The Past Of The Known Present (2)

In amidst of the aftermath of a certain battlefield, four people stood with each other. One of them was the blonde prince, Julius. His armor were fully tattered off, but the shirt underneath it saved as his cover. His wounds were visibly covered by bandages, his right cheek had a scar. Beside him, there stood his sister and the Saintess. And like him, they were not in good shape either.

"Why are you just giving up!"

Julius raised his voice in frustration.

In front of the three of them, was a man that stood alone. But unlike the three of them, the condition of the man's body look much bizarre than any of them combined.

The man had his left arm missing. There was a huge hole on his left chest, even that alone made it look like a miracle that he was still alive. Although some of his wounds were already patched up, the blood on the bandages were visibly showing. Who knows what other grotesque those bandage was hiding. They couldn't imagine.

"Answer me, damn it...! WHY ARE YOU GIVING UP NOW, MAXIMUS?!" Julius held Maximus by his collar and tried to raise him up but inevitably failed.

Maximus down stared at his shoes. His cold, emotionless expression remained unchanged.

"It's not worth it."

"What do mean it's not worth it? Are you just going to waste Saber's sacri—"

Julius sentence was cut short before he could finish.

"Don't you dare call his name!"

Maximus finally raised his head to look at the prince in the eyes. His cold exterior was suddenly replaced with hatred, his eyes full of contempt. This prompted Julius to let go of him and take a step back.

"Sacrifice? We asked for help on the east side, but no one came... You guys abandoned us."

The Saintess beside Julius tried to intervene with their conversation, but Maximus just glared at her direction to shut her up.

"Aren't you supposed to be his sister?"

"How did you...?"

"How did I know? Obviously I would know. Who do you take me for? A stupid prince?" Maximus laughed hollowly.

"You're supposed to be the one protecting your sibling as the eldest, but what did you do when we got swarmed by the monsters? You left. You left just to see if your "soon-to-be" husband is alright... In a middle of a fight! Seriously, just how much do you hate your brother? You didn't even bother calling anyone to back us up. If it wasn't for Saber pushing me away in the last moment, I would have died along with him!"

His words caused Seraphina to lower her head, her eyes watering. Julius became angry upon seeing her cry and turned his attention back to Maximus as he threw a swift punch towards his face.

However—

"I may not be blessed with your talents..."

Pack—!

Maximus easily caught his hand and broke his fingers with a grip.

"But Saber did taught me how to make use of my abilities."

Crack—!

Julius screamed in pain and took a few steps back. The Saintess hurriedly went beside him to treat his broken fingers. Their scene was quickly noticed by the remaining heroes as they began to approach their direction.

"Even if I'm still severely injured, having a huge amount of blood lost, and broken bones around my body, I can still win against everyone here..."

Maximus turned his attention to the remaining heroes that was watching them and released a killing intent that made all of them quiet.

Five armoured angels began to appear out of thin air behind him, furthering the strength of the pressure he was releasing.

"Do not underestimate me, you useless heroes."

Before the fight could escalate, a woman approached their direction. She had an eye patch on her right eye, her body full of scar except for her face. Unlike her usual haircut, her disheveled hair was cut short into a blub.

"Aria..."

Maximus mumbled out her name, his expression slowly becoming soft.

After reaching him, Aria took a brief stop in front of him before slapping his cheeks. This caused everyone to become surprise. And then, she suddenly grabbed his collar, pressing her forehead on his chest.

"Please, don't fight..."

Tears began to fall over her eyes, drenching Maximus bloody bandages.

"I don't want to lose someone important to me again..."

Everyone became momentarily silent from the scene.

Maximus looked at her, slowly raising his hand to pat her head.

"Yes, I'm sorry...."

He hugged her using his remaining arm and pressed his

body much closer.

"I'm sorry... I won't leave you..."

...

..

.

"I promise."

***

(Loki POV)

"I promise."

As soon as I heard those words came out of his mouth, the whole world around me turned black. However, unlike the darkness I experienced back then, I could still see the two silhouette of Maximus and Aria in front of me.

[The Past of the Known Present]

The sudden panel that popped up from my view surprised me. I looked at it for a moment and read it in my mind.

"The past... of the known future?"

As I pondered about this deeply, I turned my gaze away slightly to glance at Maximus. I took a step forward, my face phasing through the panel.

"I promise, huh...?"

I didn't stop walking until I reached their direction.

"Yo..."

I stood before Maximus and looked at him straight in the face.

Unlike the bastard Maximus I knew in the novel, the him in front of me was different.

At first, Maximus and Aria would have never got along with each other if it wasn't for Saber. They would always bicker with each other whenever they had a chance to the poing Saber had to step in quickly each time he saw them together in order to stop them from murdering each other off.

However, after a certain incident happened between the two, where they got trapped in a dungeon when they were competing with each other, they became close after Aria saved Maximus when he was about to die. They got stuck in the dungeon for a day while heavily injured. Fortunately, Saber appeared on time by using a scroll he purchased to teleport to them and saved them.

