“...S–Salia? What are you doing here?” I hollowly call out.

Pushing aside any stray thoughts, I take a step towards her.

As long as I can get to her, I can protect her.

If I protect her, she’ll stay.

If she stays I can show her my worth.

If I’m useful, she won’t be angry anymore.

As the battle rages on around us, time seems to slow down. My steps ring in my ears, and I can feel the air flow past my face until we're standing opposite of eachother.

I stand in silence, too scared to make a move.

Too scared of what she’ll say.

Closing my eyes, I wait.

I wait for one second. 

I wait five more.

I disregard the chaos around and instead focus on breathing.

This isn’t like last time.

I can fix my mistakes.

I’ve made no sin.

…I haven’t done anything wrong.

...R–Right?

Focusing back on my ears, I listen for movement.

I can hear the screams, the clashes, the bloodshed.

But none of that matters.

Finally, I hear a sound.

It’s a fleshy sound.

It's the sound of something being cut.

It… It hurts!

Opening my eyes, I feel an object sticking out of my neck. I wrap my fingers around it and feel blood drip from its sharp edges.

Everything’s blurry. What happened?

I can’t care about my problems.

I need to fight through the pain.

I need to protect Salia.

As I feel the blood flow down my neck I open up two extra eyes above my own.

They don't work any better, because everything is still blurry.

W–Why!?
My body is fine! Why isn’t it working!

Taking a breath in, a new wave of pain flows from my neck.

I–It must be the… the pain! T–That’s it!

If I fix that…!

Running my hands against the object,  I soon find a handle with a hand around it. When I touched the hand it twisted the object, a knife, like it was treating me as a toy.

It hurts.

It hurts it hurts it hurts.

It was different to when I died. That was a beheading.

This was torture.

Ripping the hand from the blade I pull out the blade.

I let go of the knife and dropped it onto the floor, my hands shaking from the pain.

I’ve never felt anything like this before. Death was so much faster. Death was so much better.

The worst I’ve felt in this world was when Papa had trained me.

But I was never scared then because I knew it was just that, training.

The fear I’m feeling stung more than the waves of pain.

I didn’t understand this dread you feel when you're fighting for your life.

Back when I was killing those bandits, it was more of a game than a battle.

I didn’t feel like I was in any danger.

I shouldn’t have, since I—

With a sudden realization, I regenerate the flesh around my neck.

*Hhhhmmmmfff…*

Taking a breath in, I slowly breathe another out.

*Haaaaaa…*

“...”

I continue to breathe until the blurriness begins to dissipate.

I have power.

I am strong.

I can live.

I can kill.

I don’t need to think.

I need to fight.

I don’t need to feel.

I need to kill.

I am invincible.

I am death.

I am a monster.

I am a monster.

I am a monster.

Forcing open my eyes I look around for my attacker.

But the only one around was Salia. Everyone else had disappeared.

All the students, all the criminals.

Mr. Sage, Saehl, and the others.

It was just me and Salia.

Once again, standing face to face.

“...Are you mad at me?” I ask.

“...”

Without answering Salia stood there, silent and unwavering.

Watching her take a step forward, I ran over to catch her.

"Haah… haah… haah…"

Feeling her weight fall against me, I hold her up as I feel my lungs burn.

Since when did I begin breathing like this? 

I could barely hear myself over the noise of the chaos around me.

Blinking through the liquid pouring from my eyes, I look up at Salia.

It looked like she was sleeping.

But I could smell the liquid in my mouth on her. I could feel it on my hands and body as it slowly flowed down.

Salia was bleeding.

S-She was dying… 

Her uniform was soaked in blood, a portion of the cloth and her flesh missing from whatever happened.

Did I… did I do that…?

D-Did I—!

Taking a step back, I drop Salia down onto the ground.

She was losing a lot of blood.

I-If I don't do something she'll die and it'll be all my fault and and and—!

"S-Salia, don't die…" I whimper, holding onto her hand.

It's my fault. 

I attacked her.

I did this.

I'm a monster.

I'm useless.

I'm unsavable.

I should die.

I should pay for my crimes.

As I vacantly watched my most cherished person bleed out, I hear something behind me.

"…Ect you! You die tod…" it cried out.

Looking behind at the source, I see two people standing opposite of each other.

Saehl and Harem.

They were more ragged than when I had last seen them. Both of them were bleeding as well.

"I won't let you steal this away from me!" Cried out Harem, armed with two swords.

"I won't let you do whatever you want!" Replied Saehl as he put up his shield and readied his own sword.

"You really are an eyesore, y'know?" Taunted Harem as he dashed toward Saehl.

Harem.

The one who planned this.

The one who did this.

"..."

Oh… I see.

It's his fault.

So if I kill him, everything will be okay.

***