Chapter 121: Chapter 121

Micka fell on the ground and soon his army did as well, the fire extinguished in the cave and the temperature dropped, Sara watched the scene with an eye that saw the insides, it looked like thousands of candles being extinguished while darkness took over as the cores of the demons faded, The link she created worked and they killed the army by killing its head, Sara didn't want to stare for too long at the dying demons as death brought the numbness back to her heart and mind, instead she looked at her sister, noticing how she wasn’t wrapped in shadows anymore.

Frowning, Sara wondered why the shadows were gone before she looked back at Eren, and her eyes widened as she saw his bare back, he was back to his human form, his aura still dark but dangerously faint as he stood in front of the fire lord’s body.

Sara hesitated before, but with all the demons gone and not a single threat present to endanger her sister, she walked towards the shadows lord, taking one of the demon’s cape with her and handling it to Eren who quickly tied it around his waist, grateful for her kindness.

"Last time I thought I killed him..." Eren spoke at last as the two stared at Micka’s dead body “I want to make sure he is dead this time and won't resurrect to come back and hunt us when we think we are safe"

"He is dead... They are all are" Sara looked around her to the corpses, thousands of them, thousands of lives were taken in a mere second, and even when it bothered her to look at all the dead, she still did, understanding the shadows lord’s fears of leaving behind any enemies.

"Are y... " Sara didn't get to finish her question as they both heard a sob coming from behind, looking back at Nara, they saw she was fully awake and standing, her tears were already falling like heavy rain, making her cheeks flush and her lip tremble, beautiful, Sara thought as she stepped away from the body right when her sister started running towards them, opening her arms to receive the frightened redheaded bird, only that the bird never intended to land on her arms.

Sara was left speechless when her sister passed without stopping, and even before she looked, she knew where did her sister go, the sound of two bodies colliding was another proof, and when she did turn, she saw her sister wrapping her arms around a stunned Eren while burying her face in his chest.

Sara and Eren looked at each other, both speechless and stunned, Eren felt how awkward the situation was, with a crying Nara on his chest and a frozen Sara staring at him with a slightly opened mouth, not needing to tell him a thing for him to know that she was in pain, she was the person Nara should have ran to and hugged but here she was hugging a stranger, a demon at that.

"My lady..." Eren decided to talk to Nara who raised her teary eyes at him.

"You saved me..." Nara sobbed while closing up to the shadows’ lord, the truth was, Nara didn't even notice Dahlia, she was scared, so scared, she was treated with so much roughness, and then that brunette took her to a scary place through the dark and hit her out of consciousness, Nara was so afraid and genuinely thought that she wasn't going to make it out of there alive but she did, only for her mind to start remembering  and processing the things the evil man said earlier, that the shadows’ lord was in love with her, the man who stole her breath away since the first time she saw him, the realization as well as the rough experience made her very emotional, it was all too surreal, and without thinking, she ran to the arms of the man whom she believed was the one she always waited for.

"My lady, you should..." Eren raised his hands to push the clingy princess away from him but was stopped by Sara who shook he head tiredly, it was hard to understand at first, until he remembered that Sara wasn’t Sara to them, she was Dahlia, the servant and not the sister, pain flashed in her eyes for a second but he caught it making him want to push the crying princess aside and take her, his fair lady, his one and only, in his arms, but he knew it was a bad idea, locking his eyes with her, they stared at each other without blinking, a silent conversation going on between them while Nara cried her eyes out on his bare chest

Once she was done crying, Sara walked to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, Nara jumped back in fear before registering who she was.

"Da... Dahlia? What are you doing here?"

" We both came here to save you..." Eren chose to answer instead of Sara whose voice was lost for the second, Eren knew that Nara was the most important person in Sara's heart yet she wasn't even noticed by the delusional princess even after she went through hell to save her, he couldn't help but pity his beloved, especially with Nara saying nothing to her but an 'Oh'

"My lord..."

"Your highness..."

Many voices were heard in the cave as the reinforcements Eren asked for were finally there, Andrea showed up with some demon and human soldiers from Taghit, the demons checked on their lords while the soldiers checked on their princess, everyone forgetting about the dark figure that stepped away from the scene, having conflicted feeling of relief for her sister's safety, and utter, supreme loneliness....

