Last Chapter

Chung turned. Behind him were a stone-made door, appeared from nowhere, and Elsword.

"What a shame..." the chaser said.

"Chung... you..."

Elsword didn't know what to say. He squeezed Chung's arm, to the point of grabbing directly it's bone. But, apparently, the chaser had lost sensibility of that limb. Eve was still on the floor, her self-repairing systems working at full speed.

"What does the mark on your forehead means?"

"I think you already know that"

"I want to hear it from you"

"Well..."

Chung's arm fell apart. Literally. He couldn't support himself anymore, and fell first on his knees and then on the ground. Elsword helped Eve to stand.

"Thank you"

"I'm sorry. As a man, I should have protected you"

"I'm not the kind of woman who needs protection. Though it sounds quite weird, looking at my current state"

In that moment, a couple of dozens of demons entered the room, which was utterly devastated, attracted by the sounds of the explosions.

"I can't stay here, I have something important to do. Can you..."

"Don't worry" she answered while holding her dangling arm.

"... ok"

He walked away, leaving a demon to help her to stand, back into the door he came out from. The door disappeared a few istants later.

The other demons surrounded Chung, their weapons pointed at him, and waited for orders.

"I'd like an explanation, Chung"

"Well, I guess it doesn't cost me anything"

He told her about his encounter with that winged woman in the forest. After that, he was brought to the Demon World. There, he received a new, demonic arm. The contract he did with her obliged him to "achieve his revenge", but that woman was sure he wanted to kill Elsword, not Eve. If it wasn't so, she wouldn't have got in contact with him, since the one she wanted to see dead was the Knight of the Heart. Basically, he became an assassin. Breaking the contract would have resulted in his death.

However, that arm was a biological prosthesis thought for demons. In normal conditions, his human body could have bore it for some months, but he couldn't possibly sustain more than one fight.

He waited for Elsword to leave the castle with his army. Well, in case that didn't happen, he was ready to break in and try to kill Eve regardless of it being an hopeless attempt. But, thanks to that woman, he got his chance. Elsword was out because the army of the neighboring kingdom was on the move towards that country, and he had to stop them.

"This is, broadly, it. But I can't understand why Elsword came back"

"Do you know why this castle is almost unguarded?"

"I don't really care"

"It's because it's lord can sense the presence of any demons within these walls. And if someone who is not a demon get in without the lord's consent, a curse slowly kills the intruder. Your new arm protected you from the curse, but it's also what made Elsword sense your presence here"

"... how unlucky..."

Chung raised his gaze.

"Say, Eve... where are you? I can't see you"

She was right in front of him.

"... you should sleep now"

"Well, I guess you're right. Wake me up when Elsword come back. I think he'll have a few things he want to tell me"

"... Chung..."

"See you next time, Eve. I'm glad I met you, after all"

The chaser closed his eyes. And they never opened again.

"... idiot..."

At the next meeting, Elsword presented the evidences of that woman's guiltiness. She had been plotting with neighboring countries and sent an assassin to take one of the Knights down. No need to say she didn't show up at that meeting. Her lands got assigned to a new lord, chosen by the council. The woman got caught while she was trying to cross the border of the kingdom to escape, and was executed a few days later.

Elsword brought what was left of Chung's corpse to Raven, and told him everything.

"I know I don't really have the right to say this, but... could you not tell this to Aisha? I don't know how she would react"

"You don't need to tell me that"

"... thank you"

He turned.

"I have a question, Elsword"

"Ask away"

"The things you have now... do they really worth more than what you've lost?"

"Yes, Raven"

"... goodbye, Elsword. I hope I won't see you again"

"... I see..."

With that, they parted for the last time, one of them sad, the other resigned.

Raven buried Chung in the middle of the forest, and built a tombstone on which was wrote only his name. "Chung Seiker". He buried his guns with him, and left his Destroyer as a commemorative pillar. It was too damaged to work again anyway.

Many, many years passed since then. More than half of the feudal lords had been replaced, as well as the Knight of the Wings and the Knight of the Claws. Elsword was still the Knight of the Heart, and Eve was still at his side. Their appearance haven't changed at all. They led what could be called an happy life togheter.

Seliet had died long ago. A new demon took his place. One day, when he entered the throne room, he found only Elsword, working at some sheets.

"My lord, where is the mistress?"

"She went out for a small recurrence. She should be back soon"

He wanted to go with her, but his work prevented him to do so. A while after, a mechanical door appeared in the room and Eve came out of it. Elsword got up and walked towards her. They shared a short but passionate kiss, then Elsword asked her something.

"Is she still there?"

"Yes"

From an house, built inside a great tree, an old woman came out. It was morning. Wrinkles covered her face, her skin was wrinkled, and her gaze was tired. On her back were a bow and some arrows, while on her side she carried a sword. She had green hair and eyes, and her ears were much longer than human's ones.

In the weak light of the rising sun, she walked over to five tombstones.

One of them was adorned by an extremely old and ruined bazooka. The others were decorated by a black, mechanical hand, a great sword, a spear, a magician's staff and a spear. All the items were unusable, clearly ruined beyond repair.

On four of the graves were some grim-looking flowers. But on the one adorned by the bazooka, was an amaranth.

The elf raised her gaze to the sky, and muttered to herself.

"They came again... maybe, next time, I'll manage to see them..."

End

Author's notes

And this marks the end of my first fanfictio. It didn't go exactly like I hoped to, but I can't really complain about the results. At least, that's what I think. Feel free to disprove me.

My next fanfiction will probably be about Kurumi from Date a Live or Oberon from Elsword. I have yet to decide.

Thanks for reading my work.

Note: the amaranth, in the language of flowers, means despair. At least, that's what internet says.