Chapter 23: The Scarlet Blades That Brought Me to Hell

*Sigh*

I had spent a considerable amount of mana in the last fight. I don't know if it was possible to continue.

I was still able to project my gunblades once more, and still use Solid Entropy about three times, keeping me conscious to still fight standing.

The result of the pact with Morello is something impressive. The ability to solidify light itself or its absence (darkness) is quite versatile. A shame to burn through my mana too quickly.

Another thing that is being burned out quickly is my patience.

In front of me, a girl pointing a scarlet triple-barrelled pistol, while maintaining a cold expression.

-What the hell do you want from me anyway?

Even if I provoked her by saying that here I was going to have my reckoning, this was just one more of the many bluffs I have used in my life to save my skin.

In both possible scenarios that I fight with Naila I would die. Either to this pre-diabetic or to Marino, should I win the first fight.

-You are a Wizard. I can't get careless and let you walk out of here doing whatever you want.

-You talk as if discovering that I'm a Wizard makes me an irrational animal.

This girl killed my parents. Not that I care about that.

This girl killed my two best friends. Oops, a correction is in order: OUR best friends.

Her platoon, after the South Airport incident, was reduced to sergeants and soldiers first class. Jack eliminated the third class ones to protect me, while she killed the second class ones on a pure whim.

-You've tired my life enough, girl. Find something to brighten yours, you need it.

Not that I was in a different boat.

I turned the other way and started walking. I couldn't waste my time there, a fight would be a no brainer.

*BANG*

ARGH!

Naila had fired into my right thigh. The shot pierced my skin with an ease that was only seen when running a hot knife through butter.

I don't know if I should rejoice at this, but I felt déjà vu. Getting a hole in my leg now reminded me of the fight in my house, that I didn't have a millisecond's reaction from the moment Naila went through my legs with her swords. Now, in case I was facing forward, I could try to avoid the attack. To succeed would be another stage.

I project my white gunblade, and support myself with it to compensate for my newly injured leg.

I didn't feel much pain, but I was dizzy and nauseous enough to need to vomit. Blue had no poison of any kind with him, making it possible that it was the effect of mana consumption and...

-At that time, you were using a tranquilizer. Why should I believe that you have your consciousness under control?

Oh, she didn't ask that...

-Who knows? Just tell me what you want. I obviously have some use for you, because if not, you would have started fighting me as soon as Blue fell.

-Tsc.

With disgust in her eyes, she sighs, but without lowering the damn pistol.

-Blue was a researcher, so just because you defeated him doesn't mean-

*BOOM*

Naila shut the damn good one up for a measly instant.

Obviously, who wouldn't shut up after having a shot that could hit their face?

Leaning back on my leg, I fired into a tree that was about 5 meters behind her, with the projectile passing beside her cheek.

-Yes, I was on tranquilizers a few minutes ago. Do you want to know why?

-?

A bead of sweat was visible on Naila's forehead. My last shot was really fast, not to mention the tone of voice I was using.

-Why did you decide to destroy my life! My parents, as much as I don't regret it, you broke up with them and brought their dead bodies back to my house as a gift.

-...

-FOR NOT AGREEING TO HELP YOU KILL ME, YOU TOOK CAIUS AND JACK TO THE GRAVE BEFORE ME, EVEN THOUGH THEY WERE NOT WIZARDS! THOSE GUYS STILL HAD FAMILIES, EACH WITH YOUNGER BROTHERS INCLUDED.

-...

She wouldn't answer me. But I also couldn't tell what kind of face she had at that moment.

My eyes, just like in the fight against Blue, couldn't see any color. Shades of black and white looked to me for both the greenest leaves and the most rustic tree trunks.

But it was not only this that hindered my vision.

I was in tears. Crying for everything that had happened in the last few days.

Obviously, I didn't want to cry in front of Naila, because she was responsible for it all. She had dyed my life in the same scarlet of her swords, from all the blood that had been spilled.

And it was not going to stop.

But getting myself together now was proving more difficult than it had been when Jack had first saved me. At that point, he was already wounded from fighting other soldiers, but he had still gone to save me, even with the shock of Caius' death.

