Chapter 46. It’s the end for you

Chapter 46: 46. It’s the end for you

Coming out of the mirror, I found myself half a block away from Mandrisska, with Seraphine closing in on her, charging her polearm with full strength, aiming at her ear, while all Mandrisska could do was squirm in pain.

I thought this was it, this was the victory. But then Mandrisska cast vibration void at twice the intensity and range, countering Seraphine’s attack and sending herself flying back a block, retreating with broken, mechanical movements.

The vibration void, this time, caught Seraphine and stunned her for a good amount of time. In that state she couldn’t attack and had to play defense.

"AHHHH, I curse you!! I curse you!! My heart, my heart!"

Mandrisska screamed in immense pain, her eyes widening with every heartbeat, her compound pupils refusing to believe the hole in her chest was real.

"You said the same tricks won’t work twice. How about different tricks that give the same results? It burns, right?"

I provoked Mandrisska while running toward Seraphine, which I shouldn’t have, since I was right out in the open. But then again, Mandrisska was healing, and Dr. Rhiannon was watching over us from above.

"Seraphine, are you alright?"

The vibration void had looked like a ball of black waves flying at twice the usual speed, and my worry about its effects turned out to be justified. I could see her state, her eyes weren’t fully open, and her grip on the polearm had lost its usual tightness. There were definitely some aftereffects from the double-intensity vibration void. Still, she stood her ground, keeping her defensive posture.

"I’m fine. Don’t worry about me."

"Here, take this Crimson–"

"Elias!!!!!"

I was reaching into my belt pouch to grab the Crimson Vigor potion when suddenly three things slowed down time for me all at once. First, Dr. Rhiannon screaming my name at the top of her lungs. Second, Seraphine’s eyes widening with fear. And third, my own body reacting to a force closing in to crush me.

Then every hair on my body stood on end, a clawed hand hit me with such force my head went numb. Everything went numb, until a moment later, when every bit of pain hit at once.

I don’t know if screaming can cover pain, I just concluded it can’t. I found myself on the ground, the world looked sideways to me, the left side of my face cold against the soil, the right side a bloody mess.

Then my body shifted, lying flat on the ground with Mandrisska on top of me, drooling like she was about to have a meal. Her saliva was mixed with blood. Where had that come from?

"You can’t use tricks if you’re dead, human kid."

Mandrisska’s voice came from my left, my right ear was done for. I could hear Seraphine and Dr. Rhiannon screaming far away. How far had Mandrisska dragged me?

"..."

I could see Mandrisska hadn’t healed her own wounds and had charged at me instead. Because I’d provoked her? Yeah, I suppose. Fuck, why do you make dumb decisions like this, Mark?

Mandrisska opened her mouth, far wider than her speaking lips suggested, a smile stretching across her cheeks. Then she lowered herself onto my right arm and started chewing–

"AHHHHHHH AH AHAHHAHAH"

I didn’t feel the sharpness of her teeth, just the bite force, the compression bursting my muscles, leaking blood like a popped balloon. The bone didn’t snap in one place, it snapped in several, like a cracker in a mouth.

My brain rapidly sent signals to every part of my body, unable to handle the sheer amount of pain, making me writhe. While writhing, I found my legs weren’t responding, somehow, looking down, I saw my leg below the knee was missing, and I was losing blood fast.

Then Seraphine used her own body to slam into Mandrisska, pulling her away. The pain lessened but kept lingering. Dr. Rhiannon came flying toward me, crying, covering her mouth, trembling fingers reaching to cup my face.

But then Mandrisska grabbed her by the neck, dragging her out of my view, with Seraphine following. As Seraphine passed me, her eyes teared up for a second. She suddenly had a lot of difficult choices in front of her.

And she made the right one, going after Mandrisska to save Dr. Rhiannon. All I could do was nothing. I couldn’t move an inch.

A moment later, a horrifically pained scream escaped Dr. Rhiannon’s mouth, and it sent a chill down my already broken body.

Then Mandrisska came back into view, this time far above me, not directly overhead, but in the air where the tree branches covered the upper layers.

