Chapter 328: Less Than a Finger Apart

The air exploded behind Erza as she accelerated again, forcing her body closer and closer to its maximum speed.

Ahead of her, the demonic army had already formed several layers across the sky. Hundreds of winged demons hovered between her and Yuno City, weapons raised and bodies packed tightly together. They could feel the overwhelming pressure rushing toward them, and they had already seen what kind of monster was approaching.

Yet none of them fled.

Fear was visible on many of their faces, but their formation remained intact. They had received a direct order from the Demon King, and whether they survived no longer mattered.

"Stop her!"

"By order of the Demon King, don’t let her pass!"

The first formation immediately charged.

Dozens of demons lowered their spears simultaneously before launching themselves toward Erza. Their bat-like wings beat violently as they accelerated, spearheads filling the air in front of her until the entire formation resembled a wall of blades.

Erza didn’t even look at them.

Her violet eyes remained fixed on Yuuta.

From this distance, she could see Allen carrying him almost like a corpse. Yuuta’s arms hung motionlessly from the Demon King’s grasp, his head lowered against his body, and there was no indication that he was conscious.

That sight alone made Erza’s heart pound harder.

The first demons reached her.

"STOP!"

Several spears were thrust toward her at once.

Erza’s expression didn’t change.

"Get out of my way."

She swung one hand without slowing down.

A massive invisible slash ripped through the air.

The spearheads shattered first.

Then the slash continued.

The demons at the front were severed almost simultaneously, followed by several more directly behind them. Blood scattered across the sky as broken weapons and divided bodies began falling toward the ground.

Erza was already past them before the first corpse had properly begun to fall.

The second formation immediately moved.

Demons rushed toward her from both sides, attempting to surround her rather than attack directly from the front. Several descended from above while others rose beneath her, trying to close every possible opening.

"Surround her!"

"Close the formation!"

"Don’t let her reach His Majesty!"

Erza tore through them.

She didn’t stop to fight. She didn’t even bother turning toward the demons attacking from her blind spots. Every movement had only one purpose—to remove whatever happened to stand between her and Yuuta.

Another sweep of her hand sent a violent slash through the air, cutting through several demons approaching from the right. Her wings struck downward immediately afterward, and the sheer pressure generated by them blasted another group away before their weapons could reach her.

More replaced them.

Erza’s expression became colder.

"Move."

Power erupted around her.

The demons closest to her were violently thrown backward. Some collided with one another in midair, while others were blasted toward the ruined buildings below. Several unfortunate enough to remain directly behind Erza were caught in the violent current created by her speed and dragged helplessly through the air.

Still, the army refused to retreat.

One formation broke apart and another immediately took its place.

Erza understood what they were doing.

They weren’t trying to defeat her.

They were buying time.

Her violet eyes sharpened.

Every second she spent breaking through them was another second Allen had with Yuuta.

Erza pushed harder.

Her eyes remained fixed on only one person.

Yuuta.

Beyond the army, she could see Allen walking through the ruined city with her husband still held in his arms. At first, Erza couldn’t understand where the Demon King intended to take him.

More importantly, Isvarn was standing nearby.

Why isn’t Grandpa stopping him?

The question tore through her mind.

Isvarn was right there.

He could see Yuuta.

He could see the Demon King carrying him.

So why wasn’t he doing anything?

Before Erza could think further, the ground ahead of Allen began to shake.

Her attention immediately shifted.

Two enormous pillars slowly emerged from the ruined street.

They continued rising until they towered over the surrounding destruction. Strange markings covered their surfaces, but Erza remained too far away and was moving too quickly to examine them properly.

Then the space between the pillars began to distort.

Darkness gathered within the opening.

The air twisted.

Space itself seemed to bend between the two structures until an entrance began forming where nothing had existed moments earlier.

Erza’s eyes widened.

She knew immediately what she was looking at.

A portal.

Her heart seemed to stop.

Allen wasn’t simply holding Yuuta.

He was taking him away.

"No..."

For one horrible second, Erza forgot about everything around her.

The demons.

The invasion.

Leviathan.

