Chapter 98 Volume III – Chapter 19: Crushed but Victorious

The purple-eyed man frowned when he saw the tiny black box, the gate device, that Aiden activated with his heel.

“Are you stupid?”

His voice was a little sarcastic, and without waiting for an answer, he started to move again, but just before that, the purple energy in Aiden’s arm suddenly began to change form.

In a split second, purple chains shot out of his arm and wrapped around the man’s body.

“You have an authority?!”

Aiden did not answer. After the chains, the purple energy around him weakened even more. Blood oozed from his nose and lips at the same time. His body was shaking like crazy, even though he didn’t show it on his face. Whatever these chains were, they were putting too much strain on his body.

~beep!

With the sound that followed the appearance of the chains, I saw the red marking on the top of the box fill up and change color to green. In this way, a blue glow suddenly appeared on top of it, and this blue glow slowly expanded to form a gate.

After the box’s activation, Aiden smiled wryly and looked into the man’s eyes.

“What? You still haven’t won against someone like me? Your reputation is going to be ruined.”

The man bit his lip and tried to break free of the chains, which actually wasn’t that hard. In the first second, cracks started to appear on the chains, and after the first one, it took only two seconds for the chains to shatter.

“This has gone on too long!”

The purple energy around the man exploded in an instant and a purple glow covered the area. The man disappeared from sight, ending in front of Aiden in an instant.

At this point, it was clear who the victory belonged to. It was obvious that the man had put almost all his speed and strength into this attack. As the attack approached Aiden, it literally sent a small shockwave because of its speed and power, but again something unexpected happened.

The man had aimed for Aiden’s chest but hit him in the left shoulder, and even though he missed his attack, he didn’t stop. He continued at the same speed as if he had lost his balance and couldn’t control his speed.

Where he had just passed, there was a thin, purple-colored stringy thing that he couldn’t see unless he focused on it, and he tripped over it.

Even I was just now noticing it, I didn’t realize when Aiden had placed it there, even though I was watching the fight from the outside, but even so, the attack hadn’t lost any of its destructiveness.

The attack dislocated Aiden’s shoulder, twisting his arm into an awkward shape, even bending it backward as the man didn’t stop. I could hear the crunching of bones, let alone the sound of splintering from here. It was obviously painful, anyone else would have fallen to the ground and started crying, but Aiden was unresponsive.

Aiden tried to catch the man with his other hand, ignoring him without even trying to support his arm with purple energy, but he was too slow. He couldn’t catch the man who passed by him at an uncontrolled speed, he could only touch him lightly, but that was enough for him.

Just like before, long chains, too many to count, came out of his hand and connected to the man like a rope where he touched him.

With the second use of the chains, blood began to ooze out of his mouth like a slightly open fountain. Blood was coming from his nose too, and even his eyes and ears.

By this time, the creation of the gate at the top of the box was complete. Moreover, after it was opened, it began to ripple, and someone was coming through it.

“Bye!”

The moment Aiden tied the chains to the man, he nailed his feet to the ground, almost all the purple energy left around him went to his feet, pinning him to the ground, and he gripped the chains tightly with his remaining good hand.

The man’s extreme speed almost sent him flying with him, dragging the earth with him for several meters even as his feet literally dug into the ground. His hand holding the chains was red as if burnt and melted, his already badly damaged feet were shaking like crazy, but he didn’t even think of stopping.

If he stopped, he would be finished, the man in front of him was many times stronger than him and there was no way he could make him lose his balance again.

So he spun the chain around him, keeping his speed up and giving him even more momentum. After giving him one full revolution around him, he threw him with all his strength into the open passage.

The few people who were about to emerge from the gate were instantly thrown back by the uncontrolled and excessive speed of the man, their bodies barely discernible.

Aiden ran toward the box without waiting for a second after the men were thrown into the gate. Or rather, he tried to run.

He couldn’t take a proper step because his legs were shaking, and his balance was off because of the condition of his left arm. He was limping, but he managed to get to the box quickly and tried to crush it with his foot.

Just then the gate rippled again. A hand, the hand of the man Aiden had thrown, suddenly shot out and grabbed him by the collar. He pulled him quickly toward him, but it was too late.

Aiden crushed the box with his foot, shattering it. The gate closed quickly, losing the connection that had kept it open. The man’s hand remained on this side of the gate, separated from his body, and fell to the ground.

