The Destroyer of Blood is surprised by Slady's prototype eye, holding her spear more firmly than before.
"For such an ordinary human, you impress me."
She advances on Slady at high speed to attack him.
When she opens her left eye, it was as if her vision was enhanced to much greater levels, it was like a microscope.
Slady quickly covers her right (normal) eye to use only the vision of the prototype eye.
Then when Raintalya advances against him, one of the claws deflects the blood spear, counterattacking to pierce it.
The Destroyer of Blood dodges the claw and throws the weapon at speed towards Slady, he dodges the spear and fires with the double pistol.
Despite trying to dodge, she is hit with a shot in the foot, causing her to be electrocuted and burned in the area.
"Bastard..." she mutters to herself.
The Destroyer of Blood creates a sphere of blood and throws it into the air, starting to rain blood stakes around it.
Slady's five mechanical claws manage to defend him automatically, as if they had a life of their own.
Trying to take advantage of Slady's low defense, the Destroyer of Blood advances on Slady from behind, creating a blood spear to pierce him.
Slady manages to dodge it due to her enhanced vision and tries to land a blow on the Destroyer of Blood's face.
She leans back, then using the blood to create a kind of armor around her leg, she tries to kick Slady's prototype arm.
But at the last second, one of Slady's claws grabs her leg and throws her away, considering the fact that the rain of blood stakes has ended.
The Destroyer manages to stay on her feet, landing gracefully.
Then she tries to concentrate to create a blood armor around her body from the neck down.
But without being able to react, Slady had already advanced and punched the Blood Destruction in the stomach, breaking the armor that was forming.
"Ah!"
She coughs up blood and takes a few steps back, becoming disoriented for a second.
But taking advantage of this moment, Slady advances towards her, striking her face with her mechanical arm, two claws wrap around the Destroyer of Blood's legs and throws her towards a rock that was on fire.
As she is thrown, the Destruction screams in pain, due to the impact, which created smoke and the fire reaching her body.
Using the prototype's vision, Slady begins to shoot at the smoke, hitting certain areas of the Destruction's body, who feels her body being burned and electrocuted from the inside.
"You damn human!!"
She came out of the smoke, now with a blood armor wrapped around her body, some parts of her body are necrotic and fried, now the Destroyer of Blood was furious.
"I'll make him pay for this!"
She stomps on the ground hard, creating several blood spikes that go towards Slady, who uses his claws to jump into the air, but the spikes rise, stretching upwards, the Blood Destroyer uses this to run towards Slady and try to cut him with the blood spear.
He manages to defend the attack with his bionic arm, the claws stick to the spikes to try to move him.
But the Destroyer's strength makes Slady be pushed down, falling to the ground, creating a great impact.
When the smoke lowers, the Destroyer sees that three claws are wrapping around her arms to stop her from the attack and two are behind Slady, managing to stop the fall damage.
She pulls the spear out and tries to push it harder against Slady's head, but Slady's bionic hand holds her hand, some circuits are broken, but easily fixable for Slady, who showed no emotion on her face.
"Raintalya, try to go back..."
The Destroyer of Blood tries to pull the spear back, but can't due to the strength of Slady's prototype.
Her head starts to hurt, as if hearing Slady's voice awakens something inside her.
"No...!"
She steps away, placing both hands on her head, groaning in pain.
"She's not coming back, Huma-"
She had her sentence cut off in half when she felt her chest being crushed. It was Slady, who had taken advantage of that moment to try to end the fight.
He pulls out his heart, which had been corrupted by the Renkai Energy, turning into a heart made of blood.
Feeling a heavy heart, Slady crushes that heart. The Destroyer's eyes widen, she lets go of the spear, her armor falls apart, turning into just a liquid of blood and her eyes return to their normal shape, indicating that the Destroyer of Blood is gone...
"Slady...?" Raintalya says in a tired voice.
She falls into her friend's arms. It was noticeable that tears were coming out of her eyes due to the physical and emotional pain.
Slady remained impassive. He takes his eyepatch and now covers the prototype so Raintalya wouldn't see. His mechanical claws return to his back, causing a small pain that Slady seemed to be used to.
"..."
Raintalya looks at Slady, placing her hand on his face and caressing his cheek, seeming to feel relieved at the moment of death.
"Thank you, Slady... you freed me."
She offers one last smile, it was so genuine...
