Chương 126: CHAPTER 123 - I'll Fly to My Dad!

Black rain soaked the rubble of the Mu region. A reddish halo, like a dense fog, populated the wasteland. A disgusting, organic stench violently assailed the nostrils of any living being. A large black blade was embedded in the rock, soaked in blood, with the owner's limb still gripping the hilt. The muscle fibers trembled at intervals, trying to shake the firm fingers, until they crystallized before vanishing like dust in the breeze.

A boy panted, barely holding his shoulder, while dense drops of blood and sweat dripped from his chin, coloring the dust at his feet. His chest swelled at intervals as he tried not to further bend his weak, mangled legs. He raised his gaze, trying to frame the figure in the red fog: it was a colossal beast the color of blood, rich with monstrous organs and appendages on its arms, back, chest, and flanks. A heavy roar followed every step, accompanied by the sound of flesh squelching.

The beast finally stopped, staring at him from the three holes in its skull, now identical to a dented helm. It raised the putrescent, glossy mass on its arm, bringing it onto its shoulders as if it were a blade. A luminous glow reflected on the metallic tissue, blinding the boy for an instant.

"Noel…" His face shifted, lacerated by a grimace as his tissues rebuilt themselves, vessel by vessel, nerve by nerve, and fiber by fiber. Lance Klint rose, coughing violet crystals and blood. He didn't take a step toward his blade. He continued to stare at that creature that was once his friend. The air had become acrid and heavy, like a warm, infesting miasma. Lance lowered his eyes for an instant, framing his watch, fractured but still functioning.

"The emergency dose… I can force another one, but if I could… If I could give it to him…" He shook his head, perhaps meeting his gaze.

"Noel! I still have a dose! We can…" He had no time to realize it before the figure appeared before him, imposing in presence. Lance's ribs pierced his lungs as he flew through the debris.

"Was I kicked away? When?" Blood gushed from his mouth faster than he could formulate thoughts. His back impacted the concrete, shattering it as he changed direction. His eyes registered the minimal variations in the rock, from cracks to grooves, as he continued to crash.

"Noel… Am I really this weak?" His flight finally stopped inside a fragile apartment building, which ended up collapsing on him. Human debris submerged Lance, trapping him in the dark.

"Will I really have to kill a friend of mine… But with Grayson it went differently…" He exerted force on the slab burying him, lifting it to feel the freezing breeze scrape his already martyred face. A rusty shard had pierced part of his right eye, but he didn't care. He gently brought his fingers to his face, tearing away the fragment with all its nerves.

"If I used the syringe now, perhaps…" As his iris regenerated, wrapped in vapor, Lance saw the beast marching toward him. With a saber strike, Noel cut the air, sweeping away the fog. The wind pushed away the boy's garments, now equipped only with the mantle. He brought his gaze to the black bracelet, feeling ever more feeble.

"This presence… At this rate it will quickly rise to the rank of Teufel…" Under the masked sun, an iron blade gleamed for a single instant. A mechanical snap, and Gloriosus extended, reaching almost the boy's length. A soft light freed itself from the edge, illuminating the boy's damp face.

"I have to stop you…" Noel halted, exhaling burning vapor from the numerous fissures arranged on his flanks. Lance tightened his grip on the sword, bringing it before him. He threw down the tears, the snot, and the blood, and closed his eyes. The breeze moved a solitary rock, piled among the wreckage arranged between the two of them. It fell, and as soon as its thud was lost in the wind, the two vanished. A violent force shook the region as the irons born from Hel clashed, trying to cleave their adversaries.

The rock beneath them began to crumble as violet lightning bolts cut through the air. Lance was the first to lose his footing, being hurled away. He quickly regained his weapon, making it plummet downward against Noel's limb. Among the sparks, Lance rotated his leg, violently kicking the creature in the chest. A grim creak accompanied the sound as filaments appeared from the black relic. In a few moments, the revolver reappeared in the boy's hands.

"This mantle, together with Lachesi, reconstructs every object that belongs to me… With at least one shot I can…" He aimed, immediately detonating the bullet. The island trembled, crossed by the violent shockwave. Noel's abdomen had cracked but was still intact. With a savage cry, he leaped into the air, seizing Lance by the face.

"Not even Supplicium can wound him?!" The boy rotated the blade between his fingers, embedding it in the folds of Noel's neck. The metal, after a few tugs of muscle, broke completely. The shards cut Lance's face as he plummeted to the ground. He felt his lungs explode, compressed by the blood that had invaded his chest.

