CHAPTER 7:

  “So, how do you want to tango?

  “I prefer a challenge”

  Haru leaned forward in an offensive stance

  Lana extended her right armed to the side, she grinned while looking at him, all of a sudden pieces of the wooden cross, small pieces started detaching from it and surrounded the hand that Lana had extended

  The boy was confused, having never seen something like that before

  (What the?...)

  “That isn't part of your holy relics ability, is it?”

  “Bingo, it is not, I'm using magic to reconstruct and deconstruct material and put anything back together as it was”

  Lana was toying with her hair mid fight, disrespectful as they come

  “Sounds overpowered, that also means that you know how to use mana”

  In a commanding way Lana stuck her arm out to the side

  The thousands of splinters started moving at the speed of sound toward Haru

  Slicing him in every inch of his body, blood spilled all over the floor

  Excruciating amounts pain made his muscle twitch violently

  “So that's the spell you have learned”

  While speaking blood escaped from his lips

  “I guess it's true, you really are unkillable, normally that attack would be strong enough to kill a person with a single use of it”

  Haru had no choice, only to keep walking as his body was in a constant state of a loop between healing and suffering

  A line of blood followed him like a mark of his powers

  In what seemed like fright Lana backed off as he kept coming

  “You do realize that I can do this forever, right?”

  “That may be true, but I also have an ace”

  When he finished saying that he quickly tapped his foot and leaned forward

  A sudden blur was the only thing she could perceive before that was disrupted by the impact of a punch head

  “CRACK!”

  Breaking her nose

  The impact was so great that Lana's body collapsed

  For once Lana's guard was lowered, not because she couldn't keep up with his speed but because she was too focused on her spell

  The dash came naturally to him, like a sprint but it moved at the speed of sound

  Haru had learned this from Matthew and Anabelle, a quick dash

  Normally, a human wouldn't be able to generate that much of momentum but he realized this before the fight

  Holy beings are more flexible than normal human beings, not only that, though they are inherently stronger as well

  Blood trickled down from Lana's nose as she gritted her teeth internally

  The ground below her cracked softly as Lana tried to get up, with one hand she wiped the blood away, her eyes were filled with rage and humiliation

  “Bastard, that was a good one. Don't think even for a second that you are winning though”

  (I should be feeling proud…for some reason, I don't have a good feeling about this…)

  “By now, you would already have used your attack, so why is that not the case? Maybe because there's a cooldown? Am I right?”

  Lana averted her gaze, despite knowing what is the truth, her pride didn't allow her so to speak

  She then ripped a small part of her skirt and twisted it to used to stop the nose bleeding

  “Hand to hand combat it is then”

  As if rinsing with mouthwash she spat blood on the ground

  (Bastard, oh this is on)

  The air turned stale for a moment

  “!?”

  (Where did Lana go? Wait, don't tell me-...)

  Immediately Haru went for a block by putting both his arms up

  No sound erupted this time, Lana pushed forward with her palm instead, catching Haru by the face

  Her hands gripped his eyes and jaw as the palm squished his nose, muffled noises could be heard

  Then she proceeded to slam him with full force to the ground

  “THUD!’

  The sound rang out as his head bounced on the concrete

  Slowly his eyes began to close, the nerves in his arms legs gave out

  And her thighs moved rapidly to straddle the waist

  Haru, realizing the position he is in, kicked her in the stomach with a knee

  “Gkhhh!”

  It allowed him to get back up on his feet, all of a sudden his eyes widened as he stood up, knees buckled

  Before Haru could even react, Lana went for a headkick

  (When did she?!...)

  On instinct Haru's hand flew to block the kick

  Lana's heel connected with his wrist, breaking it in the process

  “CRACK!”

  “Goddamn!”

  Momentarily, being off guard, Haru didn't even realize that his hand healed immediately

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  A few strands of saliva slipped from Lana's mouth, silently she went for a jab

  It only took a second for Haru to register

  With a soft click he moved to pivot into her, dodging the punch

  Now that the distance had closed Haru used all the momentum to land a clean uppercut

  Lana's jaws cluttered upwards

  “CLICK!”

  The bones in her lower jaw grinded up against the upper jaws upon impact

  Slowly Lana stumbled backward, before spitting more blood from her mouth

  Although she was smirking, was she enjoying herself perhaps?

