"Come," Haru said, aiming the flaming sword at the Beast.
As the alcohol burned on the sword, its temperature continued to rise up, making the sword look terrifying and deadly. However, the rising temperature also caused burns to surface on Haru's hand.
But he ignored the pain and stayed focused on the beast.
Haru knew this would happen if he ignited the sword but he had to do this because he noticed something peculiar about the beast from what all he had seen.
"Grrr...." As Haru expected, the Beast warily looked at the burning sword, not immediately lunging at him.
'As I expected, it is wary of the fire!!' Haru thought, his uneasy heart brimming with hope. Seeing the Beast's wariness of the fire, he seized the opportunity and dashed toward it.
"Oi! Haru! What are you doing!?" Kuga Yoshida shouted, bewildered by Haru's sudden and reckless action.
"Its scared of fire! Just support me!" Haru shouted as he continued forward.
"Damn it!" Not fully understanding Haru's plan, Kuga Yoshida cursed under his breath but still followed closely behind to provide support.
Given their situation, Haru couldn't properly explain it to them, but his speculation wasn't baseless.
From what he had observed, the Beast had initially ignored him and Yoshida, who had burning torches, and had instead gone toward the specific two students who, in a panic, had dropped their torches.
Secondly, and most importantly, the Beast had somehow always avoided the burning Molotov.
Haru had thrown one from its blind spot earlier, yet it somehow managed to detect it. However, it did not detect the bolt which Aki had shot at it earlier, pointing out only two things – either it was sensitive to fire or the fire was its weakness.
But seeing the wariness within its eyes, Haru understood that it was the latter.
"Take this!!!" As Haru closed in on the Beast, he used a feint with the burning torch, thrusting it toward the creature.
"Grr!!!!" The Beast growled in anger as it sensed the threat and flinched back, dodging the incoming torch.
"AHHH!!" Haru then, at that exact moment, pulled back the torch while the beast's eyes were focused on its flame and swung his burning sword at its face.
But it wasn't as simple as he thought it would be. The Beast used its extraordinary agility to swiftly dodge the burning sword and quickly put some distance between them.
"GROWLLL!!!!!" The Beast then let out a thunderous roar at Haru as it dashed toward him with terrifying speed.
Unperturbed, Haru raised his burning log, attempting to stop its advance, but the Beast had other plans. Gaining enough momentum, it took a massive leap into the air, bypassing Haru.
"EVERYONE LOOK OUT-!!!" Haru quickly tried to warn the others, thinking the Beast was once again targeting Aki and the rest, but the situation was different than he expected.
"GRRR!!!" The beast did not go after the others. Instead, it swiftly crept behind Haru, launching its dangerous paw at his unprotected back.
'Shit!!!' Haru's body stiffened as he felt the presence of the dangerous paw moving toward his back at a frightening speed.
'MOVE!!!!' Knowing that the impact would likely break a bone or two, he quickly jumped forward to increase the distance between them. But the beast was faster.
"GET AWAY YOU BEAST!!!" Luckily, Kuga Yoshida arrived just in time, swinging his metallic rod at the Beast's paw and deflecting it away from Haru's back.
Bang!
"Grrr!!!"
"Oh... shit." Although Kuga Yoshida had successfully intervened to save Haru, the impact had caused his metallic rod to bend and become useless. Now, the beast's eyes were solely fixed on him, leaving him visibly terrified.
Swoosh!
"GRRRRR!!!!!"
Suddenly, a bolt landed with impeccable timing, striking the beast in its left eye while it was occupied. The creature let out a sharp roar at the precise moment the arrow hit its yellow eye.
"NICE ONE, AKI!"
Immediately, Haru swung his burning sword at the Beast, not giving it a moment's rest as he found the perfect opportunity to strike.
Slash! The sword cleanly cut through the other remaining eye, leaving a horrifying wound. But because of its sturdy skin, he couldn't penetrate deep enough.
"GGRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!" With one eye impaled with an arrow and the other badly burned, the beast trembled in agony, emitting a terrifyingly loud roar.
'Though the wound may not be critical enough, it's blinded now! We can take it down!' Haru thought.
He then looked back toward Orimura and asked, "Sensei!! How many Molotov cocktails are remaining?"
"We still have four! Do you want us to throw them at the Beast?" Orimura asked after she counted the remaining explosives.
"Yes!! Quickly!! This is our chance to finish it off!! Throw them all at its face but don't light them on fire!!"
"Eh? But won't that-"
"Just trust me and hurry up!! We don't have much time!!!"
