What He Decided to Do - The Zeroth Day

"You're a tough person to find, but we can expect nothing less from the apprentice of Cassandra Sharpe." Annabeth whirled around to face the voice behind her, a man dressed in all black with a silver blade stood behind her.

Almost immediately, several other similarly dressed men and women approached out of seemingly thin air and drew various sorts of weapons, broadswords, polearms, and axes.

"Witch Hunters..." Annabeth hissed,

"How about I cut you a deal, give us Cassandra's Legacy and no one will be hurt." The man stepped forward, his hand extended expectantly.

"As if I'd ever give it to you people." She snarled, "If I did, I'd be disrespecting my Master!"

"If you don't hand it over you won't be alive long enough to worry about respect." One Witch Hunter stepped forward, brandishing his blade.

"Artois!" The leading Witch Hunter snarled

"Apologies, Huntsmaster." Artois slunk back,

"Well?" The Huntsmaster asked,

"Here's my response - Confossis Glacies!" Annabeth stomped her foot down, infusing the ground beneath her with her mana, only for it to re-emerge as spikes of ice that surrounded her in 360 degrees, forcing the Witchfinders back in order to avoid being impaled.

"Kill her, we will take the magical legacy from her dead body!" The Huntsmaster shouted,

Once the spikes stopped coming, the Witch Hunters rushed forward at her as Annabeth chanted another spell, this time a spiral of flame took a Witch Hunter in the chest, sending them flying backwards but they managed to get up mere seconds later.

At that, the Witch Hunters rushed forward as Annabeth chanted another spell.

⸻

Sekai was lying on the bed when he heard the sounds of a clash outside.

'Is someone fighting outside...?' Sekai wondered, his suspicions furthered by flashes of light coming from the window just out of view.

Sekai sat up, finally peering out the window, and gasped at what he saw next.

Below, he saw Annabeth battling alone against nearly a dozen Witch Hunters in black. She was holding them back, but was steadily losing ground against them. They consistently attacked in turns, leaving no room for her to rest and recover while allowing them to keep their stamina up and her on the defensive.

The strategy bore fruit when one of them managed to slash her side with a knife, causing her to stagger as blood dripped from the wound.

'That's Annabeth!' Sekai realized in a panic and immediately began to stand, but paused as a thought ran through his mind.

'How can I help? I'm just a high school kid.' Sekai thought to himself, laying back down on the bed.

That's right. He didn't need to help.

Annabeth could use magic, she could throw fire and - hell - climb three story buildings.

What could he do? The last time he'd tried to help someone, he had contracted a fatal disease.

'Damn it!'

⸻

'Damn it. So this is it.' Annabeth thought to herself.

She was covered in cuts and bruises, and her vision was starting to blur.

'I'm running out of mana too...' She thought to herself, her hand gently drifted to her notebook.

"Just hand it over and this ends." The Huntsmaster said again as he raised his blade for another strike, and for a moment, she genuinely faltered.

'What...if I handed it over?' Annabeth wondered, 'When will Master come for me...? Whatever...I'm tired...'

Annabeth closed her eyes, preparing for the inevitable final strike.

And then it happened.

"Hands off her, you bastard!!!" Without warning, the Huntsmaster was kicked from behind. It wasn't a strong or even skilled kick, but it was enough to catch him off-guard and send him tumbling to the ground.

"Where the hell did this kid come from!?" Artois snarled, turning to face the new arrival.

Standing before the dozen Witch Hunters was a lone Sekai Kaeru, to the casual observer, it might've been a genuinely amazing scene to witness the brief stand off if it wasn't for the fact Sekai was still in a light green hospital gown.

"You again." The Huntsmaster rubbed his back in annoyance, before turning towards the surprised Witch Hunters.

"Don't just stand there like idiots, if he can still perceive us under the influence of such a large Feng Shui Field then he's obviously a powerful mage of some kind! Kill them both!" He shouted, and at that, the group promptly split. Six of them broke off to fight Sekai while another six continued attacking Annabeth.

'Shit, really didn't think this through.' Sekai commented to himself as he watched the men with swords bear down on him. He barely managed to stumble out of the way of one, only for another to come arcing towards his neck.

Sekai gasped as he saw the blade slice through the air. Time seemed to slow as he couldn't bring himself to maneuver fast enough.

'This is really it...' Sekai thought to himself closing his eyes to his impending doom, 'I'm going to die.'

......

...

'I don't want to die.'

Sekai suddenly felt a comforting coolness spread over the projected point of impact as the blade suddenly clanged against metal?

When Sekai opened his eyes again, the Witch Hunter looked dumbfounded as he held his now broken broadsword, the broken shards clattering to the ground.

"The fuck?" The attacking Witch Hunter expressed what both Sekai and the other Witch Hunters feeling, but nonetheless, he continued the attack. Drawing a set of four throwing knives, Sekai's assailant grinned.

"You had a nice trick, but it's over for you!" He threw the knives at him, Sekai managed to dodge the first, but the rest simply came too fast for him to dodge.

'Little does he know those are made with silver, even if he manages to cast something at the last minute, they'll just absorb the mana and kill him anyway!' The Witch Hunter thought to himself, already smiling at his supposed victory.

A smile that quickly faded as Sekai crossed his arms, and the knives met the same fate as the broadsword, glancing off Sekai's hardened skin.

"How?!" The Witch Hunter raged at Sekai, "You have to cast, and even if you did - those are magic absorbing!"

Sekai couldn't help but grin in a mix of relief and confidence, using the Witch Hunters surprise to his advantage, he dashed forward with his arm raised for a punch.

"I don't know what you're talking about but...I didn't use any of your so-called magic." Sekai confessed as his fist proceeded to be covered in the same material that was once killing him from within, turning pure white in the process with a sound reminiscent of something rapidly freezing.

