Death's Gamble
Despite the intense battle between the strongest human and the creature of adaptability having ended in Velios' win, he was passed out in the middle of the giant crater he had created outside of the city. With Velios now gone due to the battle, the "war" waged onwards in the city of Alexandria, the demons not revolting against the humans in a blind rage due to the sudden death of their leader. The demons had no longer any reason to remain peaceful, no orders to follow and free to do whatever they wanted. As a result, they mindlessly started to fight against the humans and every single human, including adventurers, knights but also business owners who have little to no experience in fighting would have to fight back to try and survive or accept death as it was.
"Damn that guy...! Where the fuck did Yotsuya go?! He was here seconds ago! ...Ughh..." Arthur sighed, looking around him in a short panic, seeing that Yotsuya had disappeared as soon as they had realised the situation they were in. Arthur looked around, noticing that more and more panic was spreading. The only thing he could do himself was to try and save and protect the civilians while people like Yotsuya and the knights fight the demons. All he had to do was protect as many people as possible. All I have to do is to save and protect as many people as possible- A towering blade swung down from behind him, Arthur barely fast enough to react so that at least his life was saved. "Oh? I missed? ...No biggie, I'll kill you with my next strike, I promise~" Arthur was still bleeding profusely, his left arm having been cut off clean. He was down on one knee, gritting his teeth in pain while looking up at the person who had attacked him.
The person kept walking closer and closer, their sword dragging on the ground behind them. It was then he realised, the "person" in front of him was not human, far from it. "Hey! Rosseile, you can go and seduce the men if you want but this one is mine." Whatever type of creature it was, it was smiling devilishly, an oddly cheerful grin for someone that just cut someone's arm off. "Shut up you killing-obsessed masochistic unhinged monster, as if I'd do anything like that! What do you take me as?! HUH?!" The figure of a woman walked out from the shadows between two buildings, her face showing an angry and irritated expression as if she genuinely thought about killing them. "Don't deny it! You literally suck people off to survive!" They then pulled down their lower eyelid, exposing the red underside before sticking out his tongue as to mock her. "It's because I'm a fucking vampire! You little-! Don't take it out of context!"
Her scream grew louder the more they argued towards each other. During all of this, Arthur was just watching before deciding to run away. The two began trying to punch, kick and push each other back and forth, resulting in a mess which caused the surrounding buildings to either get caught on fire, get cut up or out right obliterated. "What the hell is with them?!" Arthur whispered to himself as he kept running away, seeing the mess the two were making. He knew he had to get away because whatever those two were doing, there was no denying that they weren't on his side. "Where do you think you're going?" Arthur's heart was about to jump out of his chest when he heard the voice, quickly turning his head to see exactly where they were to find them squatting on a couple of wooden boxes, their sword resting over their shoulder but still holding onto it with one hand, the other hand on the edge of the wooden box.
Instinctively, Arthur swung his sword with his remaining arm, infusing both it and his own body now surrounded by mana towards the monster. "Ooohh! That's more like it!" The foot of the monster almost instantly healed back, a set of stitches appearing where it had been cut. The monster instantly rushed towards Arthur, swinging its giant sword like a mad-man. Arthur made the ground suddenly go upwards under the monster, making it barely miss Arthur's head. A swift strike of the blade aimed towards the monsters body from the side with even more mana infused than usual was somehow blocked by the monster's huge blade, despite how wide open it had left itself. "Yes! That's exactly it!" Arthur and the monster continued engaging in a fury of strikes toward each other, but only as much as grazing the other. At the same time, Arthur's mana was being constantly used to heal his wound.
"No you don't." The monster swung powerfully from below, aimed precisely at the same arm that had been previously cut off, removing any progress he had made in healing it. Arthur quietly groaned in pain but instead shouted loudly in a short-lived anger, fueling his next attack. Arthur's sword landed heavily on the side of the monster's neck. The monster was barely able to react, it's smile quickly fading as it felt the sword land on its neck. In yet another scream, Arthur's sword kept slashing through the flesh of the monster, quickly reaching the other side and succesfully cutting of its head, a wave of mana releasing in all directions once the attack finished, a trail of blood splashing across the streets and buildings near, the monster's body remained standing upright while Arthur slowly stumbled back. For someone with less mana, it's much more effective using it to power ones own body instead of manipulating or creating objects.
