Chapter 28 Flipping the Kill Switch

"Kill them."

At that moment something strange came out of my mouth.

Kill them.

Wow.

D-Did I just ordered her to do that?

W-Well, considering the situation it might be right for me to say that but...

Kill.

Kill.

KILL.

KILL THEM. KILL THEM ALL.

I can't stop whispering it in my mind.

Aoi only returned a faint smile at me, then replied in a jiffy:

"...I will!"

Trying to focus more into the handling of the situation I once assessed more the distance between our position and the enemies approaching us.

Thirteen desert worms, approximately ten kilometers away from us (in 'our world' measurements).

Assuming all of them are moving at about 250 meters per second without any change in pace, it would take them at least 40 seconds to reach us. Within that time frame, both sides could make further changes in their plans, which will make the outcome even more uncertain for us.

Even from that distance, I could see the potential damage they could deal to their surroundings, as evidenced by the dust storms created from their erratic movements. It's as of, they are planning to attack us under the cloak of darkness made by that dust storm.

On our side, the sky's already pretty dark as well.

Aoi's power resonated around the place as she readied the offense in our behalf. Even inanimate objects like the small stones under our feet and the rock pillars surrounding us, all of them 'shuddered' while under the presence of a powerful being that is Aoi.

Forget about what I said to Aoi just now, she's way much more scarier than that.

"Hey, Aoi" I called out to her who's facing the worms while I'm hiding behind a rock pillar along with Prick.

"...What is it, big brother?"

"U-Um...I-Is it really okay for you to stick with this hastily prepared plan that I made?"

"...E-Eh? What do you man by that?" Aoi replied without looking at me.

Nine kilometers remaining, four seconds has passed.

"I admit that as someone who has too little combat experience in my whole life, I can't make up an efficient plan as fast as possible, especially under very tight situations. Considering that the differences between a god and a mere human is really that much, is it really alright for you to..."

"...Big brother."

She interrupted me with a stern-sounding tone.

"...If you still have time to doubt your own judgment, might as well focus more on the enemies in front of us instead."

Six kilometers remaining.

"Aoi..."

"...It's true that this plan is fated to fail the moment you revealed that to us, but ever since the beginning of time I was always impressed with all the efforts humans has made in order to survive in this world."

Five kilometers.

"...And as a goddess it's a simple act of charity to appreciate them, no matter how scarcely worthy they are--!!!!"

Three kilometers.

As they close the distance between us the worms suddenly became more agitated with Aoi's somewhat complacent behavior that their speed increased further, taking only two seconds for them to cover a kilometer.

"...They're here! Big brother--!!!!"

"E-Eh?--Ah, NOW!!!"

At the moment I (stuttered) raised the signal, the magic circle above us suddenly glowed into a purplish-blue color, then covering the hot sun with the dark clouds associated with it. The worms noticed that there's something strange going on with their surroundings that they immediately tried to stop rampaging altogether.

"...Here's what the real attack will be!" Aoi announced.

A-Another attack...?

Using the opportunity of slowing the worms' movements, Aoi created another magic circle in front of her, this time much smaller, then within a split of a second, unleashed everything that's in store for all of them.

"H-Huh?! PRICK--"

Pshhh--BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!

An immense wave of dark energy erupted in front of Aoi, a very powerful beam of surging death that is made up of her innate divinity mixed with hatred towards the desert worms. It's so powerful that even Prick and I who are hiding behind Aoi also felt the minimum effects of her deathly beam.

Compared to an ordinary flame that burned a bright orange, the flames that comprise her death beam is a lot, lot colder in comparison to the touch. As cold as the dead if I were to describe it, but those flames still burn the flesh. Other than that, it felt like it also burns the soul of its victim.

Fortunately it was not us that was being directly targeted by it, as without having enough time to evade the worms haplessly received the brunt of Aoi's attack.

I see. So that's what Aoi planning all along.

I thought that her attack will come from the large magic circle floating in the sky that she made, but it was just a distraction all along. The real attack, that death beam she made in a blink of an eye, left everyone stupefied as no one expected her to do that.

To think that she could pull trick like that up her sleeve, only the foolish would dare think of fighting her in a fair way.

Anyways, it's time for me to do my part.

"Prick! Help me pull Aoi away!"

With no time to spare, using the long cloth in my hands, we pulled Aoi away from the place as I quickly signaled Prick to get us away from here.

GUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHKKKKKKKKAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

The worms screeched and screeched as they struggled to escape, causing my ears to almost pop from the sound. I also managed to catch Aoi on my arms, and she held onto me tightly.

"...Uuuuuuu..." Aoi faintly groaned.

