Re;Kingdom, Starting a Life with Amnesia from Zero

Arc 4 – “Eternal Contract” – Sanctuary Arc

Chapter 43 – “Loser”

※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※

――Nathan Harmonia. From what he could remember, there was nothing but death surrounding him. Born in the depths of the slums, Nathan fought for his life in the district of strife. From stealing to gambling, from fighting to praying, from believing to despairing, Nathan fought his whole life for what he believed in, and protected those he kept near him.

――He was afraid, afraid that no one would believe it.

Tears started to stream from the corners of his eyes. His long light green hair wavered in the wind. Under the moonlight, three teens sat down under a tree. The girl, around the age of seventeen looked at the crying boy. She had beautiful, long dark green hair, and her beautiful lime colored eyes started to glister like scattering sparks that collide with light.

――Melissa Lestrange. From the depths of her hopes, Melissa always hoped to be a completely normal girl. A girl that could live a normal life. However, even though the fact that she was born in the Garden of Eden was never told to her, her parental figure always told her to keep her identity a secret, no matter the circumstances. Thus, she did. She brawled her way through life and death, and met Nathan.

――She was afraid, afraid that she would be all alone.

Next to the dark green haired girl, was another girl. She was young, very young. She could be called a child with that appearance. Her gold hair, with eyes that of crimson blood, stared at the boy in front of her. When she noticed the boy’s tears, the young girl with gold hair started to worry about him. Her worries were something he wasn’t aware of, because she hid it. Hid it, and never would show it. It was something that would make the boy even more stressed or sad.

――Felt. From the beginning of her consciousness, Felt remembered to be with Nathan Harmonia and Melissa Lestrange. She saw them as parental figures. The two of them taught her the way how life worked, and how to overcome the cruelty of the world. However, there was one rule… only one rule clear. To each, their own.

To each their own sorrows.

To each their own worries.

To each their own fight.

That’s what was taught to Felt. But, it wasn’t the case. Despite her being told that everyone should only worry about themselves, she couldn’t. The boy, the girl with dark green hair, they were like family to Felt.

A gentle wind kept breezing through their hair. His tears streamed down his face, until they fell down and scattered upon the grass.

Nathan : “Melissa… Felt…”

The stuttering words were filled with malice. Despite it was against his will, he knew that he had to tell them. Tell them what they needed to know.

He put his hands onto the grass, and ripped it out of the soil. His Aura was embraced by Wrath and Anxiety, and the two girls noticed it with ease. Though, they didn’t say a word. Instead, they remained silent, waiting for him to say something.

Nathan : “I… am sorry… It’s all my fault.”

He apologized for something that no one was able to circumvent. Nathan, Felt, Melissa, the three of them lived in the Motion Cafe. But, they weren’t alone there… Not until now.

― Truly, the three of them believed they were fortunate to be blessed with a great teacher. However, their teacher passed away just now. She died, and would never be able to return.

――But still, Nathan asks himself the same question every day, night and moment of the day…

“Am I even worthy of protecting my beloved ones…?”

※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※

When he opened his eyes, he found himself in the middle of a square. The sky was clear blue, and it was as silent as death.

He tried to collect his memories from what happened just now, and stands up. As he looked around, he noticed Otto Suwen and Garfiel Tinsel on the ground, collapsed and covered in crimson colored blood. He looks near his right side, and there was Melissa Lestrange, unconscious but seemingly unharmed, which was a relief for him.

However, he cannot recall how Melissa ended up here, which was something he did worry about. Putting his right head on his forehead, he closes his eyes and tries to recall what happened to him, Otto and Garfiel.

“Think. Think. Think.”

He talked to himself, and bit his lip out of annoyance. Annoyance that blossomed out of self frustration. He was angry at himself that this happened.

――While he was thinking about what happened to him, Otto and Garfiel, his mind started to be filled with bloodshed, a masked man and a cat-eared lady murdered citizens of the Sanctuary.

