"I'll kill you!" I said coldly as I raised my daggers.
"Kill me? I'd like to see you try!" The obese man stood up from his chair and picked up the glass containing the fairy.
"Primal fire that has kept us going on. Warm flames that have given us protection from the cold."
"[Heat U—"
Heat Up—a tier one fire spell. The most basic spell of the fire element, mostly used for cooking or keeping the caster warm in cold climates.
"[Wind Scythe]"
I cast my spell before he could. The cutting wind flew swiftly and sliced the man's hand clean off.
The obese man let out a sharp cry of pain as he gripped his wrist, trying to stop the blood from gushing out, then looked at the fairy prisoner inside the jar.
In the last second before the jar smashed into the ground, further hurting the fairy inside, I was already there.
I caught the jar, preventing it from breaking.
"I'm sorry for taking so long. I swear I will take revenge for you," I said softly, trying to sound as gentle as possible to the poor, tortured fairy.
"Revenge! For wha—"
"[Wind Hammer]"
The spell fell downward on the man, flattening him into the ground with enough strength to almost break the entire floor beneath us.
I opened the jar and gently lifted her out of that glass prison.
"Please, hold on for a bit longer," I asked of the fairy trapped inside the compress doll.
Her eyes were almost unfocused, barely strong enough to stay conscious, yet she still nodded weakly.
I gently rested the fairy on the desk, making sure she didn't suffer any more than she already had.
Once I carefully placed her down, I turned toward the man who was standing up after being smashed by my spell.
"W-wait! P-please, don't kill me. I-I'll give you information! You hate the [Dark Eclipse], don't you? I can tell you things!" The man shook nervously as he backed away.
Begging for his life? Him? How many fairies had to endure inhuman torture just to be turned into a drug? How many times had he heard the same pleas for mercy?
He didn't even deserve to beg for his life.
"Really? Information about that group?" I asked with a smile, resting my hand on his shoulder.
"Yes! Once I'm safe, I'll tell you everything I know!"
"Safe? Oh, no." I chuckled, patting his shoulder. "I was just surprised you knew something about them. I wasn't planning to let you live or anything." I laughed.
"You... you won't?" the man asked.
"No!" I replied.
After a second of silence, the man threw a surprise punch at me, hoping I had dropped my guard.
Of course, that wasn't going to happen.
Before his punch connected, I raised my dagger and dug the blade deep, slicing through his moving fingers.
"I just so happen to know an awful lot about that group. So, I don't think you're needed anymore."
The man stumbled backward. I quickstepped to his side, tripped him, and shoved him down.
Once he hit the floor hard, I stomped my foot on his neck and pressed down. The man coughed breathlessly, struggling to breathe.
I spun my dagger to point it downward. He grabbed my foot, desperately trying to free himself.
With one last look at his face—still twisted in rage despite his pain—I said nothing and ended his life, stabbing him swiftly in the side of his head. The blade pierced his skull cleanly.
Before leaving this body for good, I grabbed two things from him. His knife he used to torture the fairies, an expensive looking pocket knife that I could use as proof of his death. Then, I searched in his pockets for anything interesting, to which I found a couple of mana stones in a shirt pocket, and some coins scattered around multiple pockets.
With him dead, I turned away from the corpse and looked at the shelf holding the other four fairies.
They were just as mutilated as the one on the desk—missing limbs, cut wings, empty voids where eyes should be, burns, scars.
They were terrified of everything. Terrified of the man who had tortured them. Terrified of me—blood-soaked, face conflicted, carrying the weight of what they'd endured. Terrified of what awaited them next.
I slowly walked to the shelf and, one by one, opened the jars, freeing the four remaining fairies.
They immediately gathered beside the fifth fairy lying on the desk. They circled around her and began comforting one another.
All I could do was let them grieve, waiting until they could calm down enough to face me.
A knock on the door startled me, but the voice that followed eased my nerves.
"Mister, Rachnera finished eating. Do you need our help?" Sheiran called from the other side.
"Go help Gola and Tinalara. I'll catch up later. But if you manage to kill that guy and I haven't joined you yet... come look for me here," I ordered tiredly.
"Kay!" Sheiran exclaimed, his footsteps fading down the hall.
When I looked back at the fairies, their eyes were fixed on me.
"Take as much time as you need. I know you've been through something horrible," I said, forcing a smile and a calm tone.
But one of the fairies gestured for me to come closer.
I nodded and slowly walked up beside them.
Looking down, I saw that while the four I freed were relatively fine considering what they'd suffered, the one tortured in front of me looked extremely weak. The light in her eyes flickered, her breaths shallow.
They gestured for me to lean closer.
Once I did, the most injured one spoke in a hoarse whisper.
"Thank... you..." Her voice was faint, every word strained.
"No... I'm sorry for not acting sooner," I said softly.
And why wouldn't I be sorry? I messed up. Out of shock, I hesitated—watched this fairy be tortured before my eyes while doing nothing.
Not only that, I'd allowed it. I waited until tonight, while they endured inhuman agony long before I even planned to act.
"You never deserved this. I did nothing to help you..." I said again, feeling my eyes grow wet.
"How... kind..." she whispered, forcing a genuine smile through her pain.
"Huh? No... I'm not... I..."
I don't deserve your compassion.
"You feel genuine sadness for us... thank you... human boy..."
"I... thanks. And... I apologize once again for failing to save you all."
As much as I don't feel I deserve her gratitude—or the way she looks at me with such calm, gentle eyes—if I kept rejecting her words, I'd only be cruel.
"Can... can I ask for something... human boy?"
I nodded.
"What's your name?"
"Alen. Just Alen."
"Alen... can you help these girls? These fake bodies are stronger and more resistant. It's impossible for us to shed them and return to being spirits. Take them to their respective elementals, please."
The fairies around her began to argue.
"He may have saved us, but we can't trust a human!"
"Miss Antares, you can't be serious!"
I didn't blame them for doubting me after the hell they'd been through.
Antares, the one lying on her back, shushed them. "Girls, trust him... someone who sheds tears of sadness over people he just met can't be a bad person," she said, smiling weakly.
"Alen... please, take them to their elementals."
"As long as they're fine with me. You could ask me to take them to the ends of Terra and I'd agree, Miss Antares."
Antares smiled at me.
But then, one fairy asked something that froze us all. "Miss Antares... why aren't you including yourself? You'll come with us, right?"
Antares, the others, and even I froze at the question.
"I don't think I have much longer to live... this doll is on the verge of breaking down, and my mana reserves are the lowest they've ever been."
"Then I'll share mana with you, miss! You can't die here!" said one of the fairies.
"I'll give you mine too! It doesn't matter if our reserves don't recharge because of these doll bodies—you're important to us!"
"Nothing you say will change our minds, miss!"
"Girls..."
"I'll also give you my mana if I can!" I said, earning surprised looks from the tiny group.
"Alen..."
"I've never given mana to another person—I didn't even know it was possible—but I'll try. I won't let your end be here, after everything. You deserve a peaceful end, Antares!"
If I can save someone... if I have the power to help someone in need right in front of me... is there any reason to stay still and do nothing?
No!
I'm not going to sit around and waiting for these fairies mentor figure to die. I won't ever have a situation like Clighton where I couldn't do anything to prevent his death.
It doesn't matter if I need to give out all my mana, if I have to suffer through the pain of eating mana stones to increase my reserves ever so slightly, if I don't even know how to share my mana, I won't let Antares die!