103 Blood Red Sunset Part 2
[Music Info: Heavy Metal: Iron Maiden]
Heavy Metal: Iron Maiden lets the Listener change the shape of Heavy Metal's barrier at will.
Lv. 2
MP Cost: -0.01MP per second.
Effects:
> Amplifies the barrier's damage absorption by 15%.
> Heavy Metal: Iron Maiden maintains the increased weight of Heavy Metal, but will not affect the Listener while Heavy Metal: Iron Maiden is active.
Drawbacks:
> Depending on the shape of the barrier, the Listener can be defenseless from any physical or magic attacks.
'With Heavy Metal's weight no longer hindering my movements, I can now do this!'
Lyrica spun around the man in front of her, locking her charcoal eyes onto his open back.
"Wha?! She's fast!"
"Watch out!"
Before the man could react in time, Lyrica clasped her hands together, making her barrier merge and creating a bigger hammer.
Swish~!
Bam! Crackle!
"Aaagh–!"
Crash!
Lyrica slammed the man's back with her barrier. The weight that knocked out the Guardian Snake sent the fellow to the ground along with more than a few broken bones. The watchers broke into a shock, observing their companion completely knocked out of consciousness.
"Impossible!"
"She knocked him out with just a single hit?!"
"That barrier is not normal!"
Lyrica is not playing around, she went straight to the other fellow who tried to attack her from behind. What she did to his comrade blew him surprised that he cannot figure out what to do about the girl who's about to attack her.
"Hey, get out of there! Use your Blink!"
As much as they try to tell him to get away, his instincts could only let him slightly raise his guard on the incoming attack. Although it's almost as if the man was prepared to receive her punch openly rather than defending himself.
"How bothersome!"
One of the assassins appeared from behind the shadows of the trees and descended with incredible speed.
"You all came here intending to assassinate me, so don't blame me if my Iron Maiden bashes your head to the ground!" Lyrica declared as she came closer to the assassin, aiming to strike his head and kill him. But...
Zzoom!!
"Huh?!"
A pair of short knives were thrown from the right side of Lyrica, forcing her to deactivate Iron Maiden to protect her body.
Tting~! Tting~!
Right as she lost her posture due to the weight of Heavy Metal returning to Lyrica, a female assassin with a short sword appeared before her.
"Keh!"
Ttang!
Lyrica reactivated her Iron Maiden just in time so she could collapse with the female assassin's short sword.
"How bothersome!"
"How troublesome!"
Blink!
"Huh?"
The female assassin disappeared from Lyrica's point of view, but she already predicted that the assassin would reappear from behind her.
"Ha!"
Clang!!
Lyrica deactivated her Iron Maiden once more, shielding her whole body from the assassin's attacks from her blind spot.
"What a bothersome barrier!" Said the female assassin in an irritated tone.
"That Blink is troublesome!" Lyrica replied, feeling the same annoyance about the assassin's ability to blink.
While the female assassin and Lyrica continue their bout, four other people wearing the same dark coat as the rest of their group came to the other fellow who froze on the spot.
"Hey, are you all right?" Asked one of his comrades.
"Y-Yes, sorry." He replied.
"It's not like you to just fall in a daze like that, are you sure you're okay?" Another fellow approached them and interjected.
The fellow took a short pause before responding to his companion's query.
"Remember when we were just a band of knights of Kruule like everyone else?" Said the fellow. He then added: "But three years ago, we were forced to take a cruel job—to kill people Uruk find not contributing to him, or at least whatever his goal was."
Every single one of the people they killed is one of many civilians they once swore to protect. The people whose lives ended short from the tip of their blades are the ones that Uruk himself deemed as "pure," or not bearing hatred towards the Hari. In the beginning, they do their tasks in secrecy or away from the people of Kruule's attention, because assassinating someone should always be done fast and quiet. But there are times where they execute those pure ones in front of the others, because of the idea that their heart and souls which are pure are beginning to influence those around them.
For whatever reason, Uruk wanted people to hate him, even the ones who follow him, so letting those pure ones roam free is a problem for him. In any case, when Lyrica was about to attack him, although she was interrupted by his companion, the faces of the innocent people he killed suddenly flashed before his eyes.
