Chapter 6: Secrets to my Power, part 2

Dust was settling down. Sion was lying on the ground, his arms were broken and he was missing a left leg. Through his chest he was pierced with his own spear.

Man was walking towards him. Massive guard named Oong was closing in. He had a scar underneath his eye and his right glove was missing.

" How-... how did this happen? " Sion was coughing up blood. He tried speaking again " T-this man-.. *cough*.. this is the power of a 2nd Class? *cough*... difference is... incredib-.. " his throat hurt. It must've been damaged as well.

[ Ability Collection activated, Gilanndi spear stored ]

Blood started leaking out of the place his spear was stabbed. He was lying in a blood of his own pool.

" R-.. une... Rune-.." Sion mumbled. His shoulder once again felt a touch by someone's hand.

[ CRASH ]

Sion was uninjured. He was standing in Rune's world again. Sion looked around but couldn't see Rune.

" Rune! " he yelled for him.

Sion started running around, trying to find him. He noticed a familiar silhouette in the distance, it was sitting on a rock next to a campfire. Sion quickly ran to him.

" Why didn't you just appear next to me, there was no point to it! " Sion exclaimed

Rune looked up " It furthermore increases the tension, nice touch to drama that's happening outside.. " he threw a stick on flaming campfire. Sion looked at him with confused expression.

" It's not funny Rune, I'm dying outside! " he was waving his hands up and down.

" Yes, indeed... and neither of us is to be blamed for that. Only 2 minutes passed, you are stalling him for exact time we planned. Only bad thing is.. well... you're dying " he looked at Sion and shrugged his shoulders.

Sion shrugged his shoulders as well, he was swinging his arms in confusion. " HOW CAN YOU BE SO CALM!? " he yelled.

" We Runes don't die.. But listen, there is a way to get out of this so you survive " Sion was listening closely.

" There IS one ability I posses you could use, but there is a price. " Rune layed on his back.

" What? Which one?? " he was impatient.

Rune was looking at the stars. He seemed uncomfortable talking about it. Rune looked exactly the same way he did when he was about to explain Reapers touch.

" You see Sion, humans have souls. Monsters don't. I am a soul on it's own. You kind of have more souls inside of you, that's cool in a way... "

Sion wasn't sure of what's happening right now. This was nothing like Rune moments ago. He was much less serious and a lot more childish.

" I don't like unnecessary killing, what I dislike even more... Is killing someone that's already dead Sion.. " Rune was speaking slowly. Sion understood him, but his face looked as if he didn't.

" There is ability I unlocked just a minute ago.. ability that, you unlocked, during the battle.. It is connected with the Reapers touch. " Rune kept staring at the starry night.

Sion right away realised that backlash from this ability would be much worse than he anticipated. He looked confident though " Tell me Rune " Sion requested.

" Your body has your soul inside, my soul inside... and-... ". Sion's body froze... And? And? What is that supposed to mean? There are more?

" -...and the souls of all the people Reapers touch absorbed. " Rune turned his head and looked at Sion. " In exchange for 100 souls, Devil will allow you to resurrect... That is the contract you've just unlocked ".

Sion's head was overheating, he couldn't withstand so many things all at once. Souls? Devil? Contract?

" I... I don't know.. " Sion was mumbling to himself.

Rune stood up and placed his palm on Sion's shoulder. " Let me tell you something. As a Rune, I'm considered a monster, and all monsters originated from what you humans call 'Hell', whose owner is 'Devil'... Hell is nothing more but a world like I own, it's just in possession of Devil. It's his version of 'Collection'.". Rune was explaining " In there, billions, maybe even trillions of souls are stored, people and monsters after dying are sent there. Your ability Reapers touch is breaking that law. It is sending souls to your own world of suffering. Imagine it like a Hell but more suffering and pain. Hell isn't about pain, it's just eternal wondering as a soul. More boredom less fire you know. "

Sion looked into Runes eyes. " S-so I need to send some souls to Hell in order to heal up? " he was having hard time breathing.

" Yeah, in a way.. Hell is better than what souls are experiencing right now, you have 153 souls Sion, excluding yours and mine. Having more souls gives you more power, but it doesn't matter at the moment, you should use Devils Contract now. " he snapped his fingers.

[ CRASH, SPIN ]

He was lying, injured again in real world. He felt dizzy, his vision was getting blurry faster and faster.

" D- Devils Contract- " Sion said quietly

[ Ability Devils Contract activated ]

Black aura enveloped Sion. He felt so cold and yet so hot at the same time. His body was emitting black and red lights. His limbs were healed completely, just like rest of his body was.

" Damn you-! " Sion yelled. With all power he had he jumped at top of the tower. He noticed not a single ship was docked. Every ship and boat was sailing for the sea. He succeeded. It was time to run, over 10 minutes passed since he broke down the Inner gate, it was time to move on.

[ Ability Collection activated, a pebble received ]

He jumped down and threw the pebble at Oong. He caught it easily. But when Oong looked for Sion he was gone, but tower was collapsing. All of his goals were accomplished, time to run away!

Sion moved along the falling tower, hiding in the dust. He ran fast, until he bumped into something along the way.

[ CLANG ]

Shining armour was the wall that stopped him. Oong stood in front of him. He grabbed his body an started spinning around himself. Only noise Oong produced was his armour and occasional groaning. He suddenly released Sion into the air, and he flew, he flew high. Hundred of meters.

