-Chapter Forty-Four-
A New Day
In the year 829 of the Imperial Calendar, the Holy Empire Spectral Border Crisis Incident had persisted for almost six months.
The Holy Empire and many external forces suffered numerous losses at the hands of the enemy known as the ‘Spectre’.
As despair grew among the warriors and warrioresses that had stepped up to sacrifice their lives to protect the Holy Empire, doubt began to grow as to whether they could stop this beast or not.
It was like they were just endlessly funnelling lives into an endless pit, with no end in sight.
Until finally, one day, a foreign force contacted them and offered hope. They claimed they had a way to destroy the Spectre away for good, and the people saw hope again.
What delivered that hope was none other than… the remaining survivors of a then extinct clan of Desert Pixies.
Not only were they familiar with the Spectre, their innate constitutions also had the power to resist the Spectre’s metaphysical energy.
Only through the aid of the Desert Pixies and their Nature magic, were it possible for the Spectre to be defeated.
However, by then, it was too late.
The damage that had been done to the Holy Empire was irrecoverable and soon, the Holy Empire had fallen, absorbed into the Imperial Empire.
—-----------------------
Aelius knew of the future, the events that unfolded in the Year 829.
The Desert Pixies had come to save the humans.
But was he hoping for too much, hoping them to arrive on the same night the Spectre awakened?
Through a mere Mana beacon?
He grimaced as the intense fight wore on and gradually, he and Asura lost their stamina and Blood Essence reserves.
“Ah shit…” Aelius cursed.
“Have you tried using Dimensional energy!?” Asura called out.
“It doesn’t work!” Aelius answered over his shoulder as he stood before the beast.
“I haven’t cultivated enough of it in this body yet.”
“Damn it, Ael! We’re going to die at this rate!”
“I know! I’m sorry, please just bear with me a bit longer,” Aelius asked her with a plea.
“Tch, I could never resist you,” she spat and shot forward into the face of the beast with such fearsome force that, upon impact, she sent it collapsing over in the sand.
Aelius grunted in worry at the fading Mana beacon.
In the future, the Desert Pixies that arrived to help was in the year 929.
Currently, it was the year 927 - two whole years earlier.
Who knows what happens in the next two years that allowed the Desert Pixies to be able to fight the Spectre?
Who knows where they are right now…
Was it too much of a gamble?
As if answering his self-directed question, every second that passed by with no help and every bone-shattering blow he and Asura faced, made him despair that they would not come.
“Oh Goddess…”
Aelius let out a deep breath as the Spectre advanced on him and Asura while they backed further and further away from the village.
“Got a plan?” Asura asked.
“Currently… only praying.”
“Hmph. Who would’ve thought that destroying the barrier would lead to this!” she complained spitefully.
“...Yeah, my bad,” Aelius dejectedly answered and she rolled her eyes.
“Ugh, whatever. Don’t worry about it,” she groaned as she summoned a blade of blood the length of an entire bus and slashed through the monster with it.
However, her energy was simply repelled off the beast’s corporeal shoulders and Aelius grimly narrowed his eyes.
“Shit…”
Did I rush into this too much? Was I, yet again, overestimating my abilities? Am I putting Asura in danger by being as reckless as I did?
Was I, yet again, being arrogant?
Why did I destroy the barrier when I could’ve just killed everyone in this village?
If I had known it was gonna be our life or their lives, I would’ve never taken this risk…
As if answering his self doubt, his momentary thoughts were interrupted when he heard a gruesome splatter and his eyes widened as they shot up, only to see Asura taking a direct hit from the Spectre’s fist.
The force from behind the beast’s blows were not to be reckoned with, even if it was merely a bare fist.
“N-nooo!” Aelius cried as he saw a string of blood in the split second she tanked the hit, and then sent into the flat sand nearby.
Aelius watched in horror as the kicked up sand-cloud gradually settled, the sand around her body was turning red in a pool of crimson.
“Asura-”
He wanted to run to her side straight away, but his senses tingled and he turned to see the beast pounce toward him.
Unable to do anything, utterly powerless, Aelius could only dodge its blows one by one as he watched the pool around Asura’s body grow larger in size.
“Just… get the fuck out the way!”
He finally erupted in built up frustration.
In his momentary outburst, his thoughts cleared and he slashed the crimson blade he clutched tightly in his right hand.
An unimaginable amount of rock-solid, intangible force and energy gathered behind his swing and then it was all let loose at once.
Summoning the absurd amount of Dimensional energy, Aelius sent a swing that ran dozen metres ahead of him straight into the chest of the Spectre.
For a moment, he heard a revolting ‘gwak’ like a fly being swatted out the air, and watched as the beast was sent shooting back through the sand, kicking clouds upon clouds up.
Wasting no time and making haste, Aelius dashed back to Asura, kneeling down beside her to lift her head up onto his lap.
“Shit…”
Falling silent, he took in the horrendous sight.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart. I’m so sorry… It was my bad. All my bad.”
