UNBOUND

Thalia’s pupils dilated slightly as she grit her teeth and roared dully. She pushed forth with all her strength, causing the woman to back off, over and over again.

The spear pierced through the fabric of space is it tore through the countless shadows, causing the woman to scream out in pain. The gigantic shadow towering the sky slowly began falling apart, bit by bit, wherever the spear touched it. Thalia sped her pace up, over and over again, until the corners of her mouth were dyed crimson and her eyes were completely bloodshot red. We told you not to fight him alone, you fucking idiot! Why don’t you ever listen?!!

Parsia was currently being besieged by hundreds of Spell Arts, which he all defended with quite an ease, but his expression told a completely opposite story. His eyes shifted from his own battle onto the distant sky, bloated by a Crimson God, and a faint figure before it.

Lynne didn’t turn around to look at the two, but rather caused his scythes to finally stop spinning counterclockwise around him. They suddenly expanded, and shifted upwards, creating a wheel-like formation in the sky as they rammed through it, blasting away the bloody rain and proceeding onward to the giant creature’s head.

The blood in his veins boiled, and Lynne felt his head split apart; fever kept rising like a wave, and his vision grew increasingly blurry. Weakness took a hold of his body, yet he still defied the collapse.

The scythe clashed against the giant creature’s tail and was repelled by a mere touch, flying back, overhead. Startled, Lynne withdrew back, evading the torrent of tail strikes from the creature which pursued relentlessly. Through the skies the two entered a chase – a hunter and a prey.

Lynne cast Fiery Sweeps over and over again, creating a beautiful rainbow in the sky, while ordering his scythe to either parry or counter-attack. Yet, regardless of what he did, his scythe was repelled as easily as it was the first time, as it had no effect on the giant creature.

“Faster…” he muttered, spitting a mouthful of blood. “Faster… faster… faster…”

Over and over, words escaped like signs of life from his eyes. And, in response, the scythe sped up; invisible to the naked eyes, it traveled through space without causing the slightest tribulation, splitting from one into nine and back, hitting the creature’s body across.

The tail swept from above, but Lynne didn’t notice it until it caved into his shoulder, tearing his entire arm apart as it went through. Blood fluttered from his veins into the sky as he held the scream back in his throat.

“F-faster… stronger… faster…”

Instead of escaping, he suddenly halted and turned around, bolting straight towards the creature. He barely evaded another tail swipe as he closed in while his scythe rained strikes from above. Two Chakrams appeared in his hands as he coated in them in brilliant, golden flames and snapped them forward through the space, towards the creature’s eyes.

They dove straight through them and appeared on the other side, freely flying through the endless, scarlet sky. Lynne stared for a moment before being forced to swing sideways, evading another tail strike. At this point he realized that the creature was playing with him. This was the False God of Blood before him – and the only thing it used was its tail. No, it still can’t use anything else! The others said he’d need some time to attune to the Law! I’m blowing a big chance! What the hell am I hesitating for?!

While his mind was occupied with thoughts, a tail swept horizontally at him, and instead of dodging, he clutched it with his remaining arm and held on as he was carried through the air. Spitting blood like a waterfall, his entire body slowly grew numb as the pain disappeared. He wanted to sleep, but bit his tongue to jolt himself awake. … why did I even choose this? He thought for a moment as he opened his eyes. In the distance, he saw the city, he saw the walls and buildings. For them? And, as he flew a moment more, his eyes found a faint figure of a girl in the sky. Surrounded in shadows of darkness, her eyes found his. They were round, glistening as if doused in tears, her expression fearful and of worry. A shadow swept past her, cutting her cheek slightly as blood poured out. No… he flew more, and his eyes now found the distant horizon, burning in beams of sun. Not for them…

He suddenly closed his eyes for a moment and took in a deep breath, his thoughts spinning without a stop. The world around him grew silent and the time itself seemingly froze, and he was alone.

Snow fell relentlessly as he tried to remove it from the stone reaching out from the ground. The sky was covered in faintly gray clouds, and it had been snowing for nearly a month. Around him were stones erected, with names carved so deep even the time could not erode them. He stared at the one before it, In Honor of Yunchi Hyorn, a Mother, a Wife, and the Kindest Soul Stolen From Us.

He wiped his eyes dry quickly as he huddled up, chill slowly causing his body to shiver. A sound of footsteps treading through the snow startled him as he jumped onto his feet and turned around. His brows furrowed as he recognized the newcomers, and quickly turned around to walk away. However, just as he moved, he felt a hand grab onto his shoulder and pull him back.

“Hey, where are you going buddy? Why are you so cold to us? Is it because it’s winter? Is it?” a boy’s voice sounded out closely next to his ear.

“What do you want Slyde?” Lynne asked.

“Do I need to want anything but become friend with the legendary Lynne Hyorn?” the boy chuckled, as did three others with him. “Tell me, is the rumor that your dad still wipes your ass true? ‘Cause, I’m betting it is.”

“… fuck off,” Lynne pushed him away as he freed himself, staring at him with anger fuming in his eyes. “At least I didn’t drink my mother’s tit milk ‘till I was ten, you sicko. And what about you Brian? Huh? The hell are you laughing at? You sister killed herself because you couldn’t keep your filthy hands to you! And even you James? Fuck! You’ve been seen shitting on the streets at least ten times just this past week! The hell are you to laugh at me, huh? Just leave me the hell alone already!”

