186: The Last Breath

The Last Breath

John now laid unconscious on the floor. After making sure that he was truly unconscious, Azure lifted him up and put him on his shoulders. 

John's form hadn't returned to normal yet, but azure could tell that he was still fighting for it back. 

"Hopefully this made things easier for you, John." Muttered Azure as he took John over to where the others were 

Ayda was currently healing Master Sylvia, she had started shortly after the fight began while John was distracted. Meanwhile, Serena stared at him with a dumbfounded expression while Ariel had her attention focused on John who was knocked out. 

"Is something wrong?" Azure asked with a nervous smile as he laid John down on the floor next to Master Sylvia who was being healed 

Seeing as how the fight was over, Azure's party began heading over to the group when Serena asked 

"You're... An S-Rank adventurer, aren't you?" Serena asked 

"That's right" He replied casually 

"So that means you already knew which door was the correct one in the beginning..." 

"Haha, sort of but thanks to your party, we ended up being able to hide it." 

"Is it alright to be telling me this?" Serena asked 

"I don't see why not, This dungeon is already conquered so it won't make a difference. Besides I owed you guys" 

"For what?" 

Azure then explained it as briefly as he could. 

S-Ranks entering a dungeon or a city is a big-hit, so much that they're often have bribery and assassination attempts on them, in a way to keep them from clearing the dungeon. 

Thanks to John, a rumour of the S-Rank in the city being a little boy circulated. This made things easier for Azure and his party. 

"I see... I guess John's heroic act saved him" 

'The act of saving everyone in the beach' 

"Kindness is always repaid." Said Azure with a smile before turning to John 

"Hey, Azure... Thank you, John ended up like this because of us... And as much as I hate to admit it, despite being the 2nd oldest, I wasn't able to do anything..." 

"No need to thank me, and I wouldn't worry to much about it, You've probably helped in more ways than you noticed. More importantly... It's too early to thank me, there's still something left." 

Azure noticed that Ariel was checking up on John who was now on the ground, so he decided to warn her ahead of time 

"Ariel, right? John is fine but we're going to have to tie him up. There's no telling when he'll wake up and knocking him out twice may just speed up the transformation." 

As she heard this, Ariel quickly got up before heading straight towards Azure 

As she stopped a few steps in front of him, he wondered if he she was mad at him for suggesting to tie him up, when suddenly Ariel bowed 

"Thank you for helping us!" 

Surprised, Azure raised his hands as he said 

"It's fine, I was just repaying a debt, there's no need to bow." 

"Debt?" Ariel asked as she raised her head 

"Yeah, it'll take a while to explain, we should start tying him up now" Said Azure 

As soon as he said that, His party arrived and the purple haired girl joined in 

"If that's what you need, I don't mind doing it" She said 

"Kayla, good timing. Do you two mind if we tie him up?" Azure asked 

"Not at all" Said Serena while Ariel shook her head 

"Great. Kayla?" 

"I'm on it." 

Kayla walked towards the unconscious John as she put on her gauntlets 

"Eh? Weren't you a mage?" Serena asked 

"Nope, that staff was a cover-up" 

"Why would you hide it?" Ariel asked 

The girl stretched her glowing gauntlet towards John as she replied 

"So people can lower their guards in close range if they try to attack me. It always works." 

The instant she said that, Chain came from the ground before lifting John up and restraining him. Once that was done, the chains disappeared 

Seeing this, Serena though it would be a good time ask the question which had been on her mind for a while now. 

"Can you guys... Use magic without chanting?" 

----------------------------------------- 

[What?] 

"I mean sure you ignored me a few times... But you were never a jerk! You tried to help others when they were I need! But... Because of your bad reputation, they assumed you were bragging... You also always help out the teachers whenever they need it... You weren't a jerk..." 

"Hm... You know a lot about me don't you? Even though we never talk." 

Upon hearing this, Elena suddenly got embarrassed as she said 

"W-w-well... You're just easy to notice!" 

"That's your excuse?" 

"I can't think of a better one..." She muttered as she let out a sigh 

Seeing this, John let out another laugh. He didn't know why but even though he was laughing, even though he found it funny... At the same time he found it nostalgic and saddening. 

As they reached one of the cross walks, John stopped moving 

"Ah, I I live around here, make sure you bring the umbrella back to school tomorrow" She said with a bright smile 

As she began crossing the road, she spoke another few word 

"Thank you for today, I look forward to our research!-" 

The instant she said that, John grabbed on to her hand 

"Don't... Go..." He muttered with a broken-down voice 

Seeing this, she walked back up to him and asked, 1

"John...? What's wrong?" 

Hearing those words, reminded him of a memory he would later hate himself for forgetting 

As the truck appeared in the near distance, John formed a sorrowful smile on his face as he said 

"Thank you..." 

Tears began to stream down his eyes as he said it again 

"Thank you... Very much..." 

Before she could ask anything, John ran straight towards the middle of the road and at the same time a truck got closer and was now beeping 

Running boy hit onto the truck, he felt the feeling of someone pushing at him from behind but they weren't fast enough 

*Bang* 

As he stared at the sky from the ground, he noticed one thing about this world. He felt no pain. 

Once he turned his head to see what had tried to push him, he felt his already weakened heart sink. 

There laid Elena, her eyes were opened and they were gradually losing life. There was a lot of blood on the ground which he was sure belonged to him, but he also knew a part of it belonged to her. 

"E..le...na...?" She asked with a broken down voice 

However there was no reply 

"W..hy... Why... did... you... Ju...mp..." He asked as he took his last breath 

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