"Dude, we have to hide! What the hell are you doing just sitting there?" Adachi shouted, shaking and flailing Tabito's shoulders from behind, nearly breaking the teen's neck.

"B-but Hara... She just threw herself out there alone against this guy..." Tabito stammered in disbelief. His hands, gripping the edge of the broken floor board he sat on, shook violently.

His body was frozen. His mind screamed at him, commanded him to jump in and help his friend. But his body revolted, keeping him sitting in the smoldering remains of Merino's Diner.

Upon hearing the final bell, Tabito and Adachi stopped their fight, with neither claiming a certain victory in points or physical damage. Ironically, the two flame magic users even teamed up against several other duos during their trip throughout the city.

Adachi's number read +245, while Tabito's read +284.

After the demon's arrival, both Adachi and Tabito took cover in the remains of what used to be - or was supposed to be - Merino's. Collateral damage from various fights in the square had blasted an immense hole in the front of the diner, large enough for an unobstructed view of what was now enfolding at the center of the square. 

Fire rippled along the upper edges of the blown out walls and sent thick smoke into the pitch black sky. Checkerboard-patterned tables had been reduced to splinters sharp enough to impale a human. The cushioned booth seats were ripped to shreds, with cotton and red padding scattered across the floor.

The horrific sight had dropped Tabito's stomach to his feet when he arrived. Tabito, however, didn't expect the same sensation to return just minutes after as he watched his childhood friend stare death in the face.

***

"What is she doing?" Riarshi whispered under his breath. "She's acting suicidal..."

Riarshi had fought a demon not too long ago himself. This man, however, was completely different from the demon he fought in the alley. 

The negative emotion powering this man's magic wasn't coming from just a single source. Instead, this energy flowed from over one hundred students, all fearing for their life after watching two people die before their eyes.

Riarshi couldn't be held without blame for the increase in the demon's power. His own fear and despair had left him paralyzed on the grass of the city center. 

He was too far away to do anything, anyway... even if his revolting body loaned him the slightest bit of strength. He was powerless, hopeless, and alone.

For a moment, he stared at Hara with a sense of confidence. The raven-haired girl was powerful. If anyone could defeat this man or at least hang on until the Heroes arrived, it was her. 

The Heroes will be here soon. Just, why aren't they here yet? Riarshi thought, looking around the sky for the glimpse of an aqua-colored portal.

***

Hara's lip quivered and her hands attempted to ball into fists, but her fingers trembled so frantically that she couldn't find the strength nor coordination to do so.

"Oh? A little girl like you trying to play hero? How cute," Sydney barked in a patronizing tone, sticking his nose high in the air.

A flash of purple bursted within his right hand, forming into another swirling energy ball. 

"You can clearly see you're outmatched, girl. But high magic users like you aren't used to seeing people stronger than you, are ya? Don't enjoy being on the other side of things, eh?" He raised his glowing hand and took aim at Hara. "I guess I'll play with you for a bit."

He shot a beam of magic. With a quick push off with her right foot, Hara barely slid out of the way. The beam whizzed by her ear, bursting her eardrum and firing an awful, sharp pain to her brain. The beam, missing a group of students by a few feet, dug into the pathways at her back, shooting shards of concrete and grass into the air.

Hara, still breathing heavily, raised her hand and took aim toward her left. A blue glow surrounded a nearby bench and trash can. They lifted from the grass, rotated to align parallel to the ground, then flew at Sydney.

Sydney raised his hand and blasted these projectiles away with a single beam of magic, disintegrating them into clouds of purple ash with visible ease. He smiled wickedly.

Hara grunted and fired two large shards of concrete that lay by her feet. Both, however, met the same dusty fate as the other objects. The ashy remains of each item thrown showered down over Syndey. He lazily brushed his leather jacket clean with the back of his hand.

Hara's eyes, puffy and bloodshot, bulged from her head. Her face flushed a bright, fury-driven red. She released an incoherent scream and began throwing any item her magic could reach. Chunks of concrete, trash lids, lampposts, and various other objects found themselves under the control of her magic and flinging recklessly toward the demon.

Sydney stood motionless and, with little effort, blasted every one of these tumbling projectiles into a familiar cloud of ash. His blood-red eyes flashed with determination. 

This charade carried on for several minutes, after which Sydney seemed to lose amusement in the fight. He released a long sigh, shot another object away with his eyes closed, and placed his hands on his hips. 

"You're boring me now," he snapped, digging a foot into the dirt.

Hara growled, and her eyebrows slanted so sharply that her face contorted with an ugly rage.

Suddenly, she let out a desperate, echoing roar from her tiny lungs.

She raised her hands up toward Sydney for one final spell, but abruptly stopped. A violet blast of magic, faster than a blink of an eye, left a sizzling hole through her left kneecap. 

She didn't feel it at first. The pain didn't register. Suddenly, as thought a switch has been flicked on, a blinding pain exploded up her leg, erasing her strength and buckling her knees.

Hara shrieked in agony, gripping the smoking hole with her hands. Blood seeped through her fingers from the wound.

A second beam shot through her right knee, dropping her to the shattered, concrete ground below. Blood leaked from these holes and dripped over the pathway. The bright blue glow in her eyes flickered, then faded. The unbearable pain pulsating through her legs reached her brain, forcing waves of unshed tears to fall from her eyes.

