Chapter 212: Guilt
Erani, Ainash, and I got ourselves up and together before rushing to the other side of the border outpost, where Jon and Ripley were fighting. We also quickly touched hands to transfer memories between ourselves—the basic stuff, leaving out most details to ensure we did it quickly, but that way we could get all synced up in case we didn’t get a better opportunity later.
Considering our injuries, though—theirs being more intense than mine, it seemed—getting ready to fight again was harder than I’d have initially thought. My own Health was pretty low now, too, at a bit below 300, and my Mana was even worse, at 150. The Mana was what really made me lose hope about our inevitable conflict with Jon; my Health was higher, and even the amount I’d lost I could get back with a couple activations of Regenerate. In fact…
You have activated Regenerate. You will gain 44 Health over the next 10 seconds.
64.4 Stamina Cost. Your Stamina is 276.
I felt the shield around my body instantly begin to harden once again. But that still left me with the issue of Mana. With barely enough to cast a few Rays of Frost, I’d need at least ten, fifteen minutes before my Mana was back to a usable amount. Erani had more, but her own Health was looking rough by now, as was Ainash’s.
Then again, Jon was just one guy. And quite frankly, I had trouble imagining he’d be in such good shape himself, after going one-on-one against Ripley for so long. So maybe the fight would go better than I anticipated. Even if this was a doomed timeline because Sylvie and the guards had died, if I was able to beat these guys now, down so many allies, that’d help my confidence in our ability to do it right the next time.
We turned the corner to find Ripley and Jon facing off as expected. Neither were moving; Ripley was standing, breathing heavily with her hands on her knees, covered in injuries. She had cuts and burns all over her skin. Jon was…fine. He was standing up straight, face unmoving, not a scratch on him. Had Ripley not even gotten a hit on this man?
“Ah,” he said, “the target arrives. Here we have…let’s see, that should be Erani, and there’s the Dryad, which leaves the one in the armor to be the famous Arlan Nota. I’ve been interested in meeting you for a while now.”
His voice was calm and casual, like he was chatting about the weather. And he sounded genuine, too—not a hint of sarcasm in his tone.
I frowned. “Who sent you?”
“Asmo did,” he replied. Then he squinted, as though someone was speaking to him, and smiled. “Ah, did you not want me to tell him that? Oh well.”
I blinked in surprise. The Archer? The one who had fought me alongside Ripley, back in Kingdom’s Edge?
“What?” he asked, studying my expression.
“I just…wasn’t expecting an honest response. All of those other soldiers literally killed themselves rather than give up her name.”
He grimaced in an expression that seemed to show genuine sadness and regret. “They’re dead? All of them?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“I see.” He gazed down and sighed. “Unfortunate.”
“If you didn’t want them to die, you could have always not let them here to attack me in the first place. At least, presumably you’re the one leading this squad.”
“A fair assumption. But unfortunately, their lives are a sacrifice I must be willing to make.”
I stifled a laugh. “You have no idea how dickish that makes you sound.”
“Oh, I am well aware. Their lives should not be mine to sacrifice. However, I have been put in a position of responsibility over them nonetheless. I would much prefer to not be forced into this predicament, and yet here I am, being forced to choose between one horrible action and another even more heinous one.”
“And Asmo’s forcing you into it? Or the Demons? If that’s the case, join our side. We’ve stayed alive for this long, and we’re more than capable of keeping one more—”
“No, neither of them have forced me into this position. Not truly.” Jon looked at me. “You have.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Me? What, have I been leading a secret double life even I don’t know about? Sleepwalking around, kidnapping your loved ones? Not gonna lie, dude, I don’t think I’m the one forcing you to do anything.”
“Oh, but you are. Every second you are alive, more die. At least the other soldiers willingly sacrificed their lives to try and stop you. They saw that some causes are more important than oneself. But you…You refuse to understand that. You refuse to give up your life to save the many. A disgusting, violent act that rivals the worst of any man to walk this earth. If you are too weak to make the decision to sacrifice yourself, then I will make it for you. No matter how much it pains me to do so. Because, unlike you, I am willing to hurt myself in order to save others.”
“Peace talks have broken down,” I told Ainash. “Prepare to attack.”
I glanced at Ripley. “And what about her? How does she—”
When I looked back at Jon, he had his hand raised in the sky, a look of righteous anger on his face. “I tell you this so that you may remember it in death, and any life you might have afterward. You are a villain. Scum of the earth. And you deserve the death I will give you!”
“Fuck!” I shouted, reaching into my mind to cast as many curses as I could on the dude. Erani instantly shot off a Firebolt from her raised hand, the ball of flames soaring through the air straight at him. Ainash leapt forward, whip drawn and ready to slice him in two.
But before anything could touch him, within the split second that all of that was about to happen, he threw his hand downward, and with it, I saw the light of the sun get brighter and brighter. Its white light became blinding, covering my sight with its brilliance. And then, like a hammer, the light crashed into my body, completely annihilating it. My bones cracked under the weight of its judgment, and my mind shattered just the same.
You have been smitten. 1075 damage.
Dark Plate has triggered. Damage has been reduced to 340.
Your Health is 0.
You have died.
I awoke in the dark in-between place, staring at my many options to return to.
…What?
What?
What the fuck?!
A thousand fucking damage?! Fucking seriously?! I couldn’t believe what’d just happened. And of fucking course I was just below the 340 Health threshold so Dark Plate didn’t even save me. Fuck. Why didn’t I just wait for Regenerate to finish up and use it once or twice more before going to confront him? I hadn’t thought that this random fucking guy would have a goddamn instakill Spell in his arsenal, apparently. Stupid fucking me for not having anticipated that, I guess!
