Everything was crumbling—slowly and painfully—minute by minute, like the world itself was unraveling in front of my eyes.
Chaos surrounded us.
Enemies sward the area like shadows crawling in from every direction, and there wasn't a single path I could see that led to safety.
My heartbeat thundered against my ribs, loud enough to drown out reason.
I couldn't see a way out. It felt hopeless.
"Eris!"
Soone scread my na. Their voice sliced through the haze like a blade, but my mind was so twisted up—reeling and spiraling—I couldn't even turn toward the sound. Everything around was noise, smoke, and death closing in.
We're fucked. We're so fucking fucked.
But then… sothing pulled back.
Not a voice. Not a weapon. And it was hell not a miracle as well.
It was the child.
The sa little girl who had chosen . Out of everyone, she ca to . And now, despite the madness, she'd woken up. Her tiny hand was clutching the edge of my coat. Her eyes, wide and glassy, looked at with pure and frightened gaze.
I couldn't afford to falter. Not here. Not now.
I couldn't allow myself to break, not with her looking at like that. That worried face… it stabbed into my chest harder than any fucking bullet could.
No matter what, I wouldn't let soone like her get swallowed by this cruel, miserable world.
"Eris!"
That voice again, closer and sharper this ti. It was Ignis.
She was the one shouting my na all this ti.
"Let's go! We can't win this!"
"I know," I murmured, my voice low and almost hollow. "But just because we can't win… doesn't an I can walk away."
"You're so damn stubborn!" she barked, eyes wild. "You can't do anything here!"
I turned toward her and grabbed her by the collar, yanking with all I had. But she didn't budge—not even a little. She was stronger than , heavier with muscle and resolve.
"If you're not gonna help," I snapped, my grip tightening, "then get the fuck out of here and save yourself. That's the only damn thing you're good at, isn't it?"
She blinked. Her face twisted with frustration and sothing else. It was pain.
"I'm telling you this because I want to save you," she said, voice shaking. "Is it really wrong for a big sister to want to protect her little sister?"
I stared at her, my teeth grinding.
"You're really saying that now?" My voice cracked, rage and sorrow lacing each word. "Where the fuck were you when I needed you? When I was stabbed in the goddamn back? When every last mber of the Silver Fangs was wiped the fuck out, and I begged you for help—you did nothing! You just stood there and let rot!"
"I didn't do anything because I thought it was best," she said, her voice dropping into sothing bitter and soft. "I didn't want you involved with the underground anymore. I wanted you to have a life… a normal one."
"But I can't be normal!" I scread, the words ripping from my throat. "Don't you get it? There's no fucking way I can! Not after what happened to us. After they executed our father like a fucking dog—publicly and rcilessly. After they threw our mother into a dungeon for no reason, doing God knows what to her until she bit off her own tongue just to escape the pain."
I trembled. My whole body felt like it was cracking apart.
"There's no way back to normal for . Not when I don't even rember what normal feels like."
My head dropped, my hands trembling at my sides.
I didn't want to beco like this. This wasn't the future I imagined for myself. But the world had stripped everything from , layer by layer, until all that remained was a hollow shell ard with a blade and rage.
If I had a choice… if life had been different… I would've chosen peace. I would've chosen to be soone who mattered in a quieter and gentler way.
But was that really the right choice?
If no one stepped up to face this broken world, who the fuck was going to clean it?
Who'd throw out the trash piling up in every corner of society?
Who'd have the strength to get their hands dirty—bloodied—for a justice no one else dared to chase?
I didn't want to be this person.
But soone had to be.
To tear down a world built on injustice, I had to beco the very thing it feared.
"Eris…"
Ignis's voice trembled now. She looked at , and I saw it in her eyes. It was the guilt, the regret, and the sadness she never had the guts to show before.
I loosened my grip on her collar and stepped away.
"You should go now, Ignis," I said flatly. "Because no matter what happens… I'm not leaving."
The child's eyes followed , wide and innocent. She still clutched my coat, but her tiny fingers trembled.
I gave her the softest smile I could manage.
Maybe it was because she reminded of myself back then—when I was small, scared and powerless—that I felt this way toward her. I wasn't good with kids. I never had been.
But with her… sothing was different. I wanted to be.
I walked out of the pub.
The mont I stepped into the street, I felt the change in the air.
It was thick.
Heavy.
Cold.
My eyes closed for just a mont.
Then the sound tore through the silence. It was gunshots, sharp and relentless, began to co from every direction like a storm of tal and fury.
My hand flicked, steel flashing as I drew my blade in one motion. The other slid from the scabbard strapped tight to my thigh.
I didn't wait.
