How pathetic.
A voice echoed where the world had turned gray; the surroundings seemed lifeless, as if time had stopped existing. It had a different atmosphere: a longing silence and the presence of nothingness.
An entity moved through it all; its body looked like a glitch in a void- no appearance, just a swirling wind of cosmos seeping deep into his body.
It spoke further, holding an eerie calm and weight under his words.
"I was having fun watching you suffer, but… it seems you have disappointed me, human."
"Even with the power of immortality, you still died? How pathetic."
He stopped for a while before looking back at him, raising his finger, holding the thread of dimension in his hand.
"If I hadn't stopped the world and dragged you into this dimension, you would have met your complete erasure. Still, you are alive because of me, so..."
The entity moved closer, looking at him with a pathetic look before it grabbed his hair, staring at his eyes, and said with a heavy voice.
"Get stronger; this is my order. If you fail, there won't be a next time."
It snapped its fingers as an orb appeared, glowing with an ethereal shine. It held it in his hand before it pierced Noen's chest, holding his heart, which had stopped moving long before.
The orb shone again, illuminating with a blinding light, replicating the shape of red flesh inside his chest, imitating the shape of life instead of a heart; an orb glowing softly.
"Don't disappoint me," he whispered before—
Snap.*
The entity disappeared along with the time that had stopped moving.
"...?"
The singing lady looked at the man, confused by the sudden life radiating from his body. An aura spread wide, and with it, a chill went down her body.
As if instinctively moving, she lunged at him; claws tore through the ground, all aimed at Noen.
But for a moment, everything slowed down; his body shifted as if adjusting to a past trauma, yet still he remained on his knees, staring endlessly into the dust.
"?..."
"??"
The wind took a deep breath; the silence held on longer, where the singing lady just stared.
Her eyes intact at one place; there was something. It isn't? It was never there... and it never did.
Her body started to fall, eyes bleeding with pure terror before it all crumbled.
The world vanished, and the domain disappeared in the blink of a second.
The singing lady stood, her eyes falling out, her limbs hanging like a broken branch, her body twisting like a giant blob, but far away, a silhouette stood, the complete opposite of something, scared, two glaring eyes and an ominous aura striving for blood.
The one standing was Noen; he grabbed his left hand.
Tearrrr. Crack.*
He tore it like a branch; blood gushed out, yet a single inch of pain didn't reflect on his face. He just stood, no emotion bleeding through his eyes, and for a moment he smiled... a demon in front of the lady, a swirling wind of dark through which unwavering white eyes stared at her. For a moment, it did nothing, but slowly it tilted his head, looking at her.
His torn hand aimed at her, which twisted into a sword made of flesh and blood. The lady shook in fear; her body trembled, her white hair swirling with the wind.
She screamed; her voice echoed through the forest, but this time it wasn't the scream of anger or dominance, but true fear, trying to run away, protecting her belly.
Where Noen moved with the sword, instantly plunging it inside her body, and from where the real massacre began.
He plunged and plunged, tearing through her flesh while she screamed in pain, blood gushing out of her body, running as fast as she could.
His hands dug deeper, not ready to let her go, and just like that...
Hours passed.
The whole forest was covered in mess: blood splattered all around, trees scarred, crushed under someone's feet, and the remains of a monster scattered all over like a giant chunk of meat. In the middle of it, a person sat covered in blood, staring silently into the air.
His body reeked of a foul smell like rusting metal, and among all, a giant heart lay still, beating with a slow rhythm.
He finally stood up, walking slowly toward it. Holding the same sword made out of his left hand, he plunged it into the heart and just stumbled back.
Bit by bit, blood started pouring out of it; the hole grew larger by each minute, and slowly everything was covered by a pool of blood, and in its centre, a girl lay motionless.
Noen moved closer, body trembling from exhaustion as he took a deep breath, still standing still, moving toward her.
"Sera," he said before he fell on his knees near her.
His hand moved slowly, gently touching her cheeks, but "no motion."
Sera wasn't breathing; her body looked pale, covered in red oozing blood, completely soaked.
Noen looked at her in pure terror; his heartbeat stopped for a moment before he placed his head near her chest.
Pulse...
"She is alive," he gasped, rushing to do something, yet in this situation his mind was blank, panicking inside about what he should do. Then something clicked.
"Wait... I can."
He quickly placed his hand on her palm, focusing. Slowly, from his nail, a trail of blood flowed through her skin, entering her nerves, pulsing brightly in a red hue.
His body flinched for a second before he felt the heartbeat syncing to his body; he let out a sigh, but not so long he noticed.
"Wait, her breathing—"
It was rigid, as if bubbling like a straw pushing air through a cup filled with water.
His eyes pinpricked; panic surged over again, and with him, the time was slowly passing by, cause he himself knew,
"At my current state, I can't last longer or else keep her alive... tch."
He hit his head hard that it started bleeding, snapping back to being calm. He coldly looked at her, thinking of a solution before time ran out.
He searched through his old memories, trying to find anything—anything useful he could use- when suddenly he remembered,
"CPR."
He immediately, without a thought, locked his hand and started compressing her chest in a rhythm.
"1... 2... 3..."
His breath was heavy, yet there was no hint of exhaustion; maybe it was adrenaline to save someone? Well, it didn't matter, because he kept moving under the heat from the falling hellish sunlight.
His eyes glistened with tears.
Moving closer, He tilted her head and squeezed her nose, pushing air through her mouth.
"Tch, again!" he screamed.
He tried again, moving closer, pressing her nose, and pushed air through her mouth.
"Again," he repeated, and kept doing compression, pushing her chest up and down in a rhythm that it started feeling like muscle memory to him.
Minutes passed, his face drenched, eyes sore, hands trembling, yet he didn't look at the stage of stopping.
But where Sera seemed motionless, her pulse slowing with the time, along the hope slowly fading with her...
"No! She can't die like this; I promised to protect her... I will..."
"Does she really matter to you? She is just a stranger, a stranger you met; you can just leave her. Why suffer for someone? Why care for someone who might betray you? You know that, don't you, Noen...?"
"SHUT UP!!"
Huff. Huff. Huff.
"It's my choice to save her; she's something to me, someone who gave me a purpose!"
"I don't care if I die saving her!!"
Urghh...
He pushed again, his hands closed, sweat dripping as he finally gave the last air.
Huffing soundly, breath ragged, exhausted. but—
"..."