HA\LF: Dead nor Alive

“Iohann… Sir?” Archie slowly approached him even though he knew that he was no longer a human.

Iohann slowly turned around and Archie could see the deformed face that used to be his leader. Iohann’s face seemed to have been crushed or chewed so many times and Archie could see Iohann’s cheeks were gone the decayed face made Archie regretted on calling his name then he roared so loudly that it made Archie’s ears hurt.

Archie opened his eyes and realized Iohann was running toward him and he immediately rolled over before Iohann landed a massive punch to the ground. He looked at the result of the punch that Iohann threw and saw a big chunk of the ground around it. If he wasn’t being careful, he might be dead by a single punch.

“I can’t let you suffer like this, Iohann…” Archie clenched the sword in his hand so tightly and glared at Iohann.

He knew that deep down every single one of the parasites still have their consciousness deep inside and was trapped there like how he felt. He didn’t want anyone else to experience that horror of being unable to do anything but at the same time having to live in a dark empty space forever. He convinced himself that no matter what, he had to kill every parasite that invested inside a human body.

Archie charged at Iohann and dodged every rock that Iohann threw at him, and when he got close to Iohann, he jumped and he was surprised that he went so high up in the air that he could jump over Iohann’s gigantic body. He landed behind Iohann because he miscalculated his own strength, he finally realized that he had super strength, super speed, super hearing, and very high stamina.

Without wasting his chance, he dashed toward Iohann who was still searching for Archie’s whereabouts. Archie thrust the back of Iohann but a cracking sound was made and the sword shattered into pieces. He was shocked and there was nothing left but the handle, and he was too focused on what was left on the sword that he didn’t realize a big elbow was being swung at him and hit right into his face.

Archie was thrown away a hundred meters from Iohann and landed in an empty space. He tried to stand up but his whole body was so weak that even he barely could open his eyes. The sunlight was so warm because there were no trees around him, he could smell a very gentle sweet scent coming from around him. A small garden of wildflowers and he was surrounded by them, it made him calm at the same time gave him the strength to stand up.

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As he stood up with injuries all over his body, he saw something in the middle of the garden of wildflowers. He caught his breath weakly while he squinted his eyes, “A sword?” As he saw a sword was stabbed on the ground and something was hung on the handle.

He slowly approached with his blurry vision and when got close, he noticed that it was Iohann’s sword and the thing that was hung on the handle was his watch. There was also a piece of paper stabbed by the sword, he decided to grab the watch and pull out the sword.

Archie grabbed the piece of paper and decided to read it later after he was done dealing with Iohann. Whatever was written on the paper, Archie thought it must be Iohann’s last will and he planned to bring all of Iohann’s belonging back to his father, Flavius.

While Archie was deep in thought, he could feel the ground shaking, he turned around and saw Iohann was running toward him. Archie was still dizzy from the hit and hadn’t recovered fully but shook his head repeatedly while groaning, “I need to focus! Get a hold of yourself, Archie!” Even though he took a critical hit, his injuries were rapidly healing themselves and he could feel that.

Archie swung his sword and then ran toward Iohann while he screamed his lungs out, “Iohann! I will save you from misery!”

Iohann punched him but he dodged it by sliding down and immediately stood up and turned the other way. He leaped at Iohann’s back but then Iohann threw his elbow at him again, this time Archie used the sword and tried to cut Iohann’s tricep. The sword cut Iohann’s skin and flesh so easily, it was either the sword was so sharp or it was also his strength that made it look easy.

Archie stabbed the sword onto Iohann’s back and rode him for a moment, he then pulled out the sword and jumped off in front of Iohann while he stabbed Iohann’s collarbone with the sword. He pulled down the sword as hard as he could and he could hear bone cracking coming from Iohann’s torso. When he wanted to see the wound he made, Iohann kneed him right onto his gut and made him throw up the black gooey blood while he flew and hit the tree.

Archie’s eyes were wide open while he tried to breathe, he couldn’t inhale the air and he was suffocating because of that. He looked down and saw his ribcages break and came out from his skin, his chest bent inward and squeezed his lungs. While he tried to get some air, Iohann jumped and smashed him once more on the chest and made him buried down on the ground.

His eyes were covered by dirt while Iohann kept smashing him, he couldn’t anything because he was powerless and there was nothing he could do but endure it. Iohann then stopped smashing him and pulled him out from the ground, he grabbed Archie’s right arm with his left hand and grabbed Archie’s waist with his right hand. Iohann tried to pull it off but Archie used everything he had left to resist, “I will not lose!” Archie glared at Iohann with his own blood covering his face.

