The Silver Seer

Chapter 44: My Everything

Reko keeps his head turned to his left, staring at the white landscape out of the backseat's left window. He doesn't know why, but when the group arrived at the border Russia shared with Switzerland, Reko was asked to be driven in a separate vehicle than what he was originally in with Berlyn, Sigfried, Leon, and Lars. And though it is less crowded, Reko misses the somewhat lively chatter that the five were engaged in, despite the reasons they were driving to Russia.

These people were not friendly at all. The drive has been completely silent, though Reko has not attempted to engage in conversation- why would he? Just because Switzerland has "won" the war doesn't mean the Russians weren't their enemy. The war wouldn't be won unless the boy's captain returned alive. If he is unable to return...Reko doesn't know what he'll do.

He shakes his head and turns back to focus on the white blur in front of the vehicle. It must just be a small blizzard, but Reko is unable to see Berlyn's vehicle through the rapid snowfall mixed with high-speed winds. Now he prays the car won't be thrown off course, or he'll be driven somewhere completely different and left to fend for himself in these harsh conditions. Usually, his system made any change in the weather negligible- if it was hot, his system would cool down, and if it was cold, his system would warm up. But in extreme conditions, without the proper clothing, his system could very well freeze over, rendering him unable to function until his system returned to an operable temperature.

Lost in thought, the boy notices movement from somewhere in front of where he sits and meets eyes with the soldier in the passenger seat, looking at him with wide eyes. Reko blinks and his system finally alerts him to the reason the soldier is staring.

Injury sustained to far-right abdomen. Please extract the weapon used for infliction so the cauterizing process can begin. Estimated healing time: ten minutes.

The boy looks down and sees a combat knife lodged in his side. He looks directly at the soldier sitting to his right, studying their expression of surprise. But Reko grabs the handle of the knife, effortlessly pulls it from the wound, and smiles at the soldier. "Try harder next time." He turns the blade, so it faces the person in front of him. "But there won't be a next time for you."

Without warning, Reko pushes the soldier against the right side of the car and slashes their neck. Leaping towards the front of the vehicle, he clasps his right hand over the mouth of the soldier in the passenger seat before vigorously stabbing their chest, while he feels the car begin to sway this way and that, probably trying to throw the boy off of the gagging soldier. Yet he hangs on and makes a jump to end up behind the soldier in the driver's seat.

Yet he can't keep them still enough to kill them, so he instead crawls up the center console and directly tackles the soldier, lodging the knife in their chest before pushing it downward until blood spills from their stomach as the vehicle veers off course. Instead of trying to regain control of the vehicle, he climbs across the soldier just recently killed and opens the car door, leaping out, and rolling onto the snowy ground before ending up on his back.

He hears another car's engine, and despite the slight pain in his right side, he stands up and locates the vehicle, assuming a fighting stance. But as soon as Lars jumps out from the back right side, Reko takes a breath and sheaths his knife as the king runs over to him.

"Are you alright? We saw the vehicle you were in veer off course, so Berlyn had to- Du forbandede russere! They'll pay for hurting you." Lars' question turns into a threat as soon as he spots the wound in the mechanical being's right side, still actively leaking oil.

Reko lets out a breath. "They already did." He begins walking towards the vehicle, Lars right beside him. "Let's just get going. This is nothing- my system said it will take ten minutes to heal."