Fractured Resolve

"Ossa," Bel exclaimed as she tried to run towards him, fearing he was in danger.

Wolf!! The shadow wolf stopped her as she was running into the territory of the giant wasps, creatures that they even had problems dealing with.

"But!!!... Ossa is right there," she said, trying to push the shadow wolf out of the way.

Wolf!! The large wolf, a few inches smaller than the alpha, did not budge, standing his ground as he did his job to protect Bel.

"OSSA!!!" Noticing her efforts to push the wolf out of the way amounted to nothing, she cried out to Ossa.

[ Hey, your contractor is calling out to you ]

"..." Ossa, who had remained unmoving all this while, turned towards Bel.

"Ossa!!! Are you alright... What are you still doing there?" Bel exclaimed as she noticed Ossa had turned towards her.

"..." Ossa looked at her, his eyes void of emotion, but Bel, who was his contractor, could feel his pain—the pain of complete and utter defeat.

"What happened... Why are you sad?" She exclaimed, momentarily surprising Ossa, who did not know exactly what he felt.

He was conflicted with a lot of emotions: shame, regret, depression, mediocrity.

"Sad?!... Huh, I guess I am," Ossa said internally.

[Finally decided to speak]

"Yeah!!... Sorry about that," he said to Mors, his tone solemn, unlike his informal expressive tone; the tone of his teenage mind.

[Wow... The battle has made you mature, Francesco knew what he was doing]

Mors said, trying to tease Ossa.

"..."

"Ossa, what's wrong... Come over and tell me," Bel said, unable to get to Ossa, still blocked by the Shadow wolf.

"Yeah, I need to go to her," he said, unaware of where he was.

With his right leg slightly off the ground, he attempted to walk towards Bel but immediately found himself on the ground, hit by a wasp that had noticed him move.

" Hahaha, am I going to lose again " He exclaimed, still shaken by his defeat at the hands of the Sonicware bats.

[ Host showing excessive emotion ]

[ Analysing reason ]

[ Host soul is shaken by the sonic blast ]

[ Analysing Host soul ]

[ Analysing ]

[ ... ]

[ Cause found ]

[ WHAT!! ]

[ Reanalysing Host soul ]

[ Analysing ]

[ ... ]

[ Cause found ]

[ How come!! ]

" What's going on " Ossa inquired.

[ Host, the system will be undergoing a reboot. ]

[ I will be back in a few hours ]

" O... kay "

[ System rebooting ]

[ Temporal shutdown ]

"What's going on?" He said internally, perplexed by the system's strange behavior.

"Ossa!!!"

"Ossa!!"

"OSSA"

"Bel?!" Ossa exclaimed, finally hearing Bel, who had been screaming his name all this while.

Due to the continuous system notification, he could not hear her.

"Are you...alright?" She shouted, a bit panicked.

"I need to get my act together, I am making her worried," he resolved himself.

"Where is the axe," still lying on his back unmoving, wasps going about their business.

After the wasp had hit him, it tried to attack him but was coincidentally bumped into by another wasp, pushing it out of the way.

After regaining its composure, it tried to find the strange skeleton but could not as he lay there unmoving.

After a fruitless search, it went about its business.

"Ossa!!!" Bel cried out once again.

"I am alright!!!" Ossa, in turn, shouted internally, trying to convey his emotions to Bel.

A sense of relief washed over Bel, despite not being able to hear Ossa's voice.

"He's okay," Bel said internally, as she could tell the sensation she felt was from Ossa.

"OK, I will wait for you," Bel cried out.

"She has calmed down... Let me quickly get to her," Ossa said as he searched for the axe.

Lying a few meters from him was the corpse of a sonic bat, the axe sticking out of its chest.

"..." He found the axe, but around it were numerous wasps, who were busily cutting and transporting pieces of its flesh into the hive.

"Sigh... No, I shouldn't give up, I need to get out of here," he resolved himself.

Despite being immortal, his defeat had shaken his soul, making him feel hesitation when going into battle.

With his current state of mind, all he wanted was to drift in the wind, doing nothing, as he believed he could not do anything.

Making up his mind, he crawled on the ground slowly and steadily, as he did not want to draw attention to himself.

Slowly, he reached his destination, the corpse of the ware bat. Swiftly, he pulled the axe out and swung it, slashing at the nearest wasp.

"Yeah, get them!" Bel cheered, safe in the forest of trees that were out of range of the wasp detection skills.

Haaaf!! The shadow wolf yawned, tired as it was past its bedtime.

"You can sleep if you want," Bel said as she noticed the tired look of the wolf.

The wolf looked at her drowsy before closing its eyes for a quick nap.

If anything happened, it would sense it, as it was one of the elite members of the pack.

Meanwhile, Ossa was swarmed by wasps, swinging his axe around, each swing claiming a life.

No notification sounded as the system was rebooting. Unrelenting, the wasps continued to swarm him, trying to bring him down.

With their pincers and mandibles, they attacked him, his bones cracking with each attack.

The cracks healed, taking mana from his contractor Bel.

"It seems my swing has become stronger," he said, surprised that he could cleave the wasps in two with just one swing.

"Well, that's good?!" He said solemnly, wishing he had such strength when he fought the sonic bats.

"I would have lost either way," he said as he realized strength was not what he needed to fight them.

Frustrated, he swung harder, one-sidedly massacring them.

Facing such a one-sided massacre, their self-preserving instincts kicked in as they flew out of his way, trying to stay clear of the skeletal abomination.

"OSSA!!!" Bel exclaimed as he was still swinging, even though there was nothing to hit.

"Huh, I need to get it together," he said internally, finally noticing his surroundings.

Most of the wasps had flown into their hive, with a few hovering around, scrutinizing him.

He walked towards Bel, nothing standing in his way.

"Ossa, it's ok, let's go home," Bel said as she hugged Ossa's skeletal frame.