I unleashed hell.
Blades moved like a storm around , a swirling halo of steel against lead. I slashed, spun, and carved through the hail of bullets with blinding speed. The force behind each shot was brutal, but I matched it with everything I had—doubling my speed, pushing my body past every goddamn limit.
My mind blurred. My vision fractured. It felt like I could see dozens of versions of myself—each one cutting down a bullet in perfect synchrony.
I couldn't let even a single round slip past .
If even one bullet got through, soone inside might get hit.
I didn't care what it cost—I'd tear through every fucking shot they fired.
"ARIANNEEEEEEEEE!" I scread at the top of my lungs. "GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE! I'M GOING TO STOP THEM ALL—EVEN IF IT FUCKING KILLS !"
Arianne stood there.
She looked torn apart inside—like her soul was screaming—but her body remained frozen in place, paralyzed by the weight of helplessness.
She didn't want to die.
That much was written all over her face. But the truth was, she didn't have a choice at all.
Her lips trembled slightly as she looked away, unable to hold my gaze any longer. With a slow, reluctant step, she turned from and began ushering the terrified survivors to safety.
"IGNIS!" I roared. "SAVE THOSE PEOPLE!"
"But—!" she shouted back, hesitating.
"NO BUTS!" I cut her off sharply, the rage boiling in my throat. "THERE'S NO FUCKING BUTS HERE! YOU HAVEN'T DONE A SINGLE SISTERLY THING FOR ! IF YOU REALLY WANT TO MAKE UP FOR IT, THEN FUCKING PAY IT BACK BY SAVING THOSE PEOPLE!"
My feet slamd into the dirt, muscles screaming as I launched myself forward, my body a blur of fury and motion. I stord toward the bastards hiding beyond the treeline.
Ignis didn't co after . She just stood there, frozen again, her expression torn. She watched as I sprinted toward the oncoming wave of soldiers, like a one-woman army charging death itself.
Then I saw her click her tongue and with a frustrated glare, she turned away, finally doing what I begged her to do.
But I didn't stop.
I couldn't stop.
My breath hitched in my throat, my blade humd in my hand, and I broke through the forest's edge.
The first soldier erged from the shadows of the trees. I didn't hesitate and I slashed my blade through his neck in one fluid, rciless motion. Warm blood sprayed across my face as his head tumbled, and I was already moving before it hit the dirt.
Another ca. I cut him down too. My arm swung like it had a will of its own.
Then another. And another.
Steel cleaved through flesh and bone again and again until heads rolled across the ground like grotesque ornants. Crimson mist filled the air. My hands were slick with blood, and the copper scent clogged my nostrils.
I was relentless.
I was rage made flesh.
I wasn't stopping.
I couldn't stop.
But my body… it had limits.
I didn't realize it at first, but my limbs were growing heavy. My vision was starting to blur. Pain scread from every inch of my flesh. Blood—my own blood—was soaking through my clothes.
Sohow, bullets had made it through.
There were too many. Too fast. I couldn't parry or dodge them all. No matter how fast I moved, how hard I swung, they were just faster. The gaps between their shots were seconds and those were the tiny windows that I couldn't always catch in ti.
I was bleeding everywhere. My body was failing.
But I stayed upright.
My knees threatened to buckle. My vision swam. But I didn't fall.
The remaining enemies crept in cautiously, circling like scavengers around a dying beast. Their boots crunched leaves, rifles drawn. The huge flying machine as well as small ones hovered just above, their engines whining and ready to strike at the slightest twitch.
They didn't co any closer.
They were afraid. Even with my body riddled with wounds, they were afraid.
I could see it in their eyes.
One of them made a mistake.
He got too close.
Without thinking, I seized his wrist in a flash, yanked him into my bloodied embrace, and drove my blade into him with a brutal twist. His scream was short-lived, cut off by the sharp steel slicing through his gut.
Gunfire erupted.
But I used his body as a shield. The bullets ripped into him instead of , turning his corpse into a grotesque barrier.
Still, I knew it.
This was the end of the line.
I wouldn't survive this.
And worse—if they captured alive… I knew what they'd do.
They'd fuck . Humiliate . Break .
I would be nothing more than a plaything for their depraved pleasure.
No.
That wasn't going to happen.
Before they could grab —before their filthy hands could even reach —I looked down at the corpse I held. His hand still clutched his gun, still warm and still loaded.
Without a second thought, I grabbed it, turned the barrel toward my chest—
And pulled the trigger.
The pain was instant and blinding.
A jolt of white-hot agony exploded in my chest.
And then...
Everything went black.
Like the whole world had been swallowed by silence.
I died.
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