Darkness. The dark gloom around Asan enveloped him, not allowing him to realize where he was. Had he survived the battle with the drones or had he died? Had the fort been destroyed by that very monster that had crumbled the wall as if it were made of straw, and had anyone of his comrades survived...
All this was unknown to him, especially now when it seemed he was in the middle of emptiness. There was no light around, and his senses were strangely dulled.
But his gut told him one thing – that he was not just in ordinary darkness, but in true darkness. It was hard to explain in simple words how regular darkness, which appears at sunset, differed from the darkness he was in now. He simply succumbed to the feeling that it was real, the most genuine darkness.
He felt it gently wrapping around his body, as if trying to pull him deeper, to the very core of where this darkness originated, but something... Something was holding back this darkness. From above him, white light poured down from what had once been a sky filled with darkness, instantly penetrating Asan's soul and body, bestowing warmth and a strange sense of calm upon him. But what was surprising was that both Asan and the darkness found this light unpleasant.
The darkness resisted this light with all its might, but in the end retreated, unwilling to fight what helps the one inside it.
Then Asan noticed his body, full of wounds and blood, both from drones and his own. It was thin, but had become more muscular, as if he had been working out for several years. The wounds on his body were slowly healing, and the blood stopped flowing, but the process repeatedly stalled whenever the light weakened. Most surprisingly, when he looked at his shoulder, Asan noticed that the tattoo on his body was what had been emitting all the darkness around him. He was the vessel that released it.
He was the core of this primordial darkness.
"Kha!" A pitiful groan escaped the boy's mouth when he realized that the darkness around him had disappeared, replaced by the familiar purplish hue of his surroundings.
The body reflexively wanted to get up and look around for danger, but the pain and exhaustion were so unbearable that he couldn't even move. Feeling an odd heaviness on his chest, he gritted his teeth and slightly raised himself to look down, noticing the girl's head, or more precisely, her 'Bridgite'. The unconscious girl was lying on his chest. Her slightly rising back indicated that she was alive and just sleeping on him. Asan was about to shake her awake with his hand, but it wouldn't budge; his muscles in his arms were torn apart. Most likely this all happened due to a sudden surge of power in his stats. His body, previously not having such strength, simply couldn't handle it and had shut down.
Though he wasn't particularly strong in sports, Laszlo often mentioned that when he overexerted himself during training, by the end his muscles simply refused to work, even with the lightest weights. As for Asan, who fought at his limit with newly acquired explosive strength, let alone him.
"Damn it… Ouch!" The boy muttered to himself, feeling a burning sensation in his throat. He was desperately thirsty and hungry.
His body alternated between hot flashes and chills. His eyes hurt badly, and every time he blinked, a wave of burning spread across his entire eyelid. It was then that he decided to look around and figure out where exactly they were.
It turned out that the boy had successfully escaped from the fort, recalling the details of what happened before he passed out, he couldn't help but sigh in pain radiating from his head. He remembered nothing after the battle with the gang of bullies.
The last memory was nothing but an explosion that destroyed the fort's wall.
Around him was a clearing of burnt plants and strange flora that had begun to gradually appear in the new world. Various spiky mushrooms, strange flowers with something resembling teeth at their peaks, in short—a far from pleasant sight for the eyes. Looking ahead, he saw something that made a lump form in his throat, and a fire of pain ignite in his chest.
The fort they were in was completely destroyed. The tower that had served as Nelson's command post was obliterated and toppled towards the city. The stone walls, which had been the hope of the fort's people, lay on the ground covered in layers of dust and cracks. Wait.
"Hey, when did I learn to see so well?" he suddenly asked himself rhetorically.
The fort was at least three hundred, if not four hundred meters away, so how did his eyes manage to catch such details as though he were looking through binoculars? Maybe System tried her hand at it again, who knows. Feeling movement on his chest, the guy lowered his gaze and saw Bridgite's head starting to rise.
"Ouch… What am I… Where… Ah-Asan!" — The girl mumbled slightly until she noticed the guy's open eyes staring at her. Without any warning, the girl hugged him around the shoulders and pressed her chest against his, causing the guy to blush but soon dismiss unnecessary thoughts.
"L-personal space, lady…" — The guy managed to say, noticing the surprised expression on the girl.
