CHAPTER 439: ARC 6, CHAPTER 55: A CALLOUS WORLD

"Woosh." "What is it?" Fumeko appeared in front of the elf—his eyes that shed tears where wide open.

Desperation poured from his throat as he spoke, "Magic, mana! Do you still have some, t-t-the Firefly can absorb it!" he shook the brunette by the shoulders.

Fumeko shrugged him off and stepped back, "I’m not exactly full," she held her stomach and could hear it grumble. She peered past him and into the alcove, before shadows took her steps and she disappeared.

Under a single dimming ball of light, Tiffany and Asobi stood around Hotaru who cradled Colwyn’s corpse on her lap—the poison had webbed over any skin and her breath had been long drawn out of her lungs.

The redhead carefully stood back up with Colwyn in her arms, while Asobi gently pried Colwyn’s staff from her hand. Fumeko’s brows unfurrowed a smidgen, "I assume she’s..."

Hotaru pursed her lips and gave a solemn nod. Fumeko glanced over to Ben, who was standing speechless at the scene.

Meanwhile outside, powered by a lightning kick, Jotou landed on the cave floor with a pant. Her landing was immediately interjected by Clyde who gripped the blonde by her arms and cried, "Mana, mana please! She needs it!!!"

Jotou’s eyes bubbled and cautiously pushed Clyde away, "Who needs it? What’s going on?" she glanced towards the alcove.

"Colwyn, Colwyn!" he started to sob, his voice croaking while he barely managed to stand. "Please, please Thundering Blade!" he begged and ran towards where his sister was.

The blonde knitted her brows and watched Hotaru walk out with a body hanging limply in her arms, followed by the others. Clyde rushed up and placed his hands on Colwyn’s body, crying as he turned her face to face his.

Jotou then rushed forward, noticed the poison markings across her skin and gave a look to the wolf-woman, "Do you need my...?"

Hotaru sighed, "My spell doesn’t work on Jotou, I can’t siphon her," she said to Clyde more so than Jotou.

"Wh- Why didn’t you say that before!?" he yelled at her face.

Hotaru’s eyes narrowed in anger, but then softened and she calmly replied, "I forgot in the moment. Even if I could, the poison’s already took its course; I’m sorry Clyde, it was already too late-"

"NO!" Clyde shouted and stomped around to face Jotou. He slapped his hands against her collarbone weakly, "Can’t you do something, anything!? You’re the Thundering Blade!"

"Hey, watch it," Jotou winced, the soreness revealed itself when Clyde pushed her.

Fumeko and Hotaru glared, but Ben stepped forward and put a hand on Clyde’s shoulder, "Dude... I’m sorry, but-"

"Sorry!? Don’t say sorry!" he shoved Ben’s hand arm away. "We went in there because of YOU! ALL OF YOU!" he then circled around with a finger pointed at everyone. "Y-you lot are powerful legends aren’t you? WELL!?

Fix her... I said FIX HER DAMMIT!" his hurt tired figure lurched around. His tears of anguish were blasted back by unbridled anger.

"I get that you’re angry, but there’s nothing I or anyone here can do to cure death," Jotou’s spite unconsciously seeped into her words.

Death. The word sent him into a rage as he screamed at the top of his lungs into the cave, before it turned into a hoarse sob. "No, no! None of you give a rat’s ass! NONE OF YOU CAN DO A DAMN THING TO SAVE HER!"

Asobi teared up, hiding behind Hotaru while the redhead’s ears folded down, ignoring his pleas so that she could hold Colwyn’s body with grace. Ben’s shoulders fell in defeat, while Tiffany held her own throat and chose not to speak.

"Screaming louder isn’t gonna bring her back to life," Fumeko crossed her arms. "She’s passed away, let her rest in peace."

"Peace!? I don’t give a shit about peace, I’ll go down screaming into the heavens till it brings her back, so piss off you little-!! GHH!"

"Zzz!"

Clyde collapsed and fell to the floor; a single electric shock arced over his fallen form from a hand that was on his back. Jotou looked down at the elf and took a breath before looking to the others, "Let’s get out of here," she told.

