Savior? Monster?

“R-Rain?” There was a voice in the crowd. Surprise. Confusion. But soon enough, elation.

“Rain!”

“It’s raining!”

“It’s a miracle!”

For the populace, “rain” was a concept that few had even seen in their life, let alone get to experience. To say that it was a miracle was an understatement. And it showed here — even if the monster was still around, it didn’t matter anymore. The sound of the downpour had already harmonized perfectly with the cries of joy from the townspeople.

Even the warrior in green was no exception. Putting his hand forward to feel each droplet trickling, he mumbled:

“Rain… I can’t believe it. That there would be a day where I got to feel rain without Kana around…”

Meanwhile, the monster was panicking. The reason was simple. For flying insects, aside from fire which killed them, water was their biggest fear. Without a dry environment, their wings would get soaked, and they couldn’t take off.

The proof was lying right here, littered on the ground. Insect corpses in the hundreds, all perished from the rainfall, leaving the monster alone and defenseless.

Which meant that this was our perfect chance to finish it.

“Hey!” I called out to the warrior in green. “Is this enough?”

“Enough?... You did this?” His voice was shaken. Half of it was surprise, half… I wasn’t sure what emotions lay within him.

“Yes or no would be good!”

“... Yeah, it’s enough.” The warrior landed on the ground from his hovering state. Making a finger gun towards the monster, he continued:

“Now, let’s finish up your sins…”

However, he didn’t move afterward. Instead, the man called out to me.

“At least, that’s what I would have said. You, over there.”

“Huh?”

“Kill it.”

It was a simple order, but a confusing one nonetheless.

“Why?” I asked. “Weren’t you gonna kill it?”

“I changed my mind,” answered the man. “Look, it’s useless now anyway. Either of us is enough. So just kill it.”

Of course, it didn’t take a genius to know that he was right. The monster was clearly struggling in the rain — its pose was much less intimidating when it was cowering like that. Any one strike in its vitals would be enough.

But…

I drew out my drill sword. My hand was shivering.

Of course it was. I still remembered, after all. That moment when the Kala’s blood soaked into my blade. The moment when I felt elation out of this world.

What if I were to experience it again? What would happen to me? Would I be the same person that I had been all this time? Or would I…

I diverted my eyes down to my other hand. Even if I had adorned this armor, it was still the same. I still only had three fingers. My scales were still there. And I was willing to bet that my tongue was still split too.

I was already a monster on the outside. What if… by killing this thing, my inside would be gone as well? I would fully turn into a monster, both in body and in spirit?

What if I became what I had destroyed?

“... I knew it.”

The man’s voice dragged me back to reality. Before me, he had already summoned his two blades once more. Along with it, his slicing wind had also returned.

“Vayu Slicing Gale!”

From his shout, the man swung his arms with all his might. Following his movements, the wind blades spun and spun, before firing themselves in the exact direction of his arms. The blades struck the monster in all spots, from its now softened shoulder shell, to its unguarded joints and limb muscles. With each blade hit, a part of the monster flew out, before immediately disintegrating into thin air.

In the end, only its body and head remained. And with one final wind blade, the warrior had put it out of its misery once and for all.

However, that final blade didn’t stop there.

It was a split-second reaction. The moment I noticed that the wind blade hadn’t dissipated like its previous iterations, I raised my sword forward as fast as I could. The act was just fast enough to block the blade from doing the same thing to my own head, sending me stumbling a few steps back.

I couldn’t believe how strong that hit was. My hand was still shaking after the wind blade was gone, and it was already quite weakened after hitting the monster. After experiencing it for myself, I was certain: this man’s last strike wasn’t meant for the monster at all. He meant to kill me.

“What’s the big idea?” I shouted. “What did I do?”

“More like what didn’t you do… monster.” Gone was his neutral or slightly annoyed voice. Facing me was the man’s full, unbridled wrath and hostility.

He wasn’t wrong, of course. But if my experience had taught me anything, it was to never admit your weakness. The opponent would always try to use them against you, twist your words to fit their agenda.

“Monster? Me?” I feigned innocence.

“There are only two possibilities for you to be able to summon rain,” the man raised his fingers as a sign.

“Number one, you’re the Great Serpent, the bearer of the Vritra Stigma. But that’s impossible; I know all Stigma wielders in this world, and I also know that the Vritra Stigma chose no one from this world.”

Well, technically he was correct. But convincing him of that possibility would be even more work.

“Two, you’re a familiar of Indra, disguising yourself to sneak into this city. Your rain power is a part of her thunder. And from what I’ve heard… you were looking for a woman who looks exactly like Indra, right?”

Damn it. He was also right on that front. But that also meant he was someone who was nearby — and from his previous statements, “I know all Stigmata wielders” and “what platoon are you in”...

I let out a grin. If my guess was correct, then this was the answer I needed.

Raising my hands to surrender, I said. “I was sent by Crown Prince Arja! I don’t mind if you don’t believe me, but spare my life until you’ve asked him directly!”

“Arja, you say…” The man halted for a moment. However, I could tell that his voice was shaken.

But that was by no means a good thing. He was shaking, but with rage. My gambit had failed.

“Do you expect me to believe that?”

While he drew his blades and rushed towards me, I drew my own as well, fully ready to defend myself. But before our weapons could clash, a red flash emerged from the darkened sky, crashing down right in the middle of our fight.

As the dust settled, Arja was already there, clad in his crimson armor. His dragon head chomped into my sword, while his other arm grabbed the green man’s crescent blade with no issue.

“Alright, easy now y’all,” the young prince finally spoke with a chuckle.

“Arja, what the hell are you doing? This is…”

Before the man could finish, Arja had already dropped his grip on the crescent blade to signal a silence sign towards him. Meanwhile, his dragon head disappeared to reveal his other arm, which quickly grabbed onto my wrist.

Raising it up with all his might, Arja shouted as loud as his lungs were able to:

“My people! Through millennia, we’ve been starved out of the most basic need of humans! Those bastards in Drizzle had taken our life force, our water! Not only that, they even took our champion, and now, their greed still not satisfied, they’re taking our land itself! We of the Drought royals, the proud Stigma warriors remaining, have worked tirelessly day and night, to fend them!”

Taking another deep breath, he continued:

“But now, have no fear! For our savior has arrived! The Great Serpent has finally awakened! Our new owner of the Vritra Stigma is here, Drought’s guardian, and my sworn brother! Ren!”

The crowd, after those words of triumph, erupted into cheer just in time for the rain to clear up. As sunshine once more lit up the market, the festivities had multiplied by a hundred fold, with everyone everywhere chanting the same name as if worshipping a new god:

“Ren! Ren! Ren!”

“Hey, Arja,” I whispered. “What gives? I thought you didn’t want me to go out?”

“Well, duh. I didn’t want ya going out looking like that. Ya know, all lanky and unimpressive before. How hard would it have been to convince people that yer supposed to be some big god?”

“Hey!”

“Anyway, with the armor, it’s much more convincing, right? Especially after that stunt ya did too; since when could ya summon rain?”

“Just now, but you planned all this?”

“Well… Mostly. I knew Hava — he’s Vayu that just fought with ya, by the way — was chasing something, so I thought that if ya were to appear, it would be much easier to play the whole savior scene.”

“That’s why you stopped the guy from fighting after?”

“Well, of course. But why didn’t ya just transform back and show him the serpent’s sign?”

Only then did I realize my mistake in all of this. Arja was right; I could have just de-transformed and showed him my tattoo. But at that moment, I also realized another important matter.

I had forgotten Arja’s instructions on how to turn back.

“Uh…. How exactly do I turn back again?”