Gravity seemed to do its work too quickly; Gene felt something pressing her down.
Inevitably, that was the presence of a god.
And she wasn't the only one to suspect that.
"…"
Enver looked up at the sky from his hiding place; it was him. Amina's brother, the resetter of this world.
Apparently, they had been found in the worst possible situation.
But of course Gene wouldn't allow his friends to suffer any more because of that, so in a desperate attempt to keep that god away, he used all his mana to close the portal.
"AAH!" She started bleeding from the nose, all the mana shot out of her body, but it wasn't enough, she could barely move the edges of the portal. "M-More…"
So she recited a spell that didn't consume mana, but it did consume the soul. "Witches' Gathering: Walpurgis Night!" Everything came to a standstill; the true magic of all witches...a spell created from the desperation of a single witch, was now being used by another desperate witch.
Behind her appeared a wolf; her familiar animal.
The giant wolf encircled her with its long body; mana emanated from it, an endless mana, but the more she used, the faster it would consume her soul. That was the purpose of a familiar after all, to see their master die, and to lead them to hell.
"I'm a witch..." Gene's voice came out weak, it was weak, blood was trickling from her eyes and mouth now, then she clenched her teeth. "I am the witch who devoured her own teacher! Her own classmates! The witch who still wants to redeem herself for it…" The wolf opened its eyes; the gaze of death itself was upon her right now. "…Genesis!"
Genesis, the beginning, and now, ironically, to pronounce her name at her end...is quite funny.
Although it didn't last long, it consumed all the mana her soul could gather; her soul was extinguished, and her body exploded from the mana overload, but in the sky, for the first time the crimson color of the sky disappeared when the mana beam reached the hole in the sky, revealing the blue color of the sky.
The portal closed, taking with it the pollution that caused the reddish color in the sky; the new color change made the habitants, for the first time, look at the sky not as a symbol of fear, but hope.
Has the sky always been like this?
***
The sound of a whip cracked along the path, managing to stop the light that was approaching the mountain top. "Stop right there!" Karmen landed right behind that person, but stopped when she recognized not only the clothes they were wearing, but also their face. "…Mandeleine?"
The aforementioned man got up from the ground; his face was partially consumed by worms, but his almost skeletal face was still identifiable.
Karmen vaguely remembered Mandeleine; they had seen each other occasionally when she was still a member of the Rosicrucians. She never spoke to him, never showed him any admiration for being the most famous exorcist of all.
Why? No, it wasn't because of shyness.
Mandeleine was never seen to enjoy what he did; Karmen also felt that infidelity, and decided to leave the sect, an easy solution; however, Mandeleine did not make that same decision.
"Mr. Joakim seems like someone difficult to deal with."
That time, that first time they spoke formally after four years of knowing each other...was something surprising for Karmen.
"Once you live with him...he is even more benevolent than Randy."
Even if it was a short conversation, he could notice the change in Mandeleine's face upon hearing those words. Not in a smile, but in...melancholy.
"Randy…" And he never finished his sentence.
"Randy?"
He never explained what he meant that time. Not to her, nor to the few people he spoke to.
So his death was more than a critical blow for her, it was...a complete shock. Who would want to assassinate Mandeleine? The poor man lived such a pathetic life that even he didn't have the will of messing with someone. Mandeleine was pathetic in terms of living.
«It's more likely to have been suicide than murder...»
That's what Karmen thought.
"…Mandeleine…" So seeing him alive, even if flesh was falling off his body...it didn't matter. "What happened to you?" She wanted to understand a little about the best exorcist in the world, the true enigma in this puzzle called life.
"…"
But it was already too late.
They both knew it.
"Karmen!" Joakim's shout snapped her out of her trance, and immediately Mandeleine ran back to the rose at the top. "Don't let him reach the rose!"
"Yes, sir!" Time had run out, they were no longer allies, now they were enemies. "Mandeleine, wait! You don't have to do this!" She stretched out her whip and managed to entangle it around Mandeleine's torso, pulling him back. "Randy is just using you!"
Joakim landed behind Karmen, and then quickly went towards the rose, but some threads tied themselves around his ankle, making him fall; they were Mandeleine's threads.
"Fuck…" Joakim drew his sword, but when he tried to cut Mandeleine's thread, a glow came from it; his sword could not cut pure magic. "Damn it!"
Then Mandeleine turned into a light again, pulling Joakim with him.
"Commander!" Karmen ran after them.
