Chapter 25: One Step till the End

A beep.
Then another.
Slow. Rhythmic and then….Distant.

I suddenly opened my eyes.

The harsh fluorescence of a hospital ceiling flickered above me, humming like it was alive. Cold air pricked my skin. My body felt weightless, no pain, just a numbing stillness.

I tried to move. But I couldn’t. My limbs felt stationary.

The scent of antiseptic clung to everything. Bleach. Blood. Something else, something rotten beneath the sterile surface.

My head turned to the side on its own, like I wasn’t the one moving it.

And there she was.

Lying in the bed beside mine.
My sister.

Pale. Unmoving. Her face frozen in that same peaceful, unreachable sleep. Machines kept her alive, an oxygen mask over her lips, tubes threading into her arms like puppet strings.

Trapped.

She was here. Still here.

I blinked, trying to breathe, trying to speak, but the moment I did…

The air shifted.

I felt it before I saw her.

Behind me.

A cold, wet breath on my neck.

I turned slowly.

And then, I froze.

There she stood.

The girl from that day.

The one who died.

Her eyes were impossibly wide, bloodshot, staring into me. Her skin was gray, bloated, split open in places where bone poked through. Her limbs twisted at unnatural angles, like she had been broken and never put back right.

Her lips peeled open in a smile that wasn’t human.

And she whispered.

"Why did you kill me?"

“Daisy?!”
I opened my eyes. I was back in my room.

The dim light of the monitor softly blinked. The sterile white glow filled the space with a calm that didn’t match the chaos that had brought me here.

I was lying on my bed.

Beside me, Katarina rested her head on the mattress near mine, fast asleep. Her long hair was tangled, her face peaceful, exhausted. Around the room, the others were here too, Terrence and his gang, each slumped in the chairs, snoring softly like knocked-out bears. Seressia had dozed off on Terrence’s shoulder, the two unconsciously leaning on each other. On the couch, Ysanthe lay curled up with a blanket barely clinging to her.

For a moment, I just watched them all, silent, alive. And something heavy formed in my chest.

The very first thought in my mind was, how in the world there’s a monitor in this world? Aren’t we in a fantasy realm where advanced technology didn’t exist? I bet it was Terrence and his gang’s doing.

I carefully rose from the bed, doing my best not to wake anyone. My muscles ached, but it was bearable. My mind, though, was heavier than my body.

I needed space. So, I made my way to the Hall of Embers.

The torches lining the corridor hissed softly. The air here was always warmer, like the place remembered battle. When I arrived, I found Weiss Shi already there.

She was alone and she training by herself.

Her movements were fluid, deadly, precise, focused. Watching her was like watching a silent storm, elegant, but violent in its grace. That’s why they called her the Assassin of Life.

I didn’t say anything. I just stood there, observing. Not in a creepy way, I wasn’t that kind of pervert. Mostly just the anime kind.

Without warning, she threw a katana at me. It landed between my legs.

I froze. Wide-eyed. Legs locked.

The blade vibrated where it stuck in the floor. Perfectly placed. Not a scratch on me.

She slowly turned to look at me. Her expression unreadable.

"I’m used to assassination attempts from Niobeorth’s goons," I said with a dry laugh, "but not from beautiful warrior princesses. What the hell, Weiss?"

Her cold eyes narrowed. "What are you doing here?"

"Relax. I just woke up, I came to train. Total coincidence you’re here."

She drew her second katana, her movements sharp.

"Okay, what’s with the rage? You’re even more pissed than usual."

She didn’t answer. Just turned away, giving me the cold shoulder.

I walked toward the blade she threw, yanked it free, and handed it back to her. She took it without even glancing at me.

"Listen," I said, "I’m not here for your sarcasm. Just trying to clear my head after everything that happened at Khaterinth Mountain. I need to figure out how to fight properly, magic and sword in sync, without killing myself in the process."

I turned my back to her and walked toward the training zone.

"Was it… serious?" she suddenly asked.

I stopped.

"What was?"

"The dream. You came here to forget it, didn’t you?"

I looked away.

I didn’t answer her. Just stared at the floor.

It was more than a dream. It was the heaviest memory I carried.

When I was younger, I did something unforgivable. My brother disappeared during an expedition. I refused to believe he was dead. So I left the city to search for him, recklessly, without telling anyone.

Two people followed me.

One of them was a girl whose name I never got. I only knew the nickname I gave her, Daisyduke.

At the mention of that name, Weiss Shi jolted. But I was too deep in the memory to notice.

The other was my sister.

One of them never came back. Her body was never found. The other lived, but trapped inside a body that wouldn’t wake up.

I destroyed two lives that day. One gone forever. The other I can still hold… barely.

That’s why I joined Onlife. I needed the money. I needed redemption.

There was a long silence between us.

Then, I laughed. Bitterly.

"You think this is funny?" she asked.

"No. Just ironic," I replied. "I’m telling one of my most painful memories to someone who barely even knows me—and probably doesn’t give a damn. That’s why I said it. Because I knew you wouldn’t care."

I saw something flicker in her eyes.

She was hurt?

Damn it. I seriously will never understand her.

"Wait. That… that came out wrong. I didn’t mean it like that."

She turned her back to me and began walking away.

I really did struck a nerve? Well, I guess any means to open up to each other has crumbled in a instant.

At the door, she paused. Still facing forward, she said, quietly:

"Diana. My name is Diana."
That was… unexpected.
Was that her way of opening up?

I felt a strange urge to respond in kind, to offer something of myself in return.

"My surname isn’t Knockout," I said quietly. "My real surname… is Gygaverne."