Fuck.
I went ahead and chose the time to go back to, six and a half hours ago.
And then I was back, walking down the road with Erani, Ainash, and Sylvie. I instantly walked right off the path and toward the nearest tree.
“Uh, A-Annor?” Erani asked. “What’s…”
I slammed my fist into the tree’s trunk as hard as I could.
You have been slammed into something. 4 damage.
Your Health is 676.
And again.
You have been slammed into something. 5 damage.
Your Health is 671.
I took a step back, taking a deep breath. There were two visibly fist-sized indentations left in the wood. “...Fuck!”
Turning around, I saw everyone staring at me.
“Hey,” Sylvie offered, looking at me curiously, “don’t be mad. I’m sure the tree…deserved it? Or something.”
“Gods damn this shit,” I muttered, rubbing my face with my hands. “I thought I was fucking done with bullshit instant kills after we got out of Kingdom’s Edge. Again?! Fucking again. We have to deal with it again.”
“Woah, wait, what’s going on?” Sylvie asked. “Am I out of the loop on something? Who said anything about killing people instantly?”
“Yes, Annor,” Erani said. I saw her staring pointedly at me and making an exaggerated gesture at Sylvie from behind her. “I think we need to remember that Sylvie is here, so you should be sure to explain things with that in mind.”
“Y-yeah,” I said with a nod. Erani was right. I needed to get a hold of myself or risk accidentally spilling the whole time travel thing. “Sorry, Sylvie. I have something that can occasionally give me relevant information about what we’re doing. I just got some of that information, regarding the whole bounty hunting thing we’re doing.”
“...And what is that?”
“Um…Let’s sit down somewhere,” I suggested. “I really just need to sit down for a second. And it’ll probably be easier to explain away from the road.”
As we sat down, I stealthily sat next to Ainash and grabbed her hand, transferring her and Erani’s memories to her, so the two of them could at least remember what’d happened, themselves. But that still left out everything that’d happened after we transferred our memories, which included my death—the object of this discussion.
I could always have just given them my own memories of my dying, but doing that would take longer. Plus, since it wouldn’t just be them regaining their own memories from their own perspectives, but rather having my own memories given to them as well—memories of dying painfully, in fact—it would’ve been much harder for them to keep their facial expressions static while receiving the memories. Which would have been a problem, given the fact that Sylvie was here.
“So,” I started explaining once they’d gotten caught up as far as the memory transfer would get them, “basically, there’s this guy in the mountains. He’s the one who caused the border guards to go missing.”
Sylvie leaned forward. “Wait, so you know where the guards are? We can get our reward? That’s great!”
“Well, I don’t actually know what he did with them. Whether they’re alive or dead, where they are, nothing like that.”
“Oh.”
“But I know where the guy is. Presumably, we could ask him.”
As we spoke, Ainash seemed to be mostly content playing in the grass where we sat, twirling the blades around her finger and poking at a couple insects that crawled in the dirt. She was actually pretty shy around people, even people like Sylvie who weren’t technically strangers. Despite the fact that she could communicate with us completely silently, she still seemed like she didn’t want to take part in any conversations that involved outsiders.
“There’s an issue with this, though, right?” Erani asked. “That’s why you were so angry when you…got this information?”
“Right. I don’t know too much about this guy, but there are three main relevant things. One, he’s here to…” I paused, trying to figure out how to word this. “...He’s here to kill Kingdom fugitives. Eita and I, plus another woman we know, are all being hunted by this man, apparently. He works for the Demons. Two, he isn’t alone. He’s got some soldiers working with him, but they aren’t too hard to handle.”
Sylvie frowned. “You’re making it sound like you know from experience. Have you fought them before?”
“No, no, it’s just…I’m extrapolating from the information I was given. Levels, and stuff. The additional soldiers shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Then what is the problem?”
“That’s point three. He has this Spell. I’m not sure how, but…Basically, I know that if he were to cast it on me, it would deal over a thousand damage. In a single, seemingly undodgeable shot.”
Erani’s eyes widened as she stared at me. Sylvie did the same.
“I’m sorry, what?” Erani asked. “A thousand? Do you know this man’s Level?”
“One thousand and seventy-five damage, to be precise,” I said. As for the second point…Index? You got anything?
“I can tell you two things, actually. One, his Level is a little higher than yours, and two, that Spell he cast, it was called Day of Judgment. I can’t tell you how it dealt that damage to you, though, so hopefully one of your friends knows it.”
“He’s Leveled around the mid 20s,” I repeated, “and the Spell, I’m not sure how it would deal that thousand damage, but I know its name. Hopefully one of you is familiar with it.”
“Well, what is it?” Erani asked.
“Its name is Day of Judgment.”
“Nah, don’t know it,” Sylvie said, shrugging.
“Day of Judgment, Day of Judgment…” Erani rubbed her chin. “The man’s a Cleric, right?”
“Uh…”
“Yes,” Index said.
“Yeah,” I said.
“Right, I think I know the Spell. It’s offered to Clerics and Paladins, I believe…And it was…Wait. Oh, no. Ar-Annor.” Erani glanced at Sylvie, then back at me.
“...What? Do you know what the Spell does?”
“Yes,” Erani said. “And I think we’ll need Sylvie’s assistance in particular to help us beat it.”
“Wait, what?” Sylvie sat straight up. “Uh, listen, I know I’ve been excited about getting our coin and all, but I’m not stepping in front of a thousand damage blast for a few eyt.”
“You won’t,” Erani said. “In fact, I’m going to go ahead and make a presumption about you, but I think it should deal exactly zero.”
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