"I-I'm sorry, Aoi! Are you hurt somewhere?" I asked her in panic.

Aoi, her skin already paler as fine porcelain, spoke to me in a frail voice. "...I used almost half of my divine power, big brother...I can't move my body..."

No good. Looks like she overworked herself.

"Don't worry, we'll get you out of here. Right, Prick?"

Prick grunted in response.

But still, I hope that her efforts aren't in vain, that Aoi was able to deal a considerable damage to the enemy or hold them back. I wouldn't worry about it at all if Aoi's still in her top condition but after seeing her current state, I can't help but to worry.

I looked back to confirm the worms' state as well.

Right now I can't see any of them because of the dust storm caused by Aoi's attack. There's also no signs of movements coming from them, not even any sound.

"Keep your pace, Prick. We can't afford to become careless as long as we can't still confirm what happened to those monsters." I said to Prick with a pat on his back.

The dust storm is still not settling even after a few seconds. If things would keep up this way, we might be already far away by the time the dust in the air finally settles.

"You did great, Aoi." I said to my little sister while stroking her hair as she's still clinging onto me.

"...Nn." Aoi lightly nodded her head.

Really, this girl...

Oh? The dust seems to be settling now over there. We're already quite far from them, but since they are large I could still see what happened to them even from this distance.

As soon as the remaining wisps of dust settled back into the desert soil, I became astounded by the aftermath of Aoi's attack.

There was a deep trench-like depression on the ground, spanning a few kilometers from where Aoi was. The trench has a pitch-black color, primarily because the sand melted from extreme temperatures and turned into black glass. I couldn't see any presence of worms over there, though.

All in all, the damage caused to the surroundings is no joke to be laughed at. Even if Aoi's current output is less than 10 percent of what her power's supposed to be, the sight of a freaking black trench while it's still smoking could make anyone shudder in fear.

'Are they already...dead?' I muttered to myself as I still gaze at the encounter site.

If their bodies really disintegrated into ashes then that would be great as there we won't be chased by them anymore, but for some reason my mind's cannot still be put at ease.

Just only with our encounter with the desert worms, there are times when we are caught off-guard by them whenever we assume that we're already safe from them. Their elusive nature is what makes them terrifying--compared to a full-sized behemoth, their movements are quicker, while having almost the same amount of brutality in their attacks.

At times when human instinct comes into play there's no way I would disregard what my senses are telling me right now, that this surely won't be the last time we will have an encounter with those worms.

For sure they aren't the only ones here in the desert, as Aoi's attack could cause agitation to other nearby worms or any other giant creatures which would end up with them rampaging all around. Being cornered by all of them is too much of a trouble for an unlucky person like me.

We should get out of this desert before that happens.

"P-Prick? Why are you slowing down all of a sudden? Hey--?!"

Prick's somewhat acting strange for a while now. Well, I know and understand that he's already very tired from running all this time but...

"Prick, what's wrong...--HEEEEEEEEYYYYYYY!!!!"

BUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

The three of us suddenly flew high up in the air. When I looked down...

"N-No way..."

The huge red worm burst from the sand directly below us and knocked us by several meters up while in its wake. Judging by the height, we're about three stories high from the ground.

At that height, it felt like time started to move in slow motion. It's just like when riding a roller coaster and it stopped for a moment on the highest peak: that one second of reprieve is indeed a blessing before the inevitably swift downfall.

Anyway, falling at this height will gonna hurt real bad.

I held Aoi tight in my arms to protect her as we started to fall down to the ground. Although she won't die even if she fell from a very high mountain, my mind tells me to still do my responsibility to her as her older brother. Well, it seems like I'm starting to get used to being under life-and-death situations after just a few days.

BLAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!

Our bodies crashed on the ground, creating a large crater on the impact site. Luckily, I managed to 'control' where we're falling to, that's why we fell on a sand dune to mitigate the damage to my bodies. It still hurts, though.

"P-Prick..."

I searched for Prick as I struggled to get up. I finally found him after a moment but...

"Prick...?"

I saw Prick lying down on the desert soil on while on his back. There was no signs of damage at all on his carapace, but I became so worried after noticing that he's not moving at all.

"Prick...--Prick? Prick? Prick!!!"

I patted his head in panic to check if he's still alive. No good, he's still not moving.

"Prick?! Hey, wake up! Hey! Prick...--"

BBBGGSHHH!!! BBBGGSHHH!!! BBBGGSHHH!!! BBBGGSHHH!!! BBBGGSHHH!!!

Meanwhile the red worm repeatedly burst from the ground as it already succeeded in cornering us.

Although its skin showed that it took a considerable amount of damage from Aoi's attack, the fact that it can even withstood an attack coming from a goddess is quite frightening.

