The Devil's Crown

LV Tears Of Blood.

“This is the cause of your arrogance!”

Elfric was doing a better job than he thought he would. Despite the hammering heart inside his chest, it never showed on his face, he never swayed. He was firmed and determined. To fool the Generals he had to convince himself before anyone that he was on the winning side, that out there weren’t over a thousand men waiting to just flood in and take them all to hell.

To fool them, it was more important to master his act….but there was no act. This man that was dangling over the solid handrail was very much dead, he made sure that he stays that way too. Now on the tiled terrace floor was real blood melting over the fake-dried one. The warmth of the blood on Elfric’s fingertips shocked his senses to focus. He had no way to look but forward.

“I give you one last chance to seek redemption,” Elfric warned, his tone was nothing less than angry. “You give us our comrades and we all live happily ever after!”

Elfric found it hard to manipulate his own speech to fit the whole family of the Rebels by saying ‘we’ and ‘us’. Almost as if he added himself to the family tree without even asking for the blessing from the family. However, West was more clever than this, he understands that it’s for the sake of the performance.

But, even with Elfric’s sense blown to concentration like never before, there was still a flaw that he was yet to notice. It was so clear, crystal clear.

General Akimov was silent as his men looked up at him waiting for a response. But instead, he leaned toward Toptenov who was questioning his partner’s action.

“We fire,” Akimov mumbled as he kept his eyes straight. “Give the order to the men quietly to start lining their guns with the target.”

“Are you out of your mind?” Toptenov snapped there was nothing about the way he was speaking politely. “You heard the bastard more of our men and hostages are in there right now! Even if he was just a soldier, he is a member of the aristocrats and their families aren’t going to be pleased by having more deaths!”

“There is no one next to him,” Akimov pointed out. Toptenov f0llowed his gaze up, the sun was now at the brink of dusk…this was taking too long. “No one even moved to get him another hostage to hide behind. I have no idea if this is part of the show that he is putting on or a simple gap in his solid plan.”

“All the more reason you shouldn’t do it!” Toptenov said through a tightened jaw, facing him halfway. “Our men are there!”

“These men are dead anyway,” he uttered bluntly. “You either do as I tell you or your position in all of this will only worsen!”

He hit the nail right on the head, there was some sense in what Akimov was saying, Toptenov could see that. Glancing up there he figured that at least 2-3 of them will be hit that is if they are lucky with all the men aiming at them.

Toptenov finally nodded as he sent a man to give the order in silence as Akimov stalled for more time. Hopefully, he will get it.

“We will take the advice,” Akimov grabbed the mic. “Just tell us one thing, why are you doing this? What do you wish to gain by such pointless murders?”

Elfric caught on, they are stalling. He was striking a conversation with him for the sake of time. But what was he planning to do?!

“Collateral damage,” Elfric responded instantly

A word that was always used by Nobles as an excuse for the uncountable deaths of commoners, the reminder only fueled him even further.

“Isn’t that what you give as an excuse for the numerous deaths of commoners on your side?” Elfric took his chance to speak. “Isn’t that the justification that you officially gave! Shouldn’t this also be called collateral? After all, their lives were lost in order for the ones who have inevadable goals for the greater good!”

He paused inhaling sharply, he was taking this a little too personally. He was being emotional even after he promised himself that everything will be done with only logical thinking. However, the way that he was responding to his own words was the most logical thing to do at the moment.

“Or…is satisfying your greed for power more important than the freedom of us who are slaves to your madness?!”

‘He needed to be taken out and now’ Akimov thought. Elfric was saying too much on-air, everyone in the country must be seeing this. Those reporters aren’t going to be quiet about it for at least a month either. He glanced at the soldier who gave the order out and the youngster nodded.

Lines and lines of men were ready and waiting for the signal. From the look of the Rebels up there, they aren’t suspecting anything.

Elfric on the other hand was thinking over and over around the possibilities for the cause of them to stall for time.

“No way…” Elfric breathed out shakingly.

He dared to look back behind to see that they are completely vulnerable. There was no one to hold the General back from firing at them at any second now. Allen and the others dared not speak to ask what was wrong but their expressions spoke enough for the terror inside.

He turned over his heels again to look down below. Every man down there had his face hidden by the rifle that was held up…there was no need to wonder where it’s pointed.

‘Elfric, if you dared to do what I feel inside you, you better cease this instant,’ Orathan warned after a long while of silence.

“I can’t let them die because of my mistake,” he mumbled as he leaned over the rails supporting himself on his palms.

Hysteric laughs escaped his lips despite the fear that cracked his armor. Even Akimov was frowning ignorantly.

“Do you think that your plan will work?” Elfric scoffed mockingly as he peered down. “If you think that you can get rid of this go ahead and do it.” He glared at him despite the distance.

“All their deaths are on your hands!” Elfric reminded me one last time.

“We are ready to fire sir!” the soldier came running to Toptenov.

“Open fire…” h

Elfric could sense the fear that was going behind him radiating from the Rebels, he couldn’t blame them but at least he has got to make sure that at least they get away.

“No matter what you see,” Elfric looked over his shoulder. His voice was calmer than he expected. “You run to that door and never look back.”

“What the hell is going on!” Allen exclaimed they were standing to far to see the rifles pointing at them. But, their ears worked just fine to pick up the resonating sound that escaped over a hundred rifles at once.

‘ELFRIC WOODS! THIS IS MADNESS’

Elfric gave them a reassuring nod, hoping that they picked up the smile underneath his mask amidst this mess. Before they could say any words of protest, they got to the ground covering their heads. The gunshots were too loud that they couldn’t hear the gasps of the people standing down below.

Elfric was standing tall and proud. His golden eyes were narrowed as his muscles tensed. Forcing the last bit of non-existent power to surface and course through his veins, and envelope him with the ease that he has gotten used to.

“SAMAEL GET DOWN!”

To Elfric surprise it was West who ordered but if he did, he was sure that this bullets were going to reach them…

And it would have if the bullets haven’t stopped at the invisible shield that took every last bit of Elfric’s energy.

Allen witnessed once a bullet bouncing off of Samael, but never got a good look on how it happened in the darkness. All he saw was the bullet that should have been inside Samael’s body was clattering on the bloody tiles.

Now that he saw it for himself he realized his mistake…

The bullet back there never reached his body. That same impossible that happened down there was happening up here for all the world to see. If Scarlet was here she would have realized for her own why West was accepting him so willingly.

‘ELFRIC STOP THIS NOW!’ Orathan’s voice rang in Elfric’s head.

The bullet only kept coming at them and he was barely standing at this point. He held on to the rails for support but it was still too much for him in this state. His eyes were watering and aching as tears ran down his cheeks…no they weren’t tears. He realized the taste of the blood that started seeping through his mask.

Allen on the ground on Elfric’s left finally snapped as he saw the blood run down his eyes… ‘He is barely hanging on!’ Allen figured. He knew nothing about Samael but it didn’t take knowledge to know that he was trembling.

“West! We need to get out!” Allen yelled over. “He won’t last much longer!”

“We can’t leave him out here!” West yelled the sound of gunshots muffling his voice.

“He is doing this for us!” Allen protested. “He will die at this rate!”

West didn’t hesitate before he struggled to his feet and got limped his way inside, and Allen was on his tail.

Elfric felt relief wash over him knowing them to be in safety. He gathered his strength to walk in reverse till he was finally in the safety of the wall. He wasn’t yet done, he was going to make them cry blood down there just as he was.

Glancing to the side he saw the two fainted bodies of the soldiers in white.

“They are going to regret acting smart with me,” Samael mumbled.