From there, his memories were completely blank. It was a very high possability that the masked man with red hair knocked them all out, but Nathan wasn’t able to remember Melissa to be there. In fact, the group existed out of himself, Otto and Garfiel, no Melissa. Thus, he had no clue what she was doing here.

He opened his eyes and inspected Melissa body, noticing no scratches nor bloodstains. She was completely unharmed, but perhaps exhausted. Exhaustion is something which nobody can circumvent, but Aura. If one’s Aura is higher then usual, their stamina is increased as well. Thinking about that, Nathan started to collect Yang Mana from the atmosphere, sat down and pressed his hand against the soil. Shining light started to descend from the ground, and their Aura started to restore.

Doing this, a bright, yellow circle of Mana was formed surrounding him, Garfiel, Otto and Melissa. It was Magic named Al Libra.

―Libra was one of the first Magics Nathan learned at a young age. It was a Magic that would allow him to heal people at touch. As it was his first Spell he learned, he started to train it, until he discovered Al Libra. One of the higher tier Healing Spells, Al Libra allowed him to heal those surrounding him, but after activating it, he didn’t need to interfere with them anymore. The spell would do the job, and so he stood up, and looked around.

Nothing. There was nothing unusual. Buildings weren’t covered in blood, nor did he hear any kinds of screams.

Nathan : “Iungo!”

He took a deep breath, and activated one of his least used Magics. Iungo allowed him to transmit his own thoughts with someone else close enough, and communicate with them. The person which he would use Iungo one, didn’t need to do anything but talk.

Nathan : “Tattletale, do you hear me?”

He activated Iungo on Tattletale, and talked to her through the transmission in thoughts. All he hoped for was a response, as she was the one which was most likely to help him.

“Hm? Hello? What’s going on?”

Nathan : “Hello. It’s Nathan here.”

He heard inside of his mind Tattletale sighing out of relief. Just that made him smile for a small second.

“Where in the name of god are Weiss and Melissa? They were supposed to find the three of you, and bring you back to the Sanctuary Temple. Are you alright?”

Hearing this, Nathan is left confused. From what he remembered, he haven’t seen Weiss since they separated in groups.

Nathan : “Melissa is right here, but I have no clue where Weiss is. Me, Garfiel and Otto took an heavy hit, and I assume Melissa saved us. I’m currently healing them, and then we’ll go back to the Temple, alright?”

“Scrap that! Jens still hasn’t left the Sanctuary, Weiss hasn’t returned, and I have no clue where Emerald, Roswaal and Elsa are. Find a safe place, and then we’ll reunite with your group. Alright?”

He nodded to himself, and said “Understood”. He lowered his head, and the transmission between him and Tattletale disappeared.

He looked down at the three of them, he immediately noticed some bruises and injuries getting healed. Noticing this, he left out a sigh of relief and looked around.

He heard a buzzing noise in the back of his head. It was coming closer and closer.

Nathan : “Huh?!”

Realizing this, he jumped aside and looked at the source of this noise. A sparking beam of light was fired towards him, which melted everything in it’s trajectory. A massive hole was formed in the building the light was aimed at.

He landed on his feet, and looked at the light until it disappeared. A woman covered in black walked towards Nathan.

Immediately, Nathan forms a fighting posture, and prepares for battle.

The woman who was approaching Nathan, stopped when she came close, and removed the black cloak from her eyes. Her silver blonde hair wavered because of the wind, and her almost white eyes stared at Nathan Harmonia.

Nathan : “Ash… The Damsel of Fucking Distress”

After saying that, the woman in black clothes simply grinned upon his reaction. To her, it was nothing but fun.

Ash : “I don’t think there’s a need to refer me that way. Don’t you remember, we were on the same side.”

Upon hearing that, Nathan clenched his teeth, and growled at her. His hands became fists, and clenched them together as hard as he could. His nails started to pierce his skin, causing the palms of his hands to bleed.

Nathan : “Why…! Why the fuck did you join the Slaughterhouse Nine!? Answer my question!”

