Kara

Book Four

Volume 11

Ch. 185 Kara

Pov.

-Cana-

The ground has stopped trembling for some time now… Kara.

He won. I just know it…

"Woosh! Wa-toosh!" I whip the icy whip I conjured into the villains trying to breach a children's hospital in Musutafu

There's…

Too many of them.

"Hya!" I bonk someone else with my Greatsword

I jump away from a humongous fist

I tuck my sword behind me as I raise a barrier with my wand to protect the hero's fighting the giant

My wand twists into a staff with a shiny diamond at the tip

I twirl it over my head creating a small icy hurricane 8 meters wide around the small battlefield

I take a deep breath. And point at the giant with my staff

"Fire…! I mean… Shoot!" I command the small army of snowmen I birthed from the hurricane

"Hmm." I frown, knowing I'll have to work on that one

"Wa-cha! Cha-cha-cha!" I fire frozen snowballs alongside them

The villains retreat behind a giant

I spin my staff in front and then over my head

The hurricane twirls into the sky

The snowmen continue their barrage as the giant plows through everyone. 

"Storm Dragon Art!" I pull my staff back "Ice Dragon Spear!" I thrust my staff, unleashing my super attack

The dragon slams into his chest.

He falls on his butt before the ice welds him into the ground

The snowmen pile on top of him to make sure he doesn't go anywhere

But before we can charge back into the fight the ice melts

And hovering above us all was… an angel…

"Kara!" I jump and wave

His hair was flickering on end with a beautiful bluish green color and his aura was a turquoise color.

He tosses something at their feet…

It was…

I gulp

All for One's head…

"There is your lord. Leave now or die" 

The villains back off for a moment.

Many heroes and villains began falling over from his mere presence.

"Hrahh!"

"No, don't!" I shriek as some of the villains charge at him

Those that did were incinerated the very moment they got too close and they turned to coal by the time they hit the floor

"Kara, that's enough!" I cry out as he stood there with this foreign look in his eye…

It was… sadness… pity…

I sprint over as the rest of the hero's stood by and watched

I felt the heat emanating from him scorch my skin for a brief moment before his aurora disperses as if letting me through

"That's enough Kara, please… you've won already…" I sniff, thinking about all the innocent lives that were lost in Hokkaido.

I hug him real tight as he brushes his fingers across my forearm.

"Let's go home. Please. I want to go home…"

…

But he disappears before anything, leaving me hugging myself

The villains backed off for a moment before retreating for good

After making sure the hospital will be fine, Aizawa told me to head home in case I hear from Kara.

I was really hoping to find him there

But instead…

"Wh-who are you?" I pull Eri behind me

"It's okay, Cana. She's Nice!"

The woman smiles.

I say woman but she must be the same age as I am.

Except there was something about her… that reminds me of… Kara…

She stands up and bows politely.

"Rhea, this is my son Posideon." She pats the boy standing beside her "and Zeus over there."

He was playing toy blocks with Lia

"It's nice to meet you." Posideon bows

"How about you show Eri your fish, son." She pats Posideon back

I join Rhea at the table

"H-He's your son?"

If he's Eris age she must've been eight or nine when she had him

No, that can't be right…

She smiles.

"Looks just like his father doesn't he?"

"I-I…" I shake my head, taking a good look at the boy

He had long dark blue spiky hair… the only other person with spiky hair is…

"K-Kara?"

She smiles

"No way, I don't believe you." I raise an eyebrow

"Don't have to…"

"So what's your deal here? Trying to take him from me? Well I got some news flash, uhh. I mean…" I clear my throat. "News Flash, I-found-him-first!"

"No-no. I'm here strictly on business.

You see, my people were dispatched to make sure the battle doesn't destroy your entire continent." She waves a finger 

"I don't know…"

"Ever since your run in with Hisoka I've been dying to meet you…"

"Hisoka… that's right. I remember your face now, you were there! After…"

"Yeah…" she smiles

"But why? Why did you…"

"Kara…" she holds her belly. "He wasn't always so… heartless…"

…

"He never was."

…

She smiles

"Perhaps you see something that I don't… Maybe that's why I was unable to get through to him, but you?

…

"All I ask is that you don't ever leave his side. That you give him the love and patience he deserves…"

…

Pov.

-Kara-

My hair flickers back to normal as I swipe my card again but.. nothing.

Not even my Eldian debit card…

My funds aren't transferring from the Eldian Empire and my Japanese bank account has been seized

…

What am I even doing trying to pay for this instant ramen?

I glare up at the cashier before walking out.

…

I was covered in blood, head to toe

I went ahead and did it anyways… I crushed the leagues numbers down to a mere three hundred thousand

Any more and the gods will intervene.

No luck in finding Toga so she must've returned to the Empire…

Guess I'll pay her a visit then.

I boil my instant ramen inside the water bubble hovering above my hand

She was right.

Nothings changed.

I'm still angry.

So fucking angry.

Same as I have been for as long as I remember

After finishing up with my ramen, I change my appearance back to normal. A 5' kid littered with scars and a blood red fur coat.

I managed to get around without being recognized.

My head was pounding

My eyes were burning.

My arms are ready to fall off

I'm exhausted

I just want to go home.

I just want to return to…

But I can't.

Not after all this.

It's only a matter of time till they start looking for me.

And there's nothing I can do about it

At least not with the gods… watching my every move.

Knowing humans they'll use them to intimidate me. As of now I can't so much as lay a finger on them.

…

Even after everything I did for them.

I defeated All for One.

It was Me.

They'd be nothing without me.

But now…

They'll never leave Cana alone.

