shaking her head in denial, Xio placed her hand against her friend's chest and felt her heartbeat getting slower and slower.
Laying Fors down on the floor, the sheriff placed both hands on her friend's chest and began pumping. She couldn't let the heart stop, she knew that if that happened Fors would undoubtedly lose control!
"1 2 3! 1 2 3!" She counted each beat, her knightly training shining through in this dire situation, as she looked at the pale face of Fors who was staring at the ceiling with lost eyes, her breathing much weaker than before.
Gritting her teeth so hard that veins popped out of her neck, Xio kept up her pace as she prayed with all her might.
'Please Goddess! Don't take her from me too! Not her! Please Goddess!'
No matter how hard she tried, she could feel Fors' heart slowing down and the puddle at her feet beneath her growing larger.
"Stay with me! Fors! Stay with me!"
The only sign that the writer was still conscious was how her blue eyes moved slightly towards her. A huge sadness in them.
The bloody light coming through the window seemed to be taunting her. Telling her that her efforts were futile and that it would all be in vain, that its crimson glow would take her friend and turn her into a monster. She could watch as slowly more of that foul light entered the room and approached them.
Tears almost completely blurred her vision at the realization that at any moment her friend would close her eyes and lose her forever. Everything became irrelevant, all input from her current job.
"1 2 3! 1 2 3!"
The bloody light only seemed to grow and it was already a few steps away from touching them but just before it did a golden light repelled it!
All anxiety in Xio died as the warm light touched her body and she could feel Fors' heart gaining strength rapidly.
Xio watched in astonishment as golden light suddenly illuminated her room and she turned her gaze to the window.
Rising on the horizon and repelling the crimson light with holy light, the sun shone with power, rising high to meet the moon!
Before she could make sense of what was happening, everything was suddenly blanketed in absolute darkness. The crimson light and the golden light disappeared into it. Not a single star could be seen. The sky turned completely black.
It didn't even take a second for the sun to rise before it disappeared back into the darkness. Xio would have thought it was all an illusion or a game of her mind if it weren't for the warm blood on her hands.
She could only watch in disbelief as the only light illuminated Backlund, emerging from the titanic tree that stood deep in the East Borough, long columns of smoke and fire could be seen from where she stood. Her mind was again unable to make sense of what was happening.
"What's going on..." Xio muttered in disbelief and stupefaction.
How had she not seen THAT before?
A sudden movement in her hand made her head spin so fast downwards that it looked like she had broken her neck.
"Grrr..." growling in a weak voice, Fors eyes slowly opened, her hair was still too long but it was slowly returning to normal as were her nails which already looked more like a person's.
Regaining her senses a bit but still feeling like everything was a blur, Fors looked at her friend with teary and teary eyes.
"...Xio?"
The newly mentioned looked at her friend in shock for several seconds, before she wrapped her arms around her, sunking her head into her chest, and sobbed.
Tears of happiness fell from her green eyes. Fors who didn't understand what was happening only gave a weak smile before falling unconscious, Xio wasn't alarmed this time because she could hear her friend's heart beating normally but still, she didn't let go. She continued to sink into her friend's chest and let the soft smell of cigarettes and coffee from her soothe her.
"Help!" "Monster!!"
Crash!!
But Xio couldn't celebrate anymore because a scream in the street and the sound of the window shattering made her raise her head immediately.
Gritting her teeth, she grabbed her triangular sword from the ground with blood-covered hands and stood in front of the lying Fors.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
The heavy footsteps of something climbing the stairs caused her grip on her sword to tighten and her eyes to sharpen. She snapped into guard and the majestic aura that always surrounded her grew a little stronger.
"Griiii!"
Barely a second later, a high-pitched shriek sounded in the hallway in front of the room's door confusing Xio immensely.
'What was that-
Thump! Thump! Thump! Crash!!!
The door to the room shattered like wet cardboard but Xio didn't let that scare her but quickly placed her sword in front and blocked the intruder's swing.
Something sharp collided with her sword causing sparks to fly and momentarily illuminate the room allowing the Sherif to get a good look at the intruder in her house.
With a mossy appearance of red muscle with dripping black pus, pitch-black eyes, and razor-sharp teeth. Elongated fingers ending in claws that promised to tear her apart if she let them near, Xio's pupils shrank.