Everyone but one, Eren noticed how Sara stepped back while wrapping her arms around her stomach, he wanted to go to her but the moment he took a single step, his body gave up on him and he was soon consumed by darkness.

Eren lost all sensation of the outside world and instead was trapped in his body, with both his human side and his demon side weakened, the balance he created between them and the creation energy was lost, making it go hectic inside of him, trying to cut it way out, Eren was reminded with the pain he had to suffer under the water, the same excruciating pain, and with his dark energy at its lowest, he couldn't balance it again, leaving him with agonizing pain that ripped him off of his senses and caged him in darkness and just way too much pain...

Eren felt like he had been in that cage for eternity, he wished he could stop it somehow as he felt it killing him slowly but couldn't do a thing, he couldn't even give up and let the death consume him because the pain was too much.

But right when he thought it was the end, he felt his demonic energy rejuvenated, as if it was being fueled, making it grow stronger, enough to restore it control on the creation energy, the pain subsided and the wounds healed, making his human rest from the agony, all while sensing the heavy smoothness on his flooding in his mouth, a smoothness that breathed life back in him.

………….

Looking at the soldiers and the demons invading the cave, Sara felt a little relaxed, she knew Eren was beyond exhausted, his aura acted strangely, It was very faint and not as dark as it was before, instead it was getting clearer, as if there was a silver light trying to rip the darkness from the inside and break it thick shell, and aside from the shadows’ lord, she herself was exhausted, her body was aching everywhere, her core was unstable, her inner body was sore and damaged from the unusual activity of using her powers her aggressively and constantly for a fair amount of time, Not to mention the last trick she pulled by creating a connection between the demons tying their life forces together, noticing how Emilia linked her core with her life force, she tried doing the same to the demons, thousands of them all at once and it exhausted her physically and mentally, leaving her drained and weakened, but not as much as the shadows’ lord who was struggling to breath.

While the soldiers inspected Nara's body for any possible injuries, and while a demoness stood taking Eren's orders of inspecting the cave carefully, Sara felt herself drowning in her dilemmas, she knew she was supposed to feel relief, for her sister's safety, for her own safety and for winning the fight, and she was relieved, but that relief was only the shell, and under it many feelings collided, each complicating the others, there was confusion, about the shadows’ lord whom she hates, but wasn't hating, not right then, there was hurt from Nara's reaction, Sara wasn't waiting for any sort of reward of gratitude, she didn't save her sister because she wanted to be thanked and praised, she did simply because she loved her sister, yet she didn't knew she was actually waiting for something in return, she was waiting for her love to be mutual, and it hurt her as well as disappointed her to see Nara run straight to Eren's arms while totally ignoring her, it hurt her that her sister only spared her an 'Oh' and a look that said she was out of place, and that is what she felt when the demons and the soldiers arrived, out of place.

Sara also felt guilty for thinking that way, it was selfish of her to think so while her sister’s safety was endangered, she told herself she should be satisfied with the fact that her sister was safe and yet again, the lump in her throat kept on growing with all the other feelings bubbling up and sticking there, she thought that she finally had a place where she felt like she belonged, like she was a part of something and that existence mattered to others, but from what she was seeing, everyone was looking at her with the same eye, like something out of space, something extra and unnecessary, irrelevant even, and again, she felt utterly lonely...

While lost on her eyes, Sara felt an intense gaze on her, looking up,  she saw Eren looking at her with concern, she looked back at him in the eye, something that would have made her sick before but didn't, maybe because he was the only one who didn’t look at her that way, maybe because he was the only one who knew her, who noticed her pain and loneliness and cared for them, The shadows’ lord tried to make his way to her but ended up falling to the ground with his aura decreasing to a deadly degree, Everyone was alarmed with his fall, the demoness that was leading the reinforcements ran to his side as well as Nara who started calling him while crying, the demons said something about him burning up his dark magic and losing his balance and him not feeding, Then they lifted their lord's body and placed it in the only carriage they brought, All while Sara was frozen, locked inside her own thoughts until one of the soldiers called her out.

Was he dead? Was her demon dead?

Then, what about her? who else she had left?