Earth’s Doom Starts with… Me?

"AAAGH!" Erenduill screamed in agony while he desperately clutched his chest and scratched my foot in desperation.

Weird. I didn't feel pity for him. If I was in his position, surely I wouldn't be pitying myself, too. After all, we were both fighting for our own cause, right? It should be logical to face the consequences, both good and bad.

I stared down at him with a cold gaze, very contrasting with his face that adorned this mix of pain, panic, and... Fear.

Huh, although I didn't feel sorry for him, not even one bit, I wasn't exactly happy watching him suffer, too. It was just... It felt natural that in a fight, there would be a winner and a loser. Or maybe just losers on both ends.

Well, Eli disagreed with me on that aspect, though. He believed that a fight could be settled without any winning or losing side... Maybe one day I would understand. But for someone like me who grew up just for the sake of my country's victory, it was hard for me to imagine a battle where there was no winning or losing side. Either one lost, or both lost.

I let out a short sigh as I reminisced about Eli for just one second. I wonder when I would meet him again? Was he even here--

"Get off me!" The elf king suddenly shouted as he gasped for air and pulled out his dagger.

"Okay." I swiftly pulled my heel out of his chest, dodging his slash as fresh blood spurted out of his chest like a fountain.

"Kkh--!" He reflexively pressed the gaping wound on his chest, as if trying to cover the wound and stop the massive bleeding, but with minimal success.

'STAB!'

"What happened? Are you that nervous that you forgot you shouldn't pull out in case of a stab wound?" I smirked, mocking him while I stomped my sharp ice heel on both his hand and chest this time, "here, let me plug your arteries up again. Aren't I so nice and obedient, pulling out when you told me to and plugging your wound back up when you're gushing out blood?"

"You're... Mistaken if you... Think you've succeeded!" He yelled in-between his heavy breathing, while he charged up his green ball using his other hand.

"Am I?" I waved my hand and picked up an unconscious elf using my psychokinesis, before slamming his body on Erenduill's green ball, ripping the poor elf apart. Whoa, I forgot that the ball was too powerful for a mere elf knight. Sorry, dead elf guy. I forgot that you were weak. Press F to pay respect.

"Arise, my monsters!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, which caught me off-guard.

Did he still have monsters in store? Where? What monsters?

'ROAAR!'

Ah, geez. Annoying.

I clicked my tongue when I saw a multitude of mini blackies--mini tree monsters started to sprout and emerge from the ground. Did he slaughter an entire race of tree buddies and kept them as his summons? Or contracted companions, or whatever?

Ugh, no choice then. I had to--

"Chae! We'll take care of the monsters!" Jeanne's voice startled me, who was just starting to make an ice sword out of my magic to start slaughtering the mini trees.

"Yes, big sister Chae! Please leave this to us!" Firiell also chimed in, which surprised me. I didn't expect she could keep up with us.

I smiled, glad that they were my subordinates.

"Looks like it's just you and me, then." I stared back at Erenduill, who was starting to look paler, way paler than his already pearly-white complexion.

"... I alone am enough to defeat you." He scoffed and started to charge his green ball again.

'STAB!'

"Ah ah, it would be a waste to just throw this ice sword, you know? So let me use it once, okay?" I said as I stabbed his wrist until his ball of green mana-thingy started to dim. Although my ice sword immediately broke, understandably so, too, since it wasn't made by Koji, at least it weakened him a bit.

'BAM!'

He launched the ball unto me regardless, which hit me straight in my chest.

"Hmm, since when did you get this weak?" I smirked and taunted him, "see? I didn't even take one step backwards." I pointed towards myself with confidence.

"Kkh--!"

I smiled as I saw his eyes widen, his forehead full of sweat and his teeth gritting in anger... If only he knew that that shit hurrrrttttt mannnn. Honestly, the impact was still huge even though he was already weakened. I managed to hold my position by hitting myself in the back using my psychokinesis, thus helping me to not get blown away.

But maaaaan, now both my chest and back hurt! Ugh, I wanted to weep but I had to hold back and appear unbothered to apply mental pressure. I swear, they better let me go to a spa after all this trouble...!

"Alright, time to really end this." I glared down at him, while deepening my heel stab.

"Ugh-- Wh--"

"Freeze."

'CRACKLE!'

