Saintess? Not Anymore! I'd Rather be a Destroyer-Chapter 91 - 78: Past Memories 3

The sound of fury echoed through the air as the gray gem raised her voice, "Hematite, we would rather taste the bitter embrace of death than allow the Regals to take us again!" She yelled in fury as she stared at an approaching mob of Regals heading towards the planet they reside in.

"For years, we’ve been on the run, fleeing from these monsters that seek to consume and enslave us. We are tired!" Another gray gem joined in, tears streaming down their faces, mirroring the pain etched on every gem’s face.

"We all know that we are not warriors, even if we wanted to learn combat skills, our bodies not made for it," a gem with glasses interjected with a somber expression, and a sense of hopelessness hung heavy in the air. "Neil is the last Basalt, and he cannot protect us all," he added, causing Neil to clench his fists tightly, feeling the burden of his weakness.

"So what are you all going to do?" Hematite’s face remained stoic as she asked the question, devoid of any emotion. But inside, the anguish of what was to come was eating away at her very soul. The group smiled back at her, but their smiles were merely masks concealing the deep-rooted despair that had taken hold of them.

Suddenly, they began to transform, their hands morphing into sharp spikes. They drove the sharpened points through the jewels embedded in their hearts, their bodies exploding into a million pieces upon impact.

"No stop!!" Neil yelled as he realized what they were doing.

Hematite watched as her comrades willingly committed suicide, their bodies falling apart at her feet. Neil’s desperate cries for them to stop went unheeded, as they embraced their fate with resolve.

"Stop!!" Neil’s pleas for them to stop were drowned out by the sickening sound of their bodies rending apart. His voice, choked with tears of frustration, anger, and pain, fell on deaf ears. One by one, they committed the ultimate act of self-destruction until none of them were left alive.

Neil collapsed onto the ground, wracked with sobs, as he glared at Hematite. He seized her by her collar, "Why didn’t you stop them?" he seethed, his grip tightening around her collar.

Her eyes met his, and Neil saw that they too were filled with tears, brimming with rage and grief. He released his grip on her, and he muttered. "They are all dead, why? We could have made it work somehow. They didn’t need to die. Then what was the purpose for our escape all those centuries ago?!!" He yelled as he slammed his hand on the ground, causing it to shatter.

"Even if I told them to stop, they wouldn’t listen. You know how we Gray Gems are, if we say we would do something we keep our word." Hematite cried.

"But still, why?" He asked. Despite his protestations, Neil knew deep down that Hematite was right. The Gray Gems had made their choice, and it was not his place to judge them.

"For true freedom," Hematite said, her voice low and mournful. "They would rather die as free souls than live as slaves." In her hands, a gray orb appeared, its surface shimmering with the light of distant stars. Codes floated around it, like planets in a celestial dance.

As Hematite approached Neil, the orb began to radiate with a calm energy. In one swift motion, the shattered remnants of the Gems were drawn into the orb, as if called by some mystical force.

"All their memories and knowledge will be stored in the Dimensional Knowledge," Hematite explained, her voice barely above a whisper. She placed the orb in Neil’s trembling hands, leaving him to contemplate the enormity of what had just transpired.

Neil cradled the gray orb, feeling its power pulsating through his fingertips. "What is the use of this anyway?" Neil asked, his voice hoarse from crying.

"It holds all the knowledge of every dimension that Gray Diamond made and gathered throughout his life, like his brain," Hematite replied, her voice trembling with emotion. "It also holds the memories of our fallen comrades."

"Master’s brain," Neil mumbled.

"Why bother?" Neil asked bitterly. "What good is knowledge and memories if they’re all dead?" 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Hematite looked at him with a sad expression. "It’s all we have left," she said softly. "Their sacrifice wasn’t in vain. Their deaths may have been tragic, but their memories and knowledge will live on, and perhaps one day we can use them to fight back against the Regals."

Neil held the gray orb tightly, as if it were the only tangible thing left in the world. He knew that the memories and knowledge it held were priceless, even if they were steeped in loss and pain. "I’ll help you take care of it," he said, his voice determined. "I’ll help you make sure their memories are never forgotten, and their sacrifice was not in vain."

"Then Neil, I leave the Dimensional knowledge in your hands," Hematite said with a smile, and Neil looked at her in surprise.

With a sense of foreboding, Neil gazed up at the sky, watching in terror as the Regals attacked the shield around the planet. The barrier was cracking, and the threat of danger was imminent. He clutched the orb tightly in his shaking hands, and in a flash, it transformed into a ring.

