Chapter 19:
The Neutralizer
I PUSHED MYSELF OVER to a piece of fallen debris, leaned my back against it, and watched as everything drew to an end. I had no strength left to stand. There was no way I could escape the sinking fortress.
“We won, right?” I glanced at Luxion. Having used his body to shield me from Arcadia’s attacks, he was a wreck. Dents and deep gashes covered his exterior, and a crack had formed over his lens.
“Yes,” he answered after a long pause. “But you pushed yourself far further than you should have. Having fired that last shot, my main body is sinking back under the waves. I think it will…take significant time to recover.” Luxion, too, had pushed himself.
“Y-yeah? Sorry about—” I coughed.
Agonizing pain racked my body, draining any energy I had left. It seemed the ten minutes for my strength enhancer had run out. Clinging to consciousness was incredibly difficult.
“Master! The neutralizer—” Luxion’s voice cut off when he noticed that my backpack was gone. He spun and drifted off, looking for it. When he spotted the backpack, he raced to it. The syringe holding the neutralizer had shattered, though, the liquid spilling onto the deck. “The neutralizer—Master’s neutralizer! Mas…ter…”
The last reserves of Luxion’s battery had run dry. He slammed to the ground. Even on the cusp of power failure, he tried to nudge the neutralizer into a puddle as if he might somehow salvage it. He must’ve known it was no use, but he still tried anyway.
“Master’s neutralizer. Without it, Master will die. Without it, Master won’t be able to… I can’t let that happen…” He choked up as if crying.
Try as he might, the neutralizer was as good as useless. It pained me to see him struggle so desperately for me. I couldn’t watch anymore, but when I opened my mouth, blood sprayed out.
It took everything I had to summon the strength to speak. “You’ve…done enough. Come…over here.”
Luxion couldn’t even float anymore. He only reached me by rolling across the ground until he bumped my right hand.
There was still a gaping hole on the right side of my chest. Even without blood gushing from the wound, my body was already fatally injured.
I leaned to the side and let myself fall to the ground. That felt a little more comfortable, at least.
The strength enhancer had taken too heavy a toll on my organs. Even if Luxion had managed to administer the neutralizer, I would have been beyond saving. He had to know that, but despite the futility, he still wanted to stabilize me.
“What happened to Marie?” I asked. “Are Angie and Livia…both safe? And Noelle? And…and also…”
“Master, please stop talking. Help will come. I promise we will save you. We can regenerate your body. I don’t care how difficult or painful it is; you must live. Please.”
How touching. “You don’t sound like your usual self. Trash-talk me more, the way you usually do.” I paused for a shaky breath. “There’s no saving me. You know that, right? It’s too late.”
I’d be dead before he had the chance to do so.
“But, you know…I think this second life was at least better than the last. I died falling down some stairs the first time. Then I was reincarnated here…” I trailed off into a fit of coughs.
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“You regret the way this is ending?” Luxion inquired.
“I don’t know…about that. It’s been…pretty fun, hasn’t it? But if you asked me to do it all over again…I think I’d hesitate.”
That was an understatement. I knew myself well enough to realize that, if asked to repeat this whole life again, I’d have refused vehemently. It was kind of a shame I wouldn’t get that chance, though. Part of me actually wanted a do-over. Still, this was probably for the best. I’d done a pretty good job, if I did say so myself. I’d met so many people: Livia, Angie, and Noelle, as well as lots of others. There’d been trials and tribulations, but in hindsight, I thought I’d enjoyed it all.
Liquid oozed from Luxion’s lens. It really did look like he was crying. “Master,” he said, “hypothetically, given the chance to do it all again—assuming the two of us could meet—would you come to find me?”
I tried to ask where that question had come from out of nowhere, but the words wouldn’t come out. Ah. He’s probably remembering that conversation we had way back when we were in that cave. How did I answer him then? Can’t seem to remember.
“Assuming you reincarnated again, and all the other variables were the same as in this life,” Luxion went on, “Would you come to find me? I promise, given another chance, I wouldn’t fail as I did this time. I would ensure you were happy. So please give me another chance.”
Was he assuming there really would be a do-over? That there were endless cycles of death and rebirth? No, what he was imagining was more a time loop that repeated itself. Time rewinding and bringing us back to the past, where it all began. How funny that the two of us were picturing the same thing.
That makes things easy, then. My answer is a given. “Hell no.”
Luxion went silent. More fluid poured from his eye. “I suppose…I should have seen that coming. If you hadn’t met me, you could have lived the peaceful life you dreamed of.”
No, that’s not what I was saying. I didn’t mean it would be better if we hadn’t met. Obviously, I needed to explain, or he’d remain under that misapprehension.
Biting back the agony I felt—and the wave of blood that surged into my mouth—each time I tried to talk, I choked out, “Even if…I found you again, there’s no telling if things would work out well.” I paused for a breath. “If we did it all over again, it’d be your turn to come find me.”
I’d gone on a grand adventure to find Luxion in this life, which was completely out of character for me. There was no telling whether I’d luck out the same way if I tried that again. It’d be better for me if he just found me instead. Preferably before Zola sold me off.
“You would be my master again?” he asked.
“Yeah…if you came to find me.”
I couldn’t do it anymore. My vision had blurred to the point that I couldn’t see anything.
“Whatever it takes, I will find you,” Luxion said. “I swear it.”
“Good. I’m counting…on you.”
Just as my consciousness began to fade, a green Armor landed in front of me.
“I found you! You’re still alive, right, Leon?!” came Jilk’s familiar voice.
“Wh-why’re you here?”
There was a moment of charged silence—he was shocked to see me so badly injured. He soon put on a facade, though, acting as if everything were all right as he administered what aid he could.
“Because I’m tougher than I look,” he answered. “I’m sure everyone else is still alive too.”
I wanted to thank Jilk for his help, but I couldn’t find the strength to speak.
“Besides, I can score brownie points with Miss Marie by saving her brother, right?” Jilk added jokingly, trying his best to treat me like he always did.
Ha. Always so calculating. I managed a dry chuckle.
“Please don’t die on me,” Jilk said, turning solemn. “You have to hang on, for me, for Miss Marie… No, for everyone.”
“Don’t ask…for the impossible,” I managed to mutter. Then my eyes forced themselves shut. I felt a warm sensation on the back of my right hand as everything faded into darkness.