But Mandeleine reached the top first, returning to his normal form, and placed his hands on the rose.
Joakim crawled off the ground due to Mandeleine's speed, almost falling off the cliff. "Ugh!" He managed to stop by burying his sword in the ground. "Mandeleine, stop!"
But Mandeleine used what little remained of his mana to create a shield for the rose. Mandeleine's right hand was entangled with Karmen's whip, pulling his wrist to the side to prevent him from creating the shield.
"Stop! Listen to us!" Karmen said, as she watched Joakim get up again and run towards the rose with his sword in hand.
Mandeleine didn't look at Karmen; instead, seeing Joakim approach, he created threads around the rose. When the sword blade collided with the threads, it caused an explosion that sent all three of them flying.
Karmen managed to use her whip to hold onto Mandeleine's torso, while Mandeleine held onto his threads, but Joakim was thrown off the cliff.
"Commander!" Karmen said, on the ground, bringing her whip back to her, but just as she was about to throw herself at Joakim...she knew he wouldn't want that. "…" One of the rules of the Third Round Sect was 'no' to sentimentality.
Whenever a member died, everyone honored them, yet no one wept.
Everyone outside the sect sees them as narcissistic, or cruel. People who only care about themselves and power.
But Karmen has seen firsthand that her colleagues don't cry for the losses, because they already have a leader who cries for them.
That's the job of a leader after all, isn't it?
So why didn't Randy Bornman cry when Mandeleine died? "…" Slowly, Karmen turned to look at Mandeleine, and instead of rushing to capture her sect leader, she knew that she first had to take care of not only uprooting that rose, but also of Mandeleine too. "Perhaps the Commander cannot pierce your magic...but I can."
Karmen shook her whip once more, the whip becoming enveloped in a golden glow, similar to Mandeleine's, and began lashing it across his hands to keep him from using a spell.
Mandeleine, however, tried to approach, and while Karmen slowed him down with her whippings, she used her other hand to pierce the threads that wrapped the rose.
"Stop."
But Mandeleine's voice made her turn to look at him.
His voice sounded defeated; if his face were complete, Karmen would bet that Mandeleine looked tired, even discouraged.
Suddenly, she stopped her incessant whipping to look at him. "…Mandeleine…" She frowned. "What happened to you?"
Mandeleine kept his gaze on the ground; it was a bad habit of his, Karmen always saw him look away whenever he spoke to others outside of working hours. He was shy, insecure, and almost always hidden behind Randy.
Even now, does Mandeleine consider this something that is not part of his job? Is he himself aware of what is happening?
"…I have a promise with Randy. I'm sorry." That's what he murmured, opening the palm of his hand, threads emerging that moved like roots in the direction of Karmen. "My weakness cannot be justified if I do not obey him..."
"Weakness?" Karmen's authoritative voice made Mandeleine look at her.
«Ah, It's true...» Mandeleine thought. «So that's where we were so different.»
"You're the best exorcist in the world. And you were the best sect vice-leader, so why are you hesitating now that you're my enemy?"
Mandeleine's eyes widened. Yes, he knew they were enemies, but...he didn't want to be her enemy, and now she...was encouraging him to be her enemy? "What?"
"If you're as confident in maintaining your loyalty to your leader as I am with mine..." In her other hand she held the rose they had been searching for, she managed to get it first. "…Fight, and show me why even now after death, you are strong enough to fight for your leader."
And behind Karmen, the sky cleared; a blue sky that, for Mandeleine, was the moment when all his insecurity disappeared.
Of course, he was the one who decided to serve Randy even unto death, so why was he hesitating so much? She was his enemy.
"Karmen…" And then he smiled, if he could cry, he would already be crying. "…I'll kill you, okay?"
***
Randy looked at the new versions of Anser and Ji Noo.
"…" Then, he smiled. "Kill me?" Just as he was about to snap his fingers, Elmetron threw his dagger at Randy's head, who was able to dodge it in time.
"Don't even think about it…" Elmetron said, and then the dagger returned to his hand. "We're bounty hunters, do you think we care if you're a god in this version?"
Ji Noo opened his eyes, so that was it...in that version, they were bounty hunters, that explained their rivalry, but nevertheless, the fact that they are now working together against the same enemy.
"Bounty hunters?" Randy repeated, then looked up at the sky. "Your time is running out, dear bounty hunters…" And then, he looked at them, with a confident smile. "I doubt that even you two can attack me."
