The Forgotten Slayer-Chapter 22: But you can change the future.

Dread is the only feeling in Clyde's head right now. He's gone pretty far away into the city and hasn't sensed a single creature. Initially he thought that the gargon had returned and slaughtered everything but the idea was shut down. That creature would take a very long time to heal itself if it was capable of surviving long enough.

There was no other choice than to return and report to Avelyn.

'Maybe she would have some idea of where to go from here.'

As he was walking back something made him halt. It was a smell of smoke. From there he noticed something hitting his skin.

'Ash!'

Clyde's eyes widened as he bursted into a sprint. After some tall buildings were out of his view, the unobstructed academy could be seen in flames.

His sprint evolved into an explosive velocity, speed the Clyde had never reached before. Buildings blurred as Clyde approached the academy until he stopped in his tracks.

The sounds of screaming and clashing were loud. Bits and pieces of different monsters were on the ground. But something else was bothering Clyde.

His sense screamed danger from all directions at every moment, rendering the ability useless.

All of the sudden, an iceberg shot out from inside of the academy. A large section of it destroyed the west wing of the building. The coldness it brought also put out the flames.

'Avelyn!'

Clyde ran into the building and went to where the ice structure seemed to originate from.

Making his way through the halls, bodies of man and beast were found. Most of the human bodies were pummeled or struck with a sword.

'A person is behind this.'

"Clyde! Behind you."

It was Bell.

"What's going on where is everyone?"

"Ava is holding this guy off right now, me and Lapis were told to evacuate everyone. Right now I'm making sure everyone is out."

'Avelyns in trouble.'

"Alright I'm gonna go help her, keep doing what your doing."

As Clyde turned around Bell grabbed his shoulder and spoke in a calm voice.

"Be careful."

Clyde was off.

As he got closer to where he believe he needed to go, the wall in front of him exploded filling the hallway with smoke.

Once the smoke disappeared he saw a man gripping Avelyn by her neck. As the man dropped her to the floor, the smoke covering his face also disappeared.

It was John the saint. One of the countries most renown heroes who's conquest have been spread throughout the world. Humanity's latest rising star.

But Clyde knew him long before this. During his time with Avelyn, John was one of her many suitors. That was how Clyde knew about his true colors. But even this was not something Clyde believed him capable of doing.

He was bloody and the robe he was wearing was shredded. Clyde felt his cold gaze.

"Clyde? I thought a speck like you would've died by now. Once I'm done with her you'll get your turn, so sit like a dog."

Avelyn was in terrible condition. Her eyes were closed and she was covered in dried blood.

In the next moment Clyde closed the gap between him and John, hitting him in the face with his fist.

The interaction didn't make John move back. It did draw some blood and it definitely pissed him off.

"You! You actually hit me?!"

All interest in finishing off Avelyn had left him, leaving his wrath directed at Clyde. Clyde himself would have felt fear and distress from the gaze of the ruthless killer, if not for his own wrath consuming his mind.

The other first connected as John finished speaking. As Clyde brought forward the third strike John caught his hand.

"I may be weakened from my fight with her, but don't be mistaken."

He disappeared from view and a soft whisper came from behind Clyde into his ear.

"When this is over, no one will remember you. Not even yourself"

Clyde coughed up blood and looked down. A blade was clearly piercing his chest and he didn't even feel it go in.

The pain was real though.

His surroundings were rapidly changing until it stopped on a familiar scene. The village he grew up in looked the same. He saw his dead sister collapsed on the ground.

"So this is the place huh?"

John's figure emerged out of nothingness standing across from Clyde. He looked down at Clyde's sister's body.

"Is this someone important to you? I must admit I didn't expect your deepest despair to be in some shithole."

The corpse on the ground began to reanimate. As it did John cut its head off. He must have expected a reaction out of Clyde, but instead Clyde focused his eyes on John.

"I'm not so broken that reality confuses me."

The space around them changed to a black emptiness with an unknown light source hanging above the two.

"You're no fun at all."

Clyde still felt the pain from the wound but he wasn't feeling weaker.

"When you stabbed me it was a trick wasn't it?"

John's eyes narrowed.

"Enough games, you bore me."

Clyde was braced for an attack. The first was coming straight at him and he didn't dodge. Instead he opted to connect with his own fist. Knowing that he still had the element of surprise, Clyde put it all into this.

His arms muscles expanded and the fist collided. On impact Clyde sent forth a bolt of lightning hit John point blank. The heat that sparked from that one moment sent both of them flying backwards.

Clyde's ears were ringing from the explosion and he felt disoriented. Looking at his arm to his suprised it looked normal besides being a bit red.

There was no time to waste. Getting up and running into the smoke, Clyde was desperately trying to find his target before he was found first.

'There!'

John was still on the ground. The arm he hit was black and blue. Clyde needed this opportunity if he had a chance of winning.

As soon as he got close, the scenery changed again.

They were in a desert and John's body sank into the sand disappearing.