  In a momentary lapse Lana betrayed her own face, the damage was evident

  (This is my chance, ugh…)

  Yet Haru stood still, which surprised her

  “Wrong move”

  “What?”

  A sharp feeling against her stomach caused Lana to lose her balance, his fist had connected silently then shape pain could be felt elsewhere

  Now that Lana's legs were steeped haru tackled her down to the ground, his hands moving to grab both her wrists

  “Let me go!”

  Lana tried to retaliate by flailing around, but she couldn't as Haru subdued her

  Immediately, Haru turned her around on her back, and using his knees, he pressed her two hands while he put his hand on her head

  A breathless laugh was omitted from lana

  “What is it that you're fighting for exactly? Are you just a machine fighting for worth?”

  (A fighting machine? That's downright crude, you know…)

  “Does it really matter in the end? It makes no difference whatsoever to what I am doing”

  Haru held her tight as he spoke

  “How thought provoking, a real head scratcher for your puny little brain”

  The boy bit his lip and held his words back, knowing damn well that Lana was baiting him, which would only make him lose his concentration and his hold on her

  Taking a deep breath, he managed calmed down

  “Well it seems like the rookie is a pro already”

  “Am I even allowed to say, “dear god” in the Vatican as an atheist?”

  “You can say whatever you want here, no one is gonna judge you”...

  All of a sudden the entire dungeon started to shake violently, the columns were shaking, and the ground was slightly cracking

  Ghhhhhkkk!!

  “An earthquake? How convenient for you….wait”

  “Haha, bingo, it isn't an earthquake at all”

  Lana pushed Haru off her quite easily, taking advantage of his distraction

  Haru fell backward but managed to catch himself before falling completely to the ground

  His fingertips grinding against the now jagged concrete

  “Don't tell me you're actually using that kind of magic on the whole dungeon. That's totally bonkers”

  It seemed that it was the obvious answer since Lana had been using cheap tactics all fight to take down Haru

  “No, I'm not that crazy, I just shaked it a bit to distract you’

  As he had expected, hearing it from her lips made him even more angry for some reason

  (It must be the same amplifying magic that Matthew used, but with a different method…)

  Without even noticing it Lana took a breather, and looked at him straight in the eye

  “Tell me, Haru, since you claim to be this hero who will put us all out of our misery once and for all, how do you feel about all of this?’

  “It's not like I chose this, don't get me wrong, if the imaginary codex chose me this time, then it must mean that there was a reason”

  Furthermore, did he continue talking

  “Just because I didn't choose to be like this doesn't mean that others have to suffer from it, so I have to do the best that I possibly can”

  Lana crossed her arms as she thought about Haru's words. They were noble, of course, but she felt like she has heard of it before

  (Same shit ain't it)

  “And what do you think makes you different from the rest of the heroes?”

  “Nothing, I never said that I was different. All I said was that I was the one chosen, and there is no way around it”

  Lana had to blink twice. She looked at him weirdly

  Her inner thoughts were compiled of nothing but about how he was being humble while being a holy being at the same time? It was simply unheard of

  (What a strange kid you are…)

  Not only did Haru have determination but he was honest, he had humor, he had have decency

  He wasn't anything special but yet he wasn't a cruel person, neither was he a great person while still being a kid at heart

  Slowly Lana started to see more and more why the imaginary codex chose Haru in the first place

  The more she realized, the more she also realized that she had no chance of winning this fight, no matter what she may throw his way, he will continue

  The only choice would be to fight dirty, so Lana lifted up her arms

  (How can just one kid carry such a huge workload by himself?)

  “Surely you're not giving up, are you?”

