Rampage

A face off was about to happen and Ronnie was prepared for it. He took his stance with the blade of the great sword still buried in the dirt.

Zen paid absolutely no attention to Ronnie. He was busy with basking in Ronnie's aura.

"hey!" Ronnie yelled. Veins popped out on the sides of his head.

"Look down here! Your attention should be on me!" Ronnie yelled. He stuck his feet firmly to the ground and mustered up the strength to swing the sword.

One swing of the sword slashed down the surrounding electric poles and caused a shock wave that blew the cars around away.

"Oh? It would seem like this human has managed to scratch us? We will deal with this interference" Zen said. The voices echoed. Ronnie's slash had cut off one of his hands.

"Looks like I finally got your attention, you bastard" Ronnie smirked.

Jay had taken advantage of the battle between Ronnie and Zen to help his squad mates and Lily out of harm's way. He took his time in healing them one after the other.

"That idiot! He's going to tear the town apart!" Mr. C thundered.

"Chief. That sword, is it what I think it is?"Jay asked while healing Dylan.

"I was— wondering the same" Dylan said, he winced in pain.

"Don't try to sit up. Try to lay as still as you can" Jay instructed.

Mr. C continued to stay laser focused on the fight. He didn't give a response.

"That's impossible. It can't be THAT sword" Cynthia said.

"Shut it. It doesn't matter if it's that sword or not, we have bigger problems to worry about. If he keeps at this, he'll level the whole town" Mason said.

"What do we do? about Ron, I mean. He doesn't look so good. His movements seem frenzied, erratic" Josh asked. He wore a look of concern on his face.

"Tch, that damned woman. How did she expect the kid to handle a weapon like that? It'll drive him to insanity if this keeps up any longer" Mr. C muttered.

"How do we stop him?" Zeke asked. Jay had managed to stop the bleeding but he was still missing a hand.

"I— don't know if we can," Mr. C said under his breath.

The whole squad expressed shock on their faces. The chief always had a plan, but this time, he didn't.

"For now, you all are on crowd control. Make sure nobody comes within this area, make sure no pictures or videos are taken. Use force if you have to" Mr. C instructed.

"Sir!" They chorused.

Lily didn't say a word. She expressed visible shock from the sight she was witnessing.

"It all makes sense now. The aura I was picking up from him. I understand" Lily pondered.

Ronnie was getting more infuriated by the second. Zen flew around in the air, making Ronnie swing the blade maniacally.

Zen managed to evade, but Ronnie's slash had thrown him off balance. He crashed to the ground.

Ronnie dashed towards him without giving an room to recover. He lifted the sword and swung it again. Zen's other hand, along with a building far behind was slashed, forming a crater.

Students coming from school ran in an erratic fashion. Mr. C didn't have enough aura left to recast his concealment magic.

"Ronald! stop it, you idiot!" Mr. C yelled in futility.

Lily looked over at Mr. C, and then she observed the chaos that had been created by the whole fight.

"I caused this. This is my fault. I have to stop all of this before it's too late. If he loses his sanity…" Lily thought.

"We..have to get away, he'll kill us. We have to get away from here!" Zen screamed. He could no longer fly so he tried to evade Ronnie, his movements weren't fast enough.

Ronnie slashed off one of his legs before long, leaving him immobile.

He stood over Zen, gripping the sword tightly and trying to lift it above his head. In that moment, he could no longer hold on to his consciousness.

He started to swing the sword around randomly, paying no attention to Zen who was stealing the opportunity to get away. Although he tried to run away, the phantoms in his head kept pulling him back to Ronnie's aura. It was a battle of two entities that had lost their minds.

Ronnie cackled as he swung the great sword, destroying cars, slash buildings, and making craters.

Mr. C's team and the students who had been taken to safety watched from a distance as Ronnie cleared out the whole area around him. In the process, he obliterated Zen without a trace. The voices of the damned souls made a deafening shriek before going completely silent.

"Do we have any chance of stopping him? Even if we call for backup, it's unlikely we'll get any help at this moment. What do we do?" Cynthia asked, she leaned against Zeke who was trying to catch his breath.

"We might just have to say our last prayers. Even after defeating that monster, he's still out of control" Mason said in a voice devoid of emotion.

To everyone's surprise, Lily walked towards Ronnie.

She staggered as she walked slowly, using her barely replenished aura to defend against the sword's slashes.

Ronnie panted heavily, he had started to run out of aura. The force of the slashes got weaker.

"Ronald! put the sword down! You already did it. You defeated Zen, you defeated the damn— the phantoms" Lily said as she walked towards Ronnie. Her words weren't getting through.

The protective barrier she cast on herself broke due to her aura deficiency. She covered her face with her arms as she pushed towards Ronnie through all the craters and debris.

Ronnie's aimless slashes weren't strong enough to damage anything anymore, but the blade cut through Lily's arms repeatedly.

"Ronnie" Lily called out as she grabbed the blade of the sword with her bare hands.

The sword's golden glow burnt her hands but she didn't pay it any mind.

Ronnie growled, his eyes showed nothing but anger.

"Put the sword down, let it go," she said.

He tried to pull away the sword from her grip but it was nearly impossible.

"Ronnie, you did it. You protected me, you kept me safe" Lily whispered to him.

"Huh?" Ronnie said. Those words brought back his consciousness immediately.

"Li—ly" Ronnie said. He looked into Lily's eyes in disbelief.

"Yes, I'm here. It's me. You can put down the sword now. I'm safe, see?" Lily said, trying to convince him.

Ronnie turned his eyes away from her, scanning his surroundings with a horrified expression on his face.

"I did this, didn't I?" Ronnie asked, his voice sounded deeply bitter. He let the sword out of his grip. The moment it touched the ground, it dematerialized.

Lily kept silent. Ronnie fell to his knees and faced the ground. Tear drops from his eyes wet the ground, followed by cold rain drops that started to fall.

"You did. You almost destroyed everything, and killed everyone" Lily said.

"Did anybody die?" Ronnie asked in a voice that sounded almost silent.

"I don't think so. That human and his group of children minimized the collateral damage." Lily said.

"I see," Ronnie said. He knelt quiet in the pouring rain.

Lily knelt in front of him. She cupped his face in her hands and raised his face so his eyes would meet hers.

"It's true that you did all of this, but I know you didn't mean to. You're a kind person, Ronnie. You wouldn't dream of hurting people" Lily said.

"It doesn't matter if I meant to do it or not. The fact is that I did it. These wounds on your hands, I even hurt you too" Ronnie expressed.

"You know what else you did? You protected me, just as you said you would" Lily said in a soft voice.

Ronnie turned his attention fully to her face. She gave him a warm smile. To Ronnie, it felt like time had paused in that moment.

"You kept your promise, Ronnie. It made me really happy" Lily added.

Ronnie stared speechlessly, so much that he forgot to breathe. His heart pounded so loud, he couldn't hear anything else.