[59.4] The Last Parade of the Odalis Kingdom

He appeared at the Swordmasters side, teaming up with her and Atta, the two Viras were starting to lose their footing. Although their power declined, the team of three wasn't making enough progress in defeating them.

Cyrus shouted as he fought off Vira, "I thought you said those born to order had more control, but less power?! They feel really powerful right now!!"

The Swordmaster shouted back, "That's because Vira spent a thousand years living off of spite and depravity."

Vira turned to scream at her, "Shut up you b*tch!"

She sent a powerful beam of Holy light at the two who barely managed to dodge it in time. Suddenly she was knocked off her platform for a brief moment by a cloud of smoke.

Moni glared at her, "Eyes on me."

She shook off the darkness climbing up from her fingertips, purifying the corruption trying to take root. She let out a frustrated scream and started attacking Moni with more fury.

"Perfect timing." The Swordmaster chuckled and grabbed Cyrus by the collar, "Time for an aerial assault!"

Arching her back, she threw Cyrus into the air as if he weighed less than a paper doll. The poor paper doll Cyrus had no time to react and swung his sword as he flew through the air.

Out of the corner of her eye, Vira saw a blur flying towards her and hastily tried to create a barrier.

The sword was bounced back, but not before shattering the barrier.

The tip of the blade sliced across her chest, causing her to fall backward off of her golden plate. Her arms flailed and another plate appeared behind her to catch her fall.

Vira clenched her teeth, touching the newly received wound. She slowly raised her hand coated in crimson to her eyes, a guttural cry sprang from the back of her throat, energizing the air to reverberate in harmony.

Cyrus fell to the ground covering his ears while his head felt as if it was going to explode.

Moni coughed out a mouthful of blood, his expression getting serious.

The ground shook as hundreds and thousands of swords made of golden light appeared in the sky.

"You dare injure me!?" Vira held the wound that wouldn't heal as the swords pointed down at the few remaining people, "I WILL KILL YOU ALL!"

Moni disappeared into smoke, appearing behind Cyrus and holding his body in front to protect himself. Cyrus, who shivered from the disgustingly cold body temperature of the man using him as a shield, shouted, "What the-"

Moni snickered, "Hold that sword up and block it for me, won't you?"

The swords flew forward, blinding anyone who was on the ground. Cyrus struggled to hold his blade upright, amazed that the swords were disappearing as soon as they came into contact with it. Each one sent a numbing sensation from his palm to his shoulders until soon he could barely maintain his grip.

Luckily the attacks ceased as dust sprang up from the clashing of earth and light. Once it settled, a lingering smell of metal was left behind.

Cyrus fell to his knees, his arms swaying limply by his side.

Moni coughed up another mouthful of blood and calmly wiped it on his suit. He gave Cyrus a pat on his shoulder, "Knew you could."

Cyrus turned to glare at him, but only looked like a little puppy with how weak he was, "You! You used me as a shield!"

"That's right." Moni chuckled, "I'm surprised you could withstand that kind of attack. I really thought you would be turned into swiss cheese."

The Swordmaster, who actually did look like swiss cheese, ignored the two's banter and turned around, "Atta! You okay?!"

Atta lay on the ground, her eyes wide open.

There wasn't a single wound on her.

The Swordmaster gasped, "Oh. Oh no."

Cyrus's eyes widened as he realized just what the Swordmaster was looking at.

A body of a man, barely recognizable due to the blood covering him, was hovering over her. His once silver hair was now dyed red and matted with a crimson liquid.

Captain Lou collapsed on top of her, smiling bitterly, "I'm such an idiot."

Atta let out a miserable cry and held him close, her tears wetting his cheeks. She quickly tried to cover his wounds, but there were far too many and the blood wouldn't stop flowing.

He weakly grabbed her hands, "Stop. There's no use."

Atta shook her head, unwilling to believe it.

Cyrus forced himself up to his feet and dragged himself over to Captain Lou. His arms were completely numb, so he could only helplessly kneel beside him, "We need to get out. Felix can heal you."

Captain Lou forced a smile, "Not with this… Not with this."

Vira giggled, "Now that you're all incapacitated, I can level this hideous city once and for all."

