To Live

Kai stared blankly at the pile of glass before him, wondering if he was seeing things correctly. Cecilia had said that it was a sort of tube of glass that they would have to go through, so where was the tube?

The glass on the ground shimmered, the light trapped in it slowly dimming.

Slowly, Kai turned his head to look at Cecilia, saying a small prayer in the process.

"All we have to do is stand on the pile... right?"

Cecilia's body trembled, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes as she lifted a hand up to cover her mouth.

"I- it's broken.... The teleporter is broken."

Shattered.

Combined with the harrowing pain of the backlash inflicted on his soul, Kai felt like he had just about reached his limit. After all he had gone through to get here, all that he had endured, there was no way out?

"W-what if we just hide out somewhere near here and wait for someone from the outside to come and repair the teleporter, surely someone would care about this Subdimension, right?"

Cecilia shook her head.

"Someone would normally come and check up on the teleporter every few centuries, but we can't rely on that, otherwise..."

Kai grimaced, realising what she was getting at.

"Petunia and I will get stuck here until the next Tournament of Time."

It was not a good situation to be in. The destruction of the city had already been set in motion, meaning even if they do survive here, they won't be safe, especially with all of the horrifying beasts that came out when the blizzard was at its heaviest.

And Kai didn't even want to imagine what sort of beasts would be attracted by the smell of a burning city filled with plenty of meat for them to consume.

And there was the whole thing that he had no idea when the next Tournament would actually be. He had asked Cecilia during his time in the cell, but she wasn't sure either. It could be a year, or it could even be a thousand years, Kai had no way of knowing for sure.

Petunia nervously grasped at the skirt of Cecilia's dress.

"What's happening?"

Kai hesitated before answering.

"The way home got destroyed, so we need to find another way."

Kai desparately racked his brain, trying to think of anything that could possibly be of use to them. The thought of trying to get The Ever-changing to help occurred to him, but he had also tried that when back in the cell, so he was mostly certain that they wouldn't answer this time either.

They could try to repair the teleporter themselves, but he had no experience as an engineer. Plus, Kai-

An idea flashed in his mind and he quickly turned back to Cecilia, grabbing her by the shoulders as he looked her in the eyes.

"You said before that there was another teleporter somewhere, where is it?"

Cecilia stared at Kai blankly for a few moments, comprehending what he had said fully before she actually answered.

"T- there's a monastery that contains a teleporter, but it's very deep in the blizzard."

Kai swallowed.

"How deep."

Cecilia looked away as she responded.

"On top of the Royal Peak..."

Kai mentally cursed.

"If we were to do it ourselves, how long would it take to get there?"

Cecilia continued to look at the ground as she spoke.

"... About five months. They used to make pilgrimages up there, so there is also a path. The last pilgramage was eighty billion years ago though, before the Supernova."

Kai let go of her shoulders and paced around the room, trying his hardest to ignore the horrible pain in his soul.

Five months... it would be cutting it close, no doubt about that, but it was their only way. If they didn't leave, they would be stuck here for who knows how long dealing with who knows what monsters that would be out to get them.

Kai wasn't even in the mood to question why there was a monastery on top of that mountain, nor how it had survived the Supernova, he was in too much pain and in too much of a mood to care about things like that. That would be a topic for they journey.

"Okay..." Kai sighed as he clawed at his scalp. "We have to scale the Royal Peak, get in that monastery and get out of here in the next five months. Simple, right?"

Cecilia didn't even get the chance to respond before the wall behind her fell apart, completetly destroyed by a gargantuan tentacle. She let out a terrified scream as the ground beneath her feet disappeared, sending her into a free fall.

Panicking, Kai threw himself from where he was standing and over the newly created ledge. Using Flight to accelerate, he was able to just about catch the Queen before she hit the ground.

The stinging inside his soul got worse. His Mana was practically running on fumes, not much left in the tank. He knew the longer he kept his boosts active the worse he would feel, so he had to get as far away from this city as quickly as possible.

