Crushing Defeat

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The thunderous roar of massive explosions kept pounding Wien's eardrums, but he could do nothing about it.

Although Wien could withstand a direct hit from one Bala, Yammy had now raised his spiritual pressure to nearly the level of an Adjuchas.

Even though his spiritual power had declined somewhat during the endless pursuit, it still remained at a level considerably higher than Wien's.

Wien could take one Bala head-on, but now two or three were hurtling at him every second, coming one after another almost like machine-gun fire. And that was after Wien had ambushed Yammy and inflicted severe injuries on him.

"Lord Wien, if we keep running like this, he'll catch up sooner or later," Nel said anxiously as she raced along.

"I know." Wien's expression was grave. They had been running from Yammy for a long time now. But at Wien's speed, he couldn't put any distance between them. In theory, if Yammy hadn't slowed down whenever he used Bala, he would probably have caught up long ago.

Wien and Nel were taking turns accelerating as they fled. If they had run separately, their spiritual pressure would probably have been exhausted by now.

"Find a forest. We can't shake him, so we'll use the Hollows in the forest to draw his fire. We need to hide," Wien decided.

"There's a forest at two o'clock," Nel said after activating her spiritual pressure sensing.

"Go!" Wien didn't hesitate. He darted to the right with Nel, raising a hand to block a Bala Yammy had just fired from that direction.

"Trying to run?" Yammy narrowed his eyes, seeing where Wien was headed. He immediately unleashed his full combat power. The terrifying strength he had displayed during the chase hadn't been his limit.

Yammy's massive, chariot-like body suddenly came to a halt. He brought both hands before his chest, and dark red spheres of spiritual pressure rapidly gathered in them.

"Bala: Rage!" The next second, Yammy punched repeatedly with both hands. Countless dark red Bala shot toward Wien and Nel like a raging storm.

"Lord Wie—"

"Go! Go now!" Feeling the terrifying spiritual pressure behind them, Wien made up his mind. He jumped off Nel's back and shoved her dozens of meters away, then turned to face the rain of Bala. At the same time, spiritual pressure began gathering in his right hand. Strands of it collided with one another like flashes of lightning, crackling faintly in Wien's ears.

With the battle having reached this point, Wien knew he couldn't escape. If he abandoned Nel and ran on his own, she might not be able to withstand even three seconds of Yammy's attacks with her abilities before the overwhelming barrage of Bala blasted her into nothingness. And in that case, he ultimately wouldn't escape Yammy's pursuit either.

For now, he at least still had the strength to block one attack from Yammy. If he bought Nel some time, perhaps she would avenge him when the two met again many years later.

"Lightning Strike!" Facing the countless Bala, Wien unleashed his strongest attack. In an instant, the electric net of lightning formed from spiritual pressure collided with the incoming Bala, setting off an earth-shaking explosion.

Dozens of Bala were engulfed in the billowing dust. But there were far more than that. Although Wien had put everything into that strike, it had only blocked some of them. Dozens more flew toward him and landed beside him, exploding with a thunderous roar.

"Lord Wien!"

Nel, having forgotten all about escaping, ran toward Wien like a madwoman. But when the dust cleared, all she found was a stretch of land blasted to pieces and Wien lying at death's door in a crater.

After that strike, Wien had only managed to knock away a few of the incoming Bala with his Blade Claws before one hit him head-on.

The powerful explosion made Wien's body stagger, and the storm of bombardment erupted against him once his defenses were gone.

Wien could only raise his hands to shield himself. The violent explosions broke the bone blade on his right hand, tore away the horny layer on both hands, and mangled his flesh. Finally, one Bala blasted both his hands off.

With his protection gone, Wien could only shield his head, turn over, and lie face down, using his back to withstand the barrage. Wave after wave of agony nearly knocked him unconscious, but he kept resisting with all his might until the fierce attack ended. By then, however, he no longer had the strength to stand.

Besides losing both hands, one of Wien's legs was twisted beneath him at a strange angle. His back was a bloody mess, his internal organs had suffered some damage, and the Hollow Hole in his chest had been blasted several sizes larger by his injuries.

"Gwah!" Wien spat out a mouthful of blood, his consciousness fading, and murmured, "Damn it. Defeated before I've even begun? Am I going to die here?" Wien was unwilling to accept it, but he didn't even have the strength to get up.

Where's Nel? Heh... I can't do anything for her anymore. I hope she can escape. After all those Bala, even Ira would have used up a lot of spiritual power. At Nel's speed, she should be able to get away.