The things I make her do… ha, he scoffed to himself cynically as he reached his wrist up to his mouth and bit down as hard as he could.
“I know this won’t make it up to you but… it’s the best I can do right now.”
With no hesitation, Aelius put his exposed wrist to Asura’s mouth and instinctively, she bit down and began to drink.
He was already prepared for it but, with wounds this severe, it was going to take a lot of blood for Asura to have enough Blood Essence to recover.
As time passed on, his consciousness gradually began to feel woozy but he pushed on.
Even when he reached his limit, he did not pull his wrist away.
Gradually, he felt his strength leave him and his neck droop, no longer able to keep his head up.
But to his relief, before his vision fell dark, Asura slowly reawoke.
“Ah… thank… goodness…” he mustered as he collapsed over.
Alert!Grievous wounds have been detected.
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The inherited Origin Skill 「Phoenix’s Love」is automatically activating.
Oh no… I can’t pass out for eight hours here. Not with the Spectre… eight hours is too long!
I just need a little bit of rest. Just a little bit.
Only ten minutes. Please, just ten minutes.
But Aelius was unable to resist his eyelids falling closed as the warm and loving energy engulfed him, enticing him, and pulled him down into an ocean of darkness.
—-----------------------
As her vision slowly returned to her, Asura felt a glaring headache pestering her brain.
But nonetheless, clarity graced her.
Her sight was blurry at first but quickly focused in and she recalled the last thing of being struck thunderously by the so-called Spectre.
Sitting up, she noticed her mouth was wet and drippy with some sort of… succulent substance and a bloody arm rested on her lap.
Following it with her eyes, she finally found behind her Aelius’ unconscious body.
“Oh for crying out loud…”
Asura leaned over to him to feel his cheek, feeling he was flushed and feverish from excessive blood loss, but rapidly, the energy of the Phoenix was recovering his wounds.
“You idiot.”
Behind her, she heard the thunderous roar of the Spectre and turned back to see the beast rising out of the sand and slowly stomping back towards them.
“My foolish Aelius… why have you done this…?”
She rose to her feet shakily, clutching her gut in pain.
Just how much blood did he offer up for her to recover as much as she did, in such a short time?
Well, there was no point thinking about it.
It was do or die now.
Asura braced herself for the coming blow and prepared a way to lead the Spectre away from Aelius, and perhaps back to the village to distract it, but her little stand-off was interrupted when she saw a small speck of light shooting towards them from behind the Spectre.
Squinting her eyes, she waited to see what it was as it rapidly approached, and in a flash of light, landed in the sand before her, kicking up sand clouds to obscure her vision.
When the dust settled, she was surprised by the revealed shadow to see it was Saki, carrying a girl she did not recognise with her.
Behind the newcomer, Asura saw a brief movement of shadow and called out.
“Saki! Behind you!”
Saki spun around just in time to see the Spectre pouncing forward toward her, but as Asura’s breath caught in her throat, Saki raised her two hands and her booming voice echoed throughout the flat plains.
“Stay back!”
As if there were an invisible wall conjured out of thin air, the beast charged headfirst into a solid barrier and was sent sprawling backward.
“W-what?”
Asura approached Saki in bewilderment.
“Telekinetic wall,” Saki explained as she turned back around. “But more importantly, what’s happened to Aelius!?”
“He’s recovering, but he won’t be able to help us. It’s up to us now,” Asura grimaced and saw Saki bite her lip.
“Who’s that?” Asura asked, gesturing to the dark skinned girl beside her.
“Our help. But she’s poisoned. If I’m not mistaken, she should have the power to kill that beast,” Saki explained and the red haired beauty opposite her narrowed her eyes.
“Oh, is that so? Ah… so that’s why Aelius had dragged me to the infirmary in search of someone. It must’ve been this lass. Well then, pass her to me.”
Saki gestured her hand and Raphie’s floating body rested down onto the ground before Asura and she quickly knelt down beside the unconscious girl.
“This might take a few minutes. Can you hold that dastardly thing at bay?” Asura asked without looking to Saki.
The other girl turned away to face the beast and advanced toward it, calling over her shoulder,
“What choice do I have?”
Asura nodded even though Saki could not see her, focusing on pouring Blood Essence into the new girl’s wounds.
“It’s impressive she’s survived this long. What an intriguing physique. It’s the same poison that killed this body. Normal people would not be able to withstand it for this long at all,” Asura mumbled to herself.
Thankfully, the Blood Essence she had accumulated from Aelius’ blood was just enough to cure Raphie back to normal.
“Ah…”
Asura felt dizziness begin to overwhelm her, and feebly rose to her feet.
Though she was unaware, the powerful, crimson glow in her hair slowly faded back to blonde and her crimson eyes returned to their normal shade of sky blue.
Weakly, she travelled a few steps and then toppled over to Aelius’ side, instinctively snuggling up against him as her vision faded to black.
“Saki… the rest is up to you,” she sleepily mumbled, unsure of whether the other girl had heard her or not.
