Ajax rushes towards the door. He notices Kinser try to strike him with the warhammer and dodges its incoming strike. Of the vitality gained from his surroundings, he converted some of it into reaction speed, allowing him to barely avoid Kinser’s attack. He doesn’t want to do any fighting, he wants to escape and look for Shaula.

In panic, Vonis gets out of Ajax’s way as he reaches the door and turns the handle. However, right as he tries to open it, he feels a sharp pain as something sharp pierces his right hip. He looks down and notices the white blade of Creta stab through him. He is dumbfounded at the intense pain, for a brief moment, before a subsequent impact hits him, crushing his left femur.

As Ajax, dizzy from the sudden onslaught of suffering, lands on the ground on his back, he looks up to see Creta and Kinser standing over him once again. This time, Kinser holds his warhammer against his chest, pinning Ajax firmly to the ground, his legs non-functioning at the moment.

“Kinser, what do we do now? Are we sure he’s not a hero?”

“Think for a moment, Creta, even heroes don’t have this level of strength upon arrival. Vonis, do you have any idea what this could be?”

“A-Absolutely not! It doesn’t make any sense. To not only use healing magic but also ice magic… it’s… and… you can tell, right? There’s no feeling of mana when he uses his magic. I didn’t feel any kind of mana, did you?”

“...No, but that in itself isn’t conclusive: after all, for some reason, even the magic detector artifact couldn’t find magic within him. He didn’t use any hand signs either to conjure his spells, even his healing magic! I-I still think he was summoned, there are too many corroborating factors, but… perhaps, he’s a more gifted hero than we can even test for or detect… a superior variant of divine hero maybe? It’s possible that the world of the heroes has humans with special aptitudes and–”

“...That’s all nothing but speculation, Kinser… right now, we need to keep him restrained until we get the archbishops and Cardinal Gratia to examine him.”

Ajax feels tremendous pain. At the last words of Vonis about being examined, he reaches the surface of reality after having been submerged in suffering. These people are keeping him as a prisoner and now he might be used as a test subject. He has no faith in these summoners anymore. He has to find Shaula, he has to get her out of here as well, no matter what.

He has a stab wound in his right hip and his left leg is useless from the strike from Kinser’s hammer. He’s been immobilized and if he can’t find a way to recover from this, all hope would be lost. Now that he has a feeling for that instinct, he remembers how to reactivate it. He feels the hammer against the chest. He feels power in it…

All of that life stuck within the metal confines of that solid hammer… he can make use of it right now for himself.

Within moments, the head of the hammer forms frost against its surface. Frost also forms on the surface of Ajax’s skin as he absorbs more energy from his surroundings. This energy is heat energy, the motion of the subatomic particles as they vibrate. His strength comes from robbing that vibrancy from the air and from any object touching his skin.

Kinser removes his hammer head from Ajax’s chest, in fear that his hammer will fall apart just like Ajax’s metal shackles had. By suddenly robbing the metal of its heat, Ajax had pushed its temperature far below zero Celsius, allowing the brittle properties of the metal to more easily manifest. The same thing could be done to his hammer.

Ajax’s pierce wound to his hip closes within seconds and his left leg resets completely. The odd sensation of bone rehousing marrow, of muscle regenerating, of nerves reconnecting… It's electrifying. He quickly gets up from the ground, while Creta and Kinser watch him with astonishment.

This time, he’s positioned at the door while Creta and Kinser are in front of him, Vonis near the window once again. Ajax realizes that if he tries to go for the door right now, they’ll just try to strike him again. He might just be able to heal his injuries easily but the pain of being struck and stabbed is unbearable. Furthermore, what if he’s hit in his head… What if his brains scatter?

Ajax doesn’t want to fight them.

If he and they can get through this without injury, that would be the best outcome for everyone. All they have to do is let him go find Shaula, he’s not even asking for them to help him.

“Just, stay here. You don’t have to interfere. I-I don’t want to fight you! I just want to find my friend, I’m not even asking you to give me directions to her. She’s still in here and I don’t fucking believe that she’s dead, she’s too fucking strong to be dead!! So… just stay here. Just don’t follow–”

In the middle of his plea to the three of them, Creta raises his sword and attempts to impale Ajax, through his heart. The sword pierces the door, as if it were butter, and misses Ajax. Ajax grabs the sword handle, still being held by Creta’s gauntlets, and absorbs all heat from it. The handle of Creta’s sword and his gauntlet instantly turn sub zero in temperature, a layer of thin frost forming on its surface.

