The golden particles that once bloomed around them have dissipated and returned to dust; the world is no longer dimmed from the darkness that came with it.
Kilian assessed his surroundings; most of the area was either turned to ashes or ruin, leaving only rubble, the bark of dead trees, and rocks that remained. Even the two who were passive the entire fight sustained minor cuts and bruises from the force alone.
Kilian scratched the back of his scalp as he saw the destruction that he and Haruo caused.
"What a mess, but I guess it was all necessary." Kilian said, giggling behind his lips.
"Augh… Ugh…"
Haruos struggled to remain on all fours, as loads of blood came pouring out of his skin and into the ground. But skin wasn't the only thing that extruded the crimson liquid; his eyes, his nose, ears, and even fingernails were bloodied.
Even more came out of his mouth, falling on the hard soil with the rest of them. It was a miracle of its own that he was even able to stay conscious despite the devastating injuries inflicted on him, let alone still have the will to go on all fours.
It was a sight for sure, especially for Taiyo; he had never seen him so helpless in his entire life before, or with those injuries. His brother was near death, but he couldn't do anything but watch.
As he watched, something slowly rose and began to make its way up his throat. He grabbed his lips but couldn't hold back, and threw up.
Darkness slowly took hold of him as his body became limp, his muscles giving up entirely, causing his whole foundation to crumble and fall lightly. But before Taiyo could fall to the ground, Ena grabbed him by his torso and placed him gently somewhere to the side.
After a momentary pause, Kilian positioned his hand upward, slowly making its way further behind his head. He was stretching unnaturally, too.
Ena was shocked to say the least; Haruo had always been the strongest person she knew, and for Kilian to stretch like he was waking up was nothing but a fantasy she could've never thought of.
Yes, it was inevitable that they would lose to someone stronger, but to this margin? It was unbelievable. Not even a single drop of blood was drawn from Kilian, let alone having been touched by Haruo's blood.
Not even a simple dust was inflicted on him; he stayed the same as when he first met them.
"What, are you not going to help him? He's for sure going to die at this rate."
Kilian is eyeing Ena, still in his stretching posture, which looks quite creepy to the normal eye. It wasn't long before Ena snapped out of the daze and quickly hurried to Haruo's side. Placing her hand on his back as he fixes his damaged body.
"You're talented, but you're surprisingly weak," Kilian said. "But, I won't complain, you're still useful either way."
Ena was quite confused about what he was trying to imply, but remained focused on his injuries.
"Don't really see what Seiji saw in you, but I guess you're good enough."
He mumbled to himself, placing his finger on his chin before shrugging off completely; without a word, he flicked something small toward Haruo; sprang to the ground and twirled around before finally settling just in front of him.
Haruo, who was still heavily injured, charged his hand forward, grabbing the ring from the ground—along with some dirt—and returned to his original position before he could lose his balance. But he was slightly too late; his other hand was unable to support his upper body despite only releasing his hand for a second.
Despite that, Haruo didn't let himself fall, but his trembling hands said otherwise. It wasn't long before his own muscles gave out; then again, he expected it; if he weren't going to give out, his body would.
He fell, well… He thought he had, but instead, he was barely touching the ground with his nose, just millimeters away from the dirt. Ena had caught him.
She would then drag his whole body to her side in a sitting position with her hand supporting his back and the other in his chest, for it gave the most efficiency of her healing. It was only then that she realized how grave his injuries were.
'A lot of his veins popped, and all his bones are cracked… !' Ena's eyes widened as she assessed his body more clearly.
'Fractured ribs, damaged vitals, excessive internal bleeding and… Rapid decay of cells…"
"H-how are you even alive…?"
"Focus now, every time you aren't, he'll be a step closer to death's door. Wouldn't want that, do we?"
"What did you do!? His chromosomes are a mess! I can't heal that!"
"Take a closer look, I made sure you have the capabilities to do it."
As Kilian said that, Ena stared at Haruo's eyes, slowly succumbing to dullness as time passed. Ena could only have faith and clench her jaw as she tried to stabilize his condition at least.
Slowly, he began to regenerate his open wounds at high speeds; her eyes illuminated a crimson glow, and with it came sweat and heavy panting. Kilian only observed with a big smile as he watched the entire process.
"Brats these days, truly are entertaining…" He mumbled as he sat on his chair with his legs crossed.
Seconds passed, minutes as well, until it was a full hour; that was when Haruo shot forward, going on all four once again as he panted heavily, his eyes trailing upward, and there he met with Kilian's smug expression.
"You look well… Wouldn't say the same for that brat over there."
Haruo turned slightly, his whole body still aching slightly despite being fully healed—body trauma persisted. With the corner of his eye, he saw Ena lying on the ground, with her entire body out of tone, which was close to being as white as his own.
"It's about time that we go. Su-nae is probably furious right now."
Kilian declared, picking up Taiyo and wrapping his arm around his waist, letting his upper and lower body dangle slightly. With his other hand, he picked up Ena.
"You grab on to me; honestly, I would've preferred for all of you to stack on one another and were grabbing on your shoulders each, but you all would just fall."
Hesitation filled Haruo's mind, but seeing his brother held in between Kilian's hands, complying was the safest choice, not that he had a choice to begin with. Ever since he was contracted to Kilian, the freedom of choice naturally disappeared.