Even the strange deathly presence she had sensed earlier.

None of it mattered.

Until now, some part of her had still been desperately trying to understand the situation. Why was Yuuta in Yuno City? Why was Elena there? Why was Isvarn standing beside them? How had Yuuta left the apartment despite the protection she had placed around it?

And why hadn’t Isvarn stopped Allen from touching him?

Those questions disappeared the moment the portal opened.

Allen was taking Yuuta away from her.

"NO!"

Erza slammed her wings downward.

BOOM!

The sky erupted behind her.

Every demon attempting to surround her was struck by the pressure generated from that single burst of acceleration. Some were thrown helplessly through the air, while those directly behind her were torn apart beneath the violent force.

Erza didn’t look back.

Her speed continued climbing.

The wind created by her passage descended upon the land beneath her like a storm. Dust and shattered debris were ripped from the streets. Loose pieces of ruined buildings were sent tumbling away, while damaged windows shattered under the sudden pressure.

The violent current continued toward Yuno City.

People below were thrown from their feet. Demons were blasted into buildings. Anything light enough to be lifted was ripped from the ground and swept into the chaotic wind.

Erza didn’t notice.

She wasn’t thinking about the city anymore.

She wasn’t thinking about the Agency.

She wasn’t thinking about the consequences of moving at this speed above an inhabited area.

For those few terrifying seconds, every instinct that normally restrained her was buried beneath one overwhelming fear.

Yuuta was being taken from her.

Another formation appeared directly ahead.

"STOP HER!"

Dozens of demons charged simultaneously.

"Move!"

Erza’s scream tore through the air.

She didn’t slow down.

The air around her compressed beneath her speed before violently exploding outward. The approaching demons were blasted away like insects. Several disappeared into buildings below, while others were swallowed by the turbulent current trailing behind her.

Erza passed through them.

Closer.

She needed to get closer.

Allen continued approaching the portal.

Yuuta remained motionless in his arms.

"No..."

Erza’s breathing became uneven.

Another group of demons appeared.

She tore through them.

"Please..."

Her voice was different now.

The coldness was disappearing.

Erza’s fingers curled tightly into her palms as she pushed her wings harder than before.

She could destroy the demons.

She could destroy the pillars.

She could destroy every building between herself and Allen if necessary.

She could tear apart the entire city if that was what stood between her and Yuuta.

None of it mattered.

Not now.

She only needed to reach him before Allen crossed that portal.

"Don’t..."

Her wings drove downward again.

BOOM!

Another thunderous shockwave erupted across the sky.

Erza’s body became little more than a streak racing toward Yuno City. The violent current trailing behind her spread across the city like a sudden hurricane, throwing debris through the streets and tearing through anything caught too close to her path.

She didn’t care anymore about what her speed destroyed.

She didn’t care who stood in front of her.

She didn’t care whether the next person blocking her path was demon or human.

All Erza could see was Allen.

All she could see in Allen’s arms was Yuuta.

Her Yuuta.

The man she had left behind believing he would be safe.

Now he was unconscious, helpless, and being carried toward a portal by the Demon King while she remained miles away.

Erza stretched one trembling hand toward him despite the distance still separating them.

It was meaningless. She knew that she couldn’t possibly touch him from here, yet her fingers still reached toward Yuuta instinctively as her wings drove her faster through the sky.

One desperate thought drowned out everything else inside her mind.

Don’t take him away from me.

"YUUUTAAAA!"

Erza’s voice roared across the sky.

The scream tore through Yuno City with enough force to echo between the ruined buildings. Her wings slammed downward again, and the air behind her erupted as she accelerated toward the portal.

Allen, who had been standing near the entrance while speaking with Isvarn, immediately looked toward the approaching presence.

For the first time, fear flickered across his face.

He had prepared for this.

The invasion, Leviathan, the demonic forces scattered throughout the cities, and even the army he had ordered to block Erza’s path all of it had been arranged to buy him enough time.

Yet she had broken through everything far faster than he had expected.

