Chain Of Tragedies (7)

Elana grew despondent with her current situation. Her once burning desire to survive this madness had been extinguished. All of her stamina had diminished. The sole reason she still managed to stand on her feet was to accomplish a future she had envisaged should the remaining disciple she had left—was still alive and had her guidance whenever his progression with his life halted momentarily.

But now that the connection between the estate and the outside world had been severed—all the fantasies and speculations she held in regard for Tain's life had all come to a depressing conclusion.

Elena could no longer stay optimistic and kept her composure—for all that she could envision was the death of her and Tain being buried by the perpetrators who let the chain of tragedies commence.

Tears streamed down her cheeks. All the emotions she had bottled up loosen as she began to curse profanities at the world and herself. The repulsion she held for herself grew astronomically.

'I hate my guts.'

'I hate myself.'

'I wanna die.'

'I'm just a worthless piece of shit.'

Elena condemned herself severely. For the first time in a while, she truly wanted to die. If death came to her right now—she would gladly greet him with open arms.

Just as everything seemed to have hit rock bottom, her loud fit had captured the attention of the beast and aroused it from its bewilderment.

The beast fumed with seething wrath that burned fiercely deep in its heart. Having been bested twice by the same creature unworthy of being acknowledged as a threat—its honor had been tainted and it shall forever recall these mortifying memories that had permanently stained the it's history.

It growled harshly, catching Elena's attention and bringing her back to reality—her suicidal thoughts fading along with her newfound pessimistic nature—albeit momentarily.

She stared at the beast with her pair of muddy eyes. An air of melancholy surrounded her, yet the beast could care less about the case of her depression, problems and the yearning for death that was clearly observable just by looking straight into her eyes.

The beast could never dream of comprehending the complexity of human thoughts, emotions, and belief. However, as a fairly intellectual organism—it managed to conquer the concept of pride and honor from studying other creature's behavior.

For the beast to see Elena not showing even the tiniest reaction from its growled—it made the beast shameful of itself.

Alas, the beast may never understand the complexity of human nature—but the beast was certainly wary of this particular prey. After all, Elena had not only bested it once—but also fooled it with her intellect.

Not to mention, its prey had struggled with all her might to escape from its clutches. Thus, seeing her offer herself so willingly after her determination to flee from it couldn't help but to make the beast stand on its toes.

Elena stood in the same position—holding an unconscious Tain on her right shoulder while awaiting for the beast to liberate her from the grievance of the dead.

She had finally succumbed to her true impulses after all these years. Ever since she had awaken as an aura user—only suicidal thoughts had crossed her minds. The dying words and wishes of her comrades had haunted her for years on end.

During her days on the battlefield—all of the memories she recalled were the ones that involved her comrades charging into the enemy—only to die from the mismanagement of her greedy superiors.

To them, the lives of her comrades are worth nothing more but a single bronze coin. Those who miraculously survived yearned for death more than anyone else as they knew they were fodders used to secure unimaginable riches that none of them could ever imagine possessing.

The grudges Elena held for greedy humans far surpassed her hatred for war. If it weren't for the biased law that protected her superiors—she would've outright slaughtered every single one of them. Their greed drove her precious friends to death—which in turn played an important role to the awakening of her aura.

Her aura is a proof of all of the misfortunes, and tragedies Elena had experienced first-hand. The thought of losing another precious person petrified her. Thus, she tried to isolate herself from people—acting distant and aloof with them—but in the end, two people managed to infiltrate her defense.

These two were none other than Dilet and Tain. Losing one of them could already drive her to the brink of insanity. But losing both would surely break her apart mentally.

Needless to say, now that all of the emotions she had kept tightly sealed had spilled—she was now deranged.

The beast cautiously examined its prey that stood fearlessly before it one last time—ensuring that there shall be no other tricks up its prey's sleeve—the beast was finally ready to end this bitter conflict.

Once it was certain that its prey no longer desired to escape from its clutches—the beast began to spin its tail at a tremendous pace—building up immense velocity and force so that its prey would experience a painless death.

'That's right…please…put an end to my misery…' Elena begged inwardly.

She patiently waited to meet her destiny. Her body wobbled as she could no longer give any care to her current condition—for she would finally receive her long anticipated salvation.

After a minute or two, the beast finally hurled its tail with immense velocity that made the attack impossible for the naked eye to perceive. The speed its tail moved at was astounding—to the point birds from afar had a hard time distinguishing what the beast had hurled.

Elena couldn't see the tail that accelerated beyond wonders in order to satisfy her solemn desire. But she could sense it approaching and was ready to welcome it with open arms.

"Thank you…" Elena murmured with the last bit of strength she had left.