Diana’s gaze met mine. I couldn’t tell if she was unimpressed or if this was simply her own awkward way of being empathetic.

"I changed my family name because… I didn’t want to desecrate it," I continued. My voice tightened. "After what I did… it became something tied to my past. To my regret."

The air between us grew heavier, thick with unspoken questions neither of us dared to ask.

Then she left. Leaving without saying anything else.

While I stood there confused and overwhelmed.

I remembered her question about the dream. The hallucination brought on by the purple gas.

Was she affected too?

What regret does she carry?

Maybe one day, she’ll tell me. If she wants to talk.

I was deep in training, trying to refine the delicate dance between my Magime and weapon.

The radiant pulse of Nova Bloom throbbed in my palm, unstable yet full of destructive. I held it gently, as if cupping a fragile flame that could scorch my entire arm if I lost focus. Sparks of ethereal electricity arced from my hand to my Dangatana.

This wasn’t just training. I was on the verge of a breakthrough. After finally managing to release Nova Bloom in full once, I’d learned the hard way how vulnerable I was during its charge-up. I needed to modify my Dangatana, reinforce it with a mechanism that could anchor or shield the magic during release. Katarina would know what to do. After all, she was the one who repaired it last time.

I made a mental note. Once she wakes up, I’ll ask her. No way around it.

As I began the sequence again, stance, channel, release, I heard the door creak open. My instinct told me it was Terrence and his gang dropping by to crack some jokes or drag me out for grub.

But no. My gut twisted slightly when I saw who it was.

Adrian.

Of all the people I expected… he was the last. Still clad in his dark, battered armor, the red glint of his icon subtly flashed behind his partially broken gas mask. That red… the same red as Goryguari. As Baba Kong. My eyes narrowed slightly.

We didn’t speak. We just nodded at each other, a silent truce, a stiff greeting.

Even after the battle at Khaterinth Mountain, I hadn’t shaken the feeling that something was off about him. His icon color. The fact that his character profile was mysteriously incomplete, cut off right before it could reveal anything about his time during Niobeorth’s invasion.

Adrian set his gear aside, peeling off his armor until he stood in a training tunic. He looked straight at me.

"Care for a sparring partner?" he asked, his tone unreadable.

"Huh? Wait? Me? Uh… yeah. Sure," I replied hesitantly.

He grabbed a wooden sword from the rack. I, of course, kept the Dangatana, though set in training mode. It wouldn’t fire, and it wouldn’t cut. At least, not fatally.

"You can use that thing of yours and don’t hold back," he added.
"Fight me like you want to kill me."

That line really rubbed me wrong way.

Maybe it was the way he said it. Maybe it was his face, stone cold, brooding like he was barely holding something in. Or maybe I was just tired of his cryptic act.

We took our stances.

Then he struck first.

Fast. Ruthless and especially controlled.

Each of his swings was precise, a textbook-perfect arc of motion and force. I blocked the first two, deflected the third, but barely avoided the fourth. The shock vibrated through my blade. I activated briefly my move Splitting Jack, letting his next strike phase harmlessly through my shoulder, but even that cost me.

The spar continued, relentless. Adrian never let up.

"Geez, you got your fiancée back, didn’t you? Shouldn’t you be… I don’t know… a bit less murdery? Maybe some sunshine and rainbows?" I panted, forcing a grin as I blocked another overhead swing.

For a moment, he stopped.

His grip loosened.

His gaze, once cold, dropped to the floor.

"That wasn’t her," he said flatly. "The one I rescued. It was a copy. The real Alina’s still somewhere out there."

The room fell into a thick silence.

And I, like an idiot, let my guard down.

In a flash, his wooden sword swept low and clipped my leg cleanly. I dropped to the ground hard, the Dangatana clattering beside me.

"Come, let us spar once more. There is a lesson in my blade that may one day preserve your life."

My life? What is he even going to do to me? This training feels torturous already.

We returned to our positions, standing opposite each other. I tightened my grip on the Dangatana.

"You decide when to begin," Adrian said calmly.

I rushed forward, blade ready. But he didn’t move, he simply took a slow breath, closed his eyes, and waited.

The moment my strike came down, Adrian shifted effortlessly, sliding past my arm, then drove the base of his hilt into my shoulder.

I crashed to the ground.

"You’re unprepared," he said, standing over me. "Do you even understand how I managed to defeat you?"
I grimaced in pain, and before I could look up, Adrian was already putting his armor back on.

"Wait—"

But he didn’t look at me.

Didn’t say anything.

Until he halted in front of the entrance and said these following words, “Remember what happens when mercy is replaced with memory."
Afterwards, he just walked out. Without any further explanation.

I pushed myself up on one elbow, wincing.

"Yeah, you better run," I muttered, trying to massage the pain out of my leg. "Damn it…"

And what the heck is that supposed to mean?When mercy is replaced with memory? Is this supposed to be a haiku or something? 
Honestly I don’t care.
I laid on the ground taking a heavy breather, spreading my arms and legs, like I’m about to make a snow angel. And kept on staring at the wooden ceiling. 
The more I think about the more I started wandering.
Maybe I was wrong about him.
Maybe he wasn’t hiding something sinister.
Maybe he was just… lost. Like me.

His fiancée’s still being held hostage.

And I just took that lightly.

What the hell is wrong with me?
I guess the weight of this war is just messing with my head.

I slowly lifted my body, I was about to grab my Dangatana, but suddenly, at the slightest touch, my Dangatana fired a burst of my Nova Bloom, on a form of a bullet, shooting and destroying a wall. The same exact wall where I accidentally threw Grulk.

Ohhh [Beep].