In a flash of light, the underground quarry was shrouded in fog.
Skyler found herself engulfed in the white mist with her battered body unable to see anything, including her bare feet. In a gloomy and dismal place ruled by a Cursed Beast, what she could hear were the shrieks of the agonizing beast.
She could not see what state it was in, but the sound of the beast was so loud enough to shake the ground beneath it. Holding Elijah's dagger and parchment in her hands, Skyler looked around cautiously as she gasped for air.
"This is the worst situation that could happen to me." Skyler thought.
Her eyesight was nearly out of order, and her hearing was unreliable. After all, the Cursed Beast could very well imitate their voices, and so, she could only rely on her instincts.
"While we're fighting, I attached some fluorescent tracking to its tentacles."
Elijah's words echoed in Skyler's mind, keeping her focused. Though she could not trust her surroundings, she could at least rely on her plan.
Oof!
As soon as she gritted her teeth, she felt her body lose balance from her feet as if something hard had hit her heels. In a second, she fell on her bottom in the sea of sand, seeing with a glance a yellow fluorescent trail moving rapidly through the fog.
"Skyler be careful, come over here!"
Elijah's voice echoed behind Skyler. But as soon as she turned her head, she felt a searing pain in her abdomen. The pain was so intense that metallic blood gushed from her mouth in profusion.
"AAAAAAAAAAAH!" Skyler screamed.
Her body bounced across the quarry, landing face down surrounded by rib cages and skulls. She struggled to get up, her internal organs were in a bad shape, her head felt heavy whilst getting to her knees. Narrowing her eyes, she glimpsed the fluorescent trail waving like they were dancing in the fog. She had no doubts, the voice of Elijah she heard a moment ago belonged to the Cursed Beast.
It was nothing but a trap to deceive her.
"Holy Son of Nature, I'm such a daft." Skyler bit her lips.
She repudiated herself just for falling for it so easily even if she was aware of it. Nevertheless, she had no time to regret it.
"Hehehahahah! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
The beast's distorted voice echoed mournfully like it was mocking her. It was a macabre and frustrating laugh at the same time that reverberated in her eardrums. With her mouth full of sand, taking the parchment from a rib cage beneath her, Skyler staggered at the yellow trail with the dagger in her other hand.
Her body shook with every step she took. She could not take it anymore, she knew that sooner or later she would collapse to the ground due to the injuries she had suffered. Skyler had no chance, the end would come upon her—
"But what?" Skyler was in disbelief.
Her lips had stopped moving following her will. The next thing she noticed was that her eyes which had been glaring at the fluorescent trail seemed frozen, and the sensation of being separated from her own body.
She could not move. Her body—no, it was not her body that had stopped moving. Perhaps it was the very world itself that had ceased around her.
At that moment, just as she thought her heart had stopped beating, a thick grayish-black fog was engulfing her. Her feet, her head, her hips, every part of her body was fully enveloped in the dark mist.
In the world where she was unable to move, there was only one thing that moved—no, it was manifesting.
"Skyler Hall, Skyler Hall, Skyler Hall, Skyler Hall, Skyler Hall, Skyler Hall, Skyler Hall."
Jagged, a silhouette of a woman with slender limbs was appearing in the mist before her. She seemed naked, and her face was concealed by what appeared to be her hair. She stretched out her arms as if to hug Skyler.
"Skyler Hall, let me help you for a while." The woman whispered.
With a soft quality voice that gave Sklyler goosebumps, the silhouette wrapped her slender arms around Skyler's shoulders. The woman's hug was so sweet and fragile that it made her heart beat faster like she had gone into euphoria.
Whilst the figure whispered wistfully, Skyler's suspicions were confirmed. the jagged figure that had warned her earlier in the hallway!
"I won't let you die, I will not let you die here, not here." The woman muttered bitterly.
As Skyler blinked a couple of times, the thick fog surrounding her began to clear. Everything started moving, even her lips which started to tremble. However, just as she eyed the dagger in her hand, a peculiar sensation was rising inside her.
Oof! Oof!
Two fluorescent trails were shooting out at an unimaginable speed, aiming to her chest and right knee.
Skyler quickly lowered her back and then tilted her upper body to her right as she bent her knees. She made the fluorescent trail that was aiming for her chest narrowly miss as it tore into the empty space. At the same time, skillfully moving her body upward, Skyler swung the dagger obliquely at the second trail, deftly tearing the tentacle apart.
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!"
As the bloody tentacle beneath her moved, a distorted, heart-rending scream echoed through the quarry.
"But what happened? My body…" Skyler looked at her hands.
Right at this very moment, she had just done something beyond her capabilities, something surreal. It was like someone was controlling her body for her. While she lowered her hands, metallic blood flowed from the corners of her lips, dripping onto the sea of sand.
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!"
As the ground shook, the figure of the Cursed beast emerged from the white mist, leaping on all fours at Skyler with its scarlet eye full of murderous feelings.
