Chapter 281: Sorry
It was hard for me to feel despair... that pure feeling of helplessness, that no matter what I did I wouldn’t make it, that everything was already over, but my stubbornness refuses it.
I always refused to give up until the very end... even when I knew there was no point in raising my sword.
It was my way of life.
And now?
Standing on the beautiful sand, the whisper of the waves echoed behind me in a tune that soothed the mind, and in front of me the leaves danced with the cool night breeze along the edge of the rainforest.
I was late to notice the faint distortion in the space around me... it was barely noticeable, a slight shimmer in the air shaped like a dome covering part of the beach... just like the air ripples above a fire.
I stared at my severed wrist, my vivid red blood dripping onto the white sand, over the spot where my cut-off hand lay, and with it the storage ring.
I was far too late.
I should’ve pulled the crystal out of my ring the moment I found myself on the beach, dozens of kilometers from the fortress, from every ally and everything that could save me.
Now I was staring at one of the supervisors, a man I’d barely seen face to face, I don’t even know his name, and I couldn’t even remember his features... only the glow of his soul that had been hovering around me these past days.
Then there, coming out from between the trees, was another man who’d reached Transcendence... unlike the first, he was younger, and the air around him was more relaxed.
He had a sculpted face, his wood-brown hair combed to the side, and small-framed glasses resting on the bridge of his nose... even in this situation, with his hands in his pockets, he reminded me of those scientists from the lab.
His clinical gaze pierced through the lenses as it stared at me, dissecting me like I was just a live experiment.
"Hmm?... why does he look like this? Can’t you see he’s about to die?" His voice was cold and indifferent as he asked the supervisor, coming closer with unhurried steps.
The other shrugged with a neutral expression. "He got hurt in a fight days ago, and his condition looked like it was getting worse... I wanted to speed things up, but I didn’t get a chance until now, this won’t affect anything, right?"
The stranger took a deep breath. "No, I don’t think so, I mean his soul is still in his body and that’s enough..."
"Maybe... hmm—" he added, putting his hand under his chin, holding back whatever was about to come out of his mouth.
My essence was already surging, closing the wound on my wrist and rebuilding my hand at a staggering speed, which caught the man with the glasses by surprise. "Oh... this is more interesting when you see it up close."
I opened my mouth weakly, as a sword of raw essence formed in my other hand.
"W— who are you?" Even though I tried to stay calm to understand the situation, my shaky voice said otherwise.
The bespectacled stranger shook his head mockingly. "Wrong question, you should be asking what we want, before who we are."
Maybe he was right, but my exhausted mind couldn’t put together the right thoughts about what I should do, let alone questions.
That’s when the supervisor turned to his partner, a frown forming on his face. "Stop wasting time with the kid, we have to hurry before they realize he’s missing, and that I’m gone, this barrier won’t hide us from their eyes forever."
The young man clicked his tongue and waved a hand in front of the supervisor’s face with contempt. "Of course, of course... you people have no objectivity at all, just do this and that, finish this, th—"
I took a painful breath, and the moment the supervisor and the stranger turned their attention away from me, I didn’t waste the chance.
I forced my broken body to respond, even though I could barely make out my surroundings.
I reached out with my already-regenerating hand, my newly formed fingers grabbing my severed limb on the ground... I planned to get the storage ring and run, pull out the crystal Alicia gave me and break it... then I might survive.
It was the only way... no matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t fight two Rank 5s for even a moment.
So, when my skinless fingers touched my severed hand, I gripped it tight, my leg muscles tensing, ready to launch myself away from here... to escape with every bit of strength I had.
"Huh?"
My body refused to run... my foot didn’t move.
I looked down, to where my legs were supposed to be on the sand... but they weren’t, one of them was missing, still standing upright where it had been, cut cleanly from my body.
Suddenly losing a limb threw off my balance and I dropped to my knees... the pain rose from my wrist again, that’s when I realized my hand had been cut off again, two of them now lying on the ground, one gripping the other in a nauseating sight, and the shadow rippling in front of me.
