The Scepter of Marahuyo

Chapter 055

“I will f*****g kill you! You beast! How could you--”

A hole appears below the old woman, and then it falls. In a surprise, Ethan almost fell too if I didn’t reach out to him and knock him out with my wind, causing him to hit the rock behind him.

I vomit again. I really need to stop using my blessing. I need to let it rest; else, I will retrogress like Demetrio. 

Al approaches me and studies my state. The hole is from his celestial ocean. I’m not sure if trapping the old woman on the celestial ocean will be a good thing, though. That place is mostly water, so if she’s not a mage, she’ll drown. It might also affect a human differently. 

“You look and smell like s**t,” Al comments.

I’m aware. My clothes and face are sticky with the kibaan’s blood. It’s a messy battle compared to Ethan’s. 

“Are you two trying to kill me?” Ethan complains as he stretches and massages his back because of the force of hitting a flat rock behind him.

“I thought you could escape my celestial ocean on your own,” Al answers. “Didn’t know you’ll have a hard time with an old woman.”

“That’s coming from someone who just sleeps the whole time?”

“I’m the one who rid you of the old woman!”

“You just stole my prey!”

“Al, how’s the old woman on your celestial ocean?” I interrupt while having difficulty sitting up.

“Dead, the moment she falls.”

“You can sense it now?”

“The surface of it, yes, but not everything.”

Then, I remember the green smoke that the Kibaan emitted. I scrutinize Al. How come the green poison did not do him damage? Then I see the little creature peeking from behind his neck.

“That,” I whisper. I even have difficulty speaking.

“Oh, this?” Al takes it from his shoulder and lets it hop into his palm. “Seems like its tears can heal any injuries.”

Al approaches and places the little creature on my lap. It regards me with curiosity and hops on my hand and arm. Tears form on the edges of its enormous eyes and heal my wounds. I look up at Al.

“This is amazing!” I say.

I feel the pain in my body start to diminish as it drenches me with its fluid. However, it doesn’t fix and supplies my blessing. I am being healed, but I am still close to retrogressing—which reminds me that I need to fix Aicelle as well. 

I turn towards Aicelle, but instead of only her, I see another old woman carrying the unconscious Aicelle. The new guest looks a lot like the old woman Al just dropped in his celestial ocean.

“s**t,” I mutter. “Aicelle!”

I feel both Al and Ethan stir, then they run towards Aicelle. I activate my blessing, but I keel over and vomit instead. I lose focus of the surroundings, and I hit the ground again. All that pain, and I’m only able to let out a bit of my magic. I wonder how determined Demetrio was when he retrogressed.

I force myself to look back at the old woman. The wind gathers under the old woman’s feet and hovers a few meters over us. The two guys didn’t manage to reach her just in time. In the distance, I can make out a smile on her face. She knows we are all spent. I am about to retrogress. Al is injured. And Ethan, who is previously sitting on the ground, is now kneeling below the old woman. I can see his struggle even with a few meters' dash.

“Thank you! I’ll take whatever my twin didn’t get from you,” the old woman screams at us.

“Aicelle…” I want to scream at her, to bring Aicelle back, but all I manage is a feeble No. If I can’t use my blessing, I’ll use my strength. I crawl. She can’t take her. If she does, it will just be the same as the previous timeline. She will torture Aicelle for months. Tears fall. I cannot let her. I can’t. My muscles scream and my arms tremble.

“No, please,” I touch my forehead on the ground. “Anitun Tabu, please.”

My body stops listening to my commands, and so my last resort is still my blessing. I don’t care anymore. I’ll risk it. I can’t let the old woman take Aicelle.

“Please,” I whisper. 

Then the old woman howls, which sounds weird. Its pitch is undulating as if calling for something. It lasts for a few seconds, then it stops.

I feel a touch on my shoulder. “Stop now. They’re gone.”

I look up and see Ethan kneeling before me. “Aicelle’s gone,” he repeats, a dark look on his face. It’s the same look he had when he returned with Al at my previous timeline. And I am so stupid. I could have known! What use is my rebirth if I can’t prevent things such as this?

“What now?” Ethan asks.

“We need to leave,” Al answers. He’s sitting beside Ethan. 

The two help me up. We all know we are not in the state to traverse from this place back to Marahuyo. Even a mid-level monster can quickly kill us. We can’t stay either, now that Aicelle is gone, who knows who’s next? We will not be able to fight the next one to arrive.

I glance at the mountain behind me and then the clearing in front, deciding the safest route. I came up with none. Both pose an equal danger to injured and tired mages. I groan. This goes way past the level of Selection  .

As if cursing my little hope, I hear rustling in front of me. My eyes follow the sound, and I can make out the first ogro who comes out from the trees in the distance.

I snicker. What more is there for me? Does this forest don’t want us to live?

Al lets go of my arms and waist, then he slumps on the ground. His eyes focus on the ogros that are continuously coming out of the forest. There is a dejected look on his face, and I know that he knows we’re reaching the end of the line.

“Hell, I’m too tired to run,” Ethan whispers. “I’m not even sure if I’ll be able to outrun that.” Sweat glistens on his forehead as he glares at the recent visitors. He’s sneering, and I know exactly why. 

The ogros keep on coming. Now, there are tens of them. As despair grows, I remove his hands from my waist. He needs to save himself, at least. “Ethan and Al, you guys need to run.”

Ethan glares at me. “By leaving you behind?”

“You know that you two can escape it while they’re busy with me.”

“Busy devouring you, that is,” Al snickers.

I wonder how Ethan and Al survived in my previous timeline? Wait… Demetrio is there too. Did I take his role? Is that why we are in this same situation? Then, how did they survive? Understanding clouds my features, I know exactly why. 

“I’m close to retrogressing. I can force myself and then die with all of them.”

“f**k them all! We’ll fight,” Ethan angrily says. “First, Sir Tomas and Sir Edmund, then Aicelle. We can’t lose you too.”

Now, how did Demetrio make them agree to this? I smile. Continuous death. There’s no wonder Ethan and Al returned like that.

“Are you planning to become a hero? Your blessing won’t be able to wipe them all off at once. Best-case scenario would be, they’ll pause for a while and then come after us in a heartbeat,” Al says.

Ah! It’s their confidence in his ability that makes them agree to it. And because it’s me, instead of surviving, the two will die with me.

I watch more ogros come out. It has become close to a hundred. I take out my last remaining gunong. I will fight as long as I can, before I force myself to retrogress. I smile. Eighteen years old and am already facing my death. This is worse than my previous life. I’ve worked hard this time, really worked hard for strength. Turns out that it will amount to nothing, even negating everything.

I look around me. The ogros have us encircled. I smirk. Let’s do this then. 

To be continued…