  Lana swayed her head, chuckling

  “No not at all, I just decided to use my ability as a holy being”

  (Shit, this kid won't go down no matter what, I better end this now or I'm gonna burn myself out)

  As if pride had consumed her she let out a smile

  Haru straightened his back although he knew nothing about the true cross, whatever it was

  “Don't worry, it's not an offensive ability. It's more like a very, very good defense”

  Lana wanted to keep him in the dark, surprisingly she was no longer cocky now that she was using her trump card against Haru, which meant she was on the back pedal

  “By the way, if you want to win this fight, then you must kill me. It's the only way”

  Haru's facial expression stiffened, killing her? It was something that he had never done before in his life to another being

  “I refuse. There has to be another way other than killing. There always is”

  “This time, there is no option, no hiding spot for you this time”

  Trying to argue back was pointless, he didn't know this yet, abruptly he was cut off by Lana

  “You can keep denying this all you want, but it won't change the outcome. You have to kill me”

  Haru wanted to deny, to shout at her, but he knew that she wasn't bluffing either, so he was hardly left with a choice here, with a heavy heart he decided to act

  Soft tapping sounds echoed as he walked up towards her and strangled her by the neck

  Naturally, Lana choked, but his grip was too tight, causing her to spill blood from her mouth

  After 5 minutes, she'd succumb to her injuries and die, every time that she'd die her eyes would close, only to suddenly reopen with intensity 2 seconds after

  She kept laughing during the process like a maniac while Haru's tears fell on her body

  “Shut up!”

  “But this is way too fun”…

  She had managed to bring down the new kid in the block, albeit it be cheating, though she couldn't care less about cheating

  He sat there on his knees defeated, there was nothing left to do

  Lana took advantage of that and decided to deal the final blow

  Since Haru was already defeated, this was an opportunity for Lana to end this

  (Seems like the giants do fall)

  By using her mana to its fullest she manipulated the stones of this dungeon, ripping them of the inner walls of the place

  The mana that she was drawing was too much even for her body, as such her bones and muscle tendons started to weigh heavy on her

  Finally she won, it also meant that she had more bragging rights over the others

  The place shook entirely, even stronger than before

  Lana realized what she had just done, she had essentially weakened the structure of the place enough for it to collapse on itself

  “Sorry, but I guess this is a stalemate”

  “I have to give it to you though kiddo. You're a lot tougher to crack than anybody I have ever faced”

  She said a last time to him, at least for this confrontation, then she teleported away without a trace

  The rocks fell down one by one to the ground as the dungeon reached its

  critical point

  Even the throne of this room got hit by the stones and got crushed to bits, Haru saw his life flash in an instant before his eyes

  The roof kept collapsing, he stood there motionless, as bit by bit the light entered the huge underground dungeon

  His eyes remained dull and his mouth open as his fate was sealed, dying wasn't an option but he didn't want to be buried under rubble either

  (This is bullshit…)

  Before the stones could connect with Haru, Matthew teleported by his side and quickly snatched him by the waist

  The moment he did, he teleported again to Sylvia's living room

  The interference when the roof had collapsed meant that the signal was apparent, thankfully

  Matthew and Sylvia were monitoring the computer anyways, so they acted in an instant

  Haru softly fell down as Matthew let go, with worry, Sylvia rushed to his side

  Matthew caught him before falling, having expected him to be on his legs immediately

  “Are you still there?”

  Sylvia held him gently while talking

  “Haru is naturally tough. Surely a little confrontation couldn't have broken him”

  “You're not exactly helping Matthew”

  “I….I saw hell down there”

  Haru said weakly

  Matthew and Sylvia both cocked their eyebrows upwards

  Matthew crossed his arms and asked

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “She tormented me. It just wouldn't stop, the endless deaths”

  Not even a lick of his laid-back personality could be sensed in his voice

  “It's safe to say that Lana abused the True crosses ability too much. She must have forced Haru to kill her indefinitely”

  Sylvia winced a bit, still holding him

  “Then I guess it's more understandable why he is like this, come, let's rest you up a bit”

  Sylvia gently lifted him and placed him on the couch, she gave a glance back at Matthew on the way

  Matthew took the hint and went to the kitchen to prepare some coffee for all of them…

  Sylvia sat beside him, and neither of them didn't want to speak, so it was a bit awkward

  “.....”

  (They think I'm not pathetic? Maybe…maybe there are truly good people in this world…)

  Until Matthew came back from the kitchen with 3 coffees for the three of them

  He quietly set both mugs on the table, having his in his hand already

  Sylvia took her own drink and began sipping like Matthew

  Haru, in turn, took the coffee and began drinking, he needed the caffeine boost

  “Jeez you don't have to be so adamant about it”

  Sylvia added while giggling

  Haru smiled, now fully awoken

  “It's gonna take some time for that whole ordeal to sink in, but thanks, guys, I really needed a break”

  Matthew waved his hand gently

  “Don't sweat it, we're teammates now, remember? Looking out for each other is all part of it now”

  Sylvia cleared her throat loudly at Matthew

  “Isn't there something which you are forgetting?”