But both had already disappeared.
Randy turned to the side, managing to catch Elmetron's dagger and stop it with one finger. "Vulpecula: Moon's Reflection!" But Elmetron's body suddenly disappeared, and several Elmetrons appeared around Randy; all possessing their respective mana from the original, it was impossible to identify him by mana.
But Randy knew they must be just an illusion, until one of them cut off a lock of his hair and another cut his shoulder; they were all real. "…!"
I quickly dodged all the Elmetrons; they all fell to the ground, turning to dust. Randy took a long leap to try and find them, but Anser Ciro appeared behind him.
Anser's sword pierced Randy's shoulder, making him disappear and reappear elsewhere, clutching his shoulder, but he had no time to rest, as Elmetron approached Randy from amidst the shadows, and he plunged his dagger into his back.
"Always making the same mistake...Bornman…" Elmetron laughed, then lunged at Randy, this time to try to strangle him, but Randy managed to dodge.
Anser ran towards Randy, but Randy managed to stop him in time, slapping him and throwing him to where Ji Noo was watching the fight.
"Ow!" When Anser fell on top of Ji Noo, Ji Noo noticed that this Anser was taller and even more muscular than his own Anser. "W-Wow…"
It was a shame that this was the first thing Ji Noo noticed.
Anser got off of Ji Noo and ran back towards Randy, taking advantage of the fact that Elmetron was about to attack him head-on.
Randy dodged both Elmetron in front of him and Anser behind him, sprinting through the air to enter an abandoned house to hide. Anser and Elmetron collided head-on, Elmetron throwing a punch at Anser that was meant for Randy, and Anser stabbing his sword into Elmetron's stomach.
They both fell to the ground, and immediately, Ji Noo ran towards them. "Y-You two!"
Elmetron pulled Anser's sword from his stomach, visibly annoyed, as his wound regenerated. "You stupid idiot! Couldn't you see that I was going to be the one to attack him?!" He said this, and then used Anser's sword to bury it in his shoulder, causing Anser to remain on the ground. "Stay out of my way!" And then, he went to the house where Randy had hidden.
Anser frowned and clenched his teeth, angry. "You…" He unearthed his sword from his shoulder and stood up, but just as he was about to leave following Randy, Ji Noo stepped on his coat to stop him.
"Wait!" Anser turned to look at him, completely angry. So quickly, Ji Noo offered him a regeneration potion that Liam had given them. "Drink a little! It's not good if you're hurt...and…if you're going to kill Randy you must not be hurt..."
Anser looked at him, silently. "…" Then, he surprisingly gently took the potion from Ji Noo's hand, using only two fingers while Ji Noo needed her entire hand to hold the bottle. He took a small sip, and when he saw the blood stop, he looked at Ji Noo. "…" And he returned the potion to Ji Noo.
"You are welcome..." Ji Noo said, taking a step back, just in case…
Anser looked at it for a while longer, until he noticed that the portal was beginning to close. "…" Anser frowned, noticing that his body was beginning to disappear. "Ten seconds!"
Suddenly, Elmetron shot out of the house, managed to land next to Anser, and then looked at him. "Huh? I was just about to catch him!" Then he stood up. "Never mind, this guy seems to be stubborn…"
"Vulpecula: Moon Song!"
"As always, avoiding conversations...pathetic."
Anser raised his sword to the sky, and then thrust it towards where Elmetron had been shot; he brought down that house and the others behind it.
An overwhelming power, which made Randy emerge from the rubble and land in the house next door before being touched by the cut.
And then, the portal closed.
Both Elmetron and Anser disappeared.
"…"
Ji Noo looked at the mess with a frown; that Anser had monstrous power. But what surprised him most...It was that the crimson sky of that world had dissipated.
The sky cleared, and the sun, which had always been thought to be extinct, was there, shining.
It was a beautiful sight, after those months locked up in that hell.
And it wasn't Ji Noo who thought that, it was Randy.
He looked up at the sky, observing that new color.
«Is this what it looked like...all this time?»
Then, as his wounds healed, he smiled, before removing the dagger that Elmetron had buried in his back, looking at it in his hand. "What a horrible surprise…" And then, he threw the dagger towards where Ji Noo was.
Ji Noo put his hand to the dagger, stopping. "Huh?" But he soon realized, he was an Elmetron too.
Or perhaps it was because of Ji Noo's lack of mana that the dagger was unable to detect Ji Noo as a living being.
