Chapter 8: Rescue. Part 3
It took a young boy a whole 10 minutes to carefully check all the rooms on the uppermost floor of the underground base.
In those dark rooms with heavy iron doors, numerous corpses of young children and a few survivors have been found.
His absolute worst fear came true - he chose the wrong direction.
Out of the remaining children who were still alive, none were even anything close to the girl he was looking for.
A strange feeling rose in his heart - as if he had killed Alfia with his own hands.
His own decision… changed the whole life trajectory of an innocent girl.
Nonetheless, he knew that he could blame himself later. He needed to keep searching for her, for he would never forgive himself if he would later learn that Alfia was still alive.
That's why after returning to the staircase leading down, he briefly took one last look across the dim corridor and started descending with a strong premonition…
***
Heartbreaking cries have been heard from the room on the third floor underground somewhere in the Port Melen area.
A completely defenseless, silver-haired 7-year-old girl was tied to a wooden cross.
"—Please..! *Sob* Don't do this…!" she pleaded with the people surrounding her, knowing that something horrible would happen soon.
Six strong men stood in a circle around the white ceramic bowl with strange symbols engraved on it - a bowl that would later be used for collecting the blood from the girl's wrists.
The leader of the upcoming ceremony, who wore a strange feathered hat on his head, held an old-looking, strange-patterned black knife.
"With the mistress satisfied, we can finally take every drop of blood left for ourselves," one of the subordinates impatiently chortled, licking his cracked and dry lips.
Their expressions shifted into anticipatory smiles before the leader's righteous and inspiring words forced them to start obediently praying along.
"Today, we dedicate this sacrifice to the future of this world. Let the world be free of sins and let everyone find their true happiness."
"*Sob* *Sob*" a girl only cried in despair, her eyes closed due to the fear of the strange men in front of her.
"Let the healthy young blood of this child be filled with love and care that we all lack in this world… Let the tears flow freely, for those who would drink the tears of an innocent child would be absolved of all their sins… We know that no one is perfect, but we all must strive for a happy world - free of everything evil and full of love and care, where our loved ones protect and cherish us… Amen."
"Amen." "Amen." "Amen." "Amen." "Amen."
A single swing of the cold blade and then…
***
An intense rain, a tall-grass field, a very cloudy sky, and a warm wind - a strange combination perfect for battle was observed by Freya's followers this evening.
On the way to their destination near the Port Melen, Freya Familia's elites have finally caught up with whoever they were chasing.
They didn't know what purpose the other group of adventurers had.
They didn't know if they were their real target.
However, they didn't have to know that since the leading group started attacking them first.
All because Adonis, with the suggestion of the Callisto, already dispatched a total of more than 15 Level 4s and Level 3s from his own familia to neutralize the pursuers on their tail; however, instead of seeing that the pursuers have been successfully killed, all he saw was—
*Boom!*
*Boom!*
*Boom!*
"Meow! Leave this trash to me, nya!" a cat-girl grinned while blocking the way for the enemy to follow her allies, exploding the ground nearby after just a single touch of her hand.
All of that only to immediately say, "Explosive Spear," before a runic engraving on her forehead lit in a bright red, flower-like pattern.
Then, an almost invisible, transparent projectile flew right at the surrounding second-tier adventurers right from her forehead.
*Boom!*
At least a few Level 4s have been knocked out from that impact alone - however, neither Love nor the enemies surrounding her were playing today.
This fight was only to the death - only when the enemy would stop breathing for good would they end the battle.
"Meowhahaha!"
"Explosive Spear!" "Explosive Spear!"
Limbs flew high in the air with each successful attack.
"Die!" "She can only attack one person!" "Surround her!"
Screams of many surviving Apollo Familia adventurers have been heard.
To Love's surprise, they immediately identified her "weakness" and started attacking her from all directions at the same time - frequently dodging her projectiles.
"Well, ain't that something! You're pretty good, nya!" she replied with an audible irritation in her voice after seeing that the opponent clearly had at least a small amount of thinking capability. "But if you want to use human wave attack to bring me down…."
Her whole body briefly shone with some visible red aura before majestic blue wings started appearing on her back.
"THAT IS NOT ENOUGH!" she yelled, starting an indiscriminate bombing in all directions wherever her wings' feathers flew at and touched anything, while she was now flying up in the air and observing the situation...
***
When a small child's shadow descended the creaky wet stairs, a muffled pleading was heard throughout the floor.
'Alfia…!'
A small voice, whose owner Gin immediately identified, made him completely give up all other thoughts in his mind.
The only thing left was pure, primal rage engulfing his entire being.
Upon identifying where exactly the sound came from, he immediately rushed forward - right to the faraway door where the sounds came from.
The same dark, narrow corridor, similar to the other two he had already seen, was not making his heart tremble to the slightest degree now.
On the contrary, he felt as if whatever was hiding behind those doors was now scared off himself.
Less than 20 seconds later, a boy finally found the door where the muffled noises were coming from.
With a strong, heavy kick, the door immediately flew off its hinges across the dark room - falling right onto and breaking the strange white bowl that the 5 men in the middle used.
Like a lone spartan child charging into the den of hungry wolves, Gin didn't hesitate even for a second and charged forward with his sword before the heavy door even touched the ground.
By the time everyone reacted and tried to jump back in an attempt to dodge, they were horrified to see that everyone on the left side of the room didn't move nor react in any other way to the intruder.
Three of their fellow Evilus members only stood still before a thin bloody line appeared on their necks, their heads slowly sliding off and hitting the ground, right after their bodies fell.
*Swish!*
*Swish!*
Another dangerous maneuver by the kid, and before the 4th man could even see where or who the attacker was, he had the upper half of his skull cut off - his brains now fully exposed…
*Thud*
Another body fell, making the surviving members more and more angry.