"Jotou..." Hotaru gazed at the blonde.

"He can have his tantrum later," Jotou pouted at the sight of Colwyn’s corpse. "What actually happened to her?"

"Uhm, Feather," Asobi squeaked out.

Jotou leered to the side. "Alright," she whispered. "Ben?"

He took a moment to gain clarity and only then met her gaze, "Yeah... I’m here," he muttered.

"Mind carrying him?"

Ben looked down at Clyde, "Sure," he bent down and carried the twin. He faced Jotou and stared for a bit at the blonde who was relatively unfazed, while Jotou continued to look around, searching for the way out...

_

"This is the way they went?" Jotou asked as they exited out a cave mouth.

"They exited in this direction from as far as I can tell, but I didn’t detect anyone," Tiffany replied, before ducking her head at the sight of Hotaru walking out with Colwyn’s body.

"It’s half past three," the redhead glanced at her wrist through Colwyn’s hair.

The rain had cleared up, leaving wet grass and mud to trek. Frogs croaked by the dozen and critters scurried at the sign of their approach.

Fumeko stayed low to the ground, "No trail either, not even a covered-up footprint. They could’ve teleported out for all we know..." She stood up and surveyed the woodlands around her, "Question is, where did we end up?"

A ball of light whistled out once the clouded skies gave enough light. Asobi wobbled out of the cave, "I’m going night-night soon..."

"Let’s set them there," Jotou pointed to a tree up a slight slope and away from the mud.

Ben nodded and walked over with Clyde, "Are you sure you wanna set both of them here? Seems in poor taste, doesn’t it?" he looked back to the blonde, examining her stony demeanour.

Jotou crossed her arms, "Set her against another tree; I’m sure it’ll make a difference."

"Dude, you can’t be like..."

"Like what?" the blonde raised a brow.

"Never mind..." he sheepishly set Clyde’s knocked-out form against the mossy bark, bow by his side.

Hotaru followed suit and set Colwyn against the tree on the other side. She huffed and stretched her arms outwards while Ben stared up at her, watching the redhead dust herself off as if she had not just been carrying a corpse this entire time.

"Hang on for a little longer," The wolf-girl turned to Asobi and splashed a rejuvenate against her skin. "I can already feel my mana regenerating."

The magician rose like a sunflower—her back upright and shoulders high. "Much better!"

"Still, it won’t beat a good night’s sleep to get more of our magic back," Hotaru patted down her tail that was starting to frizz up.

"I just need to eat something," Fumeko peered up the cave mouth and towards the hill it was under. "If we go in that direction, we’ll be on top of where the labyrinth was—I think."

"Am I just..." Ben uttered and then looked up at them all. "She’s, she’s," his hand faced Colwyn’s corpse.

Jotou cocked her head to the side, "Unfortunately dead, why? What’re you trying to say?"

"We’re just glossing over the fact???" Ben searched to meet anyone’s gaze.

"We’re not glossing over the fact, we just can’t do anything about it," Fumeko snapped her attention to him. "We’re not out of the woods yet, we don’t know where we are, where the cult is or how to get anywhere and I’m starving."

Ben’s shoulders sank even further and he blankly stared at the twins against the tree.

Jotou’s eyes narrowed. ’Reality’s only hitting you now?’ She let him be and glanced up the hill. ’If you want to grieve just say so Crispy.’

"Will you watch them?" Hotaru hushed.

Ben had nowhere to look but the corpse; he nodded absentmindedly.

Hotaru slowly made her way to Jotou and brushed against her side, "Hey," she whispered and drifted a hand to the blonde’s cheek.

Jotou coiled into her arms and the two huddled for a moment, "Was Feather too fast?" she whispered.

"I wasn’t fast enough and didn’t have enough either," Hotaru grazed a thumb over Jotou’s lower lip.

"Ow, don’t press it," Jotou winced.

"Stop talking," Hotaru examined the injury on her lip and then noticed the spots of blood on the tip of her nose. She shook her head, mildly perturbed.

Jotou knitted her brows and shrugged. What, was she not supposed to get wounded in the slightest in that whole fight?

