For I Am A Side Character - 135: Even Still...

Insanity is defined as repeating something over and over again, expecting for something to change…

I’ve read this quote once in a poster about Albert Einstein. It spoke to the idea of how God doesn’t play dice and that Albert Einstein himself didn’t believe in the world’s inherent unpredictability…

He was right in ways I could never understand.

God doesn’t play dice…

He has everything set out for the world to roll over in certain ways. He controls everything. From how the dice lands and what number it sets…

But to a point of his ambitions, I was brought here…

An irregularity that is not determined by God’s own set of controlled dice.

To my understanding, as of now…God is playing dice, and in no way is he in any control of its outcome.

‘Dear lord…I leave my life in your hands today.’

And even to my fears, I leave my hopes to God.

And from this prayer, I brought out the very essence of my own spirit as a warrior and I attracted the eye of the demon himself.

“…” in the silence of my moment, I brought out my intentions towards the demon.

And all to our honest expressions, we quickly acted upon our ambitions.

Without saying anything, a dashed in at the speed of light.

Bursting with power, I came close to him and manifested two short blades on hand. Both made from the same material as my own flesh. Void Metal.

Thrusting them forward, the demon came about and countered my attack perfectly.

“Khk!” he pushed me back and to it, he thrusted his own two bladed hands forward.

I could see it in his eye…he wanted to finally finish me off.

But right before he could, Sgt. O’riley appeared from the above and stopped the Demon.

He thrusted his spear down on the Demon’s skull, but to this attempt, he struggled.

‘Damn! It’s harder than I imagined.’ he thought as he could see the tip of his spear only passing through it’s flesh and nothing more.

The bones of this demon was much tougher than he could imagine. The skull was something he could not penetrate.

But even so, his interference came about a chance for me to attack back.

Feeling this luck come about, I positioned myself quickly in a stabbing motion. I buried my foot down to the ground, increasing the anchor of my body and from it, I conjured Heaven’s Rift in both blades.

Without grunting, I gritted my teeth hard and I stabbed the demon with all available strength I had on me. Silently but violent to its extreme, I looked at the demon’s eye with the evil ddesire to kill it.

The demon took all the force of my strength and from it, he was pushed back down to the farthest destination. For kilometers on end, the demon had no way of stopping my attack.

But it left me heavily burdened by the attack I made.

“Haa….haa….haa…fuck.” I was breathing heavily.

The drawback of using the Heaven’s Rift in my condition was more heavy than I could have imagined.

And from my use of those skills, the cracks in my body only expanded more.

“Are you okay?” asked Sgt. O’riley as he looked to me with worried eyes.

“…I’m fine.” I said as I tried catching my breath.

“Do you think that was enough to take down that demon?” he asked.

“I…I doubt it.” as I said this, I soon came to notice the others walk near me.

“Your body…it’s cracking?” said Cloni Suvack as he witnessed the effects of overusing and stacking Dominion’s Overload on my body.

“Don’t worry…I’m going to end this before my life is taken.”

And as I said this, shock was only placed in their faces.

As of now, I wasn’t bothered by the idea of losing my life…I was more bothered by the idea of not finishing this demon’s life.

“Your name…what’s your name boy?” asked Thoran as he grabbed me by the shoulder.

“…Why do you want to know?” I asked.

“Why else? I am simply curious.” he said as he slowly tightens his hand on my shoulder, giving a sort of threat towards me.

Feeling his power, I simply responded, by flicking away his hand.

*THUD!*

And from that simple flick, his entire hand was pushed back at a strong force.

“Khk!” he struggled a bit, but he remained standing. Leaving only a numbing sensation on his hand. If I hadn’t controlled my strength, I could have easily broke his entire arm…

“…Mind your fucking business.” I said in a calm but threatening manner.

“…” and from this threat, he scoffed and walked away. He knew immediately that I could easily take him down.

“…S-Soril, tell us, who is that demon? and why is he after you?” asked Audrey as she asked in a frightened expression.

“From my guess, I’m sure a few people must have attacked the base camp right?” I asked.

“No, it was just one person. But he had an ability that disabled our ability to move…but we were able to escape his skill thanks to Jessica.” said Audrey.

“I see…”

‘Hmm, it must have been one of the members of the fallen seat. I’m glad their safe…’ I thought.

“I can’t tell you much, but all I know is that the demon that’s attacking me right now is apart of the same group as the man who attacked the base camp.”

“But what are they after?” asked Cloni.

“…” Conner who was the furthest away from me, listened.

“…Who knows. But this bastard won’t sit idle until he kills annd anyone near this forest…after that, he might still go on a rampage.”

And from my words, I dashed in forward to where the demon was in a light sprint.

They were shocked by my sudden disappearance, but right after, the demon came passing by the dust and debris and met me halfway.

We both clashed in weapons.

But in the instant we met, our stalemate didn’t even last a second before he started pushing me back.

‘Fuck!’ I cussed as I was instantly overpowered yet again.

“Let’s go!” said Sgt. O’riley as he moved forward to try and assist again.

The others followed and with it, they quickly circled the demon and me on the spot.

As I tried to keep him in place, soon after Audrey came to attack first, but right before she could swing her sword, Cloni came about and pulled her away before she could swing her sword.

“W-what?” Audrey was surprised.