Then she falls from Slady's arms, dead. The silence is agonizing, being interrupted by a clap of hands.
"Impressive!!"
A mocking female voice is heard in the dimension, then appears in front, along with another man.
They are the children of Krythos, known as: the Destroyer of Lust and the Destroyer of Wrath.
The body of the Destroyer of Lust is covered by shadows, which cover only her breasts, intimate parts and buttocks. Her smile is purely malicious.
Her brother had an enormous coldness, looking at Slady with hatred.
The woman walked up to Slady, chuckling softly.
"Haha, it must be so sad not to be able to save your friend, huh?" Her voice was mocking.
"She's so weak, just like your husband and those brothers we killed." She hid her laughter with her hand.
Slady looked at the Destroyer of Lust with no emotion on her face, no desires, nothing. But upon hearing the woman's words, Slady understood the points.
The children of Krythos killed Jonhye and Natasha, also turning Raintalya into the Destroyer of Blood, they caused everything.
"You..."
Suddenly, the woman threw herself on top of Slady.
"I think I should reward you... or punish you for killing your little friend."
Slady prepared to defend herself, but the Destroyer of Lust felt a firm touch on her shoulder, it was her brother.
"Behave yourself." The Wrath Destroyer says in a cold voice.
She lowered her head, standing up and standing behind the Destroyer, hugging him from behind.
It was noticeable that the only person the woman had no malice towards was her brother, being genuinely submissive and loving towards him.
When Slady was about to get up, she felt a kick in her face, falling to the ground, having her face rubbed by the Wrath Destroyer's foot.
"You're very lucky that I'm in a good mood today, you would be dead."
He and his sister walked away, taking one last look at Slady, who was lying on the ground, processing everything that had happened.
His friends were dead, the only one who survived, Raizer, was between life and death.
A few days later, the city began to be rebuilt. The news reported that Raizer had been one of the city's saviors, with the heroic sacrifice of Raintalya, Jonhye and Natasha, but absolutely nothing was mentioned about Slady.
Raizer was lying in a hospital bed, sitting in silence, as if remembering the moments he had with his beloved, which would never come back.
He looked at the TV, which was broadcasting a news program, letting out a tired sigh.
Suddenly, the door to the room opened, and a nurse came in, offering a kind expression.
"Mr. Raizer, you have visitors."
She nodded respectfully and left the room. Then footsteps were heard, belonging to Slady, who appeared at the door of the room.
He entered the room. Raizer felt a little better knowing that at least one friend had survived. Before he could say anything, Slady spoke first.
"I'll be very direct."
Despite his emotionless tone, he was serious. He sat down in the chair next to him and told him everything that happened in the Second Renkai Awakening, except for the part after Raintalya's death.
Raizer was shocked by Slady's words. It wasn't just the fact that Slady had defeated the Blood Destroyer, but also the fact that he had killed his wife. But when Slady explained why and Raintalya's last words, Raizer felt less bad. In fact, he felt empathy for Slady, thinking that it must have been worse for him than for himself.
"I... I'm so sorry... I'm thankful that she rested in peace. Thank you, Slady."
He felt like crying, Slady could tell easily, so he got up to leave. But Raizer stopped him.
"Slady."
"Hm?" Slady turned to Raizer, waiting for him to speak.
"Elisa... was she okay?" Raizer asked, worried.
"Yes, she's fine." Slady said in an emotionless tone.
Raizer felt immensely relieved, continuing to speak.
"Can you take care of her for me, until I can go home?"
It was noticeable the trust Raizer had in Slady, who just nodded positively and left the room, in silence.
As he walked through the streets and neighborhoods of Libretãnhya, Slady looked at the people, they seemed calmer, still recovering from the Second Renkai Awakening.
After walking for a long time, Slady entered an area further away from the city, almost close to the forests, which dominate a good part of the world.
It was a field, where there was a humble mansion, nothing too extravagant, but it made it clear that the owner had a lot of money. Nearby there was a river and a plantation for wine production.
As he stood in front of the door, Slady knocked lightly twice.
"..."
Then the door opens, and a young maid appears, who still seems a little shaken by what happened in the last few days, but seems to feel good when she sees Slady.
"Mr. Slady?"
She goes to the man, hugging him, wanting only to hide in him.
Slady lets out a sigh, placing her hand in the girl's hair.
"Are you okay? Did you take good care of Elisa?"
"Yes, I'm just tired, that girl has a lot of energy."
