Awakening of the Weakest Slayer-Chapter 119: Heart?

A little over two months ago, Sezel's journey in the Spirit Realm came to an abrupt halt.

His body was strung midair by monstrous chains, his breath coming in rasping, pitiful snatches as the links curled tightly around his throat.

His vocal cords were strained perfectly to not let a single noise escape. Not that he'd have known what to say.

Anyway—what was one supposed to yell, watching a literal monster in human skin, massacring an opponent as strong as the Ice queen right in front of them?

The Lord of Crossroads or so they called him, was on a different level entirely. What made Sezel hate and despise the bastard so much was that ghost of a smile, he wore on his pristine face while killing people.

The lady in magnificent red, the ice queen as Sezel had presumed. She was on her knees, frozen. Not because of the ice she created, but by the primal fear of death.

One of her subordinates lay in a pool of crimson blood nearby, her head exploded just a few minutes ago by being strangled by chains.

Sezel was forced to watch with wide-eyed horror, couldn't even muster a scream.

This… is hell. And I somehow got a front-row ticket.

It was worse than that, he was actually a part of it.

The Lord paused, then turned on his heel; his eyes swept over the landscape with idle curiosity.

Then he strode toward the massive iron gates, that were practically the only possible escape from this slaughterhouse.

With a flick of his wrist and a snap of his fingers, even more chains flared to life.

"Here is the final gift." He said, his voice was as calm as it could be.

Hundreds of chains descended from the sky, and targeted the barely held icy ground. Th actual rock ground below was already broken... it was just the ice that kept it in place.

Soon as the chains struck down, everything started to shake.

Well, "shake" is generous. The whole area decided to hit the self-destruct button. The crumbling surface below shuddered. The ice that held everything together fractured and split, cracks racing in every direction.

The earth itself began to collapse inward—whole chunks of the ground trembled and then tipped into the underground sanctuary beneath.

For one giddy second Sezel thought, Maybe I'll get out of these chains by falling to my death. How convenient.

Just then—ta-da—the chains evaporated.

Air whooshed by as Sezel plunged straight into the chaos. It was chaotic: a thundering descent among shards of rock and ice.

He bounced off some rock pieces, rolled, struck his shoulder against a fallen column, somehow, none of the debris finished him.

He landed, winded and battered, but because life is a joke, he was still alive.

Even as Sezel scrambled between tumbling stones, half-blind with dust, his thoughts kept splitting, torn between the massacre above and his puppet, the Spectral Flesh Reaper, which was currently stopping Vesta from entering inside.

At first, she didn't fight the puppet. "Let me in! Why are you stopping me? Sezel might be in danger!" she shouted. Frustration and worry warred on her face.

Sezel would love to be rescued by a princess, but this wasn't the situation he wanted that to happen in.

He was sure... Vesta would die.

'Fuck it...'

None of the puppet and Vesta attacked first. Not yet. The puppet was hell bent on not letting Vesta go near the gates. Even threatened to cut her.

But Vesta was nothing if not persistent. She pressed forward, voice growing sharper, losing patience with each second.

Sezel finally forced the command, 'Attack her. Push her as far away as you can.'

The Spectral Flesh reaper which was defensive and soft up until now, suddenly turned aggressive. It coiled its rear legs and shot forward with its scythes aimed at Vesta.

Vesta blocked the attack with her sword, but she was a bit tired and so the puppet successfully pushed her back.

With a sudden surge of power it, threw her off balance and into a house nearby. She was a Rank-5 Slayer, of course it was nothing much.

She stood back up. But her facial expressions were complex.

Vesta blinked in honest hurt. Her eyes widened in shock. "You… why are you doing this?"

There was no space for answers. Not when, with each heartbeat, that Man was getting closer to her.

In all honesty... Sezel wanted to be saved. He wanted Vesta to get him out of here.

But not when the dust cloud built by the detonation of ice and stone was beginning to choke out all sight.

Then chaos settled further: the dust roared, rocks thundered, and Vesta's eyes found the rising catastrophe.

She froze—just for a second, horrified by the meaning of that dust cloud.

"Let me in... you bastard." Vesta screamed at the puppet, her eyes gleaming with worry.

Sezel's puppet, flung itself at her with all the force it could muster. The rank-5 puppet wasn't something to joke about.

It battered at her, drove her away from the gates, away from the reach of the sick Lord or whatever he was.

They clashed fiercely, a desperate ballet between one person desperate to save Sezel and the puppet prepared to stop her at all cost.

Vesta was strong as ever, even after being tired she slashed and parried, shoving the puppet back with bursts of power, but still it pressed her away—mile by mile.

"Sezel! Let me through! I'm not leaving you!"

But Sezel, could only listen. He didn't want her to get involved in this, he didn't knew why... but his heart said so.

'Heart? its just an organ.' he chuckled.

He felt the connection to the puppet begin to flicker. Vesta's skill and force wore it down, and finally overwhelmed the beast.

By using a small portion of her true power, she struck through its defenses, killing the puppet that refused to hurt her too deeply.

But it was already too late... the puppet had succeeded in bringing her far enough and wearing her down to the level that she almost collapsed from exhaustion.

Sezel heard a hollow chime... 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

[Your puppet has been destroyed.]

All at once, a wave of exhaustion washed over Sezel. He sagged, wanting badly to be sentimental, but there wasn't time.

He closed his eyes. "Shit…"

Suddenly, agony erupted in his side. Something huge and cold, a piece of the broken ice surface, bigger than his forearm—jutted out of his abdomen.

Air left his lungs in a strangled gasp; his scream was muffled, caught behind aching teeth.

His vision spun. He looked on his side and actually saw his internal organs being torn from the skin. But the pain was slowly being subdued by the numbness that was taking over his whole body.

'Well, nice knowing you, internal organs. Really? This is how it ends?'

Consciousness faded, slowly.

And as the world dissolved into unkind silence, Sezel could only hope he'd wake up somewhere that didn't suck as much as here.