But right at the sliver moment, the demon reached one of his bladed hands towards Audrey, she tried blocking with her sword, while Cloni was pulling her back. But all to easily, her sword was shattered and the blade stabbed Audrey on the abdomen.

But thanks to Cloni’s quick instinct in pulling her away, the blade was not deep enough to gravely injure her.

“G-get that wound healed or else!” I shouted while keeping my place right in front of the Demon.

“Go and tend to your wound. Have Miss Sera and the Boy heal you!” said Cloni as it was his responsibility to watch over the grand daughter of the black rose guild.

“…” Looking at bit surprised, soon Audrey felt an intense burn on her cut.

This was the effect of the demonic blade as it was heavily toxic.

Despite her efforts to try and move, she couldn’t. She didn’t have as much of a pain tolerance as the rest were. She was instantly affected more grievously.

And because of this, she screamed in pain.

“AAAHHH!!!” she couldn’t help but struggle all alone.

Conner who was near her, soon acted and pulled her away from the fight. He gave her to John and he ordered John.

“John, prioritize healing her or else things might go worse for her.” he said.

“I’m on it.” said John.

“Let me help.” said Ms. Seraphena as she aided in helping heal Audrey.

Having returned, Conner witnessed the progress of the fight in such a little time.

Thoran Stonefist, Sgt O’riley and I were holding ourselves back against the demon.

We tried attacking at all sides, planning as we moved from place to place…looking for a blind spot, but we could not.

I’ve already used all the skills I’ve learned in the house of shadows.

The Enlightened Domain to match my instincts in trying to overcome the demon.

The Emissary Steps of the Ghost to match him in the asset of speed.

The Ethereal Will of the Dark to help me maintain my sanity against the demon.

And most of all the Body of the Dark to which was slowly cracking and weakening.

Nothing was left…

Each skill was being overcome by the demon.

As the fight dragged on, soon, our numbers were declining.

The first one to fall was Conner who was kicked directly in the chest and was thrown to the side of a tree. After that, he didn’t have the strength to stand back up again.

The second one to fall was Thoran whose chest was slashed diagonally by the bladed hands of the demon. What came after that was the toxicity of the demonic energy seeping into the fatal wound. Thoran could only keep himself breathing and nothing else.

The third one to fall was Cloni who received a full body smash straight into the ground. His entire body was crushed and I couldn’t determine whether or not he was still alive.

And lastly, Sgt O’riley. He had lost his arm and leg…putting him away. The demon was about to end him right on the spot, but Miss Sera came from above and provided support. While she distracted the demon, John came by and pulled Sgt. O’riley away from the fight.

Soon, the others were also pulled away by John alone who acted as our medic.

Miss Sera provided only five minutes of distractions before finally, she had lost all her mana.

Right as she did, the demon came about and tried cutting her in one slash, but I arrived and received it instead.

“Gaahh!!” blood came and gushed out of my body…

And now…here it was.

As I was kneeling with my wound open for the demon to see, the demon smiled.

In my last efforts, I wanted them to run away. At least that way, they could survive.

“Get out of here…all of you!” as I yelled, the demon raised its legs and crushed me down to the ground.

“Ghaaa!!” I spread as little by little, I could hear my bones starting to break.

“…” the demon said nothing else….it only watched me as I struggled to breath.

“…W-what are you waiting for?” I asked as I nervously smiled at his eager expresion.

“Hontō ni tsuyoi ne…” said the demon.

And from it, I suddenly realized.

This demon was speaking japanese…

Tsuyoi…the word for strong.

Was this bastard recognizing my strength?

That can’t be…

And in that moment, the demon raises its hand over to my chest…

I was feeling it…the coming of my end.

After all my efforts, this was all that I could achieve in this life…

And in an ironic twist, I felt a funny bone inside me start to rise.

“haha….hahaha…hahahahaha…” and with my laugh, tears started to fall.

I couldn’t understand it.

Despite the fact that my life was about to end, all I could do was laugh and cry…

And in return, my laugh affected the demon.

“Hahahahahahaha” the demon laughed with me.

And from it, he plunges down his hand.

In but a moment, I closed my eyes…

In my last moment, it wasn’t all bad…

I laughed…and for some reason, that made me feel better.

“…”

*Thud!*

Out of nowhere, a gust of wind blew away my tears…

And from it, I felt the weight on my chest be lifted.

“…” when I opened my eyes, I couldn’t believe it.

With his broad back facing me, I recognized those muscles all to well…

“B-brother?”

“Don’t go crying on me…that will undoubtedly make you less of a man. Take your tears back.” he said in his coarse voice.

“…Why are you here?” as I asked, I soon noticed that the demon was nowhere to be found.

“You’re girl came to the house knocking.”

“…Jessica?” as I turned my head, I soon noticed that Jessica had opened a portal, and from it, she was assisting John and the rest of the injured into the portal to escape the forest.

“…I’m sorry. I couldn’t do my job right.” I said.

“Don’t apologize. A job is a job…and If the little brother can’t manage it, it’s only natural that the elder brother take his place and cleans up his mess.” as he said this, he turned his way to me and he smiled.

A smile that was both reassuring and confident.

“…”

“Right now, with how strong the enemy is, its finally time I let all out.”

It was here that I realized…

My brother was going to use the gates of the Shadows…

I’ve never once seen it before…I was never allowed…

Only when I’ve learned the basic could I learn, but here in this battle, my brother was going to reveal the strength of the house of shadows.