Chapter 224: Timeless [4]
Chapter 224: Timeless [4]
****
Arthur's eyes widened at the scene before him.
The floor was completely destroyed.
Rubble and debris here and there, with broken furniture such as beds and equipment included.
It was wrecked on another level as compared to the other floors, which also constricted the space a lot.
But that wasn't the main surprise.
It was almost close to 1000 people in front of him.
But rather than wearing red robes that would identify them as the enemy...
All of them wore plain white clothes, indicating that all of them were innocent patients. Arthur's body trembled for a second as a haunting thought ran through his mind.
And as if his thoughts came true, suddenly multiple figures started to appear from behind the wrecked rubble.
All of them had wide grins plastered on their hooded faces as they walked to the front in their red robes.
Arthur watched all of them with a collected gaze, not trying to show the turmoil within him.
As all of them appeared in different sections of the room, suddenly, a presence spiked up in the room.
Arthur followed the signature, his gaze landing on one of the pillars.
And as if on cue, a person came from behind it to the front.
Unlike everyone, his face wasn't covered.
And as Arthur saw his face, his eyes widened to the point that it looked like they would fall out.
'No...'
The man had medium sized purple hair that was tied into a small ponytail and amethyst -colored eyes.
But what set him apart from all other humans even more were the two twisted horns protruding from his head.
They weren't long but they were at least palm sized with one curve in them.
'No, no, no, no...' Arthur took a step back as a raging storm of thoughts ran through his head.
It was impossible.
How could-
The man raised a hand, his smirk widening.
"Yo, old man, been a long time ain't it?" The man said casually.
"No, wait, how, you are supposed to be dead?" Arthur voiced out, not believing what was happening.
The man pointed at the horns on his head.
"I know right! But look, I'm alive and right in front of you, how awesome is that!?" He laughed maniacally.
His laugh finally settled down and silence returned to the room.
"Is it good to finally meet like this, old friend?"
At the mention of 'old friend', Arthur finally lost it.
"But how!? How can you come back to life Nern? HOW!? I....I...I-" Arthur was unable to form the words in his mouth.
Nern laughed.
"You are still shit as ever."
Arthur avoided his gaze.
"I watched you di-"
"ENOUGH!" Nern shouted.
Arthur saw a furious cold look on Nern's face.
"I never died! Never!" His voice trailed off.
He turned to his members with a cold look on his face.
All of them nodded, not saying anything.
Then, he turned back to Arthur with a slight quirky smile on his face.
"Now, Arthur, let's not fight as old friends shall we?"
He took a step towards Arthur.
"After all..." He gestured to all the patients around him.
"You don't want all of them to die, do you?" His smirk widened.
All of the patients looked at Arthur with fear and a slight amount of hope in their eyes.
But unfortunately, Arthur couldn't return their gaze.
And then, Nern's eyes widened with joy.
"Especially when!..." He shouted, turning sideways to gesture to a bed behind a pillar.
Arthur's eyes moved toward the bed.
Where he saw a patient with long black hair, in a terrible condition laid out on a bed with wires attached to her.
Just a look at her condition and one could tell that she was in a dire state.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om
A state that would put her life to end eventually if not given enough treatment in time.
It was extremely dire.
And at the same time, even the smallest amount of injuries to her could end up killing her.
As Arthur saw her, his eyes trembled with recognition.
He realized her in an instant.
"No, you can't possibly do this Nern.." He said with a shaky voice.
But Nern shouted back in glee.
"Oh yes!Oh yes I can!"
He took out his sword, taking a stance.
Silence reigned in the room for a few seconds as the only sounds that could be heard were the continuous sobbing of the patients in their beds.
Arthur couldn't move. He couldn't see anyone in the eye as he fought a battle within himself
and his morals.
But then, he finally made a decision.
His form suddenly started to turn formless, as if it was turning into a type of smoke.
