star guardian, but sword devil

Yes, to be good friends for life.

It was impossible for that gentle Xia to do something sorry for her friend—Ari didn't dare to recall any more. In the end, she just closed her eyes in pain, and a crystal tear rolled down quickly from the corner of her eye.

"Ugh..."

The emotions that had been suppressed just now surged from his stomach again.

Ari bowed her body, trying to suppress the grief and indignation deep in her heart.

The former elegance of the fox girl has long since disappeared, and her melancholy and melancholy emotions have shrouded her in a shadow of nothingness.

Gwen helped Ahri up silently, staring at the ever-spreading chaos and darkness in the sky, in a world shrouded in despair.

There is no light, no hope, only a flame of despair that burns like a demon and reflects the world around the girl.

Kevin caressed Ahri's cheek, the girl's side face looked so fragile and tired, as if she had exhausted all her strength, and might be gone with the wind at any time, which made Kevin's heart ache.

—Whether it is physical or psychological pain.

Therefore, Kevin was confused for a moment, not knowing whether to speak out or not.

but……

If you just stand here, if you don't do anything, it won't work after all.

After all, I promised her.

Pessimistic, sighing, what's the use of doing this, stagnating, even a dead person can do it.

The world has never been kind to anyone.

Instead of cursing the darkness, light a candle and stand up.

——Even if it is only able to ignite that negligible candle.

"Next, leave it to me."

Hearing his voice, Ahri raised his head dully.

Bitter leisure and regret came in the wind.She looked at the boy in front of her, and a memory of a memory passed through her mind, both blurred and sharp.

Her vision began to blur, as if she had returned to that day's Spirit Blossom Festival.

The same abyss, the same darkness, the same—despair.

The only difference is...

The person who fell into the abyss of darkness and despair was not herself, but Sarah.

However, the boy's gentle smile and resolute back have not changed a little.

For a moment, really just a moment, Ahri bit his lip.

As if answering a girl's call, he really fulfilled that promise—a hero who will come to save me as long as he cries.

The past frustration and triumph, confusion and clarity, all seem less important.

However, it is not right to do so.

Despair does not dissipate because of the arrival of hope.

Praying for hope spreads an equal amount of despair.In this way, hope and despair are canceled out to zero, and the balance in the world is formed.

The hope of a miracle resists the temporary darkness.

But the desperation remains, it's just...

attached to other people.

Ari clenched her fingertips tightly, and forced a slight smile towards him, but there was only exhaustion and powerlessness in her eyes, like a fish leaving a pond and climbing ashore, in panic and despair. , can't wait for hope to come, the last thing to come-only death.

"No...it can't be done, Xiaokai...I can't do it." Ahri's voice was trembling slightly: "I am really selfish like this. This is my fault, all of this is mine Wrong. Xia, Luo, and Sarah... This should be my responsibility. Xiao Kai, you have no reason to—"

"But...you can't fight against this level of despair, can you?"

The fire of death burns up.Kevin caressed the girl's cheek and wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes.

A fleeting light flashed in the girl's pupils.

Her fingertips moved slightly, sobbing and stroking the boy's hand on the girl's cheek.

The indescribable warmth continued to spread across her fingertips, as if she had touched some treasure.

In a trance, the dark colors of the world gradually took on some color in her eyes.

Maybe it was when he dragged the girl out of the deep well of gravity of despair, apart from despair and hope, there was another boy in the memory she needed.

A painting is not a simple patchwork of many objects.A cow is just a cow, a meadow is just grass and flowers, and the sun shining through a tree branch is just a ray of light, but when put together, there is something magical about it.

Sitting in a tree, away from the ground, and being blown by the wind, it's like your heart has been hit with beauty.

For others, maybe Kevin in front of him is just an ordinary teenager.

But for Ari, this ordinary and somewhat playful boy—this is a bright light in the dark winter.

Gwen, who had been observing all this from beginning to end, blinked, and it was the same for her.

Although the girl had some indescribably complex emotions because of this, this kind of thing has been pressing on her heart so that she doesn't know how to describe it, it's like a unique gift in the world being snatched by others in the same way It's the same as walking, but in the end, she still chose not to care about such small things.

"I'll take good care of her."

Gwen kept talking to the young man who silently guarded him.

"Ah."

Kevin nodded, then turned around.Pulling off the sword pendant on his chest, Aatrox's murderous intent overwhelmed him-but Kevin was used to this feeling.

