Halochassis

Chapter 65 - Downpour

The flames consuming the slums brightened the night skies, casting a restless orange glow over the ruined buildings. Thick smoke drifted through the streets, carrying the bitter smell of burning wood, scorched cloth, and ash. In the distance, people screamed and ran through the narrow alleys while the crackling of the fire mixed with the distant sounds of battle.

Risha slowly woke from the commotion surrounding her. Her body felt heavy, and her head throbbed as she tried to understand where she was. She could hear several voices above her, some shouting, others murmuring with excitement. Their words became clearer as her consciousness returned.

“Hey, are you sure it’s okay to do this?”

“The order is to capture this Halochassis wielder, right?”

“Alexander told us to capture her alive. It doesn’t matter if she’s stained or not.”

“Well damn. Let me have a turn too.”

Risha’s stomach twisted at their words.

When her purple eyes finally opened, the first thing she saw was a crowd of male adventurers surrounding her. Dozens of them stood in a loose circle, their shadows stretching across the ground beneath the flickering firelight. Their armor was dirty from the fighting, their weapons still hanging at their sides, but the expressions on their faces made Risha feel far more threatened than any blade could have.

One of them stepped closer and even began lowering his pants.

“Eeek! Get away from meeee!” Risha screamed.

Fear surged through her body, quickly followed by desperate anger. Without thinking, Risha raised her leg and kicked the nearest man directly between the legs with all the strength she could muster.

The impact produced a sickening crunch.

The adventurer collapsed instantly, clutching himself and screaming in agony. Blood splattered onto the dirt beneath him, and several of the men around him recoiled in shock.

Risha did not stay to watch.

She scrambled to her feet and ran.

Her boots scraped against broken stones as she charged through the crowd. An adventurer tried to grab her shoulder, but Risha twisted away and drove her fist into his face. Another reached for her waist, only to receive an elbow to the ribs that sent him stumbling backward. She fought like a cornered animal, striking whatever part of the body she could reach as she desperately searched for a path through the mass of men.

“Whoa, she’s a superwoman!” one of the adventurers exclaimed, staring in amazement.

He barely even glanced at the injured man writhing on the ground.

“Hey, never mind that!” another shouted. “She’s escaping!”

Risha pushed forward, her breathing growing ragged. Her heart hammered against her chest so violently that she could hear it beneath the surrounding screams. Her legs burned as she tried to put as much distance between herself and the men as possible.

Then a bright magical glow flashed from behind her.

“Magic Chain!”

A chain of glowing energy shot through the air and wrapped tightly around Risha’s right arm. Before she could react, another loop caught her left arm, dragging both of them backward. A third chain snapped around her neck.

“Ack!”

Risha gasped as the magical chain tightened.

Her feet stumbled beneath her, and she fell to her knees. The glowing links pressed against her skin while the one around her throat squeezed her windpipe. Every breath became shallow and painful. She clawed desperately at the chain, but her fingers could not find a way to break the magical restraints.

She coughed and struggled for air.

“Get her!”

The adventurers immediately began rushing toward her again.

Risha’s eyes widened as their hands reached for her. Fingers brushed against her arms, her shoulders, and her clothes. The unwanted contact made her skin crawl. Fear, disgust, and helpless anger twisted together inside her as she struggled against the chains.

“Hold her down!”

“Hey, don’t forget to tie up her feet,” one adventurer joked. “She can kick like Sleipnir. Hahaha!”

The laughter around her sounded distant and distorted.

Risha trembled.

Her strength was leaving her.

No matter how violently she struggled, the chains would not break. No matter how many men she struck, there were always more surrounding her. Smoke stung her eyes, ash clung to her hair, and tears began spilling down her cheeks as she realized she could no longer fight her way out.

This was hopeless.

“Father...” she whispered through trembling lips.

Her vision became blurry.

“Adzeel... Shin... Help me...”

The prayer barely escaped her throat.

