Dawn- An age of Darkness
Chapter 289 - Sometimes, Even The Most Right Action Might Not Be Without Regrets

The king was tied with some sort of vines and this thing just kept on regenerating no matter how many times I cut it. And every time, it grew more and more thorns and the grip just got tighter. 

It was a good thing the king was passed out.

There still wasn't anybody around but I got the feeling we were being watched, meaning something was about to happen. 'Better stay sharp.'

Alisa sighed and pointed her finger at me. Some symbols grew on my hand and I could now use ice. 

"Thanks." I focused on freezing the vine. "Do you mind explaining how this works and how come I can use Imbuition on my body when you're near?"

It couldn't hurt to ask.. I never actually asked how I could do it. They did give me hints every now and then but we never had time to actually talk about how it worked. 

"You do realize, that's not a real word, right?" She sighed. "Anyway, you have two types of mana in you. You're typical mana and godly mana. Those are different types and should be treated differently. But you just treat them the same. I only convert the godly one to your typical one. In a word, if Trerortra's blood wasn't in you, you would have been fine." I had a feeling she didn't want to say it, but still did. 

Did she think I idolized Trerortra and was going to sulk if she talked about him like that? Actually, I might have been a bit like that. 

To think, I was once an Atheist, and now this. Sigh. 

I guess Ve was right. My mana really was a double-edged sword. Actually, the spirit said something similar, didn't she?

I was just stupid enough to not listen to them properly. 

I sighed some more and froze the entire vine. But the damn thing was still trying to break free. Just how tenacious was this thing?

But instead of letting it, I also cut it in pieces and it now rested in pieces. It was still alive though. 

The man was about to fall on the floor but I grabbed him and then I knew, 'He's not alive?' But I noticed it too late. 

"Stay back!"

Obviously, Viola listened but the man had already bitten my hand! 

For an old man, this guy's grip was even tighter than Biteria's.

I slashed him and he dodged to the sides. "GAHAHAHAHJ!" Judging by that laugh, I probably wasn't dealing with the real king, or maybe he really was the king but just controlled. 

Either way, he didn't seem like someone we could reason with. "Is there any way to break the curse or something?" I asked, keeping my eyes totally on the vampire.

The king's veins were popping up, he was foaming but his glare was sharp.

"That thing has fully turned. Kill it," Alisa screamed, a bit of hesitation in her voice. 

"NO!" Viola screamed. 

He climbed on the ceiling but I threw a small icicle but he lodged himself at me, dodging it. 

He was about to claw me. 

I slammed my sword in his gut. I didn't want to. But it was my instinct. I really didn't want to kill this guy. 

But I had to. 

'Damn.'

His body started to turn to ash. 

Damn! Damn it!

Not only did I fail my mission, I also failed to protect this guy. 

I slammed my hand on a nearby bar, my sword fell on the floor but- damn!

"Hurry, use holy on your arm, or you'll turn into one of them!" Alisa screamed again. 

My arm was already festering. And perhaps punching a Mithrin bar wasn't helping. 

I quickly used holy magic and my arm felt like it'd fall off but it didn't. The wound healed partially. But since it closed, I didn't have to worry about it anymore. 

"Father?" Viola fell on her knees, glassy-eyed.

This was my fault. "Was this guy really the king or just a double?"

"There's no sign of the other two, meaning we don't have time and maybe running away might not have been the best course of action." Alisa looked down. She didn't answer me. Meaning, it was the worst case.  "This was a mistake." Her voice was too small. 

I shouldn't have listened to her blindly. 

But what was done was done. And I knew, killing undead with holy, was freeing them from eternal suffering. So, this was the best course of action, whether I liked it or not. 

No matter how much I hated this, I had to accept reality. 

I tried to help Viola up but she slapped my hand and just cried. 

"How could you? I trusted you. You liar!" She sobbed. "I trusted you." Her voice was tiny and I knew she did trust me, but, there was no going back. 

'If only I hadn't come here.' No, then she would have been dead. This wasn't a mistake. 

I shook my head, I shook my whole body. 'This wasn't a mistake!'