"I'm losing strength… Will I die here?" At the mere thought of the looming darkness and who inhabited such darkness, a new strength pervaded him. The boy forcefully grabbed Noel's still anthropomorphic arm, squeezing it with all his might. Cracks began to form on the blood-red, granitic skin as the boy slowly managed to rise.

"I can't let her come back…" With a yank, Noel's arm flew behind him. The energy gushing from the bulbous wound began to be devoured by the boy's palm, which was now managing to rebel." Vergehen… Siphon…" Now the two struggled, trying to crush each other. Both their wounds began to regenerate as they fiercely crossed limbs in an attempt to overturn each other. Lance tried to land a knee strike. The air cracked, along with the rock, yet the knee couldn't push that monster's abdomen.

The beast's grip grew more violent, shredding the boy's joint. He clenched his jaws, tinging his teeth with blood. With all his strength, he launched himself into the air, tearing off his leg.

"Fly away!" Lance brutally kicked Noel in the face, hurling him into the rubble. He landed on the ground, vomiting and panting. The fetid taste of his organs spread through his mouth as he felt the offal stirring in his abdomen.

"I must not give in…" As he tried to rise, he found himself flying through the air, with his intestines desperately trying not to be pushed out of his body. He clearly saw the digestive tract writhing until his back impacted the rock. His vision tinged red with black dots, managing only to glimpse the drops of blood sliding toward the suspended rubble.

"I… When…" Lance detached, resuming his fall toward the void, when he was grabbed by the throat by Noel himself. The beast hurled him, making him crash against the various buildings suspended in the air. Lance's body pierced concrete and iron, losing more and more pieces.

"I don't understand anything anymore… Everything hurts…" His body shattered a window, with a long rusty iron bracket piercing his eye, emerging from the back of his head. He found himself lying in the gray sand, staring at the sky. A disgusting nausea took possession of his flesh. Lance rose with difficulty, staggering, now almost blind.

"My body is trying to regenerate…" He grabbed the iron bar, tearing it away along with his eye. He began to tremble as blood and tears gushed onto his filthy face. His sight slowly returned, glimpsing the figure of the beast, bathed in his own blood from head to toe. They stopped to look at each other again, with Lance struggling to stand. He licked his lips, trying to swallow, but the result was only yet another retch. He moved a step, breathing heavily.

"At this rate, either he'll kill me or the Overload will… It's impossible…" A sketch of a smile appeared on Lance's face, immediately mutating into thunderous laughter, punctuated at intervals by a scratching cough.

"I tried! I tried to save you, Noel… But I'm weak!" With open, flayed fingers, he grabbed his watch, staring with tearful eyes at his old companion. He squeezed his wrist, crushing the instrument against his skin.

"But if I can't save you…" A crack spread through the void of the singularity, accompanied by the grinding of his teeth.

"Might as well kill you!" His tears shattered against the metal shards and sparks of the watch. The Lambdite needle penetrated his skin, injecting what little remained. Black and white lightning scythed the earth as two yellowish eyes, vaguely distorted, appeared from the vapor and dust. Lance stamped his foot, finding himself once again face to face with Noel. In his hand, the great Imago reappeared, accompanied by a faint tremor that seemed to spread through the air and earth.

"I… I'm sorry…" The beast emitted no sound, merely swinging its sharp limbs against the boy. The black, broken blade pierced his arm, making dense, opaque violet blood gush. Lance held the blade, looking down. With force, he hurled Noel away, splattering slime everywhere. He darted too, reaping the ground as the beast's bones and the relic clashed in a sea of sparks and liquid. They exchanged slashes, scratching only each other while behind them the region was minced.

A monochromatic flash crossed the island, dividing it in two, all while the two battled inches from each other. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

"My muscles are fraying. I don't even know how I'm holding it…" With both hands, he grabbed the greasy hilt of the blade, making it shine with black and violet flashes. With a terrifying cry, he released a violent slash of dark energy, tearing the creature's flank. The air grew burning, kindling sporadic blazes around them. Noel stabbed the ground, raising an entire block of rock. With grace and lightness, he hurled it at Lance, sending him along with dozens of fragments against another floating atoll.

He drove his fingers into the rock, stopping as he furiously kicked the ground behind him. With a cry, he launched himself forward, impacting the beast again. With all his strength, Lance managed to drag Noel, bringing him to the edge of the abyss. Behind them, a furrow extended immeasurably." Vergehen …" Lightning spread like lapilli from his shoulders and flanks, illuminating his golden eyes. The beast pressed its palms against the blade, swelling the pulsating veins beneath the scaly skin.

