"None of us are strong enough to control whatever is inside him. For now, he's in control thanks to the restraints Deli put on him. You can tell just by looking at him even from here, he can't be salvaged, Seraph.""I don't get it at all. What are you even-""Oi!", Chopper interfered, "Don't be a chicken about it, you brat. This is on you-""Chopper!", Lady stopped him."Just tell him the truth, hag. He ain't a kid", he seemed annoyed."Get things going. Call Sight and Grim, we don't have much time. Tell Deli to bring him around the back. We can't let him in when he's like that", she instructed Chopper after which he left.I stood watching them, utterly confused. After Chopper was gone, Lady looked at me and sighed."We always knew...that a time like this would come. But I had believed when I sent you...that you'd be coming back alone. Still, I should have known better...it was you, after all."She turned her back to me and looked emptily into the distance, perhaps formulating her tho
"Do you feel sorry for him?""...""Or do you feel remorse on being unable to protect your ideal world?""...""Say Seraph, are you...angry?""...""Why aren't you saying anything?...Do you hate me?""Cut it out already.""Well...that's better, ain't it?", she grinned.Indeed, I hated her guts, goofing around like that. This isn't what I was here for. I gritted my teeth, suppressing myself with every shred of constraint in my body. I bet it was visible enough, though she seemed to be enjoying this."Prophet isn't the one you should be feeling this way for, you know", she whispered.I guess that did it for me. I grabbed her by the collar, lifting her off the ground easily, as tiny as she was. I really meant to hit her really bad. I wonder what stopped me right there. I could feel the hungry eyes of Chopper on me, he was ready to rip my head off but Lady forbade him from interfering. He was standing at a distance, keeping an eye on me. "Its not a good view from here, Seraph", she final
"~I'm so tired...sheep are counting me~"I stood, staring at them wide-eyed."You've got to be joking", I muttered.But of course, they didn't look like they were. I had to wonder why I was the one who had to do it. This wasn't making any sense."This isn't the matter of whether someone else will or not. They simply can't. Besides, this is Prophet's choice. He is the one that picked you, wouldn't let him down now, would you?"That wasn't even an adequate excuse. Chopper looked right at me."You need a hand, kid?", his look made me go cold. I looked down, all the strength in me left me. The sun was racing down, I felt my spirit leaving along with it. My feet were heavy when I turned back and took a step towards Prophet.The sound every muscle in my body made as I walked over to him, the ground pressing beneath my feet, the air passing through my hair, drops of sweat on my forehead, the coldness of shivers running down my spine, my tongue running over my dry lips, my eyes struggling to
Another chapter of my life had come to a close. I must admit, I didn't get out of this one unscathed. In fact, I was brutally trodden upon from all sides. I yearned for rest, there really wasn't anything I could have asked for back then. But Valhalla was always in a turmoil.I had limited myself to my chamber most of the time, other times I rigorously trained. These honing sessions weren't short of torture but no one dared interfere and say anything to me. In fact, I rarely spoke a word at all to anyone. To me it seemed, no one else conversed either. Through my small circular window, I could view Lady standing at Prophet's grave everyday. She'd be emptily staring at the sky.The sky hadn't been very bright for such a long time, at first it was a terribly dull gray but now it had found a hint of crimson which seemed to be contaminating the gray exceedingly with every passing day. No one knew what was causing such a red sky and many people conjectured it to be the end of the world. I co
I lifted my foot which had just pulverized some burnt wood into the ground. The smell of that town was magnificent, like cooking hotpot on a rainy winter day. This piece of wood too, had once been a part of one of these vacant houses which harbored such hotpots. I remembered the last town Azag had run dry, this one reminded me of the same thing. We were likely to find some skeletons or similar remains here too. However, unlike last time, the sight didn't unsettle me one bit. There weren't a lot of things that moved me like that anymore. I was following Chopper's lead, who didn't seem to bat an eye on small things like that. I figured he'd already seen what was there to see here. Instead, he looked rather concerned about something else entirely. He turned to look at me more than once, as if searching for something. But when he wouldn't find it, he'd assume an annoyed look and look away. He never made any effort to hide his agitation. He was perhaps too preoccupied to try to conceal a
The wind that silently blew between us was teeming with ash and a dry smell of rain. It was screaming of emptiness, the most gray it had ever been.I, on the other hand, had about had enough of real and fake. I was quick to turn Chopper's claim down. He claimed that this was different from before, but I was just about ready to up and leave if he went on with that any longer."This seems real enough to me", I answered in a low voice.He looked about, concerned, perhaps seeking some thread to grab. I, seeing the opportunity at hand, went in for a jab right in his face. He managed to not just dodge it, but landed a clip round my ear instead. I almost saw heavens for a minute, but at least I remained standing."Doesn't seem like a dream, sir", I affirmed my theory.Chopper then slapped me across the face, owing partly to my not taking him seriously when he was so certain of the impending danger, and partly, because--at least in my opinion--he was feeling violent today."Look up, kid", he
I was confident enough that Azag wouldn't pose much of a problem after all. For one, I could see how he used evasion tactics, he was checking the waters. And that meant he felt threatened. Perhaps of the power surging within me, at least that's what I imagined. I remembered how Chopper had asked me multiple times if I smelled something. What he was really trying to discern was whether I could sense the demon. "You lot are such rude visitors", Azag appeared from our right this time. The two of us averted our attention to him."This ain't gonna get nobody nowhere, pal", Chopper observed.Naturally, Azag already knew that. Still, I was tired of this exchange as well. If Chopper knew this was an illusion, he also knew how to break through. The calm that I'd seen on him earlier meant he'd figured everything out already."I don't mean to intrude but...", I interrupted, "there really isn't a thing you can do here, Azag. You know, I did hold up against Lucifer, if only barely, but he's the k
"Please just admit that you're enjoying this."I was exhausted, there was no sign of Azag anywhere near us and Chopper was going on and on with the same thing over and over again. Still, I was able to return to my old self which I had forgotten for a while now. All this dying brought back fond memories."Seraph, if you'd just be still and do what I tell you to-"Surely, he didn't quite grasp how hard it was to do this, to kill and to die at the same time. For a long time, after god knows how many attempts, I was the sole one dying, somehow he managed to not die every single time."There should be a better mechanism to this, wouldn't you agree?"My proposal was likely to be overlooked. I "wasn't in my right mind", as he had told me earlier.Azag had pulled this illusion out of our dreams, our memories and imaginations. In other words, this illusion was the materialization of our minds. And thus to break through, we needed to make sure both our minds ceased functioning simultaneously. T