Indhra woke up to the sound of screaming and suffering. He was tied to a pole while his right hand was tied with a cloth, trying to stop the bleeding.
I can't use Mana!
In the world of Mana, awakeners cannot use Nature Mana if they are wounded. And because of Indhra's heavenly restriction, he can't heal himself. Hence, he can't use any Mana.
He looked over his shoulder to see a tiny shard of glass. He used his tie-up left hand to pick the shard.
He used it to slowly cut the rope that tied him.
The scream became louder and audible. With each slice of the rope, a painful sound of an ice pick dragging at a human body was getting more and more audible, with the noticeable screams of agony which were slowly reducing.
After some time, the rope was cut through.
He stood up and quickly rammed into the locked door. He looked to his sides to see that it was his and Shinsu's room.
He grunted and slammed with greater power. After many slams, the door was broken open.
With the sudden opening, Indhra fell on the floor of the corridor.
He weakly stood up while quivering to see the entrance towards the cafe.
The sound increased as he ran and slammed the door open.
Everything was silent, but only sound could overshadow that silence. The sound of wheezing, coughing, and dying.
Indhra, at first from behind the counter, didn't understand what was going on until he turned his head to the left.
Shinsu lay on the wall, drenched in blood. Her arms stabbed through with nails, jointed on the walls. Her nails looked like they could pop out any minute. Her black hair was now covered in red. Her eyes, as pale white flowers, were now permeated with blood.
On top of her stood the quivering figure holding an ice pick with their eyes red. Hijoi couldn't see anything, except the scene where Shinsu stabbed through his brother's neck. At this point, he had become what he had feared his whole life. A lamb who was being controlled by rage and the search for revenge.
Indhra quickly jumped over the counter with the support of his intact hand and sprinted as fast as he could. He couldn't use Mana, but at least he must try.
Hijoi, just for a second, turned to his right to look at the fear in Indhra's eyes, before commanding the other warriors.
All of them charged at him. He managed to punch one, but the others quickly overwhelmed him, pinning him down just beside Shinsu, while her pale eyes made contact with his.
" Get off me! Get the f**k of me!" Indhra screamed, trying to break out. The warrior that Indhra had punched recovered and kicked his stomach multiple times. That was when Hijoi stopped him.
" Leave him, we only have one mission, that is to kill her and get the f**k out of this place and join up with Labrica!" There was a slight hesitation in his voice.
A woman and another male entered the area from the front of the cafe's entrance.
" What is he doing here!? Hijoi! What the f**k is going on?" The man questioned.
" Didn't you say you would give me time?" Hijoi questioned back with a straight face.
" We don't have much time!" The woman beside him doubled down.
" But…"
" End it…NOW!" The man demanded," Sure, you are the captain, but remember, only for this mission! After this horrible failure, you will be demoted!"
" Sure…I don't mind anymore!"
Indhra glanced around with a tense look.
Dunn…Derrick! He thought while looking at their corpses lying on the walls to the right.
He grunted as loud as he could, "DON'T LAY A HAND ON HER! I WILL KILL YOU ALL!"
" And also, what is he doing here? He should be locked inside his room! You can't kill him, too, the whole balance of the world will be shifted if that happens, you know that right!?" The man demanded an answer.
" He snuck in! But don't worry, we got this!" The person who kicked Indhra earlier said.
" Let her GO!" Indhra screamed again, and again, until he realised that this wasn't working. " Hey…Shinsu! GET THE F**K UP! Do…something!" For the first time in his life, the God Armour was feeling powerless.
Shinsu didn't ignore him. She looked at his eyes with hers, giving a faint smile.
Hey…Indhra! What would you do if I were…killed?
No! Don't say that! I would…kill every one of them!
Shinsu raised her hand towards Indhra, one last time, as Indhra raised his too.
Both of their hands were tangled with each other as tears formed in Indhra's eyes.
********
2109 AD
" Hey Indhra…you didn't explain where you had disappeared!"
Indhra lay back on the grass field, beside him was Hidoi, closely listening to the conversation.
" Yeah…you didn't tell what happened!" Hidoi also raised the issue.
" The spirit was murdered by her own mother because of jealousy!" Indhra calmly sighed while looking at the blue sky.
" Huh…why?" Shinsu asked.
" She was adopted and was somehow better than her stepsister. So, she was thrown into a chimney and was burnt alive. After she became a ghost, she murdered everyone related to the factory, no matter who!
" Her granny was the only one who cared about her, so she turned her into a monster we fought!"
" Oh…That was the reason why the exorcism didn't work properly and took a lot of time!" Shinsu sighed with pity.
" What a poor soul…" Hidoi commented," How did you defeat her so easily?"
" I calmed her down…She pulled me into her Mana Domain and talked with me, since she thought that I could relate to her, and I did! I hugged her and told her that I relate with her, and said that someone would love her in heaven. She trusted me and slowly got converted into a soul from a ghost."
" Would you be like her?" Shinsu asked a question so unrelated that Indhra went completely blank.
" Huh?" He questioned while looking back at her while lying back.
" If I were killed someday, would you be like her-"
" Yeah!" Indhra didn't hesitate one second," I would…kill every one of them, until they get what they deserve!"
********
" Shinsu…wake up! Please! For…me!" He started sobbing while his eyes kept blurring due to the tears.
Hijoi lifted the ice pick. Indhra saw this and panicked hard," Please stop!" He begged.
Hijoi didn't look aside for one second. He took deep breaths before charging the ice pick down on Shinsu's neck.
" No!!!" He crept with all his energy. The annoying noise of silence echoed in his ear canal. Nothing was audible: the blood pumping out of Shinsu's neck, the chattering of the Lemoyne warriors, or even the quivering noises of Hijoi.
He kept on sobbing as he saw Hijoi kick Shinsu's corpse one last time. A phone dropped from the pockets of her pants beside Indhra.
The heartbeat was audible to him as he thought of 'that' time.
********
" I don't care if you realise or not, Shinsu! I…love you! You gave me a purpose to live; if you are gone, then my purpose would also go, indirectly…Even I will die!"
TO BE CONCLUDED IN THE FINAL CHAPTER OF VOLUME-1