'A Beyonder that lost control?!' Her grip on the handle of her sword became so tight that her knuckles turned white. Any idea of neutralization was thrown out the window.
The only way to deal with a Beyonder that lost control was elimination! So Xio shifted her stance slightly and readied herself.
Quickly raising her guard to the maximum, Xio blocked with her sword again the claws of the thing that seemed to be smiling darkly and sinisterly at her.
Xio let out a slight grunt as she gave a powerful kick to the monster's stomach and pushed it away from her which was immediately followed by a slash with her sword aimed at its neck.
The blade of her sword plunged into the red and porous flesh but contrary to what she expected it only plunged halfway failing to completely decapitate her enemy. Xio tried to continue his slash but the monster would not let himself be killed without first damaging its prey as much as possible.
Letting out a gurgle choked by its dark blood, it launched a thrust with its claws, wanting to impale and scatter the sheriff's organs on the ground. Due to how close she was to the creature, Xio would not be able to get away from the creature in time so taking advantage of the height difference, she swooped down and the lunge missed.
Taking advantage of the inertia, Xio grabbed with her free hand what was left of the creature's clothes and with a hip twist whipped it to the ground while continuing her slash.
With a mighty blow, the monster's body crashed to the floor while its head flew and crashed against the other side of the room. After a few short spasms, the monster's body stopped moving.
Staring at the monster out of control with her bloodied sword firmly clenched in her hand, Xio kept her guard at maximum in case something else happened but after a few seconds of nothing, she finally let out a somewhat agitated sigh and lowered her sword.
'What could have lured an out-of-control Beyonder here?' she thought extremely confused as she looked at the headless body in the middle of her friend's room.
Even though everything was now extremely dark and it was difficult for her to see, she could still make out the monstrous appearance of the poor wretch who lost control. As far as she could tell this was once a man, wearing what appeared to be the remains of a simple suit.
'So this is what a Beyonder looks like when it loses control?' Xio found herself somewhat disturbed, this was the first Beyonder that lost control she had ever seen and dealt with.
She let out a soundless sigh and closed her eyes, taping her chest four times praying to the Goddess for this guy's soul.
When she opened them again her heart stopped.
The figure of the man was changed to that of a woman wearing a simple white sleep dress that was torn and covered in blood, the unknown head was replaced by a familiar face with blue eyes that had tears of blood falling from them.
She blinked again and the body returned to that of a man.
Leaning against the wall, Xio brought a hand to her chest where her heart seemed to want to explode, new tears falling from her face. She could feel herself fading but the screams outside kept her anchored.
Her mind flashed back to that horrible illusion she saw, a terrible reminder of what she would have had to do if Fors lost control.
Emerald orbs moved to the unconscious writer and then moved to the bloody triangular sword in her hands.
Clank!
Dropping the sword with a trembling hand, Xio brought a hand to her face and let out a long, highly charged sigh.
'If it had come to that...'
Her eyes returned to the writer, a grim expression on her face, ' I don't think I would have been able to do it...'
Clenching her fists tightly, Xio could only shake her head. With heavy steps she walked over to Fors and with a little more difficulty than she would like to admit, the sheriff lifted her into her arms, being careful not to let the bloodied sword touch her.
'I won't let you rest here.' She thought as she looked at the blood that seemed to cover the entire room, at the headless body and the shattered door.
Making sure her friend was comfortable, Xio walked out of the room. Reaching her own, she carefully opened it and stepped inside.
Laying her friend down on HER bed not caring in the least that she was covered in blood, Xio reached down and pulled out a first aid kit from under her bed.
She placed it on her bedside table and after doing so, she went out for a few moments. When she returned she was carrying a bucket of warm water along with some towels and a simple blue dress.
Making sure the door was locked and they were safe, she knelt beside the bed, her sword close to her in case anything else happened.
With a somewhat familiar hand thanks to the teachings of her current patient. Xio carefully undressed her friend and began to clean her of all the blood that covered her.
As she moved on to clean her friend's back, Xio was doing her best to ignore the cries for help coming from outside. As much as she wanted to help, she could not.
She had to take care of her best friend.
'Please forgive me...' Xio thought with a heavy heart, a look of deep sadness in her eyes.
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