Chapter VI: A Dream or a Surreal Nightmare
The slanting rays of the setting sun gave a warm orange tinge to the sky, casting a long shadow on the ground.
The two seemed to enjoy watching Khalid doze off inside the carriage as they passed through the trees and the craggy hills outside the well-known prosperous empire of Ammyrs.
No voices or snoring could be heard, only the harmonic singing of the birds and the neighing of the horses that were pulling the carriage they were riding in, along with the coachman.
Suddenly, the carriage stopped in the middle of the island as soon as they arrived at some unknown place outside the empire.
Erwin looked outside the window to see what had happened when the cold breeze of the wind slowly embraced his body. Inside, Reinhardt quickly caught Khalid in his arms as he fell onto his seat.
They immediately felt a heavy aura as the silence consumed the entire place.
Alert, Erwin slowly drew the long, sharpened sword as he carefully observed the scene, realizing that the coachman was no longer there and had seemingly vanished into thin air.
While searching the area, a sudden shadow attacked him from behind, which he quickly blocked.
"ARGH!"
Erwin screamed, his face contorting with rage.
It was the coachman who had just riding their carriage earlier.
*SIZZLE~*
When he stabbed it with a claymore, the figure transformed into a cloud of smoke, making Erwin's eyes widen. Seeing it, Erwin immediately rushed towards the carriage where he had left the two, but before he could take another step-BOOM!
The carriage exploded with Reinhardt carrying the unconscious Khalid in his arms.
"We have been tricked!"
Reinhardt blurted in anger, which was written all over his face.
They both looked at the man wearing a full black leather coat that covered his face with a shawl, swaying in the cool wind of the afternoon sunset. By his clothing alone you could already tell that he was an assassin from the Ammyrs Empire.
"Mi-Milord?!"
Erwin's eyes widened, while his eyeballs trembled as he saw Khalid's veins slowly turning purple on his pale body.
A sudden memory then flashed before his eyes, where Khalid had simply drunk a bowl of soup with the coachman. He remembered the vicious look in his eyes, not realizing until now that he was a nefarious rat from the empire who undoubtedly puts poison in Khalid's food.
Realizing the truth, Erwin's face gloom as he emitted a dark reddish aura surrounding his body.
"How careless am I?..."
He mumbled as he wrapped Khalid's body in his cape.
"He will be dying soon. It's either give him to me or I kill you both."
The assassin briefly spoke, his voice was stern as he waved the bottle of antidote in his hands.
"..."
Seeing the assassin's cocky attitude, Reinhardt gradually rose to his feet, carrying Khalid in his right arm while the other gripped the hefty axe tightly, as a wave of seething rage warped his features.
"NO ONE CAN COMMAND ME."
He then tightly holds Khalid's body as it starts to turn cold and much paler than before.
The assassin smiled mockingly, provoking the two, before he formed a sign with his hand, casting a spell.
"Dividere..."
Just then, the one person they had been facing turned into a passel of doppelgangers in just a second.
The assassin then tried to snatch the unconscious Khalid away from Reinhardt, using the illusion he had created, which Reinhardt tried his best to avoid.
"NO ONE CAN LAY ANY HANDS ON OUR LORD AS LONG AS I AM BREATHING!"
Reinhardt exclaimed with his sonorous, rough voice.
He continuously avoids all the attacks before he puts Khalid down on the sand to prevent the poison from flowing into his body.
"Re-Reinhardt...?"
He smiled in worry after hearing the little boy call out his name, leaving Khalid lying on the sand as they continued the fierce and unending battle with the assassin's doppelgangers.
*CLASH!*
*CLANGGGG!*
Loud noises could be heard from afar, with swords, axes, and knives crashing into one another.
Khalid eyes locked onto the sky, where a blanket of stars slowly appeared before him.
Oh! God! My body feels light.
Khalid felt as though he were frozen in place, his body paralyzed by an invisible weight.
"Haaaaaa~"
He then let out a weary sigh, sensing an unsettling lethargy wash over him. As if the poison coursing through his veins seemed to have a strange effect on his body.
As the wind started to blow a strong breeze, the caelum turned dark, covering the golden sunset in the sky. It was at that moment that Reinhardt pointed his axe from above, charging his energy into his weapon. Within a minute, his simply narrow, single-handed axe became much bigger and heavier in appearance, but the weapon itself didn't become a burden to attack the assassin who's hiding among his doppelgangers.
*R-R-RUMBLE!*
Just then, sonorous lightning and violent thunderstorms surround his axe and body.
"EL VIENTO SLASH!!"
Reinhardt shouted as he swung the axe on his thousand doppelgangers.
A compelling wind was then created by a massive tornado that surrounded the assassin, and in the blink of an eye, the doppelgangers turned into smoke, disappearing one by one as they were slashed by Reinhardt's axe, creating a great impact that fueled his anger for Khalid's safety. Meanwhile, Erwin used it as an opportunity to move toward the assassin, who must have injured himself from Reinhardt, as a red liquid with an iron-like smell dripped onto the sand.
The fight lasted until the assassin lost all his strength, leaving the three of them in complete exhaustion. However, not long after that, Erwin pointed his sword toward him, who was having a hard time balancing himself.
"Sword of Justice, Lluvia..."
He mumbled as he carried the sword that emitted a bluish-dark aura, and within a second, a blue-lightened blade rained down upon him where he and the rest of his doppelgangers were standing.
The assassin tried to distance himself as he fell onto their trap, avoiding the crowd of his dying doppelgangers while holding his other arms full of scratches and wounds that seemed to be injured and bleeding.
