*DRIP*
*DRIP* *DRIP*
A murky red liquid flows outward..
Into the scorched earth around it..
Making a puddle before anyone could notice..
Drops became bigger and bigger until..
*GUHAA*
A wave of blood spurts out from different parts of the body..
Likening it to a broken dam..
It just keeps going and going..
And then, the body drops..
Whose body?
Of course, the armored old man..
What, you thought I would be ripped apart for a second there?
I"m really not trustworthy am I?
Anyway, to explain in simple terms on what happened..
The old man had tenacity, I"ll give him that..
He made it to my range before I could react..
And that"s saying something..
But while he was using his claws adorned with pale blue flames straight at me..
I noticed it..
It was only a minor detail but..
That moment, I found its weakness..
I didn"t even know if it could work that time..
But I was going to die if I didn"t make that gamble..
What I found strange was his movements..
There was no preliminary movements..
There wasn"t even technique behind his strike..
He purely attacked me with just raw power and speed..
Not that there"s anything wrong with that of course..
But in all the years I watched the old man..
I never saw him forsake his technique for pure power..
Because what he always told me was..
{"Power alone cannot make you strong"}
Of course I never did understand what he meant..
Until now..
Because I noticed his blaring weakness..
I knew he had forsaken all defensive methods..
All for making his attack much more stronger..
Thus, I drew a conclusion..
When he invoked what he called [Full Armament]..
He couldn"t control himself..
The armored knight was just a pure being condensed with wrathful flames..
No emotions..
No techniques..
An empty sh.e.l.l..
Which is why I used one of the techniques of the [Purgatory Style] against it..
One where I redirected his focus on one spot and sidestepped at the same moment..
This technique was very effective against those who believed in their power the most..
The [Flow Step] was its name..
But I never thought I would have needed to use it against the old man..
Speaking of the old man..
He is now lying on his chest breathing heavily..
The armor broke and conflagurated into the atmosphere when it separated from the host..
The state he is in is horrible..
Literally dozens of swords are piercing his whole backside..
Those swords were my aura swords of course..
Slowly they were disappearing into particles..
And gathering into my core..
By core, I mean my [Aura Core]..
It"s a pa.s.sive skill when I use [Aura Convergence]..
This is where the gathered aura is stored and melded together..
And it also gathers aura from the surrounding 10 meter radius..
Meanwhile that old man sure did a lot of damage..
When I look to the front of the old man where I used to be standing..
I am wide-eyed..
I can"t call it anything except..
"A disaster.."
The entire area is scorched..
The green trees, flowers and gra.s.s are now nowhere to be found..
Absolute devastation..
Black rocky substances that you couldn"t even call earth anymore..
With molten rocks and flames decorate the pathway..
This is evident as far as I can see..
And I can tell you now, in this present state..
I can see very, very far..
Scary..
Was I going to be like that?
Burned out of existence?
No way, I wouldn"t accept that kind of ending..
I"m really relieved I saw that opening..
Because if I didn"t..
Just call me Mr. Ash
No, I don"t even think ash would remain..
Okay, that"s enough negative thinking..
The last sword disappears into particles..
I move closer to the old man, still not letting my guard down..
Yes, I"m not that stupid..
*Groan*
"Old man!"
I grab the old man"s shoulders and face him upright..
He really looks terrible..
Wait, that"s rude..
Well, forget it..
He has countless bleeding gashes and blood coming out of his mouth and eyes..
It"s like a horror movie..
No, that"s even ruder..
"....Orion.."
"What is it?"
Even though it"s painful to move, he forces himself to grin..
Scary..
With blood coming out of his eyes and mouth..
He grins widely..
Okay, I"m getting lost in idle thoughts again..
"Fuuhahaha, you really have grown, haven"t you?"
"Isn"t it obvious?"
Is this what I think it is?
"You"re not that overconfident bratty kid anymore, huh..No wait, you"re still bratty even now.."
"Haha, not as worse as you, you s.a.d.i.s.tic old man.."
I feel my eyes getting hot..
"Hmm? Oi, a man shouldn"t cry like that!"
"What...what are you talking about? Are you making fun of me again?"
I say that in a louder voice to hide my inner turmoil..
This is bad..
Even though I didn"t start it..
I still did this..
Why now..
Why at this time, I"m thinking about it this much..
Why did I do this..
I finally realize the situation now that my head"s cleared up..
All that adrenaline is now nonexistent at this moment..
And like my inner dam broke, tears flowed out..
And I could do nothing to stop them..
Why..
Why did I have to fight the old man..
Why did it have to come to this..
Why, why, why..
I close my eyes even though I know its futile to try to stop the endless waterworks..
*Pat*
I suddenly feel a rugged hand on my head..
Ruffling my hair..
It"s calming me down for some strange reason..
I remember this..
He always did this when I started my training..
After each day of h.e.l.l..
He"d cook me a delicious meal..
Then I doze off because of fatigue..
Then he carries me to my bed and tucks me in..
And never forgets to pat my head and say..
{"I"m proud of you"}
Words no one else have said to me even in the other world..
It always had been the thing that calmed me down the most..
I try my hardest to open my eyes..
And what I saw was..
A gentle smile..
That smile he never showed me whenever I was awake..
The smile that he keeps to himself to hide his nice side..
The thing that tells me, it"s okay to keep living..
I hazily remember a smile just like this before..
But I don"t seem to recall it that clearly..
"You"re blaming yourself again..That"s your bad habit you know?"
I can"t..
This old man..
I didn"t know until now how much he meant to me..
Saving me from dying of hypothermia while I was flowing down the river..
Taking care of me in an unknown place filled with danger..
Making meals for me..
Keeping me warm..
Talking to me..
Having fun times joking around..
Well, maybe I have known all along..
When I think this would be the last time we could do those things, I..
Realized for the first time..
That I care deeply for this old man, no..
My..
"Master.."
*Sniffle*
"Ha, you finally had it in you to call me that huh?"
"I"m sorry Master...for everything.."
"No need to apologize, I was prepared for this from the beginning..Though it is regrettable to only hear you say it when I"m in this situation..But I"m still glad.."
"Master, I never got to thank you for all you"ve done for me.."
A clear phosph.o.r.escent light enveloped Master while I was talking..
"I guess it"s time, huh? I"m coming to you now, Lucia.."
No, I haven"t even started to thank him yet..
"Master, wait! I didn"t even get to say-"
A palm was thrust in font of my face..
And then it landed on top of my head again..
As the flames devoured his existence like wildfire starting from the lower body into the upper one..
With a gentle smile, his last smile, he said..
"No.. Thank you for being born, Orion.."
The last words I heard struck my entire being..
With that grin on his face, he went away.. for the last time..
"Thank you, Master"
I say while looking at the skies where the flames are rising up into and dispersing..
Along with my tears..
Ah, the physical toll of [Aura Limiter Surge] has started..
I feel intense pain and fatigue..
Like I was. .h.i.t by a truck..
After that, everything fades to black..
...
......
................................
I open my eyelids in a daze..
Only to find the break of dawn on the horizon..
How can I see it in a forest, you might ask?
Well, I know for a fact that this isn"t going to be called a forest anymore..
It is now a scorched ground and a flat area..
Ground Zero of my last battle with Master..
Huh, Blue windows are popping out from nowhere..
Lets see(Dore-dore)..