"BREAK THROUGH!"
Light illuminated the night.
BOOM!
An explosion tore through the air.
A featherless, purple figure slammed into a shield made of light.
"DAMN!"
Gerold cursed, eyes darting, mind racing.
He held nothing back; only panic filled his heart.
'There is no way out,'
Deep down, he already knew.
Every time they wanted to break through, the demon attacked them.
Although he defended, it escaped before they could counter.
They were in a deadlock, unable to break through.
Gerold glanced at the group.
Despair slowly overtook them.
'I want to live…'
Gerold gritted his teeth, his eyes welling up with tears.
'But there is no way out,'
Swoosh!
A fireball flew past him.
Yet his frown only deepened.
Screech!
The demon screamed, thrusting its wings forward.
The fireball dissipated, barely leaving a scratch on the demon.
'Do I abandon them…'
Gerold's muscles tensed up, his eyes darting around, prepared to escape.
'No. None of them is strong enough to stall this demon.'
As seconds passed, the despair in his eyes gradually disappeared, replaced with determination.
His decision became obvious.
'Forget it,'
He came to terms with his fate.
'No point dragging them into my grave.'
"EVERYONE! ESCAPE NOW! I"LL STALL THE DEMON!"
"What?"
"Gerold, we can't abandon you!"
The group immediately objected.
'Hmph! Bastards,'
Gerold smirked internally.
Although they said that, their body language spoke entirely differently, their feet pointing away.
They couldn't wait to escape.
"GO BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!"
He roared.
There was no hope for him.
He was the strongest in the group. And the demon already locked on that.
It would not let him go, no matter what.
So even if they stayed, it wouldn't make much of a difference. They would just die together.
But he didn't want their deaths weighing on him.
Swoosh!
They stormed, running away.
Liam hesitated, looking back as he ran.
"Gerold, please survive…"
He could only pray—not help.
"Sigh…"
Gerold sighed.
"Well, we are alone now, demon"
Strangely, he smiled.
As if he didn't care about dying. No!
He accepted death.
"Ahh..."
He looked up into the dark night sky.
"If there is an afterlife…I hope it's a better place than this world."
Clang!
He dropped his shield, tightly clenching the sword in both arms.
The demon stared at him hungrily.
Swoosh!
But it didn't attack. It soared into the sky.
"Hmph?" Gerold glared at the demon flying in the sky, hatred filling his eyes.
But behind his hatred was an even bigger stubbornness.
"Playing with your food?"
Swoosh!
Gerold moved fast.
He changed his grip.
Suddenly, the tip of his own sword pointed at his throat.
He closed his eyes, preparing to end his life.
This was a cruel world. No rules, no laws, pure destruction and chaos.
Here, power speaks.
However, in this world, one rule appeared.
An unspoken rule, iron rule.
When going out, always keep one bullet for yourself.
The best one could hope for is a painless, quick death.
And if you broke this rule?
You'll feel your body being torn to pieces, dismembered, eaten bit by bit.
A fate worse than death itself.
Swoosh!
Gerold's eyes snapped open.
He felt something.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"
His roar tore the air. A mad roar!
A figure was rapidly approaching from the distance.
"LIAM!"
In a few moments, he arrived.
"Why did you…"
Gerold's words remained in his throat.
He saw Liam's eyes.
Despair filled, hopeless.
"I-It's too late…"
Thud!
Liam collapsed to his knees.
Silent tears streaming down his face.
Not long after, the other three returned.
Fresh, green blood covered their clothes.
Disgusting rot filled the air, yet no one minded.
"So we are already surrounded…"
Gerold whispered, directing his gaze at the demon lurking in the sky.
He understood why it didn't attack.
It did not need to waste its energy.
Their fate was already sealed.
"Gerold, is there a way…"
"There is none."
Gerold cut the man off before he could finish.
"This is the end,"
The words came crushing down like a mountain.
Thud!
A man collapsed on his knees.
"Why?"
Tears streamed down his face.
"Aghhhh…"
He wailed.
But the zombies only drew closer.
"Gerold! Please save me!"
The man begged, grabbing Gerold's feet.
"I can't,"
Only pity filled Gerold's eyes.
"Please save me!"
"Mateo, stop it."
"PLEASE SAVE ME!"
Mateo kissed Gerold's shoes.
But Gerold remained motionless.
"SAVE ME YOU BASTARD!!!!!"
A sharp scream tore through the air.
"Gerold, you can do something, right?"
"You won't abandon us, right?"
The other two joined.
Only Liam remained by the side, refusing to believe his ears.
"Y-You!"
Mateo pointed at Gerold.
"You want to abandon us!!"
Hatred filled his eyes. Killing intent.
"You ungrateful bastard! Do you want to use us as human meat shields?!"
Veins popped on Gerold's forehead.
"YOU DEMON!!!!"
"SHUT THE FU.CK UP!!"
Gerold finally snapped.
"What the fu.ck do you want me to do?!"
Thud!
He grabbed Mateo by the collar, slamming his forehead into his.
"Me abandon you?! Do you know what you're talking about?!"
Killing intent leaked out of Gerold's eyes.
Facing him, Mateo couldn't utter a word.
"You are useless! Useless!"
SLAP!
A sharp slap echoed from Mateo's face.
"You are so useless that I can't even abandon you! So don't go ahead and take yourself too seriously. You damn parasite!"
"Vincent…"
Another of the survivors muttered.
"You are not at fault…It's Vincent!"
"T-That's right!"
With another target to attack, Mateo regained his composure.
"It's that bastard! He abandoned us! It's his fault!! I HOPE HE DIEEEES!"
Ugly screams filled the night.
But the zombies only drew closer, now visible even in the darkness of the night.
Gerold took a step back.
"You are pathetic,"
Disgust filled his eyes.
"Even now, you are searching for someone to blame?"
He glared at the two survivors standing behind Mateo.
"You all seem to misunderstand something,"
"Agghh…"
Mateo shivered.
Cold steel touched his neck.
GULP!
The sharp edge of the sword rest on his throat.
"Stop crying and choose. My sword or the zombies? That's all that's left."