The smoke is slowly blown away. Both of them are once again stunned in their place racing for another opportunity.

“I’ve been standing in front of different graves quite often lately…”

The demons stands around a dozen meters away from her. Its right arm is completely gone now. Blood pours out of its mouth. The amount of injury it took is rendering it unable to move for a while.

Azalea internally analyzes her situation. “It lost its arm and spear. It can’t use fire breath. Now, it’s left only one way to attack. If I withstand the next round of meteor, then it will only be able to attack or defend physically.” Her vision dims. Her breathing is slow but deep. “Maybe my legs can stand just another speed up. My next move must land on target. If I get hit and fall, I don’t think I can stand again. My legs hurt. My right arm hurts, the burns keeps throbbing in pain. My chest hurts. Breathing hurts. Blood keeps regurgitating in my throat. Most of my external wounds should have been healed but blood keeps pouring in my eyes. I don’t know where it’s coming from. Why are my hands all bloodied?.. Why is my body drenched in blood? Where are all these blood coming from?”

Quia’el has fallen in one knee supported by its remaining hand from completely dropping on the ground. All the damages that Azalea has done also caught up to it. For now, it cannot move but it does not really need to make major movements to cast another Meteor.

“It hurts… How can I get rid of all of these pain?...”

Seconds passed by, then turned to minutes. Azalea is certain that the demon will attract first, as soon as it recovers a little. She just have to wait for the right moment. She breathes shallowly while staying focus ready to launch a counter attack anytime. She is starting to feel light headed. Small magic circles flickers around her. It looks like she is glowing. It may look mesmerizing at first, but the brighter it is, the more injured she is.

Several minutes have passed when Quia’el finally makes a small movement. The demon raised its arm and then powerfully slams it on the ground. Rocks floats covered by flame and then flew high in the sky until they are no longer visible. Azalea braced herself. Small meteors rained down like bombs being dropped.

Dozens of floating blades made of ice appeared around Azalea. Two to three of those flew crashing or slashing into the falling meteors. However there are plenty more of these ice blades that appeared out of line which flew around directionless. It has become very difficult for her to control her spells due to her mana spilling excessively. Because of this her accuracy and precision has greatly diminished. These blades are like stray bullets that could hit anyone who are simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. This is the very reason why she insisted not to bring anyone with her.

For now, she just have to avoid getting hit by those little meteors within half a minute. Although, because of her weakened control over the ice blades, some small pieces of broken rocks flew around and in her direction like shrapnel grazing her.

“Tsk-! Just a little more… I can move…”

These small wounds will not be a hindrance. They will heal quickly. More smoke and dust scatters resulting in poor visibility. Meanwhile, the rain of meteors came to an end.

Azalea used the smoke around to cover her movements. She boosted her speed to swiftly get close to the demon but it responded by stomping on her the moment she is within range. She casts a spell on the ground before the demon’s foot landed. Giant hands made of earth rises grabbing onto the foot rendering the demon to be locked in place. She then leaps upwards and propelled herself higher with wind magic until she has a good view of Quia’el’s back. The scales on it have become brittle and full of gaps. Multiple overlapping magic circles forms in front of Azalea as she aims for the demon’s back.

“Bladeless Death Scythe!!!”

Her spell goes all out in berserk mode. Invisible blades dispersed and sliced through the thick smoke, through the rock-hard walls, and down to the concrete-like ground. The ghostly blades scattered around the demon territory, wreaking havoc, slicing through anything on its path. The invisible blades cut through Quia’el’s fragile scales, deeper into its flesh, even cutting into the bones. The demon’s body received the impact, forcing it to fall face down on the rubles.

“I’m tired… so fucking tired…”

The blood in her eyes is making her vision blurry. She squints as she tries to get a good look at the fallen demon while she slowly descends. She almost lost her balance when she lands but she manages to regain control. She wipes the blood that’s getting in her eyes before staring back at the remains of Quia’el. There is no movement. She barely feel its aura anymore.

“I don’t understand.” She mumbles. “Most open wounds should have healed… Though my internal injuries are still really bad… Why is there so much blood?”

Several minutes has passed and the demon stayed down and not moving. Azalea can feel the mana diminish from its body as if it has been drained along with all signs of life. The remains is starting to crumble and blend with the rubles of the harrowed environment.

The smoke is clearing but her vision continues to darken.

“I won’t fall…”

She can feel her excess mana is spilling nonstop. Drops of blood rolls down her cheeks, falling on the ground. Her right hand is still searing with pain. Her left hand is sticky and dripping with blood. She cannot figure out what is wrong, and her fading vision is not helping either. She painstakingly takes a step forward and she felt something soft under her foot. She looks down despite her dim sight. There is something green on what supposed to be a brown rock-hard ground. She turns her head inspecting her surroundings.

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“Are these moss?.. Was this place… No… They should have been burned.”

She stares down at what looks like an image of expanding blot of green. Closer to her feet there are bristled growing greenery. They seems to have sprouted out of nowhere. There is no way that something like plants is growing here. These were not here before, how can it be here now?

“Have I lost it?... Am I hallucinating? Or did I die and I am now in transition to the afterworld?”

∞×∞

Twenty-third day of Sat’xahr, 4043 AOT

Elteb Canyon

“Hey, old man! It looks like the smoke rising to the sky has become thinner!” Jad said while looking forward.

They can see the smoke rising above the canyon.

“We’re almost there!” Fred responds. “Hold on a little longer, child.”

