Chapter 44 - Death's Cold Embrace

At this point, everyone felt like they were already in hell, as the breathing fire triggered an explosion that knocked everyone off in multiple directions. Every one of them clashed into either a wall or a large rock. 

It was as if the sudden force of the flames shoved them all aside before they could engulf them. The ones on the witch's broom got knocked away, losing their only hope of escape in a flash. As the fiery ray of heat passed them, they groaned out loud in pain, as they could almost feel themselves getting burned alive with the flames so close to them.

The intense heat began to set everything ablaze, melting rocks and eviscerating the goblin corpses lying around in an instant. The whole tunnel was almost entirely covered by the fire beaming from the chimaera's mouth. The sudden wave had pushed them aside to the walls, and they stuck there for dear life as the flames went right past them, mere inches away from consuming them. 

The heat was so intense that everyone alive felt like they would soon get eviscerated in a matter of seconds, as they had all given up hope in any sort of redemption. They had all settled for the worst because of how dire and hopeless the situation was, and holding on to hope felt like the stupidest thing to do given the circumstances.

But among the adventurers in this dire situation, one was absent: Kazuya. He had managed to get ahead of everyone toward the beast right before it brought hell upon them. Using his "Fire Surfer" technique, he flew in with his scarlet sword to attack the chimaera from the side while it breathed fire at the rest of the adventurers. 

"Hey, ugly!" he called out to the beast, which turned to him, stopping its fiery onslaught against Kazuya's comrades to face him directly. 

Kazuya was now over twenty feet above the ground, riding on his sword and standing on an eye-to-eye level with the beast. 

"That's right, look at me!" Kazuya said to it as it faced him, now distracted from making sure the others were dead to focus on destroying the human before it. 

It opened its mouth wide, ready to breathe fire right at Kazuya, who looked oddly happy for someone about to get eviscerated by a creature over twice his size. 

"You are as stupid as you look," Kazuya said to it with a wicked smile as he grabbed his sword and swiftly cut through the chimaera's jaw, slashing open the left side of its mouth in an instant.

"EXPLOSIVE SPECTACLE!" he cried out, triggering an explosion that blew up the head of the mighty beast into several burning pieces. 

Orihime and the others watched in awe as this happened, but braced themselves as several bloody parts of the giant's head fell upon them like rain in a gory fashion. 

The sudden shockwave from the explosion sent Kazuya crashing into the nearby wall before falling over thirty feet to the floor. 

Then the giant's decapitated body fell to its knees before completely crashing to the ground. 

The ground shook as the giant fell, and the other adventurers were lost for words, not knowing what to say. They had all witnessed something incredible and couldn't verbally express their reaction to it. 

Even the Master of the Sentient Guild feared Kazuya had somehow defeated it within a moment. It was unbelievable, so unreal that some of them questioned if they were just hallucinating out of fear. 

Kazuya, however, had begun to lose awareness of his surroundings. He could feel so much pain coming from multiple parts of his body. The most agonizing part of it was that he didn't have the strength to express it, as he barely had a strong sense of where he was anymore. 

The last thing he felt was a warm liquid oozing out of his head, which he felt was his blood, knowing what he had just experienced with the sudden clash against the wall and heavy fall to the ground. 

Then he heard Orihime's loud voice, though it sounded faint, calling out his name repeatedly like a mother mourning her deaf child. He could feel the cold hands of death wrap around him, and it felt like a relief from a life of suffering. 

At that moment, he remembered Haruno and Emi (his wife and child) and felt at peace, knowing he had attempted to honor their deaths by avenging them in the best way that he could. Knowing he was about to die, he had peace with the assurance of seeing them again soon. All he had to do was give in to death. 

But amid that feeling of peace and assurance was Orihime's constant interruption, calling out his name over and over, refusing to let him kick the bucket in peace. 

"Will you please shut up, woman?" "How can a man die in peace with you telling it like that?" was what he wanted to say to her, but he couldn't say anything as he felt his consciousness begin to fail. 

Sudden darkness took over his consciousness like a storm, snatching him away from reality and into what felt like infinite darkness. 

-

Orihime watched in awe and wonder as she saw remnants of the beast's head swinging like a pendulum by a small strip of flesh, and beside it, Kazuya's body crashed against the nearby wall, about to fall to the ground. 

"He won't survive that fall," she thought to herself as she sprinted towards the area. 

"No," Orihime yelled as she ran forward as if thinking she could save him from the long distance. The others were just getting up, trying to regain their orientation, and they barely knew what was going on. So asking them for help would be a waste of time. She ran alone towards him as fast as she could, knowing it would be a miracle if Kazuya would survive a fall from such a height. 

But as expected, Kazuya fell to the ground several seconds before Orihime could reach him. 

"No!" she cried out again, "Kazuya!"

She gasped as she saw him lying in a newly formed pool of his blood, looking to be a few seconds away from dying. 

"Don't you dare die on me, big man!" she said to him, as she took him into her arms, holding his face with one hand and his body with the other. 

Inevitable tears dropped from her eyes onto Kazuya's bloody face. She shook him violently, rocking back and forth as she called out his name repeatedly to no avail. Instead of a response, all she got were more signs of life leaving his body. 

His eyes lost their vibrance, and his body became cold, and she could sense it from holding him close. 

The others came behind her as she sobbed heavily. She was surprised at herself by the way she mourned Kazuya. Last she remembered, he was a selfish and revenge-driven extremist she despised with all she had. But now, it seemed she realized how precious he was to her. Everyone thought the same way and was touched by the tragic nature of the situation. 

Genta covered her face with her elbow, also crying profusely, unexpectedly overtaken by grief, while Shizu held her close, comforting her. 

But at that very moment, when everyone had given up hope entirely, Shizu saw something nobody else could. 

Thanks to her heightened senses of hidden magic, she had sensed another presence nearby, a small and frail presence that somehow linked with Kazuya's. 

Out of curiosity, she activated her special vision, which enabled her to easily see what was hidden, and to the ignorance of others, she saw what the others couldn't see. It was what Kazuya thought no other person could find out about on their own... 

She saw a fairy floating above Gaichu's head. 

She saw Gaichu. 

The fairy, which was programmed to be Kazuya's guide to this world, was now seen by Shizu. 

She smiled as she saw it, having some vague knowledge of what it was. But based on that alone, she came up with a theory, one that gave her hope.

Gaichu wasn't even aware that it had been spotted, hovering over Kazuya's head like his guardian angel. 

"Step aside, Orihime," she said to the young adventurer, "I'll take it from here."

"What are you talking about?" asked Orihime with a now-cracked voice from crying too much. 

"He is not dead," she replied before looking back at Genta. "I will need your help for this one, young mage."

"Of course," Genta replied, unsure of what was happening, "what are you trying to do?"

"I don't know for sure, but you can thank me later if it works," Shizu replied as he took hold of Kazuya and placed both hands on both sides of his temple. 

"Alright, Genta," she said to the young mage, "I need you to heal him with all the magical energy you've got, alright?"

"But he's dead," she protested. 

"Do you trust me?" Shizu asked. 

"With all my heart," Genta replied without hesitation. 

"Good, then do as I say," Shizu replied, and Genta proceeded as instructed, placing her wand on his chest and casting multiple healing spells on his body, believing her master knew what she was doing.

The last thing she wanted was for her master to give the others false hope only to have it tarnished in an instant.