"I..."
"I killed a person..."
Milo's voice stuttered as the bleeding body wiggled its arms and legs like a fish on hot sand, until it finally rested still.
"I KILLED A PERSON!"
Milo collapsed on his knees, eyes wide open as the sword fell from his shaky hands and disappeared into particles of light. Zeth stood frozen for a minute, trying to absorb the things that had just happened.
It wasn't an illusion or a dream, the man was really dead. The village secretary lay there in cold blood that soaked into the thirsty ground. And worse, the killer was Milo, employee of Themis, the Goddess of Justice.
'Shit. Shit. Shit.'
Zeth placed his blade back in his inventory. He looked at the crying boy, then the dead body, and then looked around him. Surrounded by human scarecrows that were all turned toward them, the white smiles on their faces seemed too real.
Were they smiling at him?
Zeth gulped the heavy lump down his throat, then took a deep breath. What happened had happened, this was not the first time he had seen someone dead. And worse, right now was not the time to grieve about it.
They were still inside a dominion, the clock before his eyes was still running, and he didn't know where or when a monster would appear. Zeth was the adult here, he needed to calm the situation down.
Taking a deep breath, he approached Milo. "Hey, hey, get over it!"
"I killed a human." Milo wasn't listening to him.
Zeth shook the boy, who was crying and shaking nonstop. His teeth ground against each other and his skin burned like he was suffering from a high fever. No matter how much Zeth shook him, the boy kept chanting one line.
"I killed a human."
"I killed a human."
Milo's shaky hand slowly raised, pointing at the decapitated head of the man. His eyes were open wide, though there was no glimmer of life. He was looking at Milo, as if blaming him for his lost life.
"He is looking at me...I killed him."
Zeth glanced at the decapitated head, then at Milo, and covered his eyes. "Don't look at him, look at me."
Forcing him to turn around, Zeth looked Milo in the eyes. "Keep your brain in the present, whatever happened, happened. You are not to blame."
He let out a small sigh. "See, I am partially to blame for the incident, okay? So just calm down, it's my fault, no one is blaming you."
Milo stuttered to speak. Though the shaking of his body stopped, Zeth could see he was still occupied by the horror.
'I should have come here alone. What was I thinking, bringing a kid into this place.'
Milo looked at Zeth, his voice calmer than before. "That's right, you are to blame..."
"Yes, I am. Just calm down, I will take the whole responsibility." Zeth doubled down.
"Yes, yes you will." Milo smiled awkwardly. "I didn't kill him, you did. It was your fault. You killed him."
Zeth felt something was wrong.
The tears from Milo's eyes stopped, and he looked at Zeth, dead serious. "Why did you kill him, Zeth?"
"He was just an innocent villager, why did you kill him? You were supposed to protect them!"
"WHY DID YOU KILL HIM?"
Milo yelled at the top of his lungs. Zeth's eyes widened. Something was wrong, very wrong with that kid, but he was too late to make that deduction. A sharp burn shot through his chest, and his body froze.
[You are under the effect of Stun. You can't move.]
'Wait...what just...happened?'
Zeth looked down at the golden blade made of light that pierced through his chest. The sword gleamed with energy, burning through his body. Two shaky hands held the hilt of the sword, the same hands that belonged to the innocent kid he was trying to calm down.
'What...is happening.'
Zeth tried to move, but his body didn't listen to him. It was almost like he was frozen in a chamber of ice. The burning sensation grew stronger and stronger as Milo stood up and pulled the sword from Zeth's chest.
A disoriented expression played on his face, he was laughing and crying. No, his mouth was laughing and his eyes were crying as he pulled the sword out.
"You will take the responsibility, right? You said you will take the responsibility."
[Stun effect is broken.]
As soon as the sword was pulled out, Zeth jumped back, free from the effect. His voice roared in anger. "YOU SON OF A BITCH!"
The pretty boy simply laughed like a maniac as he dashed toward Zeth with his radiating sword, threatening to slash. It was too fast for Zeth to dodge and too late to strip his clothes. The only option was to engage.
White light materialized in his hand, taking the shape of a sabre. "YOU ARE FUCKING INSANE!"
"Haha haha, you will take responsibility! Responsibility for murder is death!" Milo slashed, the sabre clashing with the light sword, sending waves of sparks into the air.
"I will deliver justice, Goddess will be proud of me again." Milo pushed harder as the metallic sabre slowly turned red with heat, its edges beginning to bend and slowly melt.
Zeth jumped back and let the sword's arc slide across his chest. The pain of the burn was intense, but it only managed to bruise him. Even better, Zeth's small plan worked. The coat he was wearing was slashed open, showing his bare chest.
"My parents will be proud of me again." Milo dashed with another slash. Zeth blocked again, then deflected the blade to the side. Even if the impact of the blade alone wasn't enough, the heat was causing him to lose his grip.
Zeth threw away the coat he was wearing. All he needed to do was remove his pants and he would perhaps...be able to run?
Or so he thought he could do. Milo stood there still looking at him with fury as he began chanting, "Let light burn the darkness and those who stand guilty, let my blade become the punishment to those who have sinned..."
Zeth felt his head sting, it was drowsiness. He realized something, all this time he wasn't breathing at all. But why? Why wasn't he breathing?
Zeth pushed himself, trying to inhale, and blood spurt out of his chest and mouth. His lung beneath his ribcage had collapsed due to the stab. The pain was too much to bear...His vision was too blurry to recognize.
The blurry figure jumped with a sword gleaming in bright gold. Zeth somehow tried to block, but the golden light cut through his sabre and then his chest.
[You are under the effect of Stun. You can't move.]
Zeth fell to the ground, the last thing he saw was the smiling face of the pretty boy who stood above him. The last thing he heard was Milo's voice repeating like a maniac.
"JUSTICE WILL PREVAIL!"
"JUSTICE WILL PREVAIL!"
"JUSTICE WILL PREVAIL!"
The last thing he felt was the burning blade slicing across his body, again and again, then again. And the last thing he thought was...
'I should have...never trusted that bitch to begin with...'