The Casualty

The knight commander and the woman were staring at each other, expressionless.

The woman's face then turned angry, and she screamed.

While screaming, she just vanished into thin air, leaving a gust and complete silence.

Behind the commanding knight, she mysteriously pounced toward him from the surface of the ground. Her arms were stretched out, and her hands and mouth were open.

However, he sensed her presence and spun with his sword swinging.

Another knight noticed her late but reacted quickly, shouting, "Britlwoah!"

The woman's pounce was so quick that her fingers were already on the back of Britlwoah's head. And her toes were clawing at his stomach.

Britlwoah felt a piercing agony as her nails punctured his skin.

Britlwoah swung his sword, but his arm struck her hip. He then let go of his sword and shrieked from the pain in his head.

The sword flew, spinning to the ground.

Britlwoah was forced away by the power of her pounce.

But his feet remained on the ground, and he slowed her momentum.

Britlwoah gripped the area between her upper and lower arms and held her immobile.

As she tried to pull his head towards her and drive her chest forward, Britlwoah delayed her bite by pulling her arms.

It was progressively painful as her nails were hooked into his skin, slowly leaving lines of gashes.

Blood, flesh, and hair were scooped up by her nails.

After Britlwoah stopped her momentum, he turned around and sprinted as fast as he could towards the sea.

However, the woman shifted her weight to her side and yanked Britlwoah's head, causing him to lose his balance.

Britlwoah twisted his body and fell to the ground. He laid down flat while she squatted on his stomach.

The woman tried to take the opportunity to bite him, but Britlwoah clutched her arms so tightly that his hands formed a fist, crushing her arms to a pulp.

But his efforts were futile since her hand muscles remained tense.

The woman drew her arms, oblivious to the fact that her arms were crushed. She continued to pull, scraping more flesh off his head.

Even one of his ears' backsides was about to be severed.

She opened her mouth wider and moved her head and chest towards him.

And Britlwoah's arms began to shake as he fought hard and sweated excessively.

As the woman drew closer to his face, he yelled loudly out his pain as his arms began to bend slowly.

Suddenly, the woman's humeri fractured due to the intense pressure of being pulled and pushed.

It caused her to move quickly forward.

Britlwoah's eyes widened in shock as he immediately drew her arms away from him, releasing himself from her claws.

But his actions caused him to clench his teeth since his head had deep claw wounds, his right ear had been divided, and the corner of his left eye had been damaged. Almost all of his face, except the middle, was flowing with blood.

Still, he persisted in his fight.

He turned and switched their positions after pulling her arms.

He was on top, and she was on the ground. And he smashed her arms to the ground, locking her in place.

As she attempted to move her arms, she began to struggle.

It was pointless because the humeri were broken and detached, causing them to move around and protrude through the skin.

The woman gradually became irritated and screamed in his face. Her upper arms began to wriggle from the inside out, and her cries grew louder.

She shoved him upwards with her bowed legs on his stomach.

The force of the push was so strong that the ground she was resting on cratered, and rocks, soil, and plants shot up.

Britlwoah's grip did not let go, so his hands slid through hers.

Her hands were brutally squished, and blood, fragments of bones, and mashes of flesh squirted from the tips of her fingernails.

Britlwoah flew far into the sky, holding his breath due to severe pain in his stomach.

The woman was now free.

She clenched her teeth from anger and smashed her legs to the ground after screaming.

It was so forceful that a large amount of the ground jumped into the air.

When the dirt dropped, she was somewhat buried in it, along with rocks and uprooted grasses.

She didn't even bother closing her eyes.

She sighed and was silent.

All of her muscles eased as she relaxed.

She lay down for a bit longer, her lower arms and hands wriggling from the inside, gently restoring the flesh and bones that had been lost.

Her eyes changed in emotion as she looked up and appeared sorrowful.

She just stayed there staring at the brightly colored night sky with Britlwoah, stars, comets, planets, moons, suns, galaxies, and beyond.

The heavenly bodies were also clear and apparent to the naked eye.

The remaining knights remained in their fighting positions the entire time, witnessing things from a distance. They then heard her sniffing and weeping softly.

They stayed cautious, and then she stopped crying and rose up lamely a minute later.

They noticed she was different.

The woman stared at the ground, then closed her dirty eyes.

Unexpectedly, the three knights quickly fell as a huge unseen force drove them to the ground.

The environment was not affected, only the knights.

The lower body bones of the knights all snapped.

One of them had their femurs slid to the lower legs, but they were eventually broken as the strain forced them down too hard.

They shouted in agony as they flattened their upper bodies on the ground with their lower bodies. And the pressure was progressively shattering the rest of their unbroken bones.

Britlwoah heard their agonizing screams and yelled with anguish as he could do nothing but fall.

He said, "Jy'b'Laaay! Ashenween! Don't fight baaack!" as he watched her vanish in thin air without a blow of wind.

He noticed where she was going.

The two knights, who had aided and then abandoned the unconscious knight, were crawling on the ground.

To avoid being noticed by the woman, they were dragging their backpacks rather than wearing them.

After she opened her eyes, she sensed them even without looking.

The woman vanished and traveled towards them.

When she arrived, she stepped on a knight's back and head.

The knight's body was dragged across the ground by the momentum until it slowed and halted.

She then took a step away from his back and gazed at her foot on his head. Then she slowly put force in her foot, sinking the sole into his broken skull and brain.

When she sensed another knight that stood up, she pulled her bloody foot out.

With his sword raised, he was ready.