Sion knew this was going to be painful no matter where he landed. Green aura appeared around Sion, coating him like a shield. It activated subconsciously because Sion looked for a way to avoid damage. As Sion was falling, another familiar figure caught his eye.

" Shu-! " Sion noticed her standing beneath Inner gate. Oong noticed her too, from hundreds and hundreds of meters, he was staring right at her.

" No! Get away from her! " Sion was falling, he tried to yell but his voice didn't travel quite right.

[ Ability Collection activated, Gilanndi spear received ]

He threw it with all his might at Oong. With a casual step back, he evaded. Spear caused the ground to shake and shockwave blew houses away.

" Stop... Approaching her! " Sion now landed, his landing yielded same result as his spear. He wasn't hurt, his aura must've shield him. Sion pulled the spear from the ground and directed it towards Oong. He must keep the monster away from Shu. Why did she even get here? People were passing by her, someone must've said something about boarding the ships, did she refuse to leave?

" I said.. BACK OFF! " Sion gripped the spear with all his might. Sleeves on his robe started ripping to shreds. Veins popped up at Sion's arm and with a deep breath he threw the spear at Oong. Air twisted around as spear travelled. Greenish bolts of electricity were radiating from it along with greenish aura.

Spear spun around itself and in mere moments it reached Oong.

And he grabbed it in midair. He grabbed the spear and stopped it as if it was gently passed to him. But that didn't stop the spear, for several meters it continued picking up dust around Oong, his feet were still on the ground, he was being pushed backwards.

[ CRACK, SHATTER ]

Gilanndi spear shattered. Oong destroyed it by clenching his fist. As Oong groaned once again, he looked for Sion. Both Sion and Shu were gone. It was all a mere distraction.

[ On the docks ]

Sion was holding Shu in his arms. One of his arms was on her back and other was under her thighs. He was dashing forwards at immense speeds. They arrived at docks, they were looking for a boat, any size would be good, they had to leave for the sea. For the first time ever, Sion was truly exhausted, he never felt so weak before.

Sion looked back, no one was coming out of the main street. Was Oong not following them?

Sion stopped when they arrived to the docks he was standing there and looking around for a ship or a boat. He heard something that distracted him a bit. Shu was red and pouting.

Sion was bit confused at first, then he realised that he is still carrying her, on top of that one of his hands was under her thighs.

" AHH! SORRY!! " He let her down immediately and bowed.

Shu bowed back and shook her head. Both were too embarrassed to form any complex sentence.

" A-anyways... there doesn't seem to be a boa-.. " Sion's vision went blurry, moment later everything went black. Sion was unconscious.. What happened?

[ Wind blowing, waves striking ]

Sion opened his eyes, he was looking at the starry night. He felt dizzy. He quickly got up and looked around. He was on a small boat, on the open sea. He was confused... until he saw Shu. She was rowing the boat. She was small and didn't have strong arms. She wasn't quite skinny, but she was underweight though.

" Puff-... Puff-... Row-... Row-... Puff-... Puff-... " She kept repeating. She was barely making the boat move..

Sion looked back and saw a faint light from Ravensborrow, they escaped. But how?

" D-did you... " Sion looked at Shu.

Shu was still wearing the same round, broken glasses as she did some time ago. " Puff-... Row-... ", it appears she didn't hear him. Her eyes were closed and she was concentrated on breathing and rowing.

Sion gently tapped her shoulder, she jumped and screamed, almost falling outside the small boat. She was shaking at first, then looked at Sion and almost started crying. She jumped on him and hugged him, causing the boat to almost flip over. Moment later, she was crying.

" Eghm! " Sion gasped as she hugged him. Sion was blushing red. Not only was it his first hug, but it was also from a girl he liked. Her hair smelled.. surprisingly nice given the condition Outer citizens of Ravensborrow lived in. It smelled of.. he wasn't sure, he didn't know of that smell before.

" H-hey.. everything is okay now-.. " he tried comforting her. He slowly and awkwardly placed his hands on her back, hugging her back. " Did you.. save me? " he asked in a gentle voice.

She moved away from Sion. Shu shook her head in confirmation. " I-...I had to drag you to a boat I've found... " she said in soft voice.

Sion's smiled a bit. " Thanks Shu! " he said.

Right after his words left his mouth, he noticed Shu blushing. She twisted her hair around her fingers " M-my name isn't Shu... ", she looked down towards her knees. " It's-..my mother's name, she told me to give her name to strangers-... " she looked very sad.

Sion understood that her mother was most likely gone, considering she didn't aboard with her. " My name is well... Where I came from.. people called me Nemamiah... "

Sion never heard such a name before. " Nemaemamiah? " he looked at her?

She puted " N-not quite... " she stood up on the boat, " It's Nemamiah... " she tried to explain it to him.

" Ne - ma - mi - ah " she said

" Ne - ma - mi - ah " he repeated after her.

" Nemamiah-.. " she said with a smile

" Nemeamemieh " he smiled proudly.

She looked quite disappointed. " Y-you can call me Nemma though " she tried to help him.

" Ah, sounds great! Nemma, glad to meet you, I'm Sion! " he smiled and shook his head a little.