At the same time, the shadows beneath him and in different corners of the room also moved.
A dark aura embraced the whole room, encasing it in its shadows.
But, just as Arthur was about to disappear into the floor, he saw Nern smirking at him.
And then, he saw a cube shaped object fall from his hand onto the ground.
It made a light thud as it fell on the floor.
And as soon as it did, the cryptic black engravings on its mummy-like white strips suddenly
shone in a blue light.
Simultaneously, all shadows in the room suddenly disappeared.
They were all sucked towards the cube in the middle, including Arthur.
But fortunately, the latter was quickly able to use Chronicity on himself, to save himself from
the suction.
Arthur emerged on the floor, his eyes widened.
All of his shadows. Even his affinity.
It was completely useless now.
The light in the cube died out and Nern picked it up, smiling.
"This is an artifact called [Shadow Eater], I'm sure you must have heard of it." He told Arthur
cockily.
And the latter's jaw dropped.
"Yes, this empire doesn't have one does it?"
"No, you couldn't have Nern, how could you?" Arthur's voice trembled even more.
But Nern didn't answer.
Arthur gritted his teeth and clenched his fist.
There was no choice left for him now.
Out of his two affinities, one was left completely useless.
Leaving him only with [Time] now.
Seeing how he was struggling with himself, Nern's smile spread further.
"You know, looking at how you are struggling so much Arthur, let me help you."
Nern sat down on a rock and Arthur looked at him with his shaky eyes.
"Let's make a deal."
Nern crossed his legs.
"The deal is simple. You will come with me and surrender this whole academy to us. Or, you
can watch all of them die and fight us here and kill us." Nern said, putting emphasis on the
last part.
Arthur's form shuddered.
It was an impossible deal for him.
One that he could absolutely not take.
He couldn't fight Nern. Not in any case...
But then there was the academy.
His students...
One of them ran through his mind.
'Amon...'
He knew that he was here.
And he knew why he was here as well, his gaze drifting to the person on the bed for a moment.
But...
"You have only one minute Arthur, decide quickly or all of them will lose their lives. Right
here and now."
Arthur didn't look at the patients.
He couldn't look at anyone, his face turned down.
His gaze was only fixed on Nern and the patient lying in the bed.
"30 seconds left Arthur..." Nern's smirk widened.
Arthur gritted his teeth.
His nails dug into his palm, drawing out blood.
Multiple thoughts ran through his mind.
Multiple memories.
One that he could never destroy or forget but yet buried them deep within his mind.
All of them sprang forth at once, replaying through his brain like a broken cassette.
Those smiles and faces...
Those happy times. Then those dead, pleading gazes.
Begging him to save their lives.
Begging him to please save them.
Begging him to not take the blame on himself. Their last breaths.
Everything ran through Arthur's mind in seconds.
"10 SECONDS ARTHUR!" Nern shouted as he stood up.
His eyes glowed in a crimson shade and his horns started to extend further.
"9!"
Those banters.
"g"
Those jokes.
1171
Those temporary arguments.
"6"
Those brotherly hugs.
"5"
Those hangouts.
"4"
Those promises to name their kids after each other based on who died first.
"3"
Those promises to never let one die or be alone in the time of need.
"2."
Those promises to kill every damn pest in the world.
"1!"
Promises meant to be broken through the passage of time.
Tick.
"The time is over Arthur!" Nern shouted.
Arthur didn't reply but yet a broken whisper followed from his lips.
"I'm sorry...Nern."
He finally looked up, his chronic eye glowing in a golden light, as tears of blood spilled down
from them.
At the same time, the hands of the clock started to spin backwards at a breakneck speed.
Arthur tapped two of his fingers on the ten-leaf clover mark on his neck.
"Authority....Open."
At the same time, Nern's eyes widened as he shouted with all his might and the doors from
behind shot open.
Amon came crashing in, shouting as he shot his hand forward.
"N0000000000000000!"