He was just about to charge and strike back with his last bit of mana when his eyes suddenly widened, his face painted with shock as he saw Khalid slowly get up from the sand where Reinhardt had left him.
"Impossible!"
The assassin couldn't believe his eyes as the purplish veins in Khalid's face and body had vanished before his eyes, as if it had never been there.
He looked at Khalid blankly, lost in his thoughts as he was fully unaware of his surroundings, looking confused while the two distanced themselves. Just then, the ground shook, creating a big fract, as a gigantic Serpere appeared from behind, with its worm-like body and sharpened acanthus teeth that covered its entire mouth. The assassin, who was left oblivious, was completely devoured within a second who seemed to have been tempted by his blood.
When it was about to rise from the ground, a monstrous bird with the size of an airplane swooped down and devoured the Serpere. It continued to soar through the sky when, suddenly, it was snatched and consumed by a colossal sea monster lurking deep underwater, a creature greater in size than the two.
With its four massive crab claws, he tore the wings and limbs of the Rukh and ate it with its mouth as he rose in the sea.
Just like in the food web, a small and weak animal was bound to be eaten by a powerful predator, but at the top of the pyramid, it would end up as the meal of a much bigger and more powerful predator. That was the unending curse left by the nature, whether you are going to hunt for prey or be preyed.
The waves became bigger as it rose from underwater. It was an enormous sea monster named Gravis that lived beneath the ocean. With a spiky, heavy turtle shell, a long fish-like tail, and a spiky crab claw arm, his appearance was hideous-much scarier and tougher than any other monster.
"Milord!"
Erwin shouted as they tried to get Khalid away from the gravis.
Reinhardt swung his axe, cutting through the Gravis's acanthus arm. However, it seemed to have no effect, as the creature just let out a deafening roar, leaving Khalid in a supine position as the Gravis fought back with its long, spiky tail, which they swiftly avoided.
Khalid was calm as he blankly stared into the sky with a long, soulless expression in his eyes.
"Is it my time to rest?"
He mumbled and formed a smile on his lips.
As he looked down, Khalid saw thorns covering the Gravis's mouth with its acidic saliva, which must be the reason why the sea was colored in a toxic black.
Khalid had once again fallen into the pit of his listless desire, his hands and feet swaying in the air as the Gravis widely opened its mouth and slowly pulled him closer to its acanthus-acidic mouth.
He was about to close his eyes when he heard a feminine voice calling out for his name, which made his eyes widen. It's not Khalid De'l Urchtdorf, but rather the name he once wanted to erase from his mind.
Hyun... Lee Hyun...
A sweet, familiar, rosy voice has called, as if it seems to be caressing his face.
Survive...
As the voice continued to rang in his mind, it made him open his eyes in surprise, but as soon as he did, no one was there except for a vad Reinhardt who was carrying the gravis crab arm with a hostile glare, clenching his jaw.
"HOW DARE A FILTHY MONSTER LIKE YOU TRY TO EAT HIS HIGHNESS?!"
Reinhardt uses its cut arm and throws it in his direction, where it cuts the other arm of the Gravis and leaves Khalid floating in the air.
"Eck! Scary. Reinhardt's face is so scary!"
Khalid blurted as he tried to avoid Reinhardt's gaze, while Erwin cleverly threw and wrapped him with a long, thick rope that was supposed to be used in case of an emergency, not knowing that today would be the day it could be used.
Where do they even get the rope?
Khalid thought with a weird expression on his face.
The two knights ran back and forth as Erwin almost tripped on the sand while trying to catch Khalid, who was falling in their direction like an angel from above. However, just as he was about to land, the two missed their timing. Instead of landing in their arms, Khalid painfully hit the ground, with half of his body visible while the other half was buried in the fiery sand of the island, where the loud cracks of his bones could be heard.
"Milord!"
They shouted as they tried to get his upper body out of the sand.
As Reinhardt unburied him alive, Khalid sat down with his neck tilted 180 degrees while his arms and body covered in bruises.
I can't feel my bones anymore.
Khalid blankly stares from afar while the two shake him up in worry.
They tried to fix Khalid's head as it continued to fall from his neck, leaving the two enormously shocked upon seeing Khalid's purplish veins on his body disappeared. One by one, his wounds and scratches healed, and his broken bones slowly aligned with each other.
.
.
.
"Milord, is there something bothering you?"
Reinhardt spoke in worry while Erwin stood in stunned silence, his expression painted with disbelief as they feasted on the Gravis, which was a combination of rebellious knight seafood that was living underneath the sea.
"It tastes can't be compared to the other!'
Erwin burst into joy as he watched Khalid, expressionless, quietly chewing the Gravis crab arm, which made him wonder.
"Milord, is the food not to your liking?"
He curiously asks, which brings him back to his senses.
"No, it tastes quite delicious."
Khalid replied, forming a fake smile on his lips as he set the crab arm down on the sand and licked the meat left on his hands.
So bland, I can't even taste anything except for the corpses that I have eaten over the past few weeks.
Khalid stood up, wiping himself with a handkerchief handed to him by Reinhardt while looking up at a starry sky where the three moons emitted a midnight bluish light that was truly different from the world he once lived in.
I wonder why...
He added as he wiped off the saliva dripping out of his chin whenever he remembered the corpses he had devoured.
Khalid's attention was then caught by the sea as he heard the sparkling sound of the water, leaving him fascinated as it emitted a warm aura, making the place much warmer and more comforting, to the point that he was mesmerized to see how the water that was toxic black earlier has turned into a cold venetus ocean that fairly shines like the moons in the sky. It was a minute of derealization that made him feel warm inside.
Making him wondered if everything was left like a beautiful dream or will he wake up in this surreal nightmare.