"Sister." Rem spoke, her voice doubtful.
"What is it?" Ram's voice carried over the sound of water as she washed the tatos.
"Do you... ever think back on that day?"
The sound of water stopped.
Splat!
"Sometimes..."
Splat!
"Sometimes I get dreams of it." Rem's voice cracked a bit.
"But it's alright now." Ram didn't face her, but Rem saw her hand tremble. "We're... safe. Yes. That's right. We're safe now."
"Mabeast!"
"I see." Rem turned her attention back down. The meat before her and the knife right beside it looked all too large for her small hands. Unknowingly, her eyes clouded over.
Just then, she shook her head. 'I'm sorry,' she wanted to say. But her mouth did not let her utter those words. She saw what happened that day. Her sister's horn was taken while protecting her.
"Mabeast! Mabeast!"
Splat! Splat! Boom!
Her round eyes sharpened with conviction as she took a hold of the knife. 'I'll help my sister... I'll be sure to protect her now,' her eyes seemed to say.
"Mabeast!"
Boom!
Booooooooom!
Crash!
"Snap out of it!" Hedin voice clouded out her memories as Rem threw her morningstar again.
Rattle!
The sound of chains rang true in the forest and the howls of the wolgrams only made it seem all the more frightening. If anyone saw the state of the forest at that moment, they would see the trees encased in crimson, blood dripping from the wood while the ground lay in shambles.
Hedin kicked her away, saving her from being pounced on from the back. One of the wolgrams bit into his arm as he swatted it away, followed closely by a Jiwald to the face. More wolgrams took note of the opportunity, biting into his shoulders and other parts of his torso.
He gritted his teeth, pulling out his revolver and freeing his hand.
Bang!
The sound of a gunshot, a weapon from the modern era rang in the air. Light blazed and the body of the wolgram on the receiving end exploded into a million pieces.
He slashed at one, inserted his revolver into the mouth of another.
Bang! Bang! Slash! Bang!
Light erupted from him like a volcano, bubbling and foaming from his body, withering the bodies of the wolgrams that came close.
Bodies of wolgrams dotted the landscape, in fact, it was hard to find a place where there wasn't a wolgram corpse.
Hedin's form blurred, the light falling behind as he reached subsonic speeds in a single step!
Instantly, he was right in front of Rem. His arm blurred, but then, he stopped. Just then, he saw wolgrams jumping at them and kicked!
"Damn it!" He yelled as Rem's own kick impacted his ribs.
He felt something break before the pain was drowned in glory.
Skiiid!
Crash!
He crashed through the ground, making a deep furrow in the soil. Without wait, he pushed himself up, jumping several meters high into the air!
He clicked his tongue.
This is difficult... Hedin was having trouble holding back. Just now, if hadn't held his hand at the last moment, he was sure he would have lopped off her head.
Old habits stuck around. His history of going straight for the neck had it's merit in the situation.
He had never held back, after all. Any hunter he fought against, his own ilk, were considered good as dead. And was there any need to hold back against his enemies?
And so, Hedin - for the first time in his life - suffered through a dilemma. He had to hold back to not accidentally kill his opponent.
"Sigh!" He sighed dramatically as he cut through another dog. Then, with a single motion of his arm, he drove his blade right into the ground!
"At least now, I can't chop her head off." He smiled wryly and got into position. "Now how should we do this?" He asked himself.
The ravens flew above the canopy, 13 in number. They circled the forest, seeing, hearing, sensing everything going through the forest. Near the village and all throughout the vicinity; they narrowed down the number of wolgrams.
"About a 120? No, less. Hmm. 113?" Hedin chuckled.
Then he blurred.
The world ran behind him, the trees getting reduced to mere spots of colour in his vision.
"Wake up!" Hedin yelled. And with that, his fist drove right into Rem's gut!
Bam!
Kuah!
The horned maid quaked in pain as she was swept off her feet. Pain returned the clarity to her mind, eyes shaking and hand's buckling.
