Everything Is Precious
"Death Patch gets stronger the more he's wounded!" Mary warned as she healed Ranta. "Haru! I'm at my limit - I only have magic for two, maybe three more spells! Please..."
The gravity of their situation began to kick into Haruhiro's brain. How was their party supposed to fight something that? How was his party supposed to survive this monster that would only get tougher the more they struggled?
Yume was wounded, Ranta was exhausted, Shihoru was out of magic and Mary - Mary too. Mogzo, he was still fighting, drawing Death Patch away from Ranta, but his movements were getting sluggish. They were all tired and no Priest spell Mary knew could restore stamina. If they attacked the kobold now... If they even tried to fight, what were the chances that they would all just die?
It was a foregone conclusion - no matter what, they had to run, and escape now. With no other elder kobolds around, they might just have a chance, just the tiniest probability of making it out all alive. But what if Death Patch gives chase? He's fast, strong, and undeniably pissed off to the bone. Mogzo sank to a knee under the weight of a multitude of blows. Cracks were appearing on his greatsword. Their time was almost out. Some of them would escape. Not everyone would live, not when Death Patch was enraged. Someone...had to stay. One would die for the sake of five, just like the trolley problem.
Mary stemmed the blood flowing from Ranta's wounds. Gritting his teeth, he leaned forwards to get to his feet, fingers outstretched for his sword. That's Ranta for you. Taking responsibility in his own selfish way, but for the good of everyone. Sacrifice himself and say he did it to look like a hero, but in reality...
"No," Haruhiro whispered, "Not anymore. I'm sorry, everyone..."
Just as Ranta's fingertips touched the handle of his sword, Haruhiro gripped his dagger and jumped as hard as he could. From where he had been standing next to Mary and Ranta, he traced an arc in the air as he brandished his worn dagger and landed on Death Patch's back, sinking it in as deep as he could into its thick muscles. The huge kobold let out a roar of surprise and clawed its back, trying to peel off the distraction.
"Go!" Haruhiro screamed, "Everyone! Mogzo, Ranta, Mary, Yume, Shihoru- ugh!" Death Patch elbowed him in the ribs and tossed him about like a rag doll. "I'll distract him! Just run now!"
"But- You can't!" Someone, probably Mogzo, said.
"It'll be okay!" Haruhiro yelled, and continued to stab Death Patch from behind. "Don't waste this chance! I'm this- this far gone already, don't save me now! Just take everyone and go! Ranta!"
"C'mon everyone, head for the sink well!" Ranta's ragged voice echoed in the mines. Amidst the overlapping roars of the Death Patch, Haruhiro could see and hear glimpses of Ranta pulling Mogzo to his feet, pushing Yume and Shihoru towards the opening and to safety. That's good. Ranta, reliable Ranta. I'm counting on you, Ranta, Haruhiro thought.
"Haru! Haru!" Mary shrieked. She hadn't left yet. Her hand was outstretched, trying to reach from an impossible distance. In the darkness and with Death Patch lurching this way and that, Haruhiro couldn't see clearly - but was Mary crying?
Why else would she be crying? She already has had to see her friends stay behind to die for her sake. Just when it was painful enough to purify them of the No-Life King's curse, now here he was, at it again, giving up his life for hers.
"Haru!" Mary's voice cracked, rising an octave as she dropped her staff and stumbled towards him. And then she was yanked backwards, the combined effort of Ranta and Mogzo bringing her towards the mine exit. She didn't stop - even as Haruhiro continued to cling onto Death Patch for dear life, he could still hear her cries echoing down the tunnel. Despite how battered and beat-up he was, Haruhiro could feel his eyes well up a little. What a shame, just when he had begun to like Mary a little. He just had to do this. No longer part of the party. His party. No- their party. Haruhiro grasped one of the little dog tags around his neck and tore it off. It fell to the ground with a small sound-
"Oof!"
The rock walls of the mine slammed into Haruhiro's back and head. Death Patch had finally realised that the smart thing to do was to literally scratch his back with the wall, and Haruhiro slid down the curved walls almost comically. He saw stars and his ears rang as he collapsed in a daze, disoriented and confused.
"Grr..." Death Patch sniffed the air, sensing its escaping prey, and growled softly in irritation. It turned its great snout towards the fallen remainder on the ground, his clothes stinking of human filth and essence. This one was near expiration. Soon, like the hundreds that have come before it, it will pass on and leave behind its bones to rot and be reanimated. If only it was a little bigger - kobolds rarely ate humans, but the few who did preferred them fat, with plenty of fat and marrow. This one could barely satisfy a child.
Death Patch raised a giant paw and squarely brought it down on the human. With an almighty thud, the mine itself seemed to quake, but there was no telltale crunch of breaking bones. Confused, he lifted his paw and found nothing - the human had rolled over to his side, surviving by the skin of his teeth. Death Patch raised his greatsword and flicked his wrist - in a fraction of a second, the wall, the ground, and perhaps the air in between was obliterated. His sword rang in protest and his sword arm seized up with the resistance, but this time, Death Patch was sure he had gotten the human.
Or maybe not. The lightest of brushes against his sword-arm, a deep human breathe, and-
"Ahh!" Haruhiro plunged his dagger as deeply as he could into Death Patch's ear and twisted it. He met resistance, and blood soaked his glove as he tore the thin flesh. Fingers encircled him before he could remove his dagger, though, and then Death Patch bodily threw him across the cavern. With a sickening thwack, Haruhiro hit the wall and collapsed again. The world spun around him and all he could manage were short breaths. Haruhiro was on his side- now, he felt like he was on the ceiling. The only certainty was that his head hurt.
