Irium

Chapter 23

It has been a while since the Frost Requiem happened. Since we were getting tired of waiting, I and Danny decided to head towards where Roswaisa is. But then, we hear a commotion. A buzz being made by the crowd attracts our attention.

"A lady just got stabbed through the back!"

"A woman in fancy clothes was stabbed by something!"

"Another woman did the killing!"

"What was the thing that she stabbed her with anyway?"

And accompanied by that is obviously "What the h.e.l.l is going on?"-cliché. However, this isn"t something we can devote our time to. As we look at each other for confirmation on the same subject, we nod to each other and start running towards where the crowd seems to be gathering. Whatever has happened, it"s not pretty, and we can just hope it"s not what we think it is. To find out if it is or not though, we keep running. Or at least, we intended to keep running, but get stopped by something, something that feels awry … and dark.

We can feel all our senses. We can breathe, look, smell, hear, feel and probably even talk. However, we can"t move. It"s like we are both Senku Ishigamis from Dr. Stone, turned a statue but our mind still works. And in this state, we can only gawk as we see the Demoness, Aknin Vielos, flying in the air with her black wings spread wide and flapping occasionally. She, with her right hand, seems to be carrying the body of some woman with red hair. It"s not hard to guess who that woman is.

When Aknin had flown far enough for her to not be easily visible, we become able to move once again.

"What the heck!?" I say in agitation and confusion.

"Something that powerful is probably her Special Ability." Danny says as he too finds himself in the same state as me.

Others around us, however, start going about their business like they would be as if nothing happened at all. Even the crowd that had gathered on the road starts to dissipate and look to be in confusion of why they even gathered at that place. They even start considering the charred road and sidewalks as well as buildings, normal, to the point that if they somehow fall down because of some uneven land that wasn"t like that before, they given an expression that says, "Why did I trip on that? I go through here every day and never trip on that."

It"s like they have accepted all that happened just now as normal. Or, they forgot about it all? I look at Danny and he looks at me. We both seem to have reached the same conclusion and so the only thing we can do is run in the direction Aknin was headed in.

*****

"Agh!" A painful moan escapes my mouth as I get stabbed in my stomach for the seventh time.

"I gave you an option to die an easy death, but you refused." Aknin Vielos says in a voice filled with contempt as she raises her hand with her fingernail outstretched and,

"AAGHH!!!" I moan again in pain because of the eighth stab.

"I even went so far as to explain to you everything so you don"t have to die in ignorance, but you refused." She continues in the same voice.


"AGHH!" Another stab, another moan escapes my lips.

"I was willing to kill you with respect, something I rarely show to anyone but Rain, but you refused." Same voice, same actions are performed by her again.

"AAAAGGGHHH!!!" Another stab, this makes it 10. Now there are 10 holes in my stomach. And believe me when I say that even a m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.t would not be enjoying this, and I"m not even one.

"And on top of all that, you used an ability like that one on me!? For what reason, did you think it would kill me? Who do you think I am, woman?" her voice grows in contempt and becomes agitated as well. "If that"s the case, then I will kill you like a demon would. I will remind you why our race lives in h.e.l.l."

She raises her arms yet again but instead of stabbing me with her fingernails again, she draws back her fingernails to what its usual length is (which is not more than the normal length for any woman) and then turns her hand into a fist.

"NOW SEE h.e.l.l!!!" she yells and pounces on me.

"AAHH!!!"

She does so again,

"AAAAAHHHH!!!"

And again,

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!"

And again,

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!"

And again. And it continues on and on and on.

*****

After searching for about two hours separately, I and Danny both reach at the same point. We reach at a park that is by the river and is not used by anybody because of being old. Furthermore, it is present in an area that is old and deserted itself. There, we see a familiar looking red-haired Angel lying on the ground covered in blood. We run to her and find that she indeed is Roswaisa. Realizing that though,

"Oh G.o.d no!" Danny exclaims as he falls to his feet and looks at the Angel"s stomach that has 10 different holes in them. But that"s not enough, her clothes are torn and her whole body has cut marks that blood is coming out from and her face looks beaten-up as h.e.l.l.

As I stare at such a horrible sight, I realize something. "This happened because of my plan."

It really did. This happened because the both of them followed my plan. Now, for whatever reason that Demoness has left before killing me, she has left Roswaisa to die a painful death that is undoubtedly a murder on my hands as much as it is on Aknin Vielos". No, to be honest, I am more of a murderer than she is.

"U-U-Ugh!" and suddenly, rekindling our hope, a voice escapes Roswaisa"s lips.

"Roswaisa, you"re …" Danny says as she tries to check her pulse but,

"I … love you … too!" She says with a smile, a smile all three of us know to be a facade.

So at the end of the day, she decided to lie to keep my heart, the heart of the man who lied to her to the end.

I love you too.

That lie, said for the sake of comfort, becomes the last of her words as her face turns right in a way that shows it has now become no more than a lifeless object.

The Emerald Angel Roswaisa dies.

*****

© 2024 www.topnovel.cc