Her right which had tightly clutched the morningstar until now loosened and the chain slipped out of grasp.
Rattle!
Woof! Woof!
The wolgrams rushed upon them, jaws agape and ready to feast.
Hedin grabbed Rem's arm and pulled her down. Then, shielding her with his body, he yelled.
"Al Jiwald!"
Shiiii!
Light. Glorious beams of light shone out from his back, impaling the wolgrams and rushing through the forest at speeds no man could hope to reach!
The wolgrams, marked by the ravens - were all annihilated in a single strike.
Hedin let go of Rem and slumped down onto the ground, groaning.
Spending too much of the power he had cradled would cause problems. It was not always clear what. It might be physical, emotional, psychological, or quite literally anything one could think. More often than not, though, there was no backlash at all.
However, the weight of a life taken had to be given through one's own health. As such, Hedin had bore physical backlash.
Of course, if he was well enough versed in glory, the consequences could be avoided or even ignored altogether.
"Damn... That hurts. And I was so stoked up on glory too." He shook his head, trying to regain his focus. The stunt just now had drained all the power he had gathered since coming to this world. It went beyond simply targeting every wolgram and striking them down.
Due to his subpar understanding of magic and the particular spell, everything had to be compensated by the Miracle. And that resulted in his draining his reserves dry.
"W-what?" Rem steadied herself, supporting her body with her arm. Her bloodied figure had not the trace of the insanity and ferocity she had shown just a few moments prior. Her horn, the source of her aggression had receded back into her forehead.
"You're finally awake." Hedin chuckled, folding his legs to sit silently in the dirt. Raven flew down from above, perching atop Hedin's head. Held in it's beak was his hat. "Clever man." Hedin praised it as he snatched the hat from it's mouth.
"I..." Rem looked around herself, finding all the destruction and the trees. She looked down at her uniform, torn and bloodied in all fronts.
"I'm sorry." Suddenly, she bowed her head. "I attacked you without reason."
Hedin shook her head and slapped the raven away. Annoyed, it pecked his hand as it flew off. Silently, he donned the hat and chuckled.
"It's not your fault. If anything, I'm thankful. You took care of a lot of them."
"But still." Rem continued, her voice steely. "I attacked you. And at such a sensitive time too, right in the middle of battle. You could have been injured, or worse, death." Her head went lower. "I'm truly sorry."
Hedin looked at her for a moment more before sighing.
"I'm not too good at talking to people... so let's just leave it at that." He scratched the back of his head. "It was a novel experience to be sure. Trying to fight someone without going straight for the neck. In that way, I'll almost pleased that happened. Almost."
Rem stared at him with a shocked expression.
"But... how can you forgive me like that?" She asked.
"Hmm?" Hedin tilted his head. "Is there a procedure? You apologized, I accepted it. That's all there is to it, no?"
"No!" She exclaimed. The intensity behind her shout was such that it alarmed him a bit. "That's not how it's supposed to be at all!
"You almost died because of me! I almost killed you many times over! You even tried to save me on various occasions! At the expense of your own safety!" Tears started to appear in her eyes. She held her hands to her chest as she continued without stop.
"What if you weren't able to survive! What if you had died! And yet you're thanking me!? How can you thank me?! I always ruin things! I'm absolutely useless!"
Hedin stopped. For a moment, he looked around, unsure how to proceed.
"Um... that's not true..."
"It is!" Rem cried. Tears had started to flow down her face by now. "It's all my fault! You even got mauled! And even then I didn't stop myself! I still attacked you!" The intensity behind her words had Hedin doubting himself.
Thinking about it, she had indeed put himself and herself in a lot of danger, right? So what was he supposed to do here? Agree with her?
This is.. troublesome...
"I... I'm absolutely useless! I ruin everything! I ruined my sister's fate by being born! I ruined her fate by existing! If she were here she could have taken care of it all! Why did her horn have to be taken!? Why was I born as her twin!?"