After that incident, Maximus fell in love with Aria. It took him a year before he decided to man up and confess his feelings after.

Unfortunately for him, she rejected him and confessed that she was already in love with Saber. But instead of going nuts and forcefully pinning her on his bed, like what the Maximus I knew would according to the novel, he accepted it, laughed at himself for being rejected before going to a nearby bar to drink until he was fully drunk with Saber accompanying him.

Nonetheless, their adventure continued without much problem as they faced more foes and got stronger each time. As for Aria's feelings, considering how dense Saber was, every time she would try and make a move on him, he would mistook this as her kindness rather than flirting.

It gotten to the point that Maximus had to help her plan to kidnap Saber to a love hotel and force him drink a aphrodisiac. But unfortunately, their plan was unsuccessful each time they would do this to him. It was as if the FATE itself was preventing it from happening... I guess even in this world, Saber was fated to remain a virgin in the end like in the novel. I'm not even sure if I should laugh or cry about it.

[One minute remaining before the user get sent back to reality...]

The new notification sudden appearance of the new notification caught my attention. I glanced at it before turning my attention back towards Maximus in front of me.

"If only the Maximus from my world were similar as you, we would have been a great friend." Unknowingly, my lips began to curl up into a smile. And then, I turned to look at Aria.

"Forgiveness, huh..." I recalled some of the events that happened between the Saber and the Aria from this world for a moment.

Should I forgive her for what she did to Saber...?

That wasn't for me to decide.

The Aria from this world and the Aria I knew were different.

...But I guess, I should try and go easy on her from now on.

"Ugh... Now I'm starting to feel bad for the two of them."

While I was in deep thoughts, I noticed that my lower body began to fade into light. I glanced at the panel beside me and sighed.

[Forty-three seconds remaining before the user get sent back to reality...]

"...."

With a yawn, I stretched my back and waited until the countdown reach zero.

"This is taking forever..."

"𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳?"

"I meant the countdown... Huh?"

As soon as I heard another person speaking, I raised my head forward and looked at the two in front of me as they smiled back.

"𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯...? 𝘚𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘶𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨?" Maximus smiled mischievously as he crossed his arms on his chest. I was about to say something when Aria suddenly smacked the back of his head.

"𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘯... 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘮! 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘦𝘸 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘣𝘺𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘵!"

Seeing her upset pout, Maximus couldn't help himself but chuckle. He looked at me and said, "𝘈𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘦𝘴... 𝘐𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘢 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘦'𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳."

"Umm... Uh, okay?" I don't really know what's the appropriate reactions to my current situation. Honestly, I felt a bit awkward seeing them like this.

"𝘜𝘩𝘩... 𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺?"

It seems like I'm not the only person...

"Fine, I guess..."

The atmosphere between us became more awkward.

"...𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨."

Out of the sudden, Aria raised her foot and stepped on Maximus. The suddenness caught him off guard as he fell on his bum due to the excruciating pain on his foot.

"𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘣𝘺𝘦𝘴, 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭."

"𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘱 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘦!!"

While Maximus was sitting on the ground, Aria stared at me directly in the eyes. I could feel the longing and regret deep within her eyes. She didn't have to say it since I could already tell what her gaze was about.

"𝘐'𝘮 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺!"

Her eyes began to water as she said those words.

"𝘐𝘧 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦... 𝘐𝘧 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥... 𝘐 𝘤-𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦... 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘞-𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘥𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯... 𝘐𝘧 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺... 𝘐𝘧 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺...!"

Maximus appeared behind her and stroked her head. She looked down, clutching on her white dress as she cried her tears out.

"𝘚𝘢𝘣𝘦𝘳..."

He took a brief pause before continuing as his expression suddenly turned serious.

"𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭."

"𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘞𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵."

"𝘜𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺, 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘐 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘚𝘠𝘚𝘛𝘌𝘔. 𝘏𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴."

"𝘈𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥... 𝘈𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦."

Maximus smiled at me before he finally said his last goodbye.

"𝘎𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘭𝘶𝘤𝘬, 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥."

***

While this was happening, Aria finally recovered her composure and wiped her tears using her palm.

"𝘐..."

[Twelve seconds remaining before the user get sent back to reality...]

The sudden notification caught the three of them in surprise, causing Aria's words to remain stuck on her throat.

Maximus noticed this as he couldn't help but shake his head helplessly.

"𝘒𝘺𝘢𝘢!!?"

Suddenly, Maximus pushed her forward.

"𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦! 𝘋𝘰 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺!"

[Seven seconds remaining before the user get sent back to reality...]

His words finally made her steel herself. She fell towards Saber as he spread out his arms in attempt to catch her.

𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯...

[Three seconds remaining before the user get sent back to reality...]

Aria noticed that his lips was wide-open and decided to take advantage of their situation.

"𝘚𝘢𝘣𝘦𝘳..."

She let her body fell towards him as she placed her arms over his neck.

"𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶."

And so, she kissed him.