Death
"GURGH-!"
Another charge was unleashed, throwing the hideous troll far back to another corner of the deformed, asymmetrical cave resulting from Megumin's Explosion Magic. Dust flows, blocking off the view of the spectacle. Then, a shadow shoots out, leaving a trail of red and pitch-black for the bystander to witness. Showing, validating its existence. To stand out amongst other particles and objects surrounding it.
The blow cleared up the dust, showing Megumin, the sole witness, the current situation. She sat there, below the stone beside the passed-out Aqua, attentively observing the current fight she thought she would never witness at her current level. Her glowing crimson eyes are wide open, not missing even a millisecond of what her party member has conducted.
And it's not like she could miss it. Her mind, soul, and heart refused to do so. Like an instinct, an initiative to not miss this spectacle. Precisely the subject of it. The reason for the rise of her emotion.
Something that she knows why yet does not know how.
Her crimson eyes fluttered, her gaze looked down and her staff was embraced.
'Is this... Crimson Destiny?'
BOOM!
A punch landed on the troll's middle with an insurmountable amount of power. The troll could only cough blood and looked forth at the pair of bizarre eyes before him. He tried to act and counter, but it was truly hard when his opponent gave him no chance to retaliate. And before he could do so-
BOOM!
Another explosive assault was unleashed, causing casualties the troll doubts he could withstand.
For such an attack to be unleashed which was conducted by a body unfit for its power, sacrifice is unavoidable. A twisting sound, and the flesh of the culprit's arm breaks down, showing red stripes that represent deep cut wounds. Yet, the pair of eyes before him did not waver. They still held the same amount of emotions and resolve, and will, that were windowed by them as before.
Unfortunately for the culprit, Kazuma, such an attack was too much for his frail body. A rest, an interval was needed to launch another assault, but such a gap is all the troll needs to fight back.
"YOU BASTARD!"
With unadulterated rage, a punch was set in motion by the troll's thick, refined arm, hitting Kazuma right on his ribs. A crack was heard as the Sinner was thrown back to the other side of the space, resulting in an unintended cough filled with blood. And acting as his cruel opponent did, the troll did not give Kazuma the chance to recover as he ripped a massive chunk of rock from the wall and threw it at him.
Perhaps it was worth the effort, as now that Kazuma saw the troll from afar, he could see the unrepairable casualties that he had done to the monstrosity. The blood that flows throughout its ugly, green skin and the deformation of its skull. But he had no time to enjoy the result because in no time, a rock smash his body, and with the force placed upon it by the troll combined with its weight-
Pain.
All over. Pain.
Suffocating.
Nothing. But pain.
A sole green eye peered from its half-opened lid, peeking through the uncovered part of his body. It saw a huge figure slowly strides toward it, with a hand on the chunk of stone ready to push and smash him to death.
A sneer was what the figure showed, showing ugly, yellow teeth and its hideous long tongue.
"Now that we can talk. Though I guess you're not the type to do so. But let me tell you something, and no worries, I'll make it as short as possible.
Boy, your companions will conduct unspeakable things with me, and all you could is lie and bleed to death."
With no energy nor the capability to move, his sole green eye could only see as the troll turned to Megumin and passed out Aqua, which the former showed a look filled with pure sorrow and hopelessness whilst the latter has no hope to uphold.
Kazuma's heart clenched. It seemed like this was bound to be an inevitable disaster. His body was unresponsive. Being crushed alive by a big chunk of stone rendered him immobile.
"Wait! I have an idea. How about... you, will bear the witness of the mentioned unspeakable acts of me and them. Oh my, myself, you are such a genius!"
His eye peering from the crack of the stone shook. The Troll gleefully licked its lips, satisfied.
'...you dare?'
Overshadowed by sorrow and grief, a small, yet full-willed voice resounded in his heart. Trembling the heart itself, despite not being physical. Kazuma himself doesn't know, but his instinct knows. His heart knows. His greed knows.
His sin knows.
Unaware of what has transpired in his enemy, the troll sneered at his prey's attempt to escape, precisely the conscious one.
"Where do you wanna go, my future dancer?!"
Megumin tried to uphold her pride as the Explosion Wizard, but no one knows that it was all a façade. A show. To fulfil her chuunibyou tendency. And despite what she said in the past, about being fearless and unwavering in her path of Explosion, she is but a human.
So, when facing an impending fate worse than death?
Her genius mind told her to do it. And sadly, it's all for nought.
