THAT DAY I BECAME A STAR

WILLIAM KOERSOMBRE POV:

"Gya!!" 

"Kriekk!!" 

"Help me!!" 

"Shield of faith!!" 

Between The Longinus that have overcome the line of soldiers, their leader which is fighting the three heroes all by itself, and the high commander who is slaughtering us, my head can't keep up. 

"Huff…Huff…" Just dodging a normal strike from the high-commander is already taxing enough so when he uses his script, Rebecca's presence is the only thing that keeps me alive.

"Why are your doing this, high-commander?" 

"Are you still asking that?" He strikes from the left and when I counter, my whole body vibrates. 

The pain runs through me like electricity. Rebecca has healed us just a couple of minutes ago and I will ask to do so once again? No, I must hold on!!

"Ahh!!" I use Titanic slash but the high-commander doesn't even try to block it.. 

His body is hit all over but none of my hits felt as if it reached. His mask was also hit and breaks, finally revealing his face. There is no need to dream anymore. There is no way to anyway.

"DIVINE GEAR!!!!" 

Abruptly, a wind of dust sweeps us, together with the heroes' voice. They have activated it. They have activated their divine form. 

"Then we can still win this. Let's do this, guys!!! Fight!!" 

"Yeah!!!" 

Together with some other soldiers, we run to the high…To Dilt and unleashes everything we have at him. But to my surprise, he smiles. 

"So once you are given a glimpse of hope, you forget to even think. I guess you are just like your son." 

A single move. His sword moves horizontally only once. Rebecca's shield even appeared. But even so, we are all thrown away like twigs.

"Argh!!" 

I land on my head first then my shoulder hits something brutally as I stop. When my vision comes back, I am at the feet of a prator.

"Oh shi-"

"Kriekk!!" 

I dodge right before his hand buries itself in the ground but when I stand up, somebody strikes me from the back.

"Gyaa!!" 

I roll over while trying to protect myself. Dilt is standing right before me. How come? How come he didn't kill me? He is looking at his sword stained with my blood with curiosity. 

"Hm…Indeed, killing you now would be boring. It is better that I show him your tattered body before. So that your son may understand what real sorrow is. So that he may understand the accursed fate he brought to me, to us." My son…My son…

"Fu…Fuahahaha!!!" Uncontrollably, I start laughing in the middle of the battlefield. I can hear people screaming at me, I can hear the Longinus fighting my men, I can hear everything and yet, I cannot stop laughing. 

***

"I swear that I will protect you both. I swear on Meetia's name." 

I never forgot. I never forgot my oath. But in face of despair, in front of a situation that I couldn't predict and control, my choice was to flee. To flee from that duty that was overbearing. To flee from those people that were suffocating. It's not that I didn't like it. Ever since I was adopted by uncle Frankher's brother, I was happy. I was really happy. Even when he died, I still felt like I could be of use. After that, meeting Rebecca became a turning point in my life. 

That's when I knew that I had to protect someone. That's when I desired to do so. And so I did. I tried to protect as much as I could. I tried to bring happiness around me as far as I could. But something deep inside was still seeping. As someone who lived the life of a mercenary and thief when he had to, there was something deep inside me that never change.

'Only cowards live long.' 

That rule made me stay alive for a long time when I was young. In fact, it made me live long enough to turn my life around. So even though I pretend to be brave, my body remembered it. And everything fell apart. 

***

"Hey!!! Get yourself together!!" Rebecca is the one to bring me out of my dream. You shouldn't have. 

"Why did I not understand sooner?" Now that I think about it, it was way too obvious to miss it. 

Everything he knew, the way he looked at us, his hatred…Everything was there, laying bare for us to see. And yet…

"What are you talking about?!!! We have a fight to win!!" 

Only now do I notice. Rebecca is blocking a furious attack from Dilt with her shield. She is already sweating. The Saintess herself is giving it her all. It might be good for her but in my case, it has no meaning. Scumbags don't need to fight it. They can only flee or die, as the scumbags they are.

"Farner!!! No!!!" 

A scream pierces through the sounds of the battlefield. At that moment, everything stops. Even Dilt's attacks. When I look, miss Farner is on the ground, with her sister, miss Roxcia, underneath her. Did she try to protect her? Her back has a big wound that runs through it and blood is coming out profusely. The worst part is that she isn't moving at all. Miss Roxcia who is underneath her isn't moving much as well. With this, it is clear.

"We have lost." 

"Yes, you have." 

Dilt's voice brings me back to the present. I look at him and his eyes are shining with a bloody red now. The thirst for blood, the thirst for vengeance; his eyes are the perfect expression of those two emotions. 

"What are you saying?!!!" Rebecca slaps me three times without a care for the situation we are in. "You must fight, you hear me?!! I will go and help the heroes!!" 

She tries to go away but I grab her hand before she can. 

"It's no use. Stop." 

"What?!! Unhand me this instant!!" 

"I am telling you. It is no use."