"I'm sorry, Mary," Haruhiro gasped. His knife was gone, his hands numb. "I'm so useless. I can't... I can't do anything."
He thought back to their last moments just a while ago, when Mary had Purified the reanimations of her former friends. 'Please take care of me, Mary. Let me rest as ash,' he thought to himself. How horribly depressing. Would his party have nominated a new leader by then? Would they even come back?
Mary's face flickered in his mind's eye as Death Patch lurched closer to Haruhiro, teeth bared in disgust. Maybe it was a good thing that Haru had never told Mary that she looked beautiful. How much time had passed since they had fled?
Death Patch raised its gargantuan sword and bellowed, raining spit upon Haruhiro's body. It was full of rage and arrogance, and the monster glared at Haruhiro with his last good eye, as if to say, "You shall die now, unworthy one."
At the thought, Haruhiro couldn't help but chuckle to himself. Unworthy to the end, useless and good-for-nothing through and through, that was him. All that was left was to turn to ash-
The line. It burned bright in his vision. From his body to the rock besides him. Haruhiro did not think, only obeyed it. Sluggishly moving his arms and feet like he was moving underwater-
Boom! Death Patch obliterated the ground he was sitting upon just a moment ago. Haruhiro clung to the rock he had jumped to, squinting as the dust and soil rained from the mine ceiling and threatened to smother him under.
The line. Shining like a candle in the dark, it traced a simple, elegant curve. Jumping from his rock, to Death Patch's back, and finally looping around his wounded ear to end at the still-buried dagger.
Haruhiro jumped. He did not think, did not try to do anything else. As a roar of displeasure shook the ruined cavern, Haruhiro lept onto Death Patch's back, nearly losing his footing in the process. He grabbed a handful of fur in one hand, and curled his right hand around his dagger. Yanked it out. A spray of blood triggered a fresh bellow of rage from Death Patch.
"Shit, I pissed it off now." Haruhiro blinked.
Death Patch began to run backwards - he was going to squish Haruhiro between himself and the wall again! Haruhiro flipped around and scrambled over Death Patch, clambering through his matted fur before jumping off and falling to the ground. Meanwhile, Death Patch collided with the far side, and an impressive wham! echoed throughout. Dust trickled from the ceiling and into remaining good eye, forcing the kobold heavyweight to raise a hand and rub his eye-
The line. Nothing fancy about it - just a straight line joining his dagger, and a point almost in the center of Death Patch's chest, off to the right. It glowed bright like the argent moon among the stars at night.
Haruhiro jumped. Placed both hands on his dagger, and screamed. Death Patch dropped his sword and tried to swat him out of the air, but-
Schick! With a soft, wet sound, he sunk his dagger deep into a surprisingly fragile-feeling spot. The fur was flattened and sparse, as though it was covering an old wound made many years before.
"..."
Death Patch's claws, each easily the size of Haruhiro's arm, dropped to his sides and twitched. A death rattle emerged from the man-sized throat just above Haruhiro. Life itself seemed to drain from the being beneath his hands as Death Patch slowly curved forwards and toppled over with a resounding boom!
Where he had crawled out from underneath Death Patch's body, Haruhiro was able to examine the sheer size of the monster - easily five times his height, with legs and arms easily the size of Mogzo. Mogzo... Them! Were they alright? Were they safe?
Haruhiro's dagger slipped from his fingers and clattered on to the ground. Was he going to die like this? Maybe it wasn't so bad after all.
"Haru!" A familiar voice from far away at the end of a tunnel. Haruhiro's eyes fluttered shut and his body began to feel light.
.
"Hm hmm, hm-hmm, hm-hm-hmm~"
The straw bed. Tickling his skin like it always did, and getting tangled in his hair. He'd have to comb it out later.
"Hm hmm, hm-hm-hmm," a strange, but somewhat familiar voice. Who was that? The tune she was humming sounded happy and sad at the same time.
"Ughh..." The worst headache Haruhiro had ever felt in his short second life began to throb. The bright sunlight streaming through the window didn't help either.
Then he sat up and opened his eyes properly, only to behold the most beautiful sight ever: Mary by his bedside, staring wide-eyed at him. And she was completely unharmed, save for a hint of shadow beneath her eyes. Had she been there all night? Their gazes met, and Haruhiro forgot what he was going to ask.
"Is this heaven?" he finally blurted out. After all, if heaven means that you wake up next to a cute girl, Haruhiro wouldn't dare ask for more.
Mary stared at him, not understanding him for a moment, before she turned away and laughed. She laughed. Delightful peals of laughter filled the air and his ears. She sounded like bells. Happy bells. Wait, how did he know what a bell sounded like?
When Mary turned back to face him, there was a tear in the corner of each of her teal eyes. "Welcome back, Haru." she whispered fervently. A smile blossomed across her face like the rising sun of a beautiful day. They locked gazes again, and time seemed to stop for Haruhiro.
"I'm home."
Nothing Is Replaceable.
.
Author's notes:
So this is a fix fic, huh. The name itself has negative connotations, but really, wouldn't you agree that the last battle of the series was quite...rushed? At least show a bit of struggle. Show how Haruhiro works his ass to buy time for his dear friends. That would have made the reunion so much sweeter.
I realised that most of the subbed episodes have it spelled as Cyrene Mines and call the boss Death Spots, but I personally prefer the novel's rendition of Siren Mines and Death Patch. I trust that the small differences don't bother you.
Hai to Gensou no Grimgar is a light novel written by Ao Jumonji. Cover Image was created by akihdna on his Devianart with vector art.