Orimura was dubious of what Haru was planning, but she trusted him and immediately without wasting a second, together with Aki, threw all the Molotov cocktails they had onto the Beast's face.
Splash! Splash!
Splash! Splash!
Since the Molotov cocktails weren't lit, the Beast, as Haru had expected, didn't notice as they hit and broke on its face, drenching it with highly concentrated alcohol.
Seeing everything was ready, Haru threw his burning log aside and walked toward the beast with his heart pounding a little.
He then raised his sword, the flames on it extinguished, and pointed it toward the beast as he said, "Come at me. I know you can hear me, right!?"
"Haru!? W-What are you doing!?" Aki panicked as she saw him walking close to the Beast.
"GROWLLLL!!!!!" Enraged as it heard or smelled Haru, the Beast darted right toward him, its deadly intent clear to everyone watching.
Seeing it charging at him, Haru didn't show an ounce of fear. He was determined to face it head-on and end the threat it posed.
"Grrrrr!!!!!" The Beast opened its jaws wide, prepared to strike Haru down in one fell swoop. But Haru stood his ground.
Just as the Beast was merely a meter away from him, Haru swiftly pulled something from his pocket and threw it directly at the Beast.
It was his custom lighter, and a small flame was burning brightly at the top.
The Beast sensed the approaching source of fire, but because the flame was so much smaller than the torches it had sensed the danger from before, it didn't attempt to dodge. Instead, it continued its trajectory straight toward Haru in rage.
However, even the smallest spark had the potential to ignite flammable materials, let alone the concentrated alcohol drenching the Beast's face. In an instant, as the lighter touched its face, the alcohol caught fire, engulfing the Beast's face in flames.
"GROWLLL!!!!!!!!"
"DIE!!!!" Witnessing the flaming head hurtling towards him, Haru made no attempt to evade the heat. Instead, he swiftly thrust his sword at the Beast's burning head.
Thud! The sword found its mark with precision.
With fire as its weakness, the Beast's face quickly melted, and its bones became too brittle for Haru's sword, which easily pierced through its skull.
With one decisive blow from Haru, the Beast collapsed to the ground, and few yellowish orbs emerged from its body. The largest portion swiftly flew into Haru, while the smaller part went to the others involved in the battle.
[You have killed an Awakened Level 5 Beast, Black Dog! 50 EXP gained!!]
"Ha Ha Ha..." Haru let out heavy breaths as the rush of adrenaline subsided, leaving him exhausted after slaying the beast.
"Is... Is it really over?" Orimura questioned, her voice filled with disbelief after the terrifying encounter.
"Haha... It's dead... you really scared us there..." Yoshida chimed in, as he and the others collapsed on the ground, a mix of exhaustion and relief washing over them.
'It is finally dead... but... why do I still have this uneasy feeling in my heart?' As his heart continued to beat loudly in an anxious rhythm, Haru couldn't shake off the lingering sense of unease.
It was at that moment a cry caught his attention from his left, where Orimura and Aki were located.
"AKI!!!! WATCH OUT!!!!!" Orimura's desperate voice pierced the air, prompting Haru to swiftly turn in their direction.
"!!!" His eyes widened in shock as he witnessed something he never wanted to see.
"H-Haru..." Aki stood there in disbelief beside a window with a hand on her neck which seemed to be bleeding a little from a visible bite mark.
Oops
"Ah you dummy... Why do you always do reckless things by yourself?"
As Haru killed the beast with his daring and somewhat dangerous move, Aki wearily leaned against the wall near an open window. Her heart had been pounding since they encountered the beast, nearly giving out when she saw Haru's near-fatal encounter. But thankfully for her nothing bad happened and Haru emerged victorious.
Feeling a sense of relief that the threat was finally gone, Aki found her face covered in sweat despite the chill in the air. Exhausted from the encounter with the terrifying beast, she struggled to find the energy to move.
As Aki was resting briefly to regain her strength, she was startled by a sudden shout that reached her ears.
"AKI-CHAN!!! WATCH OUT!!!!" Orimura's urgent shout made Aki alert, only to feel a chilling presence behind her.
"Growl..."
"!!" A small growl confirmed her fears, freezing her in place for a moment.
With a surge of panic, she attempted to move away, but the Zombie, incredibly swift, closed in on her from the other side of the window.
"GET AWAY FROM HER!!!!" Orimura's voice rang out as she swung her rod at the Zombie's head, barely away from Aki's neck.
