Forty-Eight

Kon couldn't tear his eyes off the giant bug as it scuttled down the cliff side. Its legs were machinelike in their rapid movements, propelling itself down with reckless speed. Diur grabbed at his elbow and that seemed to break whatever hold the creature had cast on him. Kon turned and began to run into the forest.

The normal, non metallic forest. The trees were plain wood, leaves soft and not sharp, ready to slice, metal. He breathed a sigh of relief as they ran through the dappled forest. The ever present storm was thin here and growing thinner, sunlight cut like beams through the branches, giving more light than he had seen in days.

Trees bent as a wave of air washed over them, both of them stumbled as a giant Craw- CAAA pulverized the area. Kon spunt to watch as a bird flew like a bolt towards the bug.

Six brown wings fluttered, arresting its movement as two taloned feet the size of a shuttle plucked the insect up with ease. The peak D-Grade thrashed in rage, sparks erupting from its armored carapace as the bird monster rose in the sky. All six of the wings flapped, windstorms erupting as it tried to rise with its prey. Kon watched as the bug monster bent in half and its long mandibles bit into the soft underbelly of the bird. It screeched in pain as it flew away, tilting this way and that as it was lost to the horizon.

"What was that?" Kon asked stupidly. He blinked a few times, trying to figure out what he'd just seen.

"Looked like a giant bird eating a giant bug," Diur said. The girl groaned and sat down, resting her head against a tree and blinking slowly. Everything had changed so fast. The adrenaline that had kept him moving faded away as he let his legs buckle and crashed to the ground. He leaned up against her, enjoying the warmth and comfort.

"How are we supposed to find this other Knight?" Diur asked after a few minutes. She hadn't bothered to try to move him, just letting Kon lean against her.

"Alice said she'd find us," Kon murmured. He was trying not to drift off as he looked around owlishly.

"We should try to finish what we started before that happens."

'Why?" Kon couldn't imagine doing anything other than finding a hole and crawling in it to sleep for a week or three. He had never been this tired before.

"Alice seemed to think it could be revolutionary. But what if it other more cautious people want to make you move slower. This is the best chance we have of getting it done now," Diur explained.

"Why is she so invested?" The thought ran around in his head, but he couldn't focus on it.

"Come on, on your feet. We have to find some type of shelter. The energy in this area is dense, we might be near a D-grade rift and that'll get us both killed," Diur said. She managed to get to her feet and slowly drag him up. Kon's body protested the entire time as he got to his feet and looked around.

"It's like the holomovies. I've never seen a forest like this before," he said. A regular, soft, green leaf fell, drifted for a moment on the weak air current, and landed at his feet.

"We can talk about how nice it is later. Ince we are away from the murder monsters," Diur said. She was pulling him as they walked and Kon went with her. His body was on autopilot, his mind shifting around what had happened.

"Alice is probably dead. She died protecting me." It was a stab in his heart to admit to her death. She had been so strong, so undefeatable. Then she was just gone.

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"We're going to die out here." Diur froze and turned around. The slap wasn't hard, but the lance of pain shook him free of his morose melancholy. He blinked slowly, raising a hand to feel the warmth of his skin where the blow had landed. Kon hadn't even realized he'd been speaking out loud before the words had come out.

"We. Do. Not. Surrender. Ever. We fight to the end. We fight past the end if we need to. You will not dishonor your ancestors, your comrades, and your teachers by yielding here and now," Diur spoke softly, but forcefully. Kon met her gaze and felt a sickening twist of shame in his guts. She was right.

"You're right. Let's find somewhere to settle down for the night," Kon said. He shook his head rapidly, as if to clear the negative thoughts. It was much harder without Alice's finally tuned senses, but they found a small deadfall of trees that offered basic shelter.

Diur's sword hummed as it split the air and then wood, trees cut perfectly to fall around them. The two worked in silence, strengthening the walls, covering it in more vegetation to offer a bit of insulation. It took no more than an hour, but the fading sun was taking its warmth with it as it slid behind the horizon.

"Here, gather up some sticks and stuff. I'll start the fire," Diur ordered as she started to rifle through the sole pack, looking for any food stuff. They had little in the way of rations or clean water, their rapid flight leaving precious supplies behind.

She managed to spark a fire a few minutes later, using her sword to send sparks off a piece of rock she had found. Diur frowned and checked her blade afterward, but found no harm done to it. They clustered together around the small fire, feeling the warmth of the flames.

Kon let his muscles relax, breathing deeply and drawing energy in for it to be converted by his first node. It did so painfully little, nothing at all like eating an E-grade monster. Diur fidgeted across from him before sighing and rising from her seated position and walking into the relative clear area around their shelter.

Twilight had consumed the world, deep purple light that without his enhanced senses would have left him blind. She stretched, twisting and turning, holding poses for a few minutes before turning to look down at him.

"Hit me." Kon looked at her befuddled. The old command that Alice had always given sounded foreign coming from Diur.

"I'm not in the mood, Diur. Let's just sleep," Kon started before she interrupted him.

"Do you think that the monster around us will wait for you to be in the mood to fight? You must know how to push past that discomfort and exhaustion. Now hit me!" she barked the last part and Kon found his body moving to obey without thought.

He lunged to his feet while sending a powerful uppercut toward her chin, using the strength of his legs and hips to put more power into the blow. Diur dodged back, his knuckles meeting nothing but air as he surged by her. She kicked him lightly in the hip as he passed by.

"Too aggressive. Alice isn't here to heal our injuries." Kon nodded and tightened his posture, reducing the openings she could use. He had grown reckless in his fights with Alice's powerful healing abilities waiting for him.

Kon sent a combo of punches and kicks at Diur, being as aggressive as he dared. She led him on a chase, keeping just outside of his range. There was a difference to this though. When Alice did this with them, it was evident she was in control the entire time.

Diur was just fast enough to barely keep away from his strikes. As if he increased his speed by just a hair he'd be able to catch her. His body hurt, it strained and pulsed with pain. His thoughts were foggy, exhaustion wrapped him in a blanket that threatened to suffocate him.

He went faster.

It hurt. It burned. His limbs were leaden. Still, he pressed on, trying desperately to catch Diur as the woman swayed around his blows. On occasion she would throw an attack back at him if he grew too wild. Their fighting slowed and came to a natural end, both of them too tired to continue.

"Good. stretch, cool down, then sink into a meditation." Diur led by example and did a series of stretches that Kon tried to imitate. They didn't go as well, he was nowhere near as flexible as the cultivator was. It was better than what he had been able to do a few weeks ago.

They slipped into the meditation exercises that Diur had been training him in. For her they allowed her to draw in the ambient energy and slowly gather it. For him all it did was work its way through his node, get cleansed, and end up in his body. It did little to alleviate the pure pain and exhaustion he felt but it did weaken the feeling a little, shave off the edges.

"That's good enough." Diur's voice broke the trance he had been in, bringing him around.

"I feel like shit," Kon groused as he stretched out across the ground. Diur just laughed as she laid down across from him, their small fire nothing but a memory.

"Just wait till we find you a new treasure to eat tomorrow."

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