It was not known to anyone but the two of them here… Ash, The Damsel of Distress was a member of the Slaughterhouse Nine. Contrary to belief, members of the Slaughterhouse Nine are still human, it’s just the fact that their will to live is to shed blood. All that they do is obey Crimson the Fifth, the leader of the Slaughterhouse Nine, and cause chaos. To them, Chaos is the preferred state of nature. Perhaps, if one would think about it wisely, Chaos could potentially be he preferred state of nature. However, was Bloodshed the actual Chaos that Nature wants?

She chuckled. As if Nathan’s request wasn’t to be taken seriously. She wavered her hair with her right hand, and pointed her finger towards Nathan with her left hand.

Ash : “Because we have no place in this world. Neither do you. So, I will make it my job to destroy whatever it takes, to finally be someone! Now…”

The woman swung her arm and created a black wormhole. She put her hand in it, and grabbed two swords. The two swords kept clinging to each other, as their steel edges of the blade collided with each other.

She grabbed one sword, and threw it to the ground, towards Nathan’s direction.

Ash : “Why don’t you show me what Anthea taught you? Wasn’t she your Great teacher? The one who taught you Swordsmanship, Magic, even triggered your Semblance?”

Nathan : “Tsk…!”

Upon hearing the name Anthea, Nathan felt like he was able to kill her in an instant. His blood lust towards her, the desire to simply restrict the life out of her, it was overwhelming.

Suddenly, from his rear, he noticed Melissa’s finger started to move again. Upon realizing this, he knew that he had to bring them to a safe place. But, he wasn’t able to do. In fact, he could not do that as for that current moment. Saving them, would result into Ash killing him. He only had one choice to make…

Nathan : “Al Bombaria!”

Pointing the palm of his hand towards his three companions, he releases a shockwave of Yang mana towards them, thus a barrier which descended from light was created.

Al Bombaria is an high tier Yang Magic, which allowed a person to create a barrier that would bond with the user’s Aura. Only when the Aura of the caster drops below a fatal amount, will the Barrier lower it’s light.

Noticing this, noticing the barrier rising from out of nowhere, Ash immediately dashed forward towards Nathan.

“Her Semblance, it’s her key power. Upon bringing her Aura low enough, I should be strong enough to kill her, and bring everyone back. I will do this, because I have to do this.”

Upon her coming close enough, Nathan ducked and stretched out his hand towards the hilt of the blade and grabbed it. He used this momentum to swing the blade backwards towards the direction of Ash, but missed.

Ash used her footwork to dash like a gale towards Nathan, and aimed with her sword towards his neck. As a response, Nathan raised his blade to protect his neck from the striking blow. However, she lowered her blade when she came close to Nathan, and kicked him in the stomach. She send him flying towards a building, which he crashed onto after a few seconds of flying.

He landed on his knees and on his hands, with blood streaming down from his head and stomach. He looked down at the sword he was given, and noticed that it was still unscratched.

??? : “NATHAN!”

Looking at the direction where the scream came from, he saw Melissa, eyes filled with tears of sorrow. She was inside with the barrier, along with Otto and Garfiel, who apparently were back to conscious. They looked at him, stared at him fighting to protect them.

Garfiel : “Oi Oi! Lemme out! Lemme fight with N’Bro!”

Otto : “Nathan!”

Their screams, their voices, all echoed in Nathan’s mind, but nothing got through. The thirst for vengeance was simply overwhelming Nathan’s consciousness.

Nathan : “No… I will kill Ash. Here and now… You’ll pay… You’ll pay for killing…”

Breathing was rough, he was barely able to do so. The kick of the Damsel of Distress was so powerful that his body was simply desired to collapse, but he didn’t allow that. He raised his body, grabbed the sword and pointed it towards her.

The corners of his eyes were watery, tears streamed down to his chin and fell on the ground, scattering upon the dry soil.

Nathan : “For killing my Teacher!”

The teacher of Melissa, Felt and Nathan, it was a charming and elegant lady who dedicated her life to protect those she loved. Those three children were on of those, and so she did. She taught them everything she knew, even things that nobles didn’t know. She was a mysterious lady, stated to be born in the Capital City, Anthea… was her name.