The ground beneath them began to waver as hisses and cries mixed in cacophony." TIEFEN EINBRAND!" From the black metal, a series of explosions spread, followed by a rapid sequence of small slashes. They accumulated where the shoulder meets the chest, brutally lacerating any tissue beneath. Noel's arm was the first thing to plummet into the void, followed by its owner, accompanied by a generous gush of slime. Lance watched him slide among the dark clouds, panting with blood staining his chin.

"Noel…" He slid to the ground, lying in the clumpy mass of sweat, blood, and dust. Imago vanished, transforming into a crystalline fog. Floating debris cast its shadow on the boy. For an instant, his voice tried to emerge from his throat, scraping its walls. He felt his eyes swell before his vision became distorted, as if he were looking through wet glass.

"What other choice did I have…" Lance sobbed, forcefully squeezing a clump of stones in his damp fingers.

"WHAT ELSE COULD I HAVE DONE?!" With force, he struck the ground, splattering blood and filth along his flank. He brought his left hand to his face, greasing it with snot and tears, while the other remained resting on the cracks.

"Jude… I don't…" An icy breeze shook his senses, accompanied by a constant, grim hiss.

"Lament later, if you survive, obviously…" A familiar echo of a very ringing voice resounded in his head, raising all the hairs on his body. Lance shot to his feet, opening his eyes as much as possible.

"That's not Eve's voice… Could it be that she…" The ground fractured, with his fingers tightening around the smooth, glossy flesh, like a cuttlebone. Noel almost gored Lance, pushing him into the ground as he continued his run through the region, shattering every obstacle.

"He still has strength after that blow?!" Lance freed his right hand, clenching his fingers. His index and middle fingers pierced Noel's neck. With a grunt, Lance pulled away his fingers, carrying with them a net of elastic vessels and venules. A violet rain irrigated everything around. It sizzled on the concrete and on his skin, raising a vague condensation. The beast took the boy, kicking him away. Lance got back on his feet, panting.

His mouth had filled with ferrous drool, and thin black dots decorated his visual field.

"What do those words mean? Laure should be dead…" Gloriosus manifested again, making its engine roar as it doubled in size. A warm jet moved Lance's hair, damp with sweat. He tried to approach when, suddenly, the beast began to writhe. The flesh on its back swelled into a horrid pustule, emitting jets of purple fog.

"So that's how he saved himself from the fall…" A fetid, oily stench invaded the atmosphere, devouring the senses along with the grim noise of bones shattering and piercing the skin. Lance tightened his grip as the shadow of a massive wing expanded above him. From the crooked feathers dripped organic residues, soaked in blood and serum. The two took a step, immediately followed by a thunderous roar. Lance found himself impaled with the blade stuck between his abdomen and chest, soaked in his companion's blood.

In flight, they shattered more and more islands, crossing the debris, letting their bodies be torn and impaled.

"Move…" Lance grabbed Noel's massive neck, slowly accumulating the Frequency in his fingertips. A series of darts exploded, opening various holes. In less than an instant, the mass of flesh regenerated, extending into a second cylindrical mouth with spiral teeth. The boy's shoulder was lacerated, along with the bones beneath, reduced to white powder.

"FUCK!" Lance managed to extract the sword, only to feel Noel's flesh pierce his abdomen, slowly digging through his innards. A blaze of red globules freed itself from the jaws, with such ferocity as to carry away the tears stuck to his cheeks." Feel his pain… Feel your pain and set yourself free…" Laure's voice whistled in his memory, making the beast, which was tearing bones and fat to reach the heart, slow. A dark, opaque crystalline mass began to form around his left eye, along with others on his arms and legs.

A tangle of screaming voices swirled in his mind, injecting his irises with blood. They screamed of pity never given, of hatred all too freely bestowed, and of love always severed." Vergehen …" The opaque accumulation detonated, piercing them both. Lance tore away those minerals, releasing a fog of coal into the air. In his palm, a crystal shard was already aimed at Noel's abdomen. Lachesi managed to manifest for a brief instant, engulfing the remains of his sword in a black patina.

"… Opferbereitschaft!" His life force united with a particular voice in that tumult of the dead, mixing. The crystal pierced Noel full-on, opening a hole large enough in his armor to expose the core. Lance stared at that translucent mass of vague reddish color and gritted his teeth. A hiss escaped his lips as he sank his weapon into the sphere. The two plummeted to the ground, opening the blanket of clouds and shaking the landscape. Lance was the first to rise, lost among mechanical carcasses and organic residues.

