The blade, a sword, had pierced exactly where his heart was supposed to be. The viscount froze, his eyes widened and a small gasp abandoned his lips. Then, slowly, he turned around, making eye contact with Mathias, who was holding the hilt of the sword with two hands, his eyes narrowed and fierce, his jaw and lips set in a tight line.

That sword didn’t belong to him. It probably belonged to one of the mercenaries, who dropped it sometime during the battle. It was big, wide, and looked way too heavy for Mathias to be holding it. Despite that, he held on, trembling slightly, but determinedly.

A trickle of blood fell down from the viscount's mouth.

“So it’s come to this…” he said slowly, his voice raspy. “First your mother… now your father. Who will be next? Your brother? Your future wife? Maybe even your own children…” even though he sounded so weak, he still managed to add an air of petulance and mock to his words.

“Shut up” Mathias said between clenched teeth. He twisted the handle of the sword, and the viscount coughed, spilling more blood to the ground, staining his inmaculate chin and chest with the red sustance. “You have no idea what having a family is. From the very beginning… ever since I can remember, all you’ve ever done is using us. You never cared for any of us… you would sacrifice us all if it benefitted you.”

There was a heavy silence, before the viscount nodded. “Hn, I would have. Wished I’ve done it earlier.”

It was the last straw. With a guttural roar, Mathias pushed, before pulling down the sword with all his might. It was a slow process, the blade finding difficulty in tearing apart tissue and bone, but finally, after what felt like excruciating hours of just watching and watching the muscles split open and the blood gushing down like a waterfall, intestines and other organs exposed to the air, he completely tore his father apart.

The viscount didn’t move even once during the whole process. His face had been completely blank. He twitched with pain from time to time, but beyond that, he showed no other reaction. His mutilated body fell, dark blood spilling all around and forming a puddle beneath him.

There was only silence.

Mathias fell to his knees, breathing hard. He was covered with blood too, the sticky liquid staining even his face. I could only watch, my mind and body frozen after witnessing such a gruesome scene.

“ELAINE!” he called suddenly, making me jump in fright. I stood to attention as his eyes turned to me. They looked the dullest I’ve ever seen.

“Y-Yes?” I asked, nervous.

“Go take out one of the onions…” he stopped to take a breath. “I need to heal all these people... and I don't think my mana reserve it's big enough for some of the wounds” his eyes then landed on a figure not far away. It was Gale, covered by debris and dirt, blood surrounding him.

I gulped and nodded, before turning away and running to the place where I knew the onion was. I didn’t allow myself to think of anything else until that one job was done.

Once the onion was kicked out of the way, the change in the atmosphere was immediate. I let out a sigh of relief I didn’t know I was holding as my senses became alert again. Like fresh water running through cracked, dry soil, I felt the mana filling up my entire body. Who would have thought, mana was such an important element for our lives. My heart had been craving it and I only realized it after it was back.

I closed my eyes, my head dropping with the overwhelming thoughts going through it. What just happened back there? The mana was completely cut off, so Mathias shouldn’t have been able to chant anything… and yet, whatever he did to his father worked because only after that did Domenic and the other man had a chance to approach him enough to give Mathias an opening.

Was Mathias able to perform spiritual magic? No… spirits wouldn’t be able to do what he did. They were mostly used for elemental and life magic. Manipulation was better left to conventional, mana fueled magic… and the demonic arts. But Mathias couldn’t use any demonic arts, right? In the first place, he didn’t have demon blood, and it was never mentioned in the manga he had that kind of ability…

…but it was, also, never mentioned the viscount actually possessed one of the wills of the demon generals within him. A detail as important as that… it couldn’t simply have slipped the mangaka’s mind, right?

No, not slip… the mangaka it's the creator of this world… if he didn’t plan for it, then it shouldn’t exist…

Just like all the small details I had been finding out that were never in the manga. I sighed.

It was not only Mathias’ little trick back there and the viscount’s sudden transformation that was on my mind, though. Another thing, what the viscount said right after Mathias pierced the sword through him, kept repeating itself over and over.

‘First your mother…’

Just… what the…

“Are surprises going to stop someday?” I laughed without enthusiasm, placing a hand on my forehead and closing my eyes. “What else is there? Don’t you dare come up with another ridiculous thing again mangaka…”

I would rather have a predictable plot than being attacked with new information every few moments like this. It was just too tiring. I did not like it.

Sighing, I shook my head and braced myself for whatever was going to happen now, before turning around and walking back to the courtyard. By now, the returned mana might have even woken up Adela, and if not, I should try to. After all, Adela was of Magi descent, and they were especially sensitive to mana fluctuations. Besides, Mathias could not heal everyone alone.

As I stepped back on the hallway where I left Adela, I could already see her trying to sit up, a hand going to her temples as she winced. I hurried to her side. She looked at me when I knelt next to her.

“Elaine? Just what… what happened?” she asked, her voice soft.