A detonation-series spell was cast on the chunk of stone, in an attempt, the last action to express the ceasing hope within her. It was cast with every bit of mana and will within her and all she could do now is to hope. Would it save her or abandon her all depends on how her party member acted. Then, she ran. Towards somewhere, anywhere, through the tunnels of this cave. Away from that troll.
'Kazuma, you are the first person that understands what I was trying to say effortlessly. It is a simple thing for anyone. But for me? Its worth is immeasurable. So please, wake up, and save me. Save me. Please. I'm begging you! I approximately know what sort of pain you have to withstand but please! I beg of you, to awaken and save me from this terrible fate!'
No doubt she is a strong person. Stronger than anyone her age. But this time, just this time, she had to depend on someone.
She sobbed. Weep. Tears streamed down her face as she ran with every bit of strength left within her. Hopelessness truly got inside through the window and it would catch her anytime soon. Sooner, and sooner.
"I'll do it with you first!"
The troll shoots out to where she ran, and without his realization, the force that upholds the chunk of stone to stay in its place disappeared, as its source, his hand, left the spot. And with the detonation-series spell Megumin cast, a gap, a small gap, was created by the spell. Something that is small, something that is not worth mentioning.
Yet.
It's all he needs to flare that feeling.
To flare hope. To which, it provokes the sin itself.
"Go! GO! GO!"
Intense conflux of emotions, that perhaps was the most intense over the last decade of his life, was cramming his very being. It was so difficult to contain, just waiting to erupt in the most glorious way possible.
"Got'cha!"
"Hyaa!"
'What are you doing?! GO!!'
Maybe it wasn't meant to be contained, after all.
A trail of black started to expand from his destroyed right eye. In form of strings, countless strings, moving through his face and neck before stopping at his arm. Then, it slowly but surely replaced the torn flesh on his right arm, turning its whole black.
Simultaneously, from that one small gap on the surface of the stone, cracks began to appear.
Behind the scene of the troll assaulting the helpless Arch-wizard, a green eye witnessed it all. How those grubby, green hands blemished her flawless skin and its long tongue staining her most sacred places. How her struggles got fainter and fainter as time passed by.
And when the worst was about to happen-
'Now now, just let yours truly take control, yours truly's Sinner.'
A hand shoots out, accompanied by countless and countless black and red strings covering its surface, showing such an unusually frightening ambience. It grasps the stone with a vibration following after, pausing the troll who was in the process of claiming the pinned down Crimson Demon who had nothing on her body, her almost hollow, glistened crimson eyes shaking uncontrollably.
Chomusuke tried her best to fend off the troll, but the troll's strength was too far from her reach. Their insurmountable gap is something that could not be crossed.
Even if she is a special entity, her main skill isn't in combat. In the face of the troll's immense strength, her combat level means nothing.
But do they even matter now?
"Ah, a mere fake king's mere candidate subordinate's subordinate."
"Wha...?"
A figure rises from between, showing a half-naked figure who looks down upon the troll in contempt.
'Funny that a mere complex could result in devastating results. Divinities never cease to amaze me. Now, no worries, my Sinner, thou shalt be safe.'
'...After all, thou had freed me, the Sin of Greed.'
'Now,'
"I am Awaken."
Knowing exactly what its Sinner wanted, Kazuma, specifically his only physical appearance, shoots out at the troll with incomparable speed to what he showed before. Even the apocalyptic troll cannot initiate a single reaction before a terrible crack rang across the deformed cave, even sending a single shiver through Megumin's spine, who was trying to cover herself up with what was left.
A familiar iris glanced at her, freezing her up. Then a green mantle covered her sight, slightly tilting her figure backwards.
With it being the only source of warmth and cover for her, she hugged it tightly to her figure, and without her realization, tears of relief started to dampen the mantle. In addition to the familiar smell it emits, she hugged it even tighter. Chomusuke purred in worry, but upon seeing her master's relaxed stance, she merely laid down on Megumin's thigh, looking up at her master's party leader in awe.
Her master could only silently sob, being so grateful for the fact that she was saved from such a terrible fate.
"AAAAHHHH-!"
A pitch-black arm with countless red strings did not give the troll the luxury to vent the pain on his cracked shoulder, as it sent a jab full with the intent to kill to his head, sending his body leftwards with speed impossible for a normal human to attain.
"Dash."
When Kazuma was in his normal physical condition, this skill could increase his speed to dodge the troll's assaults. Now?
