System Breaker: Surviving Apocalypse with Nine-Tailed Kitsune-Chapter 45: New Destination

Eve blinked in disbelief, staring at the beheaded body of the monster she deemed impossible to kill.

It took her a couple of moments before she finally managed to drag her eyes away from the dead monster and toward Damon, who was now unconscious.

Kitsune was already beside him, placing his head on her thigh before smiling down as she stared at him. Her slender hand ran through his hair as she looked proudly at the human who surprised her in every way imaginable.

Eve, unsure where she fit in all this, turned to leave, but before she could take even a single step, a voice suddenly cut through the courtyard.

"The relic..."

Eve turned to see Kitsune’s crimson feline eyes stare at her with coldness that seemed impossible after seeing how she smiled at Damon just a second ago.

She almost scoffed, but then remembered the presence she had omitted in the boutique store.

’Those two sure are persistent,’ She thought to herself before grabbing a ring off her finger and throwing it toward Kitsune.

"I will see you guys around," she added as she stepped out of the courtyard and into the hospital building.

Kitsune, however, frowned slightly.

"This foolish human, does she really think I wouldn’t recognise a normal item from a relic?" she murmured as she watched the ordinary ring Eve picked up from the boutique store drop to the ground beside her.

For a moment, she debated giving chase, but then she simply let out an annoyed exhale.

Her priority right now was Damon.

Besides, she had a weird feeling that the three of them would cross paths sometime in the future.

***

"Huhh? Where-"

Damon jolted awake with a loud gasp, but as he tried to lift himself, he felt sharp pain across his entire body.

"Damon..." Kitsune, who was sitting beside him, with his head on her thighs, leaned closer toward him.

At first, Damon found himself a bit confused, but after taking a couple of moments to organise his thoughts, he finally remembered what had happened and let out an exhausted sigh.

"You sustained a lot of injuries..." Kitsune said, with an almost worrisome expression on her face.

"Where are we?" he suddenly asked, realising they weren’t in the courtyard.

"In the west building, I found a room that wasn’t entirely collapsed."

Damon nodded, or rather, he tried to and simply lifted his head slightly before letting it drop back to her thighs.

"You need rest. No matter how high your vitality is, your injuries still take time to heal."

"Yeah.." he murmured in response, though his mind was currently lost in the battle he just fought.

Kitsune, who could read those thoughts, was quick to give him an explanation.

"It was past its second evolution."

"Second evolution? What’s that?"

"I mentioned it before. All monsters evolved with the start of the first phase. The second evolution happens once a monster reaches level 50."

"How big is the gap between the two?"

"Too big. Killing a monster past its second evolution for someone around your level shouldn’t be possible."

Damon’s lips curved up slightly at the words.

The battle was beyond deadly, it was a complete suicide. If the monster had stalled for even a second, if it had realised it had a time limit for its strength, it would have been dead now.

Suddenly, Damon pushed himself up.

He grimaced with pain at each movement, but he endured it all. Each flicker of pain was a reminder that he survived yet another battle.

Kitsune stood by his side, letting him rest his arm over her slender shoulders. He found himself caught in her sweet scent for a moment before he shook the thought away.

"Let’s get out of here," he said.

As they stepped out of the hospital building and back out on the street. They took a small pause, looking at the citadels floating in the sky.

The citadel they were previously heading for was now barely seen through the thick fog that fell above the city.

Central Hospital, as its name suggested, was located close to the city centre, and so their journey here brought them away from the citadel Damon wanted to aim for.

Above them, however, loomed the shadow of the other citadel, the one floating above the inner city.

"Well, I guess we have quite a bit of walk to make up for," Kitsune mused, trying to take a step toward the outskirts where Damon was persistent on going.

She made it two steps before she realised he wasn’t following. Kitsune turned back to see Damon standing still, his gaze locked on the citadel looming above them.

The one floating above the inner city.

The one above the Central Station, the place he’d fled from four weeks ago.

Through their connection, she felt it, the flash of memory. Kade’s body hitting the ground. The blood. The eyes that stared at him until their very last breath. The way he’d walked away without looking back, because if he’d looked back, he wasn’t sure he could have kept walking.

"Damon?" Her voice was soft, questioning.

He didn’t answer immediately. His jaw tightened, and for a moment, she thought he might turn away. Might follow her toward the outskirts as he’d planned from the beginning. Away from the ghosts of the past. But then his hand moved to his side, fingers brushing against the wound the ant had left.

The pain flared, sharp and immediate. It was a reminder of his survival.

"No," he said finally, his voice quiet but certain. "No point tracking back."

Kitsune’s tails flicked softly. "You’re sure?"

He wasn’t. He’d spent four weeks avoiding that very place, four weeks of images of him killing his best friend. And though he was still haunted by those very images, he was done running away from them.

"I’m sure," he finally said, his voice steadier than before. "We’ll go to the citadel near the center."

He didn’t say it out loud, but Kitsune could hear the words ’Central Station’ through their connection.

She quickly moved beside him, raising his arm and placing it over her shoulders.

"But first..." He suddenly added, "I could really use some sleep."