Ji Noo took the dagger, then looked at Randy. "You were very worried when they showed up, weren't you?" And then, he smiled. "That makes me feel relieved, I won't lie…it suddenly gives me the confidence that I can kill you!"
But those words only served to anger Randy.
"…You?" He was a god, an all-powerful being, so what was wrong with this foreigner speaking to him like that when just a few minutes ago he was trembling with fear after having made Renato disappear? "Don't make me laugh. You're able to say that because you know Anser is coming to try and kill me, right?" Then, he climbed down from the roof where he was, and walked slowly towards Ji Noo. "You're lucky Anser wants to get his hands dirty with blood so you don't have to...and you? With princess-like hands…don't be so arrogant now, princess."
Ji Noo swallowed, but continued pointing the dagger at Randy.
"I can kill you, even without him here."
"You can't." Randy raised his hand, and that same glow from before appeared, to replicate the same spell he used on Renato before.
Slash!
But Astral arrived in time; slicing Randy's palm in two and forcing him to retreat.
A déjà vu!
Anser was standing in front of Ji Noo, looking annoyed. "Don't even think about it. Randy Bornman."
Ji Noo looked at him, surprised. "Anser!"
However, Randy didn't seem surprised; his hand regenerated, and then he started laughing. "Do you see it?" He said, laughing. "I was right…" Then, the floor beneath both of them shone. "Stay together, as you both want so much..."
The floor disappeared, causing them both to fall through, and then the hole was sealed with new flooring. Randy then put his hand on the ground. "Pure Energy: Heartbeats." The ground suddenly began to tremble, while the almost desperate sword blows could be heard as they tried to break the place where they were standing.
"You made some very cowardly moves today, Randy."
The intrusive voice made him turn around immediately; although, with the mere presence of it, he knew; it was Enver. "…" Randy narrowed his eyes, then forced a smile onto his face. "You're the idiot who killed my Sherly, aren't you?"
"We're even, you killed Ellie."
And Randy's smile disappeared.
A giant tentacle emerged from behind Randy, holding Anser and Ji Noo in it, before dropping them onto the roof of one of the houses.
"I didn't do it, you're taking unjustified revenge on an innocent person like me." Randy said it, though he said it more with a mocking tone. Because, by this point, it was obvious that Randy was many things, but innocent was not.
"Enver!" Anser and Ji Noo both said, surprised, upon seeing him.
Enver, on the other hand, looked at them with his arms crossed. "It's best if you leave here, things are going to get rough."
Randy looked at them both, about to raise his hand to attack, when a thick poison surrounded him, obscuring his vision, but at the same time, causing his skin to burn.
Randy floated up to the sky, only to realize that Anser and Ji Noo were no longer on that rooftop, and yet the poison was still spreading.
"…" Randy remembered something; he remembered the poison that covered La vie en Rose that day. "So, that was you…" He murmured. He didn't know where Enver was because of the poison, but he knew he was listening. "I figured that poison belonged to a demon...but not to a hybrid like you. Although I must say, it's surprising that you can create so much poison despite not being a full demon."
And then, a tentacle wrapped around his ankle. Randy immediately brushed it aside with a beam of light, but in return, the leather of his boot and his skin were corroded.
"I stopped worrying about whether I was human or demon centuries ago, Randy..." Enver appeared behind Randy, levitating thanks to his tentacles lifting him up. "The first time I lost my humanity was when you killed my brother Lahn," Randy slowly turned to look at him. "The second time was when you killed Ellie...and the third time..." His gaze fell upon one of his tentacles. "…It was July 14th."
And suddenly, behind him, his tentacles shot out at full speed to reach Randy. Randy knew how deadly it would be to even be touched by them and how slow his regeneration would be. So he moved through the sky, dodging the tentacles, while Enver moved gracefully using his tentacles, never losing sight of Randy for a single second.
The more tentacles Randy cut with his light beams, the more poison seemed to emanate from the tentacles.
While dodging, Randy bumped his back into something resembling an invisible wall. "…!" He turned around and noticed that the poison wasn't actually spreading throughout the entire city, but only to that part of the southern city where they were. "Hm…"
He placed his hand on the invisible wall, a glow beginning to appear.
"…" And with a smile, Randy knew that the fact that there was a wall preventing them both from leaving meant that there was something Enver was afraid of...the fear of losing what was left of his humanity. "Such a liar…"
But a tentacle caught him, pulling him away from the wall to prevent him from removing the barrier, and then throwing him into the thick poison below them.
