Novel Full 45 The Fall of The Innocent
“Hyun…”
There were so many things he wanted to do, so many actions available, so many emotions flooding through his mind–but all of those options only made him a scrambling mess as he crawled to his feet. He nearly fell back over in doing so, picking up his sword as tears flooded from his ears.
“Let her go…!”
As he rushed towards the man, screaming at the top of his lungs as tears fled in his sprint, he was stopped, left frozen as the giant, brutish man tossed his battered sister directly towards him.
“…Ara?!”
His aggression completely halted as he spread his arms, giving up his attack in order to catch his sister. As soon as he caught her, he held her tightly in his arms as if afraid of losing her again.
Hearing how faint her breathing was, he felt his heart shatter, seeing up close just what the state of her body was.
It couldn’t have been more than a minute they had been separated, but she was covered in lacerations and bruises, bleeding out of her nose, mouth, ears, and many cuts across her body. It seemed as if more of her skin was dyed in red than her natural complexion.
“Ara…!”
He was angered, and at the same time saddened–though as he held her with a growing resolve, their reunitement was cut short.
“–“
A visceral squelch filled his ears, feeling an inexplicable heat in his abdomen. It quickly bubbled up into a harsh warmth, looking down to find what the cause of it was: through both of their bodies, the rusty claymore wielded by the large man pierced them together.
“…Gyuh…!”.
He spat out a lofty amount of blood from his throat, spilling down his chin as he looked down at his sister.
She was already gone; whatever last bits of life she had left were taken in that one, sweeping blow.
“Ara…!…Ara!…Ara!…Ara!”
As he held her, gripping her shoulders and shaking her to try and reignite whatever embers of life might be left in her, he vomited up a heaping amount of blood once more as the claymore was retrieved from his bowels.
He could feel its jagged, unkempt edge tearing and pulling at his innards as it was withdrawn, causing him to fall to his knees as it was plucked from him and his sister’s bodies.
“Ara…!” He called her name as blood seeped down his lips.
Attempting to reach her, he was kept to his knees, holding his gut as he could feel his organs attempting to fall out.
“…So fragile…” The brutish, hulking man said through his mask, letting his blood-slick claymore rest against the ground.
Sitting there, dark blood rushed outwards from his gaping wound as he was lost, staring at the corpse of his shattered siblings with eyes that stared endlessly somewhere else.
The ringing persisted in his ears as reality felt like a fleeing, yet terrifying dream.
“…Ara…”
Once more, her name left his lips in a quiet, trembled breath.
His body fluctuated from hot to cold, warm to freezing, burning to chilly–sitting there as blood seeped from the corners of his lips, pouring against his hand and out of his eviscerated abdomen whilst the giant lumbered towards him.
…Why did it come to this? Why is this happening? What did I do to deserve this? He thought.
It felt like the cruelest fate that could await him, alone in such darkness and depravity that he felt cursed.
He sat there on his knees, knelt in a united puddle of his own blood and his sister’s, unmoving as the giant, masked man stopped in front of him, raising his claymore with one hand as if it were a light dagger.
…There’s no damn way I’m dying and letting you live. Why should I burn in Hell while you still walk the Earth? That’s unfair. I won’t accept it, he thought.
Instead of bleak sadness fueling him, an insurmountable, unsurpassed anger drove through his body as his expression contorted with the tears strolling down his cheeks in further abundance.
“AHHH–!”
He stood up just as the claymore came down, barely missing him as the man didn’t seem to expect a second wind from him.
With his sword in hand, holding it tightly with both hands, his wound was uncovered as his guts began to seep out, but he charged forward nonetheless with only red in his sights.
“You…still…?!”
Before the lumbering giant of a man could react, the orange-haired, rage-driven man leapt towards him, using his own sword like a knife as he stabbed it repeatedly into the man’s muscular neck, driving it as deep as he could, as fast as he could–over and over.
“Raagh–! Sinner…perish!”
The slow, slurred words of the tall man bellowed out, but he still stood even while being repeatedly pierced.
He was caught in a bear hug by the brutish man, beginning to be squeezed tightly as he felt his flesh and bones being compressed together as his back began to crack.
But, he held no tethering to his life anymore, only focused on ending the man in front of him as he continued stabbing into the man, lodging his blade into the side of the neck before using both of his hands to gouge the man’s eyes.
“Graaah–!”
The giant groaned out in pain, but didn’t let go, continuing to squeeze him tightly into the hold before–SNAP.
“–“
Blood burst from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, having his spine snapped by the monstrous strength of the merciless giant.
He was dropped onto the ground, unable to move as he landed directly next to his sister, feeling the warmth of his own blood ooze out beneath him while he coughed up further crimson.
Past his sadness and rage, he felt satisfaction–only able to look up, he could see a fountain of blood spewing from the various holes in the ogre-like man’s neck, stumbling and blinded as he screamed out in agony.
After a minute of stumbling around, bumping into walls and swinging his blade at the air, the giant man fell over, face first into the ground with a large thump.
“…Heh…I did it…”
He celebrated wryly, immediately coughing back up as he felt just how shattered and damaged his body was.
[Health Points: -5]
[Health Points: -5]
[Health Points: -5]
[Health Points: -5]
[Health Points: -5. Remaining Health Points: 0/2150]
As his health points reached zero, the personal interface disappeared, leaving him without his system any longer as his white uniform returned him to his normal clothes.
It marked the point of no return. He was in the grasps of the reaper, laying on death’s threshold, only waiting now for the solemn ferry to fetch him.
“–“
He laid there, breathing as he turned his head, looking at his fallen sibling, who laid motionlessly. Seeing her again, the tears left his eyes once more as he carefully extended his trembling hand towards her, commanding all of his remaining, fleeting strength to grasp her hand.
“…I’m the worst…big brother…aren’t I…?”
Saying that, he stared silently at her with quivering eyes, clenching her hand and hoping she’d reject his words with her own, but no such reprieve came.
…I couldn’t repay that debt, Jeong-Hui.
Instead…I lost everything trying to pay it back. I’m hopeless, aren’t I? I don’t know if it’s much for repayment, Jeong-Hui, but…if the desire of a dying man has any power, then you can have it–live and kick Armageddon right in the teeth for me, he thought.
Still…if Heaven or Hell really do exist now…I guess maybe I can pray I go wherever she does.
Please, God.
If there’s one thing you can grant me, then grant me that one wish…He thought.
As his eyelids slowly shut, the beating of his heart came to a crawl.
Ba-Dump.
Ba-Dump.
Ba-Dump…
…Ba-Dump.
…
–
In unison, the other three members of the party saw the interface for the party information, showcasing the deletion of the two siblings.
It was a stunning moment, leaving the three frozen.
“Hyun…Ara…” Jeong-Hui let out audible, stopping in the middle of a corridor as his eyes trembled.
A single tear crept down his cheek as he was processing this information. Standing there for a moment, alone in his silence, he slammed his fist against the wall.
“Dammit…”