The division stayed stunned as they processed the current situation. Haruo... Had died; Not on the battlefield, not mid-fight, but died when all of them were prepared and ready to fight. And yet, none of them ever expected to get attacked, especially in front of them. Rocky broke through the silence, falling on the hard snow as he gazed upon Haruo's corpse.
Leo clenched his teeth with all his might—Blood running from his mouth. He gave a disdainful glare toward the cloaked man, summoning his onyx saber and bringing it forth in his hand, baring its blade at Haruo's killer.
He didn't hesitate to charge forward and clash with the man; energy began to gather around them, damaging the area as they fought. The man gritted his teeth, kicking Leo in his abdomen. The force had launched him far from him, creating a massive gap between them.
Theodor and Tatiana joined their fight and attacked the man in perfect sync. Theodor thrust his spear at the cloaked man's chest; the man, in response, evaded his attack in a smooth motion, turning just slightly. The spear had connected with the ground. Theodor passed him and put all his weight forward, bending his spear and directing it toward the man.
He released the spear, making it snap at the man, injuring him in his waist.
Seeing the man in a stunned state, Tatiana went next after his brother and followed with a kick to the same spot the spear had struck. This time, he wasn't able to stay in place; he was launched to a nearby tree, gushing out blood from his mouth.
He couldn't stay any longer. The man stood up as quickly as he could and sprinted to his left before they could reach him. As he turned, he was met with a blade glaring down on his face.
He ducked before it could slice his head in half; despite not connecting with the man, it had cut the nearby trees cleanly. Isaac redirected his glare, his eyes glowing, and before the man knew it, he was already in position for another attack.
This time, there was no time to dodge. He brought his sword up and prepared himself for another clash. Tatiana and Leo teleported right to the man's side, preparing an attack of their own. Getting injured was inevitable; the man could only block one—even then, blocking might not stop his death.
All three launched their attack, their blades just inches away from his body. The man clenched his fist, his eyes glowing, before all of them suddenly felt their bodies grow heavy, their movements became slower and delayed, giving the man a chance to deflect all their attacks.
With this chance, the man saw this as an opportunity to escape; he had done everything he needed. A group of troublemakers without a leader would only bring disaster to themselves; any more would only be a waste of time.
He sprinted away from the trio, but before he could escape, Theodor had blocked his path, and his chance to escape was quickly diminished. By now, the effects had worn off; all he could do was fight until he could find another opportunity to escape.
The man, facing his side with his blade spread out, blocked a devastating attack from landing on himself. Leo pressed his blade harder on his blade, slowly overpowering him. Black lightning covered the onyx blade, making slight contact with the man's skin, making him shiver slightly.
"This would have never happened if you had never attacked us in the first place, let alone kill him," Leo whispered, his voice laced with anger.
The man groaned slightly, his body shivering as he felt a blade drive through his flesh and into his bones. There he saw his waist with a sword plunged into him. This momentary distraction allowed Leo to let go of his saber and punch him in his liver.
In haste, he took back his weapon and was ready for another strike.
The man stepped back, slightly, landing him in the middle of the four. Their glares drilled into his skull; they had no plans on sparing him, or a peaceful and quick death, and yet he still had no ounce of worry on his face, only the same stern and disgusted face since the beginning.
***
Ena, despite all the fighting, had yet to move. She had no thoughts, no expression, and no will; she felt... Nothing. All she did was stare down at Haruo's corpse lying flat on the ground.
She felt Haruo's stare, his eyes barely open, fixated on her, crushing her down.
Despite the immense noise and destruction the division was causing, all she could hear was a ringing sound playing over and over again.
The whole world felt as if it had inverted, and she couldn't comprehend or sense anything by means. It felt... Heavy, it lingered on her and pushed her down with each passing moment.
With her hand, she reached for his head and carried it over to his body. Her balance was pitiful; she fell to his side and carefully attached his head to the rest of his body. Connecting his bones, vessels, nerves, muscles, and skin with precision. She pressed her hand firmly on his cheek, tears slowly falling from her cheek to his.
Her muscles felt sore; she couldn't move them or make an expression, at least. She wasn't injured, and yet it was the first time in her entire life that she felt useless and weak.
She forced his heart to beat, making all his organs work. Her eyes illuminated a deep red, while he stared into his. She waited, and waited, she counted every moment, not allowing herself to focus on anything else. She waited for his arrival, but it never came.
His eyes remained lifeless, his body was warm but still, his soul had already moved on... No matter how much she heals, it would all be useless in the face of death.
Haruo was truly gone... Another person she cared for had died in her arms once again.
The world had slowed down. Snow started to fall along with hers; the forest was grey. The beautiful moon was also grey. The trees were black. The sound and the ringing went silent altogether.
