District 42-Chapter 132: Just in time

Casper looked at that mass of Ridires positioned a few meters in front of him. He was so sure that he was right on time before, that seeing his hopes being torn like that made him paralyzed for a few seconds.

Even though he tried his best, he ended up messing up with the very main thing he needed to do.

Win against Freygar was meaningless for him at that point. In truth, he would prefer to have had lost that battle than to have that scenario in front of his eyes.

He wasn’t so fast as he needed, nor so powerful. At some point, he always lacked what it takes to save everyone.

"Was there a thing I could have done differently? Or was it just a helpless situation, after all? Did... Did I failed again!?" He clenched his numb and hurt fists as tightly as he could, looking with deep frustration and anger towards those soldiers.

"Sometimes..." He looked at the three figures of Freygar fallen on the ground. "Sometimes it just feels like I can do everything if I put effort into it, but... Then I look at something like this and..."

Those soldiers were watching that battle since the start of everything. Their hearts were racing because of their previous battles, but seeing the incredible fight that their leader and that guy with white hair displayed, they could only lose their breaths and get excited about it.

It was a completely different level even for Elite Ridires like them. Nobody there even thought about stand against an Aesir before, and that man did it and won.

Aesirs fought with Aesirs sometimes, and there would be some bolder Ridire Generals here and there, but to someone other than a high-ranked warrior to do such a thing was really rare.

However, no one there would show respect for him, even though it was a shocking feat.

Everyone had just a single thing in mind, and it was to end their mission. Now that the prisoners were knocked out, they would need to finish the White warrior, then kill every inmate there and go back to the laboratory.

The warriors gave Casper some time to assimilate what happened, at least. It surely was tough to pass to that difficult situation and even so find out that everything ended, and that his victory didn’t matter at all.

After some while, the Ridires began their march towards Casper.

Upon seeing that scene, the soldier, for a moment, couldn’t find what to do. He was cornered, he was alone, he was without any options that would have a good outcome.

"In the end, it doesn’t matter if I could have done something else. What’s done is done. And now I need to bear the consequences of my weaknesses..." He lowered his head, shutting his eyes hard, feeling an incredible amount of pain in his chest.

He wished he could just awake a new power there and end up with each soldier that was coming towards him and save all the prisoners. He wanted to be lucky enough and do something random that could turn the table again.

But Casper learned a long time ago that life wasn’t about lucky protagonists or plot armor. There were no heroes that didn’t need to struggle somehow, and there wasn’t any laziness that was truly rewarded.

He was reminded of it every single day in his life while looking at his past mistakes.

The Ridires had approached about half of what they needed to take the soldier.

Out of instinct, Casper tried to get up, but he kneeled again once he felt that sharp pain in his right ankle again. He had broken that support in the previous fight, and now the consequences of that serious wound were showing off again.

He pressed his ankle, gritting his teeth and grimacing with pain.

"There is no way that I can keep up like this, huh? What a hassle... If I die like this, I will not be able to go to Valhalla..." He tried to giggle a bit, his dumb personality preventing him to fall into insanity and depression.

Casper wasn’t the melancholic type, after all. Although sometimes he would like just to sink and let things as they were.

The White warrior looked to Freygar’s knife laid on the ground, one arm away from him. He sighed at that sight.

"What’s the point now? How will I fight with my knee like this?"

"SURVIVE!!"

"No, stop..." He shook his head.

"SURVIVE, CASPER!!"

The White warrior massaged his temples, blinking hard and viciously. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

"What the heck of the point of raising!?" He nearly let that thought get out of his mouth as a scream, but contained himself.

Then in his mind that sight appeared. The sight of Sionnach’s back, looking to all those Frelsi going towards her, and even so remaining unshakable, fearless.

Although she had a broken and a cut fist, a harmed thigh, and an exhausted body and mind, Nach never looked back, nor retrieved a step. She stayed where she was, staring at the enemy, and holding her weapon tightly.

That day when Casper saluted her, after her death, he asked her for strength. But the soldier knew that strength was not something you only wish, but you pursue.

He realized, then:

"That’s the time... That’s the time to earn her strength."

A Ridire much more advanced in the lines got closer to Casper and charged the butt of his pistol to hit him in the head. He was pretty sure that the soldier gave up on that battle.

Just as his arm was about to go at full speed towards his temple.

His arm finished the motion, but he did not feel anything at all. None impact reverberated in his arm.

He looked to Casper, and he seemed pretty well. Actually, the look in his eyes showed a determination that wasn’t showing before.

Then, the Ridire looked to his own arm and went pale. His hand wasn’t there anymore.

The soldier was wielding Freygar’s knife in his hand with the arm stretched to the side, and some meters far away was the hand of that poor warrior.

The man screamed in pain and despair once he saw that part of his limb was ripped off. The cut was so clean that it lasted a few seconds before blood started to drip from it and the pain appear.

He walked some steps away, looking at Casper with eyes filled with fear and disbelief, holding tightly his forearm.

The White warrior used all his strength to raise from the ground. His ankle protested, but he compressed the lips and forced himself to bear that pain no matter what.

He waved the knife to the side, cleaning the blood on it, then let his arm beside the body, looking to all those Ridires with a serious face.

He didn’t show anger, fear, sadness, or anything like this. The soldier just maintained a strong look, and good posture, and the certainty to retaliate anyone who entered in his attack range.

"I will not back away here! I am prepared to lose one limb or two if needed, but I will get out of this prison and I am curious to know what army those bastards will need to call to stop me!" He thought.

Although the White warrior was prepared to struggle to the limit, and sacrifice whatever the thing as well, he wasn’t willing to lose his life there. He would stay alive no matter what.

He took a fighting stance and waited for the Ridires, who didn’t hesitate to go against him.

They also were fearless and furious warriors after all.

As they charged forward, Casper heard something else. It was a noise that was overlaid by the sound of the Ridire’s march but getting louder and louder as the time passed.

The Ridires were about to reach the White warrior, who prepared himself for the imminent fight.

Then, the rearguard of the Ridire’s formation got shook by something, and their formation was completely invaded and divided by the middle.

The causers of that subtly rush soon appeared.

"A-Alfar!?" Casper shouted once he saw the Dark elf bursting against the warriors along with the other prisoners.

He was the one leading them in that ferocious attack, that could get the enemies by surprise.

"Olaf, you as well!" The shy and reluctant man was taking part in that attack, too, waving his weapon to all sides like a bat and hitting whoever approached them.

Casper’s body suddenly relaxed a bit, and it was enough to make him bent his knees and kneel on the floor, losing all the strength that was sustaining him even with his injured ankle.

Alfar ran towards him after some struggle against a warrior. He stretched one arm to the soldier. He was still a bit hesitant with Casper but improving little by little.

"That was just in time, right?" He said, raising a brow.

Casper smiled, slapping him on the back and nodding energetically.

"Let’s finish this, man!"