And with that, he hopped on Kilian's shoulder, wrapping his hand around his neck.
"Better hold on, 'cause if you fall, you'll have to go to Marion by yourself."
"What're you going to do—"
Without another word, they all soared through the air at a fascinating speed. Haruo tightened his grip on his wrist, his body flailing slightly, as he endured the air resistance that was meeting him.
"Slow down, you asshole… I feel like, Augh... throwing up."
Ena whispered, but the noise produced by the speed overshadowed her voice, and yet both Kilian and Haruo were able to hear it very clearly.
"Don't worry, you can fight it! I believe in you!" Kilian said.
"Fucking…"
Ena said many curse words at Kilian's face, but when she opened her mouth, nothing seemed to come out. This time, the air did its job and made her inaudible. While no sound came out, it was pretty obvious which curse words she was spouting based on how her lips moved.
"Whatever happened to the monster you fought? Did you just kill because you felt like it?"
"Don't worry about that, I have it just where I need it."
"Oh yeah? And where exactly is it, other than terrorizing an entire forest and fighting me, what could you have possibly done?"
"In Seij—I mean Chiharu's ring; I'm surprised he never told you that."
"How do you know whether he told me or not?"
"Well, if you knew, it wouldn't take long to put two and two together, would it?"
"I guess."
"Well, I don't blame him. I always forget that the ring is a storage artifact as well, rarely useful nowadays—for me, anyway—but for you, it can be considered priceless."
"I'm pretty sure Seiji told me that was made; unless you found a way to restore the creation of artifacts, I doubt it's an artifact."
"This is one of the only few artifacts that still has its original blueprints, all the way from the third period—well, a part of it; let's have this conversation another day, it's too boring and complicated to explain to you all at once."
"We're almost there anyway—"
Slowly, Taiyo's eyes begin to stir, opening slightly as he gets a nice view of the ground below him.
"Huh…? Ah… AHHH!" Taiyo screamed as he saw himself getting dragged along the sky, his waist getting numb, caused by Kilian's arm and the air resistance.
"If you keep squirming, there's a chance I might let go."
Kilian teasingly said, and he found out how effective it really was, cause after he said that, Taiyo became no different from a stone statue, grabbing his shirt tightly with his eyes completely shut.
"Hey, no worries, we're almost there anyway."
On the horizon, a clear landscape, with many rivers and mountains clung to the side as vast fields conquered the area, and at the far side of it all was a large wall that cascaded along a trail with its end nowhere in sight.
The green vegetation gave the field life, but it was nothing compared to the city that lay within the walls, buildings of many sizes scattered everywhere. Many people were visible, as well as the technologies that mixed well with the architecture—a quiet but noticeable combination of both sci-fi and medieval genres.
The city had no end and continued to span further into the distance; they had arrived at their destination.
"Welcome to Marion Kingdom… The same place you'll be serving for the next twelve years of your contract."
"I'm pretty sure Seiji told you a lot about this place, so I don't have to tell you much, do I?"
"He told me stories, but never explained this place as a whole, just minor mentions about it."
"Don't worry, you'll learn all about it soon."
Kilian dropped near the stone wall. Up close, it was way bigger than I had anticipated. Ena didn't really care; what worried her more was her stomach acid acting up.
Many runes were engraved into the walls, complex ones, most likely the same ones that Kilian had used to put them in a contract. Other than gazing at the walls, a massive gate that stood before them and the city.
"No guards guarding the gate? That's just poor management if you ask me." Ena said.
"That's old-fashioned. Besides, we do have security, just not outside; very unreliable and risky if you ask me. Instead, we use IDs for entry, and the guards inside inspect them using our AI, and just for good measure, they look at them manually as well."
"What's stopping me from just kicking it open then?"
"Sure, go ahead and try it, see if that makes a difference."
Seeing it as a challenge, Ena didn't dare back down; she took a step back, stretching for a bit while the three set their gazes on her. Haruo sighed as he watched her warm up. She planted her foot on the ground and sprinted to her utmost capabilities.
She braced herself for the impact and flew right through the gate with her feet stuck out. Once they connected, a slight noise came from the gate, but not a single bruise or scratch was made to the wooden bark.
Her foot stayed in place for a second before she pulled it back. She took a deep breath and knelt to her knees as she caressed her entire leg.
"All attacks made on the wall or gate are nullified, not to mention all the forces are transferred all around the wall, and as a bonus, all the energy can be used as well… Energy for the city."
"I can still!—"
A beep echoed through the field. She turned to look at her back and saw Kilian placing something card-like into a strange mechanism that was integrated into the wall.
"Climbing is no good either; there's a force field that wraps around the entire city."
The gate opened outward, allowing the group to enter as they pleased. Their eyes glittered as they saw the place, many stone statues, and buildings. The whole entrance was an open area.
"We're still not inside the city yet. Security is very tight in this kingdom. If an intruder or a spy manages to enter, they'd have to go through here first: The inspection area."
Just as Kilian explained, a figure appeared, dressed in a purple robe with its face blurred in a way that made it difficult for them to see.
"Su-nae, how are you?"
Without another word, it's fist shot forward and toward Kilian's face, making him blast to the wall.
"Do you know… How long… I've waited!?"
The robe bounced backward, revealing a beautiful and elegant face, her long black hair cascading out of the robe, and she pulled an irritated expression.