Chapter 40: Who’s that Voice?

Lavi and Kyle had been going against each other for quite some time now.

Both of them were bleeding, bruised and exhausted, but neither of them wanted to give in.

"Man, this guy is insane." Lavi thought as he saw Kyle standing up despite the massive gashes that littered all over his body, "Seriously, how is this guy still standing?"

Kyle rushed at him, swinging his dagger. Lavi dodged and caught his blade with one of his seaxs. He smirked for a moment, before firing some bullets towards Lavi's torso, "Crapppppp."

Lavi jumped away, and turned one of his seaxs back into its liquid state, before solidifying it into armor to protect his entire body. The bullets did hit him, but it did not penetrate his flesh, thankfully. Instead, his armor managed to take the impact for him, before breaking.

Immediately after that, Kyle launched himself towards Lavi, giving him a couple more swings. This time Lavi did not dodge, he let Kyle's attacks though.

"I guess I got to use this method."

His entire body felt numb at first, but in the next second, pain exploded throughout his entire torso, arms and legs. He let out a silent groaned as his blood spattered out, hitting the ground, walls and Kyle.

Lavi gritted his teeth due to the pain, but he still managed to tug a grin at the side of his lips, when Kyle fell for his plan.

"Sorry Kyle, it was nice meeting you." Lavi backed away as he snapped his fingers.

The blood on the walls and ground solidified itself and turned into sharp crimson crystals, just like icicles. They stabbed Kyle at every part of his body. Not only that, the blood on Kyle solidified themselves on his body, which stabbed him further. He was not moving, actually...

He could not.

Lavi fell back first to the ground and let out a sigh, "Damn... that was one hell of a workout." Even though he was still alive, every inch of his body hurt and overall, just exhausted after using so much energy to defeat that guy.

He pushed himself up and used the walls to support his weak body.

Slowly, he began to limp to everybody else's location.

However, he was too badly wounded. After a couple of steps, he just collapsed.

Just as was about his vision to fade, there was only thought on his mind.

Silently, he mumbled to himself, "Sorry Mary, I can't keep my promise--"

*****

Ben and Jason were both in hand-to-hand combat for a few minutes now and neither of them are losing. Both of them were equally fast and strong.

They were going at a pace that was too fast for Emily's eyes to keep up.

Both Yukiko and herself went to Beck's side seeing how his was doing. He was sweating way too much and he was barely conscious. Emily stared at Yukiko as she checked on his body.

After a few minutes, she paused and looked up, "He's... Not doing well. His seal is undone, we need to seal it back up, otherwise his energy will continuously seep through him, causing him to die eventually."

"Well, you CAN seal it back, right?" Emily asked as her eyes brimmed with hope.

Yukiko hesitated for a moment, feeling guilt of the news she was about to break to her. She shook her head and looked away, "Not of us can. Only the king, queen and a couple of other can reseal something this dangerous, but they are not here."

Emily started to panicked when she heard her, but she did not want to give up on Beck. "Can we head back now? We can find my mom and dad."

"By the time we reach there, he will be gone." She spat out quickly, as she shifted her attention back to her.

"W-What are we going to do then?" Her voice stammered as she feared for what might happen to Beck if they do not do something quick.

"I... I don't know." Yukiko's eyes saddened, "We honestly can't do anything, but to..."

Her voice trailed off as she did not want to complete the sentence. However, what she wanted to say was obvious, which was...

'Watch him die.'

That response made her stomach tightened, as she knew what Yukiko was talking about. She looked down at Beck, who was breathing heavily, and grabbed his hand. Despite feeling as if her tears were about to make their return, she yelled, "Beck! Don't you dare die in front of me!"

"...This is an order."

Her voice was quivering, making those words came out weaker than she wanted them to sound. However, she did get her message across. She felt Beck giving her a gentle squeeze to reassure her, even though he was not looking at her. She forced out a painful smile and patted his hand to show him her thanks, before releasing her grip.

Jason overheard their conversation and made an offer while he blocked one of Ben's punches, "I can seal it back for you, but in return, I will take either Ben or the Princess. Fair deal? I just take one life in exchange for another."

Ben stopped for a fraction of a second after hearing about the deal, but he quickly recovered. Emily turned to Yukiko, asking for her opinions. However, she remained silent, not knowing what to say.

Jason noticed the silence in the room and added on, "Well, you should made your decision quick, who knows when he will die." Emily looked at Beck when he said that, checking if he was still breathing.

Luckily, he still was.

All of the sudden, the sound of irregular footsteps pattered towards them.

Tap, tap, tap.

It got closer and closer, louder and louder, until a familiar looking girl emerged from the dark entrance, panting. She struggled to take a couple of deep breaths as she was bending over with her hands on her knees.

The room was filled with only the sound of her heavy breathing. Everyone the room paused and looked at Mary as she struggled to force out some words, "So...Sorry, I-I'm... late."

After a couple more breaths, she awkwardly made her way to Emily and Yukiko.

She was equally as horrified when she saw Beck's state, "...What happened?"

Yukiko looked down at him and replied, "His seal is undone."

"What? We need to do something quick!" Mary's eyes widened in shock as she dug inside her bag, looking for anything she could use.

Yukiko shook her head depressingly and stopped her, "As of now, we can't do anything. You know that yourself."

"B-But..." Mary wanted to protest, but deep down inside she knew that Yukiko was right.

"So, the deal?" Jason reiterated as he took a glance over to Emily, "What's your decision? Are you going to sacrifice yourself for your pawns? Or throw one of your pawns under the bus?"

She swallowed hard when she heard that, "What should I do?"

Just then, she remembered about the random voice in head that helped her before. The chances of that voice appearing once more is extremely slim, but she still tried it.

Because as of now, what more can she do?

Sighing silently to herself, thought about what she wanted to say, "Hey, mysterious voice. I don't know if you will hear this or not, but... What should I do...? You helped me before, can you please help me again? Please."

She waited for a few seconds, but there was no response.

"...I knew it. Why did I thought that this work work?" Swallowing once more, she mustered up her voice and spoke, "I'll... go."

Just as she was about to walk towards Jason, she felt a very weak grip that held her back by the hand. Wanting she see who it was, she whipped her head around to see Beck's hand wrapped around hers.

"Emily... Don't go. Please. I... I'll would rather... Die." His face was pale but his eyes were full of decisiveness. It was as if...

He had already decided his fate.

"He's going to sacrifice himself for me again..."

However, this time, she would not let him do what he wants. She forced out a weak smile and muttered softly, "I can't let you do that anymore."

She then grabbed his hand and pulled her hand away from his grip, before placing them on this side.

At this moment, a melodic voice rang throughout her head.

"Ah, you really do need my help, huh."

After hearing that, her vision blurred and the next she knew, everything faded to black.