  “What are you talking about, Sylvia-....ohhh! of course, my apologies"

  Matthew pulled out a small box of black jack and sat on the table. He slid the small box towards Haru

  “What's this?”

  Black jack of all things?

  (I didn't know poker was going to be a part of this journey…)

  Sylvia smiled, but she let Matthew explain anyway

  “It's a small box containing tons of rune cards for you. Since teleportation is way too advanced for you, rune cards are the best alternative”

  Haru slowly extended his hand towards the box and picked up the small box

  “Well, we definitely have to make an adjustment for it. Wait, Matthew, whatever happened to your hair?”

  Ever so sheepish Matthew rubbed his temples

  Of course, now that Haru was back in his senses, he would see the hairstyle change

  “It's a long story. Basically, Sylvia thought it'd be a good idea to let my hair down instead of having my normal slickback”

  “It was tough to pull off at first because he wouldn't listen, but he eventually got around that idea”

  From across his cheeks burned. He didn't try to deny her claims either

  With mild interest Haru looked at them, his eyes back and forth like watching a tennis match

  “You two seem awfully close in a short amount of time, you know”

  They both blushed, their cheeks turning bright red

  Almost instantly Sylvia swayed her hands in front of her face frantically

  “No, it's not like that! Idiot”

  “Ok that's too far, even for you!”

  Matthew shouted, his eyes turning and twisting like that of a cartoon

  “And it seems that I was right on the money”

  Although Sylvia was blushing hard, she couldn't help but chuckle to herself

  (At least he's back to his usual self…)

  “You should probably lend on Sylvia to handle the whole rune card thing”

  With a sigh Sylvia put her coffee on the table and got to work with the set in her room

  As they were waiting on the couch, Matthew turned on the TV to see if there was something good playing

  Nothing came up that was worth the while, so he simply closed the tv

  “Well we can't just be twisting our thumbs”

  Haru sighed. It wasn't like he wasn't also bored

  “Tell me about it, if there's actually anything worth doing now”

  Sylvia popped her head out of her room, holding out a pair of Haru's pants with the small box installed on them

  “That quick?”

  But Haru was more shocked than anything by the fact that Sylvia had a pair of his pants

  “Wh-where did you get that?!”

  “It's for purely scientific purposes”

  Haru looked over at Matthew to see if he had anything to do with it

  “Don't look at me, I wasn't the one that was creeping around your stuff”

  Haru gave off a sigh and furrowed his eyebrows comically

  Standing up to take the newly formed pants from Sylvia's hands, he went into the bathroom to change into the new pants

  Sylvia and Matthew waited for a short amount of time in the living room

  “...”

  Eventually haru came off the bathroom now in the new pants

  “Gotta say this is pretty useful to have around”

  This was another moment for him to relax, with this little meeting

  To him it was just another moment to be human, to be himself

  Yet again, he was reminded that he needed a breather as well, in these past situations, he had been far too reckless, and it was about time he'd learn from his mistakes

  He also learnt to appreciate the fact that he was not alone in this, this was gonna become a prominent feature in his adventures from now on

  By now he learned to rely on others more, and not solely for himself but for the benefit of all…

  Back in Italy, the Vatican was in complete havoc after the dungeon had collapsed

  To the rest of Rome, it just felt like an earthquake but the media kept pressing the Vatican about this

  It had honestly become suffocating for them, while the pressure was piling on, so were the demands

  Employees of the church itself started asking questions about the incident, and eventually, the truth came out to the rest of the world

  Just like the news with Annabelle, the media ate this up

  The situation became even more dire as leaks in the internet started spreading about the dungeons' old identity

  Almost immediately, they made a bunch of different theories regarding the dungeon, about how it was connected to the vatican

  Overnight, it became an internet sensation all around the globe, surpassing even Annabelle's decision

  All this caused even more chaos in the Vatican as now all of a sudden they gained a lot of unwanted attention because of a single boy

  It was crystal clear that they were hiding a lot more in those libraries than they themselves had revealed to the public…