With only five lives left for Heracles, from any perspective, Charlie held the advantage. Victory seemed within reach.
Inevitably, Charlie thought he was close to triumph, and his tense nerves began to relax—a fatal mistake only an exhausted fighter could make.
"ROAAARRRRR!!!"
With a resounding roar, Heracles charged again. Each heavy step shook the earth, and his speed rivaled a racecar, closing the distance in instantly.
"Huuu… Come on!"
Charlie tried to shake off his mental fatigue.
*ZINGGGG!*
Terminus Est glowed with silver energy as Mana Burst activated. He prepared for another frontal clash, relying on the Holy Sword and his enhancements to defeat Heracles.
But this time, he misread his opponent's intent.
"…!!!"
Suddenly, his Mind's Eye screamed in his head, warning of a far greater danger than anticipated.
(Oh no! I need to dodge!)
Too late. Heracles already in striking range, didn't swing his Sword-Axe for a powerful slash. Instead, his stance shifted, and the aura around him changed drastically.
This wasn't a normal attack. It was his second Noble Phantasm: Nine Lives: The Shooting Hundred Heads!
In a single breath, Heracles unleashed nine impossibly fast strikes!
*SWISH!* *SWISH!* *SWISH!*
*PU-CHI!* *PU-CHI!* *PU-CHI!*
The sounds of blades cutting air and flesh tearing echoed almost simultaneously. Even with Six Eyes and Mind's Eye, Charlie couldn't track every strike's path. He twisted, dodged, and blocked, but the nine attacks came from impossible angles, covering all escape routes.
The result was brutal and horrific.
In a series of sharp, rapid pains, Charlie felt both arms severed from his body. Then both legs. A deep horizontal slash tore open his abdomen, spilling pink and purple entrails.
The final strike aimed for his neck, only slicing halfway through flesh and muscle because he tilted his head at the last second, exposing white cervical bone beneath torn skin. Had he not instinctively tilted his head in that final moment, his head would have been severed.
At the same time, behind Charlie, the ground was gouged by the sharp winds from the nine slashes, carving trenches dozens of meters long, splitting the ruins behind him.
*THUD!*
With all four limbs severed and horrific wounds in his abdomen and neck, his mangled body collapsed to the ground. Severed body parts lay scattered in pools of blood.
"…"
Charlie tried to speak, to use Dia Fratel, but no words came due to his severely damaged trachea.
His vision blurred. The world around him slowly lost color and sound. A strange coldness spread from his missing fingertips, creeping through his body.
(Is this the end? Will I die here?)
Charlie felt his life slowly ebbing with the blood pooling around him. If not for the extraordinary vitality of a Level 5 Adventurer sustaining him, an ordinary person would have died instantly from such wounds.
"ROAAARRRRR!"
Darkness began to cloud his vision. Heracles' approaching roar sounded faint, as if from the end of a long tunnel.
Raising his Sword-Axe high, Heracles prepared a fatal strike, intent on finishing his helpless foe.
*RUMBLE!*
Suddenly, the battlefield shook violently, forming a massive hand of earth and shattered concrete.
Caught off guard by a third party's intervention, Heracles failed to react. His massive body was gripped tightly by the earthen hand and hurled far from the battle site with tremendous force.
*WHOOSH!*
"Charlie!!!"
The third party was Aishia. From a distance, she had been watching the fight. Seeing Charlie dying before her eyes, she could no longer stand by. Manipulating the earth with Spirit Art, she saved her contractor in the final seconds.
"How horrific…"
In Aishia's arms, the survivor girl stared in horror at Charlie's gruesome injuries.
"Stay here."
Gently setting the girl down, Aishia's usually stoic expression cracked with fear and anxiety as she approached Charlie, lying helpless in his own blood.
"Aishia! Save Onii-chan!"
Est's panicked, shrill voice echoed in Aishia's mind as she picked up Charlie's right arm.
"No need to remind me. I won't let Charlie die."
Worried Heracles might return at any moment, Aishia had no time to calm Est. She gathered Charlie's severed limbs—left arm, right leg, left leg—and reattached them to their proper places.
Ignoring her blood-soaked hands, Aishia carefully pushed Charlie's spilled intestines and organs back into his open abdomen.
"Dia Fratel!"
Intense pure white light enveloped Charlie's body.
Under this high-level healing magic, severed tissues began reconnecting visibly. Blood vessels, muscles, nerves, and bones crawled and fused.
The abdominal wound closed, leaving only a pink scar that quickly faded. The flesh and muscle on his neck healed, covering the exposed bone.
"Amazing… It's a miracle!"
The survivor girl couldn't help but exclaim in awe, her eyes wide at the near-impossible scene.
"Cough… Cough… I'm still alive?"
Spitting out the last of the clotted blood, Charlie sat up weakly, feeling the warmth of life return after his near-death experience.
"Charlie! Thank goodness you didn't die!"
Usually quiet and composed, Aishia couldn't contain her emotions. She threw herself into Charlie's arms, hugging him tightly as if afraid to lose him again.
"Sorry for worrying you, Aishia, Est."
With a hoarse voice, Charlie stroked Aishia's soft, silky hair with his newly reattached right hand. His other hand gently patted Terminus Est's hilt.
"Onii-chan promised he wouldn't die to me. If you break that promise, I won't forgive you."
Est's greatest fear was her contractor's death. She didn't want to feel loss a second time.
"Heracles is coming. Aishia, take the girl away."
"No. I want to stay by your side and fight with you."
Aishia clung to him tightly. For the first time, she openly defied Charlie's order. The near-loss of Charlie had left deep trauma in her.
Charlie sighed softly. He gently released Aishia's embrace and looked at her with soft yet firm eyes.
"Aishia, I understand how you feel. But you have to go. If you're here, I'll worry about the girl. I can't focus on fighting."
He met Aishia's tear-filled eyes.
"Trust me. I've learned from my mistake. I won't be reckless again."
"…"
Aishia stared at him for what felt like a long time, conflict visible in her eyes. Finally, she nodded slowly, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Alright… But promise me, Charlie. Promise me you won't die."
"I promise."
With a heavy heart, Aishia stood and turned to the survivor girl. She gave Charlie one last meaningful look before taking the girl away from the battlefield, leaving Charlie to face Heracles alone once more.