Now that they are so close to the demon territory, they have not seen any wild animals or monsters around. Even small critters that runs away when they are suddenly disturbed are gone. No monsters would approach a place where there is an ongoing active battle with a demon. However, the higher ranked ones will come and check the area once the fighting subsides just to check for any spoils they can find. In short, the battle with the demon may be over but they are still not out of danger.

It is fortunate for them that these dessert horses are well trained to not falter at this time. Maybe they are worth their price after all. Fred can only pray and hope that he is not hurrying into this place just to drag someone’s corpse out. She better be alive. And for that to happen, every second counts.

After several twists and turns, they finally reached the entrance of what used to be the demon’s territory. In between the large and towering cliffs of the canyon is a spacious area where Quia’el used to stay and rest. Fred and Jad went down from their giant dessert horses and then tied them on a nearby rock. They are approaching the crevice slowly and carefully. The moment they are able to get a full view of the whole territory where the battle occurred, they are both astonished and horrified.

Witnessing this horrible sight, Fred is certain that had he been present in this battle then he would have died many times over. This reminds him of how Azalea frankly told him that he will just be a dead weight if he joins her.

The wide area inside has thin fog-like smoke around. The tall canyon walls that enclosed the area and the arid ground have cracks, craters in varying sizes, and deep fissures as if giant blades carved them. Huge and small pieces of rocks are spread across. In the air lingers an acrid odor. It’s as if they can taste the dust in their mouth. These traces of horrific battle are evident all over. They surveyed more and their eyes caught the mutilated body of the demon that lies at one corner. In the middle of all these, as they walk farther into the territory, they noticed something unusual. There are small plants sprouting and growing on the ground. It is like there is a little meadow of greenery amidst this scorched lifeless land. These small plants seems to be dispersing outwards from a central point where the figure of a human stands. At the edge of the greenery, the small plants that buds looks like they are trying to grow but for unknown reasons dries out and withers away as if it used up all of its nutrients and died.

“What the hell are these?” Jad says while looking around. “What’s that? Is that human?”

Fred runs towards the silhouette in the center of the growing plants. “Azalea!!!”

“Azalea?” He follows close behind the old man.

They run towards the center where they saw the girl standing in place. For them, it looks like she is glowing with all those tiny magic circles flickering. She did not react even after they called her several times until they got close enough. There they notice her shallow breathing. Blood is dripping down from her head down to her chin, and from the tips of her fingers. Her armor looks like it has been crashed several times. One of her arms have an awful burn. Jad quickly grabs onto her other hand and felt her warmth. Fred called her name out again while locking eyes with her.

“Hey… Azalea, are you okay?” Fred asks softly.

Azalea coughs and spits out blood. “If this looks okay to you then I suggest you go change your fucking eyeballs.” She responds with a very hoarse voice.

“Well… If you can still talk like that then you probably won’t be dying any time soon.”

Jad takes out a handkerchief from his small bag. “Let’s clean you up a bit, you look like a zombie.” He says while wiping the blood on her face.

At first, it looks like she is looking at them but after a careful observation, she is actually staring blankly in the air. It seems that she only responded to the direction of their voices. Her lightless eyes continued to look past them as he wipes the blood trickling on her cheeks.

“Right I’m not dead…” She mumbles. “But I feel awful right now… I might as well be better off dead.”

“Lea?...”

Like after the adrenaline rush is over and gone, the impact of the battle, the pain and exhaustion, all just came crashing down at her.

“Hey! Get a hold of yourself!” Fred raises his voice to ensure that she is hearing him clear. “I’m really thankful that I’m not carrying a corpse out of here!”

“Umm… Something’s wrong.” Jad states while looking at the blood-soaked handkerchief.

“W-what’s wrong?” His voice shivered.

“It’s not stopping... the blood.”

Fred checks on Azalea. Even after wiping the blood on her face, another drop forms from her eyes and falls.

“What’s wrong?” Azalea’s voice cracks. “I can’t really see well right now… and there’s a constant annoying ringing in my ears, so I can’t hear well either. But everything’s fine, I just need a bit of rest.”

“This doesn’t look like something that can be fixed by just a bit of rest.” Fred responds with a more serious tone.

It’s like her tears have turned red. Fred took out a face towel from his small bag as well and wiped the blood from her head down to her neck. However, even though there is no wound, crimson beads started forming and then dribbled down.

Jad frowns as if he is about to cry. “This… it’s like she’s crying and sweating blood.”

“What are you two do-” Azalea coughs in the middle of her sentence. “We should leave this place before high ranked monsters surround us… I’m sorry… I feel like if I take a step right now, my knees will give in and I’ll just fall.”

“Right.” Fred shakes his head to gather back his thoughts. “We should go. We’ll get you treated properly once we’re back.” He then carries her.

“I’ll go ahead and prepare the horses. Be careful and don’t trip, old man!” Jad says as he runs ahead.

“I know.” He looks at the girl he is carrying once again. “Now, you don’t have to try so hard. Let me take over from this point. You can rest now.”

“Mhm.” She slowly closes her eyes. “I’m just… going to sleep for a little bit…”

While Fred carries Azalea out of the demon territory, he noticed that small plants grows on the path that they are taking. Behind them, the little meadow that sprouted started dying away once Azalea has left. And when they have walked far enough, the small plants that grew on the path behind them also dried out and withered.

“I’m taking Azalea with me. You lead the way.” Fred says with a commanding tone.

Jad nods. “Sure, leave it to me to find the fastest and safest route back home.”