The world had lost its color once again.
She gazed at the battle between the division and the man; she saw how slippery he was and how they struggled even to land a hit. She had her gaze fixed on the man while her tears soaked Haruo's coat.
The man had dodged another lethal attack; he was growing tired, and the division knew. Each dodge cost him, each movement dragged him, and each hit marked him.
The man glared at them fiercely, and before they knew, he started to dematerialize. All of them widened their eyes; they all charged at him, not allowing him to escape, but it was futile; He was already halfway finished—their blades were still far.
The man felt a chill on his side. He turned to see Ena's tears streaming down her face. Though she wasn't glaring, he could feel her bloodlust.
Not long after, he had disappeared completely in thin air. All their blades collided with one another, creating a shockwave that knocked them out of their balance.
After confirming his disappearance, all of them rushed over to Haruo's corpse. All of them met Ena's gaze through her hair; they felt guilt; all they could do was turn away and reflect silently.
Ena lowered her gaze and redirected them toward Rocky, who was still sitting on the hard snow. Ena stood up and made her way toward him. Rocky only crawled backwards until he hit a tree. She clenched her palm on his neck and slowly slid him up with his back against the tree.
"W-What are you doing?"
Rocky felt his neck slowly get tighter; his eyes met with Ena's. She was serious about killing him, which confused Rocky, but had frightened him more. He tried to intercept her grasp, pulling with all his might, but she had overpowered him.
"I-I'm S-So..ry"
Rocky didn't know what he'd done or what was going on; all he could do was apologize, hoping that she would spare him. His face slowly changed color, going from pale to purple, then purple to blue. Her hands were clawing through his flesh.
"He's going to die—"
Isaac had stepped forward to intercept, but was met with a crimson spike shooting from the ground. Theodor also stepped in—grabbed Ena's shoulder before pushing her away. After getting pushed, she became unsteady. She planted her foot firmly and stabilized herself.
Rocky took a deep breath, his skin changing to its original color. He coughed, choking on his own saliva as he looked at Ena with terror.
"What are you doing?" Theodor asked, but there was no response. "We still need him for the mission."
"Do you honestly believe that...?" Ena replied.
"What?"
"Ena, you're being unreasonable right now! We can't just kill him!" Tatiana joined.
"Can't we? You all saw him talking with that man; he has connections with that terrorist." Ena grabbed her hair and pulled it over her back, allowing them to see her eyes clearly. They were broken.
Leo stepped forward, before saying: "Even then, we would still need him for information about that man and the—"
"What about the fucking mission!?"
All of them went silent; her voice cracked the air, giving them an annoyed look. Tatiana opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted again.
"'The mission is important', 'the mission is our priority', do you guys even hear yourselves!?"
"All this about the fucking mission, but do you guys even know what the real mission is!?"
The division had tried to speak, but nothing right ever really came out... Nothing was right.
"You guys have common sense, so why aren't you guys using it!? Do you honestly think that we are just here to get a fucking flower that almost everyone has access to!? Even in Marion Kingdom, we have our own, and yet we came here for the same flower as if it were nearly extinct!"
They could no longer deny it; all of them knew, but they didn't question anything about it, and just wanted to continue with Haruo's plan, but they had never expected him to die so suddenly.
"We came here without knowing what the mission really was, and only Haruo knew it! But he's dead! Do you still think we have a mission now!? It's all useless without him here!"
"So now what? Do we just go home? After all the traveling and things we've done, that's it?" Leo asked. "If we're going back, we might as well bring the flower with us—at least we wouldn't go back empty-handed..."
Despite him saying that, he felt unsatisfied with the outcome. But what's the use now? The only person who knew the true adjective was gone; all they could really do was just return, even without the flower. It was... Quite disappointing, and the other members felt the same as well.
Ena looked at their faces and scowled at them. She threw one of her blades at Leo, and his eyes widened before dodging to his left. The blade kept going and tore straight through the tree that Rocky was leaning on; he was lucky that he didn't get hit.
The blade kept going, with no sign of stopping. The blade had destroyed a part of the forest. Birds flew right by as their home was destroyed. They all put their eyes back on Ena—still in her throwing stance.
"You want to know what we should do then?" Ena said, fixing her posture. All of them listened attentively.
"We kill that bastard..."
"That would only slow us down. Getting revenge is pointless now!" Tatiana said.
"I know you guys feel it too... You feel unsatisfied and have hate toward him." All of them looked at one another, hesitantly trying to decide whether to agree. "Fuck the flower... Fuck the mission altogether, all I want is to kill him before I go back to Marion."
All of them clenched their fists and nodded. They figured that if they were to return home empty-handed, they would make sure that they had blood on it...