But deep down, Risha already knew that nobody was coming.

Her father was imprisoned. Adzeel was nowhere to be seen, and after everything that had happened, he was probably captured as well. Maybe he was already lying somewhere beneath the burning ruins, never to wake again.

And Shin...

Risha squeezed her eyes shut.

Why did she always cling to the idea that Shin would save her?

Why did she keep believing that he would somehow appear whenever she was in danger?

He was not here.

None of them were here.

The chains around her neck tightened again, and Risha could barely breathe. Her body went weak, and she stopped struggling. She lowered her head, tears dripping onto the dirt beneath her.

Perhaps this was the end.

With her eyes closed, Risha tried to accept the fate that awaited her, no matter how terrifying and irredeemable it felt. The noise around her seemed to fade beneath the pounding of her heartbeat.

Then she heard something different.

A child’s voice.

“Let Big Sis Risha go!”

Risha’s eyes snapped open.

Through the gaps between the adventurers, she saw a small figure rushing toward them.

It was a twelve-year-old boy she had seen countless times around the slums. His clothes were worn and covered in soot, and his bare feet were stained with dirt. In his trembling hand was a rusty knife that looked far too small to be considered a proper weapon.

But the boy charged anyway.

He stabbed the nearest adventurer in the knee.

“Gah!”

The man screamed and dropped instantly.

The boy pulled the rusty blade free and stabbed another adventurer in the leg before lunging toward a third. Then, with all the reckless courage of a child who had stopped thinking about his own safety, he drove the knife straight between the man’s legs.

“AHHHHH!”

The adventurer collapsed with a scream.

Risha stared in disbelief.

The terrified boy stood between her and the men, gripping the bloody, rust-covered knife with both hands.

He was shaking. But he did not run.

“Big Sis Risha...” he said, his voice trembling. “I won’t let them hurt you.”

“Ricky!?” Risha cried, her voice cracking with disbelief.

“Get out of here, Big Sis Risha! I got this!” the kid shouted. His small hands tightened around the knife as he lunged at another adventurer. He stabbed wildly, driving the blade into the legs and sides of as many male adventurers as he could reach. Blood sprayed across the burning ground, mixing with the soot and ash that drifted through the air. His face was twisted with fear, but he kept attacking anyway, refusing to let them get closer to Risha.

“Argh, damn it!” the mage who had cast the Magic Chains spell screamed as Ricky's knife plunged into his knee. The mage collapsed with a cry of pain, his concentration instantly broken. The glowing chains wrapped around Risha flickered violently before shattering into fragments of blue light. The magical bindings disappeared, leaving Risha's bruised wrists and arms free.

Risha immediately stumbled forward and started running. Her legs were barely able to support her, and every step sent another wave of pain through her battered body. The smoke from the burning slums scratched against her throat, making every breath harsh and shallow. She managed to take several steps before something inside her made her look back.

Ricky was surrounded.

The adventurers had stopped chasing Risha and were now ganging up on the boy. Their boots scraped against the dirt and broken stones as they closed in from every direction.

“Damn this kid! Take this!” one adventurer roared.

His fist slammed into Ricky's face with a sickening impact. The kid fell hard onto the ground, his knife slipping from his fingers and clattering against the debris. Before he could even recover, another adventurer kicked him in the stomach. Another stomped on his back. Then another boot came down against his face.

“Stop!” Risha screamed.

But her voice was drowned out by the chaos of the burning slums.

The adventurers continued their assault. Boots struck flesh again and again. Ricky's screams quickly became weak, then disappeared beneath the roar of flames and the shouting of the surrounding adventurers. Blood soaked into the dirt beneath him while the beating continued until his small body was nothing more than a mangled mass of bones and flesh.

“No!” Risha cried.

Her entire body trembled as she stared at what remained of Ricky. Her chest tightened, and tears burned in her eyes as the horrible realization settled inside her. That kid had died because he had tried to save her.

She wanted to go back.