Now only two strong-looking men stood between Gin and Alfia's safety - the element of surprise already used to its extreme.
However, Gin was ready to pay a heavy price today to get rid of the two men who hurt his closest friend…
Clang! Clang!
Two sturdy men parried, their grips already tightened on the short swords they had pulled out from their white robes.
Clang! Clang! CLANG!
Another round of attacks, but now Gin was the one who had to parry.
The numerous sounds of a battle for survival were now heard in the small room, the child's long sword fiercely clashing with the short blades of his opponents.
Seemingly being cornered multiple times, only to find an opening allowing him to escape and threaten his opponents at the same time - 1st Kenpachi's moves once again saved his life.
"I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!" the one who cut Alfia only screamed at the top of his lungs after yet another failure to kill the elusive child.
Clang! Clang!
A minute passed, but it may as well have been an eternity for Gin, who had adrenaline overflowing in his body.
Already at the beginning of the fight, he saw the wretched and miserable state of his female friend and tried everything in his arsenal to finish the enemy as fast as he could.
Luckily, at some point, Gin found a perfect opening and went straight to the neck of one of his opponents.
Not a mighty swing aiming to cut things apart like before, but a straight lunge at the most vulnerable spot of the opponent.
"!"
A successful kill, but at a heavy price of…
"—GAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Gin's scream was now heard throughout the room - a cry of a kid now missing his left eye.
At the same time as the child screamed in pain, a satisfied smile appeared on the face of the man who finally did some real damage to his younger and less experienced opponent.
"DIE, LITTLE BASTARD!" a man roared before starting a new series of attacks, much more powerful than before.
With blood now gushing from his eye socket and the area around, he didn't have enough time to heal himself - not with the little healing experience he had before.
After all, he was not an Unohana to heal himself while his face was literally melting…
It was at that moment that Gin realized that with his current state - getting hurt yourself while going injury for injury was the fastest way to win.
He already had his left eye completely destroyed; he will heal himself later.
'I must save her, now...!'
With that in mind, he decided to go into deep defense for a few violent moments before rushing forward - bewildering his opponent and making a fake opening for the old man to strike.
A fake attack that used the left arm as bait, a heavy swing, and…
"...Haah"
"...Haah"
"...Haah"
A disgusting head rolled on the floor with a heavy sound echoing throughout the room. A strange feathered hat now lying right in front of Gin's feet.
A look of surprise was still visible on the face of the man - after all, he almost cut off the arm of the boy with his last swing.
With the last man beheaded, Gin still heard audible beatings of his own heart. His whole body was still shaking.
He already knew that it was the shortest moment before the pain would come, so he did not hesitate and instantly started healing his left arm, along with whatever was left of his eye.
After applying the most basic and rudimentary healing to himself, he proceeded to his most crucial task - saving the Alfia.
The next moment, Gin looked at her unresponsive and quiet body for a split second before dashing to the girl's side, cutting off all her restraints, catching her slender falling body, and kneeling next to her.
He never knew he could use so much mind power during a healing spell until he started desperately mending the bloodied body of his most precious person, almost forcing himself into the mind down.
Yes, it was at this moment that he finally confirmed in his heart that if he survived this ordeal, his sole goal in life would be to make sure that the two twin sisters would never have anything bad happen to them again.
He would find the cure for their illness.
He would not let Alfia join the suicide "hero" schemes of the random gods.
He would not let Meteria be burned down to ashes.
He would brutally slaughter and annihilate everyone who would stand in the way of their well-being - be that a god, human, or anyone else.
While Gin was lost in his thoughts, a whole minute passed in reality.
Girl's gentle lips haven't uttered a single word since she heard the sounds of battle.
Despite that, Gin still kept healing her diligently, putting all his heart into the process.
"..."
"..."
Finally, Alfia's cheeks were barely painted from the ill white color due to all the healing he used on her.
"..."
"..."
Her eyelids now started to flutter open, ever so slowly.
"...Alfia," he called her, tears forming in his eyes.
"..."
"..."
"...Alfia," he called her again. A strange transparent line of something ran down his cheeks. His vision started to turn a little blurry, his voice turning brittle.
"..."
"..."
"...Alfia ...wake up," he hopelessly called her once again, his heart now filled with guilt, regret, remorse, pain, and something else...
He bit his own lower lip so hard that a small piece of it immediately was spat out by him - all because that after seeing that no matter how hard he tried, the strong-willed girl he promised to take care of didn't respond to his voice.
"..."
"..."
"..."
Gin began to tremble.
"...Alfia!"
"..."
"..."
He called her again, with no response from the young maiden…
"...ALFIA!"
"..."
"..."
He already cried, praying in his heart that she would respond.
And then... with a slight movement of her gentle, slender hand…
"....G-G-Gin?" she whispered, her weak and soft voice feeling like the voice of God answering all the prayers of the desperate man…
Time seemed stuck in an endless loop at that moment - a deep breath taking either a moment or an eternity - Gin never knew.
"Al-Alfia…" he only replied, gently hugging her - as if she was the most meaningful and indispensable thing in his entire life.
"G-Gin… *Sob* ...I-I-I," a girl desperately tried to say…
"Don't say anything," he firmly told her before embracing her even harder than before - as if he wanted to shield her from all the horrors present in the world.
At that time, two children sat together on a cold and stony floor of a bloodied space, tears running down the girl's cheeks.
Only the pained sobbing of the girl and the protective humming of the boy were heard in the brightly lit room where the two kids cuddled together in search of comfort…
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
magnet_release
magnet_release I have already finished at least 2/3 of the next chapter, so it will probably be up in a day or two.
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