Chapter 57: Survival for 24 Hours Part 4
Ank POV
Hour 9
The ninth hour started breaking my mind. My body was healing but my mind was blank. I could not process what was happening.
My arms started becoming numb. Even my healing was struggling to heal my wounds on my arms. Like my arms, my body also had countless wounds. I barely held my body from completely breaking.
I laughed like crazy. I did not know why I was laughing.
This was insane. I should be dead already. Why am I still moving?
Only thought in my broken mind.
This reminded me of my first battle to conquer the universe when it started.
My blade killed another stone plant soldier. Its glowing core shattered. It fell, and then another appeared to replace him.
Old man's condition was worse than mine. He was barely holding his sword. Many times his sword slipped from his hand but he still caught it again and moved towards the stone plant monster.
Like his white hair, his white beard also became red from blood. But he didn't stop. He kept moving, killing as much as he could until his last breath.
When suddenly from his back a sword pierced his stomach and blood started coming from his mouth.
He moved his hand and with one strike he killed the stone plant monster that attacked him from behind, and now he was on his knees.
"Master!" I cried and quickly rushed towards him, and then a sword cut my hand. I became careless but quickly I killed the monster. My hand instantly grew again but I didn't care.
Old man watched me, how I became careless. "Don't waste time worrying about me," he said in a concerned tone. Even in this condition he would not stop worrying about me. He forced himself to stand up once again. His eyes became white but also pride could be seen in his eyes. "You're holding out longer than I thought."
His words made my mind stop from breaking and I quickly helped him to stand and rushed towards the stone plant monster again.
In my heart I knew I wasn't fighting just for myself. I was fighting for him too, which was helping and also motivating me to keep moving.
Hour 10
By the tenth hour my arms were exhausted. I didn't even want to move my finger, but I forced myself by saying one more and I will come one step closer to stopping the tide of monsters.
But the tide of monsters never stopped.
Suddenly my sword slipped from my hand and countless swords pierced my body, but I did not stop. I removed one sword that was inside my body and by using it I killed everyone. Healing was the only thing that was helping me fight like this.
Arthur noticed. He barked at me. He forced himself to speak after seeing my condition.
"Don't lose focus, Ank! They will not show any mercy on you if you lose focus. They're monsters! Cut them down!"
After saying this, he started coughing blood. He didn't care that from every corner of his body slowly blood started dropping. His condition, his focus, his determination, his courage, his words, his care for me, his strength reminded me that if I made a mistake, I would die. Maya and the old man would also die.
So death was not an option for me now.
I roared and started swinging the sword with all my strength. But whatever old man said, inside I knew I would not survive this assault.
But I didn't want to waste my breath thinking about this.
Hour 11
The eleventh hour dragged like eternity.
Arthur's left leg was cut from his body. He only fought with one leg and one arm but he didn't stop.
"Master!" I shouted again, parrying another soldier.
I wanted to come close to him and protect him but every time I tried, stone plant soldiers came and started attacking me while surrounding me from all corners.
"Don't waste your strength on me," he muttered. "I'll last as long as you can. Focus on yourself."
I wanted to scream. To carry him out of here. But there was nowhere to go. No escape.
So I fought harder.
For Maya. For Arthur. For myself.
Hour 12
At the twelfth hour, the world became silent again.
Not because the monsters stopped. They hadn't.
But because I couldn't hear anymore. My ears were completely destroyed once again and this time they didn't start healing, from which I concluded my healing was at its limit. I could stop moving at any moment.
I could only see Arthur's broken figure. The endless tide. My sword, moving on instinct.
Time had already lost meaning to us. Every second had already become eternity for us and now this eternity was feeling like a graveyard of our hope that we could not achieve.
Every swing was death or survival.
Hour 13
The thirteenth hour began and my eyes were lifeless.
Slowly I started losing hope. My healing was now automatically focused on healing important organs.
Fifteen to twenty swords were inside my body. I had no time to remove any of them.
Hour 14
By the fourteenth hour, the world had narrowed to a tunnel of pain and survival.
I didn't know what was happening. I was only moving my sword.
Sometimes I forgot where I was. Sometimes I forgot who I was.
But then old man's voice came to me and said,
"Left."
I swung left without thinking, killing a soldier that had almost attacked my neck.
"Behind!"
I barely deflected a blow that would've taken my head.
His voice was my anchor. Without it, I would've already been swallowed by the tide.
But his voice was weakening. He was much worse than me but he was still helping me.
I risked a glance at him and nearly froze.
On the old man there were countless sword marks and from his face he looked like he was dead, but he was still standing watching me. Stone plant monsters started ignoring him and they completely focused on me now.
"Master!" I shouted again. How many times I shouted I didn't know.
He watched me and gritted his teeth, forcing himself to stand.
"Don't look at me! Fight!"
Fear started coming in my mind. Not fear of dying. No, I had accepted death hours ago.
It was fear of losing him. Fear of seeing the only person still standing beside me collapse.
I couldn't let that happen.
Not Arthur.
Not my master.
The soldiers surged again, endless and unrelenting.
And I met them head on, kept swinging, kept killing, kept surviving.
Because if I stopped, Arthur would die. And I would never forgive myself.
How will I face Maya, only one question in my mind.
The old man was barely standing, his sword was gone from his hand, his strength was reduced, he had lost everything, only his life was holding.
I was the wall now. The blade that cut. The shield that held.
My body wasn't mine anymore. It was something else. Something primal. Something that refused to yield.
When my arms refused to move, I forced them.
When my legs gave out, I dragged myself forward.
When my vision dimmed, I swung blind, guided by instinct and rage.
And somehow, I endured.
Somehow, we both endured.
But I knew the truth.
The old man will not survive this battle. My nightmare will come true.
And soon I would be alone.