Chapter 50 - Cost of a Battle

"We should probably get going, X," Rynold said while standing up. He finally took the time to recover the bare minimum to move around but, hey, whatever works.

Rynold dusted his backside from all the dust and small chunks of debris that managed to stick to his tattered clothes. The battle gave him many scars that would be tough to cover up over time but it just proves his experience.

X nodded and followed his Master to find the rest of the group. Speaking of...

"Hey, buddy. You know where Oliver and the rest went?" Rynold asked his trusty follower. X, after all, was the one who managed to be the last one to catch a glimpse of where they went.

"Yes," the mechanical voice replied, "they went in that direction," and pointed to a road that was actually away from the battlefield that Rynold was.

Rynold nodded, getting more satisfied with the upgrade as every moment passed. "Lead the way," he said to the Mech Knight.

The duo moved past the debris and the battlefield and made their way towards the relatively clearer path. It was clear in the sense that there were no ghouls but it was completely evident that there was a battle that took place.

The road stretched a bit of a way forward but the overall experience was quiet. Apart from the random splashes of blood that was actually just Oliver making a mess, there really wasn't anything much going on.

Rynold and X strolled along the path and finally noticed a figure in the distance.

At first, it looked like some humanoid body that was resting on the ground, asleep. It was weird, Rynold thought because ghouls and other creatures instantly turn to dust once they're dead. 'Maybe they missed one,' he concluded.

Maintaining their pace, Rynold and X slowly approached the unmoving corpse in the middle of the road. They couldn't see the creature's face without being directly on top of it but the clothes that the creature wore were... familiar.

Rynold moved faster to get to the corpse and X followed soon after he realized that his Master quickened. It didn't take long for him to see the corpse's face.

It was Skye.

"No. No, no, no, no," Rynold was shaking his head profusely when he saw his friend dead. He picked up and cradled the lifeless body and tried to find a pulse. Only for him to come up short of one.

Rynold shed a single tear as he tried to hold back from fully breaking down while X was simply watching, his simple mind incapable of understanding what empathy and grief were.

Rynold inwardly cursed at himself for being slow. For not being there for a friend. For not being fast enough to get there in time. For not saving her.

He slowly spiralled in a storm of self-pity and doubt as to why is he still fighting in this New World. Before even reaching this place, he felt great. He had won a battle, but at what cost? A cost that took the life of a person he had cared about just because he was too preoccupied with winning.

The few minutes to grief had taken over his soul. Rynold was cursing and swearing at himself more than anything else and he was way too pissed to think clearly.

'Damn it,' Rynold swore in his mind, 'damn it, damn it, DAMN IT. Maybe if I were just a few seconds faster or just fucking left the Behemoth Ghoul alone. Maybe, just maybe, she and Oliver and Shyft would be safe... Eh?'

He finally looked up from Skye's lifeless corpse and looked around. Oliver and Shyft were nowhere to be found so maybe something else happened entirely.

Thinking that he could still save two other people, Rynold stopped his moping. He slowly stood up while cradling the lifeless body in his hands before handing Skye to X. "Take care of her, alright?" Rynold sincerely asked, his voice shaking.

X was not fully sure of what his Master meant but it was important to Rynold so he followed the order without complaints.

Rynold pulled the handheld radio and tried to contact Oliver but there was no response. 'Something must've happened,' he thought before proceeding to radio in Shyft. Again, there was nothing. 'Something definitely happened,' Rynold thought and radioed in the last person that had a handheld radio.

He's grown frustrated from the two others who didn't respond, but by the third person, thankfully, Jack answered back.

"W-what's up?" Jack said, his voice obvious that he just woke up.

"You fucktard, were you sleeping?!" Rynold fumed.

Jack wiped the drool from his chin and immediately responded, "no, no. How could I sleep in all this chaos?"

"Whatever," Rynold's patience was running short, "there's been a situation. Can you get down to where I am? Bring Strider and Eileen along with you."

"Sure," Jack paused and looked through his scope, "How are you so far? That path is going away from the radio tower; like I can barely even see you with the maximum zoom of the scope!"

'Away?' Rynold thought that it was suspicious that they would take the road away from the safe zone. "Not the point, can you get here or not?"

Jack paused again before responding, "yeah, I don't think it should be much of a problem. There aren't that many ghouls in the way anyway. We'll probably get there soon if we don't fight them."

Rynold clicked his tongue in disappointment, 'why is it always ghouls?' There wouldn't be a problem if they could get here but the question was whether they could survive or not.

"Shit, can you spot Oliver or Shyft, then?" Rynold angrily asked.

"Hold on," Jack replied and after a few seconds later he continued, "nope. I don't see them anywhere. What's the plan now?"

Rynold clenched his hand. Jack didn't have to ask that question because Rynold had no answer for it. His brain was fried from the overwhelming amount of emotions that he felt that made his judgement clouded.

After a few moments, he sighed. "There's no other way, then," Rynold said to himself before talking to the radio, "Okay, listen up. We need to find Oliver and Shyft first and foremost so I'm going to need Strider. One more thing, I need to place something in a safe place too, can I trust you to take care of it. Can you handle it?"

"Sure!" Jack responded enthusiastically.

"I'm not fucking around this time, got it? This is serious," Rynold threatened.

Jack audibly gulped and answered, "yeah, got it. By the way, where's Skye?"

Rynold sighed before saying, "you'll know soon enough. I'll get there in a few minutes," then placed the radio back into his pocket.

He turned to X and solemnly opened his mouth, "We're gonna be running towards where Jack is, okay buddy? Keep her safe whatever the cost and leave the ghouls to me."

X looked at his Master's sad and serious expression and nodded in response. He fixed his grip around the cradled Skye and made sure that she was safe in his arms.

Rynold nodded in acknowledgement before started to run with Mana Gauntlets in Strength-form.

There was no time to lose as Rynold and X made their way towards the radio tower. There were a number of ghouls that were in their way but they ignored them, only beating the ones in his way to a pulp. Rynold's goal was crystal clear in his mind. Save his friends no matter what.

In a few minutes, they managed to get to the radio tower entrance and the ghouls weren't able to catch up to them. Panting and catching his breath, Rynold pulled up the radio.

"Get Strider down here," Rynold spoke to the radio before releasing the talk button and turned his head to X. "Buddy," he continued, "I'm gonna have to leave you here for a while, okay? Go up and find Jack and Eileen and keep them safe, alright? Bring Skye with you too."

X acknowledged his Master's wishes with a simple response. "Yes, Master," he said, "take care of yourself, Master," in his mechanical voice.

"Heh, you know I can take care of myself, bud," Rynold paused for a moment before continuing, "you can count on me to make it back." He patted his Mech Knight on his shoulder.

In the few moments that they were talking, Strider suddenly showed up from the tower's lobby.

"Get going, X. I'll take it from here," Rynold reassured his Mech Knight.

X looked at the wolf and his liege before acknowledging and entered the radio tower building. The Mech Knight knew what was important to him and his Master's commands were not something he could easily question. But, it was perhaps the first time that X felt concerned.

With the Mech Knight's silhouette disappearing into the building, Rynold turned to the wolf.

"Alright, Strider. Let's go find your master."