Chapter 89: Love between Living and the Dead

Amphere Harrison

I haven’t seen Nox, or Necross  in any part of this place. I swear that if I see him, I’ll stab him a hundred times in the face! This blasphemy, which is just in front of me, is an honor-less crap he fabricated! He’s using dead knights to fight for his own selfish cause. Including Estoff’s…And Rudolf.

It seems like Nox’s magical abilities doesn’t follow any rules. I’m pretty sure my best friend got a very good burial, but here he is, holding his broadsword on his back.  Unlike the other dragon knights, he was riding a dragon that he does not have a contract with; he’s riding on the zombie Magma Dragon Gilliard. Moreover, he managed to summon a lot of corpses this time!

The final war has been started. Explosions everywhere, swords clanging, endless swishes of projectiles flying all over the atmosphere; this is a true battlefield. The only sound I consider to be audible as of this moment is Airi’s telepathic flirty sentences. In times like this, everyone goes frenzy and smash what they are able to hit, block what they are able to endure, and evade what they can out speed. This is why our formation is scattered as much as possible, to avoid friendly fires. The only ones who stick on the ship firing projectiles from afar are General Holster and his Gum Dragon.

Both sides have their disadvantages; we live humans and dragons are fully equipped with shield plates, and the undead team can only die if you managed to hit the black heart they’re holding dear. I proved it when Airi’s wings glowed neon blue and went super light speed, slashing everyone who blocks her path! The zombie dragons who are supposed to die due to burnt internal organs never did, and their knights are even moving even if we already cut their lower half!

Luckily, we managed to take down three dragon knights by hitting their black hearts with Airi’s photon wings. When their knights evaporated, their dragons followed, even if they were not even hit by our attack. Seeing this, the other knights followed my example and only targeted the black hearts they’re holding.

Our ratio is one-is-to-ten, which gives the undead army a certain upper hand. I only managed to take down three, and these seven dragons are giving me a lot of trouble already. Because of their crazy long range attacks such as fireballs, coconut shells, and giant marbles, I commanded Airi to focus on evading. But then my Chimeratech Dragon deployed gatling laser guns from her wings, and endlessly fired at the thin air. Those laser projectiles are apparently homing, and it made a lot of hits to the two Marble Dragon and Fairy Dragon that has been pestering us!

“Attention all dragon knights!” It was the captain of our airship speaking! “The ship has been breached. We need backup from at least one dragon knight!”

I checked General Holster, and he was really preoccupied by the zombie knights and dragons in front of him! Since I’m the nearest dragon knight as of the moment, I commanded Airi to boost as fast as she can away from our enemies, and towards our ship! If our airship has been taken down, we will have a hard time winning this war!

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I succeeded in shaking off our chasers and entered the emergency door under our flying ship. There, I reverted Airi back to her humanoid form and we rushed towards the affected area. The penetrated area was the crew’s cabin, and there, I saw about three to five soldiers lying on the ground, completely lifeless. There were no blood, but there are claw marks and even gigantic stab holes on their body, as if the attack they took melted thousands of their cells. And then we heard a loud scream.

“STOP THIS AT ONCE!”

Airi and I rushed to the source of the voice but when we reached it, we were completely stupefied. In front of us, is a man who has his left arm coated with dark flame aura and his right is mechanical. He was slowly stepping forward to the woman in front of him, who is blocking his way towards killing those scared guards behind the woman.

It was Rudolf’s corpse. And that woman, who was protecting the helpless humans behind her, was Kyrie. It was a reunion of couples; husband and wife, which destroyed the boundary of the living and the dead.

“Rudolf, listen to me!” Kyrie cried. “I know you’re still there!”

His husband’s corpse readied his Chaos Claws to dissect his own wife! In the nick of time, I went forward with a blinding speed, and blocked the black flame claws with my photon broadsword!

“Kyrie!” Airi bolted forward and went to her friend’s side. “That’s not Rudolf anymore!  That’s just a corpse of your deceased loved one who was being used as a puppet! Totally!”

“N-No!” Kyrie shook her head, making her tears sprinkle all over the place. “I can still hear him! We’re still connected!”

Suddenly, Rudolf’s corpse opened it’s mouth, and revealed his black heart which was held by the metallic arm! “Activating Vesryn Pul-!!!”

With my incredible reflex and using a little power of my Eye of Deus, I materialized a Deus Ex Machina arm which punched my dead best friend straight to his face just before he could control Kyrie and have a Chaos Dragon wreaking havoc inside. The zombie flew a few meters away from the ground, but he gained his balance and landed on his feet!

“Amphy!” Airi shouted from my behind. “I have a totally stupid idea! Use your Eye of Deus and stare at him intently!”

I never had the chance to process the last words of his last sentence, so I didn’t manage to question her for that. I really trust Airi that in desperate times, I always follow her orders since she has a lot more combat experience than me. But now she’s saying a stupid idea, and I did it anyway.

There was a burst of red light covering my best friend’s corpse as soon as I activated the Eye of Deus. I turned away and looked at Airi, who was holding Kyrie’s chest. Airi had her V-symbol glowing crimson red! Is this one of her new power that Vesryn gave her?

“Geez, totally! Stay looking at Rudolf, you idiot!”

I did what my commander said once again. This time, Rudolf’s black heart, started to be engulfed in some cement-like substance, as if it was converting itself into a mini sculpture. Then, the outer layer cracked and bursts like a broken egg, and revealed a pinkish crimson beating heart! Just what the heck is going on!?

“Push his heart back to his chest!” Airi commanded once again.

I rushed forward and redirected his mechanical arm which was holding the beating heart back to his chest. As I installed it successfully, there was a blinding light, and I felt that my body flew away and rolled over the floor.

And then when I opened my eyes, Rudolf ceases to become an undead. Rudolf looked at his left and right arm, and then looked at me, Airi, and finally his wife, Kyrie.

“Kyrie…” Rudolf had his voice shaking.