Upon hearing Nathan’s promised statement, Ash simply brushed her silver-blonde hair with her hand and chuckled.

Ash : “You are pathetic. You are unworthy of killing me. Come and fucking prove it you damn chi–”

The boy clicked his tongue, making a “Tsk” sound and held the hilt of the blade firmly. He swung his left hand and released a blast of wind. He launched himself towards the Damsel of Distress and pointed the blade’s steel edge towards her body.

As a response, Ash simply raised her hand. As she did, a maelstrom of inconsistent gravity was created and the flying Nathan was caught in it.

Ash : “Perish!”

She swung her arm in an elegant matter, as if she rejected someone’s proposal in a flirting way. Doing so, Nathan was send flying into a building. The whole wooden house, along with the brick roof collapsed upon Nathan.

Even from the distance, Ash could see his Light Green Aura flicker and realized that such a simple strike did enough to shatter his Aura.

Ash : “Foolish boy.”

She simply chuckled because of her own words. Formed two fists out of her hands and started to approach the collapsed building.

The atmosphere of the onlookers was extremely tense. Garfiel started to punch the Light Barrier as hard as he could, but it didn’t work. Otto, who desperately looked at what was happening, started to hyperventilate out of fear. But Melissa, out of the three people, had the most natural reaction. She collapsed, and cried. She’s trying to breathe enough air in, but her body feels so heavy. Because, even though she didn’t want to, she doubted Nathan could win.

Upon coming close, the Damsel of Distress simply aimed the palm of her right hand towards the ruin of the building, and laughed.

Ash : “Haha… You know, I admired you for long. But you are nothing but,”

A blast of wind erupted from the ruins, thousands of wooden planks were launched into different directions, and so was Ash. She got launched back, but landed perfectly on her feet. Looking at what just happened, she saw Nathan Harmonia, with an extraordinary amount of Mana and Aura surrounding him.

Nathan : “I will never break a promise. I made a vow, and now I’m not alone anymore. I’m not gonna die now, I am protecting what’s mine… I have lost too much to let you stop me and break that one promise!”

The three onlookers watched him, and cried out of happiness for seeing him standing there. The Aura he expressed from his body was something they had never seen before, especially not Melissa. The frustration, wrath, fear, all the emotions that resided in the depths of his despair, bloomed.

Ash : “Alright then. A Battle it is. Show me what she taught you, fool.”

He picked up the sword that was given to him from the ground. He slowly became more familiar with the blade in the palm of his hand, at the same time the worry of the spectators slowly grew as well.

Compared to the weapon he had back in his days, his new blade felt a smidgen thicker, the tip heavier. However, if he based himself on that and swung the blade, he would be able to more or less get used to the differences immediately.

He dashed forward, and decided to strike for Ash’s legs. As she saw him running towards herself in a heroic way, she grabbed her own blade and was ready to strike him down when he would made a mistake.

However, Nathan jumped up into the air, aimed right for her head this time. All happened in a matter of seconds. His sharp thrust was carried by said pride, which was heading towards the middle of her skull. However, the woman just tilted her head, the tip of the blade merely coming to it’s target. As soon as the silver-blonde haired woman noticed a few hairs having been severed, she teleported a few meters back.

Ash : “Hmpf… Nice move. You nearly even got me.”

In a battle, evaluating the sword skills of your opponent is not the only essential thing. Neither is it about just the sword in the hands. The rhythm of the feet and the pace of the legs are also extremely crucial. Of course, the swordplay matters as well. To get the optimum position, to get the fastest pace, in order to maximize his potential, he mustn’t just use his hands and legs; instead he had to use every part of his body.

Therefore, it’s imperative that beginners in the art of swordplay learn proper footwork first. Truly, Nathan believed he was fortunate to be blessed with a great teacher. Although that teacher’s skills were now below his current skills, this was due to age, a factor that no one was able to circumvent.

Nevertheless, there was no doubt that Anthea, his teacher, was quite a skillful person in teaching things to her students even beyond their own strength.

