The Center of Cosmos

CHAPTER THIRTY

Chapter Thirty

Celine with all her might stands up from the ground. She looked back at Shin as she spits the blood in her mouth.

“Already tired?” Shin mockingly asks.

“You should’ve asked me before the battle,” Celine replied sarcastically as she straightened her back.

“Oh, my bad,” he answered.

“Yes you are, but I’m the worse,” Celine uttered and arise herself on the air.

Without noticing Mathew and the rest, she attacks again, striking and giving a shot of her magic. She and her enemy were surrounded by flashes of lightning.

Shin did not have any chance to defend himself when she kick him down on the head making him fall and land roughly on the trees below them.

“…Not bad,” she heard him utter before attacking her again.

Celine failed to strike magic at him because of his speed, luckily she dodge his sword but received a punch on her stomach. She groaned in pain and started to catch his speed. They dodge and attack each other in all the chances they have.

Mathew and the rest who remained spectators to the battle couldn’t even see the happenings. To their surprise, they saw Celine’s back suddenly slammed on the barrier and electrified her.

She yelps in pain.

“Celine!” Mathew shouted worriedly.

“There, now I could finally see that you’re hurt!” Shin announced followed by a loud laugh.

Mathew glared at the enemy as he grabbed the handle of his sword but couldn’t manage to take it out from its scabbard and was interrupted when he cough blood.

“Your majesty, please don’t push yourself too much,” Lucas uttered.

“…Damn,” he uttered as he stared back at Celine who was already standing on the ground having a hard time standing.

“Sorcerer, you should at least do your best! Your master is right behind you! You don’t want him to be disappointed right?!” He heard the enemy yell then followed by a laugh.

Mathew glance back at Celine who was already staring at him. Seeing her panting to breathe, having a lot of bruises and cuts made him want to just interfere in the fight and finish it for her.

And then he saw her pair of emerald eyes glimmered when their eyes met, her hair was swaying even if there’s no wind. Suddenly the stones near her started to levitate. Before Celine could avert her gaze back to her opponent, Mathew saw her eyes become colder.

Shin started to shiver as their eyes met. The kind of fear he felt when his master stared at him.

“Good thing that they were here,” she said and started to walk a few steps closer to him, “At least there’s a witness that someone like you exist before I erase you from this world,” she continued as her eyes glowed.

“Go on,” Shin managed to answer as he tried to compose himself, “This world is going to end anyway,” he added and shrugged his shoulders but then groaned in pain from all the injuries he received from her.

She smirks.

“I’m afraid your life is the only one who will end,” Celine uttered as she started to attack again.

Shin was taken aback when he felt her hand chokes his neck making him gasp for air.

“Celine!” she heard Mathew call.

“I’m not the kind of enemy that listens for your last words so goodbye,” she whispered to him.

“…Then...it’s…up…to you, but…remember this, you…will always…be like me. And no matter what you do, when the time comes that you’re useless to them? They will abandon you like how this world and the gods did to us,” Shin whispered to her ears.

Hearing his words made her speechless, and yet she cannot feel anything inside her chest.

“You’re wrong,” she whispered back.

“…Huh…?” Shin uttered feeling her hold on his neck become tighter.

He stared at her eyes as they became colder and colder until there’s nothing reflected on them anymore.

“I wasn’t abandoned, there could be no one who abandoned me simply because from the very start until now, I am nothing,” she uttered in his ears.

“I was designed as a weapon and not like you. I was born to leave behind when there’s nothing else I could do anymore. I was born to live like this,” she added.

Shin is having a hard time breathing as he tried to let go of her grip but he couldn’t. He was losing strength and the will to survive.

‘Shin,’ he heard his master call on the back of his mind as a portal started to open on the ground behind his back.

Celine automatically jump away from him and saw that Shin was being eaten up by the portal, but before the portal succumbed to him, their eyes met. She saw how his eyes reflected sentiment as a tear run down from his left eye before he’s gone.

The barrier surrounding the greenhouse faded. Celine glance back at Mathew who has a worried face looking at her.

Her body started to run towards them and couldn’t break her stare at his hazel eyes.

“…Master?” she called as came closer to him, “Your hurt,” she added and touch cupped his face with her cold hands. She then eyed everyone who also has bruises and cuts like Mathew.

“I will heal all of you immediately,” she announced.

“Celine…your hurt as well, please don’t waste your strength on us,” Mathew uttered but cough up blood again.

“Your majesty,” Lucas worriedly said.

“Master don’t worry about me,” she replied as she took her hands on his face, “I can manage, and besides, that’s the only thing I could do for everyone,” Celine added.

“There’s no need Celine,” Nathan interrupted and smiled at her.

Celine walks a few steps backward and stared at them all.

“…If that’s what you want, then I won’t oppose it,” she answered and bowed her head to them.

“Now all of us were a mess!” Nathan said and laugh.

Mathew smiled in relief.

“Yes, the only thing that made us, all the same, is being a mess,” he commented and eyed Celine.

Celine stared back at him and saw his lips slowly forming into a bright smile like how she imagined a glimpse of light in her dark world.

Her heart skip a beat.

‘How could he smile like that despite being hurt?’ her mind uttered.

“Then, we should go and seek treatment right now,” Celine uttered and averted her gaze from Mathew.

“Yes we should,” Allen agreed as they all started to walk to where the crowds evacuated.

“It’s a good thing, I managed to transfer our fight here at the back,” Celine uttered.

“I’m sorry that you’re having a hard time because of my selfish request Celine. Do not worry, I will explain to my father everything,” Mathew replied.

The three men beside him and even Lucas who was helping Mathew to walk stared at him like everything he said was a threat. Yet, everyone didn’t respond anymore and remained silent.

“Master, I think you should prioritize your injured body before that,” Celine responded, “And, you don’t have to worry about my situation, you don’t need to rush,” she added.

Mathew smiled.

“No, I shouldn’t add sufferings to you anymore,” he said.

Celine glance at him.

“As much as possible, I should clear these things immediately,” Mathew continued.

Meanwhile, Monica who was hiding behind a tree has a surprised expression that she couldn’t even process the revelation she saw a while ago and couldn’t compose herself.

She leans her back on the trunk of the tree and covered her mouth as sweat dripped on her forehead.

“…So, she is a sorcerer?” she whispered to herself and secretly got a glimpse of them who were walking away from where she hides.

She swallowed the lump in her throat and sigh to calm herself.

“What’s happening here?” she uttered as she started to walk back to where the crowd was.

‘Is that why it’s too easy for you to run that foul mouth of yours?’ her mind commented.

“But between us, I’m still the one who could rise better than you,” Monica whispered to herself as she fasten the pace of her walk.