And so, an explosion of thought went into his head.
I see... Hedin thought to himself. He finally understood it. Her outburst was a result of an inferiority complex. An inferiority complex that related to her sister. Why? He had no idea. Honestly, he was too removed from meaningful human interaction to be able to understand mental traumas and psychological ailments. Much less help in healing them.
Also, what did them being twins have to do with them having singular horns? He did not have any idea of it as well. And that's where the conversation left him. Utterly stranded with no information to work with and an inability to console others.
And here I was, about to agree with her putting us in danger... Hedin thought to himself. Absently, he mused that he was better suited for professional maneuvering in terms of politics. Nothing emotional.
"Um..."
"I apologize!" Rem wiped her tears, having realized her outburst.
"Oh, it's alright!" The air instantly became awkward. "Um.. so, about what you said." He called out.
Just then, a sound reached their ears.
A heavy rumble.
Something large was walking towards them.
Their eyes turned to the source of the sound. And out from the trees emerged a large mass of muscle. The leader of the wolgrams. The one Meili had been riding.
"Sigh!" Hedin sighed dramatically.
"All dogs go to heaven, this one's going to sleep."
He muttered as he got up from the ground, face twisted in annoyance.
Roaaaaaar!
A roar shook the heavens, but they were drowned by another. A whisper.
"Al Jiwald."
Shiiii!
It ended as easily as that.
Rem's eyes widened seeing the display of power. Her pupils shook as she looked at his back, so wide and powerful. To think he had mastered such advanced magic so soon.
"Turns out, using Miracle to form magic makes an instinctive reaction in your brain." He whispered. "Good to know."
The corpse of the wolgram laid on the ground, pierced at various parts of it's body; the wounds sizzling with heat. Hedin turned around with a smile, one hand holding down his hat.
"Rem." He called out.
Rem met his eyes, blue meeting red.
"I don't know what happened to you, nor do I know what is the situation between you and your sister." He closed his eyes and he spoke. "But I do know this, you shouldn't be belittling yourself like that. Every life has a weight. You're not worthless."
"No! You're wrong!" She fervently shook her head. "If she had her horn, things would be different!"
"But she doesn't." Hedin's words landed like an arrow. Rem flinched.
"I'm not the kind to dwell upon what if scenarios. You must face the truth. If she has lost her horn, it's lost. You should be vying to support her for it."
"But! But... I can't replace her horn!"
"Do you need to?" He questioned. "Have you ever asked her? What is more important? A horn or her sister?"
Rem flinched again.
"No... you don't understand... I'm so weak. I'll just drag everyone down..."
"What's wrong with that? Rem." Hedin offered her his hand. He triggered his power of glory, alleviating her mood. "It is never a bad thing to depend on others. It is never weak to need help. Depend upon your loved ones. Depend upon your family. Depend on those you care for. They will always have your back."
"But... but..." Rem cried.
"It's hard to be stuck. It is difficult to bear the blame of things that happened in the past. But... do you need to? Does your sister want you to? Do what you must. Move on, and don't be stuck in the past. I'll tell you what; when you feel stuck just close you eyes and take a single step. Leave behind your past, Rem. Leave it behind and look to the future. Smile. Because as long as there's a today, you can enjoy it; and as long as there's a tomorrow, you can look forward to it."
The world turned quiet, as if it were holding in it's own breath.
Rem stared at his face, eyes held wide.
Finding no trace of a lie in his words, a smile slowly began to form on her tearful face. Her breath hitched.
"You're... totally crazy." She smiled, for the first time since Hedin had seen her - unbidden.
"I get that a lot, believe it or not."
She chuckled. No, she laughed. She laughed her heart out - for the Demon's heart, after all this time had been healed.
"Thank you."
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A/N: Read upto 10 advanced chapters on my patreon: patreon . c o m/Yesnth Just remove the spaces from between.
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