On The Other Side: I Quit Being Human

On the other side of Antares, Abigail and Gabriela were pumping as much Mana as they could into their Magic Carriage, so it would run faster. They had been contacting Layland but they hadn't gotten a response from him, so they were extremely frantic.

Looking at them silently from the side was Celia de Antares, the Princess of Antares, better known as, the senior Holy Maiden. She would like to offer help but she was well aware of the fact that she could do nothing for them.

"I...am heavily thankful for you two," Celia remarked. "Although I can tell you are doing it for a reason, I am still glad because I have someone on my side."

"Well, your doom is equal to our doom," Gabriela replied. "That bastard, Mark, is planning to Transcend, isn't he? He will not think twice before killing all of us as soon as he gets the power."

"This may sound rude but what kind of problem does he have with you two?"

"He is a very insecure man. He can't stand someone that some people find better than him," Abigail explained. "We are friends with that someone, so he naturally dislikes us. Well...something also did happen back then in our world, so there is that."

Celia was slightly confused but didn't prod for further explanation. She could tell it was something that Abigail and Gabriel would rather not talk about.

The carriage became silent as the conversation ceased. Abigail and Gabriela took turns in contacting Layland and their expression only got darker after each call they made; there was still no response from him.

They knew where Layland was going, fortunately, so they were heading to that place. Of course, they were risking everything since, given the situation, they didn't know what was happening there or what had happened.

They knew what they were doing but they couldn't help it. Layland was their sole ally in this world. should they lose him, they would truly lose their way. They would return to their previous lifestyle: roaming the world until Mark catches and kills them.

Swoosh!

"Abby, watch out!"

Everyone's eyes widened the moment they saw a huge metal sphere the size of a house sent hurling toward their carriage. Abigail, fortunately, could immediately perform a swift manoeuvre, thus saving them from the massive projectile.

It was, unfortunately, not the only metal sphere that was hurled at them. There were still hundreds of them and they were all targeting to crush their carriage.

Boom!

What is worse is the fact that the metal sphere was explosive. A few seconds after half of it was submerged in the ground, it would explode and blast anything that was within 50 feet away from it.

"Damn it! Who are these guys!?" Gabriela exclaimed in irritation.

"It's probably the Knights assigned to chase after me," Celia muttered bitterly.

"No shit, lady. That bitch Brianna shouldn't have this much power."

At Gabriela's retort, Celia smiled wryly. She had already grasped what happened and she couldn't believe it. No, she knew that someday something like this would happen. She still refused to believe it happened, regardless, because she thought her father wouldn't discard her.

Here is what happened. Celia de Antares was to be sacrificed for the greater good. Brianna had managed to somehow convince the King that it was their only way to survive the upcoming war. The King found her reasoning logical; thus, he sacrificed his daughter for the Kingdom.

'What about my mother? ...what about my God? How could he easily discard me? What does he think of me!?'

She wanted to be angry yet she knew it was ludicrous. Everything was according to God's will and she had learnt enough to never question or go against it. Her fate had been decided and she should accept it. Painful it might be to be sacrificed; however, she believed God would reward her with something equivalent in the afterworld.

...or would he?

"Hold on tight, Celia!"

"Wha--"

Boom!

Celia was awakened from her thought when Abigail pulled her body closer and jumped out of the carriage with her. As they were in the air, she could see the carriage that they had used to travel for the past couple of hours explode and turn into smithereens.

"Fuck these people! That was a Green-Grade Relic--it was expensive as hell!" Gabriela cursed.

Scratch!

Abigail and Gabriela took out their weapons--respectively, a glaive and a rapier--as soon as they skidded on the ground. Abigail put Celia right behind them and then waited cautiously as the dust cleared up.

When they could see what was ahead of them, they were greeted by two Centuries of Knights standing behind Mark and Brianna. They carried twenty-five cannon-like Relics with them, which means they had expected the girls to come there.

"Let's make this quick, Abigail, Gabriela!" Brianna shouted. "We won't kill you but you have to hand over the princess."

"What are you going to do with her anyway?" Abigail asked in contempt.

"We are going to sacrifice her heart...for the greater good."