For some reason, Archie outmatched Iohann’s strength and slowly pointed the sword toward Iohann’s deformed face. He slowly pushed his hand toward Iohann’s face while he screamed and blood spurted out from his mouth, “You… have… to… die!” Archie freed his hand from Iohann’s grip and thrust the sword right onto Iohann’s skull.

Iohann’s whole body was frozen and slowly he lost his strength and removed his right hand from Archie’s waist. They both collapsed and none of them were moving, not even a muscle, but Archie was conscious and he just stared at the bright blue sky. He heard a growl come from below him, he closed his eyes while he sighed, “You’re supposed to die from that…”

Archie had no idea that his body from the neck below was crushed from the fight but he didn’t feel any pain at all and he couldn’t lift his head to check his condition as well. He saw Iohann’s body slowly standing straight with a hole on his forehead, Archie could only glare at him because there was nothing else he could do. He looked at his right hand and he tried to move it but it felt so heavy that he had to use whatever was left to lift his fingers.

Archie closed his eyes and accepted his fate, but suddenly his whole body felt like being electrocuted and he could move his body again. He was startled and confused at the same time but it wasn’t the right time for him to think about it so he stood up with his limp and broken legs. He glared at Iohann who just stood there and glared at him, “Let’s end this… either I die here, or you die here…”

As he walked toward Iohann he could see a grenade hung on the ripped vest on Iohann’s body, he knew what to do and decide to use that grenade to kill him. Archie approached him and he was so confused that Iohann didn’t move a muscle and just glared at him. Archie didn’t care at all because he had nothing to lose anymore, “If I die, at least I wouldn’t be miserable like last time…” As Archie stood in front of Iohann and grabbed the grenade from Iohann’s vest.

Archie climbed up onto Iohann’s body and hung his arm around Iohann’s neck, he saw Iohann’s face up close and the pungent smell struck his nose. “A…” Iohann seemed to let out a voice that made Archie freeze and glare at him with fear. “Ach…e…” Iohann moved his mouth as if he was calling for Archie’s name, and Archie looked into his eyes and saw tears come out from his right eye.

“Iohann? Sir?” Archie’s eyes were watering because he could tell that Iohann was there and staring at him.

“Ill… m…e…” Iohann stared into Archies eyes, “Y-yes, sir…” Archie nodded with understanding.

Archie wiped his tears and bit the pin on the grenade then shoved it into Iohann’s skull, he then pushed himself away from Iohann and fell to the ground. He looked at Iohann who just stood still there, then Iohann’s head and torso blew into pieces, finally, Iohann could rest in peace forever.

Archie laid down there all day and realized that it was nighttime when he decided to get up. He grabbed the piece of paper that Iohann left, and he read it under the moonlight.

[To whoever found this, that means I’m already dead, and please immediately leave this place before my body decided to find you. My name is Iohann AnGust, the 67th Commander of the Third Division of the Western Nation, I’m an Axis Human and that means I have become an Ex-Axis-Human. If you find this letter, the sword, and the watch I left, please bring them back to my father, Flavius AnGust. I’m too afraid to die, so please don’t tell my father that I was a coward because that might make him sad.]

[If you managed to leave this place safely, can you find Archie Lancaster for me? He was a bright and smart kid, he has brown hair and a cheerful smile on him. Tell him that I’m sorry for not listening to him and that everything could be avoided if I listened to his suggestion. I have lost all the soldiers, my teammates, and my friends, because of my decision, I want you to tell him that I’m fine somewhere far away from this hell.]

Archie chuckled with tears falling onto the letter, “Do you think I would be able to survive on my own, Sir? You had a very high expectation for me, and yet I couldn’t even survive for a minute after I left.”

Archie looked at another grenade that he grabbed from Iohann’s vest, he looked at it for quite a while and pulled the pin. He put the grenade right in front of his chest while he was sobbing, he couldn’t do it and decided to throw the grenade away and made a huge explosion.

“I don’t want to be like this…” Archie collapsed and clenched his fist while he punched the ground.

“Now that I have a new mission to bring your belongings back to your father, I can’t die… at least not now…” Archie wiped his tears as he tried to get back up and heard roars and growls coming from all around him.

The death of the Ex-Axis-Human and the master of this territory made the rest of the parasites try to take the territory for themselves.

Archie had recovered fully and he wore the watch that Iohann left, he grabbed the sword and swung it around, “Whoever dares to come here, I will kill every single one of you…”