The 100 Operators Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really love you

Chapter 27

Silence descends upon them after her proclamation, with it stretching for what felt like an eternity, until Ashura opens his mouth.

"...I am scared, alright? Scared that if I ever killed a person, indirectly or not, that I might become him... With that possibility seemingly higher now with the possibility of him lurking in my mind somehow. Call me naïve, call me idiotic, whatever. I am still going to try to not kill anybody."

Atalanta's face slowly shifts into rage as she glares at him while snarling, "Just for that? Just because you are scared of a phantom that might, might, control you? Where was that male that wanted to be the first one to the fire? The one that went into the basement? Because I don't see him! I only see a coward that is afraid of his own shadow!"

He widens his eyes before snapping as he slowly gets up, "That was the guy who wanted to run away from everything by getting himself killed! All those promises felt like rocks dropped on his back that he was hoping to end it all by going first into the fire!" He grips his claymore, using it as a crutch for him to stand.

She flinches before her facial expression becomes tighter, "Why did you make those promises huh? Why didn't you just ask for help? WHY DON'T YOU SHARE YOUR BURDEN WITH OTHER PEOPLE?!" At the end, she is yelling so loud with all her pent up emotion from her memory that make the windows vibrate a little.

He flinches but soon he roars out his response to her emotions, "THIS IS MY BURDEN TO BEAR! NO ONE ELSE! AND THE ONLY WAY OUT IS DEATH!" His facial muscles loosen a bit as he looks down, "I only made those promises to calm them down... Nothing else."

Atalanta grips her bow even harder, "Looks like there is only one way to settle this. A fight to the death."

Ashura looks back at her with shock, "Do we need to –"

"Yes. This is the only way to get the message to your stupid brain."

"Woah woah woah wait, I am just a normal person against a servant, no matter how nerfed their stats may be!"

"Too bad. This will be decided when one of us is dead. Either I stop your ideals, or you cut my attack down." She backs up while firing off multiple light arrows at him.

He grits his teeth while lifting his claymore up to block the arrows. The impacts send tremors into his arms, making him almost drop his weapon but he stubbornly holds on.

After blocking the last of the arrows, he sees Atalanta already right in front of him with her sword thrusted to his face. Ashura barely moves his head in time to dodge the blow, but he feels a kick hitting him at his right side, sending him flying to the other side of the room.

She blinks before slowly lowering her leg, "Oops... Maybe I went a little bit too hard on him..." She mutters before seeing him slowly getting up, "...Nope."

She gives him time to get his bearings back and the moment he stands by using the claymore as a crouch, he opens his mouth to taunt, although a small trail of blood is leaking from his mouth, "I am still standing, Ata! My ideals are not wrong!"

Atalanta looks at him, with her mind slowly replacing his visage with another being, "...The same... No, similar... I can still stop him...!" She gets ready to fire off more arrows until the sound of the doors opening brings her to a halt.

"Darling~ Are you her –" Nian comes strolling in while looking around the place, before her eyes zero in on Ashura's form, "Darling!"

Nian almost teleports over to him then begins to fuss, "Why are you – is that blood?!" She turns to look at Atalanta with a look of rage.

"You bitch! What did you do to Darling?!" She snarls before summoning her shield.

Atalanta opens her mouth to answer before closing it with a shake of her head. After a few seconds, she opens her mouth again, "I was trying to convince him to kill someone in this world if he ever finds himself in danger." With her piece said, she begins to walk to the door.

"You bitch, I am not –"

"Nian, please leave her be." Ashura grabs the former's shoulder to stop her from going after Atalanta, "Please."

Nian looks at him then to Atalanta before sighing, "Ok, Darling. But we are going to the medical wing to get you treated!"

"That would be... Nice..." His legs give out under him, making him fall onto Nian while his eyes roll back.

1200 December 8 1096
Outer Layer
Lungmen

"Sir! We are losing control of the outer defenses near the Infected camp!"

"Send more guards to contain the situation! We must not let them get to the civilians!"

A female with shoulder-length blue hair that slowly turns purple at the tip and 2 sharp horns at her head, orders into her radio as she looks at the destruction before her with the rest of her squad.

"Spread out and search for survivors! If they bear the Reunion logo and are armed then you have my permission to execute them!" She sees a horde of Reunion soldiers approaching them, "Enemies in front of us, get into defensive position!"

She mutters as slight fear settles itself in her stomach while seeing her squad get into position, "This will be over soon when Rhodes Island comes here." She unsheathes her sword to point at the horde, "But until then, Lungmen shall not fall!"