The hundreds of demons meant to delay her had barely accomplished anything. Formation after formation had been torn apart, and the distance that should have given Allen enough time was disappearing at a terrifying rate.

Erza was coming straight for him.

Allen’s gaze shifted toward the portal behind him and then toward Yuuta in his arms.

He didn’t hesitate any longer.

He stepped backward into the darkness.

Then Allen smiled.

Erza saw it.

Her heart dropped.

"Don’t you dare....!"

Allen stepped completely into the portal.

The darkness between the two enormous pillars immediately began to distort. Strange markings across their surfaces flickered as the portal started closing behind him.

Erza’s eyes widened in horror.

"NOOOOO!"

Her scream shook the ruined city.

"YUUUUTA!"

She pushed herself even faster.

At that point, Erza no longer knew how much strength she was forcing through her wings. She had already reached a speed no human could ever hope to achieve, yet the sight of the portal beginning to disappear forced even more power from her body.

The remaining distance vanished rapidly.

Hundreds of meters became dozens.

Dozens became only a few.

The pressure generated by her approach ripped through the streets beneath her. Dust exploded from the ground, broken stones were torn from the road, and shattered pieces of buildings flew through the air as though the entire city had been struck by a hurricane.

Erza noticed none of it.

Her hand remained stretched forward.

"YUUTA!"

Something strange happened.

The world seemed to slow.

Then, as the final distance disappeared, Erza’s perception changed.

The world seemed to slow around her.

Pieces of debris turned lazily through the air. Dust seemed almost motionless above the shattered street, and even the collapsing darkness of the portal appeared to move with agonizing slowness before her violet eyes.

Nothing had truly stopped.

It only felt that way.

Because now she could see exactly how little distance remained between herself and Yuuta.

Yet Yuuta was still disappearing.

Everything else vanished from Erza’s mind.

She didn’t see the ruined streets anymore. She didn’t think about the demons she had killed, the invasion tearing through the cities, Leviathan lying somewhere beneath Atlantis Ocean, or the terrifying deathly presence she had sensed earlier.

There was only Yuuta.

Only a few feet separated them now.

Erza stretched her arm until it hurt, fingers opening desperately toward the unconscious man being carried beyond the portal.

"YUUTA!"

Perhaps it was her scream.

Perhaps it was her presence.

Or perhaps, somewhere beneath the crushing exhaustion that had swallowed his consciousness, Yuuta simply recognized the voice of his wife.

His eyelids moved.

Yuuta had been unconscious since Allen picked him up. His body had long since passed its limit, leaving him without enough strength to fight, move, or even understand what was happening around him.

Yet somewhere beneath that crushing exhaustion, he heard something.

A voice.

Familiar.

Desperate.

Terrified.

"YUUUUTA!"

Yuuta’s fingers twitched.

His eyelids slowly opened.

Everything was blurred.

He couldn’t understand what was happening. He couldn’t understand why his body felt strangely weightless or why someone was carrying him. He didn’t understand the enormous pillars around him, the darkness swallowing his surroundings, or the violent wind tearing through the city beyond.

Then his unfocused crimson eyes found someone.

White hair.

Violet eyes.

A face twisted with a kind of fear he had never expected to see on her.

Erza.

Yuuta stared at her through half-open eyes.

He couldn’t understand why she looked so terrified.

He couldn’t understand why she was flying toward him with her hand stretched out as though her entire world depended on reaching him.

But somehow, none of that mattered.

It was Erza.

His wife.

For some reason, the moment Yuuta saw her, a simple thought passed through his exhausted mind.

If I can just reach her...

Everything would be okay.

Yuuta’s arm moved.

It was barely more than a weak motion at first. His hand slipped from where it had been hanging lifelessly before slowly rising toward her.

Erza saw it.

Her breath caught.

"Yuuta..."

His crimson eyes were barely open, but they were looking directly at her.

He was awake.

He could see her.

Yuuta didn’t have enough strength to understand the horror on Erza’s face, nor could he understand why her eyes were trembling so badly.

He only knew that she was there.

So he reached for her.

Erza reached for him.

The distance between their hands shrank.

A few feet.

