Chapter 47 (Birth of the destroyer part 1)

*gulped*

She swallowed down her fears. Her eyes peered around the area with their backs facing each other. Establishing a complete circle viewpoint for them... though such an effort won't sell off that well.

One holding a staff, one holding a dagger, and one holding a giant shield. A combination of balanced firepower... but truly... such power amounted to nothing before the existence behind the voice.

"No need to be alarmed... I mean no harm"

The voice resounded yet again... the trees trembled with the leaves rustling scarcely.

but their previous experiences of life won't allow it. One thing that they had learned after being a slave was that not to believe in anyone other than themselves.

A blind trust weighed over a temporary shelter.

An unknown voice within the woods?... the answer is no.

"H-how can we trust you on that?"

Lizy asked in a low voice. Her hands crossed with the dagger on the front...

Jin and Saya said no more but left it all on Lizy's shoulders. She is their leader... and in terms of decision making... it would be best for her to handle this situation.

" Strength... "

The voice responded...

but this time... such a word puzzled the group of three. Strength?... what could it possibly mean?.

Doubts started to float about above their head but truly... fear also accompanied the parade.

" What do you mean by that?"

A grim look appeared on her face... as she slowly signaled the other two to get ready to run with her finger crossed behind.

And they without a doubt noticed it...

clasped tightly against the shield that was Jin.

Gripped against the staff closer to her chest and that was Saya.

" I can grant you strength..."

"T-this?"

"What?..."

Hearing this...

Their breath ceased with a bewildered look on their complexions. Her finger stiffened within the move as the trees stopped still and stagnant from the prior noises.

Nothing moved afterward other than their slowly accelerating thumping heart inside. The blood flowed through their vein and soon enough one of them responded with a vigorous tone.

"C-can you really?... give us strength?!..."

An eager look on her face... dotted with a flash of pain as she had remembered something from her past.

Her past of torturous voyage... incapable of defying fate other than sitting still behind the cage. Powerless... weak and desperate to change things.

"S-saya... what are you talking about?!"

Jin hurriedly butted in with an anxious look on his face. Knowing Saya's thoughts within her words seconds before.

Lizy heard it too... but could only curl her lower lip and remained still under...

One thing that she had never been able to control was Saya's obsession with strength.

Obsession with freedom would be more appropriate to put it

.. but still... in this world freedom is strength.

And strength is what everyone craved for. Any price including life could be exchanged for it...

And this... for those people that had experienced despair in their lives... sounded extremely appealing to them. Like the whisper of the demons...

" Indeed I can... "

The voice responded in a proud tone. Even a tinge of arrogance could be heard within it... but to Saya's ears. It sounded like a cannonball... breaking through the last shreds of glass before her eyes. The last stand of her relief... crumbling away...

with her eyes glistening in madness...

she screamed back to heed the call...

"Then... give me strength, please!!

.. I will do anything for it!. My body, my soul... anything!"

"S-saya Stop!"

"Saya!"

She frantically shouted with a frenzy look on her face... as the other two attempted to hold her down from moving forward.

But can they stop her from craving freedom against injustice?...

Revenge for those who had been sacrificed for nothing...

A ticking bomb disguised under the word "emotion"

They can't...

*Boom!*

"Argh!!! Saya Dont!"

"Crap!"

She swung her staff recklessly. Blasting away the other two from the impact of the explosion as the ground below cracked a small crater the size of 3 meters in diameter.

Jin had been plunged away into the forest... slamming against 4 trees until his body stopped before a large rock. Instantly knocking him out...

As for Lizy... blessed under her agility. She immediately regained her balance after 10 meters of distance.

Though small dot of blood began to flow over from the corner of her mouth. The blast was too close... injuries were unavoidable. Her tight clothes were rendered fragile under the burnt marks... and even her thighs were exposed from the shredded part below.

"Hahaha!... Power! Give me power!"

Before Lizy could even regain her view after recovering her balance.

Saya instantly ran towards the lake like a crazy person. Her voice shouted out hysterically as if her mind had been gobbled up into the abyss.