***

"HARA!" Tabito screamed from the floor of Merino's. He stood to sprint out of the nonexistent door when a hand snatched him by the collar, pulling him back with a strong tug.

"Leave her, man! You'll get killed!" Adachi pleaded, using all of his power and grip to keep Tabito from running out into the square.

"I-I-I can't. B-But I-I-I" he stammered repeatedly. A cold sweat dripped down his forehead. Fear and hopelessness tightened his chest, suffocating the words he wanted to say. "Just let me go!"

***

Hara's face - covered with sweat and spots of dirt - contorted, wincing with unbearable pain. She tried to stand, but her legs couldn't summon the strength. She picked her head up and opened her eyes, only to discover a spinning beam of magic just two inches from her nose. 

The sound was deafening, sharp. The light was blinding, hot. Beyond the magic, glowing red eyes shone above the dark shadow of a vile smirk.

***

From the grass on the other end of the square, Riarshi watched everything happen. His body twitched violently as his innards crawled into a tangled mess that made him want to vomit.

Hara was about to die, right before his eyes... And he couldn't do a damn thing.

At this moment, he hated himself more than anything else in the world. Who cared that she was the one who eliminated him from the Tryout... who cared that she treated him like dirt for the past three months. None of that meant anything right now... And suddenly, he forgot about it all.

This was no longer a competition - this was life or death. And right now, just inches away from her face, was utter and unavoidable death.

His right hand moved.

***

"How's it feel to stare death in the face, young lady?" Sydney asked, his eyes wide with sick pleasure at the ugly sight sprawled out in front of him. He followed Aldric's recommendation and wished to prolong the despair. 

Paper white, crying, dirt ridden, and bleeding - Hara Harper already looked like a corpse.

Sudden acceptance caused a drastic switch. All the fear and tension that was sewn in her face vanished. Her eyes fell to the ground, and her body went limp.

"Just do it..." Hara begged in the softest, oddest, and most peaceful voice.

It was shocking, unforeseen, but more importantly - sad beyond belief.

"Hmm?" Sydney hummed, furrowing his brow. "Not going to plead for your life?"

Of course she wouldn't. What would be the point? So she could continue on with the weight of the world on her back?

Her voice was faint and quiet, almost hopeful. "No. It's better this way. I don't deserve to live."

Confusion flushed onto Sydney's face from the girl's unexpected response. He couldn't believe what he was hearing and raised a an eyebrow.

"Hmph. We can agree on something then," he snorted, wrinkling his nose in disgust. "But you're pathetic... Just look at you. Staring directly at death, all alone. Where your Hero friends at, eh?" - he let out a quick, mocking cackle - "No one coming to save ya?"

She was an awful person who took her misery out on others. There was no one in her life she could call a true friend. Everything people did was for show or for pity. Well, not everyone fell into this category, though.

Two boys she met through odd circumstances had been with her and supported her. Yet all she did was cause them both pain and stress. She constantly took her anger out on one, and the other she hurt and betrayed again and again. Neither of them would ever want to save her, and she couldn't blame them. 

"Why would they?" she answered quickly and decisively. "I don't deserve to be saved, not after everything I've done... not after everything I've said. I've hurt too many people. I'll be free. It'll finally take everything away - all of his expectations, all the hate..."

The demon stopped laughing.

"So please..." She raised her head. 

His eyes widened at the dreadful sight. 

Two rivers of tears fell from the corners of her blue, sparkling eyes and down her newly reddened cheeks. She was smiling.

"Kill me. I don't want to be alone anymore."

***

Alone?

It was as though a ghost whispered this one word into Riarshi's ear, penetating his mind, repeating dozens, hundreds, thousands of times. Memories flooded into his brain, joining this word in an awful, thick mixture of sorrow and despair.

His parents - gone. Mr. C - gone. This one word had haunted him for most of his life. The sharp and piercing pain one simple word had left in his heart was like a constant stab wound, never able to fully heal - reopened with the slightest touch.

Is... this how Hara has felt? Has she always been alone too? Alone to suffer this never healing wound...

Maybe this was what Tabito meant when he said she always tried to take everything on herself...

Maybe this was what Hara meant when she said the club took her mind off things...

She's been alone to face all these expectations that society placed on her, and worse, by her own father.

He had known this feeling - the night when Khohn forced him to transform and give in to his darkness. He too felt cold... sad... and the dreadful, excruciating pain of loneliness.

No. I won't let it end this way. I don't care what she's done... I need to save her, no matter that I have to do.

His right hand slowly rose off his thigh and gripped the left side of his chest, just over his heart.

What am I doing? He glanced at his hand, now seeming to move on its own. It sunk its fingertips deep into his skin.

He let out a soft, understanding sigh. I guess that's one way of forcing it out of me, isn't it?

The Magic Breaker.

He squeezed his finger tips in even deeper and started to twist, holding his breath as he did.

"So, this is it, huh?" he whispered calmly and with resolution. He glanced at Hara, whose bloody knees knelt on the concrete across the square. Her arms hung limp by her side and her eyes were closed, as though waiting, wishing for death.

"It's worth it," he said with a smile.

He tensed his jaw, then twisted.