【Are you really ready? 】

"Ready for what?"

【Your body is almost reaching its critical point.The erosion of the sign of death is imminent.You will most likely disappear in this battle, maybe the next one, even so, will you still not back down? 】

"I'm here because it's my wish, it's my choice — and I have no choice. As long as that smile stays on, I've got nothing else to do."

Kevin laughed dumbfounded, letting the flames of corruption burn his soul, and still walked towards the boundless darkness step by step.

【Emotions are your weakness. 】

"Didn't you have such an abacus from the beginning?"

[I really like this place more and more.This universe, this earth.And us. 】

"Oh, you've changed your tone again now? Us?"

[It's us. 】

"What made you change your mind? When you were chasing dramas?"

The dark purple fragments spread from the boy's heart, condensed and assembled with the corrupt flames, and the demon's body took shape little by little.

Kevin pulled out the dark purple sword.

It was speaking to him.

【you.It's you, Kevin. 】

—————————————————————

Sarah floats in the dark, soaked in memories of the good old days.

She wanted to think back to earlier times, before he became the Star Guardian.

But there were no memories of that time. When the power of the original star poured into her body, the former Sarah died.

The girl tried to exert force on the tip of her finger, and her index finger slowly moved like a dying insect.

She opened her mouth wide and her throat was fully open, but she couldn't draw air.The inside of the chest cavity was tightly pulled, as if he was holding his breath halfway through his inhalation, making his lungs wait hard.

There is nothing to admit now, perhaps the most stupid choice has been to avoid stubbornly.

Apart from death, all other departures are betrayals.

Xia was right.

I chose to escape.

I chose to abandon.

I chose a decision that I regret for the rest of my life.

"I didn't know then, I didn't know then—"

Sarah repeated it, her voice and the pain behind her forming a dissonant resonance with the shouting in her head: It's all your fault!it was all your fault!

But no one could hear her voice.

The lonely girl sinks into the abyss of despair alone.

She seemed to be able to see the world around her turned into countless open hands, dragging her body and soul, sinking down bit by bit...

Sarah's reaction was not as intense as imagined, and she let the darkness swallow her starlight.She watched herself sinking deeper and deeper, and the desire to die filled her mind. When she realized that she was about to fall to the edge of irreversibility, but there was no way to stop it from happening, the girl's face revealed a peaceful expression. smile.

She raised her head and glanced at the Starlight Gem in her hand, which was gradually being eroded by darkness.

—Perhaps, this is enough for now.

Although I don't know how to make up for the past mistakes, but... if my death can make Xia feel better, there is nothing wrong with it, isn't it?

I don't know if we have our own destinies, or if our lives are accidental, like blowing in the wind, or maybe both at the same time.

after all……

It was me who betrayed her in the first place.

"If possible, I really want to say sorry to Ahri..."

At last.

Sarah curled up and slowly closed her eyes.

——It was as if a stone had been thrown into the originally calm lake, and waves gradually appeared.

Maybe an illusion.

Sarah heard a voice.

"do not give up."

A voice came, which was incompatible with the roar in her head.

Sarah's eyes trembled slightly.She opened her eyes and looked around in total darkness.

"Don't give up!" the voice said again.But Sarah was about to give up.It was her fault.The darkness in her heart told her it was time to let go.

But that voice—

Click!

The darkness was cut in two.

A ray of light was able to get in through the torn crack.

But soon overwhelmed by more darkness.

"... Kevin?"

Sarah recognized the voice.

"Ari is waiting for you! Everyone is waiting for you! This is the only chance, once your starlight is completely swallowed, even I will have no way to save you!"

Right in front of her, Kevin's voice came from a very close distance from the darkness-wrapped substance.

"What the hell are you... doing?"

It was the voice of an ordinary girl trembling alone in the dark.Sarah stared into the darkness of nothingness, as if seeing something unbelievable.Her lips moved weakly, looking at the burning darkness.

She wasn't sure if she was still dreaming.

Definitely Not.

Because his voice echoed clearly in her ears.

"—"

Sarah's shoulders were shaking.

"I can't understand and don't want to understand how easy it is to despair for such a thing. There are some things that you can't get back no matter how hard you try, and there is also the despair that you can't escape no matter how hard you struggle... Without the experience of pain, there is no Let people remember!"