She used vibration void to break apart the chunk of branches above her and fly even higher, repeating the process, up and up. A hole, a pathway out of the forest.

And the remaining Sylvbeetles, still quite a lot of them, followed Mandrisska. They were heading to the surface, weren’t they?

Not that I could do anything about it.

My eyes blinked, too tired to keep watching the Sylvbeetles leave the forest for a solid 2 minutes. I opened them again after a moment, and they still weren’t done leaving.

But I could see Seraphine. She was flying, she had wings now? Her polearm looked bigger than her own body. And she was looking down at me. I didn’t know what she was doing. But the way she turned and accelerated upward told me everything.

Seraphine had just made a promise to avenge me. And Dr. Rhiannon, if she was dead.

Now what do I do?

I opened the system panel. The vines of calla lilies were at their driest state possible, no buds left on them, and the panel took a painfully long time to load up.

? Lilathea’s Blade Harem System! ?

? Evolution state: Mortal human. ?

? Rank: E. ?

? Compatibility rate: 34. ?

? Casllay mana points: Negative 90908. ?

? Lifespan remaining: 34 minutes. ?

I coughed blood out of my throat and tried breathing properly.

It’s the end for you, Mark Laplace. I closed my eyes, forcing myself to sleep. Dying in my sleep would be peaceful. And it was, in fact, quite peaceful, in the end, nothing matters.

I can finally say this life was good. I lived it to the fullest. There were many things left unfinished, but in 5 days, how much can you actually achieve? I didn’t do too badly in 5 days.

I’m happy.

Then why wasn’t I dying? Why wasn’t I falling past the point of sleep where death was waiting for me? Somebody was calling my name.

"Mark!! Wake up!!! Please wake up."

That voice, it had been a while since I’d heard it. Who was it? Who else knew my real name in this world besides... Lilathea.

? Mark. Wake up..... please, I beg of you. ?

"... Hey so... you’re late. Finished masturbating or what?"

I found the courage to grin even in this state, and heard Lilathea gasping for air, sadness in her heavenly voice, like an anomaly. Opening my eyes, I found no Sylvbeetles above anymore. Just a hole leading up to the surface.

? I wasn’t... I was gone for a few seconds, and now I see you like this? Look what you’ve done to yourself... what happened? Who did this? ?

"A few seconds? It’s been more than two days, my system maiden... ahhh."

The pain hit again, and it kept coming back strong, like the pain itself was alive and wanted to eat me whole.

"Well, I’m going to die like this. It’s a pain in the butt. But it’s what I get. I couldn’t defeat the enemy. Nor did I manage to collect enough Casllay."

? Why are you treating this like a happy ending? No, this isn’t you, Mark. Come on, Mark, you’re not like this. ?

I paused and thought about my own words for a moment, was I not being myself? Although the pain was making things a lot harder to process.

? The whole reason I gave you the Go... system core is because you said you wanted to live life as a selfish, prideful asshole. And now you’re just accepting your fate!! Like you’re some nice guy who doesn’t want anything else.... ?

? Do you even hear yourself? ?

That last line made me laugh, even though it hurt my lungs, I kept laughing. And the pain got offended and stopped me.

"Ahh, when did I say I didn’t want to live anymore? I do. Is being self-aware of my body’s state a bad thing? I’m still me, I promise. I was always me. Even when I wasn’t living life to the fullest."

"Ahh, you don’t know what I did to Remmy... my girlfriend who cheated on me with another guy. You don’t–"

? I know what you did. Your alter ego finally surfaced from deep within you. ?

My eyes widened, and I turned to the red, glowing panel. She knows? Who is Lilathea? She spoke with such confidence, like she’d witnessed it with her own eyes.

"Well, that’s very surprising. I have a question, though... ahh... what do you think? Did I break her thoroughly? Was I myself?"

? Yes. You broke her very beautifully. You were your true self. And I loved every second of it. ?

I laughed again, despite all the pain, as I remembered what I did. I wasn’t a complete loser in my previous life. That’s for sure.