"...Uuuuuuu..."

At the same time, Aoi let out a pained expression as I left her lying down on the ground a few meters away.

"A-Aoi!" I rushed to her in panic.

When I touched her skin for a moment, it felt so cold, just like the death beam from earlier. Although her temperature's like that, beads of sweat formed on her forehead. It's as if she's having a great fever, and my heart can't endure seeing her in such state.

"Aoi...Aoi..." While clawing the sand on the ground in despair, I called out to her.

Aoi...Prick...

I want to avert my gaze away from them, but I can't. I can't take my eyes off them in great regret.

Tears then flowed from my eyes as I lament the tragedy that's happening at us.

"W-We tried our best to escape from you guys and yet...and yet..."

No. That's not it.

Only the two of them did everything in order for us to survive.

No matter how I think of it, I can't deny that all I did this time was to rely heavily on their abilities, without giving any decent amount of support for them in return. I kept and kept on giving them motivation and yet, even that is still not enough for us to secure an advantage against the monsters chasing after us.

Maybe, it was foolish for me to say that I won't become a burden to anyone.

And as a result, I couldn't do anything but to stare helplessly at the worm that held us captive.

With the two of them being incapacitated, I am the only one remaining who's still somewhat fit to fight the red worm that's circling around us in anticipation--no that's wrong, my capacity to fight is just the same as these two lying down on the ground in their current state.

{Kill.}

If I were to fight that guy...is there any chance for me to win? None, there's no way I would fight that guy, you know?

{Kill.}

Even if I wanted to take them away from the monster, unfortunately I can't do it. Carrying Aoi might not cause any problems for me, but Prick is another story.

{Kill.}

"Huh? Who said that?"

{Kill. Kill.}

I looked around to search if there's any one aside from us in this place, but obviously there's none. If there's anyone aside from us here, I should've noticed it sooner.

{Kill.}

W-What the hell's going on really?! Who the hell is that person who kept on whispering words on my ear?

{Kill him. Kill, kill. You can kill that monster, Ren Mortel.}

W-What...?

*PPPPPPIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGG*

At that moment, a painfully loud screeching sound suddenly came from somewhere. I covered my ears to protect myself, but I could still hear the noise.

{Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill...}

"No...stoppp...AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"

It feels like my brain would explode because of the sound. I fell on both knees as I writhe in agony.

{KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL!}

Countless voices are shouting inside my mind, telling me the word 'kill' over and over, just like in a broken record.

{Kill, kill, kill...}

Those voices telling me to kill...aren't those mine?

{Kill...kill...}

Uuuuu...must be because of the fall that I'm starting to think of strange things.

No.

I'm hearing these on my mind way before that incident.

Kill...kill...

Hearing my voice over and over again in my mind, I had grew tired of it.

{Kill. }

Ah. I see.

To kill or be killed, is it...?

In order to survive, it's one way or the other.

For some reason, my body felt hot as such thoughts swirled on my mind.

"Aoi...Prick...do you think I could kill that guy?" I asked the two of them.

Although I know that they won't respond while they're still in that condition, I still asked their insights about my ability.

Also, by looking at the worm, I assume that even this guy wants to determine if I could really do that. Is it just provoking me all this time?

Tch, if that's what you want then might as well try!

This time, for real...I WILL KILL YOU!!!

Oh? Seems like he noticed that I already made a decision. The worm then stopped crawling in circles and burrowed itself on the ground once more. As usual, that guy's going for another sneak attack from below, is it?

{Kill.}

The voices inside my mind suddenly tells me what to do.

{Kill. Kill.}

Maybe if I discovered this phenomenon earlier I might be able to protect Aoi and Prick from those worms.

{Kill...Ki--}

A few seconds later, I felt a small vibration coming from the ground.

KILL!!!!!

The moment the red worm viciously burst from the ground, I stretched out my hand and released all the pent-up rage inside me after what happened to my sister and my friend.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!"

BBBUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Albeit smaller in comparison, I successfully recreated the death beam Aoi used to kill the other worms. The worm accepted all of it directly as it howled in pain, but it's still not enough to kill him instantly.

"For trying to hurt my companions, DIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!"

Swaying my hand in a figure of eight, the death beam that I'm forming acted like a sharp sword that sliced through the worm's huge body while burning it at the same time. I shouted and shouted as I'm already consumed in rage, with me only focused on destroying the monster in front of me.

I didn't care at all whether the surroundings would get destroyed or not, I don't have time for that.

"Haaah...haaaah..."

After a minute or so, my rampage ended with the worm completely burned up and chopped into pieces.

All my energy's been lost because of my attack, and I fell on both knees due to exhaustion.