—-----------------------
Saki glanced over her shoulder to see Asura weakly fall to her knees beside Aelius and glanced back to Raphie, relieved to see the Desert Warrioress had indeed been cured.
Turning away from the telekinetic wall that the beast furiously but mindlessly banged on, Saki knelt down beside Raphie and began shaking her.
“Raphie, wake up! Wake up, Raphie! Please!”
After some coercion, the dark skinned, dark haired beauty began to stir and moan until, as Saki continued, she finally snapped her eyes open and sat up in shock.
“That bastard of a village chief!” she exclaimed before suddenly realising where she was, looking around her in bewilderment.
“W-who… you are the outsider?” she asked Saki who nodded back, before she noticed Aelius and Asura unconscious a few metres away.
“We need your help!” Saki exclaimed as she pointed behind Raphie and the girl whipped her head to find the beast banging against the invisible wall.
“That’s…”
Her eyes widened in seriousness at the beast before her. Though she did not recognise it, something within her felt repulsed.
“The wall isn’t going to hold much longer-!”
Saki had returned to the wall to tend it, and called out in a strained voice.
There was nothing but a moment of silence, and Saki looked over her shoulder at what Raphie was doing, only find Raphie’s eyes begin to glow a transcendent golden.
The desert warrioress felt her intent sharpen. Her thoughts faded away but her mind remained.
She was unable to tell, but behind her on her back, a shimmering, glittery and highly flexible pair of rainbow wings sprawled out majestically.
She raised her hand toward the beast and a soft chant fell from her lips before her feet lifted from the ground.
For a long moment, nothing else happened until Saki heard the building up sound of wind; the sound of something rapidly shooting toward them.
Then as it grew louder, her eyes widened in surprise as a gaping hole opened up in the beast’s stomach and in a split second, something crashed into her telekinetic wall, shattered it, and shot into Raphie’s outstretched hand.
Her spear that had been left in the village had been called straight back into her grasp and having moved at ridiculous speed with unimaginable force behind it, it left only destruction in its wake.
The desert was split and torn in half, just like the Spectre was, and the force was so strong it took down Saki’s barrier in one hit.
Like a transcendent being, Raphie rose into the air above the beast, raising her spear and then swung it.
Saki saw in awe a familiar power erupt from Raphie’s eyes and wings.
A force that did not belong to this lower realm; it would explain the Pixies’ connection to this so-called ‘Origin’ energy.
Rapidly above Raphie’s head, a gigantic polar beam of light was conjured into existence and followed Raphie’s swing.
Triple the size of a multistory building, the projection of her spear crashed down onto the beast and flattened the earth.
Sound erupted and sand was sent flying.
Saki felt her ears begin ringing and the ground shook violently beneath her, and then the energy pillar rapidly dissipated, leaving nothing at all where it struck.
The Datenshi turned to see the glow in Raphie’s eyes fade and her wings disintegrate into rainbow particles.
The desert girl slowly drifted back to the ground and with no strength, fell onto her knees.
The familiar power Saki felt from her disappeared in an instant, and suddenly, just like that, a normal girl now remained before her.
“It’s… done!” Saki exclaimed in glee, running to Raphie’s side and kneeling down beside her.
“Are you alright?”
“I’m… okay,” Raphie answered after harshly catching her breath. “What about your comrades?”
Saki looked to Aelius to see his wounds closing up on their own, and relief washed over her as she fell back onto her rear.
“Ahhh…”
She let out a deep breath of tension. “Thank… the Goddess, I suppose.”
—-----------------------
Over the course of the remaining hours of the night, Saki and Raphie took control of the village.
In the quiet walk back to the village outskirts, Saki explained to Raphie everything she knew that had been taking place in the time she was unconscious, including the fate of suicide of her older sister, Grayalla.
Thankfully, they were not attacked by any desert monsters in those moments, as they were both too weak to fend any off.
It must have been that the Spectre’s presence scared away the other beasts.
The villagers were overjoyed when Raphie returned to the village and announced she had slain the beast.
She also took the chance to expose the Village Chief’s plans and that same night, they were thrown into prison.
Finally, as the sun began to rise, the unnamed village was facing a new beginning.
A new day. A new life.
There were concerns about the destroyed barrier, but new found faith in Raphie as the village guardian gave people hope.
The Noble captain that had come from the Empire took the village chief in, claiming they will have him executed in their home territory for plotting the murder of their Mistress.
As for Aelius and Asura, who had possessed his Mistresses’ dead body, they were hidden away in the highest room of the village centre, steadily recovering with Saki and Lia standing guard for them.
And soon, Aelius was the first to wake.
In his first life, the aftermath of the Spectre’s brutal assault led to the Holy Empire falling to the Imperial Empire, turning the continent into the property of one single Royal Family.
But this time, the disaster that the Spectre would have ushered, had been entirely mitigated.
The Holy Empire will persist, and the Devil-compromised Imperial Royal Family will not gain influence of the Sacred Continent as fast as they intended.
What do these changes spell for the unknown future yet to come?
The freshly awoken and dazed Aelius… will eventually find out.