Leon ran around until his lungs burned, but the exit never appeared.
'Damn it!'
It had already been an hour or more since Aurelia left. He could hear the loud explosions in the distance.
She was fighting the titan — rather, she was trying to hold it back, hoping that Leon had a plan.
But Leon simply looked for an exit. He knew she was strong enough to survive the titan.
He knew that if the kingdom was destroyed, she could finally let go of it.
'That's right, I'm doing all this for her sake...' He almost believed it.
He stopped running as he was out of breath.
Suddenly, he was pushed away by a crowd of people.
Leon fell down as he grimaced in pain. He looked up to find a large group of people running away from the titan with fear in their eyes.
"RUN! THERE'S A HUGE MONSTER LOOSE!"
"The princess...she's fighting it..."
He heard a few voices as he tried to get up.
'What's the point of sympathizing with her now...'
He grimaced as he kept trying to find the right alleyway.
The whole place looked like a maze.
***
BOOM!
An arrow exploded on the golden body of the behemoth that kept crushing multiple buildings with just its feet.
Aurelia grimaced in pain as she had already been swatted away multiple times by now.
'Come on Leon, I know you can do this...'
She knocked another arrow as she faced the titan.
Her whole body shuddered in fear — but then she saw the countless bodies that lay waste near the titan.
Her resolve strengthened as she shot the arrow again.
BOOM!
The arrow exploded on the titan, but nothing seemed to happen. The titan just kept moving around lazily.
At this point, Aurelia noticed it more and more.
The titan's behavior was odd. It did not destroy any buildings voluntarily. It just seemed like it was looking for something.
'If only I had the divine flame...'
She slapped her face, and gripped her bow tighter.
'No. He will succeed. He has to...'
Aurelia did not understand why she placed so much trust in a stranger she had met a few days ago.
But she also remembered their time spent together these days.
Leon was the first person to treat her like a person, rather than a princess, or a hindrance. Even her father never really paid much attention to her — he was always busy with the walls.
Leon was her first friend after all.
He was her only hope right now.
She smiled as she shot another arrow.
***
'Fuck this.'
Leon took out the divine flame from the bag as he ran toward the walls.
Surprisingly, the bag had not been burnt.
The flames seemed to only burn whatever Leon willed to burn.
He ran towards the wall as he gripped the torch tightly.
Pointing it at the wall, he thought of the flames manifesting themselves and launching toward the walls.
White flames spat out as it hit the wall like a flamethrower.
Instantly, the walls reacted back, as the flames seemed to be absorbed by the walls.
The divine flame and the wall clashed — two ancient energies reacting to each other. He could see some sort of pattern shimmering from the surface of the walls as the divine flames continued spiraling toward the gray stones.
BOOM!
A huge explosion occurred as Leon was shot back.
He fell unconscious.
***
Leon woke up. His ears still rang, and his body felt dead.
He looked around and found himself in the same place as before. His hand hurt. Looking down, he frowned at the sight.
His left hand, which he used to summon the flames from the torch, seemed to be charred.
'Hurts...'
His arm felt like a thousand needles had pierced it at the same time.
Leon grimaced as he then found the torch near the ground.
The torch was shattered into pieces, and the flame that once lit it was gone.
He widened his eyes as he stared at the torch. He then looked up to find a tunnel bored into the wall in front of him.
The torch seemed to have destroyed the wall — or rather, it formed a small tunnel he could use, but it had destroyed the torch in the process.
'How long was I out?'
Leon grimaced as he heard deep rumbles far away from him. The titan was definitely alive. But it was definitely nowhere nearby. If it was, he would've heard it by now.
'I can check and just run away. Yes, it will be quick.'
He made his way toward the beams on the houses and began climbing.
Combined with a damaged arm, the climb was slow and painful, but he didn't stop. He pushed through the pain with only one image in his head.
Her smile.
'She should be alive. She has to be.'
He finally climbed up onto the roof and looked ahead into the heart of the kingdom.
Leon froze. His knees gave out as he fell.
The kingdom was unrecognizable. What had been streets were rivers of ash and red. Fire burned everywhere, while the titan moved through it as if it had somewhere else to be.
The large behemoth responsible stood somewhere near a wall as it was moving around, as though it did not care where it went, or what it caused.
Near its feet, a wide patch of ground had been burned to nothing. Scorched in a ring, like something had detonated there from above.
No arrows flickered over the titan anymore. No explosions.
'No...'
Aurelia.
Was nowhere to be seen.
***
Leon made his way down as he fell from the last jump and landed face first.
He pushed himself off the ground and ran toward the tunnel.
His hand seemed to have healed quite a bit. It felt as though the flames that burnt his hand, did not mean to, so it simply tried to revert back.
Although the mechanism felt interesting and foreign to him, he was too tired to give a damn.
He got out of the kingdom as he made his way toward the ridges. Trees covered everything as he kept walking away.
"Please."
