Judgement's P.O.V.
I was searching for something in the remains of a desolated house with someone, we were looking for a person... no, before that, I had received numerous reports of people all going missing around that area, and then I went there to investigate after being informed that she was there...
Dying wasn't the plan.
It was supposed to be a recon mission. Get in, check around, then leave. How was I so stupid enough to get caught up in the heat of the moment to battle against a lich, in her own territory nonetheless? And I still had to recover from the injuries earlier that day. Healing spells do not replenish lost blood, and I had lost more than two buckets of it. If I had gotten to the Pope a little later that day, I would've died.
In my selfishness of trying to protect Sun by myself, I had cost myself my own life, and Neo's as well.
I don't recall perfectly what happened, my memories were scattered, vague, as if I was not... awake yet. Sun casted resurrection, and he had once again paid a price.
What would he lose this time around?
The nerve-wrecking guilt plagued me day and night after my revival. I couldn't throw back what he had given me in his face. No, the revival- this second chance- had surely been something that had cost him more than he would dare to let us know.
I paused, my pen creating an inkblot on my paper as I left it there. Pure black, tinting white.
A person who shouldn't be alive, but here I was.
The few things I remembered about that day was the fact I woke up; Neo didn't.
Sun fell down beside Neo, his face a pale white that didn't suit him. Neo was dead; laid beside Grisia with an expression similar to someone who was grieving, but at the same time... terrified.
I got up from my seat, investigating the plain room I was in. If I left this room, then... visiting the graveyard...
It wasn't like I was forbidden to go there, but everyone always said that I frequented it to much. Almost as much as I had frequented Sun's room, staying there waiting for him to wake up. Every time I went, I brought the sweets he loved so much and left them at his bedside.
It was nearly the same with the graveyard. I would visit with flowers, staying there with a naive wish that if I waited long enough, I'd wake up from this nightmare and in my room. Everything would be normal.
But how could it be with a demon king candidate as the Sun knight? Sun, who didn't even know it himself, would carelessly call upon random elements. His adaptation towards the dark element grew alarmingly fast, we could all sense it.
His healing spells would be a bit different, less potent as before, but his necromancy would be as powerful and destructive as any necromancer who spent their entire life on that particular area.
And every spell brought him closer and closer to awakening those memories of his childhood. The childhood were he had spent his life with Scarlet before Neo had taken him away.
Scarlet claimed that he is her son. How could he be? She most likely had kidnapped Grisia at a young age.
I stopped investigating the room, the silence was deafening. Normally, at this time, I would be in the Judgement Complex interrogating criminals for confessions. With a blank stare I looked out the window of my room. I don't know if it was because it was the only space were the Pope would allow it, or because I had pestered him to do so, but the grave still had fresh flowers on it.
Neo's grave to be precise.
After I woke up, I realized that I was in my room, Vidar was at my door. As soon as he realized that I was awake, he left to get the others.
Metal told me that Neo's would be buried today.
The ominous feel I had intensified. Buried. Neo was gone. All because I was foolish enough to fight a losing battle.
The burial was solemn. Teacher was at the temple already, sending out letters to the thirty-seventh generation of Twelve Holy Knights to come to the burial. There was another man there, he had greying hair but it was easy enough to deduce he was blond in his earlier years.
He was the Sun Knight of the thirty-sixth generation.
He came with a few others, the former Ice, Leaf, Earth and Judgement knight. They were all that remained, he said, the rest having already passed on to the afterlife.
He spoke about Neo for a long time. He said Neo was stong-willed, and while his intentions would be unclear, he always did it with the happiness of other's in mind. And that Neo was always so strong, for even at his young age he had already beaten the temple's swordsmen twice over and would have probably combed the entirety of the kingdom for sparring partners if he wasn't forced to
maintain the image of the Sun Knight.
He never thought he would outlive his student.
He often joked with Neo that he'd die one day due to his reckless behavior, Neo had promised that at least he would outlive his teacher long before that would happen.
He really wanted Neo to keep that promise.
No one blamed me. I wished they had. They just said it wasn't my fault he was dead.
How couldn't it have been?
Teacher told me that for now, I should just wait for Grisia to wake up and stay healthy, Away from danger, he stressed.
From everyone present, Aldritz and Teacher were the closest to Neo. They didn't blame me.
I wonder how Aldritz will manage to wander about now, Neo was the only reason he could go through the continent with no worries, and now he was gone. He couldn't even return home, the dark elves would surely kill him before he could even plead for mercy.
I grabbed my sword, and headed for Sun's room.
It has been a month since then. Sun still wasn't awake.
Would he have to remain that way? Was the price that he would never awaken from this coma?
With a push, I opened the door and grabbed a seat. I planned to stay here until morning.
Even if Sun would sleep forever, I will stay beside his side. After all, this was the least I could do.