"It’d be better if you just stopped and sat still, it’ll save you some pain." The man with the glasses was already standing in front of me, just inches away, filling my field of vision.
I gripped the essence blade in my other hand, clenching my jaw. "Fuck you, y—" My voice was rough, hollow and loaded with hatred... pure hatred.
With every ounce of strength I had, I swung the sword at his neck, it was close, just a little more.
A glowing arc formed in the air, before the sand scattered in a storm from my attack... but.
But the stranger didn’t budge, only two of his fingers stood between my sword and his neck, stopping it effortlessly, without a scratch on his perfect skin.
My grip tightened... or what was left of it.
I didn’t even try to regenerate my other hand, I pushed all my essence to form in front of my severed wrist into a small star, ready to blow everything I had all at once, but the shadow beneath me rippled, rising like something alive and smothering the essence I’d gathered, snuffing it out like a candle flame in the wind.
I felt something go out deep inside me.
From the shadow the moon cast in front of me, dark spikes shot out, thick and sharp... one sank into my right thigh and another into my left, until it came out the other side.
A blade like a sickle rose from the shadow and passed through my outstretched arm with ease, the essence blade faded as my hand fell into the sand... and with it, the stranger lowered his fingers as he took his other hand out of his pocket.
Two more spikes of shadow pierced both my shoulders.
"Aghh!" A pained grunt froze in my dry throat.
The pain dulled, as if my mind refused to believe what was happening.
A fifth spike shot into my chest, piercing it and coming out of my back, avoiding my vital organs.
My shoulders slackened and dropped, crimson lines streamed down the dark needles and my body slumped weakly forward, the spike in my chest sinking deeper.
The warmth went out of what was left of my limbs, my heart pounded in my ears and an immeasurable weight came down on my chest.
My head dropped, all I could see through the fog was the boots of the two men standing in front of me, their voices sounding distant, as if coming from behind countless walls.
"Stop playing around now and finish it."
"Tsk, do you feel sorry for him... this won’t end his suffering, it’ll—"
"Doesn’t matter, just get on with it."
My throat tightened, refusing to form a single word.
No... not like this.
I raised my head with indescribable effort, a shiver running over my dying body as I stared at the thing in the stranger’s hands.
It was a dagger... a dark, curved dagger, its narrow surface covered in letters I didn’t recognize and couldn’t understand.
Each of them seemed made of pure darkness, pulsing with an ominous aura that sent cold into the depths of my wounded soul and warped existence itself around them.
When the man gripped the handle and brought the edge to my chest, right over my heart... I realized.
There was no way out, no plan... nothing.
My essence had been smothered and snuffed out like a candle under the supervisor’s shadow; all my limbs were gone except my right leg... I’d bled until my heart started failing.
But I didn’t feel the pain... even that cold fire deep in my chest didn’t hurt anymore.
I’m going to die.
The dagger’s blade tore through my armor and started sinking slowly into my chest... everything was slow, as if the time of the living world had abandoned me.
The falling leaves, the mouths of the two men in front of me saying something I could no longer hear, even the pulse of the ancient letters on the blade grew slower.
But why?... I didn’t want to die... not like this.
I felt heat behind my eyes, I don’t know when, but warm lines were running down my face... am I crying?
I thought I’d always been ready to die... I was wrong.
I thought that in my last moments I’d remember my hatred, my desire to wipe out the Void System... I thought I’d grieve because I couldn’t make it happen.
But I didn’t.
I didn’t even think about the two men in front of me... but something else... something brighter.
Voices from the past that I loved hearing, laughter, annoyed sighs and scolding.
Certain faces flashed in my vision... faces I’d memorized and loved looking at.
Someone whose presence I never managed to appreciate, someone I never thanked properly... even though deep down I was always ignoring that pressing feeling toward her.
Someone whose presence around me I enjoyed, even though I denied it like an idiot... but I loved it.
Why am I such an idiot, why didn’t I see what was right in front of my eyes... why?
I caught the dagger disappearing inside my chest, an ominous aura bursting into a storm of darkness.
I— I wanted more time... so much more.
I’m— sorry.