Please, let me live

Aunt Ellie and Lance were glaring at each other.

Both of them were surrounded by the flames of terminal energy.

Never in my life, I expected to see two individuals wielding such a dangerous power against one another like this.

I looked at Lance one more time and started to realize that his fire was slightly beginning to injury his own body. I could see pieces of his skin turning into ashes and dispersing through the wind.

"Seems like you're still new at this..." Ellie commented.

Lance did not reply and just continued to stare coldly at her. Even if he tried to speak his words wouldn't reach her anyway.

"Terminal energy is much harder to control than it looks... if you're not careful it will even damage the user..." she continued.

I think she was trying to get him to stop using his fire, but Lance looked like he had no intention to listen to anyone right now...

Just what had happened to him??

At that moment, pieces of diamond started to gather on Ellie's back and combining each other until they formed what appeared like six wings made of blue diamond.

Right after that, the fire that surrounded her body began to move from her to her wings.

"Farewell... Terminal dragon..." she whispered as she began to charge at him.

It took me a moment to realize what she had done, but once I looked at her skin and compared it to Lance's it finally hit me. She had transferred the fire away so it wouldn't harm her body, unlike Lance who seemed to be getting closer to death with each passing second the longer he stayed in that state.

He was going to die...

Either Ellie would kill him or his own fire would bring his end...

I had to stop this! But how!!?

The two clashed once again. Ellie swung down her arm-blade and Lance tried to block it with his wooden sword.

At that moment, the flames on her diamond wings started to gather on her arm and increased her power.

Lance began to struggle to hold his footing, and even the ground beneath him was starting to shatter.

I couldn't stand still anymore!

I rushed to Eclipse who was still down on the ground and gave him an energy crystal that had been infused with healing magic.

He should have gotten up like this, but the black beast continued to lay dormant. I peeked at the fight and what I saw next filled my heart with absolute horror...

Lance finally couldn't hold Ellie back anymore and ended up being launched against a building, completely destroying the walls in it.

"Guaaaaahhhh!!!"

"LANCE!!!!"

His fire had completely vanished and his eyes had no consciousness in them. He dropped on his knees and right after that, landed on the ground with his body filled with bruises.

The wooden sword that I had gifted him with had been split in half.

"No..."

Time seemed to freeze for me. I was having trouble breathing and I could sense my heartbeat accelerating.

"No, no, no, no... No!!"

Please don't be dead!

Please don't be dead! Please don't be dead! Please don't be dead! Please don't be dead! Please don't be dead!!!

I gave Eclipse another healing crystal, but just like before, he didn't wake up. The blast from Joseph must have damaged him more than I imagined!

Maybe he could wake up if I gave him another crystal... But that was the last one I had! If we got injured or if I ran out of power, we would have nothing.

But I had no other choice right now...

I needed to save my brother! No matter what!! This was the one thing I refused to not accomplish!!

Eclipse received my last crystal and at last, his blood-red eyes finally opened.

Ellie turned towards us and noticed him awakening.

I wasn't sure if he could understand me... But I had nobody else who I could rely on right now.

"Eclipse... Please..." I begged him "Save him!!"

After hearing my words, the lion locked his gaze at Lance and immediately disappeared by diving into the shadows.

"What!?" Ellie gasped. She kept turning her head left and right, probably trying to predict where Eclipse would appear with her power, but she was never going to see anything.

I knew about that ability, it was the same power Lance's mother used to have and I knew it only worked if the user was finding itself in danger.

Since Eclipse's target was Lance and not her, Ellie didn't realize before it was too late that Eclipse had taken him into the shadow realm and away from her.

"No!!!" she screamed in anger.

The lady with floating pieces of flaming diamonds glared at me and tried to attack me before I could escape as well.

"I'm not letting you get awa-"

She attempted to stab me with her blade, but my body had already been immersed by the darkness and safely placed by Lance's side.

The last thing I remember hearing was the sound of aunt Ellie crying to the heavens at the realization that her preys had escaped her grasp.

"GODDAAMIIIIIIT!!!"