It wasn’t just putting practice into his sword art, but also where those arts had come from, and in what form they had been passed down. She was a well-liked person who spoke about such things. Naturally, Nathan too enjoyed listening to tales of others about it, and he deemed it an honor to be able to practice it.

Nathan : “Ex Fura!”

As if he started to levitate above the soil, his entire body was covered in Wind Mana. An extremely powerful breeze was released from him. Standing from afar, Ash of Distress simply looked at him, amazed.

Ash : “Such power! The power of that wind, could it be the Wings of the Simurgh? There’s no such Magic that can produce that kind of power! Heretic Heretic! You must scatter in the name of Nine!”

The distance between the two was at least ten meters, but Nathan caught up towards her simply with one leap, he aimed his sword down to where he was about to land. Up, down, left, right. Three of those directions were guarded, and the one with the highest probability to deliver the killing blow was from blow.

Ash : “PATHETIC!”

Nathan’s blade, which swung towards the woman’s chest from below, was parried with ease by the woman’s nails. Her black like void nails were unbelievable sturdy, and easily deflected his sword.

The sword swing took less than a second; even if she saw it coming, to be able to do that meant she was exceedingly skilled and had fine-grained control over her power to the extend that she could even thread a needle with ease.

Nathan : “Tsk… Ah!”

Nathan gasped in surprise as his heavy swing brought his sword over his his head. It created a small opening as he stumbled slightly and broke posture. Nathan thought to use “Baria”, but right now he didn’t have that choice.

Even though he wanted to protect himself from what was coming next, he wasn’t able to do so, as all of his Mana was used up by “Ex Fura”. Simply, he just created a gap between the two by jumping back.

Nathan : “Kaaagh!”

He dashed forward again, but this time, the Damsel of Distress disappeared in thin air. Realizing this, Nathan stopped his dash and looked around. But before he could notice where she would appear, she was already behind him.

Natthan ate a front kick to his side, and the bare foot’s nails dug into the gaps between his organs inside his body. In the moment where he felt that his body couldn’t take any more pressure and would break, the foot that had been stuck inside him twisted, causing Nathan excruciating pain from inside.

Nathan was blown away. In an instant, he went flying from the impact, seemingly defying inertia. However, even that wasn’t enough to absorb the force of that kick. As his surroundings spun, the impact he received on his body reverberated to his head and made him want to vomit. Even so, Nathan kept his eyes on his opponent and slammed his feet on the ground as he landed, maintaining his posture.

His breathing was rough.

It would take him some time to recover and catch his breath.

Nathan emptied out the contents of his body, and after having done so, he forcibly reminded his body to breath slowly to calm his ragged breath.

Ash : “Disgusting.”

He spat, and spat it all out. After that, he would continue the battle, because he had to continue this fight. There was no choice for him, but to fight.

Nathan : “Tsk…”

About ten meters in front of him, Nathan saw the silver-blonde haired woman standing with a smile plastered on her smug face. Again, he dashed forward, towards the grinning woman. The edges of the two steel blades collided, everything to peel that calm smile off her face. From there, Nathan believed the real battle would begin…

Ash : “You are so pretentious. You really don’t understand anything! You were born out of filth, and was loved by no-one!”

The two of them jumped back, again. But, the distance between Nathan and the woman shrunk in the blink of an eye. The woman’s incredible speed left Nathan stunned.

To be precise, it all actually happened in the blink of an eye. The woman closed the distance of ten meters in a mere moment. A simple sword appeared in front of Nathan’s eyes. In order to protect himself, he immediately raised his blade, though while making that important action, he left the rest of his body unguarded. This resulted in the Damsel of Distress delivering two blows against Nathan with her fists, one in the side of his head and one to the chest.

A piercing shock hit him. The sharpness of that blow would make his consciousness fade faster than the actual pain. He clenched his teeth and stomped the ground vigorously, so he could desperately scrape back together his own fading consciousness.

Nathan : “Agh…Rrrrrghhhh!”

The scream he uttered left him hoarse, and he swung his sword down in a crescent-form arc towards the woman. The Damsel of Distress jumped up, as if she was avoiding the graceful dance until death and struck Nathan’s side with her elbow.