He thought he had already discarded them, he thought not thinking about those innocent lives he had taken is the only way to continue on his life, because he cannot afford to die for the sake of the ones who're waiting for him home.
"Those memories, it all comes back to you moments before your demise, isn't that right?"
"What are you trying to say?"
As Lyrica and the female assassin's exchange of blows ended in a standstill, the man looked into his companions' eyes and said:
"I didn't freeze because I wasn't able to decide what to do in time... When I saw the faces of the people I assassinated, I thought I should just die there and then."
"Huh?"
"..."
Lyrica and the woman in dark cloak turned their heads towards the fellow.
The reason behind all the lives he had taken indeed was because he had to do it for him and his loved ones to live, but one cannot deny the fact they've murdered people that are also like them. And he felt responsible for it.
"I don't want to die yet, I don't want to see the same thing happen to my family either, but this guilt that's been building up inside me, it's getting too heavy for me to carry!" Like a container full of overflowing water, his eyes began to gush out tears. "I'm surprised I lasted this long, but thanks to that girl, I finally realized that dying might be the only thing that can save us from this hell, from this
cruel world!"
The assassin slowly pointed his knuckle blades protruding from his gauntlets onto his neck.
"I'm sorry everyone, I'll be going ahead first. Tell my family I'm–"
Fwip!! Smack!!
"Goh!"
"Ah!"
To Lyrica's surprise, one of the assassin's comrades standing before him went and smacked his consciousness out into oblivion.
"I'm sorry, but keeping your mouth running will just urge us to do the same thing," Said the one who smacked the fellow assassin.
"I'm not saying you should try to commit suicide like he just did, but why don't you listen to what he was saying and find other ways to atone for your sins?" Lyrica spouted out of the blue, breaking the brief silence that occurred not long since the fellow was knocked out of his consciousness. "There's a way for us to get out of this situation without losing anyone's lives. You don't have to kill me if you can't, you don't have to make your guilt heavier than it already is."
At first glance, it may sound like a piece of genuine advice and an offer to help the assassins from their guilt, but it was nothing more than a one-time opportunity to get out of her situation unharmed. However...
Fling!!
A pair of knives were thrown at Lyrica, albeit she received it like it was nothing with her Heavy Metal.
"We are the Hari's direct soldiers, we know more than the high commanders about the sumpa and its lethality being lifted." Said the female assassin calmly. "But if even we say we don't want to do it anymore, it's already too late."
A pair of knives slid out of the female assassin's dark long sleeves onto her right hand, each blade full of mana and are glowing with blue light.
"We already killed more than we could atone with our own lives, that is why we can't back down anymore." She added. "So I'm sorry, but I'm gonna have to reject your offer."
"I see, so that's your answer," Lyrica replied in a low, disappointed tone. "If that's the case, then so be it."
Lyrica's barrier proceeded to wrap around her fists once more.
"What I did today is nothing compared to what you have done until now, but I've killed two people in this very same day." Lyrica mouthed calmly while looking at the palm of her hands that's wrapped in Iron Maiden. "I killed one of them because he was a threat for me and everyone else's lives in that town, the other was because he had his malicious eyes on a woman who reminded me of someone from the world I came from and it got me really pissed off."
Though the female assassin and the others remained silent, they already knew she was talking about Gilberto and the other high commander they found dead while they were on the way.
"I went and did it, but here I am, not sure if what I just did is the right thing or not." Lyrica further stated: "But after seeing your friend and his mental breakdown, I finally realized it."
"That's enough! Die!"
The female assassin threw her magic knives at Lyrica, not waiting for her to finish what she was trying to say to her and everyone else. But then...
"I was asking myself the wrong question, it's not about what is right or what is wrong, it's about whether it was necessary."
Apart from her barrier, Lyrica's body glowing with green light left the watchers into wonder.
"When it comes to realizing my desire, killing people who dare stand in my way..."
Rather flawlessly, Lyrica dodged the knives as if they simply went through her body.
"...Is necessary."
