Choosing Death
Diana, Sarah, Lily, and Adrian appeared inside the student council room carrying Zeke. Delilah, who was still crying, looked up shocked and shrieked.
"Oh my god!"
"Forget about us, heal him.", Adrian said, though honestly none of them looked in a condition where they could move, near the end they had only relied on will power.
Delilah had never seen them so injured, and Roman gritted his teeth in anger that they endangered their lives like this, but seeing the seriousness of the situation he did not say anything for now. He quickly molded the earth from the floor to create a simple bed, threw some drapes over it and lay Zeke on top of it.
Delilah slowly held her hand over Zeke's body and tried using her ability, however, nothing happened. Her face crumpled as she tried again, but there was still no response from her ability. She quickly held Zeke's wrist to check his pulse, however, it was extremely cold and lifeless. One second, five seconds, ten seconds, half a minute, one minute. No heartbeat. She immediately started performing emergency CPR by pressing on his chest.
"Ouch. Stop!" A voice groaned. It was Zeke. Delilah screamed.
"I know...I...I am dead." He said sadly, but then he smiled. "But you four made it out alive, I am glad."
"Wh-what? What do you mean you died? You are talking to us!" Adrian groaned from the other side of the room.
"He has no heartbeat." Delilah trembled as she said. "His body is cold, like a dead person's."
"I don't time left. I made a deal and it took my life as payment for this." Zeke said as he displayed a black flame from his palm. "But now, it is taking me away. Please...protect my family from 'them'."
Zeke's body slowly started transforming into energy and he glowed brightly before he completely dissipated from the face of the earth.
"I-I don't have any more words to say." Sarah sighed.
Diana cried. She bawled. Delilah, stunned, simply kept healing the four, not trying to think about anything. Roman was shocked to see that Adrian was tearing up as well. Lily had an ugly look on her face, and Sarah just looked at the ceiling, trying to hold back.
Roman was confused. The boy known as Zeke said he was already dead, but he continued to speak. Then he turned into light and dissipated. His friends were severely injured. They suddenly began crying. Stunned at the turn of events, he decided to give them a couple of blankets to wrap around themselves. Just what had happened out there?
---
The hermit was near death. He had been beaten into lifelessness by the gunslinger using his gloved up hands. The fists had never actually touched him. Space had curled itself around the gunslinger's fists like boxing gloves which were pounding him incessantly. Initially, the hermit had a lot to retaliate with, swear words, tricks, poisons, but in front of those fists he just gave up in the end.
"I apologize for venting on you today. I had a rare day off, and I hate it when I have to work on those days." The gunslinger suddenly calmed down, his voice chilling the air around the two of them. "I'll finish things cleanly here. Card."
As soon as the gunslinger said that, the Hermit's tarot card suddenly rose into the air, reaching eye level. The gunslinger gently held the card. "Sever."
As soon as he said that, the Hermit started vomiting blood, screaming like crazy. "How? How is this possible? Why can I not feel the card anymore?" He was going crazy from the pain. He could not believe what was happening. The gunslinger had stolen his card! The card was his innate ability, one of the legendary myth tier card based abilities belong to the Major Arcana.
"A fool who initiated the tarot like you is just bound to be cannon fodder in the larger scheme of things. You can curse your luck for having to interfere with my mission. 'Rule'."
The tarot card known as the Hermit revolved in the air before it turned into energy and dissipated into the gunslinger's body.
"Ciao" The gunslinger nodded at the crying old hermit before shooting him with his gun, not just killing him, but making him burst into blood just like how the hermit had done earlier to the villains. The bullet that left his gun had been extremely mysterious since it looked like it did not even exist. A transparent pulse in the shape of a bullet that traveled at the speed of light.
Soon the scene was left empty. Not even a living soul was in the area.
---
Bang!
Loud bangs could be heard inside the school training area. Diana was attacking a sandbag with all her might.
"Leave!" She still heard that disappointment filled gaze as that person asked them to go. Even though she had no clue who that mysterious person who saved them was, that person's dismissal of them, the death of Zeke, their complete failure in being able to protect even their own selves made her feel so useless.
Bang!
Roman, who had been accompanying Diana, gripped his hands as he saw her giving her all against the sandbag, hints of tears in her eyes. He wanted to go ahead and stop her, but Sarah had earlier stopped him, shaking her head to indicate that he should not interfere when Diana was trying to let off steam.
Lily had not left her dorm room the entire day while Adrian spent his time walking around the school grounds aimlessly, his eyes looked lost.
Sarah saw how badly affected her friends were, and even if she tried to keep strong herself, she knew that she had been terribly shaken by what happened. But she couldn't let her friends collapse like this into depression, their worlds had changed with this incident, and they had come across mysteries and potential secrets that might put them in even more harms way... There was also Zeke's last request.
Sarah sighed. They had a lot of work to do now. She went to the school rooftop and messaged others to meet for an important discussion... and to confront the situation they now faced.