The creature, almost as if in protest, screeched after his proclamation. As Day's claws pierced its head and began to dig at, crack and break past the chitin covering its head, it thrashed about and continued to ravage the building around it in an attempt to get Day off.
But Day was too determined. He clawed at its head unceasingly and slowly made his way to its brain, in an almost hyper focused manner. At this point, nothing in the world could break him away from his goals.
To win, and kill this creature; and to survive, no matter what happens.
Day didn't know if Caster was alive, by everything, he hoped he was... but Day didn't have the luxury to pray for the well-being of his companion anymore. The only chance of solace or salvation would only come from the creature's mangled body collapsing to the ground in defeat.
So he clawed. Again, and again, and again, and again. He screamed, and yelled, and ripped– and teared. Incessantly, like he was in a trance. Unremittingly, like this was all he knew; because at the moment, it was.
The creature, once again, screeched, but this time– it was weaker.
Day's efforts were paying off. The creature was dying. All that was left now… Was to tear its brain apart.
"Die, you beast! Fall already! FALL!"
After scooping out another chunk of meat and tossing it to the side as yellow blood flew through the air and splattered about, he finally saw the creature's brain. It was grotesque, disgusting, just like the ant itself.
Now, it was Day's turn to scream.
And that he did. With one, ear piercing, guttural yell that tore through the air and rolled across the black, weathered stone buildings, he lowered his claw of light down into the creature's head and pierced its brain.
Day panted heavily. Huffing and puffing as he stared down his hand, which was now impaled in the brain of his enemy.
"Die already…"
Day's eyes fluttered, he took a deep breath– and then tumbled back. His body flailed around and he bounced off of the creatures back before then rolling off and landing less than gracefully in a pile of rubble. His consciousness was fading, this time for real– it seemed that after all, this was the last burst of energy he could muster.
His eyes started to flutter closed, but just before he shut his eyes…
He heard a beautiful, graceful voice resound in his mind.
[You have slain an Awakened Monster: Soldier of the Lost Queen]
[You have received a Memory: Blade of Black Chitin.]
With that, he closed his eyes… and drifted off to sleep.
"...":
"What happened?!"
"This building over here is destroyed, just as I thought… Are they in there? Why is it so quiet?"
Caster dashed forward quickly, his sword in hand, and his gaze sharp. He had run a fair ways away from where the crash had happened, thinking Day dead, but when the sounds quieted down and the creature didn't continue its chase… He knew he had to come back.
He glanced back and forward frequently as he neared the building where Day and the Ant had their scuffle.
Caster was slightly worried, not just about his temporary companion, but also the noise that their fight had made.
"Day!" Caster yelled out wearily, "Day, are you in there?!"
Perhaps it was uncharacteristic of Caster to exert his voice in such a way that it came out scratchy, but he was desperate, and struggling to think straight.
Caster had no clue why Day had taken such drastic measures to kill the creature, but it had to be at least an Awakened Beast. Caster was only barely able to escape it by consistently using his Aspect Ability, if Day was right on top of it, what would have happened to him?
Caster turned the corner where the wall of the building had been destroyed from their fight, and his eyes widened to the utmost.
The creature was lying there… and it was actually dead. Its entire back from the bottom to the top was torn, and a portion of its head had been inflicted with a gnarly wound. Caster could see brain matter spread on the floor, and heaps of yellow blood flowing from its body.
'Did Day really do this?'
How was this possible? Caster knew that the boy was interesting after their time together, and more than possibly quite tenacious, but he had a broken arm. It was implausible for him to have done something like this without severe consequences…
Caster's chest tightened.
Did Day give his life for this? Did he chase after him and the Ant and give his life to save Casters?
Caster knew that there was a good chance he wouldn't have been able to escape if he continued how he was. He wouldn't lie and say that he was even slightly willing to give his life for the cause of saving Day, but he truly expected to be able to escape and hide. He was confident in his own abilities.
He clicked his tongue.
Possibly too confident this time around. If Day wasn't there, he would have died for sure. That, he couldn't help but admit– even if he despised it.
Caster quickly moved over to the creature and poked it with his sword, just to be entirely sure it was dead. He had been taught to do this throughout his life, and he wasn't going to give up on it so easily just because it seemed safe.
'Yeah, it definitely is dead.'
Caster looked around, and then quickly moved to the other side of the ant. As he walked, he couldn't help but admire the creature for a moment. It was quite mighty, and certainly intimidating. The clicking sound it made along with its screeches definitely startled Caster while he was weaving through the buildings to escape its jaws.
In the end, however, his thoughts ended up landing on the fact that Day had rode it.
'That maniac… Who in their right mind rides a Nightmare Creature's back to kill it? How did he even catch up to us? Did he lie and not go the other way?'
There were too many questions, but Caster knew he had to focus forward. He would find out soon enough what the result of Day and the creature's battle was…
And that he did, He saw Day lying in the midst of the rubble. He was sleeping, and covered in trickling, red blood.
'He's alive?! After all of that? He had to have been extremely lucky.'
Apparently, his armor was able to protect him for the most part, but his body wasn't quite spared from the impact.
'In the end, the armor I gave him helped him out.'
Caster gave him the armor as a kind gesture to show his thankfulness for Day apparently saving his life. Caster wasn't entirely inclined to believe it at first, but after chatting with the boy over the past few hours, he had come to a realization that he really was quite sincere. Of course, he still had some reservations… up until now.
Only someone truly sincere would risk their life like this for someone else. That was undeniable. Maybe, after all, he truly had done something like jump from that wall in an attempt to come and save him– for whatever reason.
Caster didn't like the boy a lot in the Academy. He thought it disgraceful that someone with a True Name was so… inept at everything they did. When he trained, he was sloppy. He never used his Aspect Ability in class, like he had something to hide or it wasn't useful to train, and he was weird in a multitude of ways.
He sat with the people who nobody wanted to talk to, and he was quite eccentric and difficult to communicate with. Even now, the second part wasn't entirely false, but in a way, it was relaxing to have someone who was so calm and outgoing in the Dream Realm, so Caster could no longer hold it against him.
Despite all of that, however, Caster couldn't help but hold some respect for the extraordinarily obstinate boy. Ever since their meeting, not a single thing he had done had been cowardly or suspicious. Caster was even slowly feeling himself becoming comfortable around his companion. After everything he had been taught over his life, that came as somewhat of a shock, even to Caster himself.
Caster walked up to Day and lifted him up over his shoulder. He wasn't particularly heavy, despite being quite tall, so it wasn't especially hard for Caster– who had trained for most of his life.
As quickly as he slung Day over his shoulder, he began to depart from the scene of the battle. Caster knew he had to get out of there quickly. There was no way there wouldn't be creatures attracted to the noise, and he certainly didn't want to be there if something else came.
When he exited the building and started to move away, he glanced over at Day, who had his eyes closed tightly, and sighed.
"In the end, it seems that I'm back to being fully indebted to you once again…"