033 Whispers Of Salvation

KKKKEEEEHHHHAAA

Blood painted the sky yet again as Invictus cut through another straggler. They fell to the ground devoid of life. As I looked up from the carcass and around to the newly devastated and war torn landscape, only death came to sight.

His shadow gleefully walking through calamity that had ensued. Collecting the souls of the dead to bring back to the everlasting hellfire of his purgatory.

Limbs were strewn about the lakeside. Singed corpses, deformed and charred lay everywhere. It was a sickening scene to anyone who would choose to witness the carnage.

Though I was surrounded by such visual horror, I continued on unfazed. It is only natural to expect at least this level of brutality when one is fighting against others if their kin.

The unfortunate truth that many don't realize is that in order to participate and endure such a situation, one must have the will or drive to press forward at the cost of their humanity.

It is because of this truth that many don't know of or can't handle the true wrath of war.

I had made the decision to discard mine a while ago. To throw it away like you would any other piece of trash. If I am to get my revenge, and I will get it, then I don't have need for the trivialities of life such as humanity or reason.

The death of those three.

The liberation of Luna.

The conquering of the great evil.

These were my reasons to press on no matter what. They are what fueled me to keep climbing higher. To endure the persecution and battles to come.

However were they all? Did I have anything else outside of that? What drives me forward once all that is accomplished....slowly my eyes naturally made their way to Ventus.

Perhaps if—Maybe one day...

My train of thought was cut off when I noticed the two last survivors miserably crawling away back to the teleportation portal.

They were trying to be silent but the disrupting of the rocks on the ground made that task impossible for them.

I began to walk behind them, gaining on them by the second. Sometime during this trek, the black strip of cloth on my right forearm slowly began to move back towards my eyes and cover them. Sealing them again.

As it Knotted itself behind my head, I could feel the explosion of power I was bathing in, begin to fall dormant again.

With the knot done, the remaining excess of the rectangular strip hung down with my hair.

Finally after walking a short distance I met the two stragglers. Like all the ones before they begged and pleaded for their lives.

"Please, spare us! Please! We were just following orders! You have to believe us!" The first one barked.

"If you spare us we can help you! We won't tell anyone we found you here. We can keep it a secret and you can stay hidden." The second one chimed in.

I honestly didn't care what happened to these two, as they had never directly offended me. However, not only had one of them said something that just rubbed me the wrong way, but they had followed orders blindly.

If I hadn't been strong enough...I don't even want to imagine what they would have done to Ven should I have failed!

I dismissed the thought before I spoke.

"Well here is the deal lads. I need one of you alive to go personally to Quinn and inform her that I'm coming to kill her. To let her know of what you saw here. How brutality all of your friends died. As well as how strong I am. Unfortunately this is a one man job so...."

They panicked as their eyes met. Turning their gaze back to me I continued.

"I would never do something cruel like make you choose amongst yourselves."

A strange peace overcame them only for a second before I pointed my hand towards soldier number two.

"Since you gave me the stupidest answer I've heard, you get to die."

The second soldier was engulfed in fear upon hearing my words.

"I mean let's be serious, Quinn is going to know something is up when of the 1000 soldiers she sent, no one from the floor comes back. It makes no sense to hide my location. Are you aware of how stupid of a response that was?"

"But wait what if—"

It was because he had not personally done wrong against me that I decided to be merciful and I sliced his head in one motion.

I had no interest in hearing anything else he had to say.

Soldier number two's body collapsed as it finished its evolution to became a fountain. Spraying Ruby crystals of life about.

I turned away from the body started making my way back. Shuffling could be heard as the first soldier continued to struggle to the portal. Eventually the familiar buzz of the portal activating could be heard and once again I was alone with Ven and SB here on the floor.

With all the stragglers taken care of, I made my way back to my comrades.

It took me a minute at the most to walk my way to where SB was guarding Ven. The scene was as I remembered it. She was still laying on the ground where I left her. SB on the other hand was covered in all sorts of blood and he had what I assume was someone's former digestive system wrapped around him.

He was showing it off proudly to me, almost like displaying a trophy.

...That's gross SB. I have to figure a way to get rid of it.

I carefully chose my next words.

"Hey little guy, so you went on this crazy killing rampage."

Bloop Bloop

"And you protected Ven amazingly."

BLOOP BLOOP BLOOP

He seemed to be getting excited.

"But you can't keep the organs of your enemies as trophies from your victories buddy. I-I-It's frowned upon."

Blooop

"I know, I know it sucks, I get it. Believe me I do, like I wish I could keep all the entrails from my kills, but I didn't make up these rules. They are just there and we unfortunately have to follow them."

Bloooooooop

He gave me a sad little noise as he let that organ system slide off of his little blob like body.

"I'm sorry SB but I promise we before we leave this floor we will get you a souvenir from one of these corpses..."

Oh goddess that doesn't sound any better but it seemed to cheer up SB.

BLOOP BLOOOOP BLOOP

He bounced in circles for a bit causing me to smile. He finished his last bounce and landed on me as he began activating his [Everlasting] skill.

Moments later he was a thin transparent shield on my body once again.

Good now that SB had been taken care of, I turned back to Ven. She was breathing normally, but didn't appear to show any sign of waking up.

Maybe she needs more rest? Well let's move away from here and onto the third floor. I know of a place we can hide be safe enough to recover. Plus with such a large amount of people now dead, who knows when Quinn will send more reinforcements here.

I needed to rest as well, I'm tired. The mental stain of what I just went through was beyond intense and had taken its toll on me.

Scooping up Ven from the ground, I lifted her up in my arms and began to walk towards the portal.

As I walked, she shifted her body and wrapped her arms around my neck. It took me by surprise and I couldn't help but blush a little at the action.

"So you were awake?"

She smiled but kept her eyes closed.

"Of course, I have been awake for a while but I needed to keep my word."

"What do you mean?"

"Well I killed two floor bosses, and the next one I told you I would sit out quietly."

She let out a soft giggle as she spoke those words. They were meant to rile me up and she succeeded.

"You said that was for the third floor boss! This was an army not a floor boss!"

"Yeah but I figured you were strong enough to handle this and didn't need my help."

I smiled back at her nonsense and gave a soft response."

"You're a jerk. I could have used the help."

"From where I was laying, you did a fantastic job so I don't really think you needed my help."

"Whatever."

"That being said, I guess I don't mind being a jerk...As long as I can be your jerk Em....."

I stopped. Standing still, meters away from the portal. I simply held her just a bit more tightly. My heart had sped up and began doing an irregular fluttering rhythm. I didn't know how else to respond. So I was desperately hoping that through this, my response would come through.

An unknown load came off my shoulders as Ventus readjusted herself in my arms again to lay her head on my chest

I simply smiled and continued forward.

Finally, we arrived at the teleportation portal and I activated it.

With a gentle tone, I spoke out.

"Come Ven, let's get some rest ok?"

She nodded.

Several moments of flashing light passed and we finally moved on from the second floor.