Chapter 199 The Dark Nightmare... Part-4.
?(Forgotten memories…)
A small park, Evening.
A young girl sat beside a large tree in a remote corner of the park.
A stern look hung over the girl's face as she quietly sat under the tree's shade and watched other kids play with smiles on their faces.
Just when she was about to fall asleep under the caressing of the gentle air breeze, a voice brought her back to her senses.
"You… play with me! I wanna play tag!" (Zach)
The boy who had pointed his finger at the girl looked short and weak, he had an arrogant look on his face as he seemingly ordered the girl to play with him.
He was so short that he looked like a kindergarten student.
The girl glanced at the boy with the same stern look on her face and replied in an emotionless tone.
"I don't play with kindergarteners…" (Riko)
Zach was instantly angered by those words and blood veins popped up on his forehead, he pouted his cheeks and shouted in anger.
"I-I am not in kindergarten!" (Zach)
"But you are so short and thin…" (Riko)
"I-I am not short! I will grow up to be a tall guy like my father!" (Zach)
"Father?" (Riko)
"Yeah! My Father is a businessman! his is tall and handsome, he is my hero!" (Zach)
"Is that so...." (Riko)
Talking about his own father, a smile appeared on the face of the little guy.
Hearing Zach mention this, she noticed that a group of bodyguards was standing right outside the park and a luxurious car was parked nearby.
She rolled her eyes as she understood that this unfamiliar boy must be from a rich family.
Noticing Riko's gaze, Zach smiled and said in a happy tone.
"That's my brother's car! He brought me here to play!" (Zach)
Saying that Zach pouted his cheeks and continued.
"and then he left to do some work, hmph, he never plays with me! I will not forgive him today for leaving me here alone!" (Zach)
Riko didn't care much about that car as she was too young to know its worth at that point.
She glanced at Zach and said.
"Are you a prince? Do you live in a castle?" (Riko)
Riko has always lived her life in extreme poverty, but after she was sent to a better orphanage by Ashtel's subordinates, she lived a fairly decent life there.
This orphanage was not poor and not rich either, it had much a better living condition and several professional people worked in that orphanage.
They taught the children about fairytales and told them various children's stories.
Due to this, Riko thought that Zach who was wearing expensive clothes and was being escorted by bodyguards, resembled those princes in the stories.
"Eh… no I live in a large mansion! Uh… I don't think I am a prince though…" (Zach)
Zach was kind of embarrassed when a girl said he looked like a prince. This was his first time getting a compliment from a girl of his age.
"Uh, you see, my big brother likes to take me to various places, today too I accompanied him here, but now he isn't here, so I am looking for someone to play with!" (Zach)
Zach stretched out his small hand and said with a smile on his face.
"I am Zachary Hunt, you can call me Zach for short!" (Zach)
Riko didn't hesitate much, she took Zach's hand and got up from the ground.
"I am Riko Embeth…" (Riko)
"Shall we play then?" (Zach)
Riko nodded her head in agreement.
(This is how they both met for the first time…)
…
Riko's new orphanage organized various activities for the children, and one of them was to go and play various games in a nearby park.
Riko was never much interested in these games at all.
Whenever the teacher took her to the park along with the other kids, she would just slip away quietly and rest near that same tree.
As she had witnessed hard times in her childhood, she had matured much faster than other children, she didn't have much interest in playing around like other children.
Instead, she liked to study hard and build up her knowledge.
She wanted to get enrolled in a good academy and her primary goal was to become an awakener.
Usually, she was always busy studying and practicing swordsmanship.
Sitting near that tree was her sole method of relaxing herself, during that time of relaxation she didn't like being disturbed.
But after her first meeting with Zach, her schedule changed.
Whenever she was sitting near that tree, Zach would appear and invite her to play together with him.
Zach had nothing to do with the orphanage or its children, but he was friendly by nature, he befriended all of the children of the orphanage and even the teacher allowed him to hang out with the children.
Zach always made sure to drag Riko with him to play with the other children. He was the one who made Riko realize what 'living' is all about.
…
Under the shade of the tree.
"Hey, hey, Riko… what do you want to become in the future?" (Zach)
A confused look appeared on Riko's face as she heard Zach's question.
She leaned her back against the tree and thought hard before answering.
"I want to become strong and beat the bad guys…" (Riko)
"OOH! So you want to become an awakener! Me too! I want to become as strong as my grandpa!" (Zach)
A happy smile appeared on Zach's face as he looked at Riko's face and declared.
"Let's become strong together! And beat all the bad guys in the world!" (Zach)
"Yes!" (Riko)
Riko smiled and nodded her head at Zach's statement.
Zach stretched out his hand and said with a smile.
"Let's go and play!" (Zach)
…
(Back to the current time…)
Dark clouds appeared in the night sky and started to rain slowly above the sea.
With great difficulty, Riko swam up and got hold of a wooden board that was floating on the sea. (It's a broken part of the yacht…)
She stood on the wooden board, her eyes looked at the sky, and she noticed that all her juniors were now frozen in place by Alverto's skill.
Before she could understand anything, Alverto appeared right in front of her.
He stood in the air just above the broken wooden board, his overwhelming aura pressured Riko like a predator looking at its prey.