She returned to her chanting, now speeding it up without having anyone who could hinder her.

Moni clicked his tongue, "Well that's my cue."

He turned into a cloud of smoke, disappearing into a crack caused by Cyrus's previous attack. Cyrus forced himself to ignore him, and focused on Captain Lou, "Lean on me and Atta. We can bring you out."

"I told you it's pointless!" Captain Lou shouted, his eyes bloodshot, "It's a wound caused from Holy Magic! I'm dead!"

Cyrus paused, staring at the gaping wounds with a dry mouth.

Atta wrote on his hand in a panic: "I thought you left!? Why did you stay!?"

He laughed as he mocked himself, "Why did I stay? Oddly enough, I couldn't bring myself to run… While you were still in here. How stupid is that? You're just a demon and I'm the Captain of the Royal Guard responsible for bringing demons to justice… So when exactly did this feeling appear?"

Atta started sobbing into his chest, desperately crying for help that could never come.

Captain Lou pinched his lips together and looked into Cyrus's blue eyes, "My siblings… Tell them I'm sorry that I won't be coming home."

Cyrus's lips trembled, "Tell them yourself!"

Captain Lou smiled, a twinkle in his eyes slowly fading, "Just do me a favor? Okay? Can you make sure someone takes care of them? My mother is a poor excuse for a parent and our fathers would never take care of them either… I worry… I worry that-"

Cyrus cut him off, "-I won't have to tell them anything or find anyone to watch them! You're coming with me!"

"Sorry kid." He let out a sigh, "This is the end of my story… Atta. Could you?"

Atta understood his words without proper explanation and jumped up, pulling Cyrus up with her. Grabbing his sword with his hand, she forced him to cut the barrier, creating a hole. She forcibly shoved Cyrus out of the barrier, watching as it closed up behind him permanently.

Once she made sure he was safe, she turned back to Captain Lou, placing his head onto her lap.

He grimaced, "You idiot! I wanted you to run off with him! Not just shove him out! Do you have a death wish!? Now you can't escape!!!"

Atta's face trembled as she struggled to speak, "I won weaf yuu!"

His face twisted more, "Well now you won't because it's too late!! How could you just throw your life away like that?!"

Her eyelashes fluttered as her gaze was on him. Without answering, she ran her hand along his head, tucking a piece of his hair behind her ear.

Feeling soothed by her affectionate touch, his eyes started fluttering, wanting to close.

"Ah! This is complete merde!" The Swordmaster hit her head as she bit her lip. Staring down at Captain Lou quickly losing consciousness and Atta with tears in her eyes, the Swordmaster let out a sigh. She put her sword away and raised her swiss cheese hands to remove the ribbon tying up her hair. She went to their side and forced the two of them to hold hands.

The Swordmaster sputtered as she then wrapped the ribbon around their attached hands so neither could remove it, "Okay. Listen closely. I can only use this ribbon once, okay? It's a special gift from Abadi when she was alive. When you die, this ribbon will take you straight to her in the afterlife."

"What are you blabbering about?" Captain Lou spat out, a bubble of blood at his lips.

The Swordmaster explained in a calm voice, "Abadi can allow you both to reincarnate together with your memories intact."

Captain Lou's eyes flashed, "You mean… I will get to see my siblings again?"

"That's right."

Captain Lou looked at Atta who still clung to him with overwhelming adoration and affection. He felt a bit guilty to have received such innocent love when he himself was only focused on throwing her in jail the entire time of knowing her.

He mumbled to himself, "Another chance… Maybe we won't have to be on opposing sides…"

She hugged him tighter, touching her cheek to his.

The Swordmaster forced on a smile as she stared at the two, "When you meet Abadi… Can you pass on a message to her? Tell her-"

The roads around them began to vaporize.

Finally, the spell was charged and ready. Vira pointed her finger down at the ground and commanded with a bright smile, "Holy Retribution."

"-Tell her that I'm playing with knives again."

With an ear-shattering boom, everything in the radius of the circle was eradicated, leaving behind a deep, neverending crater.

Vira smiled as she took in a deep breath of the settling dust, "Ah. Eradication always smells better than freshly cut grass."