A regret echoed in my mind, more clearly than the echo of a narrow cave.

"Why didn't you die before? Why were you going after all that?"

I felt guilty for the death of those two. I felt guilty for the death of half of Marino's squadron who sacrificed themselves to defeat the other half who were not Wizard. I felt even more guilty for the annihilation of the First Unit of the AWA by the Captain, who decided to extinguish any possibility of another Wizard there.

And this same hindrance was in front of me. Causing my euphoria, causing my breathing and circulation to speed up.

Causing me to want to commit murder.

After all, she was the human who destroyed my mind, and out of sheer pride, trampled everything she thought could be a rock in her path just to put an end to me.

Even though I had been her best friend for a long time, she tore that page out of her history, and went on to try to destroy any future I might have, even though I was a threat to humanity.

Or not. It seriously makes me think that my parents thought that there would be no possibility of me crossing over to the side of humanity in any chance. Their plan should have been something disgusting, worthy of them.

But when I think about it, it was because Naila had made the last months of my life a living hell, that the result was not something worse for humans. I am still alive. I haven't killed anyone yet.

A psychological pressure squeezed my memories of Marino's attack on the camp, the day I had my first outburst and killed two people. Wait, was it three? I don't even remember anymore.

-The fact that I killed Caius and Jack is undeniable, just as you killed all the Third and Second Class soldiers of the AWA's Sixth Platoon.

-Wait! I didn't even kill half a dozen. They killed each other, since they had Wizards on the inside.

-Ah, so that was it?

!

That's it now...

-Do you believe me?

-Lying has never been a virtue of yours, but hiding things from me is.

This girl, not only is she one of the captains of the AWA.

She was a close friend of mine.

The worst kind of situation that could come my way.

-I know what happened to you. But that only makes the situations balanced, because the opposite is also true.

-What are you getting at?

-Keyner, to what extent do you consider a being to be committing atrocities?

-Drop the philosophy. I want to get the fuck out of here.

-Exactly. From selfishness. There are those who, when committing atrocities, do not evaluate future consequences for those who may be a target for revenge in the future. That's why, when you have an enemy, you have to finish him off, to prevent someone else from being hurt, someone else from being taken from someone else, or that someone else gets the idea first.

-You want to teach me a lesson about selfishness after what you did?

-Of course. Knowing that this would piss you off, I couldn't let it go.

I squeezed hard on the handle of my gunblade, even forgetting about the wound on my thigh. Naila, with a smile on her face, showed that she noticed my discomfort.

-I've had everything taken from me too, Keyner. Twice. But it was in killing your parents and our friends that I realized something.

Naila materialized one of her swords. A scarlet-bladed sword, cutlass style. The design that since the day of the test with Code Core has given me chills.

-Causing hell in the life of a person you hate is the most pleasant feeling in the world.

-And when did you start hating me?

She spoke in a calm, monotone tone, which fueled my anger more and more. My nervousness only grew, and knowing that Marino, Yurion, and Morello were fighting nearby did not calm me.

-The moment I found out that you were the offspring of those who destroyed my life.

-Wait, what do you mean?

-Don't you remember? My brother disappeared from Techmetriun because of Wizards. And your parents were the main ones in town. You must know something, even the simplest of clues.

She has a good line of reasoning. No wonder Naila is qualified for any research position in Techmetriun. Even though she is a cold-hearted psychopath, she is more intelligent than her beastly childish appearance would suggest.

-So you want help to find and save your brother?

-Just half of it.

-Explain yourself then.

She quickly wiped any trace of causality from her face. Even though she possessed no mana, I could feel a heavy aura coming from her, but it was only her murderous intent.

-I want to find my brother, that's a fact. I've already nagged you enough to take over some of my school responsibilities so that I can focus on that. But I don't want to save him.

His tone of voice was similar to that day.

"Then please die.

That sound coming out of her mouth was the same as that day. A whirlwind of contempt and resentment for an existence, wishing only for its extinction.

-I want to kill him, just as I killed his parents.