166 Savior (2/2)

Hina leaned in close, and there almost seemed to be a hint of blush on her pale face. Shockingly, she kissed him on the forehead!

Haru stared dumbfounded at the unexpected development. 'Is now really the time for this?' He wondered.

Hina's smile grew even more brilliant as she blushed even more. ”Now we're even.” She said in a voice so quiet it was barely a whisper. Her vines shot out, wrapping Haru, Ed, and Scrub into a cocoon. Then her giant arms transformed into a shape like a catapult, launching them high into the air and flying over the enemies towards the front lines.

Hina was now alone, surrounded on all sides by elemental giants. It was unlikely anyone would help her. She wasn't important to anybody here, as she was just a young foreigner. Besides, everyone on the battlefield was already risking their lives, and they wouldn't make sacrifices for a complete stranger.

A fire elemental giant's sword came swinging towards her, and she struggled to block it. More of her plants were lost as a result, weakening her defenses even further. There were only so many plants she could call on in the surrounding area, and as they were atop a mountain near a civilized area, there was mostly only grass and flowers in her surroundings.

A lightning elemental giant's sword cleaved through her vines, shocking her ribs and leaving a large bruise behind. ”Ugh.” She vomited blood as she held onto the wound with her remaining arm. 'Was it a mistake to choose Haru that day?' She wondered as she continued fighting. She hurriedly managed to dodge the attack of two wind elemental giants. 'No.' She shook her head. 'The other captured espers were taken away before Ed got involved. Haru was only saved because I had coincidentally chosen him.' She chuckled to herself. 'I wonder how he would react if he knew I chose him because I thought he was cute.'

”AGHH!” She screamed in pain as an ice giant managed to bludgeon her leg with its sword. The ice giant's eyes glowed red, indicating it followed the path of red water. Its sword constantly had reddish steam emitting off it. 'Ah, I missed that one because I thought it was just an ordinary ice giant...' She sighed to herself while feeling that she was on the verge of losing consciousness. Desperate, she looked around the battlefield, but it still seemed that nobody was coming for her. 'Figures...' She struggled not to cry.

”HINA!!!” Haru's anguished voice echoed across the battlefield. She looked towards that direction, feeling momentarily hopeful, but Haru was nowhere to be seen. Clearly he was incapacitated when she had saved him, and even if he got help, they wouldn't make it to her in time.

Hina smiled, finally allowing her tears to pour down once again. 'Is it okay to think that Haru might have liked me? Even if only a little bit.' She looked towards the various elemental giants, which had only grown more concentrated around her. She had only held on until now because of how weak the elemental giants were in general, but they were a huge problem in large quantities. 'If given a choice, I'd rather not die to the giants...' She sighed. 'Is there a way to stay with Haru even after I die?' She wondered. She closed her eyes as the next wave of swords came, finally accepting her defeat.

...

Meanwhile, on the other side of the battlefield. Haru laid incapacitated on the ground, though his wounds were quickly healing due to his chimera flesh. ”LET ME GO!” He yelled at the healer that was wasting their time on him. How could a healer compare to his own body's natural abilities from the Water Nightmare?

”Just hold still.” The healer, a tall and slim man, frowned. ”You're lucky to even be alive.” He glanced at Ed's unconscious body. ”And who even knows what's wrong with that one.”

”HINA!!!” Haru shouted in anguish, hoping for her to survive.

Suddenly, Flair appeared in front of him, seeming to have heard his shouts. Tao had shrunken back down in size and was riding atop her shoulder. ”There you are.” She frowned as she saw Haru's damaged body. She must be truly worried, as it was rare to ever see the usually cheerful Flair frown. ”What happened to you? And Where's Hina?” She asked.

”You've got to save her!” He yelled in panic while struggling to point in a certain direction. ”She's behind enemy lines. She won't make it if someone doesn't get there soon!”

Flair appeared hesitant when looking at all of the horde of elemental giants, but she nodded anyways. At the very least, she had her jetpack and her seven-elemental sniper rifle. She should be capable of making it behind enemy lines and back as long as they continued facing the elemental giants. She turned around and flew away, attempting to go and save Hina.

'Damn!' Haru struggled to clench his fists. 'It's my fault! It's all my fault!' He recalled the way he had always treated Hina. He treated her as less than garbage 99 percent of the time. He was still angry over what she had done at him. Still disgusted by the fact that she used to be one of the so-called elites that governed over the commoners. But now, he only felt tremendous, unbearable guilt. He had always done things he believed to be right, but he wasn't given a choice in the matter this time. He would rather have been killed than saved by somebody he had hated so much.

...

Flair flew over the battlefield. The ground was like a sea of elemental giants, making it difficult to spot anything. 'Where is she?' She looked around in confusion. 'It shouldn't be this hard to spot a 10-meter-tall plant...'

'There!' She spotted a blotch of green amidst the horde and flew towards it. The elemental giants were everywhere on the ground, forcing her to clear them away. 'Well, I had to use the good ammo eventually.' She sighed while loading her expensive seven-element mana-ammunition. She aimed through the scope and fired, making sure to keep the blast radius far enough away from Hina that she wouldn't be harmed.

BOOM! The ground trembled as a storm of elemental energies devoured multiple elemental giants. Flair quickly reloaded and fired several more times. Explosions formed a circle, destroying almost all the elemental giants in the vicinity. She quickly finished the remnants off with more ordinary mana-ammunition.

'All done!' She smiled. The ground was now hazy from all of the elemental explosions, making it difficult to see. She disregarded this and flew down anyways, landing on the ground. She moved through the haze towards Hina, and when she finally reached her, her eyes widened in shock. ”Oh, Hina...” She gasped as tears appeared in her eyes. ”Just what in the world did you go and do?”