User blog:Baluar/Arc 3, chapter 10

At last, I finished.

Meanwhile…

I am getting a little bit tired. Sure, becoming a God Eater does increase your stamina and strength, but Nia must weigh a good 90 kilograms. Carrying her is tiring me out. I guess if I only stopped for a second. I drop Nia delicately in the floor, and then fall exhausted myself, trying to grasp some air after moving Nia around for what’s probably been a couple of hours. Suddenly, I see Nia moving, which scares me out. I ask her:

-Nia… What’s going on? – She slowly turns around to see me.

Later, in the tunnels… 

I finish fighting the last wave of hellworms. While they are indeed dangerous creatures, my unnatural rage allows me to cut through them as if they were hot butter. The last one has ended up stabbed with Katy, then putting her in fire. That caused the being to explode – literally. After that, I can’t do anything but to wander around aimlessly through these tunnels, hoping to find… something.

While wandering around aimlessly, it was inevitable for me to come across a few hellworms. I reduced them to shreds with my gun before anything could happen.

Eventually, after hours of wandering around, I suddenly arrive to a huge tunnel. Worms are all over the place, and they do try to swarm me, but once I turn Katy’s flames on, they all get away.

-[Don’t do that too often, ok? It tickles.]

-[Whatever, lady.] – I turn off the flames, but the worms don’t come in close.

Then, I see the worms are ordered in military formations. That suddenly made me suspect. There’s someone controlling them. Suddenly, I hear footsteps behind me.

-Rachel… seriously? You can clone yourself now?

-Rachel? – That voice? No way… – No, Baluar. I’m sure you recognize this voice.

-W-wha… how… this is impossible… Nia? – I turn around. It’s her.

Somehow, she’s here. She’s changed her clothes for a dark purple dress. I had never seen her like that.

-No, my dear brother, it’s not impossible. I was behind this all along. Did you really think I was wounded? You could carve a path through my dear worms just as easily as you could cut through butter. I could have done the same thing. I was only hoping to draw you here and finish you off.

-What are you talking about? What happened to Lili? – I ask her.

-I killed her. She thought I was joking when I rose up, but her face got to normal when I pierced through her with my Arc. – Oh, my… What’s going on here?

-Why? Why amass this army, why would you do all this? Just why, Nia?

-Have you ever thought on how it feels to live at the shadow of someone else? I’ve always lived under your shadow, dear brother. Despite you once swore we were equals, despite we never were “better” than the other, I always was your second. Whenever we made something, it wasn’t “the twins”; it was “Baluar and Nia”, in that order. If I managed something of my own, it was “Nia, Baluar’s younger twin ”. Since we were kids, you always were the one that led our fates, giving me little chance to disagree with your opinions. Do you know how it feels to be powerless, to be always the second, despite having more than enough to command nations, enough to rule over the world? Oh, the irony.

-But you were never interested in that…

-I never showed it, which is an entirely different thing. Or did you think you knew everything about me?

-Is there anything I…?

-There is nothing you can say, and nothing you can do, my brother. – She knows me. She knew what I was going to ask. – All you can do is delay your inevitable death at the hands of my army.

-So be it. Just remember I always lov…

-Oh, cut the “I love you” thing, brother. I never really cared about you. – Each word is a torture on its own. The hellworms suddenly turn their interest again on me.

-[Ready for the last go, Katy?]

-[Ready, Baluar. Whenever you say.]

-You can be certain I’ll die, but I hope you don’t mind if I take these bastards with me.

Then I begin to cut through them with the flaming Arc. While I know I can deal with each one of them easily, the fact that there are a couple of thousands of them makes me realize that I have no chances. I cut through worms while my sister looks at me with an absolute detachment face. Suddenly, Robb shouts:

-Hey boss, looks like- What the hell? Nia?

-Long time no see, Robb. I guess you’ll have to die as well.

-Great. So our ally now turns out to be insanely crazy. Another day at work, guys. – One of my allies says.

-Hey, uhm, you could help me with this, you know? – I say, while punching a hellworm and spilling all of its insides in the ground.

-Oh sorry. We’re right there, Boss. – Robb replies.

And so my allies join me in my suicidal quest to take as many of our enemies as possible. I say:

-Alright guys, we’re probably on the verge of death. – To boot, Nia’s too far for our bullets. – Something to say, maybe?

-Nah. – Robb answers.

-Don’t think so... Haven’t got in enough shenanigans [OUT OF STORY NOTE: Mwahahahaha!], though. – Arthur said.

-No. – Ken’s answer is very simple.

-I do regret that my collection isn't complete... – Lyrr "jokes" (I think).

And hours and hours and hours and hours and it never ends. They seem to be infinite. Nia just looks at us, without any visible expression.

Out of nowhere, something explodes right besides Nia, throwing her away and making the hellworms lose control, and we hear an echoing voice:

-Now it’s your chance! Finish her off.

-Woah, that sounds like an interesting guy. It’d be nice to meet him one day. – Lyrr comments.

I hear Ken answering something, but I’m already alongside Nia, trying to make her surrender.

-Give up, Nia. You’re on your own. You know I can beat you.

-Give up? Shut up! – She says. Her God Arc is aside her, and she picks it up and begins the fight by trying to cut off my head. I evade backwards and lock my Arc with hers.

-You can still do it, Nia! You can still regret of your actions!

-No thanks. I’m not interested. Maybe when I am I’ll call you… Oh wait, you’re gonna be dead tomorrow. Sorry about that.

-Oh, shut up. – I answer. I throw her Arc off the way to get a clean shot at her body, but she can evade my attack and counterattack. I dodge her attack by putting my legs off her attack’s path, and target her left arm so she can’t exert as much strength as me. While she manages to avoid most of the attack, she gets a cut in her thumb that voids her of using her left side to attack me. – Now you’ve ran out of chances. Will you give up? – She doesn’t answer, unless trying to cut my neck is an answer. I block her attack with my sword, and then proceed to put my Arc in her neck. She tries to block it or move off the way, but it’s too late. The edge of the Arc is already centimeters away from her skin. – Give up.

-Never. – She moves away from me, lightning fast. – I won’t ever cease to attempt to kill you, bastard! You’ll only live safely if you manage to kill me. – We then retake our sword fight. She tries to hit my head with the arc’s handle, but I grab her arm and throw her away from me. She lands on her feet and charges towards me, but I roll to the ground to avoid her strike. I then try to use the sword as a spear to pierce through her leg so she can’t move, but she avoids the strike and tries to punch me during the recoil of the attack. I block her arm with my arm and then lift the Arc upwards and try to give her a non-lethal attack in her head. She blocks it with the shield, and then tries to cut my head off with a left-arm swing. I crouch under the attack, and I grab her legs and throw her to the ground. I then point at her with my arc.

-Please… Don’t make me kill you.

-It’s either that, or I’ll backstab you when you leave me.

-Your honesty moves me... But I don’t want to kill you…

-You will. Trust me. Will you leave me knowing that I murdered you other “young sister”? Ha! Don't make me laugh. Stab me, and finish this now.

-No. I’m sorry. Guys, leave me alone for a second. – They go away. – Nia…

-Do it. I don’t care about anything you say.

-Please… I’ve always loved you…

-I don’t care. Do it.

-Forgive me. – I then proceed to run through Nia with Katy. Before dying, she spits blood in my face. I then simply collapse to the ground and cry louder than I ever had.

-Boss? We need to return. – Robb says.

I simply pick up my stuff, leave Nia here, and return to home, tears in my face, hollow in the inside.