And one could even discern that her eyes appeared to be red. Something was wrong...

As if a cloud of invisible smoke lingered about in the middle of her eyebrows.

'What's that?'

Lizy gasped her breath as she glared towards Saya that was running ahead frantically.

She saw it... the invisible strand of smoke on Saya's face as she supported her injured body against a tree.

But her thoughts cycle was too slow to react.

Her body failed to comply with her brain.

All she could do at that moment was to stare...

and shout as loud as she could...

"Saya! Stop!!!"

But to no avail...

It was such a fragile attempt.

The distance was short as Saya finally arrived before the lake. Squatted down next to it as in the successive moment she bowed down against the ground.

*slammed!*

"I will do anything!... please!"

Her forehead went red under the bang. Bruises and scars... she had been controlled from the moment the voice appeared. No... it was a whisper of desire.

And her deepest hidden emotion was guided... streamed through her veins and finally exploded into her current state. She wasn't aware of it yet... but maybe she would never return.

" Since you have shown such an effort then I shall grant you strength"

The voice trembled yet again after the short moment of temporary silence. But this time...

A large shadow outline could be seen slowly creeping out from the depth of the lake.... bigger and bigger.

At the same time... the sky was instantly colored in pale darkness. This sudden gloomy atmosphere expanded at such a terrific speed... visible to the naked eyes. Tens of kilometers of the area were shrouded under this darkness as in the next moment...

*BOOM!* *DRIPS* *DRIPS* *DRIPS*

A loud heavenly bang struck down from above as the clouds began to shed their sadness from the sky.

Everything happened under the emergence of the shadow in the middle of the lake... as the rain gradually engulfed the whole peaceful forest with its presence.

"T-this is???... rain??"

*cough!* *cough!* *spurts!*

"... the internal damage is too severe. Damn it!

.. but still... I need to bring Saya back. Something is not right with this place... especially that voice. "

Lizy coughed out blood as she shifted her eyes all around the horizon. Her mood as of now was extremely huddled and confused. From the moment Saya's emotions exploded and to the suddenly raining weather.

" Saya!!!... come back here!. Do not be fooled! Whatever that thing is we can't trust it!"

She shouted...

slowly moving forward as she struggled to endure the pain from the pushing collision of her fleshy wounds. Every inch of her movements felt like a dagger stabbing into her skin...

but still... she kept on moving forward. She needed to grab Saya out of this mess. As for Jin... she had already seen it... he should be a bit further away from their location. Saving Saya first would be the best choice...

Despite her shout...

Saya nevertheless remained under the same posture... as there right before her... deep into the lake. The shadow became more visible and substantial to the surface of the water.

And the most horrifying part of it would be that the shadow covered the whole lake surface!. Something was coming up...

"What is that!!!... hurry! I need to bring her away from there!!"

Lizy's eyes widened after glancing a bit ahead from Saya's location. Noticing the darkness that was slowly emerging from the abyss.

Her back broke out in cold sweat as she gritted her teeth and burst out with every little bit of her strength left.

*swoosh!*

Her figure shuttled away from the distance and instantly appeared next to Saya. Though her injuries were pushed further and further inside...

Pushed her limit of endurance to the peak as she hurriedly grabbed Saya's cloak from behind.

Suddenly!...

*BOOM!* *SPLASHES!*

" Arghh!! Saya!!!"

"Hahaha!"

Enormous coercion erupted forth from the lake as in the next second a large Serpent head covered in red darkness emerged from the loud splash.

Accompanied by it were Saya's hysterical laughter and Lizy's body being slammed away by an invisible force.

Slamming against a large tree as she spurted out blood from her mouth.

Her vision was slowly decaying with the final picture of Saya standing before the large Serpent head. Her arm spread apart like a fanatic believer with that crazed look filled with intoxication.

And soon enough... she lost consciousness. She lost too much blood.

'Dam-n it... '

Those were her last words before entering the deep darkness.

I'm still alive -Evertruth.