Clyde's senses were still unreliable as he could only feel danger. That didn't stop him from seeing the sand move out of the way for John's arrival though.

They were both across from each other once again. It also seemed that John's arm was not another illusion.

"Do I still bore you?"

John didn't say anything as he preferred to get this over with. To Clyde's surprise, John was preparing to attack with both of his fist.

'Is he insane?'

This time the speed that John attacked was much faster, matching the still expression on his face.

Clyde was hit in the stomach with no time to dodge causing him to vomit. Following that,

he felt as if he was stabbed repeatedly all over his body.

'It's just how it feels, calm down.'

But how could he remain calm when false wounds began to open. The mind was powerful after all.

John grabbed the top of Clyde's head and raised him up, preparing a final blow.

At that moment a thunderbolt struck through the academy, breaking the illusion they were in hitting Clyde.

Enough time had passed for him to recharge.

The first thing Clyde heard as his hearing was coming back was screams of agony. To be fair he doesn't know a human who wouldn't be screaming after their hand just got blown off.

John was gripping the arm that used to have a hand. In another second his expression went back to calmness.

Clyde realized what was happening. John was using his ability to numb the pain.

'There must be a limit.'

"You- you stupid bitch!"

Clyde could bother to respond because he was having trouble standing. The pain he was feeling was powerful and his adrenaline was running low. Both of them needed the fight to end soon.

Both realized this and the time for discussion was lost, the real fight starts now.

To go all out Clyde needed to escape the confines of these walls.

He jumped at John and the two began to push against each other as Clyde kept pushing forward slamming into a wall. John bit deeply into Clyde's shoulder making him growl. To retort, Clyde pushed his fingers into John's hand socket.

As John stopped biting because of the pain, Clyde gathered enough momentum to break through the wall bringing the two on the ground.

Clyde unfortunately found himself on his back with John above him. In less then a second John began to slam his head down into Clyde's.

The first hit hurt like hell, considering Clyde's nose was barely in recovery from breaking already. As the second was on its way down, he was able to overpower John and bring the fight on their feet once again.

There was a window nearby and that's when Clyde realized something. The sun was shining and the main illusion was broken.

'He must be on his wits end.'

In the time it took him to realize this, Clyde was charged and pushed through the window causing glass the spread throughout the ground.

Now outside on the ground, Clyde looked ahead to see the towering figure of John stepping through the window.

"It's over."

As John prepared to smash Clyde's head to mush, this would be Clyde's last opportunity. He had been waiting to use this ability in fear of its repercussions to his body.

The bright sky became full of clouds in an instant. Right before a foot was in his mouth, time slowed to a near perfect stop. Clyde's body was pulsating with energy and static energy followed his movements.

Rolling out of the way Clyde grabbed a shard of glass on the ground and slit John's throat. The moment he started to cut time flowed forward and John immeasurably tried to cover his throat as he fell to the ground.

Looking up the clouds dispersed and it was sunny again.

"I lived."

His mind spun and his fall to the ground took forever in his head.

***

Bell had been struggling to defend people against this swarm of enemies. Lapis was in the same boat as her.

They had already lost so many people from the surprise attack. Everyone who could fight was trying to but they weren't making a dent.

When the sun broke out and the veil of darkness was gone, Bell let out a sigh of relief.

'They did it.'

Shortly after the clouds came, which made her weary. Before panic could set in it was bright again and the horde of enemies either dissolved or fell over, opting to stay dead this time.

"Lapis, we really did it!"

Turning her head, she saw Lapis on his knees breathing deeply.

The exhaustion followed her next. But there was no time to settle, she had to make sure Clyde and Ava was okay.

"I need you to check on the civilians and the wounded slayers, I'm going to see what happened."

Lapis didn't respond but he understood her directions.

Desperately searching the academy, she followed the wake of destruction. Eventually she found Ava slumped over on a wall.

Running up to her, she could see that Ava was still alive.

Bell pressed both of her hands together and put them onto Ava's chest. Green light transferred from her body to Ava's.

Moments later Ava was conscious.

In a raspy voice she asked Bell.

"Where's John?"

"I don't know, I left after I saw Clyde run this way."

Helping her to stand, Bell lent Ava her shoulder. The two followed blood stains and the signs of a thrashing. One room had a hole blown through it from the room and black soot on the floor. Continuing onward they saw a broken window.

Walking over, Bell saw him. Climbing out of the window she assessed Clyde's condition. Holes and cuts with no blood coming from them, one of his arms was irritated and inflamed. His nose was purple and broken once again.

Putting her hands on his chest, the energy transferred over to Clyde's body. He didn't wake up but she felt he would be okay.

Ava looked through the window.

"Any signs of John?"

"Not that I can tell."

Ava looked at Clyde and made a face that Bell had never seen on Ava before. Perhaps she wasn't over thinking what she saw the other day.

"We survived Master."

This chapt𝓮r is updat𝒆d by ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom.

"That we did, but we have a lot to take care of."