"Fucking hypocrite," Gabriela spat out.

Brianna shook her head faintly as she noticed that the two girls didn't want to do what she asked. She turned to Mark and nodded her head, prompting him to take out his sword and charged at the girls.

Swish!

"I will take him!"

As an agility-type fighter, Gabriela took Mark head-on. She doubted that her rapier would be able to hurt Mark--she knew that it wouldn't--but she still fought him because she didn't want to let Celia fall into his hands.

"Layland will come and kick your ass as he did back then!"

Clank!

"You will die this time, asshole!"

"It doesn't matter," Mark scoffed as he parried Gabriela's rapier. "He is not here and he won't be here before I kill you."

"Do you dare to?"

Clank!

Mark blocked Gabriela's thrust with his sword and stared deeply into her eyes. "Do I dare to? Is that even a question? With how much power I will get soon, why do you think I should be afraid of that dickhead!?"

Bam!

"Kuhak!"

Gabriela was caught off guard by Mark's kick that hit her right in her solar plexus. She stepped back quickly and then bent slightly forward to clutch her painful stomach. Mark didn't let her off the hook, so he immediately charged at her. It was at this moment that Abigail stepped up and threw Gabriela back to save her.

Clank!

Abigail immediately bit her lower lip the moment she blocked Mark's sword with her glaive. The power Mark had was simply too much for her to go against; she was being pushed with each passing second.

"Just give me that bitch! You don't have to die if you give me that bitch...well, at least, not immediately. You will die together with that bastard!" Mark roared, blasting his Mana and sending Abigail flying.

He raised his sword high and then swung it down powerfully. A straight white line appeared before him, heading toward the girls like it was going to split the world in two.

Abigail forced herself to get up and ran at the white light. Gabriela did the same and stabbed her glaive into the ground at the same time Abigail did her sword. A Barrier was erected before them, blocking the white line. Blinding white light devoured them and a shattering sound could be heard soon after.

Scratch!

When the light died down, Abigail and Gabriela could be seen sent skidding to where Celia was standing with a sad smile. A huge part of their armour had melted, exposing their red and scorched skin to the world.

"I will go with them," Celia said softly as she put each of her hands on Abigail and Gabriel's shoulders.

"Back down, lady. We have fought this far for you--there is no way we are going to give you away," Gabriela retorted.

"She is right. Even the fact that you could say something like that is insulting," Abigail added.

"Everyone..." Celia was extremely touched; however, even before her eyes could tear up, they widened in horror. "Abigail, Gabriela, watch out!" Mark was already 6 feet away from them, sword ready to cut their necks at once.

,m The two girls turned around with widened eyes. Alas, they could do nothing. They could only watch as the sword came for their necks in slow motion. Smiling wryly in their mind, they cursed their luck and apologized to Layland.

Clank!

Abigail and Gabriela's eyes, which were previously closed in despair, were opened as soon as they heard the sound. They wondered if Celia managed to erect a Barrier that was strong enough to block Mark's attack in such a short amount of time.

When they looked at what happened before them, they immediately smiled brightly.

"Layland!"

"About time you come."

"Oh, hello. Glad that I made it on time."

Layland was standing right before them, nonchalantly holding Mark's blade. Mark was extremely horrified, so he immediately let go of his sword and ran away...he tried to.

"Hold on there, Mr Coward. You can't just go after hurting my girls."

Layland was clutching his neck tightly, making it impossible for him to escape. The Knights gasped and Brianna panicked. None of them dared to move, though. Layland was mad. The aura he was exuding was unbearably repulsive and horrifying.

"Come out, old man. I know you are somewhere here," Layland shouted, bemusing everyone.

No one answered him but everyone could soon see a swirl formed in the air. Out of it, came Alivert Storm with Millonia on his shoulder and Neroel, his son, standing silently beside him.

"Let us make a trade, shall we?" said the legendary Swordmaster.

Layland chuckled as he moved Mark to the side by his neck. He couldn't help finding the situation amusing. He was well aware of the fact that humans were unpredictable yet he had forgotten to consider it. He had indeed snatched the other side's perfect triumph yet his was also snatched.

The winner would be the one who could snatch it back.