"You didn't use-" The Witch Hunter would never even have a chance to react before Sekai threw a haymaker directly into his jaw, knocking him out cold and breaking his jaw in the process.

"No magic?" The Witch Hunters wouldn't believe what he had said if it wasn't for the fact that he had very clearly managed to block magic absorbing equipment.

"Who the hell cares what he did! We outnumber him five to one, kill him!" The Witch Hunters rushed forward all at once, and Sekai once again was on the backfoot.

'I really lucked out but I'm not sure how long I can keep this up for, that crystal stuff was only a fluke. It seems to work automatically but I have no idea how to control it, and it doesn't block the entire impact!' Sekai's thoughts were proven by pain coming his neck and other places where the Witch Hunters had managed to get hits in. They didn't cut, but the blunt force was still enough to hurt him severely.

"Ventus Vestigia!" Without warning, a hand grabbed him and dragged him off with inhuman speed out of the parking lot.

"Don't struggle." Annabeth warned him, "I'm using my speed and physical enhancement magic to tug you along. If I let go now you'll go flying into a wall at speeds that'll turn you into paste."

Sekai nodded, far too bruised and tired to struggle against her.

⸻

After a few minutes of maneuvering, Annabeth finally let go of Sekai in an alleyway.

The two teens panted for a few moments before Sekai said:

"Well...that was something." Sekai sighed,

Annabeth stared at him incredulously, opening and closing her mouth as if to say something only to suddenly decide against it.

"What?" Sekai asked,

"That's it?" She finally said, her voice beginning to rise "You almost died for someone you don't even know what well, and all you can say is 'That was something'?!"

"Well, what do you want me to say? That we're both screwed?" Sekai argued back,

"You can at least...argh!" She screamed in frustration, "Sekai Kaeru, I don't understand you! You were just in the hospital, you have no obligation to help me, and yet you throw yourself in mortal danger for what purpose?!"

Sekai paused at that, finally letting her words sink in.

He finally sighed, realizing that in all the chaos he still had managed to somehow find the time to slip on his little timer.

19:09:45

He chuckled a little, however, his chuckle soon worsened and turned into a hacking cough.

"Are you okay?!" Annabeth's voice was suddenly filled with concern, but Sekai couldn't find the air to formulate a response.

Without warning, Sekai proceeded to projectile vomit blood and white material onto the ground, falling to his knees as he coughed up more blood and matter with each cycle.

"Were you poisoned by them!?" Annabeth thought in a panic, before realizing that amongst the blood was a strange white crystal-like matter.

The same material that Sekai had used to protect himself from the Witch Hunters.

"Why...why is this happening?!" Annabeth asked in a panic.

"..." Sekai was silent at first, but finally collapsed to the ground on his back, too exhausted to get up.

"I think...I messed up." He commented mirthlessly. "See, I was in the hospital cause of this virus, it gave me the abilities you saw earlier, but it also causes this."

He lifted his arm, showing Annabeth the timer on his wrist.

"I was projected to live for exactly three days, this keeps track of that." Sekai explained,

"Why...? Knowing all that...why would you help me?!" Annabeth shouted,

"I just wanted to." Sekai sighed, forcing himself to get onto his knees.

"Why didn't you tell me then, at least?!" Annabeth asked, "I could've done something, healed you!"

"You shouldn't have to worry about the guy protecting you." Sekai said, "That's how it always works in anime."

"This isn't anime, you idiot! This is your life! They're after this stupid book and now look at you!!!" Annabeth began to sob, and Sekai shook his head.

"They would've killed you. I didn't want to allow that. I'm dying anyway so it's fine." Sekai knew that it was a half-truth, if he had stayed in the hospital then he might've recovered, but now...

Annabeth clutched his hand, "Please...don't keep hurting yourself like this...you should enjoy your last moments, maybe I can heal you, give you more time-"

Sekai sighed, patting her head and causing her to fall silent. "Look at yourself, you're bleeding and in way worse shape than I am. Save your healing for you."

Annabeth could only hug the boy who had so little time left, and was using it all for her. A stranger he had only met a mere few days ago.

⸻

In a distant place, a woman smoked a pipe as the last of a group of Witch Hunters collapsed to the ground, unmoving.

"Honestly, I expected better." She scoffed. The woman was dressed similarly to Annabeth, a wide-brimmed witches hat rested on her head, instead of a blue cloak, however, hers was long and crimson with a black uniform underneath it.

"Still...I wasn't your true objective, was I?" The woman sighed, knowing she was not going to receive a response from the lifeless Witch Hunters.

"No matter. I'm sure Annabeth has managed to hold out for long enough." The witch known as Cassandra Sharpe walked away from the scene, but not before removing any trace of what had just happened by causing the bodies of the Witch Hunters to spontaneously combust before a "sudden" gust of wind scattered the ashes and with it - the scent of burning flesh.

⸻

"What the hell do you mean you don't know where he is?!" Hina raged at the two guards left posted outside of Sekai's hospital room.

"I swear he never came out of here! He must've taken the window!" One of the guards argued,

Hina facepalmed and released a disgusted groan, but before she could say anything else, Hoshida came up to her.

"We found something in the parking lot." He whispered, "Signs of conflict."

"Conflict? What kind?" Hina asked quickly,

"It's...well, you better see for youself." Hoshida confessed,

"Damn." She swore, "Make sure the Kaeru's don't find out or they'll flip out. Say that his condition regressed and he isn't available right now or something!"

'Although, given Sekai's propensity for trouble. I wouldn't be too surprised if fiction turns to fact by the time we find him...' Hina thought to herself as she followed Hoshida outside.