Chapter 11. Unworthy

(A little while ago)

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Having broken through several dozen walls with his body, Walter stopped, falling to the floor in one of the destroyed buildings. Blood gushed from his mouth.

- Such a strong opponent... Gorgeous!

The warrior howled with joy, he wanted to use [Aspiration] to quickly return to the battlefield, but stopped when he heard a woman's wheeze coming from the second floor. Walter immediately guessed who it belonged to.

The man hurried up to the second floor. Running into one of the destroyed rooms, he saw Wesley bleeding, who was literally pressed into the floor, covered with fresh cracks.

The warrior tried to help the girl, but by lifting her, he only created more pressure on Wesley's body, which only caused the bleeding to intensify. Walter realized that all the bones in her body were broken and put the girl back down.

Wesley couldn't even say anything; all she could do in this state was wheeze pitifully in pain. Watching the painful death of his comrade, Walter clenched his fists so tightly that his nails dug into his skin, forming bleeding wounds.

The girl finally noticed the man. She looked at him with a pitiful look. With the last of her strength, she moved her lips, trying to say something.

The warrior's eyes opened wide. Wesley's wheezing became weaker. Walter put his hand on her back.

[Path of Fire: Belial's Eruption]

The girl was engulfed in a pillar of dark scarlet flame, which in an instant turned her body to ash. She died quickly, before she could feel the heat of the flames.

Walter sat in the same place for some time. His look was devastated.

«A warrior must die in a fair fight.»

There were many different thoughts in his head.

«A warrior should not use dirty tricks.»

He couldn't choose what to do next.

Rush onto the battlefield again and die in battle with the First? Walter understood that in his current state he had no chance of winning. He knew it would end in his death. But this state of affairs suited him. At least that's how it was until now.

Walter went through different options in his mind. He even thought of moving the fight closer to Conrad in order to enlist his help and avenge Wesley's death.

However, the warrior realized that such a development was unlikely, since Conrad was now fighting an enemy whose strength was beyond imaginable.

Then a question popped into his head:

«If the First has such terrifying power, then how powerful is Zero for real?»

The warrior looked at his hands.

A scene from the past flashed through his mind.

He saw his hands. But they were for children.

A small boy in torn clothes stood in a dirty alley and looked at his father, who took a sip from a bottle of alcohol and then began to kick a man.

- What? You're scared?

The drunken man looked contemptuously at the little boy. There was mockery in his voice.

Walter looked at his hands again. Both small and adults, they trembled.

- Small brat!

The man threw a bottle at the child. Walter reflexively covered his face with his hands, repeating the movements of his little self. The bottle broke nearby without hitting him.

- A man must be able to defend his own! And if he can't, then someone else will take it!

Just a few minutes ago, Walter only wanted to arrange a duel to the death with the First, who had become the personification of a worthy opponent in his eyes.

«What's the point of enjoying a fight before dying if it doesn't save anyone?»

Now he thought so.

He had completely forgotten that he was not alone in this battle. Remembering all the happy and sad moments he had experienced with the entire team, his train of thought changed.

Walter returned to reality again. He felt his whole body trembling. Realizing his condition, the warrior became angry and hit himself in the jaw with his fist, and then rose from his knees.

- Defend my own...

He brought his hands together and began to concentrate the energy between them.

- At the cost of my life.

A particle of super-dense fire energy appeared between his hands.

A few more words his father once said popped into his head:

«Self-sacrifice is for the weak. If you ever dare to even think about such stupidity, then don't even dare call me father! A warrior fights to the very end and has the right to meet death only at the hands of the enemy! He is not allowed to sacrifice himself! Can you hear me, brat?»

- And why did I remember you?

Walter swallowed a particle of energy.

[Transformation]

---

The girl watched in amazement as the energy of the warrior standing in front of her destroyed the newly restored external barrier. Even though there was some distance between them, the First's spatial barrier seemed to melt under Walter's power.

- You surprised me.

The girl said calmly.

She soared into the sky, picking up pieces of earth after her.

Walter stood still, motionless. His muscles withered and could no longer move his body. He didn't see or hear anything anymore. Now the warrior was oriented thanks to a sense of energy in space.

He knew who and where was, but it was on an intuitive level. An endless darkness appeared before his eyes. And in his head all he could hear was an incomprehensible noise.

Realizing that the First had risen into the sky, Walter created micro-explosions under his feet that threw him skyward. He flew through pieces of earth falling on him, instantly melting them.

The girl again tried to pin her opponent to the ground, putting in more effort, but nothing worked. In his current state, Walter's power surpassed that of the basic element of fire, as if he was causing space itself to burn in his fury.

[Path of Fire: Meteor]

These were Walter's last words, right before his vocal cords melted.

He collected more and more fire energy from space, concentrating it in the form of a sphere, in the center of which was Walter. The sphere of fire became larger and larger, and the heat of its dark scarlet flame intensified.

Periodically, waves of flame were emitted from the sphere, flying in different directions. Walter spent his last strength to prevent them from hitting his comrades, although they were all already either dead or close to it.

The First tried to escape, but she began to be pulled towards the sphere. She tried to push away from space, but her technique was dissipated by waves of dark scarlet flame flying past, which pierced all the monster's barriers and left burns on her body.

Before reaching the First, the sphere exploded. But its blast wave absorbed the monster.

Chapter end