And then… a deep silence fell over the place.

Aiden’s breathing, and the man’s hand falling to the ground as the grip on his collar loosened, were the only things that broke that silence.

It was over. Even if his wounds were too severe, at least he had won.

It wasn’t really a win, actually. While the man didn’t have a single scratch except for the arm he lost because of the gate, Aiden’s situation was worse. He was literally crushed.

Aiden let himself fall to the ground, sighing deeply. As he tried to catch his breath, he looked down at his body.

His right hand, which had been holding the chain, was completely worn out from the force. His left arm was both broken and dislocated. His right foot was perhaps the worst part of his entire body. He was bleeding from his nose, mouth, ears, and eyes. He was shaking, and his body was covered in bruises and contusions, but he had never shown any pain on his face during that battle.

Now he was really tired and exhausted.

He sighed again, lowered his hand, and raised his head. Then he turned in my direction and our eyes met.

“Oh? Are you still alive?”

The tired expression on his face gave way to a smile. The purple glow in his left eye intensified, as if he was excited. He stood up, even if he staggered. It took him a little effort to regain his balance, but he did it. Then he started walking toward me.

As he approached me, I stiffened when I realized a feeling had appeared inside me.

This thing I was feeling, it was the danger.

“After all you’ve seen… you can guess what’s going to happen, can’t you?”

The purple glow in his left eye intensified and the smile on his face turned evil.

“But a simple death would be bad… You know, I’ve used too much caora. I can’t control myself, madness permeates my mind. My brain is filled with so many thoughts that I can hardly contain myself. So… let’s not make it a simple death, don’t you think I deserve a little fun from all I’ve done?”

The purple glow in his left eye intensified and the smile on his face turned evil.

He looked like he wanted to tear me apart. He had the expression of a serial killer who literally butchered his victims to death just because they wanted to, just because they were having fun. On top of that, he walked so awkwardly because of his injuries that he looked like a monster.

And that’s when I remembered.

Aiden was like that man, he was ‘crazy’ right now.

“S- st… stop… D- don’t-”

The pain in my body suddenly came back, all the things I had suppressed up until now had come to the surface again.

“What shall we start with first? I’ll let you choose, don’t worry.”

Tears welled up in my eyes again, and everything that had happened played in my mind again.

I can’t… I can’t go through that pain again… I… don’t want to…

Wh- why is this happening to me?

Why am I still alive?

Why am I still awake and not unconscious?

“A- Aiden… wa- wake… up… p- please…”

“Ahahah… That only happens in movies. It’s just the two of us here.”

Somebody…

Somebody help me…

“W- wait… Aiden! Don’t c- come near-”

Please!

“Not Aiden, it’s Eth-”

His words were interrupted when his eyes suddenly focused behind me. I heard a voice coming from where his focus was.

“A- Aiden?”

I knew that voice.

It was the voice of someone powerful, even if it was the first time I had ever heard him sound so terrified. Even if I couldn’t see him, I knew it was Adrian Caleo behind me, but I didn’t care anymore.

I was tired… I was so tired that my world was slowly going black. I just… wanted to rest now.

“Ah…”

Before my world went completely dark, I saw Aiden roll his eyes and click his tongue.

“What is this? A drama movie?”

*******

I ran and ran and ran.

I did my best to get to Aiden’s location quickly, terrified of losing anyone again.

Nevertheless, I froze for a moment when I saw a purple glow in the trees I was approaching that almost lit up the sky.

I remembered the radiance, the ominous and disturbing feeling it gave off.

How could I forget it? Is it possible that I would not recognize it when I had lost everything to that purple glow?

No…

I quickly shook myself off and kept running determinedly toward the woods, now was not the time to freeze. Having that light there meant Aiden was in danger. I had to be faster.

So I kept running to the light, but I couldn’t stop shaking. I was going to meet someone who was using that purple energy, someone who was on the side of the men who had ruined my life.

I kept running anyway, but then I realized that the glow was fading fast.

Oh no… I won’t be late, will I…?

Without thinking, I dived into the woods, ran straight ahead without turning anywhere, ignored the tree branches scratching my skin, and finally came out into a clearing.

I looked for Aiden, my friend who I was almost certain would be in a difficult situation. I was ready to jump out of my seat to help him.

What I encountered, however, was the last thing I expected to see.