His consciousness was shaken again. He was shaken off his feet, and his fighting spirit was curbed by the pain that gradually spread out in his soles.

Ash : “You know, Legends and Fairy tales, all scatter in time. Thus, you’ll be one of them. You’re nothing but a poor rat wrapped up in a lie. Die!”

She swung her black nails, and struck Nathan’s knee, and she punched him in his stomach, making him vomit up gastric juice; it was quite the unpleasant sight. His body was about to collapse, as it had been continuously struck down by all sorts of attacks from all directions.

Ash : “Hm?!”

He fell down instead of forward, and kept his body up by quickly extending out his arm. Taking advantage of this moment, Nathan swung to the rear with astonishing momentum. The woman left out a sound out because she did not expect it, and jumped back.

She continued to move backwards, and opened up a greater distance between the two of them. Blood started to pour out of his nose.. Nathan wiped his bleeding nose with his white sleeve. His clothes were completely stained by bright, crimson red paint.

But… He didn’t care.

――He did not care. He let out a sharp breath, and put his whole spirit into the blade in his hand.

Because he knows, that to reach it, is to keep going for it.

Because he knows, that to be strong, he has to stay strong.

Ash : “You know… I still admire you. After I have dealt with you, I’ll deal with your poor little friends who are looking at you… A Loser. A Loser who doesn’t understand how this world works. However, I don’t blame you. This world itself is caught up in a lie, that nobody knows the truth of. However… A Loser like you should know one thing… The strong will live, and the weak will die!”

Upon saying the final part of her sentence, she swung her blade towards his neck. As a response, he raised his blade to block this attack, resulting into the half of the blade’s steel breaking apart from it, and shattering into a million pieces.

As a response to this action, the Damsel of Distress, who looked at Nathan disgustingly, struck ten more blows down to Nathan with her nails, which could be called claws by now.

Nathan swung his hand, and launched himself back a bit, everything to have a gap between the two. His consciousness though… It was swaying, but he didn’t fall. Why didn’t he fall? To him, it’s simply… It’s because…

Ash : “You fucking piece of shit. I’ll devour you. I’ll slaughter you, and that Witch’s Camp of yours! You lack! You aren’t enough! This world isn’t a place for you to live in. You are out of your element. You aren’t the one for the job! Why don’t you realize that?!”

It’s because… He just had to be strong.

It’s because… He just had to prove it with this battle.

His family, his house, his master, his friend, his companion, he lost all of it in his past, simply, because he was weak.

The only thing that is left for him is this. All that he has left, is himself. What he himself accumulated, shapeless, that’s all that remained. This was the only proof of his sole, own being.

He raised his blade, and was ready to fight again. But the onlookers, those who were watching the scene saw nothing but bloodshed. Nathan was getting destroyed by the Damsel of Distress, yet, the Barrier did not lower. Even though his Aura had hit the limit, it didn’t lower… It was because all that was left, was his pride to keep the Barrier in tact.

Ash : “You are weak!”

There was a time that Nathan aimed for the peak of life. He wondered if he could aim for that place, a place with no war nor bloodshed, it was something that was stuck on his mind.

Soon, he realized that that bar was too high, and gave up. When he saw her, the Damsel of Distress with the hair of Silver-blonde, the boy gripping a sword in his hand, he discovered he carrier something so selflessly grand as to inspire admiration.

Ash : “Die! Die! Die!”

He too had once yearned for it, for his life to be filled with tales of grandeur. To stand shoulder to shoulder with those people, was not to be for his current lacking self. That is the reason why he must risk his life. So desperately, wretchedly, that dream which he had then cast aside, he remembered.

―It’s because… It are his friends that give him a reason to still fight. It was Anthea, who taught him life. It was Melissa, who was there for him whenever he needed her. It was Felt, who he swore to protect with his whole life.

Nathan : “…”

――But in the end, he lost all of it.

―Anthea, who was brutally murdered by nobody but the Damsel of Distress herself.

―Melissa, who lied about the heritage affiliated with the Garden of Eden, and now is simply a vessel of a sleeping monster.

