Chapter 207: You Are Alone

It was unknown whether there would be anyone who remembered this grim battle that heralded the beginning of the end, but for the men and women fighting and dying in this unknown alley.

Yuta did not care for the future at the moment; he could only watch the men and women he had trained die one at a time at an ever-increasing pace.

There were some he did not recognize, as they were enforcers that had joined this expedition because they believed it was a chance to practice their combat techniques.

It was a small mercy, but after every two of the enforcers that died whose names he did not know, there would be two that perished that he knew.

Yuta did not know whether to praise these enforcers who stood their ground as they all fell. He knew how easy it was to run, even when you know that running is futile.

He had seen much stronger Siphons with greater talent run when danger arrived, and yet these few were not running, and Yuta did not realize that they were not running because of him… they saw him standing in front of them, perhaps he should have killed thousands by now, he no longer counted a while back.

Where the fuck were the reinforcements?!

Beside him, he heard a cough, and although Yuta did not want to, he forced himself to look and saw Brenn going down under a pile of bodies, his axe still swinging until the end.

He was a mountain of a man, his talent making him strong enough to lift a horse even before becoming a Siphon, and tough enough to walk through fire. He had been with the Enforcers for thirty years, had fought in the last beast flood, had stood at the gate when the Rune Wolves came down from the peaks.

He killed hundreds of spawns before they took him.

They took his legs first, a dozen of them swarming his knees, his thighs, and his hips. He fell, and his axe fell with him, and he kept swinging. They took his arms, and he kept swinging, the axe strapped to his wrist, his talent keeping his muscles moving long after they should have stopped.

They took his head last. Yuta saw it go, saw the mouth of a spawn open wide, wider than any mouth should open, and close around Brenn’s neck. There was a sound like a branch snapping, and then there was nothing where Brenn’s head had been.

His body kept swinging for three more seconds. His axe killed two more spawns. And then he was torn to pieces.

Even if the enforcers were not running, the line was breaking. They simply could not hold, as the enemies they were fighting did not seem to have an end.

The Enforcers killed them in droves, and more came, and more, and more.

’This is hell… this must be what it meant to fight in the depths of the Maw… why are they not ending?!’

Yuta screamed inside his head. It was a wonder that he could still move, but his body refused to stop, and his blade, made from profound iron, snapped in half, and he had a hundred wounds all over his body.

He was inside his head now, and his tired and broken body just kept moving. Then he heard the screams of Korin, and his tired head turned to watch the boy die.

His sword that should have been shining with arcs of blue-white fire had faded after he had killed until his body was empty… Korin had displayed his foundation as a Siphon from the upper districts; he may have four Lumina pools, and his talent could pull from all these rivers of power, but rivers could run dry.

The sword had gone dark, and a spawn caught it, pulled it from his hand.

Another took his arm, and another took his leg. They did not kill him quickly. They took him apart piece by piece, and his screams went on and on, and Yuta could not reach him, could not save him, could not do anything but watch the light in his eyes fade, one piece at a time.

And then Yuta was alone, and at this point, there was no more shield wall. There were many monsters in front of him, but most of them simply ran past him, and behind him, he began to hear screaming.

“Where are you all going?” Yuta growled, “Your fucking ancestor stands before you, and you run like mice.”

Yuta’s flame was guttering. He had been burning for too long, pouring his talent into the fight, and there was nothing left. He could feel the drain in his bones, in his blood, in the places where his Lumina should have been.

He raised his hand, and a thin tongue of fire licked at the monster in front of him, barely burning its skin, and the creature paused, so many of them had turned to ash under the flames of Yuta, that it seemed to be expecting its death, and when it did not come, it leaped at Yuta with a scream, and for a moment, Yuta thought the creature was angered that it was not dead.

“Well, you and me both,” he growled as he killed it with his bare hands, driving his fingers through its eyes, feeling its skull crack, a moment before its body turned to ash in his grip.

He killed the second with a kick that shattered its spine, the third with a headbutt that drove its teeth back into its throat.

The fourth took his sword arm. He felt the teeth sink into his forearm, as the bone cracked, and his muscle tore.

His durability was low because Yuta had long burned through his store of Lumina, and he was beginning to burn his attributes just to keep fighting.

Such an in-depth way to pull resources from the body was a trait that was unique to Amber Exile, but Yuta had unconsciously used this technique, achieving a breakthrough in his mental state and his understanding of the next stage.

Originally, Yuta believed he would never reach Amber Exile, having two pools of Lumina was the least criteria for reaching this stage, but there were so many factors involved, like age, the Lumina Vein Art, talent, and the state of the body.

Yuta was not even aware that he was burning his body to fight, which was very dangerous for a Mist Phantom without the powers of an Amber Exile fortifying it.

He kept fighting. His left hand found a spawn’s throat, crushed it, and kept moving. His leg swept another off its feet, and his knee came down on its chest, and the ash rose around him like a tide.

Then there was nothing else. Yuta was spent. At this point, he was closer to a starving corpse than a man, as he barely had a single drop of blood inside his body, and his muscles had wasted away, leaving nothing but skin and bone. He collapsed on his back and waited for his body to be devoured, but nothing came; no teeth or claws tore him apart.

’What is happening?’ Yuta’s eyes struggled to open as tiredness took over his mind, and he was slipping into unconsciousness. ’Why are you bastards not killing me?’

This question would remain unanswered as Yuta slipped into unconsciousness.

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