9 Chapter 9

As Sasuke walked a few steps to follow Erza, the body of the monster behind him flashed red, and in the next moment, it got back up.

"!" Sasuke and Erza sensed this, they snapped their head to look behind them, but before they could react, the monster roared.

Sasuke was the closest to receive the roar, causing his body to stiffen, and then a scene popped in his mind.

He's coming home, and in front of him, he saw his father and mother were killed… by his own brother.

Sasuke felt his stomach churned, then his consciousness returned, right in the time he saw the monster swung his double-edge ax!

Substitution!

He traded place with a piece of wood, appeared several meters distance from the monster.

Sasuke gasped, a cold sweat slid down his temple.

What the hell? Why he was still traumatized with his past? He knew the truth; he knew Itachi was forced to kill his parents and the rest of the Uchiha, he had no choice, and otherwise, Konoha would slaughter them all, including Sasuke.

But the scene, it's like he was seeing it again first time, all the feeling and fear, every emotions he felt at that time surged inside his heart.

And if he hadn't awoken in time, the monster's double-edged ax would surely divide him into two.

… Erza? What happen with Erza?

Sasuke frantically sought for the form of the red-haired wizard, he saw her, still in her last position.

What was she doing?!

For Erza, the moment she heard the monster's roar, her mind as if exploded, thousand scenes flashed before her eyes.

Erza Scarlet… no, she only knew her name was Erza.

She had no father, no mother; she grew up taken care by a family of four, they lived in a village called Rosemary.

But then the village was attacked by a cult.

She was kidnapped, and then she was forced to work in a mine, along with other victims.

She was whipped, she was starved, and she was hit.

She was taken to a room to be tortured and lost her right eye, then a friend came to rescue her, but he was taken instead.

By the time she and the other people revolted, this friend, Jellal, he had changed.

If he were warm before, at that time, he was cold; if he were light, now he was dark.

In the end, Erza was the only one who could escape, the other people… they were left behind.

She… left them behind…

"Erza!"'

Erza was snapped back to reality, her body drenched with cold sweats, her pupils dilated, the entire skin felt as if thousand ants crawled on them.

She felt her muscles were sluggish, her organs turned upside down, whatever she ate in the morning as if forced it way up her throat.

She tried to control her breathing, and then she saw Sasuke fought the monster, compared to before, the monster as if more agile, more aggressive.

But how… how it would revive itself? Erza had made sure to check on its body and no doubt it had died.

Sasuke dodged the monster's wild swings of his ax, he covered his Kusanagi with lightning, the element increased the sharpness of the blade and its range of attack, therefore, Sasuke not just dodging the attack, but he could launch counterattack too.

"Sasuke!"

Erza caught up to him, she held up a sword and blocked the monster's ax, it gave Sasuke a chance to strike the monster with one-hit kill.

"Good riddance, I thought you're going to sleep forever," Sasuke clicked his tongue, then he cast Chidori once more, however, it was simultaneously wrapped with Amaterasu.

Blaze Release: Kagutsuchi!

*Boom!*

The moment Sasuke's right hand clashed against the monster's chest, it penetrated the skin and blew up the entire left section of the monster's body, including reaping its left hand off.

The monster screamed, it stumbled backward with what's left of its body, then it fell. Sasuke and Erza watched on the monster, making preparation in case the monster still wanted to return from the death.

After 30 minutes passed, the monster still down, they let out a sigh of relief.

"What was that about?" Sasuke mumbled.

"I… I don't know…" Erza said with depression in her tone.

He glanced at her, the horror still had a trace on her face, maybe she also saw what he saw, and whatever it was, it probably traumatized her so much.

However, it's not in his place to pry upon other's past, so Sasuke decided to ignore it, and he took Erza to announce the success to the Chief.

…

The chief was grateful, not only he prepared gifts for Sasuke and Erza, he also ordered the townsfolk to cut the monster's head and gave it to them as reward.

"I am sorry, I travel lightly," Sasuke said, he wanted to say it's a trash, but he knew it would be impolite to say such.

"Then I'll take it, however, you take 10% of my share," Erza smiled.

"No need, we just go with the previous agreement."

"Please, I insist, beside, you have saved my life; this is but a small exchange."

Sasuke went silent for a while, and then he nodded.

"If you ever consider visiting Fairy Tail, you can go to Magnolia, and then just ask anybody the direction of our guild, it is impossible no one know about it, even a small child."

Sasuke once again nodded.

"What plan do you have now?" Erza asked, they both walked toward the outside of the town.

"I'll go back to Maple Town and inform the inn's owner about this town's situation, and then I will continue to investigate that ruin," Sasuke said.

"Alright, once you discover something, please let me know, maybe I can help you out."

"I'll consider…"

Erza smiled, she extended her hand, said, "Goodbye Sasuke, I hope we can meet again soon."

"Goodbye Erza."