"David…" A quiet voice called out. David's eyes moved as his eyelids kept close. "David… Wake up… Wake up before—" With a large gasp, David flew into a sitting position. His bone armor was shattered and he had somehow reverted back to his original form. The scent of Lisa on the red cloth.
'Wh-what… Happened?' David asked himself.
"G-get off!" Lee Seng shouted. "I'm not that monster!"
"Die! You shouldn't be here! Die!" Lisa scratched Lee Seng across the chest and arms as he could do nothing but protect his face. "Die!"
"I really don't wanna do this to you, Lisa! Snap out of it!"
"Die! Die! Die! Die!"
David immediately was on his feet, looking down in the black abyss. Lee Seng was being scratched over and over again by a wild Lisa. She sat on top of him with her bloodied white dress.
"Lisa…?" David whispered. He began to take a step forward as Lee Seng's body shimmered.
"Get off!" Lee Seng sent Lisa flying in the opposite direction.
"Lisa!" David shouted. She ignored his calls. It was like she wasn't there. David jogged towards her, following the path as he couldn't fly. "Lisa! I'm okay! It's okay!" Lee Seng lifted into the air, and set himself on the arena floor. He wiped his cut lip which quickly healed.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"David?" Lee Seng straightened his back out.
"Hey! It's fine! Lisa!" David shouted. His shouts somehow didn't reach her. She kept her eyes on Lee Seng. David turned and waved at Lee Seng. "Shut it off! What did you do?!?"
"What did I do?!?" Lee Seng repeated the question, offended. "I killed the pseudo-demon that's keeping us captives!"
"Shut it off! She'll continue to attack you if you don't!"
"And if she continues to attack me, I won't be able to protect myself from her ungodly scratching!"
"Lisa!" David turned his attention to Lisa. Liquid blood began to pour into her right hand. A large axe appeared in her hand. She tightened her grip around it as blood runes shimmered for a second. "Oh no. Run! Get away!" Lisa bolted forward as Lee Seng sucked in another breath.
He summoned his katana and readied himself. He would have to defend himself while trying to knock some sense into Lisa.
"Don't hurt her!" David shouted. He was bolting over towards Lee Seng. His form bubbling and changing as his bone armor grew back on him. "Don't get hit by that!"
'You're making it too hard to shut of my empathy and just do work.' Lee Seng gritted his teeth. He jumped backwards as Lisa slammed downwards with the axe. The rocks shattered and Lisa quickly raised herself back up and sprinted out of the cloud of smoke. Lee Seng dodged the attacks, wondering what he would do next. 'I need to physically move her or I onto separate sides.'
BZZZZ!
Lisa groaned as he lowered his head. Lisa's axe flew straight above him as he stumbled around. Lisa knocked him upwards, raising the axe for a final swing as David moved in between them.
"No!" David shouted. Lisa embedded the axe into David, blood and bone gushing out as Lee Seng fell into the stands.
BZZZZ~
Strange memories came to him. The black suit. A large hole with dead goblins and hobgoblins all around him. A group of adventurers.
"Ahh!" Lee Seng groaned, dropping his weapon. His breaths picked up as the strange memory continued to play. A cosmic portal opened up and the next thing he knew, Chan-Yeol was standing in front of him, confronting him.
'No.' Lee Seng thought. 'It isn't me. It's her.' Lee Seng watched as XI lifted their hand and opened a portal. They were about to leave when Chan-Yeol knocked them out. Lee Seng let out a fury of coughs as David's screams filled the air.
"Stop it!" David shouted. The axe continued to whack against David as he tried to protect himself. Blood and bone continued to spill as the enraged Lisa screamed.
"Hey!" Lee Seng shouted. He stood up, feeling wobbly as he drew Lisa's attention. He lifted his finger and pointed at David. "That isn't the monster! I am!" Lisa stopped her final attack on the wounded David and stood up. She quietly stepped over to the side and lowered the axe in front of her as she slowly walked over to Lee Seng.
