Lara screamed with suppressed rage:
"We found nothing wrong with her... yet she does not wake! If you do not tell me what must be done... I will kill you!"
She unsheathed her sword and pointed it directly at his throat. The world seemed to freeze. Some fell to the ground in terror, while others recoiled.
But Kim... he simply smiled.
He took a step forward until the blade grazed his neck, and blood began to trickle down. With a mad laugh, he said:
"Would you kill the only one who holds the answer to saving your leader? What a worthless follower you are!"
He laughed hysterically. Lara pulled her sword back, screaming: "You cursed demon!"
Kim looked at her with ice-cold eyes and replied:
"A demon? At least I am a demon with a white heart. But you... you are angels only on the outside. As for the inside? It is filthier than Hell."
At that moment, a brilliant light split the heavens. A man in priest's robes descended, clutching a majestic scepter. Lara and everyone else bowed instantly—except for Kim.
The Priest looked at him, his voice calm yet imposing:
"Are you the reason Raffaela will not wake? She is a kind girl... she did not hurt you."
Kim replied with utter indifference: "I thought the matter was... fun."
"Fun?" the Priest repeated in astonishment.
Lara lunged with her sword to end Kim, but the Priest commanded: "Stop."
"But, my Lord!" she cried in anger.
"Leave him," he answered firmly.
As she turned her back, Kim spoke in a terrifyingly low whisper:
"He didn't stop you out of mercy for me... but because if you had taken one more step, you would be dead."
She trembled.
The Priest asked: "Who are you?"
Kim answered: "Someone... who fights just to die."
The Priest laughed for the first time in his life. Then, with deadly seriousness, he said:
"Your future is catastrophic... how have you not died yet?"
Kim replied with vacant eyes:
"I know my end... and I have accepted it. What matters to me is the end of those I love."
Silence fell over the place. Finally, the Priest said: "I can heal you."
Kim laughed: "A priest wanting to save a demon? You are like a mouse that wants the cheese... but is already in the trap."
The two of them laughed together. But the truth was colder than the laughter... Kim was fighting life itself. A life... that was never fair.