She wanted to kill every single one of them.

But her body refused to cooperate. Her legs were trembling, her muscles were exhausted, and the pain from her wounds was becoming almost unbearable. If she stayed, Ricky's sacrifice would mean nothing. If she allowed herself to be captured, then the kid would have died for absolutely nothing.

Risha clenched her teeth and forced herself to turn away.

“I’m sorry…”

With tears running down her cheeks, she started running again.

“Hey, that woman is escaping!” one of the adventurers shouted.

“She’s getting away!”

“After her!”

Several adventurers immediately gave chase. Their footsteps thundered behind Risha as she staggered through the burning streets. She ran and ran despite her limp legs and battered body, nearly falling several times as she pushed herself forward. Every breath felt like it was scraping her lungs raw. The heat from the surrounding fires pressed against her skin, while smoke blurred her vision and made her eyes sting.

Risha tried to activate the Halochassis glove.

Nothing happened.

She looked down at the device attached to her arm. The metal was scorched and cracked, its surface blackened by the battle. The glove seemed almost fused to her flesh, with burnt material clinging painfully to her skin. Sparks occasionally flickered from the damaged mechanisms before disappearing.

“Come on…”

She tried again.

Still nothing.

Her strength was gone. Her body was too damaged, and the Halochassis itself was barely functioning. She could not fight anymore. She could not defend herself against an entire group of adventurers.

All she could do was run.

But she had already been spotted.

High above the burning streets, a woman sniper stood inside a slums watchtower. The flames below illuminated her rifle as she calmly tracked Risha through the smoke. Her eyes followed the pink-haired woman as she stumbled between burning buildings, unaware that a crosshair had settled over her head.

The sniper pulled the trigger.

BANG!

The gunshot cracked through the night.

Risha's head snapped backward.

The bullet tore through the upper portion of her head, ripping through her pink hair and scalp before exploding through bone and brain. Blood sprayed into the air, mixing with fragments of skull and tissue as her body continued moving for one brief, unnatural moment.

Then her legs gave out.

Risha collapsed face-first onto the burning street.

Her body landed heavily among the ash and broken stones. Her pink hair slowly became stained with red as smoke drifted over her motionless form.

Risha was dead.

The adventurers eventually caught up and stopped when they saw her body lying several meters ahead. For a moment, none of them said anything. They simply stared at the corpse, their expressions changing from excitement to horror.

“Argh, damn it! Why did that fucker kill her!?” one adventurer shouted, grabbing his hair in frustration.

“There’s no way I’m going to fuck a dead body, especially with an exposed brain in it!” another said, his face twisting in disgust as he looked away.

“We’re fucked! Alexander told us to capture her alive! What should we do now!?”

Nobody answered immediately. The distant crackling of burning houses filled the silence between them.

“Let’s just tell him that the Halochassis wielder fought back!” one adventurer finally said. “And tell him that we had no choice but to neutralize her!”

“I think it’s better to leave her as she is and play as if we did not know what happened to her,” another said nervously. “Just in case.”

“That’s right.”

The group exchanged uneasy looks before slowly backing away from Risha's corpse. None of them wanted to touch her anymore. None wanted to take responsibility for what had happened.

In the end, they decided it was safer to pretend they had never seen her die.

The adventurers turned away from the corpse and began dispersing through the burning streets. Their footsteps gradually faded beneath the crackling flames and distant screams. One by one, they disappeared into the smoke, leaving Risha's body behind among the ruins.

Soon, the adventurers exited the burning slums.

Risha remained where she had fallen, surrounded by fire, ash, and the remains of the people she had desperately tried to protect.

