Nightmare Mythos

"Joshua—"

"God damn it, shut up for a sec, Reyna! Why do I have to watch you every time like you're a goddamn kid! Man up, will you?!"

Joshua hissed as he immediately tried to treat his decapitated arm by putting some blue liquid to momentarily stop the bleeding using his facet. With a click of his tongue, he added.

"Go to your fucking position! We'll hold on! I just got caught off guard, that's all,"

Reyna was visibly shaken as she traced where the missing arm went. Calming down at the very least, she went beside Joshua and positioned herself.

"I'm sorry… I'm really sorry…"

With blood dropping at his left, Joshua shook his head as he said weakly, "It's all right. It's not your fault…"

Thud—!

As their attention is stuck on the Nightmare, they begin to brace themselves. However, what could they even do at this point?

It was Nightmare, and judging the ominous aura it was emanating involuntarily, they could immediately deduce that it wasn't like any other Nightmare they had faced.

The display of raw power was apparent.

Whoosh—!

The Nightmare lightly took a step before disappearing at its place to lunge aggressively towards both of them.

Reyna took a step back before using a Technique that her family had given her before entering the Academy.

"Right!"

Joshua, who understood the assignment, immediately used his huge sword to defend the swift action in hopes that it was enough.

However, it was just a bit too much.

Thud—!

His sword instantly broke and the Nightmare's great sword immediately went to his head.

But Reyna who could only watch everything in the process managed to pull Joshua out. With great effort, she managed to keep him one whole.

However, this fruitless action started to take over their cursed situation when the Nightmare's arms pivoted directly at them.

Slash—!

Reyna wanted to avoid the attack, thinking that Joshua would do the same but that moment didn't happen.

Tap—!

Reyna found herself being thrown away by Joshua, who took all the brunt of the damage of the Nightmare's great sword upon realizing defending wasn't even going to work.

"No!"

Reyna watched Joshua's chest open up, blood spurting everywhere.

Slash—!

The Nightmare tried to finish Joshua fast to put its attention next to Reyna, but it got caught off guard when its attack was missed.

Joshua with great effort, bleeding from his chest, tried to hug the Nightmare's legs. But instead of trying to do something, he only shouted one word.

"Run!"

A gasp left Reyna's mouth.

'Run where?'

Reyna stood frozen at her place briefly before starting to walk. However, instead of running away, she approached Joshua slowly.

As she tried to ask the reason for his unneeded rescue, Reyna saw the Nightmare's great sword plunged toward Joshua's back, impaling him with it.

"Bleurgh!"

Joshua tried to tightly hug the Nightmare to buy Reyna even a little bit of time but the strength he could apply started to fade as he found himself hurt all over his body.

Crack—!

Just as the Nightmare was about to move, a strange hole appeared right above its head as if waiting for the perfect time to enter the scene.

There, an individual wearing a robe appeared and took the creature inside the hole it manifested.

With a triumphant smile and face, the Heretic clenched the key in his hand strongly.

"I finally caught this giant… Let's see if it will work at the Keeper,"

The Heretic mused happily before closing down the storage using the Librarian's Key in his hand.

Once he was done with the small things, he glanced towards Reyna and finally at Joshua.

"Thank you for buying time, kid. For that, you'll be spared," The Heretic chuckled, "Your buddy's not going to make it though. That's sad. But anyways, his death will be your burden,"

The Heretic waved his hand before started running away from their position. On the other hand, Reyna could only blankly stare at the fast series of events that occurred in their front.

But the important thing she needed to do right in this instant took over her mind as she immediately ran towards Joshua.

"Joshua…!"

Joshua was in a poor state. Her mind raised as Reyna found herself thinking of trying to do something.

At least anything to relieve Joshua from his position.

It doesn't matter what that is.

But after losing an arm, receiving a direct hit in his chest that didn't stop the blood from pouring out, and a great sword impaled at its back, he was already beyond rescue.

This reality was made clear by Joshua first.

"Reyna… stop…"

But the one who kept denying it was still Reyna.

"No! No! I have to do something! Please, don't leave me yet!"

Joshua watched Reyna attempting to rescue his irreparable situation but he knew she was just wasting her time.

"Reyna…"

To put it to a stop, Joshua raised his hand and caressed Reyna's cheek. Her agitated actions as she tried to find a solution, came to a full stop when she felt his hand from her face.

"Take care of Nike for me…"

Reyna bit her lips as the only thing she could do right now was cry her heart out. Nodding once as tears continued dropping down, she only listened to Joshua's words.

"Nike is a troublesome… kid. We've only got each other since we were abandoned by our parents but now… he will need someone to rely on. Please… let it be… you,"

Sob—!

Joshua struggled to emit words from his mouth as his eyes went full black. He couldn't see anything else now.

But he knew, Reyna was still there.

He could still feel her tears falling from his hands.

"About the kiss… I'm glad we felt the same thing,"

Tears started to drop under his eyes as well.

"Thank you for being with me for only a short moment of time. I hoped… I really hoped that we could spend each other's company outside and notice our feelings a bit sooner…"

Joshua seemed like he wanted to add something more but his face already grew pale. His hand slowly went down from Reyna's cheek as his eyes grew lifeless.

"Joshua… Joshuaaa!"

Joshua was dead.

Reyna continued bawling her eyes out as she hugged Joshua, her undeniable screams could be the only thing heard around her.

Crack—!

"Brother…?"

And just as it was still not enough, Reyna heard an unsteady voice from behind. Glancing behind, she saw Nike staring at the mutilated corpse of his brother with a great sword impaled at his back.

Crack—!

"Jacqueline, grab her! It's about the fluctuations' about to start!"

Sergeant Alms shouted as Nike seemed to be still in a daze as he watched his brother's lifeless corpse from his position.

Soon enough, confusion and anger erupted from Nike's heart as he gritted his teeth and shouted in spite.

Crack—!

"What happened here, Reyna?!"

Reyna tried to avoid his gaze but she soon felt another woman's hand on hers. Watching Jacqueline holding hers, she heard her whisper in a nervous tone.

"Hold tight…"

Soon, the fluctuations inside the Library occurred as they went through its first phase, the Floating Period.

The last thing Reyna knew at that time was leaving Joshua's corpse behind.