Arise From Weakness (OC/ Male Reader x Arifureta)

(S3) Chapter 80 Loveing Strength

No one's POV

The death she was waiting for never came. When she'd shut her eyes, Shizuku had felt the wall at her back vanish, but right now she was more interested in why her copy sounded so shocked. Timidly, Shizuku opened her eyes. The first thing her eyes saw was, shook her to her core.

Shizuku: H-Huh...?

???: I can't believe it'd send me here at just the right time. Was the labyrinth aiming for this or something?

Her copy's white blade, millimeters from her face. And holding onto it was a familiar hand that had stopped the copy's blade from running Shizuku through. Her eyes went wide, and she looked over her shoulder. It was him.

Shizuku: H-Hatake...?

The boy she'd fallen in love with. The one she always dreamed of when on the verge of death. It was unbelievable, but also somehow natural. Nhazul 's appearance wasn't just a delusion. The wall at Shizuku's back had vanished, revealing a passageway. It was from that passageway that Nhazul had appeared. It was also his hand that was holding Shizuku up.

Still, Shizuku couldn't bring herself to believe it. She stared blankly at Nhazul, whose face was inches from her own.

Nhazul: Are you alright? You look dead...

Nhazul looked down at Shizuku with a frown, then shot her copy a bestial glare. Shivering, the copy tried to retreat to safety, but before it could move, she was immediately pushed back by [Ruler's Authority].

Nhazul: You get out of here for a bit.

Nhazul then summoned his daggers, and sent them after it, using [Ruler's Authority]. He had no intention of killing Shizuku's copy, but he did need to buy some time, keeping the
copy occupied.

Shizuku turned around and examined Nhazul's face properly. She still couldn't believe this was real. Blood loss had made her thoughts dull, and some part of her kept telling her she wasn't worthy of a miracle like this. If this is a dream, I hope I never wake up... Shizuku was terrified of waking up to find a world without Nhazul. While she was thinking to herself, Nhazul pulled a healing potion out of his inventory and poured it into Shizuku's mouth.

Shizuku: Mmmpf!?

Nhazul: Don't spit it out. Drink it all. How your health isn't below 10% is amazing...

Surprised at the foreign liquid that was suddenly filling her mouth, Shizuku instinctively started to gag. However,
Nhazul put his hands around Shizuku and held her in place, forcing her to drink. She stiffened up completely. Not only had Nhazul just hugged her, but his face was also close enough to kiss if there wasn't a vial in her mouth. Shizuku could feel his warmth, and that calmed her. She obediently swallowed the vial's contents and stared intently at Nhazul face.

She looked like a baby drinking from a bottle. But she was too busy drowning in Nhazul's eyes to be worried about how she looked. She wouldn't look away, not even for a second. She wanted to keep staring into those eyes forever. Eventually, she downed the vial's contents, and her wounds vanished as though they'd never existed. Lucid enough to realize this was indeed reality, and that if Nhazul had come another second later, she would have died.

Shizuku: Is it really you, Hatake?

Nhazul: Do I look like anyone else?

Shizuku: B-But why... How are you here? I thought I...

Nhazul: Calm down. After I cleared my trial, I started going down the passage that appeared, and ended up here.

Shizuku: T-Then you really...