Chapter 38 – Until Fate Brings Us Back Together

Lunar Flare struck the already bleeding and exhausted Amy. The white light slammed her into the ground, further breaking her battered body before setting her ablaze.

Amy screamed and roared in agony as the flames began devouring her body. Her skin paled before turning a sickly purple as it blistered and cracked. The more the cold flames spread through her, the less she could feel, her entire body growing numb until, after what felt like a full minute, she finally stopped breathing, yet the flames continued to consume her.

You have defeated [Human Assassin Lv. 23]

Battle Tokens earned: 200

Ignoring her, Maximus rushed toward Oscar, who lay collapsed on the ground while Embi hovered anxiously above him, emitting a low, distressed hum.

His back was riddled with dozens of stab wounds, and the ground beneath him was soaked through with blood.

Maximus paled, his heart tightening as he cast Focused Treatment over the cluster of wounds before carefully turning Oscar over. He quickly uncorked the strongest healing potion he had and forced it into his mouth, gripping his jaw and massaging his throat to make him swallow.

“I can… swallow on my own, you muppet,” Oscar muttered weakly, managing a faint, crooked smile. “Properly done myself in this time, eh?” He whispered.

“Don’t speak, damn you!” Maximus snapped, his voice cracking as he poured more potion over the wounds, trying to accelerate the healing from both inside and out.

Before he could do anything more, the ground suddenly shook, and Andre screamed just as Felix finished off the last jackal.

“Toby, get the fuck up! Amy and Brock are dead!” Andre roared as shadows beneath his feet twisted violently, slithering across the ground at terrifying speed before merging into the corpses of Amy and Brock.

With a pulse of dark energy, both bodies jerked upright, screaming in unnatural agony.

“Shut your traps and help me, you useless shits!” Andre raged as he barely managed to parry Maria’s relentless assault.

Brock’s corpse turned toward Maximus and began to lunge, only for the Blood King to suddenly hurl his broken body forward, biting into Brock’s leg with savage fury.

Bone snapped audibly as Brock collapsed, only to rise again moments later, his missing limb replaced by a writhing, shadowy appendage like liquid ink.

He turned and descended upon the wounded wolf, slamming his fists down repeatedly over its head with brutal force.

The wolf growled, lashing back with its blood-covered claw and sinking its fangs into Brock’s neck as the two monsters grappled wildly on the ground, each tearing into the other without restraint.

Maximus froze for only a heartbeat as he took in the chaotic, blood-soaked scene before acting. He summoned Static Vines and lashed them toward Amy, who still stood disoriented, struggling to regain control of her own movement.

The vines wrapped tightly around her torso, binding her arms as lightning surged through them.

She screamed violently, her body convulsing as the shadow within her rippled, nearly tearing free from the corpse. Lightning is effective against this type of dark magic… Good! It works as it should… Maximus’s eyes sharpened as he drew Brock’s falchion, channeling Static Strike into the blade.

He bent his lupine legs and launched himself high into the air before bringing the weapon down in a decisive arc.

Swish.

The strike cleaved cleanly through Amy’s reanimated body, splitting it apart with brutal efficiency. As the corpse collapsed, the shadows erupted violently, writhing as they tried to force the flesh back together.

Maximus exhaled sharply and cast Static Surge, dispersing the shadows with crackling arcs of energy, breaking their hold completely.

Without hesitation, he turned toward Felix, whose face was flushed deep crimson, pupils white, and veins bulging along his temples as he roared in fury while fighting alongside Sprout against the shadow spider and lion.

Felix leapt onto the lion’s back and began stabbing repeatedly, each strike freezing deeper into the creature as ice spread rapidly through its shadowy form.

“He used Enrage. Damn fool… Why is nobody listening to me…” Maximus muttered as he Gale Stepped to Sprout’s side. “Can you handle this fine?” He asked as Sprout squealed happily.

Sprout had just bound the massive black spider with its vines and was attempting to crush its torso. “Let me help you!” Maximus shouted as he morphed his arms into those of a bear.

He gripped the sword with both paws, barely holding onto it, before slashing down with overwhelming ursine strength.

Sprout pulled its vines back just as the blade descended, cleaving the spider cleanly in two.

The lightning still coursing through the weapon surged into the creature’s split body just as Embi darted in and released a rain of fireballs, setting the remains ablaze. The spider writhed, still somehow alive for a few moments, before the flames finally consumed it completely.

The last beast to fall was the lion, which a frenzied Felix had stabbed countless times before its entire form froze solid and shattered into jagged, frozen fragments of necrotic flesh.

“Fuck… fuck… fuck…” Andre shouted, his scythe and severed arm twitching on the ground, yet he showed no sign of pain.

“What a fucking creep,” Maria spat, blood dripping from her lips as her entire body slowed from the strain of overusing her skill and accumulated wounds.

“I’ll remember this… All of this!” Andre roared as shadows from the fallen minions surged toward him, swallowing his severed arm and scythe in one swell surge.

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His arm reformed, though this time, however, it appeared thinner, more ethereal, like condensed shadow rather than flesh.

He staggered over and pulled Toby up, who was still pale and gasping for breath. “If it wasn’t for the meddling of that damn… I would’ve ended you here. Next time, you bastard!” Toby screamed as he finally managed to summon a large ethereal white serpent.

Andre leapt onto it, grabbing onto Toby as the serpent coiled and then shot forward like a living projectile, vanishing toward the Wildlands at terrifying speed.

***

Maria and Felix collapsed as their skills faded, while Sprout rushed toward Oscar. Embi hovered above him, wheezing erratically.

Maximus ignored the Blood King, who lay in a pool of blood that slowly fused back into it with Brock’s corpse pinned beneath him. The beast twitched and growled weakly, which at least meant he was still alive.

Maximus cast Rejuvenation again and forced Oscar to drink more potion when suddenly the moon rippled, sending a wave of pale light across the land.

The light enveloped Oscar like a warm, gentle blanket, and his body slowly began to turn translucent. “What is going on?!” Maximus shouted as he rose to his feet, turning just in time to see the same thing happening to Felix.

“Felix, what is this?! What’s happening?!” Maximus shouted urgently.

Felix pushed himself up onto his knees and muttered, “Our time has elapsed, it seems… We’re being taken to the second stage. What happened to Oscar?!” Felix gasped as he noticed Oscar’s unmoving body being taken by the light.

“He wasn’t paying attention and got stabbed multiple times. I’ve tried to heal him. Please make sure he gets the potion as soon as you arrive. He might still make it!” Maximus explained quickly, his voice unsteady.

“God damn it… Don’t worry, I’ll make sure that idiot lives, or I’ll hunt him down in the afterlife myself!” Felix shouted as his body vanished in a flash of light.

“May fate guide us to meet again in this life, my friends…” Maximus said solemnly as he stood there, heart racing, thoughts spiraling. Did I do enough? Will he survive? Have I failed again? Will it always end like this, unable to protect those I fight beside?

Tears slipped down from his blue eyes as he turned and walked weakly back toward Maria, Embi trailing behind him with a weak hum and even Sprout letting out a soft, subdued squeal.

“Are you hurt anywhere?” Maximus asked as he knelt beside Maria, who lay staring silently at the moon above.

“I just pushed too far. I’ll be fine. What about your friends?” She asked quietly.