Wasting no time, the beast swung its paw aiming at her face, but in response to its attack, Skyler nimbly dashed up and twirled her hips, delivering a roundhouse kick against paw. The collision was so intense that it caused both Skyler and the Cursed Beast to stagger.
Landing on the sand with her body still battered, Skyler tossed the parchment onto the rib cage, gripping the dagger in both hands while her vision blurred for a second.
"...I don't know what happened to my body, but I have to do something." Skyler thought.
But just as she raised her arms, she felt something rise from her stomach into her throat. And once again, she puked on the sand. It was evident that this was caused by the eerie mist around her, and as she wiped her mouth with her pajama top, tears streamed down her face.
The Cursed Beast sprinted and began to launch jabs and hooks into Skyler's chest. Before she could even think, her body moved on its own and her arm flung the dagger in all directions, parrying the beast's attacks.
Skyler could barely keep up before being sent flying again, crashing into a pile of bones and then being buried in the sand with a clang. Skyler spat out the blood and dirt that had accumulated in her mouth as the Cursed Beast immediately reached out to deliver a shovel hook, but she blocked it with the help of the dagger and her other arm.
With a screeching noise, the Cursed Beast twisted its upper body whilst its legs remained still. Its distorted face turned backward as its paws pointed forward. In a terrifying scene, as Skyler stood up, the Cursed Beast threw a paw at her head. The force of the paw was so insanely strong that even the air produced an explosive roar.
Boom!
The paw hit nothing but the mist, and was within ten or fifteen centimetres from Skyler's face. The winds, which had been stirred by the blow, blew elegantly through Skyler's hair, and she took the opportunity to plunge the dagger into the Cursed Beast's forearm. The beast's dark, rancid blood splashed onto her pajamas and the sand.
Skyler's mind suddenly went quiet, as if she had separated from her body and was just a mere spectator of the fight. With a deep breath, she twisted her waist and pulled her shoulder back before thrusting her fist forward with all her might.
Bam! Crack!
Her fist slammed brutally into the Cursed Beast's forehead, shattering its skull like glass along with its flesh. She could feel her whole arm vibrating terribly though it would break at any moment. The Cursed Beast let out a heart-rending scream as it teetered backwards in agony.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
At the same time, a silver sword sank deep into the Cursed Beast's back and it fell to the ground, making the ground shake for an instant. As her blood boiled in her veins, Skyler looked up and watched as a figure made an acrobatic leap toward her. She had no doubt, the figure was none other than Elijah Seinhorn!
"Uuwa, thank goodness the fluorescent tracks were of some use. Eh no, we don't have any more time to waste. We've to kill it now!" Elijah declared firmly while he peered at Skyler. "Oi you, well, stick to our plan and we'll get out alive."
After Skyler nodded strongly, the Cursed Beast hastily stood up, glaring at Skyler and Elijah as the silver sword fell from its back with a clang. At the same time, the white mist thickened and gave off a smell so nauseating it made Skyler shiver. Still staggering, his vision blurred by the fog, Elijah ran diagonally and pulled out the sword that had fallen into the sand.
"You saw me, you saw me, YOU SAW ME AND NOW YOU WILL ALL DIE HERE!! No one should even dare to see me HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!"
The distorted voice of the Cursed Beast posing as Elijah rumbled grimly through the quarry. Immediately after mocking them, the Cursed Beast's scarlet eye suddenly lit up as it jumped up face down.
Skyler instinctively reached down, scooped up sand from the ground, and hurled it mercilessly at the beast's face, creating a cloud of sand. As the beast slammed its paw into the sand cloud, Skyler ran to its blind side, leaped up, and skillfully rotated her waist and hips despite her shabby body.
Bam!
Her spinning kick cruelly struck the Cursed Beast's left flank, hurling it to the sand. Landing deftly, Skyler's knees buckled and she collapsed to the ground on her knees as her body became oddly hot.
Meanwhile, Elijah sprinted forward at the beast that was still on the ground, and holding his sword horizontally, he slashed obliquely at the Cursed Beast's forelimb, severing it on the spot. However, in response to his lost limb, the Cursed Beast unleashed its tentacle at a blinding speed that struck Elijah's right cheekbone, leaving a deep scratch.
"Tch… You'll pay for this one." Elijah muttered.
He then quickly rolled back, but the tentacle immediately caught up with him and wrapped itself around his neck, spinning him in the air before slamming him into the sand.
Seizing her opportunity, Skyler stomped her left foot and lunged forward. The Cursed Beast was about to swing a tentacle at her, but Skyler instinctively kicked the sand up, creating a cloud of sand between her and the beast. As the tentacle narrowly missed her shoulder, with a good foothold, Skyler leapt to the opposite direction of the beast and deftly threw her dagger downward.
Oof!