And then, rain started to pour from the darkened skies, drowning the ransacked slums of Luminous City beneath a sudden downpour. Heavy drops hammered against broken rooftops, overturned carts, and the muddy streets, slowly extinguishing the flames that had consumed the district. Steam and smoke rose from the burning remains of the houses, filling the air with the bitter smell of ash and wet wood. The puddles around Risha’s dead body rippled with every drop, soaking her bloodstained clothes and washing streaks of dirt from her pale skin. But then, something strange happened. As the cold rain splashed against her body, the puddles around her began to smoke. Thin white wisps curled upward from her clothes, and a faint orange glow slowly spread beneath her skin. The warmth grew stronger, pushing back against the cold rain until her entire body was illuminated by a deep, flaming light.

The orange radiance pulsed once, then twice, like the beating of a heart. The wounds covering Risha’s body began to close, her torn flesh knitting itself back together as the strange power flowed through her. Bruises faded. Blood disappeared from her skin. Even the injuries that should have left her dead were erased as though they had never existed. Then, with one sudden gasp, Risha’s chest rose sharply. She sucked in a desperate breath of cold, wet air and immediately coughed, her lungs struggling to remember how to breathe. Her fingers twitched against the muddy ground before she slowly pushed herself upright, trembling from exhaustion and confusion.

She sat in a shallow puddle, her clothes completely soaked as rainwater dripped from her hair and ran down her face. Her breathing was rough and uneven, and every movement sent a dull ache through her body. She looked around, trying to understand what had happened. Darkness surrounded her. The fires that had once illuminated the slums had mostly been reduced to smoking embers, leaving only a few stubborn flames flickering from the ruins of damaged buildings. Their orange light reflected weakly across the rain-covered streets before being swallowed by the darkness. The smell of smoke, wet ash, blood, and burned metal lingered heavily in the air.

There were no adventurers left.

Risha slowly stood up. Her legs nearly gave out beneath her, but she managed to steady herself. She looked down at her right arm and felt a sharp, throbbing pain. The Halochassis gauntlet was still there, its metal surface blackened and scorched from the battle. Parts of it had burned directly into her flesh, making every movement feel as though the metal was digging deeper into her arm. She gritted her teeth and held the injured limb close to her chest, but she did not stop. She simply began walking.

She had no destination in mind. Her feet moved on their own, carrying her through the ruined streets as the rain continued to fall around her. Mud clung to her boots, and cold water seeped through her clothes. Every step felt heavier than the last. She passed burned houses, shattered stalls, discarded weapons, and pieces of armor left behind by the adventurers. She barely looked at any of them. Her mind was elsewhere, trapped in the memory of what had happened.

She continued walking until the ruined slums slowly gave way to the central business district of Luminous City. The streets there were quieter, though the distant sound of rain still echoed between the buildings. Risha eventually stopped in front of a certain house. She stared at the door for several seconds, gathering what little strength she had left, before raising her trembling hand.

Knock.

Knock.

Knock.

The sound was soft beneath the roar of the rain, but someone inside heard it. After a moment, the door opened, revealing a familiar face framed by black hair and crimson eyes.

It was Shin.

His expression immediately changed when he saw her standing there, soaked from head to toe and barely able to remain upright. His crimson eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at the woman he thought he might never see again.

“Risha?”

Risha's lips trembled. She lowered her gaze, unable to meet his eyes for long.

“I couldn’t save him,” she mumbled.

Her voice was barely audible beneath the rain.

With shaking fingers, Risha reached for the Halochassis glove attached to her right arm. She winced as she pulled at the burned metal, the pain shooting through her arm. The gauntlet finally came loose with a harsh metallic sound, leaving behind a damaged, reddened arm. She barely had time to look at it before the weight of everything that had happened finally overwhelmed her.

Risha stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Shin.

For a moment, she remained completely still.

Then she broke down.

She buried her face against his chest and cried, her body shaking violently as the tears finally came. Shin could feel her trembling through her soaked clothes as she clung to him with what little strength she had left. Outside, the rain continued pounding against the streets and rooftops, washing away the last traces of the flames in the slums.

But Risha's sobs were louder than the rain.

She cried as hard as the downpour itself, finally allowing herself to grieve for the person she had failed to save.