Even with her face on Slady's chest, you can see a small, happy smile from the girl.
She moves away from Slady, holding Slady's left hand, as if she wants to keep him close.
"I'm sorry about what happened to Raintalya, is Mr. Raizer okay?" asks the maid, sad but hopeful.
Slady doesn't object to holding the girl's hand, just continuing to talk.
"Yes, he'll be back in a few days."
"Go take a shower and go home to see your parents."
The girl looks at Slady, happier.
"Thank you, I'm worried about them, I'm going to take a shower."
She turns around and walks away to get her clothes and take a shower. Slady walks through the mansion, going to Elisa's room, who was sleeping in her crib, wearing baby clothes and a diaper.
"..."
Slady just sits on a chair and watches the girl in silence. After a few minutes, the maid comes out of the bathroom, wearing more casual clothes and goes to the room.
"Slady?" the girl calls.
"Yes?"
"I'm curious..."
She goes to Slady and sits on a bench in front of him, asking in a low tone.
"Where were you *that day*?"
Slady was surprised, but showed no reaction, understanding that she had referred to the Second Renkai Awakening.
"I was far from the city." Slady lied.
The maid looks at him, unable to decipher whether it is true or false in Slady's tone or expression, just nodding.
"You must feel bad about this? Not being able to do anything for Raintalya or even for Jonhye and Natasha, right?" She asks.
"Yes."
Slady felt bad about it for real, in the other context. But she remained emotionless.
"I'm sorry about this, I'm glad you're okay. I'm going to go to my parents, I miss them."
Slady nods, then the maid stands up and waves kindly to Slady, leaving.
He just leans back in the chair, watching Elisa in the crib, letting out a sigh.
"It'll be just the two of us for the next few days, little one."
A few more days pass, Raizer managed to leave the Libretãnhya hospital, he walked around the city, some people stopped him when they recognized him, always thanking him. He didn't understand the reason for that recognition, in his view, he hadn't done anything.
When he arrived at the mansion, he took a deep breath and opened the door, coming across a beautiful scene:
Slady was sleeping on the couch in the living room with some books on the table, probably a failed attempt to find something he hadn't read.
On his lap was Elisa, who was playing with toys and watching television, looking very happy to be on Slady's lap, who even though he was asleep, had his hand on the girl's waist so she wouldn't fall.
The girl looked at Raizer, the girl screamed.
"Daddy!!"
She jumped off Slady's lap, running to Raizer. The man managed to give a genuine smile, picking her up and giving the girl a few kisses.
"Daddy's back, my princess. Did Uncle Slady take care of you?"
He looks at Slady, who had just woken up due to the girl's scream.
"Yes, he took great care of me, he's the best!" The girl waves her small arms, hugging her father.
Slady looks at the girl and Raizer, letting out a sigh.
"Yeah."
Raizer puts the girl down on the floor again, patting her.
"Can you go to your room? Slady and I will talk."
"Sure, Daddy!"
She goes to Slady, hugging his leg.
"I love you, Slady."
Slady was surprised by the words, but nodded positively.
The girl went to the room and Raizer looks at Slady with a serious look, sitting next to him, still very shaken by some things.
"How do you feel?" Slady asks.
"Better, I'm still sad about everything, I want to have a funeral for everyone, I want to honor my wife and the young people."
Slady was thoughtful for a few seconds, nodding.
"I can participate, if you want."
Slady said, trying to be kind.
"Thank you, Slady. It's very important to me. I feel very bad."
Slady nodded.
"I understand, go rest-"
He was interrupted by Raizer, who said.
"I received the diagnosis, it says that part of my heart has been corrupted by Renkai, I won't have much time to live, can you promise me something, Slady?"
Slady looked at Raizer with a neutral expression, waiting for his answer.
"I would be very grateful if... you could take care of Elisa for me, she and you are the only thing I have left of familiarity."
Slady understood how important it was, nodding.
"I'm sorry about that, I'll do what I can."
Raizer nods with a smile.
"Thank you, Slady... for everything."
*Back to the present.*
"Slady...?"
Raizer slapped Slady's forehead, which brought him out of his thoughts.
He remembers that Elisa is sleeping on his lap, his only thought about it was: "how she's grown..."
"Is something bothering you, Slady?" Old Raizer asks with a smile on his face.
"No, no... just *some* thoughts..."
Slady felt exhausted...