The dagger sank straight into the pupil of the beast's scarlet eye, and it began to scream shrilly in agony. At that precise instant, Elijah rose to his feet, and brandishing his silver sword, he ruthlessly cut off the Cursed Beast's other foreleg.
But then Elijah turned around and vomited the greenish-yellow contents onto the sand as tears fell from his face. It was clear that the putrid haze had gotten the better of him, and after wiping his face with his hand, he eyed Skyler who stood before him.
"Go Skyler, use the parchment now!!" Elijah shouted.
With blood gushing from her mouth and her body about to collapse, Skyler turned and quickly ran towards the parchment lying a short distance away. She looked back, seeing the Cursed Beast attempting to grab her ankle with its fluorescent tentacle, but Elijah swung his sword horizontally with blinding speed, neatly piercing the tentacle.
The fog grew thicker and thicker.
"Damn! Skyler be careful, it's a trap, it's a trap!!"
"Don't listen to it, witch, I entrust everything to you!"
Elijah's redundant voices echoed distortedly in Skyler's eardrums. She was out of breath, and as she ran at breakneck speed, her vision occasionally blurred. As she dived into the mist, desperation was getting the better of her. Her legs were shaking violently and her heart was pounding as if it were about to explode whilst finding herself completely disoriented.
She struggled to find her bearings, and immediately after, her footing dug into the soil, the sand slid, and her body rolled down. Incapable of withstanding that surprise, she forgot to hold and rolled down on the sea of sand, hitting the back of her head on a ribcage.
Thrown face down on the sand, Skyler tried to get up but her body refused to move as she spat out blood and sand.
"Skyler, please... hurry up!!"
Elijah's desperate cries shook Skyler's aching body, but no matter how hard she tried, no matter how strong her will to help Elijah was, her body wouldn't move.
"Why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why!? Why does the body only now stop moving!?" Skyler bit her lip hard.
Helpless in the face of everything, every single part of her body stopped moving as though the energy she had unleashed earlier had vanished from her body.
At that pitiful scene, Skyler cried out her own powerlessness, and just when she had resigned herself to her fate, a white discrepancy arose above her.
A strong wind was generated in that discrepancy, blowing away the fog from the underground cave. At the same time, a white light from the discrepancy illuminated everything. The light did not bring forth such simplicities like blowing or illuminating, but rather, it was the literal meaning of hope.
The next moment, Skyler's necklace began to glow brightly next to her like it was somehow reacting to the blinding light. And then feet entered the very edge of her field of vision.
Lifting her face up, she looked up to where the owner of those feet—and perhaps the one on the discrepancy, was. Gradually lifting her field of vision, what she saw reflected in her bleary eyes was a figure.
A man. It was a slim man. He had long golden hair that reached his shoulders and lime-colored eyes that gave him the air of a wise figure. He had a full beard and wore a long white robe with layers.
What amazed Skyler even more was that on the figure's head was a crown of thorns that made him look like a forgotten deity.
"W-what is—" Skyler trailed off.
She was stunned, the figure then approached the Cursed Beast who meanwhile was writhing in the sand as though it could not stand the rather divine light.
As he descended onto a skull beneath him with his bare foot, a holy light began to shine brightly from behind, and from the beast's hide came forth glimmers of light. Right after he touched the beast with his hand, blazing crimson flames burned the Cursed Beast on the spot while it screamed in agony, causing the ground to shake.
"You will die, YOU WILL DIE, YOU WILL ALL DIE HERE— AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!" The Cursed Beast yelled out.
Amidst the crimson flames that were burning flesh and blood of the beast, with the holy light illuminating him, the figure turned and gazed at Skyler with a smile on his face. The necklace shone brighter and brighter, and Skyler stared at the figure with her mouth wide open. Nevertheless, from the face of the god-like figure, a tear rolled down his soft face.
Skyler's heart beat rhythmically, an unidentified sense of soothing was scorching within her as a tear rolled down her face. It was incomprehensible, she could not understand why she was crying, why she was feeling these emotions. It seemed that the figure in front of her was someone special to her, and she did not even understand the reason behind it.
He gave her a lot of emotions that she struggled to process. There was hope, there was bitterness, there was love, as well as a sense of time and space. All sensations that made goosebumps appear all over her walloped body.
Little by little, the figure was crumbling like glittering sand. Elijah struggled to his feet, watching in amazement as the figure faded into the discrepancy. Until then, tears continued to roll down Skyler's face, who for some inexplicable reason, did not want him to leave her.
—Please, don't leave me alone.
Those words went unvoiced. She moved her lips to say it, but her voice refused to come out.
She was unable to contain her emotions, and a bittersweet feeling was blazing in her heart. The figure then walked composedly towards her and knelt down, gently touching the necklace around Skyler's neck while glancing at her with a warm expression.
The bittersweet tears continued to roll down Skyler's face whilst the figure dissipated along with the holy light.