The battlefield is as chaotic and hectic as it could be. The earth shakes and trembles with every step the hydra takes, inflicting fear in everyman's heart, with the tiny few exceptions fighting back the hydra with their strenght and courage. Everyone was fighting however they could, yet all I could do was watch.
"Mom, are we going to die?" I hear a little boy ask their mother that question behind me while I try to keep my spirits up. Hearing the despair in the voices of some only fueled me to want to do something more about it, but as it stood, I could barely help the people fighting the hydra for a couple of minutes at most as I was starting to feel incredibly weak.
"Everything is okay, sweetie. Just trust these wonderful people to keep us safe; they all work hard for it." I can hear the kid's mother trying her best to comfort her child, yet the kid can't help but cry about it, which only further helps to break my heart even more. Wasn't there more I could do? I asked myself, seeing how some people praying were about to reach their limits, with some even starting to pass out.
Things on the frontlines weren't looking much better as the soldier line began to ever so slightly fall back more and more thanks to the heavy loss of soldiers and overall lack of decent warriors helping out on the front lines left; the whole place was about to collapse which wasn't helpful not when the hydra was still kicking everyone near it away.
My nose soon started bleeding a lot, followed by my muscles cramping up enough to force me down to my knees. Yet, I still refused to deactivate the spell, which only served to keep on punishing my body, but I didn't care about that, screw my feelings and discomfort; I told myself these people needed a hero, someone to stand up for them and fight for them and it that cost me my life so be it.
"Lady Yoimiya, you're pushing yourself too hard. You'll end up dying! Please stop!" One of my maid staff tries hard to pull me away and force me to deactivate the spell, but I refuse, only giving her a clear order that she must follow. "Tell everyone who can still pray to do it until collapse; I will keep transforming their faith into magical energy for them to use."
"But lady Yoimiya! You'll die!" The maid tries to defy me once again, to which I respond with kindness and a little reassurance statement. "I understand, but rest assured that I do not plan on dying today; thank you for your concern; now, please go and tell everybody what I've told you."
"Yes, lady Yoimiya." The maid responds as she leaves to carry out my orders. While still trying to stand up, I finally muster the inner strenght to push myself just a little bit further, forcing my body to stand up even when every muscle in my body hurts. Even when I didn't feel like going further, I continued until I stood up firm again.
The hydra desperately fights back the people attacking its limbs, leaving more wounds than before on its thick body. Still, to our demise, the damn thing starts shooting flames and light beams all over the battlefield damaging the soldier line even more. Not only that, but the number of monsters began to increase at a tremendous rate.
The situation wasn't looking good at all, with hundreds of soldiers losing their lives by the second. I couldn't help but want to push myself even more, finally giving the radical idea to try and use a full counter on the hydra; perhaps if I could land a hit on it, I could kill it with its own attacks.
More holy power soon arrives at my body thanks to the maid who does quick work out of everyone, combining them to lend me their faith just a bit more and just a little further, letting me continue the flow of holy magic toward the people fighting the hydra until I suddenly collapse to my knees again.
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"UUUGH!" I can feel a heavy pressure over my body and soul, and while I still refuse to deactivate th spell, it simply stops on its own once my body refuses to keep going for whatever reason. I wasn't strong enough; I wasn't good enough; people would die because of my weakness; I couldn't bear it; I couldn't forgive myself if only I had been stronger.
I begin to hit my fists against the ground in anger while tears of rage fall from my eyes, watching as the fighters stop damaging the hydra once again, thanks to the lack of Holy power. We had gotten so close to winning, but it ultimately came down to the weakest link breaking, which was me.
I began to beat myself up even more, watching the death toll dramatically increase, followed by the realization that I might die today after all. Only the people fighting the hydra had the power left to even dodge the attacks of such a monster; if it came for me or the people behind me, then we wouldn't stand a chance, and all because I couldn't do more.
{Oracle of deep waters - Yuxi Wang}
"And I thought you were strong enough to face a thing like that on your own." "You're nothing but a weak, pathetic fly trying to eat dinner at the king's table." "You know better than anyone that she can't go to magical school since she will not be able to learn magic in the usual way."
All of those voices soon rush my mind, and it's too overwhelming. I can't help but cry more as I hear the voices inside my head judging me because they all expected more from me, and I failed to deliver even when I had promised to be better. I had failed everyone, including myself. What a joke.
The hydra points one of its heads directly at where I'm standing, charging a powerful magical attack against me, and for a while, I just sit there waiting until I snap out of it. No, I'm not surrendering. I wasn't a total loss; I hadn't given it my all just yet; if I was going to do it, then I at least had to try and stand up before death and face it like a warrior.
"INCOMING!" "BRACE YOURSELVES!" All the soldier leaders screamed in panic as they raised their shields while I walked forward, extending my hands in the hope of summoning a full counter in time, but I knew all too well it wouldn't work. I was out of MP, SP, and Stamina, including all the Holy MP. I was out of all the bars except HP.
"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me." I didn't even know what I was praying to or why I had suddenly remembered a line from the bible, but it only felt natural as the hydra unleashed its deadly charged beam toward us, covering the entire area in light.
{Minute 0:49}
With my eyes still closed, I fail to see how the light beam attack from the hydra halts mid-air while a gigantic dark shield stops it in its tracks, followed by a weird series of noises all around me, like the sounds of metal pieces falling over my body, around where armor would be which was my legs, chest, and arms.
Everyone around me just gave me confidence as I heard the sounds of disbelief, finally giving me the strenght to open my eyes just to see the dark, massive shield between the hydra's attack and the vulnerable people behind the frontlines hiding behind me.
[Successor found]
The skies soon opened broad as an intense ray of light poured from the heavens down on me. A small handheld shield suddenly began to materialize over my left arm, right over the new pieces of armor I had just gotten, as tiny little dark shields appeared all around the battle line, giving the soldiers a deserved break.
Not only does the shield take me by surprise, but it also seems to take everyone fighting the Hydra by surprise as well. As the dark shield does what I wanted to do before acquiring the new gadget on my arm, it absorbed all of the hydra's power and threw it back at it, successfully blowing half its body away.
Only after the dark shield hurts the hydra in such a way do I notice the little diadem thing around my head. The diadem looked pretty around my head, yet it reminded me of someone. I had seen such a thing before, but I couldn't remember from where until I remembered the queen's last words before saving the remaining witch population.
It couldn't be. Had I become worthy of such a thing? Me, of all people?
[Acquiered title: {Witch Princess}]