Piercing the Heart

"T-thanks."

If Charles hadn't deflected the surprise attack by the beast, Damian would have died on the spot.

"Alright. Follow me you vile creature." Charles yelled.

He dashed away from the village but soon realized it wasn't following. It instead jumped at Damian once again, but this time Damian was prepared. He jumped out of the way at the last second while Rose shot at the beast. Three arrows sunk into the beast's side. The beast roared in pain but ignored Rose and continued to pursue Damian.

[Why is it following me? In the previous timelines it was easy to provoke. It was like an agent of chaos that destroyed anything in its way. This time it's more like an assassin trained to attack a single target. Is it because of Charles? Is it wary of him so it wants to just kill me and get out?]

Charles landed beside Damian.

"It seems that beast is targeting you." he noted. "In that case…"

Charles lifted Damian over his left shoulder, placing Damian's stomach on his shoulder pad, butt facing forward.

"Hey!" Damian protested.

"I just need to bring you with me!"

Charles dashed away from the village once again and this time the beast followed. Damian's stomach was helplessly and uncomfortably bumped up and down the adventurers shoulder pad as they retreated to the clearing north of the village. The beast was in hot pursuit, chasing on all fours, yet Charles still kept a good distance between them as he ran. Charles finally made it to the clearing and put down an exhausted Damian with an aching abdomen.

"M-m-my st-t-stomach...."

"Sorry for the bumpy ride." Charles apologized to Damian, who was in agony. "I couldn't maintain speed and comfort while staying ahead of the beast."

"I-i-it's o-o-o-ook." Damian gave Charles a weak thumbs up.

The beast finally caught up with the two. It glared at Charles, furious for the game of chase he made it play. With an ear splitting roar, it charged at Charles. Charles assumed a long point guard stance. He held his longsword in front of him with both hands and bent his knees with his left foot in front. Damian watched in awe as Charles dodged the incoming blow with minimal movement and stabbed into the beast's heart. His entire blade went through its chest and the tip exited from its back. The ape slumped on the blade that was keeping it up as gallons of blood gushed from it's wound. Charles removed his blade, dropping the lifeless body of the beast to the floor, and swung his sword, using his speed and the air to wipe his blade clean.

"See, I told you, everything is fine." He smiled as he sheathed his longsword.

"Not yet it isn't. It's gonna get back up."

"Surely you jest. Unless it has an insanely powerful regenerative blessing it will stay down."

As if on cue, the beast began to rise from the puddle of its own blood. Its face was demented, contorted to the maximum to convey its boiling rage and killing intent. Charles grabbed Damian and leapt back.

"It seems I was mistaken."

"Do you have a plan to take it down?"

"All regenerative blessing users have a spot where they can not heal. I'll have to hack and slash until I find that spot."

"Like an achilles heel, I get it."

"I have no idea what you are referring to but it seems you get the idea."

Charles once again readied his sword. However, this time, he assumed an offensive back stance. The longsword was drawn back to his right side ready to swing at a moment's notice. He charged at this beast and swung at its forehead, aiming to cut its brain in half. Midway through the swing, however, he stopped on a dime and jumped back.

"What's wrong?"

"I can't get close. This time it's ready to counter-attack. I only get one swing before it grabs me."

Damian shuddered, remembering the excruciating pain of being crushed by the beast's grip.

[One swing? How are we going to find out its weak point with only one swing? We don't have range since Rose isn't here yet. Should we try to hold out until the rest get here? No, we can't. Charles won't be able to protect the both of us for long. Think Damian, Think! You've faced this beast three times including now. There must have been some signifier as to where its weak point is.]

Damian was suddenly pulled away by Charles from what would have been another deadly hit.

"Keep your eyes open and stay light on your feet! I won't be able to protect both of us at the same time indefinitely!" Charles yelled, confirming Damian's thoughts.

[Wait, whenever I saw the beast, it was always covered from head to toe in arrows thanks to Rose. Was there any area that didn't have any arrows covering it?....There was!]

"I...I got it! The weak point, I know where it is! Its neck!"

Thinking back on the previous timelines Damian realized that the beast had always deflected any arrows that would have struck its throat. Therefore, it's neck was strangely clear, in contrast to its arrow-ridden body. This was true in both timelines so Damian was sure that it was its weak point.

"On what basis?" Charles queried as he deflected another attack by the beast.

"Call it my weakness instinct."

"This isn't the time for jokes, Damian! I only get one strike. I can't attack and defend at the same time."

"I'm dead serious! Trust me!"

"...Alright. I'll put my faith in you Damian. Don't let me down!"

With that Charles once more assumed his back stance. He charged at the beast, pushing forward with his legs and swinging his longsword with his arms. The beast gladfully took the opportunity to seize Charles' torso, however by doing so it left itself wide open for one attack.

"Take this!"

The swing came from the right side. The beast had only registered where the strike was going to land when the blade was already touching its unprotected fur. A moment of surprise and confusion was the last thing it felt. The beast's head was lopped off cleanly and rolled on the ground before coming to a halt. Its body lost all function and released Charles, falling to the bloodied dirt below. The body spazzed out a bit until it finally lost all motion.

"Is it over?" Damian

"Yes. You were right. Its weak point lied within its neck. It's dead for real this time."

Damian's knees finally gave out after confirmation of the beast's death was positive. He had done it. The village was saved. A bubbly feeling began to rise from his bowels.

"Hehehehehe…...HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! WE DID IT!!!!"

Charles finally cracked a smile since the start of the battle.

"Damian!" Richard called out from the trees.

