Music is Moonlit Night from the Death Parade OST, composed by Yuuki Hayashi. It's quiet, but lately I find myself writing epic battle scenes to the sound of subtle music. Somehow peaceful music makes destruction seem...beautiful. Anyway, Play it!
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I manage to hunt down two more infected. All of them Seers. Each time, I make sure that the people around me are all Lorelays, that they have knowledge of the Deathslayer. Each time, I do not hesitate as I send my shadows forth to give the infected a quick, clean death. I can't afford to use Miraterciel; I can still feel it whining in pain from the first kill.
Monsters they have become, but even they deserve a solace of some sort.
After all, Abner had once shown me the peace in the aftermath of slaying an infected, back in the forest. I don't feel any remorse for taking away their lives—I can't afford to. The old me would have balked at the ice I'm showing in the heat of battle. The old me would have chided myself for even thinking this way.
I've only been here for a few days, yet that old me is gone.
I've changed, Gilbert, I suddenly think as I summon a wave of shadows to smother the flames devouring a house. I don't know if you will approve, but I've changed.
The flames fight so hard against the shadows, refusing to be put out. It takes all of my willpower for my shadows to completely overpower the fire.
I wipe beads of sweat trickling down my forehead and scan my surroundings. Heat continues to prickle my neck, ash lingering on my tongue. That was just one house, and it already sapped so much of energy to put it out. So much power, and yet I can barely do anything about this.
Frustration wells within me. What good am I as a Champion if I can't even help the people who look to me for help?
For what purpose am I the Deathslayer, if I can't wield Miraterciel properly and my shadows are barely enough to fight the flames?
The only solace I have I is that my shadows tell me that most of the village folk have evacuated. The ones that aren't dead yet, of course. It must be Sir Kendrick and Everest. I know them enough to understand that they would have organised escape the moment chaos ignited. Not for the first time while I've been running around the entire area, I wonder how this fire could have spread so quickly in such a short time.
Most importantly, why this had happened.
However, I do already have a rough idea of how and why this had happened.
"What a remarkable display of power," someone says behind me.
I freeze in my tracks. Fire continues to rage around me. I barely register the heat as a prickling sensation ghosting my skin.
"And to think that you've already so much skill over the shadows, when you've barely received your magic a few days ago."
"To be fair, I had prior experience," I say, attempting to project coolness. But my words resemble croaks instead.
"True, true." I sense the amused smile in the person's voice. "Unfortunately, they won't help you much here. See now, Constantine? What good can shadows do? How can it ever conquer flames?"
"I didn't choose this," I utter, deathly quiet.
"And if you had a choice? What would you choose?"
I open my mouth to argue, that there's no point in presenting the 'what if'-s. My fate was already decided long beforehand. Yet I remember how Abner had so confidently told me that I would always have a choice. I remember how he assured me that I would be the one to decide my own future.
YOU ARE READING
Legacy (Daughter of War #2)
Fantasy**ON HOLD INDEFINITELY** It's been two years since the great battle in the shrine. However, as Perinus strives to recover from its losses, shadows continue to grow throughout the land... A dangerous sickness is spreading throughout the country--one...