Creta hurriedly pulls off his gauntlets and backs away as Kinser tries to strike with his warhammer. Ajax realizes that, at the moment, the warhammer is burning red, a maze-like, blazing-red neon engraving on the surface of the hammer head. This must be magic of some kind.

Ajax, left with no option, blocks the hammer with his bare hands, its burning hot surface causing the air to shimmer. Ajax’s hands break as the hammerhead rests on his forearms, however it doesn’t burn his hands or his arms. Kinser feels some satisfaction at the fact his hands have been hit, his fingers mangled.

However, this satisfaction is short-lived, as the mangled hands of Ajax reform almost instantly, holding the hammer head in a steel-like grip. Kinser tries to pull it from Ajax’s grip but it’s not working!

There is not one burn on Ajax’s skin, rather the fiery hot hammer makes Ajax invigorated. His hands healed instantly because of the influx of heat energy and he continues absorbing heat energy. Soon, the red hot surface of the hammer dissipates. The hammer itself shatters due to the sudden change from burning hot to freezing cold, Kinser holding the leftover handle.

“Impossible… the ice magic required to freeze my hammer… How did–”

“AHHHHHH!!”

Before Kinser could finish, Creta came at Ajax with a dagger. Ajax is stabbed in his chest. His body sends out danger signals. Ajax notices now he has no pounding heartbeat, letting him know what got hit. In panic, Ajax tries to push Creta off but his motions are sluggish from the perforation.

Creta has taken the option to outpace his healing power by stabbing him repeatedly, while dodging Ajax’s touch. He punctures his lungs as well as his esophagus, windpipe and a few ribs. Ajax’s mind displays a powerful fear at what Creta is doing, as if he’s sending Ajax down the river Styx personally.

If he were more calm, he might have decided to heal himself by incorporating the remaining heat within the air and the floor into his own body, healing himself. Perhaps he could even absorb the energy of the dagger stabbing him when it touches his skin. However, his mind doesn’t see those possibilities.

Creta keeps dodging him… Ajax feels anger bubbling up like bile as blood flows profusely from his chest wounds. This anger mixes into his fear and his own desperation to see Shaula, resulting in an indescribable feeling. Not just a feeling… a solid and unbreakable will. In a demonstration of his resolve to survive and find Shaula, Ajax leaps at Creta with his whole body.

“HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”

Creta feels Ajax grab his helmet. Ajax had summoned strength and speed through released adrenaline and Creta was unable to dodge it. In a frenzy, Ajax pulls off Creta’s helmet. With only thoughts of anger, pain and fear in his mind, he chokes Creta’s bare neck. Soon, Creta falls to the ground, struggling against Ajax’s grip.

Ajax barely understands why he’s choking Creta, barely conscious of what the result might be if he continues. He laughs as his body experiences rejuvenation the longer he continues suffocating Creta.

It makes him feel better, more whole, delirious in the exercise of his rage.

“St-Stop it!!”

Vonis screams at Ajax, bringing him back to reality; he looks at Creta, once again. Time stops as he sees Creta’s bluish face. Frost had formed on his skin and… he is dead. His neck is almost completely frozen. While Ajax's heart is now healed, while his own stab wounds are now closed, while his own strength, reaction speed and agility are heightened, Creta’s life was taken.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“C-Creta… What have… What have you… aaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!”

For a brief moment, Ajax considers what he’s done. However, in the very next moment, Kinser grabs Creta’s sword still stuck in the door and tries to kill Ajax by cutting off his head. However, Ajax reacts to Kinser’s slice and backs away, avoiding it. Kinser repeatedly tries to carve his flesh. Ajax sees Kinser’s rage at the death of his friend Creta. He feels… sick.

But, he cannot dwell on his sickness, he keeps avoiding the strikes, most of them aimed at his skull. He considers his options. He can try to incapacitate Kinser, or perhaps he can try to break through the door and run… the second option would be better. As Ajax continues avoiding the attacks, he tries to look for a moment of escape. However, his intentions are too obvious.

“You godless worm, you think you can escape from me!? Don’t think you can do whatever you want, you fucking scum!”

With that, Kinser stops his raging assault and rushes to block the door. Ajax feels crestfallen. He soon comes to the realization that nothing he can do will prevent a confrontation. If he tries to leave through the window, he might not have a way back into the building and the pain of the fall would be tremendous. He would never take Vonis hostage.

