Retreat

-----Yui's POV

I have no idea what Alice is about to attempt, but Nick makes room for her nonetheless. I like to imagine that the face I'm making right now is close to his as I hold onto Luna's hand firmly.

Alice: "Luna. Try to stay as still as much as you can."

Luna: "Y...yes."

Her voice has grown even weaker, but her grip around my hand is still just as strong, putting me at ease that she hasn't given up.

I look over to see Alice slowly creating water in her hands.

Alice: "Nick, tear some more room in her shirt."

Nick: "Got it!"

As Alice was preparing something, Nick began to rip Luna's clothing from the back, exposing the massive gash on her back even more. I don't have the best angle to see exactly how bad it is, but judging from the look on Nick's face, my only guess is that it must be a horrid sight.

Alice: "I'll begin, Luna. It'll feel cold and will be painful as hell, but be as still as possible."

Luna: "...M-hmm."

In the next moment, Alice moved her hands down onto Luna's back. Her water melded with the gash. I could feel Luna tighten her grasp on my hand tremendously, making it seem as though she's planning to break my hand, but I remain composed, letting Luna squeeze as hard as she wants as her face contorts in pain.

Nick: "This is?"

Alice: "I can't heal it, but if I keep it here like this, she shouldn't be losing anymore blood."

That might be for externally, but with how deep it looked like before, there might be a chance that internal bleeding might also be occurring. Whether we like it or not, we need Kaede, right now. I would go out there and find her myself, but Luna is showing no signs of wanting me to leave. Maybe...

Alice: "How you feeling, Luna?"

Luna: "!!"

She can't even muster the strength to make words as her only reply to Alice's words was even more force put into her squeezing my hand. Yeah, this might be the only way.

Yui: "Alice, I'll take over. You go find Kaede."

Alice: "What?"

Yui: "I can take over your magic, right?"

Alice: "Y-yes, but one slip up then blood will pour out."

Yui: "I got this. Please."

Alice: "..."

She looks at me questioningly for a few moments, but I remain stern, showing my determination in wanting to help. And after a bit of pondering, Alice lets out a soft sigh.

Alice: "Alright."

I don't waste a moment in repositioning myself to Luna's side, leaving Luna to continue squeezing my left hand. With my right hand, I concentrate on Alice's magic, but immediately I could sense some difficulty. Alice's magic was perfectly sculpted to the wound, but the moment I took control, the form began to waver slightly, causing some blood to leak.

Alice: "Are you sure you got this?"

Yui: "Yes!"

I got to give credit to Alice for making this look easy, as it took me a little bit of time to finally correct my slip up, perfectly sealing the blood from coming out.

Yui: "Okay. Now go! Get Kaede!"

Alice: "Yes. Nick, come on."

Nick: "...Take care of her, Ellen."

Yui: "Mm!"

Alice: "Marcus!"

Marcus was busy fending off the army with the other soldiers. I wanted to turn my head to check, but I can't break concentration right now. I'm giving it my all right now just to keep the water steady. Sure the water is stopping the bleeding, but her blood is still pooling up with the water as it now feels more like I'm shaping blood more so than water now.

Luna: "Ellen?"

Yui: "Yes, I'm still here. Keep still."

I can see why Alice wanted Luna to keep still as even I'm now terrified what would happen if she does. The magic would shift and I'd have to re-align it again to stop the bleeding.

Luna: "It's, warmer."

Wait... This seems oddly familiar. Wasn't I also feeling warm around the time when I was dying in my past life? If what happened then is what's happening now, then-

Yui: "Hey, stay with me, Luna. Keep your eyes open."

Luna: "...Eh?"

Yui: "You're not dying on me. I'm not letting that happen."

Luna: "N-no... It feels, good."

Yeah, that's the whole point. When I died, the pain slowly started to fade away as I could feel myself drift off into the endless void.

Yui: "Don't do it. Just stay here, stay awake!"

Luna: "..."

Her silence was a bit worrisome, but was even more concerning was that my left hand no longer hurt as the pressure from Luna's hand subsided. Almost as if she has no more energy... No. I fight back my urge to cry as that will only blurry my vision, causing me to break concentration. I refuse to leave Luna here like this, Alice will bring Kaede back and fix this; she has to.