―Felt, who now participates in the Royal Election, a Candidate of becoming the next ruler and guided by Reinhard van Astrea. The only thing which was never supposed to happen, happened just now.

Why did these things happen to Nathan? Did he do something wrong? Or was he simply, like Ash said, not cut out for this world? He just couldn’t understand.

Ash : “You are not worth it. You are nothing but…”

Nathan’s yearning towards that what he craved for, was knocked out from him by the beating of this woman.

He couldn’t do it by swinging his sword; it was impossible to hit the one facing him with a sword. The efforts to keep fighting were meaningless. The blood and sweat that were shed were worthless. In the life of his, the life that was collapsing… There was one thing. But even that one thing he believed in―― was trampled down.

Ash : “A Loser…”

Along with a click of her lips, a light gushed out from her nails, and pierced through Nathan’s limbs. He collapsed like a marionette who had its strings cut. However, violence did not allow that.

The Damsel of Distress’ fist struck into his chest, resulting in the oxygen in his lungs being drained to the verge of asphyxiation. Then, he was grabbed by his hair and swung around like a rag doll. He was slammed to the ground, and the moment that he bounced back up, he received a kick to the face and was blown away.

In this matter he slid across the ground as if he were a Frisbee, spinning endlessly in this white world with no boundaries

He was knocked to the ground. His body jumped up and looked at the direction where he received the kick from. But then, the Damsel of Distress, who suddenly dashed like a gale towards Nathan, hit him in the face with her knee. In the moment of the impact, the knee clashed against his forehead, and as his forehead split; he was flicked away.

Nathan : “Aaaghhh!”

His whole body was screaming like a siren, especially as the damage to his head was very serious. Even the consciousness inside his own skull was in a state of fluctuation. He was afraid that if he would relax, if only for a little, he would lose his consciousness that very next moment.

Nathan : “No…”

Ash : “All Things Must Die!”

Receiving another punch in his stomach, he was send flying back. This attack, a fountain of blood eroded from his body, and landed on the ground like a corpse.

He did not make any mistakes in his own state of life. He always believed that it was him being on his own path. He was so convinced of it, even now… When he looked at the clear blue sky, he thought to himself, that even though they all live in this cruel world, it still has a shade of beauty.

But now that he was defeated, he was simply unable to move and thought to himself what went wrong…

――Or… Was it simply a mistake?

He lost his own way, he walked down the wrong path… all because he misunderstood what he believed in?

His family, his house, his master, his companion, he lost all of them.

What if, what was only left with him now, was just a make-believe, incapable of offering any actual help, incapable of relying upon, incapable of any support.

Ash : “I feel bad… But everything, has it’s end.”

She released an absolute strike, and he was wrapped in the powerful shock wave of the strike, and blown away.

Whether it was punching or kicking, this blow was completely different from all the attacks so far. This wasn’t an attack. This was the zenith of physical power, the highest peak of power he ever fought against, the true power.

Engulfed by the light, his consciousness was blown away.

Did he see death? Did he see something that surpassed death? He didn’t understand it at all.

However, at the moment of being blown away, he heard a faint voice.

??? : “―NATHAN!!”

A voice was screaming, full of despair, melancholy and sorrow. Desperately, the voice had dashed up from an alley, as if just to witness this decisive moment alone. Since there was a voice calling for him, a very untimely smile was formed on his face.

The one that screamed out his name, was a girl that shined bright gold and yellow. An Aura which was destined to fight, the woman named Yang Xiao Long had come as well. Just seeing this, Nathan felt sorry for her, that she would be the next one.

As soon as he saw Yang, the Light Barrier had lowered, until it had disappeared completely, and the three spectators were set free. Just looking at this as he landed on the hard surface of the ground, a tear streamed down to his face, realizing that his only job he had… failed.

――Nathan Harmonia…

“Why… Must things like this always happen… Am I really… a Loser?”

Finally, with such doubts engraved in his mind, Nathan’s consciousness, interrupted with a swoosh, was thus swallowed by the light.