The temperature of the room is getting colder as Ajax absorbs heat for himself but he cannot feel the change. At the moment, it is about five degrees Celsius. Soon, it will be zero. Ajax looks for a moment at the body of Creta. His eyes are still open in shock, still open even now a minute after he died. Ajax grits his teeth and makes one last plea.

“Just… Just let me leave! I-I don’t want to… just get the fuck out of my way!! I want to see Shaula!”

“...No. Fuck you. You can join her in death but there’s no fucking way I will disgrace my friend by letting you escape me.”

“He… He started it! He tried to kill me first! He stabbed me in my heart, in my lungs, in my ribs! I-I didn’t… I didn’t mean to… b-but…”

“...”

Kinser doesn’t speak. He merely raises his sword in provocation. Ajax rushes towards him, in an attempt to throw him away from the door so he could leave. However, Kinser uses a feint and throws his sword directly at Ajax. Ajax barely dodges the surprise attack and fails to dodge Kinser’s tackle.

Kinser pushes Ajax to the ground, grabbing the nearby handle of his broken warhammer and slices the spear-like handle through Ajax’s belly. His guts messily fall across the floor as a spray of blood springs forth.

Ajax shrieks at the sudden, unimaginably painful sensation permeating his belly.

Kinser tries for Ajax’s head next, using this pain as distraction. However, Ajax has already acted, in fear of death and in order to stop the continuation of this indescribable torment. Using his whole body through the activation of his power, Ajax absorbs all of the heat in Kinser’s body in a mere fraction of a second.

“...Kinser? H-Hey…”

Ajax tries calling for Kinser as the pain in his belly disappears, his wound disappearing once again as if nothing had ever happened. Time slows down as he see Kinser sitting over him, unmoving. Kinser slowly falls forward in his same posture. It is at this moment that Ajax can see his eyes through his helmet.

“AAAAAIIIIEEEEEEEEE!!! Please help me! Please!! Someone!!!”

Ajax hears Vonis screaming for help, but he almost doesn’t even hear her cries of anguish. He can only look towards Kinser’s face still on top of him. His eyes, they’re open, both iris and pupil covered in ice. His face itself is cracked like a break in a petrified sculpture. Without thinking, Ajax in panic pushes Kinser’s frozen corpse off of his body and moves away from it.

He realizes fully what he has done now. He’s killed two people already. Vonis continues to scream next to him.

“Please someone!!”

“...Shut up.”

“Someone please, he–”

“I said, shut up!”

Vonis quiets down as she feels a glare from Ajax. Her face displays the deepest fear. His expression is complex and she cannot read it properly. If she’s been calling for help, he doesn’t have very long until someone comes to find him.

“...Did you say your name was Vonis?”

“...”

“A-Answer me! Now!”

“Y-Yes, my name is… Vonis Arneth. Please… please spare… please don’t…”

“Shut. Up. Can you save them?”

“Wh-What? Can I–”

“Just answer me, stop wasting my time!! Can you save them!? Y-You have s-some kind of healing magic or something, yes, or you’re a doctor or something? Y-You said you had–”

“Th-They’re both dead!! I-I don’t have any magic that could heal injuries like theirs in the first place, neck or head injuries, or whole body freezing, i-it’s impossible!”

“Fuck… Fuck!! I-I can’t deal with this right now. I need to find Shaula. Where the fuck are they keeping her?”

“I…”

“WHERE THE FUCK ARE THEY KEEPING HER!?”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! They’re…”

Vonis proceeds to carefully explain to Ajax where Shaula is being kept at the moment. Two floors up, a few doors down. They needed to call a funerary doctor so they left her body in her room. None of the archbishops want to deal with her corpse as an unblessed person. Vonis tells Ajax this as well but he refuses to believe she’s dead until he can see the body for himself.

Meanwhile, Ajax hurriedly searches his room for any spare clothes. There is a clothes dresser from which he finds a white long sleeved shirt and red pants. He continues speaking to Vonis.

“...Who hurt Shaula?”

“I-It was the Cardinal Gratia, he isn’t… he’s a cruel man, he takes rash actions sometimes. He didn’t even apologize after we started to suspect that you two were actually from the world of the heroes and not spies for the demon race–”

“This is all such bullshit, such fucking bullshit.”