"Looks like...I could kill that guy after all..."

I said before collapsing.

---------

"...Big brother! Big brother!"

When I regained my consciousness, it was already nighttime.

"...Big brother! Thank goodness you're okay...I was worried when I saw you lying down on the ground after I regained my divine powers..." She said as if she's about to cry anytime.

As it turns out, my head is currently resting on her lap, with her small hands gently touching my cheeks and caressing it. Her eyes also looked at me with a regretful expression.

"U-Uh, so...you're fine now?" I asked as I try to raise my head from her lap.

"...Nn. As long as I could regain all the divine power I've used, I will be okay." Aoi said with a light smile.

"Then...what about Prick...?"

"...He's also okay, big brother...or rather, you should be more worried about yourself, you know?"

I see. So they're both fine. I'm glad.

"...Big brother..."

All of a sudden Aoi lowered down her head until it touches my forehead, as she can't contain all of her emotions anymore.

"A-Aoi?! W-Wha..."

"...B-Big brother, I...in the end...I failed to kill the big one...because of that, big brother had a hard time...guuuuu..."

Ah. So that's what it was.

No matter how much power she uses, she says, Aoi won't be like the way she was before. It might be so long until she return to that state, but even that is uncertain for all of us. Hence, she blames her condition for what happened to me.

"...If only my power's not taken away from me...I would've protected big brother...and Prick also..." She said while sobbing.

Haaah...what to do with this girl...

With my hand I gently ruffled her soft hair as I speak. "I told you before, didn't I? You did well, Aoi. You really did your best earlier, and even though you didn't managed to kill the red worm, you're still amazing in my eyes."

With our foreheads touching right now, it feels like whatever I'm saying will have a greater effect on her.

"Guuu...A-Am I...?"

"Yeah. I think, you might be even more amazing than the death goddess that was you before, because despite having limitations Aoi could still become as badass as you are now! It's what makes Aoi, well...Aoi!"

Ah, what the hell am I saying? Can't I even think of more inspiring words for me to say to her?!

"U-Uh...well, if you still fell that you're so much weaker than your past self then always remember to look at my face."

"...Huh?" Aoi got puzzled by that.

"If you look at my face, you could see a face of a young man who doubts his own ability so much, that it was only when his important friends got in danger that he finally realized that it's useless to confine oneself in a box that he himself had made in his mind. Right now, that young man...will break out from that box, and become a more reliable brother for you, AOI!"

When I said that, Aoi raised her head and looked directly at my eyes. Tears still filled her eyes, but instead of it being caused by regret, her tears are made of happiness.

"All of your lost power...I will compensate them for you! Now that I can use the power bestowed upon me to protect you and Prick...this time, I won't hide behind you anymore!"

---------

Dinner followed shortly after that.

Because of the pursuit, we lost the meat that we first got but thankfully, Aoi and Prick got another chunk from the red worm earlier. The meat that they got is larger, and less slimy than the ones coming from an ordinary desert worm.

"Here you go, Aoi...grilled desert worm meat." I said to her as I give her five skewered meats that just got cooked under the bonfire I made.

"...E-Eh? B-Big brother...you killed that worm, right? Shouldn't you be the first one to taste it?"

I laughed a little at her words. "It was because you're looking forward so much on eating those worms that's why I'm having you have its taste first. Go on, but be careful as they're still hot."

Aoi grabbed the skewered meats from me with a thanks. She then took a bite and savor the taste for a few moments.

"H-How was it...?"

Since I don't have any idea what does it tastes like, I had Aoi try it for me first.

Aoi's eyes suddenly glimmered after tasting the meat. "...D-Delicious! Big brother, you should try it!!!"

"Is it? Then might as well take a bite too." I said before tasting the meat also.

Unlike its raw form, the worm's meat lost its slimy texture upon cooking. Also, the meat was unexpectedly juicy and tender on the inside, and it has a strong gamy flavor that is just like that wild venison I once tasted some years back. It was delicious, just like Aoi said.

"...Our worm meat hunting ended up as a success, isn't it?" Aoi asked.

"Worm meat hunting, you say..."

I think, the reason why the worm meat is delicious is because, I'm eating it alongside with my little sister and my reliable behemoth friend. Although the meat might already be delicious by itself, the flavor would still end up unpleasant if eaten all by myself.

"Hey, eat some more, we're celebrating our survival against the desert worms tonight!" I said as I encouraged the two of them to eat.

"...Nn!" Aoi nodded her head while Prick grunted in delight.

The three of us happily ate the worm meat while making fun of each other under the starry skies.

And with that, I hope that our journey through this desert would go smoothly once more.