1853 Alone

Chris continued to lay on the ground, even though he was now much better. The wound on his body had somewhat healed to the point where it wouldn't cause him any more discomfort or harm. There would be a scar left there, but that was just another of the many to add to his collection, and he actually wished to keep this one.

Leo had departed shortly after defeating Chris and telling him with those words. So now Chris was left with his own thoughts, thinking back at the whole situation and what had happened.

'I lost…From how Master talked about this, I always thought that if the two of us fought, it would be to the death.' Chris thought. 'The hatred Master felt when he talked about his past, he had attempted to pass it onto me.

'However, I never did feel the same hatred as he did. It was hard for me to relate. But I was in his debt. So, of course, I would do as he told me, and if it was to just defeat one person, then so be it. It was just, I was expecting Leo to carry the same hatred as his Master, but it looks like he doesn't. Either way, I've lost now…so what does that mean for me.'

Chris pulled his upper body up but was still on the ground. Once in a while, he would feel the whole island shake. Without a doubt, this was the power of Chris' Master. It seemed like their fight was still going on as well.

'If Master hasn't beaten his opponent now, it must mean the person he's fighting against is strong as well.' Chris thought. 'These people, they are incredibly strong, and they're the ones that are saving the humans and the planet.'

When thinking about it more and the Pure's goal, Chris thought it was all pointless. Humans were weak creatures. Even if they taught everyone the power of Qi, there were only so few people that could amount to what he and his Master could do.

At the end of the day, even then, Chris had lost his battle against Leo because the latter was a vampire who also knew how to use Qi as well. And alongside those with abilities, the humans were also able to survive the first war.

If they truly got rid of all the abilities in the world and replaced them with Qi, then can they beat the Dalki if the latter were to return? Could they have defeated the vampires as well? Right now, perhaps it was just due to his recent defeat, but in his head, the answer was no. The Qi was still far off compared to the power of abilities, and he felt removing the abilities would only weaken the whole race against external threats.

After all, they wouldn't be on the losing end right now otherwise.

Letting out a big sigh, Chris was on the verge of giving up. Whatever happened to him, he would let it be, if that meant the ants on this island and other insects were to eat his body, then that would be fine as well.

'Look at me, without any goal, I feel completely lost.' Chris thought as he heard the whole island rumble again, and a rise in power was felt coming from a certain direction.

"I should at least see this through to the end. This could be the last time I see him. I should at least thank him for giving me the life that I have now." Chris stood up and started to head toward the direction of the fight.

On his way there, the entire jungle was ruined and burnt. This continued for more than a kilometre, and he still hadn't reached the fighting yet, but moving the Qi to his ears, he could hear in the distance people conversing.

"You're a fool!" A voice exclaimed, "You have no idea who that marking belongs to! How can you trust the words of someone like that? You say you understand us, but if you did, you would have never agreed to let him mark you. Every one of us just does things for our own gain, and it's true even for me right now! Whatever he's promised you, you will never get it. Do not believe him!"

The context of the conversation made no sense to Chris, and suddenly, everything went silent. The voice died out, the sound of fighting stopped, and the energy he felt earlier dispersed as well. Upon getting closer, Chris came across a large slash made across the whole island.

Water had filled the deep cut, making a strange type of stream of seawater. It was unnatural, to say the least, and was clearly a result of the battle that had taken place. After a few more minutes of walking ahead, Chris finally reached the beach. He could see several of these cuts on the island, now filled with water, and what surprised him even more were the corpses of fishes and other sea creatures floating on the water's surface.

On the largest crack on the island, which Chris had followed, he could see Leo staring outward.

Looking to his left and then to his right, Chris was expecting to find Zero somewhere on the beach, dead and blood to be spilt everywhere, but the latter was nowhere to be seen at all.

"Where is he? Where is my Master's body?" Chris asked.

"Master?" Sera said, gripping his broken sword. It was a regular sword which most likely broke into half during the fight. Although he had plenty more on his body that he could use, Sera looked reactively tired as well. He shook his head and replied, "That so-called Master of yours decided to run away."

Chris's heart sank when he heard those words. He didn't expect this.

"He…he ran away..but why?"

It made no sense in his head. The two of them went everywhere together, and before coming to the island, they knew that this was possibly their final stint. If they were to lose this, then the two of them had done what they could. They would fight to the death, yet his Master had run away and, on top of that, had done so without him.

"I told you. That man has changed." Leo added. "I don't know if he was different when you first met him. Perhaps he was softer and closer to the man that I remember, but now he is a man who is willing to abandon someone who has been by his side for so long. No, wait, even calling him a man would insult all of us."

Chris fell to his knees because, in his head, he had lost two things on this day. The only person he ever really knew, someone like a father to him, and the whole purpose of his life.

"That damned slimy bastard!" Sera threw the broken sword onto the ground in frustration. "He already had a lot of power, and then he must have borrowed an enormous amount from that sicko, and who would have thought, huh? The person who has secretly been running Pure, the very top of the whole organisation, has an ability himself! He certainly left that one till the end."

Sera let out his frustration and felt speechless at Zero's hypocrisy.

Leo had come at the tail end just to see a few slashes of their battle. He was unsure if Zero had decided to leave just because he had turned up, but it certainly did make the latter act differently. Perhaps, Zero even thought that Chris was dead after seeing Leo leaving him to make his final decision.

"I'm beat." Sera sighed, lying in the sand. "I'm tired of chasing after these guys. We got one of them, so that should be enough, right? Besides, all the Shelters are now back in the Earthborn Group's control, and the Vampire Soldiers are doing well.

"The people seem to have taken a liking to them after saving their backside, who would have thought."

Leo was unsure if this was the right decision. Seeing Zero's action upon meeting the latter today, he felt that he would come back some day regardless. Still, the only reason why Leo decided not to give chase was that he would continue to train with his body, and if he met Zero in the future, or if the latter were to appear, he would be ready to take him on.

"Anyway, I don't plan to stay here for long. So let's deal with the elephant in the room." Sera got up and brushed the sand off his armour and clothes. "Now, what should we do with this guy?"

Both Leo and Sera were now looking toward Chris.

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