I gave her a dry smile. “It’s over now Adela. The viscount is dead…”

She gasped. “Wait! Really?” I nodded. “That can’t be! I was unconscious throughout all that?! Ugh!” she stood up slowly, her face scrunched up in displeasure. “I can’t believe it… I feel so useless now. But…” then she looked around, taking in her surroundings. Her eyes stopped momentarily on the viscount’s corpse, but she didn’t dwell long on it as she kept examining the situation. “I guess that’s a good thing. However, you and Lucas owe me a good explanation! What the hell are you two doing here? Who are those people you brought along? And how did you kill the viscount?!”

“That… I think it would be better if I explain it to you later, when we have more time and things aren’t as… bleak” I said, unable to come up with a word for what happened. “In the meantime… I know necromancers have healing abilities too… many members of the mercenary band we brought are hurt. Do you think you can help Mathias healing them?”

“Now how do you know necromancers can heal?” she asked, though she sounded distracted as she made her way to where the others were. She stumbled a little at the beginning, but after that she managed to walk without a problem.

Mathias looked up, raising an eyebrow as he watched us approaching, and simply gave a nod of acknowledgment before going back to his work. Adela looked at his patient, raised her eyebrows in surprise, and shook her head before walking past him to find her own patients. When I saw who Mathias was healing, and the state the person was in, I gasped.

“Oh God, Gale!”

It must have been the explosion. His entire left leg was gone, in its place nothing else but a bloody stump. His eyes were closed tightly, and that gave me the clue that he was awake, and suffering.

“The blood has stopped now… but there’s nothing I can do to bring his leg back” Mathias sighed, putting down his hands. “Normally the pain should diminish until it disappears as the wound it's being healed… but with a missing extremity the only thing I can do it’s cast a tranquilizer for his mind” and saying this he touched his forehead, his hand glowing slightly before taking it away. Gale’s expression softened and he opened his eyes slowly.

“Well…” his voice sounded rusty, defeated. “I guess this is the end of the line for me… no point in keep being a mercenary without a leg…”

“Gale…”

“Don’t look so sad little girl. These things happen…” he sighed. “Though I was hoping than when it did, it would take me away entirely, not only a part of me…” he looked around. “Isabella… where is she?”

I searched for her. “She’s being taken care of right now… I think she’s going to be fine” I said, as I saw her slowly sitting up just as Adela was healing her. I looked at Mathias. “Maybe you should go with the others now…”

“Yes, I know” he stood up and walked away, not without giving Gale a last, grief-filled glance.

Silence enveloped us afterwards.

“The only good thing is that bastard's dead. Though I’m quite annoyed it wasn’t one of us who took him down.”

I did not know what to say to that. Despite knowing that it was stupid to think so, I couldn’t help but feel like this was my fault. In the manga, Gale never lost his leg. This fight didn’t have so dire consequences. The viscount never showed his demonic form. It was because of my intervention that things changed, therefore, it was because of me this happened to Gale.

The rational part of my mind told me there was nothing wrong with what I did, I was just looking out for my own safety. However, my attempts at preventing my death caused the changes I see now. If asked if I felt guilty, I would probably answer yes, but even with that I could not gather enough emotion to regret my actions. I was alive, and that’s what mattered most for me. I wanted to keep living, even if I didn’t know what for. And I would not change anything I did to protect my life, even if it cost Gale his leg.

A few seconds later, a feminine scream was heard.

“Dad!” Isabella came running, tears running down her pretty face as she practically threw herself over her father. Noah was right behind her, his face showing his horror. “Dad! Oh, no, dad!”

“Hey there, sweetheart” he tried to smile, but it was a painful sight. Isabella kept crying and screaming while Noah knelt next to her, saying nothing. Feeling like an intruder upon this intimate, and very horrible scene, I carefully stood up, giving them privacy.

Lucas was a little farther away, standing by his father’s corpse. I approached him, stopping when I was at his side as he looked blankly at the disfigured body of the man who had raised him. For a moment I wondered what he was feeling. Unlike Mathias, I don’t think he ever hated his father with such passion, but he definitely didn’t feel any lingering attachment to him. Despite that, I couldn’t help but wonder if he felt any remorse.

“It’s strange, you know?” he said after a long moment of silence, still not looking at me. “This feels like a dream… I know it happened, I saw it all, but even though… it’s… hard to believe” then he raised his eyes, connecting them with mine. “I never thought, even once, it would end like this.”

“You mean… with Mathias killing him? Or… with this…?” I asked, gesturing with my hands to our surroundings.

Lucas looked, taking in the debris, the burned soil where there used to be flowers, the melted stone and his brother and Adela taking care of the last of the wounded. For a second too long, he gazed at Isabella and Noah, now accompanied by Domenic too, as they surrounded Gale. Then, he returned his eyes to me. He shrugged and looked back at his father.

“I don’t know… I don’t know what I was expecting… Maybe being of more use? Though there's nothing, really, I could have done...”

I nodded, unsure of what else to do. I didn’t think he required comforting, but at the same time I couldn’t freely tell him good riddance after his father’s death… right?

