The SSS class adventurer is a divine cleric-Chapter 68: Alira’s trial [2]

But the name died in her throat.

There, half-buried beneath the wreckage, her mother lay motionless, her white hair fanned out in a tangled halo, her body limp in a grotesque parody of sleep.

The earth beneath her was black with blood, the fabric of her gown clinging to her skin in wet, rust-colored folds.

She had failed to notice before but as she looked around she found her lying beside Holse, her body half-buried beneath fallen stone, her face turned toward him even in the end.

One of her hands was outstretched too, as if their souls had refused to part, even as the world burned around them.

Alira’s lips trembled.

"M-Mama?" A whisper, so fragile it barely left her mouth.

She crawled to her mother’s side, fingers digging into the rubble, nails cracking as she clawed at the debris. Her small hands found her mother’s sleeve, tugging weakly, as if she could rouse her from this nightmare.

"Mama... please... wake up... Mama?"

No response.

A sob tore through her, sharp as a blade.

"Papa... please get up!" She whirled back toward her father, voice breaking like glass. "I-I promise I won’t be bad again! I’ll do my training—I’ll eat all my veggies—I’ll listen to you—I’ll... I’ll do everything! Please... please just... get up...!"

Tears fell in torrents now, hot and unrelenting, splashing against her father’s ashen cheeks, her mother’s lifeless fingers.

She shook them, clutched at them, pressed her face into her mother’s chest and screamed, a sound so wretched it barely sounded human. A sound no child should ever make.

Her body convulsed with each ragged gasp, her ribs aching as if her heart were trying to claw its way out. The world narrowed to the drumming of her own pulse, a relentless, deafening thud-thud-thud that drowned out everything but the truth.

They were gone. Dead.

And then.

A roar tore through the night like thunder given voice, a monstrous, guttural sound that vibrated in Alira’s bones, in her teeth, in the very air she gasped into her lungs.

She felt it before she heard it, a primal tremor in the earth, a warning from the world itself.

She turned—

And there it stood.

Ashmane.

A creature of nightmares given flesh, its massive form wreathed in an eerie, pulsating glow.

Three great tails lashed behind it, each alive with elemental fury, one wreathed in fire, another crackling with lightning, the last swirling with cutting winds. Its maw dripped crimson, strands of half-chewed flesh still clinging to dagger-like teeth.

But worst of all were its eyes, golden, slit-pupiled, burning with a terrible, calculating malice as they locked onto her.

It smiled.

Alira’s breath hitched. Her limbs locked.

The beast took a step forward, deliberate and unhurried, its claws sinking into the earth with a crunch of broken stone. Each footfall echoed through the ruined garden like the tolling of a funeral bell.

"No—NO!! STAY AWAY!!"

Her voice was a shrill, broken thing, barely human.

She scrambled backward, hands slipping in her mother’s blood, smearing it across her chest like a grotesque second skin. The metallic scent filled her nose, thick and nauseating.

Ashmane did not stop.

"MAMA! PAPA! I’M SCARED! HELP ME! SOMEBODY! PLEASE! ANYONE! HELP MEEEE!!"

Her screams dissolved into wordless terror, her body trembling so violently she could barely move. But no answer came. Only the hungry crackle of flames devouring what remained of her home.

Only the whisper of the wind through the corpses, as if death itself were sighing in her ear.

Her back struck something hard, a fallen statue, its marble face shattered, its stone hands broken.

Nowhere left to run.

Nowhere left to hide.

Ashmane loomed over her, its breath hot and rancid, its golden eyes alight with cruel amusement. It raised a clawed paw.

Then.

A flash.

Golden light erupted around her, a sudden, radiant dome of energy that hummed with ancient power. Runes flared to life in the air, their symbols spinning like celestial script, their glow casting long, flickering shadows across the ruins. At the center of it all, a necklace, its pendant pulsing with protective fury.

An Epic-grade artifact.

Her father’s last gift.

Ashmane’s paw slammed into the barrier,

And was repelled in a shower of sparks, the beast snarling as it staggered back.

Alira screamed, curling into a ball, her arms wrapped around her head as if she could vanish into herself. The beast howled, a sound of frustration, of rage, it’s tails lashing, its claws scoring deep furrows into the earth as it circled her like a wolf denied its kill.

"I want Mama— I want Papa. PLEASE! PLEASE! I don’t want to be alone! Don’t leave me here! I’ll be good—I’ll be brave—I’ll be strong! PLEASE, JUST COME BACK!!"

Her voice was a broken thing, her tiny hands clutching at nothing, grasping for ghosts.

Still, no one answered.

Only her sobs.

Only the beast’s heavy, hungry breaths.

Only the slow, inevitable crumbling of the barrier’s light.

Until.

A flash of blue lightning.

The sky split.

A deafening crack of power, a shockwave that sent debris flying and then, between her and the beast, a figure landed with earth-shaking force.

Duke Bolster.

His sword gleamed, its edge alive with arcing energy. His cape billowed like the wings of an avenging angel. Behind him, soldiers materialized from the smoke, their armor gleaming, their weapons drawn.

But they were late.

Too late.

The battle that followed was a storm of violence, blades clashing, spells detonating, the very ground splitting beneath the force of their strikes. But Alira saw none of it.

She only saw her parents’ empty faces.

She only heard her own voice, fading, breaking, until even her cries were swallowed by exhaustion.

Then she felt a warm gentle touch.

Arms, firm but gentle, lifting her. A familiar scent of steel and pine and something like safety. Derek’s voice, rough but steady, murmuring words she couldn’t understand.

Her body, already pushed beyond its limits, finally gave in. frёeωebɳovel.com

Darkness swallowed her.

And for a while, at least, there was no more pain.

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