The sky, the hallway, the ground—everything was spinning in Susanna's eyes. The strength brought on by her adrenaline had been squeezed dry.
As the effects of the adrenaline faded, the pain from her wounds flared up with renewed intensity.
But Susanna didn't dare to stop. She couldn't stop.
She didn't know how she had managed to survive this long against that terrifying Ethereal, but she knew one thing for certain.
If she kept going, there was a sliver of hope. If she stopped, only death awaited her.
The shadow of death crept ever closer. The Ethereal, which teleported with every appearance and moved like a phantom, hung back in the distance, a cold-blooded killer waiting for its prey to collapse from exhaustion.
Perhaps many would have simply given up and stopped struggling in the face of such a hopeless situation, but not Susanna.
If she were trapped here alone, she might have already stopped fighting. But she wasn't. Her struggle had never been just for her own life.
Everything else had vanished from Susanna's mind. Only a single thought remained, echoing over and over.
'Forward... just... one more step. If I can just take one more step forward, my sister will be that much safer...'
Her legs, pushed past their limits, began to tremble uncontrollably. Her arms hung limply, too weak to swing. Susanna desperately gasped for air, but it was no use against her completely depleted stamina.
Her vision blurred from the lack of oxygen caused by the prolonged sprint, yet she continued to move her limbs mechanically, as if she'd forgotten everything else.
But a body already at its breaking point couldn't handle any more surprises. A slightly raised floor tile, something she would normally step over with ease, now became the last straw that broke the camel's back.
With a stumble, her running form broke. Even as Susanna fought desperately to regain her balance, she inevitably pitched forward and fell toward the ground.
Susanna's reaction was remarkably quick; even while completely exhausted, she managed to adjust her posture as she fell.
Though she instinctively tried to break her fall with her hands, the impact scraped her knees and palms raw. Lying sprawled on the floor, Susanna felt pain wrack her entire body.
For a moment, the physiological response to the pain brought involuntary tears to her eyes.
It was only then that the Ethereal, which she had only caught a fleeting glimpse of at the very beginning, finally made its formal appearance before her.
In the empty space beside her, an extremely slender figure suddenly materialized. It stepped gracefully out of the void, then stood perfectly still, as if it had been there all along.
It blocked the sunlight, casting a shadow over her like that of the grim reaper. Susanna instinctively looked up. The figure was incredibly tall and lanky.
The Ethereal's black limbs were as sharp as blades, yet just as slender. The outer surfaces were snow-white, while the inner surfaces were an inorganic pink.
The stark colors, combined with soft armor resembling a high-collared cape, accentuated its tall frame, giving it an air of elegance.
But compared to its delicate body, the massive crescent blade it wielded was incredibly wide and heavy. The contrast was so great it was like a high-society figure from a horror movie dressed up as a killer.
Its graceful movements could never hide the bloodlust and brutality of its blade.
It stood there, silent yet utterly lethal. The next moment, it slightly raised its wide blade, and a terrifying energy gathered within, poised to be unleashed at any second.
After charging for only a second or two, a purple bolt of Ether energy shot toward Susanna.
The approach of death made the hairs on her body stand on end. The imminent attack unlocked some hidden potential, and she managed to squeeze out a final shred of strength from somewhere deep within.
Susanna pushed off hard with both hands, rolling her fallen body just in the nick of time to narrowly dodge the fatal attack.
But the panicked roll hadn't created much distance. The projectile, a compressed mass of Ether energy, slammed into the ground with a deafening roar, instantly detonating and releasing its power.
The dense Ether energy, along with the concussive force of the explosion, sent Susanna flying. Thrown into the air by the shockwave, she was as light as an unseasonal blossom falling from a spring branch.
Anyone who sees a flower wither in its prime can't help but feel a pang of regret. But a flower that falls must eventually land, and Susanna was no exception.
When she landed, her momentum didn't slow. She rolled uncontrollably for several rotations until she slammed into a pillar beside the walkway, forcing her to a stop.
The impact to her back made the young woman cough up a mouthful of blood. The crimson drops spattered on the ground, a sign that the final countdown on her fading life force had begun.
The shock of the impact made her feel as if her internal organs had ruptured. A series of incredibly sharp pains began to radiate from inside Susanna's abdomen.
The rich nerve endings around her organs, violently stimulated, made it feel as if a sharp knife was being repeatedly stabbed into her stomach. The intense, unbearable agony made her instinctively curl into a ball.
But the Ethereal didn't care. Seeing its attack had failed, its elegant stance vanished as if it had been fully activated, and it began to move swiftly.
It quickly brought its snow-white blade to its left hip, like a swordsman about to draw his weapon. Dazzling Ether energy rapidly converged within it.
The light was beautiful and brilliant, like the stars in the sky, but the danger it contained was like a sharp sword pressed against her throat, making her skin crawl.
The pain left Susanna's movements stiff. The Ethereal's attack could come at any moment. She was now completely trapped.
In truth, Susanna knew that deciding to act as bait to lure the Ethereal away was a near-certain death sentence. But against this bizarre Ethereal, those odds had become absolute.
Its teleportation-like abilities rendered all her attempts to run or hide useless. It was like a ghost haunting this space, hunting everything it encountered.
'Am I going to die...?'
The pain, initially localized, quickly spread from its origin point to her entire abdomen. Fluids leaking from her ruptured organs irritated her peritoneum, feeling like a fire burning inside her.
But Susanna no longer had the strength to roll or struggle.
She slowly closed her eyes, shutting out her darkening vision to ease the dizziness, and thought weakly:
'If only it didn't hurt so much at the end...'
In just a few seconds, the Ethereal had finished gathering its energy. Dust kicked up around it, indicating the speed of its impending charge.
But as the tremendous sound of a blade clashing against a shield rang out, Susanna instinctively opened her eyes.
A green-haired girl in the familiar, distinctive outfit of the Sons of Calydon was standing squarely in the path of the Ethereal's charge.
She recognized this person. It was the leader of the Sons of Calydon, who had been temporarily staying in Blazewood recently—Caesar!
_____
We made it! We hit our goal of 55 supporters on P@tre-... Hehe~
And here's my part of the promise! 5 extra chapters for everyone! Yayyy!
New goals:
🔥 Check out the new story releases! 🔥
🪦 A 25% discount is active on my P... support page!
✅ Unlock a 40-chapter backlog for ALL my series.
✅ Receive exclusive content and regular updates!
Help us reach these goals:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 universal bonus chapter
🚀 80 MEMBERS = +5 extra chapters for ALL STORIES!
👻 P - Walnutchan