Richard, Timithus, and Rose had finally caught up to Charles but the battle was already over. They bore witness to a triumphant Charles, who stood over the corpse of the beast, and a hysterical Damian, who guffawed uncontrollably with immense joy. The nightmare was finally over.

******

Back at the village gates, Damian and Timithus readied to part ways with Charles. With his quest completed, he was ready to accept his pay and be on his way. Damian insisted that he crash the night, since he must've been tired but Charles politely refused and said that he needed to go. Since he and Damian had received only minimal injuries (though most of Damian's injuries were due to Charles) there was really no argument that he should stay if he didn't want to. Consequently, Richard had left for Frank's home to bring back the $100 quest reward.

[Frank is gonna be furious. I forgot to tell him earlier. Well, better late than never right?]

Rose had left earlier. She meekly said her goodbyes to them and disappeared despite their protests that she stay. Damian wondered where she was heading to in such a hurry but he would never find out.

"Hey, Damian."

Charles approached Damian with his usual smile, but this time it felt sincere to Damian, not like the belittling smile he used to wear.

"Before I leave, I thought that I should thank you."

"Thank me? For what?"

"I previously believed that I was invincible because of my skills and blessing. I allowed that to get to my head and became arrogant, believing that I could defeat anything. But today was the first time I experienced true fear, that I wouldn't be able to defeat my enemy. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have come out victorious. This experience made me realize that I can't just rely on myself like I've been doing all this time. To defeat the ultimate enemy, I vow to never underestimate an opponent ever again and to accept help when offered and needed."

"Aww, shucks. You're making me blush!" Damian heartily patted Charles's back. "Well I guess you can't be faulted, seeing how powerful you were for a B-ranked adventurer."

"B-rank...? I'm an A-rank adventurer."

"You were an A-rank adventurer the whole time!? I had just assumed you were a B-rank since the pay was so low! If you had told me that way earlier I wouldn't have fretted so much!"

"Ah, sorry about that. Your quest was the highest paying by the end of the day so I took it." Charles conveyed an apologetic smile to the irritated Damian. "By the way, the beast was targeting you for the entirety of the fight. Do you know why it was?"

"Yeah. It was after this."

Damian produced his phone from his fanny pack and displayed it to Charles.

"What is that?"

"It's called a phone. It's a common relic from where I come from. You can use it to talk to people from far distances and use the internet, which is the most useful thing ever. Though it's out of battery and I can't charge it so it's kind of useless right now."

"Wow, that sounds incredible. I had no idea that technology had advanced this far. Where in the world did you come from?"

"A place called the United States of America. Though you probably never heard of it since it's in another world and all."

"The United States of America…..You...came from there?" Charles asked with a shaky voice.

"Hey, you know about the U.S.?!" Damian questioned in surprise. "But how?"

"If you came from there…..Then, that means…." he continued on, ignoring Damian.

In a fraction of a second, a seething Charles aggressively grabbed Damian's neck with his right hand, lifting him above the ground and slamming him into the wooden wall. The killing intent within Charles' pupils bore into the terrified and bewildered Damian as he began to squeeze the life out of him.

"After twenty long years, I've finally found you, Traveler!"

Damian tried to yell, to ask why Charles was doing this but only short gasps of his lungs grasping for air cried out. He struggled with his whole body, trying to squirm out of the grip of his unexpected attacker but by doing so he only expended more and more energy.

Timithus moved in swiftly, aiming his spear inches behind Charles' nape.

"Let him go."

"Did you not hear what I said? This is the Traveler. The one that ruined so many of our lives. The greatest evil on this planet. I won't let him go. I'm going to kill him right here."

"Does that kid really seem like the greatest evil to you? He risked his life to save our village. I've lived with him for a month now and not once have I believed him to be evil in any way."

"Maybe he isn't evil right now, even I'll admit that. But, he will go on to become the greatest evil. What he will do to the past, we've experienced firsthand. Even you must have been affected in some way. If I stop him here the tragedies will end, cease to exist. My...my parents will be here with me again. That's what the king himself told me!"

For a second, a flash of doubt enveloped Timithus and Charles used that opportunity to squat down, avoiding the spear, and sucker punched him with such force that he crashed into a nearby tree, all while continuing to choke Damian. Now that Timithus was unconscious and unable to fight, Charles unsheathed his longsword with his free hand, ready to end Damian's life.

[No, stop! I finally got this far. The beast is finally dead. The village is saved. So why is this happening?]

The blade glinted red from the flames of the torches. Charles winded back his left arm with the tip of the blade pointed at Damian's chest.

[I don't want to go back. I don't want to go through all that again. Please stop. Please stop. Please stop. Please…..stop. Pl….eas…..e…..s..to..p…...Pl...e...ase…]

An intense flare of pain almost knocked Damian unconscious. The blade penetrated his chest cleanly, directly puncturing his heart. Charles finally let go of Damian's feeble neck and swiftly removed the sword from his chest, using his right arm to push Damian down. With no strength in his legs, Damian promptly fell to the ground facing the sky. Blood poured out his wound, staining the grass below him dark red. He was without oxygen and now without a heart and knew he would die soon. The pain was now gone, only a cold feeling remained. Charles stood over the dying Damian and said some parting words but Damian couldn't hear him over the loud ringing in his ears. Slowly, Damian lost the strength to keep his teary eyes open. Despite his best efforts, his eyelids dropped, little by little.

[I…..do..n..t…..w..a..n….t.....t..o…..d...ie…]

Finally, drenched in the pool of his blood and tears, Damian died.