So, instead of that, I decided to simply stand by his side, supporting him silently. How simple it looked in manga, after a big battle, where you could cut to the next scene when things were already sort of dealt with, and the characters had enough time to compose themselves slightly. You didn’t have to see them trying to get a hold of their new reality, or crumbling down crying like with Isabella, or witness first-hand the most gruesome wounds like with Gale. You could see things after they’ve calm down considerably before being faced with the ugliest consequences of the battle. You had time to prepare.

But not here. Not in this, what was my new reality.

“Alright, that should be all” Mathias announced, standing up after treating August, who grumpily thanked him before walking in Gale’s direction, where the rest of their small group was already gathered. He glanced at them for a second, before apparently making his mind and walking towards them. The group looked up at him as soon as he stopped next to them. “This might not be the moment… or the place; but I wanted to thank all of you for coming here and helping us. I know… that you were hired by my uncle and did not do it out of kindness, but even so, without the help of all of you… I wouldn’t have been able to take down my father. I also…” he took in a deep breath, “I also want to apologize… for not joining in sooner… if I did, then maybe…”

“Don’t do that boy” Gale was the one to speak. He sounded relatively better than before, but it was obvious it was still hard for him to talk. “You’re right, we do not do charity. We came here with a mission in mind… so no need to thank us for that. And about my leg… well, that is just one of the risks of being a mercenary. I’m just happy I managed to survive that. Thanks to you… and that you managed to stop the bleeding in time.”

“That’s not…” I saw it but I didn’t believe it. Was he blushing? Mathias de la Rosa… blushing?!

“No more talk about that” Gale cut without letting Mathias say anything more. Then he groaned. “Though a little help so I can move would be greatly appreciated… the ground’s damn uncomfortable…”

“Of course, just… I’ll arrange a room.”

While all of this happened I couldn’t keep my eyes away from Mathias. I was already so used to his cold, indifferent and arrogant attitude that I almost forgot… I almost forgot how he was like in the manga. Decidedly humble though self-assured, and most of all…

“I’m sorry I can’t do more for you.”

“Stop worrying kid, and just get me out of here.”

…always acting so damn sorry. Like he has done the world wrong, and can’t even begin to fathom how to make up for it. He always looked like that, and just now I wondered if maybe it was because of what he did to the original Elaine, what he did to her family, and everything in between.

I didn’t like it. I didn’t want to see him like that, so close to how he was supposed to be from the beginning. I’ve grown used to him being an asshole, so him acting like that all of a sudden really put me on edge. I didn’t like it.

And because I didn’t like it, I decided it was enough watching. I took a step forward, not sure of what I was going to do once I got to him, but simply wanting to… to…

“Elaine!”

Lucas screamed.

Something caught my ankle.

And then the world was put upside down.

“Put her down!” Lucas yelled from somewhere behind me. I didn’t see what he was doing, what was happening, my vision limited to the space in front of me, where I saw Mathias, Isabella, Noah… all with eyes wide and jaws dropping, their bodies tense and ready to fight.

Then I heard a scream. Lucas’ scream. Everyone moved.

“How dare you?!” Mathias charged forward, his hand glowing in the ominous light of the moon. But he, along with all the others who already had their weapons draw or magic glowing in their palms, stopped when the thing holding me up by the ankle raised me higher, dangling me in front of them as my hair fell around my face due to gravity. My shirt was safely tucked into my pants though, and that at least saved me a bit of face.

I was trembling, the blood roaring in my ears from the position, my mind in a state of confusion. It couldn’t be… I perfectly saw the moment Mathias cut him in half just a few minutes ago… I saw his mutilated body with Lucas just seconds before turning around for a little bit. How could it possibly…?

“I’m not interested in playing games with you anymore” the viscount said, but his voice sounded different from before. Higher… resonating like a microphone that doubled the voice. I gulped, closing my eyes while trying to squirm away. He held me tighter. It was no use. Still, I kept struggling. “My time it’s almost due… and I’ve wasted enough of it as it is with all of you. But…”

I yelped as I was moved roughly, my body tossed in the air while the viscount changed my position. I was no longer hanging upside down, but pressed firmly against his chest, my arms and legs restricted by him as he used an enormous force to keep me from struggling and getting free. My clothes instantly soaked with the blood still flowing from him. My hand touched something... slimy.

I pulled my hand away and opened my eyes to look up at him. As I made the way upwards, bile rose in my throat. He was standing, open, his intestines falling and hanging from the place where he was cut in two. A few black forms were working to stich him together, while others cut the excess organs that could not be put back in place. They fell to the ground with a sickening plaff.

I quickly looked at his face. His eyes were trained on the others, but as soon as he felt my gaze on him, he looked at me.

I repressed a scream.

“There’s still something I can do about it.”

And saying nothing else, the black forms that were not holding his body together converged on his back, forming a pair of wings. Faster than anyone else could act, he shot up to the sky. Only the desperate screams of the group below me accompanied me as we rose higher and higher, out of their reach and into the night sky.

I could not take it anymore. I fainted.