"No…!" David croaked. He grabbed onto Lisa's leg. She looked down and smacked his arm away. David continued to fight against her. "No! Stop it! This isn't you… Lisa! This isn't you anymore! Y-yes, you killed that monster. That demon, but its dead! Your sisters went to rest long ago! No more fighting!"
'So it is true.' Lee Seng thought. David pulled himself over, ignoring the pain.
"Please, Lisa…" David's eyes watered. "Come back… We were supposed to serve our time together, right?" Lee Seng could tell David's words were getting to her. Her eyes watered as her lips quivered.
'The rage in her body is too much for her.' Lee Seng thought. He stretched his hand out to the ground and the katana came to him. 'She can't control it, yet.' His katana began to shimmer brightly, pulling Lisa's attention away from David.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"No! Lee Seng don't!" David shouted.
"You'll respawn back at the Estate." Lee Seng shouted. "You take care of her there!"
"No!"
"Gravitum: Cosmic Slash and Dash." Lee Seng sprinted forward as Lisa ripped the hand of David off of her foot and moved forward. "I'm sorry you had to go through that." A slash appeared right across her body as Lee Seng appeared behind her. He swung his blade in mid-air and another slash flew across Lisa's neck. "I hope you can move past that moment, Lisa. I hope you can serve your time, well and move on. Maybe you and David can reincarnate and live a peaceful life out there." He turned and raised his blade to the back of Lisa.
"Please…!" David sobbed. "Don't."
"Chaos will follow me everywhere I go, but it doesn't mean I can't soften the blow of everyone's suffering." Lee Seng smiled. It was at this moment David realized what Lee Seng had done. The katana went across Lisa's neck and a gasp flew out of Lisa's mouth. She stumbled forward as the axe fell to the ground.
"No!" David cried. "I'll kill you, bastard!" David could only keep his eyes on Lisa. That's when he noticed it. A small smile. She mouthed 'thank you' and disappeared into nothingness. Lee Seng twirled the katana and sheathed it. He let out a heavy sigh as he turned to look at David.
"You wanna go with her too?" Lee Seng asked very quietly. David stared at Lisa's spot in disbelief. She had smiled. She had thanked him… No, she thanked Lee Seng for saying the things he said.
"What did you mean by 'move past that moment'?" David looked at Lee Seng. He was quiet. He was in shock by the thing he just witnessed. "What do you know?!? Why did you do that?!?" Tears spilled as heavy sobs rocked his chest and wounds. The pain of sadness overrode the physical pain he was feeling.
"I saw what happened to her on that night." Lee Seng replied. David's eyes widened. "I'm sure you know, but that axe, David… It's weighing her down. The guilt. The trauma. It's weighing all of herself down. That's why she can't control her Sin. She feels guilty." David was appalled. How did an outsider like Lee Seng figure it out so quickly? Lee Seng could feel that was David's question and continued. "When she touched me, I saw it all. I don't know if it's because I'm a Fox Spirit or if it's because I'm a Collector or if it's because I'm human… But what I did was to save her. Shut off my empathy. My want to help her and only do what I can. Make her restart. And she'll restart over and over and over and over until she finally pushes past that point in her life where she realizes she was a victim in all of that. And that she fought to protect herself. She fought to avenge her sisters… She fought to—"
"And what about me then?" David asked. David's lips quivered as he sucked in snot from his nose. "Why am I here? I can't even protect her like I promised her…! You had to kill her so she could respawn… I should've been able to do that." Lee Seng lowered himself onto the ground. David looked away. He couldn't look at the person who saved Lisa.
"Tell me, David." Lee Seng's calm voice spoke. "Did you two meet before you both died?" David froze. His body language hardened like he didn't want to answer it and Lee Seng simply nodded. He stuck his hand out.
"What?" David asked.
"I'll give you two options." Lee Seng told him. "One, I kill you so you can go back to Lisa and make sure she's alright. Two, you let me heal you and we finish the request together. We'll find all of the horses and kill whomever we need to kill to complete the job."