Chapter 8: That which can Never Return
Chapter 8: That which can Never Return
“YOU don’t have to come with me…you know?” Atou crabbily told Elder Moltar and Mynoghra’s soldiers, who followed behind her as she bounded through the craggy wasteland strewn with the occasional jagged boulder.
She ran at superhuman speeds. The power unleashed from her slender legs was enough to crack the dry ground under her feet, and each stride took her across vast distances. Although the Dark Elves had become evil beings with Mynoghra’s blessing, they were still Humanoid at their core. They were only able to somewhat keep up with Atou because she was slaughtering every Brave Questers’ monster along the way.
Her tentacles had a much wider attack range than met the eye. Not to mention the number of enemies they could lock onto at once… Dozens of monsters were split in half with a single flick of the tentacle, and even more were skewered through the skull by a single thrust. Elder Moltar felt a pinch of pity for his enemy as Atou knocked the monsters around the field to vent her anger.
“…You’re still here?”
She directed her irritation toward Elder Moltar next. She spun toward him with a look that could kill and an intimidating air that warned one wrong word, and he’d end up with one of those swaying tentacles through his heart. This was the intense pressure emitted by the inhuman—by beings known as Hero units.
Gut twisting with nervous tension, Elder Moltar answered her deadly query with a measured tone that wouldn’t incite her wrath.
“His Majesty ordered me to advance with you. I may not be of any use, but I cannot defy the king’s orders.”
“Hmph. Then don’t slow me down.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
Did Atou lose interest in skewering him? Or did more entertaining prey catch her eye? Either way, she moodily looked away from Elder Moltar and stormed down the road per her instructions. It seemed there was no shortage of enemies for her to take her anger out on if the endless chorus of monster death throes coming from up ahead was any indication.
“E-Elder Moltar…”
“Don’t say it. I know.”
One of the Mage apprentices under Elder Moltar whispered his name. Elder Moltar knew exactly what the apprentice wanted to say and quickly cut him off before he uttered such dangerous words. It didn’t matter if they spoke in barely audible whispers—the person they were talking about could hear them. Elder Moltar didn’t have a hobby of earning unwarranted wrath that ended in his death as a miserable punching bag.
What anger… I feel like I’ll get burned alive just standing beside her… Elder Moltar contemplated what he wouldn’t allow to be said aloud. Atou’s mood grew caustic after she’d defeated the enemy general, Ice Rock. Or, to be more precise, it soured after she’d delivered the news to their king, Takuto Ira.
From that conversation, they learned about the enemy’s violent invasion of Mynoghra’s Imperial Capital. The news was enough to shock all of Mynoghra’s forces in Dragontan and fill them with a strong sense of impending crisis.
Mynoghra was still a far cry from being a powerful empire yet, and that was coupled with the detrimental fact that a good portion of its military forces were currently deployed to Dragontan. Just because Isla, another Hero unit, was handling the capital’s defenses didn’t guarantee they were out of the woods yet. To make matters worse, there were a lot of civilians there too. If their defenses were overrun by sheer numbers, then not only would harm come to their defenseless citizens, but it could even endanger their king.
These personally insulting events transformed Atou’s fanatical loyalty and concern for Takuto into unbridled rage.
“I need to hurry to King Takuto’s side right away, but this filth keeps getting in my WAY!”
Atou effortlessly cut down the Hill Giant that grimly approached them with the knowledge that escape was futile. She’d already grown so strong that Hill Giants couldn’t even get close enough to land an attack, and all the monsters she was actively slaying were surrendering their strength to her in the form of experience points. These very monsters were what had caused her to fly into a fit of rage.
After being shaken by the news that Mynoghra’s main base was under attack, Atou had offered to immediately return home to join Isla in defending the capital and eliminating their enemy, but Takuto rejected her proposal. He instead commanded her to hunt down the retreating enemy forces to the far south of Dragontan, where she was to defeat the Demon Lord and the remnants of his army that they believed had spawned from that location.
