Her head felt heavy, yet she desperately looked around through the smoke.
Her gaze darted everywhere with the slightest movement in the area, faster than thought itself. Blood dripped from her forehead into her eyes, interrupting her vision every few seconds.
Every one of her senses was on high alert.
She knew there was no way it died from that strike.
A creature that survived the ember flame would never fall from a weak blow like that.
It was here somewhere.
She just couldn't sense it.
Tomb shook in her grip.
The only thing beside her in this fight was frightened too.
"Hahaha..."
Suddenly-
It emerged behind her.
A giant hand wrapped around her face and lifted her into the air effortlessly.
Aniel's legs danced helplessly beneath her while both hands desperately clawed at its grip. Her eyes barely remained open while her fingertips trembled against the burning armour.
"Tell me your name, warrior."
Aniel whimpered.
Two large tears escaped from her eyes as her voice broke apart from fear.
"A-Aniel…"
The knight snickered.
Its grip tightened harder.
"I will honour you by telling mine."
It pronounced proudly,
"I am Aulus. Terror of humankind."
Aniel began gasping between her sobs.
She looked pitiful now.
Her long pointy ears drooped alongside her trembling hands while tears endlessly streamed down her cheeks. Her chest kept hitching painfully as she struggled to breathe.
Her vision slowly fogged.
Her thoughts became distant.
Consciousness was slipping away little by little.
"I expected a bit more fight from you," it uttered with a loose and steady voice. "But look at you trembling like a youngling."
Its burning eyes stared directly into hers.
"You almost make me want to spare you…"
A pause.
"But unfortunately, I still do not know what sympathy feels like."
It brought her closer to its face while Aniel remained almost motionless in its grasp.
"Perhaps I shall learn after consuming you."
The giant helmet slowly began opening.
Behind the armour was a jaw far larger than a fangtooth's, lined with rows of burning teeth stretching endlessly into darkness.
It intended to swallow her whole.
Perhaps to make her death quicker.
The flames raging around them instantly dried the tears on her face.
The heat reminded her of the sun.
And somehow
That reminded her of him.
"No! You have to colour inside the lines!"
Memories of his tiny tantrums echoed through her fading mind.
"Ororon! Ororon… you will be named Ororon!"
That day beside the campfire when they first gave him his name.
"Hehe, Aniel looks pretty with the flower crown."
"Aniel, my eyes hurt…"
"Aniel!"
"Aniel!!"
His voice echoed again and again inside her ears.
And for the first time since the battle began- her trembling stopped.
***
I have lived for more than five thousand years.
An elf would argue that I died young, while a human would say that I lived long enough.
Yet that boy had only just turned ten. I had promised that I would protect him until he died of old age.
He was supposed to live like a normal person. Grow older. Fall in love. Get married. Have children. And when he was gone, I would spend the rest of my endless life watching over his lineage.
That was the future I had chosen for him.
That was the perfect happy ending.
But Aulus would kill me here.
And after that, he would make his way toward Ororon without even knowing who he truly was. He would devour him without hesitation. Without pity. Without even looking back at the suffering he caused.
Something inside me snapped.
My body moved before my mind could catch up.
Blue mana exploded across my fists like wildfire.
And then-
'BAAAAAAMMMMM!'
The world vanished into white.
When my vision returned, warm foam dripped from my mouth onto the scorched ground below.
For the first time, the knight's expression twitched.
Not fear.
But surprise.
My fists hung in the air between us, blood dripping from the cracked armor I had shattered apart.
Slowly, I reached down and picked up Tomb from the ashes. Her once polished varnish was now charred and raging with heat. Blue mana crawled across her surface like veins awakening after centuries of sleep.
The air around me trembled.
Right then-
My boots twisted against the ground with the grace of a dancer, spinning softly while the mana surrounding my body spiraled alongside me like a storm given form.
In one motion, I reached into my pouch and scattered a handful of ember salts across the battlefield.
The moment they struck-!
'BOOOOMMM!!'
Smoke erupted violently across the ruins.
The battlefield disappeared.
Only his silhouette remained.
A faint shadow within the grey.
My body surged forward.
The mana beneath my feet burst like thunder, carrying me through the smoke faster than sound itself. Within a heartbeat, I appeared behind his blind spot.
'WOOOOOSHHH!'
I grabbed onto his shoulder and used his massive frame to launch myself upward.
Tomb screamed through the air.
The spear pierced through his shoulder, ripping through steel and flesh alike before erupting from the other side in a spray of black liquid.
But I did not stop.
I could not stop.
Before the creature could even react, I twisted my body and struck again.
'WOOOSHHHH!!'
The air itself bent around the swing.
My mana had begun mimicking his own darkness, swirling violently around Tomb as though the weapon had become a monster.
Aulus turned,
Too slow.
I drove my heel into his chest with everything I had.
'BAAAAM!'
The impact shattered the stone beneath him and launched the knight backward through the smoke.
And before he could recover-
I was already there.
I plunged Tomb directly into the wound I had carved moments earlier.
The spear sank deeper this time.
Deeper than the armor and flesh.
"AHHHH… YOU DARE-!!"
The roar shook the battlefield.
But my grip only tightened.
Blue mana erupted around us like crashing waves while the smoke spiraled into the sky.
Then I looked directly into his burning eyes. His helmet now nowhere to be seen, revealing the ugly face.
"I-I will not die yet, until he lives the best life he had!!" I sniffled as I finished.