Hotaru rolled her eyes, still amazed she’s lived this long. "I can’t heal much, so," her hands began to glow a faint blue.

However, Jotou took the redhead’s hand away, "Then don’t. I’m still fine."

"Oh really? That’s why you were limping the whole way here?" her ears spiked.

"My knee will survive, so will my lips. Let’s save our energy. We don’t know what else is gonna come for us on our way back."

Hotaru closed her eyes in defeat, "You’ve made your case."

Tiffany on the other hand approached the armoured figure who had taken a knee. "My condolences for the loss," she spoke.

Ben could only nod. "I uh, thanks... Is thanks what people say to that? I don’t..." he sealed his lips shut. He took a breath and looked at her, "Thanks."

His eyes had reddened and his expression sunken—he appeared pitiful and hopeless as he once again glanced at Colwyn. And only guilt overtook him when her looked over to the other twin.

"I," Tiffany waited for his attention to return to her. "I didn’t take it lightly either when I first uhm..." she respectfully put her hands together in front of her. "I h-haven’t exactly gotten accustomed to..."

Ben turned his head and watched the other four.

Tiffany pursed her lips, "I fear they are used to it... Callous as it may be."

He faced the corpse once more and a chuckle simply escaped his lips. It was about to break into a sob... He instead swallowed his soon-to-be cries down. "Sorry," the word left his lips and flew towards the two sat up against a tree.

Hotaru looked around the vicinity—Asobi leaned against a tree and Fumeko calculating her best route up the hill, while Tiffany and Ben stood by the twins.

She peered down and pinched the torn fabric of Jotou’s attire, "What now?" she asked of the blonde. "Find a way back? Most of our supplies are at Alänschäf."

"And more at the guild. Finding any place would be useful now," Jotou adjusted Hotaru’s spiralling ribbon-like sleeve and secured it around her right middle finger.

"Which reminds me," Hotaru’s ears flickered. "Tiffany figured out that the labyrinth we were in was in fact the Ever-Labyrinth."

Jotou thought for a second, "We thought it might be before, but are we sure? Why did she think that? What happened with your fight with Feather?"

"Sorry, we didn’t fight Feather," Hotaru corrected. "We fought a new god."

"What...?" Jotou’s eyes bubbled.

"He called himself Elzaphrael, the Briar Prince. He was a rotting skeleton connected to this massive plant heart. He said he couldn’t die and that it was some curse by his beloved. In all honesty, he made my skin crawl in more ways than one...

He fed on our mana, which is how we got so drained before we were thrown out to meet Feather minutes before you two rejoined us. It’s also why some of us felt odd once we teleported into the labyrinth."

"Okay... You said he can’t die, so what happened?"

"He first invited us in to feed on us, his thorns and vines were like teeth into our skin. He could change and move the labyrinth itself and none of our magic could get to him, but Asobi came up with a plan.

We all defended ourselves and made him use as much resources as possible; his vines weren’t infinite. Your friend was the biggest distraction, saying he would be the one to finish the fight.

Sobi had Clyde be invisible and he shot a magic-boosted arrow through the heart once the vines started to unravel around it. He ’died’, but we still heard his voice in our heads; he seemed childish. Once he felt like he lost, he threw us out."

Jotou held Hotaru’s shoulders and just... held her. Her head bobbed, "This all made Tiffany confirm that theory?"

"Well, She said that he is the labyrinth, something about his veins being magic and his bones being brick. The Ever-Labyrinth and this one both regenerate; the guild thought it was old magic and left it at that.

Tiffany even saw him and how he regenerates. The heart we saw, his control over it all—it makes sense."

"Hm," Jotou pondered. "Which means he’s not off the board..."

Hotaru patted the blonde’s chin, "What are you thinking about? I know that face."

Jotou pouted to one side, "If his bricks are bones..."

"There’s a good chance destroying the whole labyrinth will kill a new god for good."

"Dh!" Hotaru recoiled to one side. "Meko..." she grumbled under her breath while her tail and ears settled down.

Jotou calmly turned her head to the brunette who was standing right next to them. "Detective."

"I’m caught up," Fumeko replied. "And I figured out where we are."