With his knowledge of Brave Questers, Takuto thought it’d be possible for Atou to completely annihilate the Demon Lord’s Army, given the difference in strength between her and the Demon Lord’s Four Generals.
Ultimately, he had prioritized eliminating the Demon Lord’s Army sooner rather than later to avoid any unexpected developments that might occur by letting them live longer. How did Atou feel when he told her, “I’m placing Isla in charge of defending Mynoghra and me”?
Naturally, there was no room for her to argue. After hearing his explanation, she’d determined there was nothing wrong with his strategy based on his choice of Hero or allocation of forces. However, just because she understood the reasoning behind his strategy didn’t mean she agreed with it.
As it was, the Hero Atou was far more attached to Takuto Ira than to her empire. She was strongly against operating separately when her master was in danger because Takuto mattered more to her than anything else. Even if it was he himself who had ordered her away…
She wanted nothing more than to immediately return to her king, protect him with her own hands, and crush their vile enemies herself. She wanted to fulfill her role as Hero alongside Isla.
But reality didn’t coincide with her wishes. Takuto had chosen a different strategy. Takuto had chosen a different Hero.
Her mental turmoil and frustration over that decision manifested as pure rage, and the pitiful monsters were mercilessly slaughtered as an outlet for her unbridled anger.
There are no IFs in history.
Redoes are possible in games but not in real life.
So it’s a moot point to rehash what’s already transpired. No one can ever say for sure whether things would’ve been completely different IF Takuto had ordered Atou back to Mynoghra instead…
“I-It can’t be…”
It happened suddenly—really, really suddenly.
Atou stopped dead in her raging tracks and started to tremble.
“…Hrm? Lady Atou, is something wrong?”
Elder Moltar was obviously the first to sense something was wrong. He’d been keeping a decent distance from Atou to avoid becoming an outlet for her anger, so he didn’t know what exactly had happened, but he knew something had changed.
The sun had already begun to set and the hour was approaching dusk. The orange sunlight illuminated Atou in red from behind, almost making her look like she’d just bathed in blood.
Elder Moltar took a step closer to the inhuman girl and was about to speak to her again, when—
“Everyone, get down! Hide behind the rocks!”
—he noticed the danger a second before it was too late.
“It just can’t be! It can’t be! It can’t be! It can’t be! That’s impossible! That can’t possibly happen!”
The ground exploded.
Atou’s tentacles whipped around wildly to express her outrage. They whooshed around furiously, smashing everything that had shape with the same ease as a child playing jump rope.
“She’s a Hero! Mynoghra’s Hero! How could she?! At this point in the game?!”
The Dark Elves who dove behind the nearby boulders in the nick of time were lucky. It almost seemed like a blessing from the Spirits that there were even boulders around this particular area for them to hide behind.
As the stones swept into the air rained down like bullets, Elder Moltar thanked the Spirits for his luck while he loudly admonished Atou’s outburst. It was obvious that if he didn’t do anything, even the rocks protecting them would eventually be carved away, leaving them exposed to her violent attacks.
“Please quell your anger, our great hero! Your power is meant to be wielded for Mynoghra’s King Takuto Ira, not wasted on something like this!”
Atou’s fury had ballooned to the point where she would’ve destroyed everything around her. One wrong word could’ve resulted in not only Elder Moltar but every Dark Elf with him being erased from existence.
Only two words had stopped the rampaging Hero—Takuto Ira.
The name of her one true master, to whom she devoted her everything, pulled her out of her fit of rage and returned her to the edge of calm.
“…I lost my composure a moment there,” she weakly muttered and relaxed as if her outburst had never happened. Her rampaging tentacles now hung limply in the air until they eventually slithered back within her.
