Twelve Seconds – Ai

One second. I saw the beast open its mouth. It was gearing up for another disintegration beam. How did I know it was disintegration magic? What else could it have been? It destroyed the landscape without scorching it. Nothing else could do that without leaving some evidence behind.

I started gliding in a different direction from Aster and Rufus so that the beast wouldn’t be able to hit us all. It aiming for Aster was the best option since she would probably survive. However, the beast wasn’t looking at any of us. Wait, where was Emma?

Two seconds. I turned around and saw Emma frozen in place. Her body had completely given in to the beast’s dense mana; the hostility kept her rooted. However, she hadn’t given up. Her eyes glared directly at the beast, putting up a feeble amount of resistance. She wasn’t going to accept her death lying down.

Before I realized what I was doing, I was already gliding back faster than I ran away. I pushed my vines even further to reach her in time.

Why was I desperately trying to save her? It would’ve been better for her to take the blow so we could escape or land an attack. Her body wouldn’t move, so saving her was a death sentence. So why?

I didn’t know. I didn’t think I could know.

Maybe I just wanted her to survive for a little bit longer.

My vines reached Emma, pulling her off to the side. I could feel my body protest, but I didn’t care. Using the rest of my mana, I grew a tree directly in front of us, hoping to slow down the disintegration beam for a single moment. Trees were out of my area of expertise, so they required more mana. However, I couldn’t deny that they were sturdy for defense. I could feel my body waver as mana exhaustion began to set in. I ended up stumbling a bit trying to move myself out of the way.

Three seconds. The beast shot out the disintegration beam and, once again, obliterated everything in its path. Part of the tree got caught in the beam, getting vaporized instantly, unable to stop the beam for even a moment. My effort was futile.

I managed to pull Emma out of the way in time, but I wasn’t so lucky. That little stumble got me partially nicked, vaporizing both legs up to my knees. I didn’t feel any pain; the beam had sealed the wound somehow. It felt like my legs were still there somehow.

I hit the ground and rolled over to where Emma was, still frozen. My mind began to fade as my body tried to process what happened. The lack of mana combined with my missing legs threatened to put me into an eternal sleep. I tried biting my tongue, but it did nothing to stave off the impending rest.

Still, Emma was able to resist, even when her body couldn’t. I had to at least try that much. Using whatever was left of my mana, I raised a vine barrier to protect us. I knew it wouldn’t do anything to handle the beam, but it should protect against the shockwaves of the fight. Aster and Rufus wouldn’t need to worry about us then.

Huh, maybe I enjoyed being in this party more than I–