Battle x Victory x Rest

A/N= I'm writing this here just to explain something, because I feel like people don't think too much or just don't realize simple human emotions. Alan is a person who had, for most of his life, been ignored. Now that he feels like someone and people are recognizing him, he got high on that feeling. He IS high on all the attention he is getting. And he wants more of it. That is why sometimes he does things searching for that attention, be it consciously or unconsciously. Things such as "flirting" are his unconscious way of searching for attention. That is why I clarified that he didn't realize what he said to Jean before he said it. Because he didn't -consciously- mean to do so.

I write this here because I don't trust you to read the Author's Thoughts

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I could instantly feel the discomfort Sys had mentioned, but it wasn't as much of a major problem as it was an annoyance. It put enough strain on my nervous system for me to feel like I was being forced to focus, and I did. I focused everything I had into fighting Khione and protecting the rest. My bodily functions dropped a bit, my blood flowing slower and my breath turning silent and peaceful. My eyes narrowed and my body shifted positions on its own.

Unknown to me, who was focusing entire on the fight, the pressure I was releasing grew to another level. As it would seem, my focus allowed me to temporarily break the barrier of my Stats and Talents.

"You impudent mortal! When I deal with you, I'll kill everyone and freeze this city!"

I didn't answer. More like, I couldn't. My focus didn't allow me to. In that state, with no idea possible on how, my body moved on its own. It shifted to a position that felt more... natural. The ice sword in my hand grew heavier, but it also felt light enough for me to use. Khione noticed the changes and seemed to grow a tad bit more serious. She began sending icicles towards me with no end, but I was able to doge them.

At first my movements were sloppy, I could tell. But the longer I dodged, the more used I got to the motions and the better I performed. When I got tired of just dodging, I grabbed one of the icicles and threw it back at her, using it as cover while I charged forward. Shizuka used her Geo element to create a shield around me, which was good enough to block at least one attack.

"I'm losing what little patience I have left with you!"

The temperature of the room went down by a few degrees more. Khione was enraged, and that didn't really help in our situation. I kept charging at her until I felt like I was close enough and then, I created ten icicles from her own ice and threw them at her. It didn't work at all as an attack, but it wasn't meant to. When Khione stopped them mid-air, her vision was blocked and I was nowhere to be seen.

Jean took the chance to send a wave of air towards Khione, which caught her off guard. It did little to no damage, but it was more than enough of a window for me to attack.

Wielding the sword of ice, I tried to stab the crazy Goddess. She created a wall of ice in front of her, but I was fast enough to create a hole in it. Still, all I managed to do was cut her abdomen a bit, as she had shifted behind the wall when I lost vision of her.

Shizuka was busy protecting the rest form the residual attacks and those Khione sent their way from time to time, Jean gave me support whenever a chance to do so appeared and the rest of the Knights were surrounding Megan, protecting her as if their lives depended on her safety –which was kind of right.

Khione, seeing the cut I made on her, felt even more enraged. With a scream that sounded almost like a shriek, she sent a burst of ice and snow in all directions, freezing everything but the place were I and the others were. I had already moved back towards them when I realized my attack failed, being aware of how she would react to being hurt.

"You know Alan, you're not half bad"

Shizuka had the energy and guts to even joke at this time... not. She was even more tired than I was and had used just as much energy, which meant she was already running on reserves. The only one who still had energy to go was Jean, who hadn't done as much through the fight, but had acted on the exact moments it was needed.

Seeing the situation we were in, some of the Knights began to feel actual fear. They had been trained, they had been taught. But they weren't ready to face the actual dangers of the world, at least not yet. As such, I took it upon my own hands to deal with this.

"I'll go all out from now on. No more saving Mana"

Wielding all of my energy as I said those words, the ice in the entire room turned into swords of ice. At my command, dozens of swords lunged through the air with one objective in common: Khione.

The Goddess stopped the swords mid-air, this time knowing better than to just cover behind a wall. But that was what I expected. I lunged in between the swords and began an attack that I could only describe with one word. Slaughter. Had it been anyone else but Khione, and my attack would've been over the top. Jumping in between the blades I used the one in my hand to attack her and, as she disintegrated that one into snow, grabbed another one. The process repeated itself for the first ten swords, until I grabbed two at a time and dual wielded.

I had realized at some point that Khione couldn't disintegrate more than one sword at a time and, when thinking about the reason why, I realized that she still hadn't woken up entirely. She was using only a part of her powers and, since she had so much Mana, she could use big attacks easily. But because she was enraged and just woken up, finer work was still hard to do. This was a weakness that I planned to exploit.

"You mongrel!"

But all her yelling was futile. I dashed forwards with a sword in each hand and, using the left one as a distraction, slashed with the other one. Khione used ice and even her own arms to cover her body from my attacks, but I was relentless. Whenever she created an icicle, I'd turn it into a sword. Before she could finish disintegrating one sword, I already attacked with another. As Divine as her powers could be, her Focus seemed to be below mine.

All it took was one final attack. Using all of the energy that I had left, I sent all swords towards her while I lunged in for a stab. Khione wasn't able to repel all the attacks, since she was stabbed by a sword through the heart, then another one and another one and so on. All swords pierced through her until her beautiful figure and fair skin were tainted by a bright red blood. Coming closer to her, I kneeled down and did something that shook everyone else.

"I'm sorry. I can't allow you to destroy this place, but you'll live on through me"

The Goddess in turn just smiled wryly as she turned into particles that went inside me. I dropped my focus and I suddenly felt the tiredness in my muscles and brain. I was exhausted.

Doing one last effort, I walked towards Megan, who remained without a single scratch. Promising silently to thank the Knights, Shizuka and Jean later, I allowed myself to fall towards Megan, drifting off into the land of dreams. There, I would meet my new surrogate mother.

The last thing I heard before my consciousness completely abandoned my body, were the cries of victory coming from the Knights of Favonius.