The wound on his shoulder began opening again, Arthur's right hand trying its best to close it with mana. But then out of nowhere, his ears picked up on something, a faint sound yet something he would be able to recognize because of how unique it was. "Strings...?" Arthur was panting heavily, his head turning instantly towards the monster, still standing upright. It was in that moment he noticed something. Light from the fire around made it more apparant than ever. Hundreds of strings were moving around the monster, each of them razorsharp yet so thin and subtle that he hadn't been able to notice them until now. His eyes widened when he saw the head of the monster basically fly back towards its body, the strings moving swiftly and nimbly, reattaching its head before Arthur could attack. Another line of stitches could now be found on the middle of its neck, surrounding it whole.
Arthur stood up as quickly as he could, noticing the smile of the monster growing wider and wider. It wasn't dead. Far from it. "Aahh~ That felt so good! But right, I forgot to warn you. Only a wielder of holy magic could kill me for real. And since you've been so nice by cutting me, I'd like to repay the favor, since I don't need you anymore. Bye bye." The monster ended its sentence with a big and wide grin, not one that radiated friendliness, but one that would normally make someone feel fear, a sign that something was wrong, that ones own death was near. A set of five strings came hurdling towards Arthur, cleanly cutting everything it touched without affecting its path. The path, cleanly cut into individual rows, it kept on heading straight towards Arthur. Shit! I have to dodge. I have to dodge! The strings were now a hair's breadth away from slicing Arthur, his body having instinctively moved as soon as the monster had smiled.
The strings went flying even after it had hit Arthur, slashing a multitude of buildings into cleanly cut pieces before the strings eventually returned. Arthur's body had stumbled onto the ground like a ragdoll and continued until his limp body eventually hit a building, the window buckling and shattering as he hit it, his body eventually sliding down to the ground, sitting while leaning against the wall. ...At least... I survived...right?... Arthur's head could barely hold itself up, blood gushing from a wound he got while crashing into the wall bleeding down his head. Who... am I trying... to convince...? Arthur's body began tensing up, his mana slowly disappearing as it desperately tried to heal himself. His breath becoming more shallow by the second, his eyes trying to look towards his enemy but his head having already fallen, looking down at the ground.
"Wow! You're better than I thought! Hehe~" The monster kept walking forwards, its sword dragging on the ground behind it, just like before, its head tilted away from the sword, its eyes locked on Arthur, still smiling widly. "Guess you weren't important enough, were you? Seems like the goddess' and gods of this world don't look at you in favor. Well, not that I know any humans who's got the grace of the supreme." The monster continued laughing to itself as it walked towards Arthur's body. Arthur couldn't stop the bleeding no matter what he tried. His whole right foot was missing, a clean cut having sliced it off and on the other side of his body, almost his whole left leg had been sliced off together with parts of his stomach and torso, his right arm sliced off at the elbow and his left arm still gone from the earlier attacks. Calling the current situation dire would be an understatement.
"...Damn it...!" Arthur coughed up blood as he finished his sentence. Despite his best attempt at screaming, the monster could barely hear him. Damn it! Damn it all! Why am I so weak?! Why...? Arthur silently sighs, his chest rising slowly as he was giggling. Not because he was in a good mood, but because he found something utterly ridiculous. In this world... Strength means everything. Those without it are often considered worthless, looked down upon. The strong go into every situation with an advantage, and yet, us weaker are expected to fight back yet the weak always lose! I don't have the kind of strength that Yotsuya possessess... My kindness has never saved me in this situation! What I need is true strength! ...and to achieve true strength, I have to fight... I have to risk my life, I have to be ready to risk anything! I want strength!
As he kept on screaming internally, he looked like he was one second closer to dying. That only excited the monster further, seeing him struggle to survive. Arthur remembered a time long ago, several months ago. He was in a dungeon with Yotsuya, they both nearly died but as usual, Yotsuya was the one to save them. He remembered exactly what he said to him. "Hey, Yotsuya. If I ever die, could you take over the guild?" Of course, Yotsuya didn't want that. He refused the offer, responding with: "You won't die, because you have me, right?" Now, Arthur was sitting leaned against the wall, with one missing limb, another almost missing, a foot gone and half an arm that didn't even reach down to the ground. "...I'm sorry, Yotsuya..." Arthur tried to take as big a breath as he could to finish another sentence, even if it would be his last.