Came a voice that was so loud, as if he held an authority far higher than anyone else in this place, even above the great carrier of knowledge himself…

As he said, “We need that girl’s healing magic right now… Hey knowledge guy! Wake her up! Get her to heal us!”

“Aamir, did you really not believe me when I said that the man's magic can never be healed by any miracle?”

“Fuck you, just wake her up!”

“Come to your senses, human. She’ll just escape right away. Where did all that genius and cunning thinking of yours go, just when you felt the pain you are in right now?”

Those calm voices of the man who was dubbed as the knowledge itself, managed to silence the person who had been shouting the loudest.

“Shit… And this pill didn't give me any effect at all!”

“You’re just a human, Aamir.You know that the pill only works for a carrier who has another soul within them. By transferring all the senses they have to the soul that has given them the power itself? You remember? I mean… By the nature of parasitism that you guys do, what a tragic story you give to them… ”

“Just shut the fuck up…”

“Although to be honest, I'm not on anyone's side… So, anyway… Aamir. About the thing… You killed the girl?”

The great carrier who was still in a relaxed state, walked on his knees to bring his face closer to the man who was sitting helplessly, on the dirty floor with his back leaning against the wall behind him.

There the man he was talking to…

Aamir, looked like he didn't want to admit failure so he only used words that he deliberately chose so as not to drop his pride in front of the great carrier.

“We almost made it… We almost managed to kill him after sacrificing the girl! During that time, for a few seconds, he was literally doing nothing but taking the attacks of my puppets. Yet… Knowledge guy, I think you're wrong. It shouldn't be that Fanya, but this girl we should kill instead!”

His hand… With that trembling index finger of him pointed at me who was still powerless even just to take my eyes off his disgusting ugly face, blaming me for something he just failed to do… Just when that happened, I looked at him with a face that was so dark, full of hatred.

That’s why, slowly his hands actually moved to change objects.

Now he’s trying to put the blame on the great carrier of knowledge.

“You… You tricked me! You knew all along that this was going to happen! Because of you, he blew himself up and gave me these painful black patches! What exactly do you want? You want to die here, huh?!” Dozens of weapons were suddenly aimed right at the skull of the great carrier, waiting for the one and only signal they had been waiting for so long.

“You're wrong, and you know it. You know I didn't do anything. I just always give answers to everything you ask me without a hint of a lie. That if it was Evelina who was there, the one you killed right in front of his eyes, I think the whole city and anything that is next to it would have been destroyed and you wouldn't be here to scream at my face. Just believe me, Aamir. I will never lie and you know it.”

With those words… He who felt disappointed with himself, who had lost his own composure then fell silent while holding his breath of pain, asking for at least one help from the man he had just accused.

That is about the curse, “Then tell me the way to release this black stain from my skin… Hurry! Just fucking tell me right away. That's the only thing I'm allowing you to do for now.”

“Well, there's only one way for your body to regenerate, isn't there? At the same time so that the pill can function when you take it…”

It probably wouldn't hurt me to overhear their conversation while I still had my composure… Something I actually got from the confusion spell, the magic that the guy cast in my head that I don't even really know when he started.

But after the effect was completely gone, my body trembled as my mind turned frantic and returned to the one thing I should have always been worried about.

So I stretched my arms to easily break the chain until it slipped out of my hand, my body fell down unable to hold my balance which luckily I immediately carried away using my teleportation ability.

~~~~~

With the wet soil getting more and more dirty on my clothes, I chose not to move and rest for a while… It’s just the magic that the man used, which still feels so disturbing to me.

Whereas before I thought the power of knowledge couldn't be used in combat, when in reality I couldn't even move and start anything. I underestimate him too much.

But what they were talking about at the time…

It seemed that they had tried to fight against him.

Also with how angry and disappointed they were, returning home without any results, I'm sure Niel isn't dead yet.

He won and I was relieved…

Though the reason for this feeling was more towards the relationship of the three people being completely shattered, with one person having lost her life in the process.

Now I just need to find and carry Niel away before all the other enemies come to take advantage of that guy's condition, which is probably even worse than I thought for anyone to kill him easily…

I mean, because of course it is very likely to happen…

~~~~~

So I teleported straight in front of the same building's gate as before.

As the difference is in the atmosphere of the place when compared to the last time I was here… The place was very quiet when I looked around the street. There I briefly saw the dark cloudy sky from behind the roof of the building. Then I entered the room with the door number that Niel himself had previously told me because he believed in me.