Touching down on the ground, Kai caught sight of Umbra expertly hopping down what remained of the tower walls. Petunia and Remy both tightly clung onto the wolf's back, careful not to fall of as she descended.

As soon as the wolf touched down on solid ground, Kai doubled over as he coughed up some blood. He took a moment to compose himself before shaking a hand in front of Cecilia's worried expression.

"I'm fine... we have to go."

Kai broke into a jog, his eyes diligently watching all their surroundings so they didn't accidently get stepped on by a giant beast foot or completetly crushed by a gargantuan tentacle.

The group clung to any walls that were present, not trying to get spotted.

The ground constantly shook, every blow the two titans exchanged sent tremors far and wide. Kai half believed that what remained of the castle would topple over any second now.

After a long, torturous minute of sneaking around the outskirts of the castle, the group reached the main gate.

Not looking back in case either of the two titans looked back at him, Kai picked up the pace, holding the gate open for the rest of the group to get through.

From there, he picked Cecilia up in his arms once more and began to fly, Umbra following closely behind on the ground while carrying Petunia and Remy.

Somehow, even in this eternal blizzard, the entire city was in flames. Houses fell apart, their roofs caving in, crushing anyone under them.

The city burned, acting like a pyre for any primordial horror in the blizzard that wanted a free meal.

Kai flew close to the ground, not wanting to go too high incase he accidently dropped Cecilia.

They reached the square, the familiar fountain now devoid of any water and filled by rats instead.

Whatever rats hadn't fused with the Plague Harbinger now ran around the city, eating anything they could get while also attacking anything they could see.

Kai continued to fly through the incinerating city, not wanting to stay here a moment longer than needed.

However, he knew that he had to stop when he caught sight of something down a familiar alleyway.

A group of rats were approaching a black haired girl. Her body was covered in soot and burns, proof that a building had collapsed on her but she had somehow made it out.

As soon as Kai got closer to her, the rats scurried away as Kai stopped right in front of the girl.

Annie slowly lifted her head to look up at Kai. Half of her face was burned, like a piece of flaming wood had landed on her.

She glanced at Kai blankly.

"Thank... you..."

Kai froze. What the actual fuck was she thanking him for? She was severely burned and just about to be eaten by rats, yet she was thanking him?

His body trembled.

"Don't thank me... I was being selfish."

Annie smiled weakly.

"Being selfish is... sometimes good."

Knowing what he had to do, Kai reached out and placed a hand on Annie's stomach. A beautiful multi-coloured ember manifested on his hand before slowly growing, encasing the injured girl with their heat.

Soon, she was completely coated by the flames.

Kai had manipulated them so that she would feel no pain when she went. In fact, he had manipulated them so that she would almost feel... peaceful.

Annie looked at Kai for the last time.

"Thank you for... helping me... Live."

Then, the girl's eyes stilled over.

Annie died with a smile on her face.

You have obtained...

Kai bit his lip. He didn't even want to hear the rest of that notification.

What sort of fucked up city was this where someone had to die to feel alive?

Even though Annie had thanked him, Kai still felt the need to say something.

"I'm sorry..."

Glancing back at Cecilia, the Queen instantly understood his gaze and summoned something from the spatial storage ring on her finger.

She handed Kai a beautiful necklace, one with a gorgeous green gem in the centre of it.

Tenderly, Kai placed the necklace on the dead girls chest. Then, he intensified the flames coating her until both of them had been turned to ash.

Kai slowly turned away.

He was sick of this city.

Quickly leaving the alleyway as he didn't want to be there any longer, Kai and the group arrived at the main gate of the city. Opening it themselves as all of the guards were gone, they were greeted by an even heavier blizzard, one where they couldn't even see that far ahead of them.

As soon as Kai opened the gate, he innately knew that his time was up.

Softly picking up Petunia from Umbra's back and handing her to Cecilia, Kai got on his familiar's back and lied down just as they began making their way into the blizzard's embrace.

Then, he deactivated all of his boosting skills.

And not even a second after he done so, he was overwhelmed by a barrage of torturous pain and blacked out.