[79.4] Mystery POV: Shed no Tears

Every day when I was called to fight, I only attacked when attacked first. When I wasn't, I would help my opponent until the forces of the arena resulted in their death. I would always return to the disgraced Priestess to hear more stories.

She would tell me amorous tales of how she and her demon met. How they both relied on each other to survive despite not trusting each other. Over time, they fell in love.

They got married.

They lived with each other.

Whenever she told these stories, there was a light shining in her eyes. She smiled largely as she recounted her beautiful memories.

I watched her tell these stories, always wondering what she was feeling.

What did it feel like to fall in love?

Is such a thing even possible for me?

I was always anxious she would never return from her fights, but she always would. She always had terrible wounds that I would heal with my own blood cut from my palms. This cycle kept continuing…

Until finally-

There were less than half of the people left.

We sat in a corner as the other Priestesses were across the room, talking with each other and ignoring us.

She scooted closer to me and whispered, "Little priestess… You need to make it to the end. Only one can win and it has to be you."

"But… What about you?"

"Obviously I will die."

My throat constricted, "...Die?"

"The entire time I never intended on surviving. I just didn't want to give those d*mned priestesses the pleasure of my death."

Die…

She's going to die?

She gave me a look, "What's wrong with you? Surely you didn't think we would both live."

Confused by the uncontrollable sensations in my chest, I burst into tears, "I don't want you to die! I don't know why, but I don't!"

I want to hear more of her stories!

I want to learn more about the world!

If she dies, what will I have!?

As my golden tears dropped to the ground, an invisible vapor rose from it. Her pupils dilated as the vapor was absorbed into her nose.

"Stop it! Stop it now!!!" She grabbed me digging her fingers into my skin, "Never cry. Don't EVER cry! No matter what!!! Got it!?!"

I blinked away the golden tears and stared up at her in confusion, "...Why?"

She bit down on her lip, "You… Your body is far too powerful. To humans, your tears give them strength and your blood heals. They will use you as cattle once they find out."

"Will you… Use me?"

She let out a soft sigh, "We were both raised the same way. Haven't I already used you? You heal me after every fight."

I shrugged, "It isn't bad to be used."

She looked at me in shock, "What!? Of course it is! They don't care about your well-being and will-"

"-but you're different."

She blinked, "Excuse me?"

I looked into her eyes, "I don't mind being used by you because you're different."

She saw my gaze and let out a heavy sigh, "You… You should learn to be more selfish. Those you love will always be the ones whose betrayal will hurt the most. Eventually, you'll find out…. There's no one in this world you can trust."

I stared at her curious as to what she was thinking about.

However, I couldn't comfort her nor could I pry.

I never learned how.

After a moment of silence, the bell rang and the audience cheered.

That means someone was victorious.

She suddenly broke the silence, "What will you do when we are put against each other?"

I flinched, "I… I won't hurt you."

"I was afraid of that." She let out a heavy sigh, "Little Priestess. You have to be who is victorious. You have to be the last one standing."

"But… Don't you want to be free?"

She gave a somber smile, "No… I have nothing left to live for."

I felt something tearing at my chest, filling me up with a terrible sensation.

I grabbed her hand, "Let's live together."

She burst out laughing, "Did you miss the intro? Only one priestess, prisoner, or demon gets to go free. We both can't win. Eventually, we will have to face each other-"

"-Unless we run away." My gaze was serious as I spoke, "You ran away. We can do it again."

She stared at me silently before pointing to the collar, "I didn't have this on my neck last time."

I furrowed my brow, "W-We can take it off somehow."

She shook her head, "This collar is special. It's made to explode past a certain radius. I can't escape this arena unless I want my head to explode."

"B-But maybe I can put one on and figure it out myself-"

"-Are you dumb?" She cut me off with a glare, "I know your body heals, but can you be sure you will still survive without a head? You're not immortal. You're just a holy priestess in training who is better at healing than most."

I lowered my head.

She's right.

I don't have the confidence to survive that.

So…

Is this…

Is this really it?

Is this all life is meant to be?

I raised my fingers to touch the metal around her neck. I could feel the Holy power vibrating through it.

So then what's the point?

What's the point of any of this?

I entered the arena the next day and was relieved to see she wouldn't be my opponent.

As I fought with another contestant, I realized something.

No matter how pointless it is, I still don't want to die.

I finished the fight, leaving the arena covered in blood.

I blew out a heavy breath and looked at my dirtied hands.

Why don't I want to die?

"Oh thank the gods!" The disgraced Priestess ran over to me and started cleaning up the blood, "I was so worried you wouldn't make it…"

I stared at her with a strange feeling.

Ah…

Maybe it's because of this…

This weird feeling…

I want to keep it.

I closed my eyes, enjoying the warmth from her hands.

After she finished cleaning me up, I greedily grabbed her hands. She looked at me startled.

"Comrade. What is this warm feeling in my chest?"

She suddenly burst out laughing, "That's the feeling of friendship."

I held my chest with a greedy smile, "...Friendship."

"It's your first time feeling it, right?"

I nodded and looked at her, "It's a good thing, right?"

"Most of the time it is."

"Friendship can be bad?"

"Yes. Some people may not value a friendship the same as you do. They may try to use it for their gain."

"Comrade. Did your demon teach you this friendship?"

She paused and nodded with a dazed smile, "Yes… My demon taught me many things."

"Oh."

She reached out to squeeze my cheeks, "What's wrong? Are you jealous?"

I shook my head, "No… I just wish I could have met your demon."

She paused and replied in a low voice, "Yeah… I wish you could have met her too…"

Seeing she was no longer in the mood to talk, I looked away and at the remaining contestants.

I don't want her to die…

So I have to figure something out.

Maybe I can steal the trigger stone that would detonate the collar.