He rested his gaze on his arm not protected by Lachesi, now equipped with a certain glassy halo, as if it were becoming crystal itself.

"By now I'm sure… That was Laure's ability…" He managed to move his fingers, accompanied by a creak.

"But is it possible? Can a Meta really use others' techniques? And then there wasn't just her... There was also my Frequency …" He snapped his head to the side, avoiding the mass of iron hurled at him. The object thrown was what remained of Gloriosus.

"If I don't destroy the core, I won't be able to give him peace." The beast emerged, gushing blood from every pore. Its grotesque wing fell to the ground, first becoming pulp, then crystals. Noel remained motionless, staring at him as pools and pools of blood accumulated at his feet, merging into a swamp." Remember his pain and free him… Fly free, Lance Klint!!" He could almost feel that woman's sweet, metallic breath pressing on his neck, with her tail caressing his leg and her claws in his hair.

Lance swallowed, smiling as he extended his palm.

"Noel… I'm taking you home." An invisible ribbon extended between the two almost instantly. As soon as it made contact with the scaly skin, a revolt broke out in Lance's mind.

"Papa, please!"

"Mommy… Mommy, don't leave!"

"It's right and just… You're bad, and the story isn't for the bad ones!" In that turmoil of voices, every word was a blade intent on lacerating both mind and flesh. Pain and remorse grew, expanding into a storm.

"Don't worry… I promised you." Lance's hand was stripped of flesh and muscle, reduced to a slender skeleton. Despite this, he managed to grab a small hand. A hand wet with liquor, burning under fresh wounds. A hand much smaller than his. Lance came to his senses, bleeding from every pore of his body. His entire body was tinged red, even his glassy arm. He staggered, trying to keep his eyes open. Before him, Noel had opened his arms, with his fingers turned toward himself.

"Thank you… Lance… One last effort." Before the boy could respond, Noel pierced his own chest, lacerating himself with a cry to expose his cracked core. An incandescent fog enveloped his body.

"Do it, Lance!" The boy clenched his fists, reddening his knuckles and almost fracturing his arm. With a cry, the boy dashed. Copious tears gushed from his bloodied eyes. With every step, he felt his body grow heavier, and his heart accelerate. After those words, reflected in his eyes, there was no longer a beast or a monster of Hel, but his friend. Noel Ryes was right in front of him, with all their memories behind him.

Lance leaped high, projecting his shadow onto his friend's face, perhaps smiling beneath the mass of organic armor. Their faces close together didn't change expression, yet Lance hoped Noel wasn't smiling." Freude des Triumphs!" A gigantic, pointed mass of black and violet crystals pierced Noel, expanding behind him like a river in flood. Soon, a colossal mountain occupied the region, defying the distorted sky. Lance fell to the ground, vomiting blood.

He felt his whole body tremble, his lungs swell irregularly, and the violent beating in his ears. Crack"I… I…" As soon as that sound of shattered glass stopped repeating in his memory, Lance managed to murmur something.

"Might as well kill you!" He vomited again, tearing off his fingertips by scraping against the rock.

"Lance, it's all right… It had to be this way!" A thunderous laugh shook the air. The boy immediately turned his head, smiling with lips dirty with drool. His heart calmed for that instant, suspended in that little parenthesis of hope. He felt as if his brain turned into pulp, slowly and freely leaking out of his nose, mouth, and ears. His skin felt a strange prickly sensation, and a strange daze distorted his vision.

"Am I not a murderer?" The boy adjusted his vision, hoping to see his friend again. Yet, to welcome him, there was not the desolate, bare clearing of Icarus, but a sea of golden sand and a burning sun in a sky devoid of clouds. He felt something wet his foot and, turning, discovered he was on the shore of an oasis. Trees never seen before, with glossy, colorful leaves, shaded strange beige and white birds, intent on dipping their beaks into the crystalline water.

Lance turned pale, moaning and banging his head into the sand again and again, murmuring disconnected words disturbed by the verses. A person provided him shelter, bowing before him.

"No… No…" He glimpsed the hole in his chest and the olive skin and burst into tears again. He remained with his face inches from the grains, holding his hair with hands covered in crystals.

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry! Forgive me… Forgive me!" Lance chewed the sand, unable to look at Noel, or what remained of him before him. The figure brought a hand to his shoulder, whispering something Lance couldn't hear. Destiny had willed that, for the boy, only the strength to shed tears would remain.

"Forgive me, Dad, but I will have to share our story…" In that illusion that had brought them who knows where, Lance could only taste his tears and the sound that slowly filled his wounds.