“Wow, even the god himself is here to stop me. I should be very special then”, Nicolas watched as a young man kneeled in the middle of the room. His eyes are full of anger while his presence extrudes rage, punishing dark flames circled around him as he nestled a girl in his arms. Behind him, fatally wounded were two other young men and five decapitated knights.
“Step aside, Anwar, this is between me and that treacherous good for nothing King and his people”
“You can’t do this, remember who you are”
The light engulfed boy kept shielding the people behind him from the unforgiving flames that Liam kept sending their way. Trying his best to withstand every attack as he kept convincing the boy to stand down.
“I know who I am, my name is Liam Baltazar, and I am fucking tired of all of this”, he raised his hand, summoning countless swords and rained it down to his enemies, thrashing the room and claiming casualties where Anwar was too late to protect.
“They did you wrong, but this does not mean you should do the same”
“They did me wrong? We’re 16 when we we’re summoned in this world, after that, we were forced to fight in a war we have no business with. Just like that, as cliché as all the novels I’ve read. And now, after all the sacrifices we made, for six agonizing years, this is what they’ll repay us? By taking our lives? Putang ina, kung ganito din lang, they might as well die!”
His eyes began to glow red. The fire began to intensify, burning anything and anyone to crisp, sword kept on manifesting with his beck and call as he held his friends tightly, shedding all the tears he could give. His agony echoes throughout the now broken palace while the heavy force of his soul shook everyone to their knees, shaking, hopelessly praying to Anwar for safety.
“Come to think of it, Anwar, you’re the one who summoned us in the first place. You’re equally guilty to their sin!”, he let everything loose, directing everything to purge the King, his advisors, and greedy nobles.
Anwar, despite being a god, could no longer suppress Liam’s attacks as he too started to fall. With one last attempt to protect the people he spread his arms. Specks of light scattered in the air as the world seemingly slowed down its pace.
Nicolas watched as the rampaging Liam panicked, his attacks gradually moved in slow motion as Anwar bypassed everything as he made his way towards him.
“Go away, Anwar, you may be a God but I will not hesitate to kill you”
“Forgive me, Liam, even I have no idea that they’ll do this to you and your friends, but you know this is wrong”
“Wrong? Are you kidding me? this is beyond wrong; this is something they can’t even pay by death. So, step aside and let me remove their soul from existence!”, he called his soul pointed it at Anwar, slowly backing up as he carried the dead girl with him.
“Sasha wouldn’t like this, Liam, you know this is wrong”
“Then, bring them back to life! You’re a God, Give my friends back to me!”
Anwar sadly looked down, hesitating as he broke the news to him, “I can’t do that”
“LIAR”
“They’re souls, whatever they used damaged them beyond repair. Even if I we’re to bring them back, they’ll never be the same again, but trust me, revenge is wrong. Let me be the judge of their crimes, you should not taint your soul any more than this”
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Liam fell to his knees, setting his blade down as he embraced Sasha as he cried. Slowly, he carried her towards the other three, laying her down beside them, “I couldn’t protect them”
Anwar felt the guilt as he felt how much Liam cares for his friends. Why wouldn’t he, he’s the one who handpicked them all to be this world’s heroes, watched them laughed, watched them smile, holding on to each other as they faced each new monster that they came face-to-face with. He knows it should have been his obligation to keep them safe, yet he failed to take notice of the greed of the humans he himself wished to protect.
“Liam, you need to let them go”, he placed his hand on his shoulder.
The young man’s cries slowly calmed down as he finally held Anwar’s hand, “You’re right, I should let them go”, he tightened his grasp, “But not the people of this world”
With one flick of a finger, Anwar’s spell was undone and the floating swords immediately stabbed him from every angle. “What did you—”
“They did not kill me first because I was the weakest of us four, after all, what a mere healer could do against a battalion of knights. But do you know where the Demon’s power went, almighty Anwar?”
“It can’t be”
Liam finally lost his mind, “If you give me your power, I can surely bring them back”, he caught him in headlock as the King and the others could only watched. “Watch me, people of Anwaran, I will make sure not one of your souls could go back to the Tree of Life!”
Anwar tried his best to free himself, the young man started to absorb the God slowly, making him weaker and weaker, screaming in agony as he felt his divinity being ripped apart. In his final attempt to break free, he had no choice but to do the unthinkable. Shaking, he stretched his hands towards the King and his retainers, watching their cowardly faces, before regretfully closing them up.
As if squeezing a bottle of toothpaste, their souls was reaped from their bodies and became the source of Anwar’s strength to break free, throwing Liam across the room.
Nicolas watched as Liam slowly sat back up and laughed, “Oh my, look what you’ve done, you consumed their soul there’s no saving them from that”, he continued celebrating, wiping his tears from excessive laughter, “Thanks, I guess?”
“LIAM”
“What? I didn’t do anything, yet. I’ll clean-up the rest of this world, don’t worry”
Furiously, Anwar caught him by the neck. Slowly tightening his grip, but Liam’s grim smile kept him on edge, “That was unnecessary! You made me kill them”
“And they killed my friends, A life for a life, there’s nothing fairer than that. You might want to hold me tighter though, as I am now, I can even kill you if I want to”
“Then I have no choice”
Anwar began to glow as his body began to crack, forcefully trying to separate Liam’s power from his mortal body.
“That won’t work either”, he laughed at him, “Don’t you have other tricks? For a God, you are extremely lacking”
“Trust me, I have, but none of us would like it”
Nicolas felt the shift in the atmosphere, everything, the ruble, the dead bodies, the paintings, the statues began to levitate and Liam was wiped of his smile, “What are you doing!”, he exclaimed in distress and tried to free himself, “Stop! If you do this you’ll need to sacrifice yourself too!”
“I am more than prepared to do so. If your soul is split in three you’ll not be able to have your full power, you’ll become a wandering lamb as the entity that will be left of you. I will merge my own fragments to yours and suppressed you for all eternity. Indeed, I am falling short, as a God I’ve had my shortcomings and I hope you can forgive me with that, but I can’t let you destroy this world”
“Are you out of your fucking mind? Let me go! Let me go!”
“Even if I will be reduced to an entity maintaining the fabrics of reality, I’m sure someone will be born to stop your attempt, and I hope, I hope you change your mind in time as you wander aimlessly in this plane of reality”
Liam felt his very soul splitting in three and each and every bit tormented him as if his own limbs are being pulled and there’s nothing he could do to stop it.
“STOP”
Nicolas also exclaimed Liam’s last words as he sprang out of the bed he was on. Tense and breathing heavily as he was greeted with the surprised face of Alisa who just entered the cabin. She all the vegetables she’s carrying before wrestling him back to the bed with a hug.
“A— Alisa, I— can’t breathe—”, he cried, being too weak to push her off from all the sleeping.
“Sorry”, she quickly freed him, “I was just happy. You’ve been unconscious for two days, I thought you’ll never wake up again”
“Two days?”, Nicolas immediately looked outside the window.
“Yes, but don’t worry, we’re in our cabin in the woods. We’re safe here”, Alisa assured, picking up the vegetables with a smile, “Do you want to eat?”
“I would be delighted, but could you call Anton and your Uncle first? I have both good and bad news to tell them”