Arc 2 - Chapter 36: Phoenix Blessing (1/2)

"God damn you man, stop chasing!"

"How can this maniac still run? Bullshit!"

"The seed of the bitch doesn't get tired!"

Sharley wasn't stop chasing, and to escape from him, Yu ran the fastest run of his life with Yurine in his arms.

Yurine was no longer able to cast healing spells on Yu, because she focus was on blocking Sharley's attacks.

Tired and without the support of the healing spell, running was very difficult for Yu. At any moment, his legs could fail him, causing him to fall and be killed by the crazed madman.

This led Yu to ignore the fatigue, to beg his legs to hold out and to run for his life relentlessly. What would happen to Yurine later if Yu died was also uncertain, so Yu's only concern was not only his death but also his daughter's health.

"What the fuck is this?"

"What happened?"

They were still inside the town and about to enter the forest. Yet the huge structure rising in the forest was bright enough to be recognized from anywhere in the town.

A fireball shot into the sky and exploded like a firework, and a dome of flames lit up the night, dispelling the darkness.

"I said, what happened!"

"Something is happening in the forest." Yu answered Yurine as he kept running. "I wonder if it's Lylphia?"

She was the only fire mage he knew. If her rivals weren't more dangerous than he thought, it had to be Lylphia's job. Or at least it would be better if it was Lylphia's job than her rivals'.

If it was her job and she had to cast such a big spell, it meant that her opponents were too powerful to be underestimated.

"Three against two, I think they'll take it."

"What's going on in the forest?"

Yurine couldn't fend off all of Sharley's attacks when she couldn't see. So she had to turn around and it was Yu's job to see ahead and run while she watched their backs.

"It's like a fire, but not quite a fire - YURINE!" A crystal sword whistled past his head and almost scared Yu to death. He screamed Yurine's name in fear. "What are you doing!"

"I left it because it wouldn't hit us, don't worry I have the control."

"You were in control just now."

"Look at me, human!"

The mention of the magic battle she lost against Sharley in the town made Yurine angry and she gently squeezed Yu's neck as she spoke in a scolding tone.

"Yeah, I took at you, cat. Tell?"

"Shut up and run."

Following her instructions, he dived into the forest and ran towards the fire dome, hoping that Lylphia and the others were there and that they would neutralize their enemies before they arrived.

The trees were dense, making it difficult for Sharley to aim, and some of his attacks hit and shattered trees without needing to be defended by Yurine.

"Doesn't this guy need mana too? How can he keep casting spells?"

"I don't know."

"Wasn't he your mother's apprentice, how is it possible to you don't know? Maybe she taught him."

"I'm not a dark mage, I don't know what my mother taught Sharley."

He was trying to zigzag through the trees and make it harder for Sharley to shoot them, but the zigzagging was slowing him down too.

"Your mother..."

As soon as he started thinking, he was punished.

"Ah! What are you doing?"

"I felt you were thinking something bad."

"I was going to say, what did your mother have in mind when she apprenticed this lunatic?"

Yurine let go of Yu's two ears, which she grabbed and pulled. Yu's ears were red and he wanted to rub them, but he couldn't stop for that. He had to keep running for their lives.

"How many minutes has it been, you rabid dog! That's enough, let us go!"

As they moved forward, they encountered potholes, mud puddles, rocks and fallen trees. Yu jumped over them all, getting closer and closer to the fire dome.

His body was already at its limits. He was pushing himself so hard to run that he could have had a heart attack. He had to ask Yurine to support him from time to time with her healing magic.

"Fuck-"

Unbeknownst to Yu, who had planned to ask her for help, Yurine had managed to stop the incoming crystal boulder at the last moment. Sharley immediately sent crystal swords after it, and as a few of them flew past Yu, Yurine met the ones that might have hit them with her magic.

"I don't want you to speak so rudely."

"Don't distract me! Keep going!"

Yurine unconsciously started to squeeze Yu's neck, making it difficult for Yu to breathe. With one hand he tried to open Yurine's arm.

"At least he doesn't run as fast as the others."

If the person chasing them had run as fast as the girls who had opened the gap on Yu half an hour ago, Yu would have been caught before he got this far.

Although Sharley had a seemingly never-ending supply of mana and energy, the fact that he was running slower than Yu at least tipped the odds slightly in Yu's favor. If Yu hadn't been tired, he might even have been able to outrun Sharley and leave him behind.

"Stop running, coward! Stop and fight!"

Sharley spoke for the first time since the fight in town. Yu had a hard time understanding people like that. Did Sharley really want Yu to stop and fight him?