Bang!
The force of Orimura's swing cracked the Zombie's head open, quickly killing it.
But despite the swift action, she was late by a second.
"A-Aki..." Orimura's eyes widened in disbelief as she gazed at Aki, more precisely at her neck.
"E-Eh? W-What?" Aki stammered, unable to believe what had transpired in the mere seconds after Orimura's warning.
"T-This..." Aki's hands trembled as she touched the burning spot on her neck, then brought her hand in front of her, finding it wet with something warm.
"!!" Her entire body quivered as she stared at her hand, noticing drops of her blood tinged with something black.
She attempted to speak, but no words escaped her lips as her body froze.
"Aki!" The people around her looked on in shock and concern, but they took an involuntary step back from her.
Aki felt a mix of shock, despair, and helplessness at the looks they were giving her. But then she turned her frightened gaze toward the one person who mattered most to her.
"H-Haru..." Aki finally opened her mouth, fear and nervousness evident in her eyes as she found him looking at her.
No words emerged from Haru, but his expression was more than enough to convey the shock he was experiencing.
He stood there, his face reflecting the feeling that his world was collapsing around him.
Aki opened her mouth, as if to say something to him in her helplessness, but then she covered it, stopping herself.
'H-Haru... h-help m-me,' Instead she pleaded within her heart.
'I-I don't want to d-die.' Tears leaked from her golden eyes as she thought about the fate that awaited her.
She wanted to cry out for help, but she knew how selfish and hopeless it would be.
"A-Aki/F-Fujiwara," Orimura and Kuga Yoshida looked at her in worry, but the panic and fear hidden in their eyes were visible to Aki.
'T-They are giving me the same look which I gave to Maemura...' Aki bit her lip, feeling all sorts of emotion. But instead of crying for help or despairing at her situation, she did something no one expected.
Giving one last apologetic look toward Haru, whose mind still couldn't process the situation, she decided to run away from them.
She did not want to burden them, and most of all, definitely not him. Just the thought of Haru trying to stop her in a mindless state pained her heart so much that she'd rather die alone, away from them.
"AKI!!! STOP!!!" Haru shouted, as if awakened from a trance, when Aki started sprinting in the direction they had come from.
"I'm sorry, Haru! But I can't…" Aki replied with tears in her eyes.
But the thing she wanted to do didn't happen.
Just a few seconds after she ran away, her body temperature rose sharply, and she felt incredibly weak, causing her to tumble to the ground.
"AKIIII!!!!" Haru's shout came from behind her.
'Why… just why? Why don't things go the way we want them to, Haru?' Aki thought as she felt her eyelids grow heavy and soon fell into slumber. She didn't want to burden him with finishing her off as a Zombie, yet the situation wouldn't allow for anything else.
Haru quickly reached and squatted beside Aki, calling out, "Aki! Wake up! Aki!"
He then looked back with a pale face and urgently asked, "Sensei! Aki is bleeding! She needs help!"
Everyone moved closer toward the duo, but no one said a word.
They just silently stood there feeling helpless and sad.
"Why aren't you helping her? Sensei!" Haru's voice tinged with panic as he raised his voice, seeing Orimura not doing anything.
"Haru-kun... Aki... she..." Orimura had trouble speaking about it. She was truly distressed about Aki's fate, and just looking at Haru's pained expression made it even worse for her.
"W-Why... aren't you saying anything?" Haru once again asked, his quivered voice filled with desperation.
"You bas****!!!" As if he had enough, Kuga Yoshida lifted Haru in anger, regret, and helplessness as he continued, "Can't you understand the situation!? She is bitten! SHE CAN'T BE SAVED!!!"
A light in Haru's eyes seemed lost as he heard him. It wasn't that he did not know what was happening to her. He just wanted to deny the truth.
"Y-Yoshida-kun... I don't think you should..."
"No, Sensei! He has to accept the truth and move on!" Kuga Yoshida turned toward her and spoke.
It was then that Haru spoke up, "Let go of me."
Kuga Yoshida didn't say anything further and let go, noticing a change in Haru's demeanor.
But observing what Haru did next, Kuga couldn't help but ask, "What are you doing?"
Haru did not reply back, and instead he gently lifted the unconscious Aki from the ground and secured her in a piggyback position.
"What the hell are you doing!?" Kuga Yoshida asked again in shock and grasped Haru's shoulder to stop him from leaving.
Haru slowly turned his head back, with his hallow-looking eyes, he replied, "I am leaving with Aki."
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