CHAPTER 67— Rune island aftermath
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
The Chimeras were constantly smashing themselves on the elemental barriers. Each impact sent tremors shivering through the protective dome, the barriers were flickering like a dying candle.
The students inside were pushed to their absolute limits, sweat carving paths through the grime on their face. Students were struggling, their mana reserves were almost empty, at this rate the barrier will eventually collapse.
Behind the front lines Ashwin was standing breathing steadily and controllably. Beside him, Kaizen was still supporting him, his eyes darted between the failing barrier and the chaos erupting in the rear.
Near the back, Seraphine was a whirlwind of unrestrained fury. Her Crimson Club members were struggling to hold her back, trying to calm her down and stop her from trying to burn Ashwin.
Well... Not that he payed it any attention.
Ashwin didn't even glance her way. His gaze was fixed on the cave's maw, kaizen was beside him, his voice a low, raspy drawl as he spoke to the empty air.
"What is the guy doing? you said you had sent him there to deal with the dark mage."
"He shouldn't take much time, the dark mage is already exhausted afterall."
They both just stared at the hoared of Chimeras smashing themselves on the barriers.
THUD!
But then—
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
The Chimeras who were smashing themselves at the barrier slowly started collapsing on their own.
Their eyes that were shining purple just moments ago was gone. leaving them looking like nothing more than hollow, discarded husks. They slumped to the ground, heavy and lifeless.
Within seconds, a thick, acrid black smoke began to pour out from their orifices, and their bodies dissolved into nothingness.
The students stared at the disappearing Chimeras and instantly cancelled their barriers.
"Wooh..."
"Huff..."
"Hahh..."
Everyone let out a breath of relief simultaneously.
"Took him long enough."
Ashwin muttered the barrier was slowly undone and then at some distance what greeted the students was the view of two figures.
One was laying on the ground lifelessly and the other was standing beside it holding an axe looking down at the lifeless figure.
"Rowan!"
Ritvik and Sarina were the first to move, their voices cutting through the heavy air as they sprinted toward him.
The other students also started walking towards the two figures.
---
Rowan's eyes were wide sweat covered his face, his breathing was heavy as he stared at Seris's dead body. The burned flesh and blood of the shoulder the way the bone was visible beneath the burned muscles. The diagonal wound around his chest. And the eyes that had lost their light.
Rowan quickly covered his mouth in panick. His breathing was unnaturally heavy. His chest heaving up and down violently.
The world around him seems to go blank as Rowan collapsed on his knees. Head lowered, staring at the ground. His eyes were glacy with slight tears, his pupils seems to go red from Panick.
'Did i...'
The thought screamed through his mind, drowning out the ambient noise of the cavern. It was a jagged, piercing realization that tore through his sanity
'Did i just... Killed a person?'
The concept felt alien, a violation of everything he had been taught to believe about his own soul.
The thought of him killing a person, taking someone's life away.
It was scaring him more than any Chimera or ghost. Killing a person, he has never ever had a thought like that in all his life but here, he had just killed someone.
Agghhh...
A soft whimper escaped his lips.
Pat!
Suddenly a hand came to rest on his head. But Rowan's mind was too occupied to care who it was.
"Took you long enough but... Good job."
Ashwin's voice was casual, a stark, jarring contrast to the carnage. Rowan blinked, the words sinking in with the weight of lead.
'Good job? What do you mean... I just killed a person how is that— Good?'
Ashwin turned and started moving towards Seris dead body.
His last words seems to struck in Rowan's mind.
Rowan's mind doesn't seem to understand the logic behind those words. Rather, it kept repeating the memory of when Rowan's attack finally struck Seris and the way Seris met his end.
"Rowan!"
"Rowan!!"
Ritvik and Sarina reached him, their hands gripping his shoulders,
"Hey Rowan! Are you okay?"
"What happened! Why are you acting like this?"
Their faces etched with genuine concern. But their voices sounded as if they were coming from underwater.
Both shook him in concern calling his name asking if he was okay. but there words doesn't seem to reach him.
Rowan felt paralyzed, his ears ringing with the phantom sound of bone snapping.
He stared at the cold, unforgiving stone of the cave floor, his world narrowing down to a single, agonizing point of focus.
He felt like throwing up. To vomit and atleast let some of the guilt he feels out with it, but... He can't, he can't seem to be able to even do that.
It was like the knot around his throat was blocking him from even vomiting. To even let him throw up some of this unusual feeling that he doesn't wanna keep inside him.
"Rowan!"
"Rowan!"
"Rowan!"
"Rowan!"
His friends were calling him but he can't seem to hear them as if his ears are refusing to hear any of their calls.
They kept calling him... But Rowan kept his head low staring at the cold stone floor of the cave. Their voices were unable to reach him.
Rrrrrrrip!!!!
Rowan's eyes flickred, because Finally a sound reached his ears, it snapped him back from his thoughts.
But the sound that reached his ear was the sound of something being ripped off.
Rowan looked up his eyes following the direction of the sound. But what greeted him at the sight shook his very soul.
His eyes widened to their absolutely limits to the point that it looked any more then this and his eyes will spill out. His jaw dropped completely.
Standing there at the sight of Seris body was Ashwin.
Ashwin was standing over the remains of Seris. He had one boot planted firmly on the dead mage's chest, a stance of absolute, cold-blooded dominance. In his hand, raised toward the flickering light like a trophy, was a glowing, pulsating orb—the mana core. Seris mana core.
Seris's Blood, the dark red viscous blood dripped from Ashwin's fingers, splattering onto the floor like droplets of water.
"Hah," Ashwin chuckled, observing the core with the same detached interest one might show a rare coin. "This will do nicely in my wand."
Seeing that spectacle, Rowan froze like a statue.
The casual cruelty of the act was the final blow. The weight of the world, the horror of the kill, and the terrifying indifference of those around him converged.
Thud!
Rowan's vision went black. His legs gave out, and he collapsed, sliding onto the cold stone floor, utterly consumed by the darkness.
"Rowan!"
"Rowan!"
The screams of his friends faded into nothingness.
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CHAPTER ENDS