The girl sighed involuntarily and moved slightly away from him.
"Asshole!" — She said discontentedly, crossing her arms over her chest.
Asan looked at her in surprise, not understanding when he had become an animal? Yes, of course, people are animals too, but aren't we considered a separate species that no longer belongs to ordinary livestock or wild animals?
"I puffed like a beast, worrying about you not dying, and the first thing I get is 'Personal space, lady.' Asan! You son of a bitch, at least say thank you!" The girl angrily shouted, jabbing her finger at his face, causing him to slightly squint.
A slight unpleasant feeling of humiliation appeared in his chest. Asan truly realized that he had made a mistake, for the girl was indeed the light that had tried to pull him out of the depths and the claws of death, so why was he saying such things to her? Feeling exceptional guilt, the boy bowed his head in pain before the girl and spoke in a weak voice.
"Sorry… Thank you for saving my life, Bridgite."
Though the guy didn't see the girl's face, he heard a light sigh that seemed to indicate acceptance of the apology. Bridgite was somewhat similar to Alice; every time someone got minor injuries, she constantly yelled at them and said how careless or stupid they were for getting caught. What exactly was this similarity? Well, the scream, whether from the first or the second, made Asan sit on the ground and listen obediently; such were the warrior women in their camp.
True, if Alice had Crane's leash in his hand, which occasionally calmed her down, then this didn't apply to Bridgite. Even Geographer didn't really argue with her much; after all, an offended healer wasn't the best thing that could happen in a camp where every day might be the last.
"Come on, I only used magic for a couple of minutes, I didn't do anything. But without it…"
"You would have died" the girl replied slightly embarrassed and sadly. Now he could see her face since he had raised his head.
She looked exhausted, as if she hadn't slept in a couple of days. Her previously fresh and beautiful face was now covered with dirt mixed with sweat, and under her red-rimmed eyes were dark circles, as though she hadn't slept for several days. Although when she spoke, she seemed taller to Asan than she actually was, in reality, she was just a short, fragile girl who had been burdened with the entire camp's medical care.
He had never sincerely thanked her before, except for now, because all good things can become routine. Every time she healed him, he didn't even think about how heavy her burden was. But now wasn't the time to think about that; he would definitely thank her for everything she had done so far, but right now there were more pressing issues.
"Where are the others?" the guy asked monotonously, trying to sit up with some effort. With the help of Bridgite, he managed to do so.
The girl was silent for several seconds, staring off into the distance, but soon sighed.
"I didn't see... anyone. When the fort was attacked, I was near the temple, so I could only hear the screams and sounds of battle. People in the temple prayed every second for this attack to end quickly, and then... Then I heard a deafening explosion first in the wall of the fort, and then in the wall of the temple. I've never run that fast before. When I left the fort, I noticed a long bloody trail, and that's how I found you and started treating you immediately, even though you resisted a little" the girl said with pain in her voice, slightly wiping her hands nervously. At the end of Asan, he wondered why he had resisted Bridgite. He asked her this question.
"Oh... That's... Well.
"You must have been in shock or under the influence of passion when you didn't understand anything around you. I barely managed to pull two stumps with blades from your hands and treat the most serious wounds. If you hadn't been in such a terrible state, I doubt I could have calmed you down" the girl said, showing her hands, which had light cuts, like from knives.
Asan felt a slight shame but couldn't do anything about it. He really had only thought about survival at that moment, so he could have perceived the girl as just another enemy.
"Oh, right! By the way" the girl pulled him out of his thoughts, holding out something sparkling.
"I thought this might come in handy when you wake up" the girl said, handing him two long blades, apparently cut from the arms of the soldier drone.
The blades were almost half a meter long, which could have made them perfect weapons if not for the fact that it would be best to first make handles; fighting by holding onto two blades was not the greatest idea. The guy calmly took them and put them in his spatial pocket, then silently looked at the fort for several minutes.
"We need... We need to find the other survivors" Asan said, trying to get up, but the girl immediately stopped him.
"I don't think that's necessary, look" she said, pointing at a group of wounded people limping towards them.
These were survivors from both the geographer's camp and Nelson's camp. Both leaders were walking side by side, looking exhausted and injured.
In the end, the war had been won by an entirely different opponent—the system.