Sera walked slowly, her eyes empty.
Tap…
tap…
Every step she took felt heavy.
The weight came from her fear of death.
She hugged herself, trying to calm herself down, while her eyes remained lowered, paying no attention to what was in front of her.
The image of Val’s dead body kept flashing through her mind, and little by little, fear began to take control of her body.
“Miss Sera!” Marc approached and grabbed her shoulder, snapping her back to reality.
“Marc?” “Thank goodness you’re safe.
You should go to the shelter.” Sera didn’t answer Marc.
She simply stared at him.
She had just witnessed the chaotic battlefield and watched people die right before her eyes.
“WAAAAAHH!” A loud scream echoed through the building.
A soldier was caught by a Blight, its claws gripping his body.
The Blight pulled him toward its enormous mouth and began chewing him.
Blood splattered like a crushed tomato.
Several smaller Blight managed to enter through the windows and attacked the soldiers whose morale had already collapsed.
The soldiers had no choice but to fight back.
“You bastards!” A mage unleashed lightning.
He managed to defeat the Blight one after another as they came at him, but more and more kept pouring in until he could no longer fight.
Soon, he was surrounded from every direction.
“Miss Sera, run!” Marc grabbed Sera’s hand and tried to pull her away from the Blight.
There were countless Blight chasing them, most of them humanoid creatures with grotesque and unnatural bodies.
Their movements were stiff, but they could still run after fleeing targets.
Marc intended to bring Sera to the shelter, but a wolf-like Blight with a head resembling a blooming flower blocked their path.
The creature immediately chased after them, forcing the two of them to find another route.
Meanwhile, Meila and Arturia were desperately fighting alongside the other soldiers.
They were holding their ground in the central hall, directly in front of the entrance.
Behind them were their wounded comrades, unable to participate in the battle.
“Damn it.
We’re in a bad situation.” Meila punched a Blight, crushing half of its body.
“I know.” Arturia wielded an ordinary sword as she defended herself.
“ROOOOOAAAARRR…!!!” A thunderous roar echoed from outside.
It sounded incredibly close.
A red light slowly appeared from outside.
BOOM!
An explosion erupted, destroying the entrance and part of the wall while simultaneously obliterating the Blight near the blast.
Many soldiers were thrown backward by the shockwave, while Meila and Arturia remained in position, struggling to keep themselves from being blown away.
From a distance, the figure of a gigantic lizard-like Blight appeared.
The creature stood on two legs with a hunched posture and a long tail.
It possessed enormous horns, sharp teeth, and two relatively large arms.
Black crystal spikes protruded along its back.
“Despair…
fear…
I…
will show…
you…
fear…” The Blight spoke with a wide grin, black smoke pouring from its mouth.
Arturia froze.
The hairs on her body stood on end as a chilling sense of fear spread throughout her.
“Arturia!” Meila tried to snap her back to reality.
“Are you all right?” “Y-yes?” The Nullifer now stood before them, slowly stepping forward.
Black fumes escaped from its mouth as a wide grin remained plastered across its face.
Meila noticed that Arturia’s legs were trembling slightly.
She glanced at the soldiers lying motionless on the floor, unable to tell whether they were still alive.
“Arturia, leave this to me.
I’ll try to hold it back.” “W-what are you saying?!” Meila slowly stepped forward.
She brought both hands together, then slammed her right fist into her left palm.
She closed her eyes and slowly exhaled.
Meila’s body began to change.
Her muscles hardened.
The veins across her body became more pronounced and turned black.
She opened her eyes.
Her entire eyes had turned dark, while blood flowed from their corners.
“I’ll show you my magic, you bipedal lizard!” “GRROOOAAAAAHHH!!!” The Nullifer let out a thunderous roar before slowly running forward, gradually increasing its speed.
Meila tensed the muscles in her legs and then dashed toward the Nullifer at incredible speed, her fist ready to strike.
Meanwhile, Sera and Marc were trapped inside a room.