But of course my pessimism prevailed over this self of mine.

Of course he wasn't there…

The place was also very dark, with no light coming even from that one single window.

I'm sure Niel must have been daydreaming in front of this frame, just like how he always does whenever he finds any window around him.

At least his habit gave me some answers to the possibility of where he is currently at…

As the black lump in the sky wasn't even a cloud in the first place, but rather a mist of something that shouldn't even be visible to the naked eye.

A physical manifestation of the suffering itself.

It was so huge and towering so high that I shuddered at what I might find there once I found the source.

Precisely in the middle of the city… I stood on top of the tallest building that my eyes could reach, I saw all the trees withered leaves as the trunk itself seemed weightless… Luckily without any wind blowing, there were indeed so many bodies of ashes still intact because of it, which previously lost their lives after failing to drag themselves out of the circle of death.

~~~~~

Down to the bottom… Teleporting every time I took a step, each single breath while in that place felt like it was tearing my chest from the inside.

The pain was felt to my bones, as the longer I was there, the stronger the shaking in my knees appeared.

Yet I let my instincts lead me.

Where sometimes I doubt myself to the point that it feels like I'm going in a direction that's actually taking me further away from him. Turned around several times, but a moment later returned to obey the heart's orders.

It’s so hard because I couldn't even hear anything, completely a soundproof void that only my eyes could rely on to find the man's whereabouts.

The longer I walked, the fewer mannequins made of dust I found… Meaning they all died without even knowing what and who had killed them deep behind the trees.

Until there was no body left, other than a man sitting in front there on his knees, silent with his back to me as if he had just been burned with smoke still billowing out of his skin.

So I slowly approached the man.

I walked in front of his downcast face.

Red fiery cracks were all over his body, one part of his arm had been devoured with no flesh left but black bones just like the hand of a person who had been dead for a long time.

“Niel?”

Of course he couldn't hear me. But I couldn't help but ask.

Hugging him as if I wanted all his suffering to end here, as it would be much better for himself, but I prefer to be selfish… Forcing him to remain tormented and keep accompanying me together in the world as it is today.

Even if there is nothing left for me to deserve a happy ending, then I will look for any ending where there is only me and this man who will stay together forever.

~~~~~

Two whole months have passed since then…

Inside the small house in the place I have been waiting for a long time to actually become my escape from the world, I waited for Niel to wake up from his death just like he always did.

He's not breathing at all… Nor is his heart beating even once since I brought him here. But the curse slowly receded and disappeared from his skin.

Niel’s body was also cold, but stiff and strong as if all the souls that had been in its vessel had not yet left his body.

At least I changed his clothes… I covered the curse with enough bandages so it wouldn't hurt me anymore when I touched or hugged him whenever I wanted to.

I accompany him all the time in the hope that when he wakes up, I will be right beside him… Sometimes I sit beside the bed, sometimes I also lie down beside him just to make myself feel a lot calmer, as I believe...

That he will wake up soon.

This guy will definitely be back to me.

That's the only thing I still believe in even after two months have passed.

~~~~~

Exactly the day after the chaos ended, it's official that I too had become a fugitive, as was Niel… As the consequence that I bear, is to abandon everything just for the sake of saving this one man alone.

Which I don't really mind too much…

Like, I know that sounds wrong, but I'm not even worried about the burden either. There wasn't even the slightest part of my soul that was weighed down by all of that.

That's right, it seems that I have become someone without the slightest sense of humanity… And I feel so much better than ever.

I wonder if Niel will still have feelings for a girl who has turned into who I am right now. I mean, that's the only thing that has really succeeded in bothering me. As if it all felt too comfortable… Like there is still something much bigger, which I have to pay for what I have achieved here, right in front of my eyes.

And every time that bad thought came up, I would usually just walk away from Niel, hiding from him, afraid of how he would hate me later after he woke up, but then just come back again sitting next to him… That, or also usually I would just fall asleep hugging Niel and let myself forget about it after waking up.

Of how that one more cost, which I still have to pay for this thing I really want that has happened, is probably with Niel who will hate me forever?

If that's what it turns out to be, then everything will feel more realistic, right?

“But what else can I do?”

The only thing left that was always on my mind right now was waiting for Niel to wake up… And whatever happens after that, I will accept it gracefully. While still hoping that I can still think of at least one way out of that anxiety, as I admit that I always suck at anticipating and planning for every problem I encounter.

~~~~~