Then less.

Erza stretched her fingers desperately, her violet eyes fixed on Yuuta’s trembling hand. For one brief second, hope overwhelmed the terror inside her.

She was going to reach him.

That was all she needed.

Just one touch.

She was going to reach him.

That was all she needed.

Just one touch.

If she could close her fingers around his hand, she could pull him back. Everything else, the invasion, Allen, their argument, the things Yuuta had said and everything she still needed to tell him could come afterward.

None of it mattered now.

Just let me reach him.

Yuuta tried as well.

His body barely responded to him, but his trembling arm remained stretched toward Erza. The portal was rapidly collapsing around Allen and Yuuta now, swallowing them piece by piece until only part of Yuuta’s body remained visible through the shrinking opening.

His face.

His hand.

Those exhausted crimson eyes.

Yuuta looked at the woman desperately flying toward him, and his lips moved weakly.

"Er...za..."

Erza’s heart clenched.

"I’m here!"

She forced herself forward.

"I’m right here, Yuuta!"

Their hands drew closer.

The portal shrank further.

Erza stretched until every finger was fully extended, while Yuuta used whatever tiny amount of strength remained in his body to reach back toward her.

Almost.

Their middle fingers aligned.

The tips approached one another.

For one strange, suspended instant, the scene resembled an ancient painting—the hand of a divine being reaching toward that of a mortal, two fingers separated by an impossibly small space.

Except this wasn’t a painting.

And that tiny gap wasn’t beautiful.

It was terrifying.

Because to Erza, the fraction of an inch separating their fingers felt wider than the entire ocean she had just crossed.

"Come on..."

Her fingertip moved closer.

Yuuta’s did the same.

A little more.

Just a little more.

Erza’s eyes widened as she realized she was going to make it.

Their fingertips were about to touch.

Then the space between the two pillars collapsed.

Erza watched Yuuta disappear.

His hand vanished first.

Then his face.

For the final fraction of a second, Yuuta’s exhausted eyes remained on her. He didn’t seem to fully understand what was happening, but seeing Erza there had somehow brought a faint, tired smile to his face.

Then even that disappeared.

The portal closed.

"NO!"

Erza’s fingers snapped shut.

Nothing.

She had grabbed nothing.

Only empty air remained inside her hand.

The enormous pillars disappeared along with Allen and Yuuta, leaving no portal, no darkness, and no hand for Erza to hold.

But Erza was still moving.

She had pushed herself to a terrifying speed for one reason alone to reach Yuuta before that portal closed. Now there was nothing ahead of her to catch, and no time to stop.

Her body struck the road.

BOOOOOOM!

The impact shook the surrounding ruins.

The street exploded beneath Erza as if something had fallen from the sky. Asphalt and broken stone were blasted outward, cracks racing through the surrounding road while an enormous cloud of dust erupted into the air.

Nearby debris was thrown away from the impact.

For several seconds, the entire area disappeared behind the dense cloud.

Then everything became quiet.

Dust slowly began falling back toward the ruined street.

At the center of the destruction, Erza sat within a deep crater carved into the street. Broken asphalt had folded upward around its edges, while fractures spread through the surrounding road like a web. It looked less as though someone had landed there and more as though a small meteor had struck the city.

Yet Erza was unharmed.

She sat at the bottom of the crater.

Completely still.

Her wings had fallen motionless behind her. Dust drifted across her white hair and settled on her clothes, but she made no attempt to brush it away.

Her hand remained raised, half-open, still positioned exactly as it had been when she tried to catch Yuuta.

Erza stared at it.

There was nothing in her palm.

Her fingers trembled once before slowly becoming still.

She didn’t scream again. She didn’t call Yuuta’s name. She didn’t even seem to notice the destruction surrounding her. Erza simply remained at the bottom of the crater, white hair covered in dust and wings motionless behind her, staring at the hand that had failed to reach him.

Only moments earlier, she had crossed an ocean, torn through an army and forced every bit of strength from her body for that final distance.

And she had missed him by less than a finger.

Now Yuuta was gone.

To Be Continued...