CHAPTER 366: Don't Open Your Eyes If You Want To Live

Meanwhile, Nathalia fought alongside him.

Each of them having each other's back.

There were no longer just demonic beasts but even future dark lords are around them.

"It seems that we have bruised their ego for actually allowing one of their prey to escape," Nathalia commented.

"Well, let's just hang on a bit more," Jiro answered.

"A bit more?" Nathalia was even more confused with his words.

She was already plenty happy that she get to meet him again after so long. Or more like after an eternity so him suddenly saying that they hang on a bit more completely confuses her.

"Yes."

Jiro reached behind him in order to hold her hand, "Just a bit more."

He gave her hand a squeeze before letting go to continue their battle.

Nathalia was still confused but chose to simply believe his words, to trust him.

Something she had not done before.

To believe or trust her friends.

A slight smile appeared on her lips upon realizing her thoughts.

Because of Saphira, it became so natural for her to speak of the word friends. As if she had been using it for so long.

"You are able to say it so naturally," Jiro also smiled as he killed another incoming beast.

As the person who watched her the most over the years of them being the heroes of their time. He knew how much she had held back on speaking of bonds and friends.

She held the responsibility of leading humanity to its victory against the dark forces.

And because of that, she also fell into loneliness, causing him to have a whole load of difficulties in trying to reach out to her.

Until that eventful day of her disappearance.

After winning the battle, they had time to have small chats. And he thought maybe this time, he could finally reach out to her.

But alas, right before his very eyes, she pulled into the depths of darkness.

(Flashback)

"Nathalia!!" he shouted.

He did not expect for her shadow to suddenly turn to many hands and pull her down to the ground. But he knew better she was not pulled literally to the ground, but instead somewhere else. Somewhere he knew he couldn't reach.

Looking for her around the kingdom is useless, it was obvious that she wouldn't be pulled just to end up somewhere one could easily see her. He can tell because of the feeling he got from the shadow.

'Despair, loneliness, sadness, anger...'

All kinds of negative emotions that could only be felt when facing those from the dark forces.

Instead he went to the highest point.

Nathalia's family was indifferent towards her.

Yet she tried to live her life as much as she can without hating anyone.

But when the power of the light manifested, people swarmed on her as if she was some kind of deity. At the same time, she was left all alone.

People envy her and try to tarnish her name while those who worship her, treat her too highly. She felt suffocated at the point where relationships with others could no longer be achieved by her.

With that, he chose the highest point to shout at someone.

"It was you all along, you gave her that power but look at what happened to her? The dark forces aren't the only ones who are the villains in this world. You are as well. You caused all kinds of pain to her yet where were you when she needed you the most? SHE IS GONE!!! SHE WAS TAKEN BY THE DARK FORCES!!! WHERE ARE YOU??!?? LIGHT ABILITY CAN'T JUST COME OUT OF NOWHERE!!! DARKNESS COMES FROM THOSE IN THE DARK WORLD!!! THEN SHOULDN'T THERE BE AN OPPOSITE OF IT?!?!"

He didn't care even if people were to hear of him suddenly shouting like this.

He didn't care about his image as a hero to the people.

He only cared about one thing at the moment and that is to get Nathalia back.

"A LIGHT OR WHOEVER YOU ARE!??! BRING HER BACK TO ME!!!! HELP THE PERSON YOU CREATED!!! THE ONE YOU LEFT YOUR POWER TO!!! GET OUT OF HERE YOU DAMN COWARDS!!!!"

He had been thinking about it as they fought with the darkness.

Darkness rises and even the dark lord would come but why is it that only power that could go against it would appear? Shouldn't there be an entity that would balance the world?

He continued doing this for a good few months. Shouting at the sky despite receiving no response. He can feel it, they are there.

They are out there, he knew, he just knew.

People had seen him and started thinking he had gone crazy after the disappearance of Nathalia. No one tried to stop him or tried to help him.

And this brought him even more anger.

They had fought with their lives on the line for these people.

They tried their best to save these people.

He even started laughing at the thought of this.

Nathalia was the one who felt the most lonely but it was only a few months and these people are living their lives not bothering whether the one who saved them was alive or not.

Despite that thought, he didn't bother with the people anymore.

"YOU COWARDS GET OUT OF HERE!!!"

He continued shouting towards the distant sky.

"You sure are diligent," Qirin spoke, coming out of him.

"What else can we do? Vermilion Bird is with her and yet you can't feel him at all. The only way to find her is to call out the origin of her ability."

Vermilion Bird did not actually got the chance to enter the dark world with her. Instead the moment her soul was halved, he had long entered the time to wait for his next host.

Nathalia was considered dead the moment her soul was split.

Qirin sighed, as one of the strongest beasts, he and the others always have some kind of connection, yet when Nathalia was taken, he had lost connection to Vermilion Bird completely.

There are only two reasons for that.

The place where Nathalia was taken had completely cut off from any connection to this world. Or that Vermilion Bird has entered the place where they wait until a new host appears.

And to be honest, he really didn't like the thought of the second option.

He looked at his host as he continued shouting towards the sky.

After days and weeks passed, as Jiro continued shouting a reaction finally occurred, the sky suddenly turned dark and his surroundings suddenly stopped moving.

He and Qirin covered their eyes when bright light suddenly came from the sky, directly towards them.

"Finally, you woke us up from our slumber."

Jiro frowned, he can barely open his eyes, he can't see what they look like but he can tell, with that same feeling he was always feeling from Nathalia that these are the entities he was looking for.

He had been doing his best to look for them, to help Nathalia in understanding why she was the one given the ability of light. Why of all people who should have been stronger than her, she was the one given that power which led to her loneliness.

"What the hell is going on?" he asked.

"Why did you leave her on her own? Why did you give her power if you are not there to support her? Why does she have to be taken away when she has suffered more than enough?" he continued asking despite not seeing them.

Even Qirin was feeling the pressure emitted by these entities.

And the space they're at felt like it has a dimension of its own, feeling like it was separated from reality.

"It's not like we left her because we wanted to, young man."

Jiro heard another voice.

It seems that there was not only one entity who came to answer his call.

"But seriously, being called a coward ticks me off a lot."

"In the end, wasn't it the word that slowly broke us free from that curse?"

"Even so, that word coming from a little human, still does not sit right."

"Who was it that had been with our princess in the end? And the one that is still looking for her?"

Jiro frowned when he heard no other retort from the others.

What did they mean by the word, princess?

He wished to open his eyes and see these entities he had been looking for all this time.

"Don't open your eyes if you want to live."

He was stopped before he could do so by another voice.

It has more pressure in it, and could be one of the leading figures of these entities.

"For now listen to us. We did not wish to leave her on her own or to leave darkness to rampage in the land of humans. But as we tried to negotiate with the darkness in order for the human world to stop being the battle ground of our none ending war. We did not expect for the darkness to be so wicked as to not wish for any peace but to keep on going to war. Though we should have expected it already."

Jiro could hear exasperation from his tone.

"Well we gave them enough trust but they broke it."

"Sadly enough, we can't enter their domain just like how they can't enter ours."

"Isn't that the reason why they caused us to sign a contract where we ended up entering a deep slumber?"

"The king realized something was amiss when one by one each of us started falling asleep. The reason why he had left his child down here. In hopes that the child could watch over the humans against the darkness that would surely arise."