I'll never see her again.

And it'll be all because of…

Me.

I watch the president sitting at her desk.

She turns to the fax machine before freezing in her place the moment she spotted me now crouched on her desk

"Wh-who are…"

"Yokumiru."

…

"I haven't laid a finger on them. Why are you here?" She steps back

"Is that the warrant?"

…

"I didn't have any other choice… you did this to yourself."

"I won't argue with you there…"

"Maybe if I was more careful it wouldn't have came to this…"

"Then… Why are you here?"

"You're a disease, Yokumiru. You'll corrupt this continent down to its very core."

"I only do what has to be done. To guarantee the safety and order of our nation."

"That's how it begins. But I've seen it blossom into extinction in the span of a single lifetime."

If this will be Cana's home I won't allow her world to crumble any more than it already has.

I'll watch her. Make sure she's safe until she has drawn her final breath

She'll live a long peaceful life. Without this trash around to corrupt it.

That includes… me…

Chaos snaps into a katana.

I thrust my sword, ready to sever her jugular for a quick death when something bursts out of the shadow beneath me

It knocks my blade aside.

Only then I realized he also managed to cuff my hands

Of which seemed to have been made of the same material Hatsume used for my weighted training.

So the more energy I put out to lift my arms the heavier they became

I wasn't in the best shape so I couldn't break them even if I tried

I glare up at the shadow towering over me

He pulls his blade up, ready to strike me down as I wrung the blood out of my left lung and right kidney. 

He hesitates just long enough to lead that blood into my shoulders as I stomp on the hands cuffs

I tear my arms off before using reverse curse to enhance my own regenerative capabilities and instantly grow my limbs back

Both of which pierced straight through his chest. 

Moments later the moonlight shining into the room revealed his face.

"They… they were near Sapporo. You…" 

"Bruce…"

He chokes, squeezing my wrist.

I tear my arms out and carefully lay him back

"What the hell…"

…

He collapses after a moment of deafening silence.

My hands hover over his wounds

My pride and… something else… keeps me from trying to save him

Pity?

The image of watching Cana and the girls Burn Alive slips into my head

But why?

The mere thought strained something in my chest and tightened my throat.

Something like this. I understood… Death is his only salvation.

I take his bowie knife.

He wrapped a picture of his family into the grip

It was an odd feeling.

I walk over to the president

For the first time… I realized.

Everything I have done. Every choice I've ever made.

Has its consequence whether it affects my reality or not. Why is that?

Why is that hitting me now?

I step behind Yokumiru as she fell on her knees

Tears stream down her face as I flip the bowie knife

I use the ridges to slowly and excruciatingly saw at her throat

She coughs and gurgles

She drops dead by the time I was half way through her neck

I then snap her head off her spine and place it onto the arrest warrant sitting on her desk

I shove the knife in through her skull and leave her to be found by her security team and tomorrows press

…

Cana…

I burn the picture of Bruce and his family before finally returning to Cana.

She was in the living room with the girls but quickly turned around after the apartment trembled a moment

She hurries over and freezes at the sight of all the blood.

I nearly collapsed at the sight of her.

Instead of demanding to know where I've been or what I've done, she opened her arms to embrace me.

The tension in my body completely disappeared and my limbs felt like paper.

Every twitch of my muscles felt so painfully sore

We dip into a bath as the girls shout and sing in the living room

…

She scrubbed my arms clean and rinsed me down.

She then moved on to my chest where I watched that painful look in her eye as she found more and more wounds 

She sits on my lap for a while, massaging my chest and shoulders.

I hold her small waist, watching the water dribbled down her curves and into the bloody water 

Her tears trickled off her chin and onto my chest.

Looking at her never felt so painful.

I have so much to tell her.

But not enough courage to come out and say it.

"Will you continue to fight?" She finally breaks the silence…

I shake my head.

"You'll be safe… Odin will make sure of that."

She takes my hand and brings it up to her cheek…

"But I want you…"

…

I pull my hand away… fearing I'd stain her fragile skin with blood

"Why did you do it?"

…

"All those people… they didn't have to die."

…

"But they did."

"So why? What are you afraid of?"

…

"Nothing… I'm not…"

Afraid of anything…

…

"What are you trying to prove to yourself?"

…

"That I'm still… The same person I've always been."

The one Ignia slew. The Nightmare that Reigned the Cosmos.

"Why?"

"Because… I am afraid…"

"Of what?" She tilts her head

"To become something else…"

"Why is that so bad?" Her voice wavers.

"Cause it's someone… I don't recognize."

"No, it's someone that's always been there…" she brings her hand up to my chest. "Right here."

…

"You've seen it…

When you saved Lia. Every time you've come for me."

I lower my gaze to her chest… the scar under her boob. One at her hip and another at her waist.

"How much it pains you… to see these…" she leans back.

"But why? What is… that I feel?"

Why does it hurt so much…

…

"That's… love, Kara…"

"When you love someone more than you love yourself…" she pulls my hand into her chest

I shake my head feeling her beating heart in the palm of my hand

"What makes you so sure of that?"

"Cause I love you just the same… Lia… and even Eri… I'd do anything to protect what we have…"

…

Is that it?

…

Love?

This warmth… that she stirs inside me

The restlessness I feel when I'm not with her.

The empty void she fills….

The high I get from being around her is all I can think about.

…

The hate… rage that I've clinged to doesn't change how I feel.

It never has…

I just… want it to end.

I don't feel any of it when I'm with her.

I'm ready to admit the way she makes me feel is… something I want to last forever.

Even if I know I can never fully comprehend it

…

-to be continued