Instead of a chant, it sounds more like a death sentence.
BOOM!
The motion's trajectory alone creates such a sound wave, and the subject landed on the troll's body that was embedded inside a wall with such imminent momentum and insurmountable force.
A single second, and that's all it needs for the destruction to commence.
They disappeared from Megumin's sight, leaving destruction in their wake. Countless cracks were heard from the ceiling as countless pieces of debris fell upon the Explosion-based cave.
Kazuma punched, and punched, and punched, seemingly harbouring inexhaustible stamina. His cursed eye was calm like a bonfire, but his green eye was filled with so much intensity it looked like a point of a needle.
"I thank you for provoking my Sinner's possessiveness to flare so high it broke its limit and awaken me. Now, for my Sinner, as my Sinner would experience something similar to death, as in his companion's words, Repent in Hell."
At last, Kazuma, in physical form, doesn't even give the deformed, beyond help, mortal wounded troll a chance to reply before he ruthlessly smashes the troll's head with his foot. Giving his opponent a disgraceful death. To die under the foot of his enemy.
"...K-Kazuma...?"
A single iris glanced at her, sending yet another shiver through her spine, and a familiar, blank green eye greeted her, oddly bringing immense relief and solace to her heart. Her party member faced her and nodded.
"Yes?"
As he greeted her, his black arm dissolved into black strings, and they slowly retracted to their source, which was his right eye, leaving a mortal wounded arm.
The signs of overpowering his body with impossible force start to show themselves. His skin starts to fall off, his muscles slowly shrank and his green eye dimmed down, showing a little bit of light.
Megumin could only watch as her party member looked up and face death. She subconsciously hugged the green mantle that emits his odour, staring at his accepting face blankly.
"..."
Kazuma knows she doesn't need any details. She could see it merely by seeing his condition alone. So he could only sigh and closed his eyes, enjoying the very last moment of his life. Even if he wanted to move, he couldn't. Because his body was literally deconstructing itself.
This second chance lasts for two days. And honestly, he could say that this is the most mystifying, amazing experience in his life, despite the sh*tty truth that this world turned out to be worse than his previous one.
...Excluding the previous incident.
"I'm sorry, I was late to prevent it to tarnish you."
A pair of big, teary crimson eyes, a pointed, cute nose, and a conspicuous red hue on her porcelain white skin.
She do really looked pretty flawless. A perfection in this mortal world's accursed perspective.
"Why when I already met someone I could connect with, it was immediately ripped off from me in the harshest way possible...?"
Uncaring of the peeling skin on his body, she tried to grasp the chest of her party member. Unfortunately, it was all for nought. She merely scrapped off the skin on his body, accelerating its deconstructing process.
A hand stopped her desperate straits. She looked up sadly.
"We merely met for not even a day, you know?"
"M-My teachings, taught me to believe. To believe and to trust myself. And for me to cross paths with you, it's something that I believe meant something. I believe that we are intertwined by fate. And for you to sacrifice yourself like that. Can I truly not believe it anymore? Can I truly doubt more?!"
Then she went silent.
Thus-
"KYAAAAA-!!!"
A sudden screech rang out, initiating a shocked reaction from them. There, at the corner of the room, Aqua was wiggling around, as if it could unlock the shackles on her limbs. She was crying, uncaring of her so-called grace and showed a tearful, snootful face to the pair.
"KAZUMA!!! HELP!"
The mentioned man could only look over and smiled, this particular annoying moment of hers felt different now at the death's door. If he saw it from this current perspective he's currently experiencing, Aqua is quite hilarious when she's crying.
With every bit of his strength left, he walked over to Aqua and forcefully break the shackles apart, as it was already loose by the cracked cave's wall. And with his increased strength from levelling up by killing the apocalyptic troll, it was such an easy task for the current him.
Being freed and saved yet again, Aqua showed her gratefulness by standing up haughtily and doing a hair flip.
"Hahaha! Good job, Kazuma! I know you would save this beautiful Goddes-!! E-Eh? W-What happened to you?"
Kazuma merely stood before a terrified Aqua and raised his palm, looking at it with a complicated look. Megumin followed after him with a downcast look, as if it was the worst day of her life.
"...I-"
"Sacred Heal!"
Death's hand was an inch away from his neck, but he suddenly felt it.
His hand, his skin, his arm, his flesh, his hair...
They are alive once more. Because he could feel them in this accursed world he currently stepped on.