After cautiously observing that Atou was once again in control of her rage, Elder Moltar determined they had escaped certain death, let out a sigh, and signaled his subordinates closer. Calm had returned to her crimson eyes, meaning it was safe to assume that Mynoghra’s Hero wouldn’t recklessly take out her wrath on her allies now. That being said, none of them would ever be able to forget the carnage they had just witnessed…
Awkward silence reigned as the gathered Dark Elves anxiously stared at Atou.
“What…in the Spirits happened?” Elder Moltar bravely asked her.
Tension filled the air.
This was the first time he’d ever seen Atou lose control this badly, and it was also the first time he’d witnessed her in such depressed spirits. It was obvious that something terrible had happened. It was possible to guess what that was from some of the words she’d uttered during her outburst. But just because his intelligence had led him to that conclusion didn’t mean that his heart had accepted it.
He needed to hear it directly from Atou to believe it.
“Isla has…”
The name of the Hero every person present knew slipped from her lips, and just like that, everyone knew what words would follow.
“Isla has died.”
She finally squeezed those three words out, her expression twisting with anguish.
The death of Isla, one of Mynoghra’s Heroes.
The defeat of a Hero who was the empire’s sword and a symbol of power for the King of Ruin.
Not a single soul standing there could accept that news.
◇◇◇
“…WHAA?”
Takuto let out an awfully stupid-sounding croak. He was in one of the recently constructed houses turned into a temporary command center since it didn’t have a tenant yet. He’d moved his base of operations to this house near the evacuation center because it was hard to defend the Palace where he usually resided. Fortunately, no one overheard him.
“No way…this can’t be happening…”
Change came suddenly, like a bolt out of the blue.
Takuto had been watching the course of events with the twins. He fully demonstrated his ability as a 4x strategy game player by checking the status of each battle, assigning soldiers tasks, informing Isla of her opponent’s characteristics and skills, and then laying out the path to victory for her. The battle played out exactly how he’d simulated it, and the moves he’d made like a master solving a chess problem eventually came together in the form of Isla’s victory.
Just when he was about to contact Isla to reflect on what they could’ve done better after reaching the obvious result with no problems whatsoever after taking the safest route… His connection to Isla was severed, and the two girls at his side had vanished.
It was already too late by the time he’d realized something had gone wrong.
“Isla, answer me…”
All communication was severed. He couldn’t share Isla’s vision, which was normally as easy as seeing with his own two eyes. The last image he’d received was of the twins being summoned to her location. He could tell the conversation was a turbulent one. Next, he tried to send telepathic messages and connect his vision with the Larva and Brain Eaters in the area, but that failed too.
Mynoghra’s Commander Takuto Ira could see through the eyes of all his citizens, including the twins who served as his caretakers…
He hastily tried connecting with the older sister.
No response.
Then he tried the younger sister.
No response.
“C-Come on… This can’t be real. What’s going on? Why…? Is something jamming our connection? Agh, but they’re in a pinch. I-I need to send reinforcements first…”
His voice quivered. He hoped he was wrong and tried reconnecting.
He attempted to send another telepathic message to Isla.
He attempted to send a telepathic message to the units under his command.
He attempted to send a telepathic message to the sisters.
He kept telling himself it’d be okay. That there was no way they’d die in such an unreasonable way.
First, I need to confirm they’re okay, then I’ll apologize, he thought. Then I need to earn their forgiveness for letting them get hurt because I’m such a feckless fool who let his guard down. And then I’ll immediately send reinforcements to save them. I’ll save them…
〈！〉Communication Error
Unit does not exist.
“You gotta be kidding me…”
The past can’t be changed. The decision he made came back to bite him.
“Isla, Caria, Maria…”
He pathetically uttered their names as that was all he could do.
This world wasn’t a game.
It wasn’t Eternal Nations.
There was no reset or loading.
If you die, you’re dead. That’s it.
And because of that, this was a reality Takuto had to accept.
A reality he couldn’t change. A route he couldn’t divert.
On this day, someone Takuto loved was lost from the world.