Neil’s voice quivered as he spoke, "But master Hematite, why? I can’t be trusted with such an important task!" Hematite’s gaze was unwavering as she explained, "They would come for me, the Gray Diamond’s Pearl. Our Diamond too has been captured by them. So, I’m going to save him. Our Diamond risked his life to save us, and now it’s my turn to return the favor. While they attack me, this would give you a chance to escape with the Dimensional Knowledge."

Neil’s teeth clenched tightly as he stood up, fear and worry mixing together in his mind. "Hematite, you’ll die!" he protested, but she simply shook her head, her eyes holding a glimmer of determination.

Hematite’s eyes held a glimmer of resolve as she spoke, "Do not worry about me, Neil. I won’t die that easily." Her voice was calm, but there was a hint of steel beneath the surface. Neil’s heart sank as he realized that there was no way to dissuade Hematite from her plan.

With a solemn expression on her face, Hematite placed her slender hand on Neil’s shoulder. Her eyes glinted with warmth, "I knew the risks when I made this decision," she whispered in a voice that was as soft as a lullaby but as cold as the void. "But it’s the only way. You must survive and keep the knowledge safe, no matter the cost."

Neil looked up at her, his heart filled with a heaviness that threatened to consume him. His eyes were bright with unshed tears, and his voice shook with emotion. "I can’t let you do this alone," he said, his voice trembling with a fierce determination. "I will fight with you, Hematite." He knew that he could not bear to lose Hematite.

Hematite smiled at him, a smile that was both bittersweet and full of love. "You already are, Neil," she said, her voice soft but resolute. "By protecting the Dimensional Knowledge, you are fighting for our cause. Now go, before it’s too late. Remember, the memories of our fallen comrades are in your hands. I must fight to save Gray because I can’t let our Diamond die," she replied.

"Then I’ll come with you!" Neil declared fiercely, but Hematite frowned at his words, her eyes narrowing with a fierce intensity.

"No!" she cried out, her voice ringing with a cold anger. "You run away, no matter what. The Regals must not get their hands on the Dimensional Knowledge!" All of a sudden, the shield around the planet cracked into pieces, allowing the Regals to pour in.

"Run far away!" Hematite yelled as a portal appeared behind Neil. Without hesitation, she pushed him inside and watched as the portal slowly closed, cutting him off from her.

"Yes master," Neil mumbled silently and reluctantly nodded, and the portal closed.

________

In an ultra world filled with towering skyscrapers that seemed to touch the sky, and flying warships that drifted in and out of the planet like ethereal apparitions. At its heart was a sprawling pink palace, surrounded by a swarm of gems of every hue and shade, that wore scifi armour and patrolled the grounds and the skies.

"I hope you have been faring well during your stay in this realm, Neil," two voices spoke in eerie unison, their tones haunting and ominous. One voice was masculine, while the other was feminine.

"I am," Neil replied with a hollow voice, his eyes devoid of any light.

"It has not been easy for you," the lady spoke softly as she patted his trembling finger. Neil looked down at her, but her features were hazy, and her brother’s face was equally blurred. What he could see, however, was their hair, which seemed to be made of crystalized pink gems.

As tears streamed down Neil’s glasses, he clutched his right hand tightly. His left arm was nowhere to be seen, hidden beneath a flowing cape that billowed like dark water in the wind.

"This Diamond war is just full of misery," the pink-haired male murmured with a mournful voice, appearing on Neil’s shoulder. He touched Neil’s broken shoulder, and it began to regenerate, sprouting a new arm, this time pink in color.

Neil gaped at his new arm in astonishment, examining it with a sense of wonder and content. But the pink-haired man frowned, his expression darkening. "If you’re not regenerating, there’s a chance that your Diamond is no more," the man stated through gritted teeth.

"I expected this outcome since I stopped regenerating, Master Jenus and Master Aja," Neil replied, straightening his glasses. "We gems survive on the energy our masters provide us. Once they perish, we may live on, but if we die, we die forever without rebirth."

"But great masters, what shall we do? If the Diamond race goes extinct, there will be no one to challenge White Diamond and Black Diamond," Neil cried out with a serious expression.

The pink-haired lady, Aja, grinned. "Don’t worry, Neil. We have a plan. Even if it means sacrificing ourselves, we will ensure the Diamond race doesn’t go extinct!!" she declared, revealing her face. A pink-skinned teenage girl with long pink crystalline hair and a pair of sharp, bright pink crystal eyes appeared before him. A pair of pink wings hung at her back, while Jenus, her male counterpart, leaned on her head. He looked identical to her, only a muscular version. Both of them had half of a pink gem on their forehead.

"What plan, masters?" Neil asked, confused.

"That’s a secret, but we will need your help," they said in eerie unison, with a conspiratorial wink