Marc had barricaded the door with a wooden cabinet to keep the Blight from getting inside.
The sound of repeated impacts echoed from outside.
Marc grabbed a wooden stick and deliberately broke it, sharpening one end into a point.
Sera leaned against the wall, her eyes dull and lifeless.
“Miss Sera, hang in there!” “Marc…
are we going to die?” Marc didn’t answer immediately.
He realized that Sera was overwhelmed by fear.
He placed a hand on her head, and for some reason, the image of his daughter from the past flashed through his mind.
“…I’ll protect you.” Sera looked at Marc, unable to understand why he was doing this.
“Marc?” Bang!
The door was breached.
The cabinet blocking it was slowly being destroyed from the other side.
Through the broken doorway, countless Blight could be seen trying to force their way inside.
Seeing this, Marc immediately rushed toward the door and attacked the Blight with his sharpened wooden stick.
Again and again, Marc stabbed the Blight attempting to enter.
Although he managed to kill several of them, their numbers were overwhelming, and more continued to pour in.
Bang!
The door was finally breached.
But the Blight still couldn’t enter freely because Marc stood in their way.
With everything he had left, Marc used his own body to hold them back, preventing them from reaching Sera.
His body was torn apart.
His skin was ripped open, and the Blight bit into various parts of his body.
The wooden weapon in his hands eventually broke, forcing him to fight with his bare hands.
Sera stared in fear.
She wanted to help Marc.
She raised both hands toward the Blight, but Marc was also in the middle of them.
Doubt filled her mind.
She didn’t know what to do.
Marc understood what Sera was trying to do and realized the state she was in.
“Miss Sera, do it!” “B-but…” Flames appeared in Sera’s hands, only to disappear immediately.
“I-I can’t…” “Miss Sera…
I’ve reached my limit.” “M-Marc?” Marc looked behind him, toward where Sera stood.
“Thank you for reminding me of my daughter.” Marc gave her a faint smile.
Suddenly, a flower-headed, dog-like Blight devoured Marc’s head.
The petals surrounding its head closed after swallowing him.
Silence briefly descended upon Sera.
A storm of anger, grief, and fear filled her body.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA…!!!” Flames erupted from her hands and immediately surged forward.
The torrent of fire was enormous, incinerating everything in its path.
The flames continued for several seconds before finally dying down.
Nothing remained in front of Sera.
Sera stood there silently.
Her eyes were hollow as tears slowly streamed down her face.
But she didn’t cry.
Another Blight approached.
Sera remained motionless, unwilling to do anything.
Her body had reached its limit.
The Blight looked toward Sera, but something pierced through its body, killing it instantly.
“Huh?!” Arturia was sitting weakly on the floor.
She couldn’t move because of fear.
All she could do was stare at the scene before her in disbelief.
The Nullifer raised its head, displaying its overwhelming presence.
Beneath its feet lay Meila’s motionless body, covered in severe wounds.
It was impossible to tell whether she was still alive.
The Nullifer looked down at Arturia.
Its gaze was sharp, accompanied by a wide grin and black fumes escaping from its mouth.
The Nullifer opened its mouth wide, intending to devour Arturia.
“P-please…” Scrrrape.
The sound of metal being dragged across the floor echoed through the hall.
The Nullifer abandoned its intention to devour Arturia and looked behind itself.
Val was there.
He dragged Arturia’s sword across the ground while five bullets spun above his head, forming a ring.
Black dust and crystal fragments surrounded his body, resembling smoke slowly escaping from Val.
His gaze remained the same.
Dead as always.
The Nullifer realized something.
It could no longer sense any other Blight.
Only itself remained.
The Nullifer’s smile disappeared.
It stared sharply at Val.
Suddenly, the five bullets shot toward the Nullifer at tremendous speed.
The creature didn’t have time to react.
All five bullets struck it—more precisely, its enormous horn.
The bullets shattered upon impact.
The horn cracked.
Then it fell to the ground, breaking apart into crystal fragments before dissolving into dust carried away by the wind.