"Oya! Look who's back… It's your little friend!" (Alverto)
With a sinister smile on his face, Alverto mocked Zach as he looked at Riko's injured figure standing on that broken wooden board.
[Chronos: Type Constraint!]
Before Riko could understand what was happening, Alverto immediately sealed her on the spot with his skill.
But he purposely left her head out of the 'constraint' time seal, so that she could witness what was happening in front of her.
"I am kind of getting bored of you guys now… so let's finish the show first…" (Alverto)
Alverto purposely made Zach face towards Riko and placed his other hand on Zach's chest.
"You know what I am going to do right?" (Alverto)
Even though Riko couldn't see Alverto's face due to that helmet, she knew that this demon was smiling sinisterly.
Seeing Alverto placing his hand on Zach's heart, Riko's eyes instantly went bloodshot. She shouted at the top of her lungs:
"STOP! NO! STOP! I-I WILL KILL YOU!!" (Riko)
Tears appeared in her wide and bright eyes as she glared at Alverto with a helpless look on her face.
Zach also sensed the danger he struggled madly, he kicked and punched Alverto with all his might but it was all useless.
"Farewell, PATHETIC HUMAN!" (Alverto)
*pierce!*
The sound of meat being pierced rang out in the whole area.
Riko's eyes widened in anger and helplessness. Tears of blood appeared from her eyes as she looked at Zach's heart being pierced by Alverto's hand.
"NOOOOO!!" (Riko)
"Urk…" (Zach)
Blood flowed like a fountain from Zach's pierced chest.
After forcefully digging out Zach's heart, Alverto finally let go of Zach's neck.
Zach fell from the sky directly onto the broken wooden board right in front of Riko.
Like a doll that has lost its strings, his body refused to move, and his hands and feet twitched from time to time.
"Bahahahah…. Pathetic worms…" (Alverto)
Under Riko's horrified eyes, Alverto crushed the heart in his hand that he dug out of Zach's chest.
A white light sprang up and entered Alverto's body from that crushed heart. (That white light was the fragment that Alverto was looking for all along…)
Just when Alverto was enjoying things to himself, he suddenly looked in the direction of the Oaklum.
"Hmm… appeared earlier than I expected… but oh well, I am already done here anyway…" (Alverto)
Alverto took one last look at Riko and the other students, and he shook his head.
"Lowly humans…" (Alverto)
He brought out a teleportation scroll from his space ring and embedded his mana to instantly leave the place.
Once Alverto left, Riko was finally able to move as the constraint disappeared with Alverto.
"Zach!" (Riko)
With tears of blood flowing from her bloodshot eyes, Riko hurriedly turned Zach's body towards herself.
She brought out a high-rank healing potion from her space ring and directly poured it all on Zach.
"D-don't worry you will be okay! Don't worry!" (Riko)
"cough! Cough! Urk…" (Zach)
Zach coughed more blood from his mouth and his eyes became blurred.
But to Riko's despair, the potion had no effect at all.
"W-why… t-the potion isn't working… w-why.. no.. no! Zach!" (Riko)
Other students also hurriedly rushed over along with Riya in tow.
Riya hurriedly bent down and used her healing magic at maximum capacity.
[Intermediate heal: Max output!]
Beads of sweat appeared on Riya's face as she poured an insane amount of mana into healing Zach's pierced chest.
But it was all to no avail.
A dark liquid started to spread all over Zach's chest and stopped Riya's healing easily.
"W-what's going on… something is interfering with my healing!" (Riya)
Tears appeared in everyone's eyes, they all knew the situation was extremely dire now.
Not even a high-ranking potion was working on this wound and even Riya was powerless against it.
Zach was not a fool, he was a person with excellent perception, and he knew what was going on.
Zach glanced at Riko with his blurred eyes.
Tears ran down his eyes as he held Riko's hand with his trembling blood-stained hand.
A gentle smile appeared on Zach's face as he looked at Riko.
"Hehe, forgive… me Riko… I might not be… able to take you to that promised lunch tomorrow…" (Zach)
"No! No! You must hold on! W-we will take you to an S-rank healer soon! Zach!" (Riko)
Zach ignored Riko's shouts of helplessness and caressed her face with his hand one last time.
"I have always wanted to say….I… Love you, Riko Embeth…" (Zach)
A shocked look appeared on Riko's face, but before she could say anything, Zach's trembling hand stopped trembling and directly fell down lifelessly.
"Nooooo!! Noooooo! Zach!! Zach!" (Riko)
Riko's pitiful shouts rang out far and wide, her eyes bled tears of blood as she tried her hardest to deny what was happening right in front of her.
Even the other students covered their mouths and tears flowed from their eyes too.
Everyone was too shocked to understand what just happened.
Riya ran out of mana and her body trembled uncontrollably as tears flowed down her eyes.
"T-this...I-I…." (Riya)
This was the first time Riya was not able to save someone's life.
This day will remain as an unforgettable scar in all of their lives, and they will all remember this day as 'The Dark Nightmare'…
…
…
Author's notes.
Let us mourn the death of our beloved character Zach for one last time… may his soul rest in peace…
He was a character who brought great joy to our faces, the future generations of this world will remember him as the one who triggered the start of the new era.
This day will be remembered by thousands as the 'day of the Beginning'.
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