..
"Guhh!"
Max grunted in pain as he held on to the sword that went through his stomach, feeling it protruding out his back.
He froze up struggling to overcome the intense pain that assaulted his upper body but still not forgetting the reason he was in that situation. Max steeled himself as he forcefully moved his hands trying to hold the guy's arms.
""MAX!""
"YOUU!!!"
"DIE!!"
The masked man attempted to pull his arm away to no avail as Max used all the strength he could muster, securely grabbing him which was more than enough with his current level being 20, far higher than the man.
Pink light completely surrounded him prompting him to let go of his sword then proceeded to mindlessly walk towards Layla.
But his movement didn't last for long as a large stream of purple lightning slammed down on him, instantly killing him in the process.
"Gahh!"
Sensing that he was losing control of his lower body from the pain, his legs turned weak, falling down to his knees. He doesn't know how to describe what he was feeling right now.
It was just so awful, tasting blood in his mouth and getting dizzy as his body gets weaker.
""Max!""
Layla and Lydia hurriedly went close to Max, tears flowing down their eyes thinking that he was going to die as they saw the sword pierced through him, coming out of his back.
""No! No! No!""
They hugged him as they shout for his name. Max remembered why he was put in this situation.
When the first masked man disappeared, he waited as they scoured the area searching for him. A few minutes of going through different directions but still found nothing, he went out thinking it was over.
That was when he saw a shadow on the other side behind them, that man was holding a black sword rapidly closing in on Layla.
He figured that Layla would not be able to dodge it as she wasn't looking, not having any idea about it.
Short on time, he made a quick decision to warn her, at the same time using all his strength to rush towards her. As Layla stopped moving, not having any chance to dodge it, he jumped between them to use himself as a shield.
He positioned himself so that his important spots would not be hit. Luckily, the sword only pierced him on his stomach. Seeing that, he internally sighed in relief before excruciating pain assaulted him.
First time experiencing being in a grievous condition like this, his blood ran cold as he felt goosebumps all over his body.
He was really frightened but he never thought he was going to die at all. He was also not going to let this guy go as he forcefully grabbed his arm.
After noticing the guy getting charmed, he felt strength left his body, feeling really weak. He wasn't going to be some hero that will sacrifice his life.
He only thought that he isn't going to let any of his women die. That was the only thing in his mind as he shielded Layla from the attack.
He also knew that he had the Reverse Time Skill. One of the things he found out with his sister was that it doesn't matter how serious the wound was as the only thing the skill does was reverse time.
He took a gamble thinking that no matter how serious his condition was, he can just reverse the time to heal himself. Seeing Layla and Lydia crying while hugging him, Max didn't know whether he should laugh.
He could only exhale deeply as it looked like he will have to show his skill this time in front of them, hoping that they would still treat him the same after this.
He was still suffering through unimaginable pain, causing him to shake uncontrollably as a large amount of blood was flowing out of him that it all accumulated around his feet.
"Let's take him to the car! Hurry, he's losing so much blood!"
*mumble*
"W-What? Did you say something?"
*mumble*
"Hold on for a moment. Okay, say it again!"
Layla and Lydia stopped moving Max as they wanted to hear what he would want to say.
"P-Put me down."
"Huh? No! We're not going to let you die here!"
"J-Just put me down. Trust me."
Max felt that he might faint anytime soon as his head was spinning that he just wanted to close his eyes. He wanted to quickly heal himself fearing that it might be too late if he waited.
Putting him down as they gave up from his urging, Layla and Lydia watched as Max gritted his teeth as he slowly pulled the sword out of his stomach
""Don't…""
Both of them stopped saying what they're going to say as Max turned to them, looking at them in their eyes, shaking his head.
Successfully pulling the sword out of his body, a larger amount of blood started to pour out of him.
Knowing that he's running out of time, Max placed his hand over the open wound as blurry white light shined around his hands.
What happened next was quite disturbing, blood from the ground started to flow back into his wound followed by the wound closing as his pale face started to return back to his usual healthy glow.
Layla and Lydia watched everything with open mouths, completely surprised about what they just witnessed.
Max thought how good it felt doing that. The pain started to disappear and strength began to come back to his body.
"Huuu."
Max wiped the sweat on his forehead registering that he was back to how he was before, not finding complications on his body.
He turned to see them looking at him with shocked faces like they just saw something that was completely unbelievable.
Max chuckled a bit and lied down on the road looking at the stars in the sky, enjoying the serene atmosphere.
"Wha-What? Y-You?
After a moment of silence, Layla shakingly pointed at him, not knowing where to begin. Lydia was silent but her eyes were intently looking at Max, waiting for the next words he'll say.
Finally realizing that he wasn't going to talk, they couldn't contain their curiosity anymore,
"Y-You're an Awakened too?"
"Yeah."
Max responded right away like it was nothing important, still appreciating the twinkling stars and the cool air around them.
He was glad nothing happened to them and also learned how fragile people's life was, as he saw the man instantly dying in front of him.
"What?! S-Since when?
"Hmm? Since the beginning, a long time ago!"
"No, we're asking when did you know we were Awakened too
"A while ago, when you got out of the car that gave me a faint suspicion but you went ahead and proved it. Good fight by the way."
"…"
"Haah, let's talk about this tomorrow."
"Come over to our house again after school. I'm really exhausted right now."
"Uhmm…"
"What is it?"
"Uhmm, could you…?"
Layla looked at the mess they made everywhere. Max realized what she was asking for and turned towards Lydia, giving her a blank stare causing her to blush in embarrassment.
"Ugghh, fine."