As if recalling his time in this world, Wien's consciousness grew increasingly hazy. Inora, I'm sorry. Perhaps this is as far as I can go. Remembering the past, Wien slowly closed his eyes. The light in his eyes beneath his mask began to fade, and he was on the verge of losing consciousness completely.

"Lord Wien, Lord Wien..." In his daze, a faint voice reached Wien's ears. He heard a familiar voice, one that belonged to Nel, because only Nel called him Lord Wien.

Nel? This idiot, why didn't she run? Right, Nel has the ability to heal. But how could she possibly save me with injuries like these? Hurry and go. Escape to that forest. That way, you'll still have a chance to live. Stay alive, and then avenge me. Wien thought this in his confusion, but he could no longer even say the words "run away."

...Gurgle.

An odd sound rang out. Wien felt a stream of warm liquid trickle down onto his head, and his fading consciousness regained a trace of clarity because of the mysterious liquid.

Before long, the warm, smooth liquid had spread over his entire body, and the injuries on Wien's body began to heal slowly under its warmth. Though the healing was very slow, at least the bleeding had begun to stop.

Feeling the change in his body, Wien opened his refocused eyes slightly. Through his blurry vision, he saw a dense pink spiritual pressure emanating from Nel.

But it lasted only an instant. When Wien tried to see it clearly, a wave of intense pain swept away his last trace of consciousness.

In the barren wastes, a chill wind blew past, stirring up some sand and dust. Countless craters gave the wasteland a discordant appearance, and this shattered ground was the battlefield where Wien had finally fallen unconscious.

The sky was still unbearably dark. On the barren ground, the badly injured Wien finally opened his eyes slowly after an unknown length of time unconscious.

"Mm..." A dreamlike murmur sounded. Wien felt his consciousness gradually returning.

"This is... I'm still alive." He opened his eyes and saw the dim yellow sky, and his memories returned to the moment before he had passed out.

"That's right. Nel healed me at the end. That's what saved my life." After thinking back, Wien immediately came to that conclusion. Sitting up in the ruined crater left by the Bala, Wien discovered that most of his injuries had actually healed.

"This..." Wien stared at his left hand. It had completely grown back, and the wounds on his body had returned to normal. Only the bone blade on his right hand had yet to fully form. His other injuries were basically healed.

"This... Have I been lying here for a long time?"

Wien knew how effective Nel's healing was. It worked reasonably well on surface wounds, but his injuries had been so severe...

Wien got to his feet and began surveying his surroundings. The fact that he wasn't dead proved that Yammy had retreated. Nel was nowhere to be seen either. Had they killed each other?

Before he had lost consciousness, Wien had used up a considerable amount of Yammy's spiritual pressure. Yammy's ability was to accumulate spiritual pressure without limit, and forcibly raising it was his greatest weapon.

But if Yammy's spiritual pressure had fallen to around the level of a beginner Gillian after fighting Wien, then it was possible for Nel to have killed him at the cost of her own life. If it had dropped straight back to the level of a High-Level Hollow, it wasn't impossible that Nel had killed him. Wien couldn't think of any other possibilities for the moment.

They didn't really kill each other, did they? Wien's heart sank. He had finally found an ideal companion, only to lose her just like that...

"Hm? What's that?" Wien paced along, studying the wreckage of the battlefield, hoping to find some clue to support his judgment. Sure enough, after walking for a few minutes, he noticed something different on the battlefield.

It was a huge footprint. It was so large that Wien could guess what it was from at a glance.

"A Gillian's footprint... Did someone advance? Was it Nel? Or Yammy?" Wien pondered.

"It's more likely to have been Nel. I remember her giving off very powerful spiritual pressure before I passed out. If she really advanced, then the chances of her defeating Yammy would have been much higher!"

As he spoke, Wien looked in the direction of the footprint and quickly found another one not far away. Following their direction, he saw a whole row of them, still fairly clear.

"The footprints are still fairly clear. They were left no more than a week ago." Wien had seen Gillian footprints before, so he was very good at judging the depth of the marks left by their enormous bodies.

"So I've been unconscious for at least a week? But why did my injuries heal so quickly? Could Nel's healing ability have improved when she advanced? If she really was the one who advanced."

Though he still had doubts, Wien didn't dwell on them. He simply began walking along the enormous footprints on the ground. Once he met their owner, he would know everything, even if his judgment was wrong.