For one thing, Sharley could use magic, whereas Yu had completely average physical strength. If Yu stopped and Sharley killed him, would that make Sharley great?

"You're the manest man if you have magic in your hands, whoreson."

He was always annoyed that this happened in the anime he watched. High school brats that even Yu would close the book of deeds with a single punch acted like kings when they had magic in their hands.

"Is it punch-to-punch or is there magic?"

Sharley, of course, did not answer Yu's sarcastic question.

After running for a while, they were almost at their destination, the fire dome. They could see the walls of the dome through the trees, but Yu found it hard to look ahead of him as he ran because it was so bright.

As they got closer to the dome, the heat increased and became more oppressive with each step. Yu knew nowhere else to go, so he kept running, hoping to meet Lylphia and the others there.

Suddenly the dome began to rise from the ground. It gathered in the air as a gigantic ball and its brightness illuminated the whole forest like the sun, then quickly faded away and left the place in darkness.

"I feel something."

The white cat ears on the top of Yurine's head flickered cutely, and there was a flicker of movement in Yu's face.

"I see it!"

After the fire dome disappeared, he saw the tunnel that was exposed. Then the smoke coming out of that tunnel started to come at him. The smoke was approaching Yu and Yurine in a storm, sweeping everything in its path.

"Fuck your..."

As the storm hit Yu and Yurine, it flew them into Sharley, who continued to chase them.

When Yu and Yurine hit Sharley, they rolled with him for a short time. Yurine separated from the two rolling men and crashed into a tree, while Yu and Sharley continued to roll.

First they hit a tree and changed direction, then they rolled down a slope. When they hit another tree, cones fell on them and they were able to stop.

"Fuck you!"

Yu was confident in his ability to recover quickly. Here, too, he recovered faster than Sharley. Before Sharley knew what was happening, he grabbed him by the shoulders and spun around to come at him.

If he thought about it, or tried to get up and run away, or made any futile move that would buy Sharley even a second, he would die with a crystal sword through his body.

So he didn't think, he just put all his strength into his right hand and brought his fist down on Sharley's eye.

His intention was to punch him relentlessly until he was dead, but with the first punch Sharley's face collapsed and Yu's fist entered Sharley's brain. Sharley's skull shattered and cut off Yu's hand.

"What the fuck?"

Yu stood up in surprise. At that moment Yurine had jumped down from the slope and rushed to Yu's side, cutting him off.

But like Yu, she was shocked by what she saw. Sharley's face sank inward, his brain was crushed. She couldn't have imagined such a thing even if she wanted to. Especially not that it would be done by Yu. It was a sight beyond her imagination.

The only thing Yu knew as he punched him was that they would fight until one of them was dead, and that at best he would win the fight badly wounded.

Trusting Yurine beside him, he bent down to check if Sharley was alive and placed the back of his left hand on his chest.

"Shit, his heart's not beating, we've got the kill."

"Why do you say it like it's a bad thing? I should have killed him months ago."

"Yurine, this bastard's name has a fucking von, he's noble. Look, we're already on the police list, we're in court. And because we killed a noble man, especially one with an important family, should we get a bad name? Should we get in trouble? Should we rot in jail?"

Quickly overcome by the incredulity of the event, Yu expressed concern and looked in the direction of the storm that had blown them away.

Even though the fire dome was no longer there, the ground continued to burn.

"Let's throw his body in the fire and destroy the evidence."

"Okay."

Yurine agreed with Yu's thoughts and accepted his offer. They returned to Sharley's body to take him away, but there was a problem, they were both reluctant to take him to the fire.

"I don't want to carry this, it's disgusting," Yu was the first to object.

"Don't be ridiculous, should I carry it? My noble body shouldn't come in contact with that thing."

"But I'm so tired..."

"You killed him, you will carry him."

"There is no killing, forget about it! We're pretending the scene that just happened never happened."

"They must have seen him while he was chasing us."

"If they ask, we'll say wolfs hunted him, or never mind. Anyway, there's nothing to do, but cast a healing spell on me, I'm going to faint."

Yu took off his t-shirt that he had been using as a nightgown.

It was freezing, but he didn't want to hold him with his bare hands. He grabbed Sharley's leg with his left hand and lifted him up to drag him away.

"No way!"

When Yu lifted Sharley's leg and took the first step, the leg was separated from the body. Yu and Yurine looked at Sharley and the leg with their mouths open.

"Wow... Did I get a power up or something?"

Looking at the leg in his hand, the first thing that came to his mind was, of course, that he had suddenly become stronger. Just when he thought that the parallel world adventure was finally going to turn into something fun, the leg in Yu's hand started to disintegrate.

"I'd be surprised if I did."