He whispered in a shaky voice.
"Please end the Nightmare."
But suddenly, he heard leaves rustle behind him.
He turned around to find the one person he wanted to see the most, and also the least.
Aurelia.
She was still standing. One eye gone. Her right arm mangled. A wound at her abdomen that should have killed her. She walked toward him one step at a time, like each one cost her something.
Her entire body was bloodied and beaten.
Leon looked at her and frowned.
"Aurelia."
"Did it work?"
She said.
"Your grand plan."
Leon simply kept silent.
"Did you ever have one?"
He wanted to deceive her again. He wanted to hug her, to apologize to her.
But right now, he couldn't.
He was too tired.
He couldn't lie to her anymore.
"No."
Aurelia's lips parted as she continued staring at him.
She reached into her pockets and took out a spherical white orb.
She threw it in between them.
"Did you know the titan was coming?"
Leon knew what the orb was. But what pained him most was that she now didn't trust him even a little.
"Yes."
He answered before the orb could force it out of him.
The orb shined yellow. It was faint yet unmistakable.
Aurelia didn't even look down at the orb as she kept staring at Leon.
It was as if she didn't even want to know.
Or perhaps she already knew.
"Did you lie when you called me a friend?"
Leon froze.
He had definitely thought of her as a friend...right?
No.
He had always forced himself not to get too attached to her because this was a Nightmare.
He knew if he kept her close, it would hurt more when he had to leave her.
So he constantly convinced himself she was just a means to an end.
"No."
His voice cracked as tears began streaming down his face.
Aurelia finally moved her head as she looked down at the orb.
Blue.
"You lied to me."
She gripped her bow as it materialized out of thin air.
"You used me."
The bow turned into a sword as though it were a liquid.
"Tell me...Did the titan come here for you?"
Leon widened his eyes.
He felt his chest hurt as he was forced to answer.
"Yes?"
He didn't know the answer. He didn't know whether the titan was here for him or not.
The orb glowed yellow.
Leon's breath froze as he stared at the orb.
'But how?... The vision said it would be destroyed anyway...'
"You did this. You killed everyone."
Aurelia spoke.
Leon looked at her face. She frowned, as though she didn't want to believe any of this.
"I never planned on saving this kingdom."
The orb shined brighter, confirming his words.
"But I didn't want you to die."
He said.
"You destroyed everything. "
Leon simply stared at her.
"Do you hate me?"
He asked.
Aurelia gripped her sword tighter as she kept staring at him.
He knew she wouldn't answer, but the orb was there.
"Yes."
Leon couldn't look at the orb as Aurelia lunged forward. He managed to parry her sword with his dagger, but he was thrown back.
Aurelia, without losing her footing, continued forward and drove the sword toward his chest.
Leon rolled away as the sword hit the ground.
He then lunged at her, throwing himself on her as the grip on her sword released.
They rolled down the small slope leading into the forest.
Leon was getting up, but she had already stood up a few meters away from him.
"This is pointless, Aurelia!"
Aurelia, walking toward him, answered.
"I don't have anything to care for anymore. Rhea is gone too."
Leon spoke up.
"You're too injured, you're killing yourself!"
Aurelia simply replied.
"I'll be sure to do it after I've dealt with you."
She was broken, she was angry, and she felt betrayed.
He looked at her with heavy breaths as she was approaching him.
Leon noticed something — her wounds grew deeper, and she was getting slower. Oathbound was already in effect.
'I have one chance.'
"Aurelia..." he said with a shaky voice.
The princess scoffed, "If you think you can talk your way out of this, then don't bother."
'I caused this...I broke her...'
Leon gritted his teeth.
Aurelia rushed towards him. Leon raised his hands to block a punch flying at his guts, but he knew it was a faint.
He was constantly using Keen Insight to copy her combat style.
But it was too slow.
She broke through his guard and drove him into the dirt.
He scrambled up, but she was already coming for him again.
'Fool! If you die here, it would have all been for nothing!'
Leon kicked Aurelia's abdomen, pushing her away.
'No, I cannot die here.'
He could see it, her body was getting considerably slower.
He lunged at her, pushing her to the ground.
Leon took the dagger she had tucked against her thigh, ready to push it through her throat.
But before the blade could pierce her, Leon hesitated for a small second.
Aurelia used this second, as she grabbed his wrist, twisting it and pushing the dagger into his eye.
Leon's left eye was pierced. He screamed in agony and reeled back in pain.
She wanted to get up and finish the job, but her body was beginning to get worse and worse.
Leon fell back, screaming in pain, he felt anger rush through him. He grabbed the dagger and pulled it out of his eye.
"AGHH!"
He snapped. The pain, the constant stress from the moment he had entered the Nightmare, had pushed him to his limits.
'JUST DIE!'
Aurelia got up again and walked towards him.
'Monster... She's a monster...'
Leon struggled to stand, as he turned away from the princess and ran — while also throwing the dagger at her.
