The sun's heat beat down onto Ira, her body sweating profusely. Glancing around her, she groaned in pain, her head foggy, numb, and her forehead stained with dry blood—her instincts screaming at her.
Astheneia was there too, a grim expression on her face.
"What.. What happened? Did we kill the Fallen Beast..?" Ira questioned, a hint of hope in her scarlet red eyes.
Glancing at Ira, Astheneia's face contorted into disgust, only for it to be replaced by a smile in the next moment. "Yes.. We did."
Ira did not know why Astheneia was in such a state—only when she glanced around did she notice.
"Where... Is everyone?"
Astheneia stared down at the golden sand underneath her feet. "Dead.. They are all dead besides two others. Including us, that would leave a total of four... Four out of dozens…"
No one had known such a journey would be so treacherous. Astheneia had lacked the required information to form a suitable party, causing the death of all the members except two who possessed abilities that had aided them in battle—whether that was in surviving, or dominating.
But that did not matter—nothing mattered anymore. Why would it? Everyone would die either way.
In a frenzy, Ira checked her wounds for parasites; luckily, she had not been infected.
Astheneia was in rough shape, a chunk of flesh missing from her shoulder, her left hand not where it was meant to be, multiple of her ribs were crushed or broken, along with a shattered femur; it was a miracle she was even still alive.
Feeling her previously dislocated shoulder, Ira realized Astheneia had popped her shoulder back into place while she slept, only leaving it sore and bruised.
Ira began to cry, the situation was utterly hopeless. There was not much Ira and the two men could do without the help of Astheneia.
"How.. How are we gonna survive this.. I do not wanna die.." Ira questioned, the whiff of hope in her eyes dying quietly.
Astheneia did not answer—there was no answer to a situation like that.
Astheneia had to physically kill her own comrade, and doom the rest by continuing the journey at night. The whispers in her head had most definitely tormented her to unparalleled levels. Struck with grief and the horrific whispers in her ear, she was only one loss away from corruption.
"I am so sorry, Astheneia.. If only you had not met me.."
Cutting Ira off, the giant brunette began to speak.
"Stop, Ira. This is not your fault—this is my fault. If I had come prepared, most of them would still be alive right now. Do not blame yourself, you are only putting unnecessary burdens on yourself."
A deafening silence was brought between the four; the two soldiers were still in shock from the battle, all of their friends and possibly even family had recently died, so it only made sense.
The situation seemed hopeless—because it was. There was nearly no way to survive this situation, so Ira tried to enjoy the peace while she still could.
"Astheneia… You have been more generous to me in these few days than some people have in my entire life… If we survive this, I hope we can work together more."
Astheneia's expression did not light up with her usual smile—in fact, it did not contain even a single drop of emotion.
"Ira.. I request your blood."
Astheneia's voice did not hint at even a single emotion being present, as if all of the giant brunette's personality had been cast into Oblivion.
Without waiting any further, Ira cut her palm slightly—the warmth of the blood colliding with the sun as it dripped down, Astheneia drank it greedily.
"Thank you."
Glancing at Astheneia once again, Ira noticed how she seemed less pale—she was in the process of becoming revitalized after all.
With an audible sigh, Ira sat back on the ground, tears no longer falling; she had decided to call upon Resonance. In the battle, Resonance had informed Ira about how she had slain the Strayed Fiend.
'I wonder how many fragments I will have now..' she thought to herself.
A fragment of reality before Ira was painted in black ink, golden runes appearing on it.
[Name: Ira
Title: Champion Of Hope.
Rank: Dormant.
Class: Beast.
Fragments: 0/2000.
Technique: None.
Echo: Child Of Nothingness.
Echo ability: Mist Manipulation. Produce or manipulate mist. The mist can be wrapped around oneself, weapons, armour, or allies, causing them to become physically enhanced. Flaws: can only wrap one thing in mist at a time until further classes are achieved, requires a large amount of Realm Thread, and physical enhancement does not scale with each rank achieved.
Attributes: Doomed, you are destined to die within the next six years.
Curse Of Profanity 0/3: None.]
'Zero? But I should have six!? Do I not get fragments for killing Purge Beasts while I am in the trial bestowed upon me by the Oracle? Ugh.. So all my efforts are for naught? All that pain and suffering just for no return.. Is it because they are illusionary? That is most likely the case.'
Ira was lost in deep thought. It was an infuriating idea.
'It does not truly matter in the end, I will soon gain my first fragment anyway... If it survive this hellish desert, that is.'
Closing Resonance, Ira began to look at the sky—the sun blazing down onto her, making her palms sweaty... Was it the sun making her sweat?
'My instincts are screaming louder and louder with each passing second.. Could I have possibly been infected with parasites? No, I have already done a full body investigation—nothing was there; so what else could it be?'
A mind hex was a plausible conclusion—If they had faced any creatures with such an ability; but there were none, causing Ira to doubt that was what was happening.
Calling forth past memories of sensations she had felt similar to this, only one had any resemblance to this feeling—the Dune Lord.
The instincts that had screamed all the information she needed to know about the Dune Lord were the exact same as the feeling she was experiencing now—only significantly worse.
Ira contemplated telling Astheneia as the feeling became worse and worse; paranoia began to besiege her heart, the palms of her hands began to sweat even more profusely, and the silver-haired girl's body began to shake relentlessly.
"Astheneia.. I think-"
The golden sand a mere dozen meters away from them stirred, before suddenly exploding. The Dune Lord lunged out towards the four of them; its massive eight arms propelling it forwards. It resembled the Sand Dwellers, just on a much more formidable scale.
Soon, it crashed into them—Astheneia's rapier already having materialized.
Ira's middle and ring finger grazed against the Dune Lord, sending them flying off from where they were supposed to be.
Its mouth opened up to swallow Astheneia whole—both of them flying dozens of meters away from Ira.