Part 9

There was a flickering blue light weaving through the trees in the dark.

Aoi was running.

Her hair was flowing behind her.

She didn’t know where to go, but she knew that she had to escape the man following her. Aoi had her hand firmly placed on her midsection, trying to stop the bleeding. She could feel her blood seeping past her fingers.

‘If I could find somewhere to hide, I could take care of my wounds."

She glanced back and saw something coming toward her.

She was running away from two metallic Labrador retrievers.

If it could be called that now.

The dogs were not normal.

No matter how much she ran, the dog would catch up to her.

She couldn’t find a way to stop the ‘dogs’. She was sure she had destroyed the dogs. It had always reformed itself. When she cut the dog in half, it separated into two smaller dogs.

"There has to be a way out somewhere."

As she was in her thoughts, the two dogs ran up beside her to try and attack her. With all that she had, she placed her foot on the ground and crouched down.

The ground beneath began to illuminate a blue color.

Aoi exhaled.

Like a rocket, she shot up into the sky, creating a shockwave across the ground. As she flew into the sky, she created a foothold using water.

To anyone else, it looked like she was floating in the sky.

She couldn’t see the dogs or the man who was chasing her.

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There was silence.

Her eyes darted around, looking for her pursuers.

The sound of breaking tree branches broke her concentration. There was a gray metal ball flying towards her.

She quickly extended her arm as the ball closed in on her.

Aoi created a wall of water to shield her. There was a buzzing sound as the ball hit the wall of water.

The ball began to increase in size.

"Wha……."

Before the girl had an opportunity to comprehend what was going on, spikes had emerged from the ball, grazing her head.

Aoi let out a scream as the spikes hit her.

The attack had caused her to lose concentration, and both the foothold and the wall of water broke apart, causing her to plummet to the ground.

Hard.

As she fell to the ground, her body bounced several times before coming to a complete stop.

She landed in an empty, open park.

She tried to pick herself up, but her body had taken too much damage.

"If anything, you only have yourself to blame for your current predicament."

Aoi slowly turned her head to the source of the voice.

The man appeared to be walking through the trees nearby.

"If you had come with me from the start, you wouldn’t be in such pain."

He was walking with a gray ball floating beside him. He kneeled beside her.

"Humor me if you will; like you, our leader also possessed great power. Things were much simpler then. The world changed. New species began to emerge, and with them came new abilities and powers, but even more important was a new way of thinking about how to operate in the world. Over time, we began to lose our place in the world we called home. The only thing that kept us going was our leader's power. That godhood of his powers that couldn’t be denied."

The man stood up and patted his knee.

"Then one day our leader lost that great power; he was cast out from the heaven that was created for him. My people are now at the bottom of the totem pole in a world that has moved on from us. So, we came here to a new place. For the last 5000 years, we prayed for the day we, our leader, and our people would reclaim that glory that was once lost to us."

The man held out his arm.

"Cleave."

The ball began to drip onto the ground.

The girl looked at the man.

"I have no idea why you are here, but it is thanks to you that our 5000-year prayer will be answered, and a new world will be made."

Aoi closed her eyes as the man pulled the sword from the ground. She could hear the man's footsteps approaching her.

Suddenly the footsteps stopped, and there was silence.

"Those that deny God's blessing will always find themselves at the judgment of God."

The man turned.

"Do you not agree?"

He wasn’t talking to her.

There was someone here.

"It looks like I got here just in time."

Her eyes opened when she heard the voice.

Aoi glanced over at the individual the man was talking to. Her eyes widen when she sees the person standing there. A person she didn’t expect to see again. A person who showed her kindness and fed her. A person who said that he would help her no matter what.

Panting, the teen stood up straight.

"How many times do I have to say it to you?"

He clenched his fist.

Haruko Matsumoto.

"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HER!!!"