“I–”

Without bothering to listen to the last thing that Vonis wanted to tell him, Ajax runs out of the room in a flash. He enters a hallway, a line of doors on the left and right walls. It looks like the corridor of an apartment building floor if all of the walls were made of drab concrete and it’s lit by light fixtures.

Every single other door is closed and there is no one walking down the path in front of him or behind him. No holy knights, no women dressed like Vonis, no archbishops… Nobody came even after all of Vonis’ screaming or the sound of his battle. Ajax disregards this for now, thinking only of Shaula. He prepares his body for a sprint.

He turns on his energy absorption to feed off of the heat in the hallway. This automatically improves his condition, both mentally and physically. He’ll be distracted from the pain he’s experienced by a wonderful high. Ajax can see a turn in the hallway and runs towards it. He is propelled down the hallway like an olympic athlete.

At the turn in the hallway, he sees the staircase with a sign indicating “staircase” as well.

Huh... so I can even read this weird language. I’ve been speaking to everyone in this Omicron language so easily. I’m even thinking in it as if I lived here my whole life... This place is just such fucking bullshit. I hope to God this is nothing but a dream… the goddamn pain I’ve felt here.

He runs up two floors and opens the door to the third floor. Every door in the next hallway here is closed, except one. Four doors ahead of him, on the left side of the hallway, Ajax sees an open door with light pouring out of it, illuminating the hallway.

Multiple contradictory instincts interfere constructively and destructively, turning his once stable mind into a jumbled mess of consciousness… He understands that this is too easy and thinks that if this is the right synchronicity, Shaula will be here in this room with the door left wide open. It’s too good to be true, it’s obviously a trap or something. He walks slowly to the open door.

~

Pale skin.

On the bed lies a naked woman on her back. A tall woman with long, chestnut hair. Her head is placed on a clean, white pillow. Her skin has no blemishes, no irregularities, no injuries... if only this were true. What was once lightly tanned and vibrant with a slight, pink hue is pale, too pale to be considered alive.

Her eyes are closed. She appears to have been crying; the sunlight flowing from the window a few feet behind her headboard shows the sparkle of tears. On her face is a trail of blood that appears to have fallen from her mouth down her chin. Why was she spitting blood? On her chest is a large, bloody opening, right through her sternum.

A trail of blood flows from that break in her chest down to her abdomen where her fingers are interlocked, her hands resting together. A large pool of blood appears on the floor in front of her bed. On the bed itself is a large, burgundy stain under her body and streaking over the edge of the bed itself.

Spilled blood.

At the door is Ajax. He doesn’t register any of this, at least he tries not to. He has walked to this open door with some caution, some optimism and some vitality. Now, he sees the woman, his beloved friend Shaula, prepared as if this room is the site of her wake.

“Sh...Shau...la”

Ajax slowly walks into the room, dumbfounded. Her corpse starts to register to him. He runs towards her and holds her body in his hands. He softly cradles her as he tries to wake her up. As he tries to accept his loss. His hand touches her face and he feels her warmth. He forgets that he hasn’t been able to feel warmth the entire time he’s been here until now.

He starts crying as he holds her. He starts crying in pain, in anguish, in true sorrow at the death of his friend. He tries not to blame himself. He sits on the floor in front of her bed, crying to himself. As his tears flow continuously, he starts to feel drowsy. Ajax continues to hold her hand as he slowly falls asleep.

With his head resting at the edge of Shaula’s funeral bed, he continues to hold her hand. He is asleep as the wound in Shaula’s chest starts to slowly close. He doesn’t notice her skin start to slowly return to its living color, as her hand clutches even more tightly to Ajax’s. As her chest fully closes, her heart restores itself. It starts beating again. Faster and faster. Faster and faster.

Her eyes open. Once again they recognize the foreign ceiling above her. But this time, she woke up to someone holding her hand. She looks towards her hand and sees Ajax sitting there. He’s fast asleep. He’s warm. As he sleeps, she feels vitality circulating her body, as if coming from the hand of her beloved Ajax.

“...Ajax?”

Ajax doesn’t answer her. She doesn’t try to wake him up but she notices that she is completely naked. Of course, even more surprising is the blood on her body and on the floor. She looks over to the door of the room and finds two men standing there. She recognizes both of them. Both of them are men that she despises. They’re standing there in shock at this turn of events.

Shaula truly should have been dead. But, right now, her injuries are healed. Without speaking, they enter the room and close the door behind them.