~ Chapter 52: In the last moment ~

[Leonidas' point of view]

 Using the telepathic link between us, I asked Cassandra to tell me everything she saw and was happening around her. I also kept encouraging her to be strong and not lose hope. We had to keep focus and stay alive until aunty Eliza arrived with reinforcements. Sister was the one pulling me towards her, and with [Mark] cast on my body, I pulled the others towards us.

I just prayed they would get here in time and hoped that my divine protection from all of those gods didn't expire already. They promised me a happy and good life, right? So there was no way they would mess up and get me or my sister killed!

Sure, our opponent was a very powerful one, but so were we, and nothing opted out the possibility of a wandering hero or adventurer stumbling upon our fight right at that critical moment when we needed help.

My little sister had three powerful Blessings, and I had 118. Aunty also had a good one, and she could use it far better than we could. Actually, up until now, I had yet to activate mine properly because I never understood how.

From how I saw things, there was no way we could lose against this bastard. The gods were on our side, after all.

So I believed, but then... Cassandra's trembling voice reached out to me.

Brother... h-he wants to kill me. I-I'm scared, brother... I'm scared...

I gulped.

Anger swelled deep inside me, but I had yet to reach that small clearing she was pulling me towards.

Stay strong, sister! I'm not going to let him harm you! I'm going to get there in time! I promised her, yet these words felt heavy for some reason.

Brother... she whimpered.

I pushed my body to its limits, ignoring the pain and concentrating hard on finding her, praying that I would get there in time.

It hurts, brother.... He slapped me. He pulled my hair... she told me, and from her words, I could imagine her crying and looking up at me, pleading me to help her stop the monster who wished to harm her.

My heart shrunk to the size of a pea when I heard her trembling voice. The bastard's intentions were clear. He wasn't here for ransom but to kill her. What I didn't understand was why?

Was this a plot concocted by a foreign enemy country or maybe he was just a madman who prayed on little children?

Brother... He said he's not the real Alexandre Damascus. He said he will kill me... I don't know for how much longer I can keep myself from crying or trembling... I'm scared, brother... I'm scared... she told me telepathically.

With clenched fists, I told her Stay strong, I'm almost there.

These words, I didn't want them to be her last. I didn't want to go on living in this world knowing that I wasn't even able to save my own little sister. What good was there to have this outrageous Blessing of my mine if in the end... it didn't help me save those precious to me.

Cassandra was my family. I didn't want anything bad to happen to either her or anyone else I cared about. I still wanted to see my parents smile, to see my sister playing in the fields and enjoying reading her ridiculous hero books. I still wanted to be her older brother who pampered her. I wanted to be there standing next to my parents when she finally found the one she loved and married him. I wanted to go visit her at her own home and play with my future nephews... not go at the cemetery and imagine how it could have been if she was still alive.

No, I couldn't let her die. That was a nightmare I would never allow to come true!

That was why I ran... I ran like the wind, faster than anyone could, faster than that bastard did.

Brother... he said he will eat my heart... and steal my Blessings.. That's his power, brother... Cassandra told me in a trembling tone of voice.

I could feel that she wasn't able to hide her fear anymore. She was probably trembling and crying right now.

Brother, it hurts... I'm scared... Save me...

Cassandra! I'm not that far away from you now! I told her.

He's going to kill me brother... He activated his Blessings... No. No! Stay AWAY! I heard her shout.

I felt like my heart was crumbling. I felt as if all hope was lost, but just then, I came out of the forest and saw the man who kidnapped my little sister as he was about to strike her down. Shadows covered his body, tendrils of darkness wiggled around, and his right hand was covered in that stuff, turning it into a creepy claw. Another second was all he needed to strike down my little sister. Just one second was all he needed to kill my little sister.

Save me, brother! she shouted in my head.

I didn't want this to be her last words, I couldn't let it be so.

I didn't think, just acted. My telekinesis was strong and undetectable. He wouldn't see it coming, so I just used it... I put my all in it and pushed him.

“GET AWAY FROM HER!” I shouted at the top of my lungs after I attacked.