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We stayed two hours in the shadow realm.

As soon as Eclipse took me to that world of nothing but darkness everywhere, my body collapsed due to exhaustion and I completely blacked out.

To think that we managed to survive against four mages at once... We must be really lucky...

Although... If we were lucky, I guess we would not be attacked by four mages to begin with... So I guess we have normal luck??

Regardless... We were alive... And safe.

I only woke up after hearing some kind of noise coming from Lance's strange rectangular machine that emits images. Its glow managed to allow me to see my friend and its lion laying by my side.

It also showed me how much time had passed since our fight with Ellie and her friends.

While analyzing Lance's state, I sighed in relief that the terminal fire was really gone and would not burn his body anymore. But that brief joy didn't last long as I could see that he still had many scars and burn marks all over his skin.

"Lance...? Lance!! Hey, Lance!!"

I tried to scream and shake his body to get him to wake up, but his eyes did not open.

My hands moved to my pouch to get a healing crystal, but then I remembered that all of them were used to help Eclipse.

We needed to leave. I needed to find someone that could help him, someone that could heal his wounds.

I dreaded to think that Ellie might still be out there, waiting for us, but once I asked Eclipse to take us back, we found ourselves in the middle of a large crowd who was gathering and whispering while gazing at the destruction our fight caused and she was nowhere to be found.

Lance told me before that people would panic if they saw Eclipse, so I asked him to wait in the shadow realm while I carried Lance on my back and returned to the light.

We tried to be discrete and move quickly without calling too much attention, but a few gazes still landed on us as people began to probably wonder why a girl like me was carrying an unconscious boy on my back while we both looked so beat up.

And speaking of being beaten up... My entire body was KILLING me right now...

Every muscle was aching, my vision was getting blurry, it was hard to breath, and my hearing was absolutely horrible with words from the people around me barely making any sense.

Lance's body was weighing more than I imagined, and my own body was seconds away from collapsing due to the pain and tiredness.

"Someone... Help... Please... Anyone..." I tried to speak, but nobody approached us or tried to extend a hand.

They all just seemed confused saying words like 'beggars, bums, hobos...'

I have no idea what they were saying nor did I care. I had to keep moving until I could find someone that could treat Lance.

My legs started to grown weaker and I made a small pause to catch my breath.

And when I least expected, something leaped out from the gate to the shadow realm just as it was about to close completely.

I assumed that it might have been Eclipse and got a little worried, but then realized that it was something much worse.

"Where do you think you're going...?" whispered a woman with long black hair tied up in twin tails wearing red clothes and with red eyes.

"Oh, no..."

It was Dia! I had forgotten that Lance had grabbed her when she was a bracelet and threw her in the shadow realm!!

She must have been wandering aimlessly in there all this time, and the second she saw us opening up an exit, used this chance to escape!

While glaring at the two of us, the woman started to sprint in my direction while slowly creating a red metal blade from her palm.

This was the end.

I had no strength, no energy, Lance was out, Eclipse was tired, and nobody would help us...

We managed to survive Ellie and her group... Only to be killed two hours later anyway...

"I'm sorry Lance..." I whispered as tears started to flow.

My eyes stared one last time at the sky before the two of us got stabbed by her blade, but my vision was then blocked by a woman who appeared in front of me.

"Are you okay...?" she asked.

She was a blond green-eyed lady wearing some kind of uniform who seemed to be in her twenties. Her eyes looked like they had been crying for a long time but now she was trying to force a gentle smile.

I then recognized her! She was the one who was crying once that building had been destroyed.

"Hey!!" Dia shouted, "Stay back!! They are dangerous!!"

"Dangerous...?" the lady repeated as she traded glances between us and Dia, "They are just kids! You're the one who's holding a knife!"

"What?? Kids?? What are you-"

My body couldn't take it anymore, and once again, I passed out before even hearing what Dia was going to say.

And with that... I left my fate and the fate of my brother in the hands of the universe...

...as I no longer had any means to do anything else but hope we survived again before falling into a deep sleep.