The poison dissipated from the blow, revealing the mark of the tentacle that had grabbed him; undoing his robe and revealing his skin; skin covered in scars, which Randy immediately tried to cover with his hand, but Enver had already seen it.
"You can't deny now that it was you who murdered my family...that body full of scars is only carried by the man who brought forward his own birth just to secure his future."
Randy looked at him, with a serious expression, then smiled, and instead of continuing to hide his body, he removed the remainder of his destroyed robe, revealing his scarred chest. "Can't a god be his own creator?"
Enver snorted, retracting his tentacles again, and walked towards him. "Is your plan working? Even now, do you think you'll win after taking away not only from me...but from everyone a part of this story we deserved, just so you could have it all?"
"None of you deserve what this story has in store," Then he walked in circles, looking at Enver. "You should thank me for having made the sacrifice of carrying the weight of this story. Do you want to carry the entire burden of this mess? Haven't you seen how much this story has taken from me? Do you want to live through that?"
"Pain is just a means to achieve strength," He said, with a cold look. "I lost a lot, even when I was excluded from this story, so...really...are you carrying the weight of this whole story as you say?"
Randy stopped, silent, looking at him with a serious face. "Are you questioning me?"
Enver kept pacing around Randy. "Are you lying?"
They both knew they were doing exactly what the other was asking.
"…As I've gone through the timelines of my life, this story has changed, but I've always been there to witness each and every one of them." He smiled. "And in none of them do you exist, so your being here...isn't that just another mistake in this story? Just like those tracking demons?"
"There will always be mistakes, just as you made the mistake of trying to create your own story based on your experience."
"Is there anything wrong with wanting to be happy?"
"You don't want to be happy," He stopped, turning to look at him. "You had more than one chance to be happy, and look at you now, if you really wanted to be happy, you wouldn't be here."
Randy looked at him, and his smile completely disappeared. "You got me." Then, he managed to catch Enver's neck in his hand and lifted him up, while a golden light appeared from his other hand.
"Pure energy is useless to a hybrid being like me."
"I know," And then, in the light, a dark glow appeared, both shining in unison. "Counteracting Energy: Swallow." And he put his hand on Enver's chest, and then began to put his hand inside his chest.
Enver opened his eyes, surprised. He knew Randy would try to take his heart, so he pulled venomous tentacles from the hole, melting Randy's hand in an instant, forcing him to retreat.
Enver grabbed his neck; at first, he was impressed, but far from that impression...there was concern. "Did you make a deal with a demon?" That was the first thing he asked. "Do you know what will happen to you...as a being of pure energy?"
Randy's hand regenerated, and then he looked at Enver. "Yes."
And the answer was terrifying; a man who wasn't afraid of the harsh consequences of making a deal with a demon...in exchange for achieving his goal was...terrifying.
"I don't care, I can reincarnate."
«Is that his justification?»
That's what Enver thought.
Although, surely Enver had more things to worry about now that he decided to give Anser more time.
There were still three hours until sunset...
***
"Huh! Look at that!" July 14's voice caught Frederick's attention, both of them still continuing to fight. "The sky changed color!"
Frederick looked up at the sky; it was true.
"…"
"Eh? You don't seem impressed!"
"It's just a color, what could it mean?" He said, shooting a man behind him in the head. "To tell the truth, I had already gotten used to red."
"I know you're really happy!" He said July 14, throwing a fireball at a group of men. "Perhaps that means Gene managed to cast his spell, right?"
Frederick stopped; for a moment he had forgotten that Gene and Liam had left for that reason. "I don't think so."
Once the enemies were gone, July 14 turned to look at him. "Eh?"
"It was just a few minutes ago that we saw the lights pass by, and yet they kept coming; if I had really succeeded...they would have already fled." That's what Frederick said.
July 14 thought for a moment, then scratched his head.
"Ah! What if something happened to them?!" He said, terrified, then went to Frederick and grabbed him by the arms, then shook him. "What will we do?! What will we do?!"
Frederick slapped July 14, calming him down. "Listen, you idiot...If you continue with that attitude, it will be us who get killed." Then, he started walking towards where they had both fled. "Desperation is the worst weapon to use right now. Stay calm, and let's find them."
July 14 looked at him, touching his red cheek, then ran to go after Frederick. "I'm calm now! Don't leave me here, human!"