The calm, steady wind seeped through the cracks in the walls, carrying away the strong smell of blood and rotting plants that filled the room. Even the formidable leader, with her fierce spirit, showed a look of disgust at the smell and the sight before her.
On one side, a heroine who had already released the shattered wall, ready for combat with her plants at the ready. On the other side, a man who had shrunk down, wearing a tutu and heels, his black outfit perfectly suited for battle.
*Crack*
Wooden stakes erupted from the ground, beginning the attack. The man merely extended his hand, but hesitated for a moment. After all, his conscience told him to conjure his unreliable book, but his instinct told him to conjure his equally unreliable magic staff shaped like a cat's paw.
"What the hell is this fight?" he thought quickly before feeling the pain in his legs
* ¡Zas! *
A sharp stake hissed as it cleanly slashed across her legs, revealing hairy legs beneath her stockings. Simultaneously, a magic staff, shaped like a cat's paw, materialized in her hand, ready for retaliation.
--Those stockings don't suit you! -- the plant woman shouted at the man.
--You'll pay for that! -- he yelled back, before stopping again.
"Because it bothers me when he insults my clothes," she thought quickly. Extending her staff, the magic gathered, and balls of energy shot out, ready to kill her opponent, who looked terrified at the prospect of her imminent death.
*Boom* as she hit the walls behind her, which, curiously, didn't break.
Before she could even get her feet in position, dozens of charged balls attacked her with great ferocity. Then, her branches erupted, creating a barrier around her, but it didn't last long.
*Crack*
The branches snapped violently, and all she could do was shield herself to withstand the impact that never came; her enemy had stopped.
"It hurts," Arthur thought quickly as his legs trembled violently. It wasn't that he had stopped out of mercy or anything like that; his Sunqu Magic felt like fire and was very slowly beginning to burn away his other organs.
--Luck is on my side -- the heroine exclaimed happily upon seeing her rival so exhausted.
The footsteps sounded like pronouncements in Arthur's ears; the burning sensation had already spread throughout his chest, leaving him drenched in sweat, and for the first time, he missed the voice in his head.
His arm trembling, he forced himself to press to his chest, only to feel it literally burning. Hot, orange lines erupted from where his Sunqu Magic should have been; using so much energy had exhausted him.
--Last words -- the heroine said, her eyes unwavering, to Arthur. Looking at his executioner, who regarded him the way his father had, like trash a painful reminder of his past. He felt the energy in the heroine's hand preparing to execute him.
It was then that his body forgot the pain, and gathering all his energy in his free hand, he unleashed it all in a single blow, like a waterfall. All the energy was expelled with force.
*Boom*
Slammed against the wall, she saw him. The air around Arthur crackled with energy, and only one word flashed through her mind at the sight:
"Disgusting!" Flora, the heroine, screamed in her mind as she watched the energy coursing through the air.
With her arm shattered and head bowed, she looked into Flora's eyes, cold eyes, ready to kill her. Then she realized the tables had turned. She had become the weakest in the room, and for a brief, almost fleeting moment, she felt fear.
At least until Arthur's nose started bleeding profusely, and he collapsed to the floor like a rag doll.
"I'm going to die," Arthur thought quickly as he watched his vision fall. "I don't want to die."
"I don't want to, I don't want to, I don't want to, I don't want to, I don't want to, I don't want to, I don't want to, I don't want to, I don't want to!" Her mind screamed in terror at her fall, her brain, which she had long wished would be empty, now filled her with dread.
With an unstoppable screech, he felt his arms and legs spasm, along with his chest burning with a heavy cold, a unique sensation of someone about to die.
Even so, he forced himself to lift his head to look one last time, as if trying to burn the final moments of his life into his retinas. Sadly, boots blocked that view.
A hero had arrived to stop the noise in the room.
--Rank 14 Hero, Shadow -- the hero spoke calmly, not even caring about the person behind him.
--Hey, woman, could you shut up? -- the Shadow hero said without the slightest respect. After all, he was a hero.
*Inside Arthur's mind*
What is energy, and why can only Sunqu Magic control it? the young hero wondered, and a book appeared before him.
[The Eyes That Look into the Past]
What a strange name for a book, he thought before opening it. But only blank pages appeared before him.
What am I supposed to be doing here, or even what is a hero supposed to do? he thought as he turned the book over, as if trying to find answers to his situation.
What should I…
*/A letter falls into Arthur's hands/*
A smile spread across his face as he saw his friend/enemy had returned, but it was followed only by his funereal silence.
Then he remembered what he had said, and a letter actually appeared in his hands.
What followed was a rapid shift in his expression from joy to sorrow; the letter was something that had scarred him, something he didn't want to remember.
The only time he hated trusting his best friend's words.
"I'm fine," his friend's last words before he found him hanging in his room, next to this suicide note.
Because I shouldn't have even been a hero, because I shouldn't have even felt excited about being a hero, believing in such a vague dream, because I shouldn't have even cried at my father's grave.
It was then that Arthur cried not only for his father's death, but for all the times he hadn't cried.