Death (3)

Natsuo was laying on the ground with Death’s scythe pointed directly to his chest.

Olive’s eyes widened.

“Natsuo!” she exclaimed.

She couldn’t make an explosion because she risked hitting Natsuo too, she had to find another solution.

Death raised his scythe and was about to give Natsuo the final blow. Gripped by fear, Olive ran toward the Vassal.

“Don’t touch Natsuo!” she yelled.

She charged a punch and hit the knight on his arm, not even scratching him.

“Olive, run away!” Natsuo exclaimed.

Death turned to her, confused by what she was trying to do. The girl glanced at him with anger.

“I won’t let you kill Natsuo!”

The Vassal stretched his arm and grabbed her neck, raising her from the ground. Olive squirmed, trying to free herself.

Death turned to Natsuo again, ready to finally kill him.

“You won’t do that!” Olive said breathlessly.

She summoned an ampoule and crushed it on the Vassal’s arm. The acid that was inside melted the armour and touched the knight’s skin, burning it.

Death immediately let go of Olive and started to shake his arm.

The girl fell on the ground and backed up. Natsuo also took the occasion and escaped from the Vassal’s range.

Death turned angrily to Olive. He stretched sideways the injured arm and two greenish portals opened at Natsuo’s left and right side.

Greenish chains got out of the portals and gripped Natsuo’s arms, holding him still. A third portal opened behind him and two arms came out to grab him. They were slowly dragging him inside the portal.

Natsuo struggled to free himself, but it was useless. Even with the strength attribute he couldn’t fight against the hug of death.

“Natsuo! What’s happening?” Olive asked, desperate.

The Vassal pointed his scythe to Olive, inviting her to confront him. If he didn’t kill her first, she would have kept on helping Natsuo.

The girl narrowed her eyes and glanced at the knight defiantly.

“Okay, let’s see what you can do!” she exclaimed.

Her legs were trembling, but she had no other choice: she had to defeat him to save Natsuo.

Death leapt toward her with the intent of killing her in one move. He raised his scythe to strike the fatal blow.

Olive summoned a barrel and hid behind it.

The Vassal’s scythe hit it instead of her and crushed it. A river of oil gushed out from the barrel, dirtying the knight and the floor.

Olive instantly threw a vial on the ground and a cloud of smoke spread around, blocking the Vassal’s view.

The girl got out of the cloud and summoned a bottle that contained explosive material. She threw the ampoule inside the smoke and the contents blew out, setting the oil on fire.

The fire rose up and, when the cloud of smoke thinned out, she saw the Vassal burning inside the flames, seriously injured by the explosion.

Olive cheered internally and turned to Natsuo.

The chains vanished and he fell on the ground. Olive reached him and dragged him away from the hands that were pulling him inside the portal.

Natsuo coughed because of the fire’s smoke and glanced at Olive.

“Thank you, you saved me once again.”

Olive looked at him with teary eyes.

“I thought I was going to lose you, idiot!”

She threw herself into his arms and hugged him tight. Natsuo smiled softly and patted her head.

He was an idiot. His biggest defect was arrogance, he always knew it, but this time he felt it deeper than usual. Everything that happened to him was due to his cheeky attitude. His previous bandmates left him because of it and now he risked death because he underestimated his opponent.

If there was something he wanted to do in this second life, it was improving himself. He felt to be already changed thanks to Olive and the others, but, sometimes, he still committed the same mistakes of the past.

He lowered his gaze and stared at Olive, who was resting her face on his shirt, trying to hold back tears. Seeing how much she was worried about him, made him understand how important he was to her: he couldn’t leave her because of his stupid arrogance. He wanted to become a better person for her.

The flames grew stronger and a lot of houses caught fire. Olive turned to the sound of wooden planks hitting the ground and widened her eyes.

“Oh no! I made a disaster!” she exclaimed.

Natsuo chuckled. “Yeah, you’re a bit reckless.”

Olive crossed her arms. “You’re the last person who can scold me.”

Natsuo stared at the fire, trying to think of a way to stop it. If they didn’t extinguish it now, all Blossomhyl would have burned.

Olive got up and summoned a lot of barrels of water.

“Let’s throw them on the fire!” she said.

Natsuo followed her instructions and emptied the barrels on the flames, but it wasn’t enough to stop it.

“We need help!” he replied.

Seeing the fire, the soldiers rushed there and Olive instructed them on what to do.

Everyone started throwing water at the flames and together they succeeded in extinguishing the fire.

When the flames thinned out, they could see the Vassal again: he was laying on the ground, severely injured.

He stayed still, paralyzed by scaldings.

Natsuo twirled his scythe and walked toward him to give him the final blow. Even if he was an enemy, it was too cruel to let him die with so much suffering.

He pointed his scythe to the knight’s neck.

“You got me, I admit it. I was a bit too arrogant to think I could defeat you so easily” he said. “Thank you for teaching me a lesson. I really mean it.”

Natsuo raised his scythe to strike the final blow, but a portal appeared under the Vassal’s body and swallowed him, making him escape the blade.

Natsuo stared blankly at the empty spot on the ground.

“Where did he go?”