“Someone’s grown his tongue back, huh?” the boy called Slyde said, his lips curling up in a slight smile. “What, you need us to cut it off again, huh? Say, how much did your dad pay a Mage to fix it anyway? Five thousand? Ten thousand? How many times do you think he’ll be able to fork over so much gold for his useless son before he gets tired of it, huh? I’m actually quite interested. What do you say we try to push the great Median’s limits, huh?”

“… ha ha,” Lynne suddenly laughed. “Screw all of you! Go ahead, cripple me! What, you think it’s going to help your chances with her? Ha ha! You useless scums! Fuck her, I don’t want her! If you’re so badly in love with her, go ahead, court her till the fucking sun freezes over for all I care! Just leave me the hell alone already!”

“You--”

“That’s enough Slyde!!” a girl’s voice suddenly froze the boy who raised his hand and prepared to cast a spell. “What the hell are you doing?!” a figure appeared from within the fog, a figure of a youthful girl, her hair crystalline blue, like the clearest sky, skin as pale as the snow around her.

Instead of answering, Slyde and others just glanced at Lynne angrily one last time before leaving. Lynne watched their backs with contempt as his eyes shifted sideways, onto the girl.

“What are you doing here?” he asked. “Didn’t I tell you to stop following me?”

“… other girls lied,” she said, smiling lightly. “You’re terrible with us, aren’t you?”

“Aye, I am,” Lynne said, his expression deadpan. “So how about you leave me alone already so I can work on it?”

“Ugh, you’re so boring!” she suddenly grabbed his hand and dragged him forward, out of the graveyard and towards the city’s exit. “Your dad promised me you’d show me around, and you’ve done it only once since I’ve got here!”

“… Leana,” he fought free and stopped walking as his tone grew serious. “I know you’re not an idiot. I know you know why those guys were there, and everywhere else I’ve been ever since you came here. So… is it because you hate me, huh? Oh, look, a kid nobody likes anyway, I wonder how much I can amp that up. Is that it? Is my life a joke to you?”

“… I just hate you seeing waste your talents Lynne.” the girl said, sighing. “What the hell are you even doing with your life, huh? Walking from brothel to brothel, wasting your dad’s money, living like there’s no tomorrow? Do you know how many people would kill to have your talents, huh?”

“Ha ha, so that’s what this was? An ‘elaborate’ scheme just to get me to practice Magic?” Lynne burst out in laughter as he spoke. “I don’t want to!” he exclaimed angrily. “Whether you rouse the city’s whole mob onto me, that fact won’t change! Fuck, even if you have the entire world shouting curses at me, that won’t change!”

“… ah,” Leana sighed softly as she sat onto the nearby bench, seemingly immune to the cold. “This life that you have Lynne, do you think it will last forever? Do you think that you’ll be able to live in the shade of protection from others until the day you die? I like you Lynne,” she added, smiling at him gently. “I really do. You’re funny, you’re smart, you don’t coat your words like everyone else, you don’t mind telling me whatever you’re thinking – which is mostly just to bugger off – but, all these things make you who you are. I just don’t want you to be driven into the corner sometime in the future, and be stuck there because you’ve never dipped into your talents.”

“…” Lynne stared at her silently, expressionless.

“Tell me, what if, one day, you find someone? What will you do if they’re suddenly in danger? Alert others? Beg for help? You can’t live forever without caring for someone so deeply you’ll lie yourself through every terrible thing you’d do for them.”

“… remember when we first met?” Lynne said, smiling lightly. “I couldn’t look you straight in the eyes. Each time we’d talk, I’d stutter like an idiot and then run off, with my cheeks probably seeping red.”

“Yeah, you were really cute back then.”

“And then, I learn other guys here don’t like me because I’m spending so much time with you,” he added. “And I figure, hey, I can’t come running back to my dad or you. It’s a matter I have to take care of myself. So, I walked up to them, and I told them: Hey, if you have a problem with me spending so much time with Leana, then say it! Don’t spread rumors about her! And they did say it, to be honest, just before they nearly killed me.”

“I--”

“And, today, I learn that the girl whose honor I defended by nearly dying, had been doing it on purpose just to try and get me to learn Magic,” Lynne chuckled bitterly as he looked at her. “You’re right. Maybe, there’ll come a day when I’ll be at loss as to how to protect some I care for. But, regardless, I’ll stand up. Just the same way I stood up for you. Just the same way I’ve been standing up for myself for years. Just because everyone in your world has lost hope, Leana, I haven’t. Should that day ever come, well, let’s both hope I find a way. As you said, however terrible it may be, and however many lies I’ve got to tell myself to get through it.”

The snow fell without a stop, coating the two in slightly dimmed white. The world fell silent, and Lynne looked towards the sky, ignoring the snowflakes falling into his eyes.

“LYNNE!!!!!!!!!!” his eyes opened softly as he saw the figure in the distant sky approaching, her body wounded red across, clothes tattered, hair disheveled as if ravaged by a storm. She held onto the spear tightly, veins bulging from her every muscle. His eyes then shifted downwards and he saw nothing but blood pouring out like a fountain.

“Infinity,” he muttered weakly as his eyes grew dimmer. His remaining body suddenly caught ablaze as the scythe appeared above him, towering like a giant. “Reaping,” he coughed a mouthful of blood as he steadied himself from the free fall. “The Final Call,” he added as he pointed at the giant creature diving on towards him, its maw wide open. “Chaos~” the scythe shook gently as the giant swirl appeared above it. “Eternal Entropy…” Look like you were right, he thought for a moment as the world before him slowly turned completely dark, and the familiar voice calling out his name disappeared into the void of silence. In the end, Magic was the way…