Closing her eyes, she had a grin on her face as she recalled all the bittersweet memories she had made along her journey from a common knight to a world renowned swordmaster.

Regrettably for many, her journey might finally come to an end as she was prepared to enter a deep slumber for eternity.

As soon as the beast's tail made contact with Elena's skin—an intense shockwave materialized and sent her body flying backwards and rolling on the ground.

Blood splattered all around Elena's initial location. Elena's body continued to roll from the intensity of the shockwave—stopping just at the edge of the cliff.

Despite what the beast had hoped for, its prey was still alive. Elena was still carrying Tain—but now in her right arm, and shockingly enough, he was unscathed from the beast's attacks. That couldn't be said the same for Elena however.

'Why…why did I do that?' Elena pondered.

She had sacrificed her dominant arm—her left arm to be exact—in order to stay alive. Blood gushed out of the open wound and she could feel agonizing pain spreading across her left side—yet not even a single sound escaped from her lips as it took too much stamina consumption for her to accomplish.

Just before the beast's tail made contact with her—by unknown means—she moved her head at the last moment and saved her worthless life.

Amidst her speculations and theories that her brain had generated, she felt something grabbing her shirt. Looking down, she saw Tain soft, dainty hands tugging her shirt.

His body shivered intensely—as if experiencing an unpleasant memory. Seeing him in such a distressed state, Elena felt her reason to live light up once more.

'I see…'

Mustering up the last bit of strength she had left—her eyes darted all over the place—examining the surroundings she was in.

Albeit her vision faltering, she could recognize the beast that slowly and cautiously approached her from afar. Behind her was a canyon that was shrouded in darkness and had taken multiple lives in the past.

The situation seemed helpless, and Elena couldn't help but despair. However, with her composure regained and a goal to succeed—she hurriedly brainstormed any and all possibilities and routes that could ensure Tain's survival.

As if sensing that Elena would finally meet her demise, rain began to pour down heavily in the estate. The water droplets extinguishing the pillar of flames that surrounded the mansion and washing off the debris and sweat that Elena had accumulated from the treacherous night.

The footsteps of the beast becoming increasingly louder amidst the heavy rain. But Elena's conviction never wavered. She was resolute in ensuring Tain's survivability.

Nevertheless, her determination proved useless as she had realized most of Tain's escape route had already been sealed.

There were only two choices that had occurred in her skull. The choices are; to either submit and die a painless death from the beast, or take a leap of faith and pray for the best that Tain wouldn't die while descending the canyon.

Both choices were illogical, and honestly speaking—guaranteed that Tain would die one way or another.

With a heavy heart, Elena had to hasten her decision as the beast would soon reach its destination and finish her off. Her brain overworking itself as it finally picked a favorable choice.

Once her decision had been set, Elena took one last deep breath as soon as she didn't want to regret this vital choice of hers.

She glared at the beast that was roughly three meters away from her. A smile etched on her face as she pushed herself off the cliff with the energy she managed to muster up.

Soon, darkness swallowed them up as Elena and Tain fell in the canyon. In a last ditch effort to increase Tain's survivability—Elena surrounded Tain with her body—hoping to break his fall by using her flesh as a medium.

'Tain…Please survive...'

...

"My lord. The mission has been completed. Duke Gide Aried Polarias's estate has been brought to ruins." a female humanoid figure with obscure facial features reported to her owner.

Presently, inside of a fully white circular throne room—a woman could be seen bowing down to a small, childlike humanoid figure sitting atop of an unexpectedly futuristic themed throne.

"I see. But, has the Duchess been captured?" the childlike figure inquired.

"Regrettably, no." she responded to her owner's curiosity. "However, the Duke's second son is confirmed to be dead." she added.

The childlike figure clicked its tongue and sighed heavily—disappointed that the Duke's second wife was still out there—ready to interfere with their grand scheme.

"Master." the female suddenly spoke, arousing her owner from their frustration.

"What is it?" her owner responded.

"Was it fine to let the swordmaster and the Duke's second son alive?"

Laughter emerges from the childlike figure's throat.

"Of course it is~" they replied soon afterwards.

"But…the swordmaster has the strength to destroy everything you have built up, no?" she questioned her owner.

"Don't worry. Countermeasures have already been set up." they descended from their throne. "No one shall stop me. The sleeping god will wake up no matter what. Once he does, everything will come to an end, and the people will finally be freed from the real threat."

Seeing her owner's braze attitude—she questioned him one last time for today. "What makes you so positive, my lord?"

"I can't give a clear answer to your question. But the prophecies have been spoken. And according to it—it won't be long before we will receive our salvation."

…