I grabbed Viola and forced her to stand. "He's not your father anymore. You've to get it together!" I shook her. "He would have suffered forever! Would you have liked that? For him to be in pain forever!?" I didn't want to scream but for some reason, I was being way too selfish. "Then get yourself together. He wouldn't have wanted to see you like this. We have to move."

She cried but she didn't say a word. 

I felt a bit of pain in my chest. 'What am I doing?' She was just a girl who didn't know anything and I just killed the last of her loved one. 

This whole thing, this whole mess wouldn't have happened if I just left that time. No, it was too late to regret. I made a decision, and I had to stand by it. 

But I didn't have a choice. That thing tried to kill me and I had to survive. There was no other way. And I did what I had to. 

We got out of the cell but just as we were about to leave, "Viola." The man spoke. He wasn't completely ash yet.  The man smiled. "Take care of her." He turned to ash. "Please- save her." His last words reverberated in the air, they were pointed at me. 

So, he was real. The pain in my chest just got a bit tighter. 

The girl sniffed but she didn't look back. She grimaced but she didn't look back. 

"I will." My voice was small but- but I was going to take responsibility for this. I didn't know how, but I was going to. 

"AHAHAHAH!" A rather villainous laugh went through the whole dungeon. "How did misery taste my lord?" I actually didn't know if the guy could see us or not but he was addressing me the first thing I guess. "My condolences Viola but I never intended for your father to suffer and I might have even made sure he lived if you'd listen. And there's still time. I can bring him back from the dead." He laughed some more. "Come join me."

Meanwhile, Viola was in deep thought. 

My teeth clattered but I controlled my rage. My fist raged but I controlled it. 'I'm going to kill this mother-'

"He's lying. Even Gods can't bring back the dead, at least not in the original form. The few magic that exists are nothing but illusions of mortals, they are not for the living." I had no idea what she just said but I didn't want anything to with resurrected the dead. 

I already had enough of undeads. 

"AHAHHHA! Believe it or not, I can bring back the dead." I guess he was listening to us somehow. "So come join me, this is your last chance."

I kept my eye in every direction and after a minute or two- "Found you-" I threw a bolt of ice and a bird dropped from the corner of a cell- a bat. 

Needless to say, I was shivering with rage. 

"No." Viola's voice was small. "NO!" She screamed louder than ever. "I'm not going to you!"

"AHAHAH!" But the sinister laugh didn't end. I had a feeling there was more. "Now, you shall be crushed along with those heathens!" He kept on laughing until. "Wh-wha, who are you!"

"Just a beautiful elder sister passing by."

It almost felt like a call being cut.

Yeah, I knew the voice. 

And I already had nightmares about it. My burning rage which was making me shiver just moments ago, was gone. I almost felt cold even. 

But before I could worry too much about that-

The walls of the cells began to move and constrict. 

"I have a bad feeling about this." Alisa got close to me. 

"You think? Who's bright idea was to come down here!?"

"Yelling won't get us anywhere. Please follow me," Viola said, looking determined. 

I didn't know if she was going to betray us like we did to her or not, but for the time being, I trusted her. After all, we didn't have any choice. 

The path to the lift was the first to constrict. We were trapped. 

And there were other bats and even a vampire or two among the prisoners. They didn't stand a chance against my sword or my magic. 

Viola ran and so did we, she turned and so did we. 

Lost we were. 

A dead end. 

After literally running for eight minutes, killing seven bats, and twelve vampires, we finally ran into a dead end. The path behind us was so constricted that I couldn't even stand straight, or turn and in front of us was a wall of stone. 

We were so screwed. 

I was using the mystic sword as a means to make this thing not crush us, but if this kept up, either the sword would break or it'd just puncture through the wall, leaving us dead. 

Meanwhile, Alisa was just behind me and Viola was literally rubbing her hands against the wall. Had she gone mad? I sure hope not. 

"Found it!"

'Found what?'

And a second later, the ground beneath us vanished and darkness welcomed us. I kind of had a bad feeling all over again. The ceiling closed almost instantaneously as we fell. 

"AHH?" Even I was confused as to whether I should have screamed or not, after all, nearly two seconds later I fell in water. 

The water smelled very nice. 

So nice, I wanted to throw up a little.