Chapter 274 Volume IV - Chapter 121: The Price of Victory
"No... No, no, no..."
I knelt down, forgetting all the madness that had taken over my mind minutes ago. I placed my hand on Gurdas's chest, focusing without a second thought on the blue flames.
Blue flames whose only function was not only to burn but also to heal.
'Aiden...'
My palm was covered in blue flames, and not only that, it slowly covered the huge burn mark on Gurdas' chest.
The wound was so bad and so deep that it was a miracle he had survived at all. Whatever had hit him, whatever had burned him, had been so powerful that it had almost burned his organs.
And yet, when blue flames came on top of this burn, Gurdas did not moan or scream. On the contrary, a look of relief appeared on his face, if only for a moment. So I was sure that the flames were doing what I wanted them to do: healing him, keeping him alive.
Yet next to this expression of relief, another one appeared. One that was as much an expression of discomfort as it was of relief.
"Heh."
Gurdas smiled, though even that was sloppy. His lips could not curl much.
"Don't w-"
"No... No I'm not wasting my time, shut up and just wait. Don't waste your energy... don't waste it."
Beads of sweat appeared on my forehead, I could barely keep my palm on Gurdas' chest as my whole body continued to tremble.
The glow in Gurdas' eyes dimmed even more, his breathing slowed even more.
My vision too blurred. I felt like everything was falling apart, yet I didn't give up. I refused to give up.
I gave the blue flames even more mana, I didn't keep a single bit of it inside me, I spent it all.
Gurdas smiled again, finally tore his dark brown eyes away from the sky, and looked at me again.
He tried to say something but I didn't let him, I silenced him, I didn't want him to waste his energy.
Nevertheless, with each passing second Gurdas' condition continued to deteriorate, and even though I was healing him, it seemed to have no effect, except for the relief on his face.
The blue flames... aren't they enough to keep him alive?
No, they should be. If they are insufficient... then it is not their insufficiency, but mine.
These flames allow the living to be reborn. They can't save a dying man? Bullshit...
I gritted my teeth, I didn't accept the fact that the flames were insufficient. I couldn't accept such a thing.
I didn't reach out to the system, but to something other than it, something independent of it, something that belonged to me... the blood inside me.
As my whole body suddenly began to heat up, as I felt the blood coursing through my veins become excited... the phoenix blood in my body slowly began to awaken, the Phoenix's Ascension slowly activated.
The whole world turned blue in an instant. Blue flames rose from my body, spreading all around.
My eyes sharpened, and I realized I could see my surroundings more clearly. My hair became wavy, slightly longer. Under my eyes, I saw my skin shimmering with a golden glow. As the blood in my veins continued to awaken... I felt myself changing.
'Are these... runes?'
I heard Sith mutter, his confusion reflected in his words, but I didn't care.
My body was suddenly overflowing with power. My mana reserves, normally depleted, were suddenly full. The whole world shimmered, a slightly translucent color became visible to my eyes, circulating in the atmosphere for no reason.
Not only that, some of the bodies lying on the ground glowed with a blue glow. Some were dim, others still brighter.
Yet all this was unimportant. None of this was of any use to me right now.
What mattered was that I was overflowing with mana and that my blue flames were suddenly multiplied many times stronger.
The flames that had been concentrated around Gurdas suddenly expanded as if they were burning even more fiercely than before as they tried to heal Gurdas.
The smile on Gurdas's face seemed to flicker. He opened his mouth again, tried to say something, but this time he failed to say what he wanted without me having to silence him.
Our eyes met, and for a moment I saw his pale eyes sparkle.
Happiness, pride, sadness, maybe regret, but definitely much more...
The last change in Gurdas' expression became more definitive when he barely managed to put his hand on my shoulder. He said nothing, just kept smiling as the blue flames tried to keep him alive as best they could.
The glint in his eyes flickered, this time with pure desire. Gurdas... practically begged me. He... begged me to stop.
The blue flames that I had poured all my mana into to keep him alive suddenly paused as if they had lost their target. They just remained, as if what they were going to do had suddenly slipped from their grasp. They were already surrounding Gurdas, entering his body and trying to heal the wound, but... now they were doing nothing.
"No, no, no!"
I shouted, aiming at the flames that had stopped moving for no reason.
Why are they just standing there? I imagine them healing Gurdas, I want them to bring him back to life, but... why are they doing nothing?
Gurdas's hand slipped from my shoulder, fell to the ground, and made a loud thud. The last gleam in his eyes faded as his chest stopped rising and falling.
Despite all this, the smile on his face did not fade.
"Huh...?"
My voice trembled, and I stood still for a moment.
'Aiden...'
My eyes widened, everything seemed clearer to me now... and then... suddenly they blurred again.
My hair waved, the golden glow under my eyes faded slightly. The mana that flooded my whole body receded as if it had never come, and the blue flames disappeared before they could do anything about it.
"Gur... das?"
Sith appeared before my eyes. Although he had a sad expression on his face, his eyes were sharp, looking at me with concern.
He didn't move, he just remained where he was.
"Say something... move... Why are you just standing where you are? I won't silence you this time... Please... I- I... P- Please..."
'He's dead, Aiden.'
My eyes widened even wider, my hands trembled even more.
Sith's words echoed in my mind, and Gurdas' lifeless body continued to lie in front of me.
I looked at the smile on his face, the smile that would not break for no reason.
Just then a notification appeared in front of me, a notification from AVRES.
It told me that we had won the war.
*******
What was I fighting for...?
To gain experience, right? It was to get stronger...
In short, to win, am I right?
We won.
The Battle of Mount Doruan is won.
I have always been fighting to win, and now... we have won a battle, not the big one, but a small one that will help us a lot to win the actual war.
With the plan and strategy I proposed, in a single day, the North Holar were indeed the victors. They went down to the virgonium mine deep in the mountain and dug for almost two days non-stop for virgonium.
And in return for what?
We won in exchange for many, many lives.
And one of those lives... was one of the people I was closest to on this battlefield. Maybe that's why, after he died, time seemed to lose its meaning for me.
After he died... I couldn't really focus on anything, it was like everything was happening so fast, I was moving on to the next day without realizing what was happening.
Gurdas's body was sent to his family after a short ceremony, as was the custom for all dwarves. But... that was all that was done for him.
My name was now faintly spoken among the army. And in many ways...
There were those who saw me as a war maniac, there were those who said I slaughtered dwarves on the battlefield like a madman, there were those who said I crushed everyone in my path, there were those who said I had strange powers...
There was much more talk. Even though I was one of the least talked about in the general army gossip, once it started, there was more to come.
And it... only annoyed me even more.
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