A flawless hand softly landed on his chest, emitting a mystical glow of white. It exuded a perfect temperature of warmth that he could feel warmth and comfort from.
A second, a minute, ten minutes...
And Satou Kazuma, the Transmigrator, has been fully recovered.
He could only show a dumbfounded look at his own body, that has the shade of yellow he recognized so much. He picked a bang of his hair and he saw a brown-shaded hair, hanging over his eye. His hand, looked exactly the same as before.
There's no change. It is truly a Perfect Recovery.
"How it is, huh?! I bet you would worship me from now on!"
With her usual annoying attitude, she puffed her chest and smirked smugly, as if she was looking down upon him. Her party member merely gave her a blank look.
"I would, if it's not you."
"Tsk! You're just a tsundere, get lost!"
A figure hugged his body from behind, and he already knows who it was. A slight tilt of his head, and a familiar funky head appeared in his sight.
"...I am half-naked and you're technically naked, Megumin."
The girl chooses to ignore him, and she even hugged him tightly.
Being so close to death makes him realize how fragile this life is. And weirdly enough, someone had her eyes opened to something, that makes her feel so much happiness when the imminent death of Kazuma was miraculously fended off.
"...Y-You live."
"Yep. Awake, and alive."
"Heyy!!! Where's my recognition that I very much deserve?!"
"You did well."
"Hmmh! Very, very good!"
"So ingenuine-!! You-!!'
The pair ignored the blabbermouth from there, enjoying the current warmth and comfort they could finally attain. Relaxing them from the previous close-to-death-and-demise experience.
-0-0-0-
Kazuma Satou/Lvl 32/Adventurer [Evolve]
STR: 37/INT: 119/AGI: 35/STA: 39/ LUK: 40/HOL: S̶̡̞̙̙̠͗̽̕Ḭ̶͓̄N̴͔̑̀́̾N̴͚̯͇̝̈̋̈́͜͠Ë̷͚̰̂̉Ř̶̤̗̳̋ ̸̤͆̓ͅD̵͎̈̀Ö̶͔̫̞̩̼́̒̆͘Ẹ̵̥͇̾͂Ś̶̼̜N̴̨̛͗'̶̙͓̅͜T̸̢̛͉̭̱̭̓̀͆̇ ̸̫̬̰̍D̶̻͈̕Ĕ̸̫̮͉͓̠Ś̴Ẻ̶͈͗͆R̸̗͉͐͜V̸̮̦̤̙̭̊͆Ę̶̠͖̟̮̇̽̍ ̷͈͉͛͂H̸̼̬̤̥̊Ȍ̵̺͖̿̚͝Ḷ̴̤̣̣̈́̀̓͠Ȳ̸̤͙̜̮̀ ̴̡̳̝̆͋͋S̸͉͇̤̏̅Ą̷͖̞̼̘̉L̷̡͖͇̀V̵̥̞͇̉͊̈́̋̚ͅͅĄ̶̫̮̮͐́͠T̸̑͑̿͌̓͜Ĭ̶̧̛̘̟̂́̄Ò̶̘̭̖͑̚̕N̴̡̲͙̩̔̐̓!̸̨̧̨̣̽̀͘!̴̲̬̺̞͇̆̃̔̌́!̸̧͔̖͒̉!̴̮̉͌͑́/
SP: 26
Skills:
• Dash
• Sword
• #̴̛̻̹̮͈͊̐͆̔̒̂̌͐(̴̛̱̣̗̪̖̙͋̒̐̈͂́͗͜͠͠ͅ£̶̴̸̧̜̘̳͎̜̼̞̫̦̻̥̫͍̱̇̌͒͐̈́̆͑͐̊̅͑͑͠͝͝!̸͓̞͇͇̿̉̕'̴̨̹͊̃ḑ̴̢͔̱̦̦̳͕̺̍̽̌͠j̶̨̧͇̦̣̲͇̲̟͗͐̄̑̄̆̀̽͘ (???)
--
Aqua/Lvl 6/Arch-Priest [Not enough stats!]
STR: 27/INT: 6/AGI: 28/STA: 28/LUK: 12/HOL: 122/
SP: 5
--
Megumin/Lvl ???/Arch-Wizard [Not enough stats!]
STR: ???/INT: ???/AGI: ???/STA: ???/LUK: ???/ HOL:???
SP: ???
• Explosion [???]
• Detonation-series: Detonation
an: ffuuuuckk, a painful chapter to write.