-----Kaede's POV

Before chasing after Lucien, I did take a moment to look behind me, and after seeing that our soldier's are successfully pushing back the hundred or so soldiers, I continue forward, slaughtering hundreds and hundreds more soldiers in my way.

With all the blood on the battlefield, I could just spear every soldier here right now, but I find an odd sense of joy slicing into their bodies personally with my scythe, adding more fuel for me. Lucien's aura is still on the retreat which I find quite annoying, especially with how many soldiers are in the way.

Mai: "-Selene!"

Kaede: "Huh?"

Mai: "Now you respond? Hah~"

Kaede: "What is it?"

Mai: "Everyone's about to retreat. It's time to fall back."

Hearing those words is quite disappointing. I really want to just finish Lucien off, but in doing so, I might just jeopardize the whole plan...

Kaede: "...Hah~ Fine."

I take my frustration out on one last soldier, slicing his head clean off of his shoulder before moving back.

Along the way back, I noticed all the bodies I left. I can't even begin to count how many, but after sensing the remaining number of soldiers who're still alive, I seem to have taken out two thirds of the army. It also seems as though time is flowing normally now as all the blood that was in the air from my fighting now pours down on me.

Alice: "Kaede!"

Slicing her way through the last remaining soldiers at the gate, we make eye contact. Nick also seems to be with her.

Nick: "T-that blood isn't yours, right?"

Kaede: "Huh?"

Looking down at myself, I realize that I'm covered in blood. Even my long, white hair is bathed in red as blood drips form the ends. I quickly remove every last drop of blood from me in one swipe, leaving me spotless before drinking the blood.

Kaede: "No."

Alice: "Good, come on. We need you."

Kaede: "What do you mean?"

My question would soon be answered as I was brought to Yui. However the person next to her, Luna, was in quite a state.

Nick: "Please, heal my sister..."

Yui: "...Kaede?"

I move to Yui's side as I see that Luna's unconscious.

Mai: "Hehe. Yui surprises me time after time."

Kaede: "What do you mean?"

Mai "See for yourself."

Yui: "Kaede, please. Help me..."

I quickly begin to heal Luna's back that seems to be covered in blood. Wait... Why isn't it working?

Kaede: "...Are you using magic right now?"

Yui: "Y-yes. I'm keeping the wound from bleeding by holding water in place."

So what I'm seeing isn't blood, but water with blood mixed into it?

Kaede: "Could you remove it?"

Yui: "Oh! Yeah, sorry."

She moves the water and blood mixture out of the way, but in it's place, I couldn't see any wound, however a long, nasty scar was present.

Nick: "Thank you, Kaede!"

Kaede: "No, I uh-"

He proceeded to hug me, but I was still puzzled about all of this.

Mai: "Hahaha."

Meanwhile, Mai's just laughing at all of this. Maybe she can clarify exactly what happened here. But what I know for certain is that I did not heal Luna just now.

Yui: "Is she?"

I can still hear Luna's heart beat, although it's extremely weak.

Kaede: "She's alive, barely. More importantly. Did you heal Luna?"

Yui: "Huh?"

Kaede: "Because I didn't do that. And actually, I did try to heal, but my magic felt as if it was being blocked."

Nick: "Wait... Then it was the water?"

Alice: "No. My water magic has no healing capabilities. I'm aware that such healing can be done with water magic, but my magic is purely offense."

Mai: "Pfft."

Once again, I can hear Mai chucking inside my head as if this is some sort of entertainment for her. It's clear now that she knows what happened. I ordered her to watch over Yui in the first place, so she must've seen something no one else did.

Yui: "S-so... It's something to do with when I took over your magic?"

Alice: "That's my guess. Although Kaede might've accidentally healed Luna without realizing it."

Yui: "No. When Kaede healed my thigh, she removed the scar entirely. If she did heal Luna, I don't think that scar would be there."

Driver: "We're out of here!"

Our discussion would be cut short as the driver of this caravan yells out to everyone. I guess with Lucien out of the picture, holding off the remaining... Oh- nevermind. The last of the army's soldiers that were at the gate are now dead, leaving Iris' soldiers now retreating.

Nick: "I'll carry Luna back."

He quickly took the opportunity to carry Luna in his arms, bridal style, taking care to not leave Luna uncomfortable.

Alice: "Alright. Everyone else, let's move!"