"HOW DID HE SURVIVE THAT?"
The question thundered in Adam's mind. Since this memory recollection began, he had learned many things about Earth through the original's month of training, including weaponry. So, his frame couldn't help but uncontrollably shudder when he gazed skyward, only to see a missile closing in. Yet, he knew it wasn't a regular one charged with explosives since they were factually useless.
So, it could only be one thing...
However, his unease and trembling voice couldn't reach the original. After all, he was witnessing past events. Still, the more he watched, the crazier the world became, especially with the terror's arrival. Now that he could seize it from close, he knew it was the equivalent of a magical beast in the fifth tier.
Not only would the original need to survive confronting it, but now he would have to survive a real nuclear explosion, too.
Even for him, the situation was desperate. Despite his perfect affinities and apprentice level, he had no confidence in surviving the blast, not to mention the radiation accompanying it. So, the question remained. And to get the answer, he had to focus on the events.
"Show me how you did it," he muttered, his palms raised in a disbelieving gesture. Yet a sharp glint flashed in his eyes.
A second later, he heard the Original roar as he reached the behemoth.
With a battle cry, he swung his longsword, slashing at the behemoth's front leg with all the strength he could muster.
The noise of metal colliding with chitin resounded in the silent battlefield. A shower of glistening shards flew in the air, and the contemptuous gaze of the creature's many eyes fell on the now unharmed fool.
A hideous grin split the creature's horrifying mouth the next second as it moved a paw as slowly as possible. Yet, its deliberate movement appeared as a blur in the original's eyes. The wind howled as its massive claw -akin to a spear- pierced the man's clothes and jerked his body like a rag doll.
An intelligent glint flashed in its eyes, along with something else... was it cruelty or enjoyment? Anyway, the creature avoided wounding the original and raised its claw high in the sky above its head instead.
"Do it! Let's see who'll eat the other first! Your digestive system, or me from the inside!" The original roared, laughing like a lunatic in the face of death. In the face of the glinting sword-like teeth and in the face of the abyssal darkness below his feet.
As if to mock him, the terror growled and shook its claw, making him slide millimeter by millimeter. And finally, after not seeing despair contort his features, simply letting him slide into its abyssal maws.
Despite the critical situation, only his laughter echoed during his fall until a last sentence lingered in the air.
"Anything you try to do to me, I'll do it to you first! Mark my words! HAHAHA."
Annoyed by the loud pest, the behemoth snapped its jaws shut, raising a hurricane with this simple movement and swallowed, not bothering to chew such a small thing.
Adam watched the sad spectacle with a bitter smile. Even if it wasn't him, seeing someone with the same features die like that felt wrong. However, he scratched his head the next second, confusion brewing in his mind. How could the original die this early?
As he pondered the question, the loud noise of sliced wind resonated in his ears, causing his eyes to light up.
"What a lucky bastard. HAHAHA!"
He chuckled, figuring out the last piece of the puzzle as the missile cut through his ethereal form, darting towards the abomination standing before the portal.
An explosion of catastrophic proportion blasted everything in an eight-kilometre range. The creatures, the walls, nothing escaped the vaporisation of the hydrogen bomb. The wind's howl, scarier than the behemoth's had been, assaulted the city, flattening anything in its path.
Soon, a devastated city lay before Adam. Dust billowed, obscuring his vision, and the thick scent of carbonisation filled his nostrils.
Twisted metal and shattered buildings filled his sight, and he knew that buried under them were many civilians who only dreamed of surviving this calamity.
The furthest reach was spared, though. But he knew that would only apply to the buildings. Carried by the wind, the radiation will kill any living being in a several dozen-kilometre radius during the next few days. It could even go up to hundreds if the weather proved unfavorable. Anyway, he shook his head as his lips quivered in pity and grief.
'They didn't' deserve to die like that,' he thought, imagining frightened children cradling their heads in despair, their grandparents trying to soothe them, promising that everything would be fine but knowing they were lying.
Then, he recalled the brave soldiers and their unwavering devotion to the human race. Until the end, they did everything they could to protect the innocents.
When they finally understood that everything was lost, they chose mutual destruction, hoping to reduce the enemy's number to help other human cities.
Everything he witnessed and the flow of newfound emotions led him to a conclusion. Even if some evil seeds existed, Earthlings were proud individuals with genuine values. Powerful individuals didn't hesitate to endanger their lives for the weak. According to his definition, these soldiers were heroes.
With solemn and deliberate movements, he made a military salute to honor their deaths as an uncontrollable tear rolled down his spectral cheek.
As a deafening silence lingered for two minutes, movement shook the air and made the scorched land tremble.
His thoughts disturbed, he turned towards the source, only to frown. The behemoth endured.
Despite its fissured chitin, despite the burning liquid sifting through the cracks, despite its broken bones, it survived.
With weak steps, it walked towards the vortex, crossing its threshold a moment later before collapsing to the ground, too wounded to move.