No… I hadn’t even considered the possibility of what was reflected in my eyes, let alone expected to see it.

My thoughts were suddenly jumbled together. I felt a pain in my head as if my world was spinning. Only one thought crossed my mind:

This… can’t be real… shouldn’t be.

I looked at Aiden, who was walking toward me, or rather toward a girl in a terrible state.

He looked like he had just come out of a battle that had been extremely hard for him. His body was in such a state that he looked more like a zombie than a human being. His sinister expression and fiercely glowing left eye, along with the purple-colored, prominent vascular structures that surrounded his body, made him look like a real monster.

When I saw Aiden, especially his purple-colored left eye that glowed like that man’s in my memories and the purple-colored veins around his body, I felt like my whole world froze.

“A- Aiden?”

Aiden stopped where he was after my words. The smile on his face slowly faded. Then he turned his face to me with an expression as if he was annoyed.

“Ah…”

No… Don’t… Don’t give me that look…

Please…

“What is this? A drama movie?”

Memories suddenly penetrated my brain, my eyes widened.

“H- how?”

I had heard those exact words before. Nine years ago, I had been told the same thing when a silhouette I didn’t want to see slowly appeared behind Aiden.

It was just like at the preliminaries, their images seemed to match each other.

Aiden’s current calmness and that silhouette were identical.

“Tch.”

Aiden clicked his tongue, then sighed.

“What? Surprised?”

His tone was different than usual. It sounded darker, more authoritative.

It didn’t last long, though. After the last sentence, his expression suddenly distorted and his body began to tremble. He paused as if he had encountered something disgusting. Soon, however, a smile reappeared on his face.

“You see, I’m a bit badly injured right now, so let’s play with you when the time comes, okay?”

Play?

Play, did he say…?

Does he… does he see this as a game?

“Aide-”

I took a single step toward him, opened my mouth, but before I could continue, the glint in Aiden’s left eye began to return. It slowly turned back to gray. The smile on his face disappeared, and his eyes twitched as if he had lost focus.

Although blood had already oozed from his nose, even more blood spilled out for a brief moment, and then he collapsed.

Suddenly there was an intense silence. I didn’t know what to do, I couldn’t do anything but just stand there, with so many thoughts in my mind that I felt detached from the world.

‘Adrian, can you hear my voice?’

“L- Lithoa?”

‘You remember what happened in the preliminaries before, don’t you?

“Y- yes…”

‘At the time, you thought that boy was your enemy, but then you realized there was a reason behind it. I advise you not to act fast for now. Wait and understand. As much as I dislike that boy, he is important for your development and he is different from the man you saw before. When someone of his kind uses that energy, no matter what, both of his eyes turn purple, whereas only his left eye was purple, which I’ve never seen or heard of before. I’m not certain, but there’s a good chance he wasn’t himself just now.’

I clenched my fist, then looked at Aiden’s body on the ground.

The thought that Aiden could be one of them scared me to death, and the thought that all the time I’d spent with him could have been a lie was burning me up inside. There were so many questions I wanted answers to, but that’s when I realized how bad he was.

The purple, glowing structures and veins on his body had begun to retract. So I understood their purpose.

They were like a patch, covering Aiden’s wounds. They acted as muscles to replace his torn, shredded muscles. They stopped his bleeding and held his broken bones in place. It hadn’t healed him, but it had supported him, and now that support was gone, his whole body began to literally shake.

“Aiden!”

I ran toward him, not knowing what to do, the thought that he might die sprouted in my mind more intensely than ever, but just then I heard a voice coming from behind me.

“Hey! Stay where you are!”

I froze in place, my eyes slowly turning in the direction of the voice, behind me, to look at the source of the voice.

There was a soldier from the royal army in front of me, holding a gun in his hand.

“He is not the enemy, calm down soldier.”

Behind the soldier in front of me, someone stepped out of the bushes into the clearing with slow steps. Everything from his posture to his facial expression emphasized that he was someone in authority.

There were a few badges on his uniform, indicating his high rank, but they were not very high compared to the air he gave off. He must have been something like a commander leading the troops.

“It seems that everything is alrea-”

I shouted without letting him finish, I didn’t care who he was.

“H- help! He’s going to die!”

We had to be fast, or I would never be able to ask Aiden what I wanted to know, nor would I ever see him alive again.

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