My eyes stared straight at him without blinking, not even once. I was in extreme focus, concentrating to muster my most powerful, most controlled magic so far. I directed my mana towards the ice on my heel, flowing it naturally and smoothly.

As the ice on my heel started to expand, freezing his hand, and then his chest, his skin, muscle, and finally, heart.

'Crackle, crackle!'

"Hoo..." I inhaled deeply while I concentrated on my ice magic. I could sense where each ice shard appeared and extended, and I could even feel his muffled heartbeat, courtesy of his undying, unrelenting heart that was still trying its best to sustain its owner's life.

"Gah--!" He took one long gasp, and stared at me with horror, until a few teardrops appeared on the corner of his eyes.

I frowned upon the sight. Were those tears of pain? Of fear, perhaps, since he was dying? ... Or were those tears of regret? But regret of what?

... Although I understood that it was none of my business, I still felt a little desire to understand him, to understand what exactly brought him to this point. Perhaps it had been a bad habit of me for a long time, but I was always curious about my enemies' 'why' and 'how'.

Oh well, it was probably already too late. After all, what could one do with a frozen heart? Even if he managed to kill me right this second somehow, he would still die of blood loss or infection or something. It was a desire to understand that could not be fulfilled, anyway.

... Wait, no.

A frozen heart, exactly. The crest should be okay even though it was frozen, right? Great, guess it was time to snatch another crest... But should I risk my life for another crest?

"Stop struggling. It's going to be more painful for you if you do so." I crouched down, lessening the distance between us. Me with my heel on top of his chest, and him, half-dying, lying sprawled underneath me.

"E... Eli... Cough--!"

"What..?" My ears twitched and my eyes went wide upon hearing the word that had just left his mouth. Did I mishear? Did he really just say--

"Elias... That man will surely... Find you... And he will kill you." He continued with heavy breathings.

For a moment, I felt like I had frozen even time itself.

My heart raced at the mention of him. What sort of relationship did they have? Since when did they know each other? Where was Eli right now? ... And would he really kill me?

'Crackle!'

"Aghh--!"

"What do you know about that man!?" I yelled at him and grabbed his collar in frustration as my chest huffed and puffed.

"You two... Know each other?" He asked while raising his eyebrow, looking genuinely confused, before suddenly smirking, "hmph. You're both humans... And yet... An elf like me knows more... Than you do. Humans sure are strange."

'SMACK!'

"Don't talk like you know everything." My face scrunched up in annoyance, while he just stared back at me with cold, dying eyes after I slapped his cheek. Now, I was the unstable one instead of him.

"Do you have the right... To say that despite not... Understanding his goal?" Erenduill asked with his fading voice.

... His goal?

Of course I knew his goal. I knew what he wanted, what he was fighting for, and even down to his struggle to achieve them.

But, Erenduill was right.

That was Eli from a few years back.

Not this one, the one who didn't even recognize me.

I bit my lip in frustration for not being able to accept that fact, and unleashed my frustration by bursting out my ice magic until his entire trunk and stomach froze.

"... I don't listen to last words." I bitterly said to Erenduill, as my eyebrows knotted into a frown, and my vision blurred because of the tears that were starting to well in my eyes.

"Send my regards to... Elias. That human... I would like to see his dream come to fruition." Erenduill closed his eyes, and smiled.

At that moment, he resembled a baby to me. Sleeping so peacefully, as if he didn't even know what the word 'problem' meant. As if the darkness and comfort of sleeping were the safest, the best places to be... As if he wasn't obligated to sustain himself anymore.

"Kkh--!" I frowned as my nose started to turn red, and extended my ice all the way up to his head, with my ice preserving his peaceful expression perfectly and immaculately.

I bent down, until it was low enough for me to reach his ear, and whispered,

"...I envy you."

As expected, there was no response from the frozen king. His peaceful expression was still unchanging. Good. I didn't want him to hear this, and yet... I felt like I needed to get this off of my chest.

I leaned back, my face only a few centimeters away from his.

"... I really, really envy you."

Drops of tears started falling on top of the ice adorning his beautiful face, both glimmering under the gentle moonlight from above. How unfitting. My tears looked so out of place on top of his tranquil expression.

While holding back my sobbing, I clenched my fists.

"... Damn it."