'I need time, the Oathbound will eventually kill her'
His steps were uneven. He stumbled a lot, but he ran like his life depended on it.
Aurelia also got up, clutching the dagger he threw aimlessly — as she started sprinting.
"GET BACK HERE YOU COWARD!"
The two ran across the forest.
As Leon expected, Aurelia's wounds grew deeper, and the bleeding didn't stop.
Aurelia clicked her tongue and changed directions.
She ran towards a nearby ant colony and trampled on it.
Leon looked back and was confused, but he didn't let it bother him and kept running.
Aurelia leveled the ant colony, looked up at Leon and snapped her fingers.
Leon's body immediately exploded. As the flames died down, he hit the ground with a loud thud.
He couldn't scream. His throat had already been burned raw, and every wound on his body screamed — his left eye worst of all, felt like needles of fire driving inward, like something was trying to hollow him out from the inside.
He looked back at the princess, who was smiling darkly.
Leon's heart sank. So that's how her flames worked, death fed them. As the ants died beneath her feet, faint embers crawled across her wounds.
Was it her flaw?
It did not matter right now because she was closing the distance between them with each second.
Aurelia gripped Leon's knife from her shoulder and pulled it out with a growl, and moved towards Leon with weak steps.
Aurelia didn't care anymore whether she lived or died.
Her companion was dead, while her only friend was a lie.
Aurelia coughed up blood as she continued walking toward Leon.
She had lost everything, but she would not lose this fight.
Leon was tired and angry — his wounds had closed up because of being burnt.
"Was stealing the divine flame also part of your plan?"
She asked in a painful tone.
Leon was past the point of being reasoned with right now.
He was writhing in pain and agony as he stared at her while his face contorted in anger.
"So what if it was?"
He did not care anymore — he did not care what she thought of him.
He just wanted to kill her.
'After all I did for her...She tries to kill me...'
Aurelia grinned.
"I'm going to enjoy removing that curse of yours."
He saw her approaching him with a grin plastered on her face.
"What are you smiling for? I'm still breathing."
He slowly sat up.
"I can't wait to watch your pathetic ideals die with you."
Aurelia laughed.
"Yes, you're probably right, I'll die to my wounds."
She breathed heavily as she continued:
"But not before killing you."
The two simply hated each other.
They were too far gone.
Leon wanted to get up, but his body didn't listen, it didn't move.
'Shit.'
She kicked his face, sending him down again.
She sat on his stomach, held the knife and raised it.
"Let...the flame...cleanse yo—" but before she finished, she was interrupted by Leon.
He had grabbed a piece of rock near his hand and smashed it on the princess's face.
She grunted as she fell down to his side. Leon hurried over to her.
Leon gripped his rock in desperation as he got on top of her again — she tried to punch him again, but the pain grew worse, the wounds grew wider.
Her strength had weakened manifold after the clash with the titan, and the prolonged battle combined with Oathbound made her reach her physical limits.
Leon gripped the huge rock with two hands and brought it down on her face repeatedly.
He didn't stop. His thoughts were empty.
If he stopped now, she would kill him.
It was a brutal scene, and at some point, the stone slipped from Leon's hand and was thrown to the side.
Leon looked at her face. It was still bloodied and missing an eye. Leon had expected it to be disfigured, but an Awakened's body was much sturdier than a rock.
He slowly fell back and continued crawling away.
His body shivered continuously while he looked ahead, because Aurelia slowly got up.
The princess stood awkwardly, her entire body limping, her arms dangling like they were dead, her face still looking grotesque.
Her eye was fixed on Leon.
'Ah, so this is how it ends... Why wouldn't she just die...'
Aurelia walked toward Leon, but soon fell to her knees, while he sat a few inches from her.
Their faces were close.
"I tried..." She whispered. Tears ran down her face.
She pulled him closer, still sobbing.
"I'm sorry."
Her voice had almost nothing left in it. Her face found his shoulder as she slowly embraced him.
Her body grew still.
[You have killed an Awakened Beast, The Last Princess of Flame.]
Her grip loosened.
The Spell spoke, but Leon couldn't hear it — his ears rang, his eyes burned.
She still felt warm.
Leon's breathing grew uneven, his chest heaving. He wanted to breathe faster, but each breath felt shorter than the last.
His vision blurred from the blood pouring down his face. His thoughts ran backward — the cave, the hill, the bowl of broth. The brutal fight they just had.
A white orb rolled down the slope as it approached Leon.
It was glowing blue.
He remembered the last question he had asked her.
"Do you hate me?"
Tears ran down his face. Leon screamed. He didn't stop until he had nothing left — until his throat gave out and the sound became something less than a scream and more than silence.
He coughed, trying to breathe. Then he pulled her closer and pressed his face against her hair.
"I'm sorry."
The world darkened, Leon felt the environment shift.
[Wake up, Leonar! Your Nightmare is over.]
[Prepare for appraisal]