She again vanished and appeared in front of him with a fist going towards his face.

The knight could not react quickly enough.

As a result, he backed away while holding his sword at both ends.

But she was too quick, and her knuckles slammed his lower jaw before he raised his blade and blocked her.

She broke his jaw and smashed it into bits till her fist reached his throat.

The punch was powerful that it sent him flying towards the Crown Forest.

As the knight crashed near the pile of branches and leaves, Britlwoah finally landed in the world.

He was in pain and was breathing heavily, but he stood up immediately and weakly.

The woman then vanished and reappeared in front of Britlwoah, arms held out towards him and hands wide open.

As the woman stretched her arm longer, her hand moved closer to his face.

Britlwoah noticed her palm darkening and blackening.

Then the woman abruptly came to a halt as her body shook back and forth.

Her hand never made it to Britlwoah's head. So she became enraged and clenched her hand in a snap.

It was so powerful that it emitted a shockwave explosion.

It threw Britlwoah into the forest, and when he landed, he saw a steel board split in half on top of him.

And they smacked each other and became attached.

The woman glanced ahead to the end of the board and widened her eyes.

She saw a shadowy figure gripping the handle of the sword as the steel board was the blade.

Sire was standing on the pile of branches and leaves of the Crown Forest.

His lime-green pupils were like an animal's eyes reflected by light at night.

The woman screamed in a deep voice, and the sword's blade wrapped her torso inside and out and extended at high speed toward the sea.

She did nothing because she was preoccupied with him.

After the sword reached its distance, the blade quickly went within her body, and the sword stopped stretching.

The woman was hurled into the sea, squirting blood from her stomach, and drowned.

Then the blade retracted and returned to its original height.

From the sea, a tremendous shockwave exploded, separating the waters.

And the woman was in midair before falling to the sands and corals.

She was standing there inside an invisible dome, separating the waters.

The unseen force reached the beach as she watched the edge of the grassland.

And Sire, with injuries around his body, was already standing there with his shining, twinkling, menacing eyes.

The woman screamed her loudest in response.

The moment she released her yell, a powerful shockwave blasted around her, pushing and moving the waters like tsunamis, sands, rocks, and fish farther than ever. And the shout hurled rocks and sand at Sire.

Sire closed his eyes and stood still without even moving backward.

Her scream lasted only a few seconds before she fell silent.

Sire opened his eyes, and they stared at each other with strong intent to kill.

The waters from the sea formed big tidal waves that headed towards her to fill what she put away.

When it reached her, the flood engulfed her and carried the waters to the swash zone.

Sire remained motionless for thirteen minutes until the sea calmed down.

And she was never seen and sensed again.

He turned around, and far away, he saw many knights on the grassland and birds flying around.

The reserved knights went to all the injured knights as the birds hovered above them to signal. They set all the things they brought and began to treat and stabilize the victims' condition.

There were spots where a bright light was illuminated by a lamp post as the knights began to perform surgery and resuscitation.

As insects swarmed towards the light, other knights sprayed something around them. And some knights surrounded the area to guard.

With proper posture, Sire walked with limped legs while gripping and carrying his sword with one hand. He traveled alone in his path, silent and expressionless. He was watching the lights and heard rumbling sounds similar to a pump.

Nearly an hour later, Sire saw one of the lights gradually dimming. And he started walking towards the fading light.

While walking, the fireflies reached for him and filled the grassland.

At the weak light, there was a knight at the lamppost and two more knights on the ground, each beside a victim.

One of the knights appeared distraught and anxious as he threw the forceps and scalpel onto the tray containing bones, blood, suture scissors, needles, and sutures. He brushed his forehead to his hair with his bloody surgical gloves and clasped his hands behind his head, staring at the ground.

And as the second knight heard someone walking behind him, he turned around to see Sire.

He stood up and gave way.

Sire saw a knight lying on the ground and the surgeon.

He looked at the knight standing at the lamppost and whispered, "Give him rest."

"Yes, Sire," he responded, bowing his head and walking over to the surgeon.

He went behind him and said to his ear, "Come, let's get a better place."

They left and walked away.

Sire sat near the lifeless body, softly placing his sword on the ground. He examined the knight's face, which had the lower jaw broken and the neck exposed, revealing two tubes inside.

"We will remain here even every moon closes its eyes, and when the suns wake up, we will be at our homes to rest. But I shall cortège for Ael'Ven. For now, reconstruct his figure as God had him," Sire said, looked at the remaining knight, and whispered, "And give his family a white dove."

"Yes, Sire," he responded as he walked away.

Sire kept an eye on Ael'Ven, as fireflies crawled over their bodies.

He closed his eyes, and tears streamed down his cheeks.

Back in the Gravedom Kingdom, the whole place was dark since everyone was sleeping. There were no lights around the areas except for the fireflies.

However, certain windows in the castle had their lights turned on.

At the towers of the castle, there were two thick ropes tied to them, and they were slightly separated from one another.

On the rope, a child was running barefoot.

She had long white hair that was constantly swaying in one direction due to the wind. And she was dressed in a white gown over her long pajamas.

While running to the other side of the tower, she stopped and looked at the forest. She tilted her head left and right, intrigued until a gale hit her and pushed her.

She yelped and stumbled backward.

She moved her arms around rapidly to balance herself, but it was impossible. So, she turned around and held the rope while she swung back and forth.

While dangling from the rope, she twisted her arms to turn around to the forest and said, "Hmmm, it is windy tonight."