Rangers Endgame

Chapter 123: Oblivion

KIYOSHI:

The ceiling of the infirmary tent flashed back into reality as he was resuscitated for the fourth time. The sounds of distant clatter of medical instruments racing to keep him stable came rushing back into his ears. The iron-tinged air filled with barked orders and wands that belonged to Saberclaw members ignited with green energy that hurried to his wounds.

Though his minor injuries closed, the marble spike had left a gaping hole in his torso. Medics hastily but carefully removed pieces of his fractured vertebrae that sliced through his lungs, managing to burrow into his chest. High-ranking healers fought to pump blood through his weak heart, but each beat was fainter than the last. Other healers struggled against the cluster of other spells as they tried purging the impurities in his lungs before stitching together tissue.

Everyone grappled with strain and exhaustion as the gentle flurry of soft green motes fought to take precedence over each other. They'd been at this for...he didn't know how long. He let the weight of his head pan his gaze to one side of the tent.

Kakkona's arm and abdomen were wrapped in bandages, but he was already able to flex his fingers, simple movements Kiyoshi couldn't even manage. Healers mended Maeve's lacerations, and her broken leg was placed in a cast. Akane didn't suffer any major injuries but was still unconscious from backlash.

At least they were in much better condition. That was all he could ask for after dragging them into a hopeless battle. Perhaps if they still had their healer and rejuvenator, they would've stood a chance. But his stubborn mentality had landed them in the infirmary and had gotten Matoi killed.

His wavering mind went back to his conversation with the Savior. If he'd listened—truly listened—to his warning, what would've transpired then?

'A Foreseer...'

Their status wasn't a factor. Their vague visions were simply fulfilled in one way or another regardless of whether their lives were built on an unlawful foundation. But his claim was far too outlandish for even a criminal. Was what he saw truly a deity, or something that resembled one from their perspective?

Kiyoshi's sluggish thoughts tested and prodded other possibilities, but he was no Foreseer. He didn't know the first thing about interpreting a vision. He only had the word of a criminal. His jaw twitched in frustration.

His vision blurred, and the rushing shapes around him began to fade as darkness took hold of him again. The air running through his lungs slowed, and the agonizing pain in his torso felt lighter. The flurry of orderly voices grew more panicked but distant, as if he was receding from reality.

"—losing him! Get the—"

"Hurry before he—"

"—two, one—"

With a green flash sending a focused jolt through his chest and heart, his vision returned jarringly, as did the rest of his senses that were already barely functioning.

He didn't know when it happened, but something in the air changed. The voices quieted somewhat, and the healers and medics looked over their shoulders and dipped their heads respectfully before returning their full attention to Kiyoshi's wounds.

He wasn't sure if it was the angle he was looking from or his eyes' inaccurate interpretation of what he saw, but a towering, brolic figure in a dirty white uniform walked inside, supporting another familiar figure on his arm. He set her down on a bed—Haruka, he assumed—her strange conduit slipping off onto the ground, and then went to Kakkona and the others.

Kakkona relaxed in the giant's presence, reclining his head as he said something. The towering man nodded, then rounded Kiyoshi's bedside to stand beside him.

Kiyoshi blinked a few times to wipe away the film from his vision, but it was of no use.

"It is done." Dai's all too familiar baritone voice rumbled Kiyoshi's eardrums, even during his emergency operation.

Kiyoshi parted his lips to speak, but only a shallow breath managed to escape. He sucked in another breath to support his words and tried again. "Well...done."

"Sentinel Kiyoshi, please refrain from speaking." One of the healers warned.

Kiyoshi ignored him and gulped down another breath, sharp pain clawing at his damaged lungs from inflation. But he needed to know. "The Savior...is he..."

"No longer with us," Dai confirmed. "As for his elixir," he plucked something red and cylindrical from his pocket. "This is the last of it."

Kiyoshi squinted. It didn't seem like much of it remained in what he assumed was a vial.

"Artificer Aki...she will keep it safe."

Dai tilted his head, and Kiyoshi could faintly see his confused brow lifting. "I think she would've lost interest in this elixir by now."

Kiyoshi carefully readjusted his head, the pain in his spine coiling as if giving him a stern warning. He inhaled again. "Dai." He paused to give his lungs a break, then continued. "I don't know if...the Savior's claim can be trusted...but if there's a slight chance he's right..."

Dai only seemed more confused as his gaze trailed down and to the side.

"According to the Savior, his Foresight has shown him something in which he strongly believed the elixir was the only way to circumvent it," Kakkona briefly explained so Kiyoshi wouldn't strain himself further. But it didn't matter.

Kiyoshi felt his lungs losing strength as his heartbeats grew so faint that his heart went still. The air slipped from him, and he couldn't draw air. Darkness hungrily wrapped its tendrils around his vision, strangled the feeling in his fingers, and muffled sound around him.

"—one, clear!" A barely audible voice barked from the void.

There was a flash of white, but the darkness was persistent, his consciousness swaying dangerously.

"Clear!"

Another shock later, and the darkness dispersed with an irritated hiss. Dai came into view again, his face now close enough for Kiyoshi to see his usual hardened expression crack.

"Maybe I should've been the one to initially confront the Savior after all," Dai said, his voice softening from the somber note in his tone that he visibly tried to suppress.

Kiyoshi smiled weakly, which then immediately turned regretful. "Maybe...then my hard-headed nature... wouldn't have gotten my allies hurt and killed."

"For the love of all things, Kiyoshi, please stop talking," Kakkona commanded, his voice shaky with sad frustration.

Kiyoshi's reflex to chuckle caused something in his chest to split open again, and one of the healers scrambled to close it while another used their radiance to soothe the pain. But he had already lost feeling throughout most of his body.

"It would hardly...make a difference," Kiyoshi responded.

He heard something drop with a thud, followed by a series of clattering metal. Looking over carefully, Haruka was picking herself up as a medic rushed to support her. He insisted on getting her back in the bed, but her firm protests left him looking defeated, and she marched sluggishly to Kiyoshi's bedside.

His bloodstained sheets wrinkled between her fingers as she balled her fists white, the stoic Sentinel barely holding herself together.

"Haruka," Kiyoshi heaved out. "You're a mess..."

"And whose fault is that?" Her voice, usually devoid of emotion, cracked.

Warm light from outside poured into the tent as the tarp was pulled back. Again, the staff briefly dipped their heads in respect as a male figure in white strode inside. They checked on Kakkona and acknowledged Maeve with a sympathetic nod, and then finally approached Kiyoshi's side.

The new visitor and Dai looked at something below them, then stepped aside as someone Kiyoshi couldn't see forced their way to his bedside as well. He could only make out their disheveled, mossy green hair. Their hair ducked below the bed, and he heard something drag through the soft ground before May's head popped into view, now a head taller.

Kiyoshi glanced up at the other man, now realizing it was Sokuba. May didn't bother hiding the worry etched into her soft features.

The edges of Kiyoshi's vision began fading to black again as it slowly crept towards the center. A cold sensation spread throughout his body, and his breathing became shallower. The healers and medics shouted something, but their words were jargon.

He shifted his eyes to look at his comrades, their faces becoming blurred shapes.

It was a shame. He would never know if the Savior's claim was true. Sotiri wasn't the end of his investigation but the start of a new one. Nonetheless, he had five trustworthy people to further investigate the reason behind the Savior's skewed sense of altruism. With that, he could rest easy.

'The reason.' His thoughts hung on the word. If he could laugh, he would've. It was almost a foreign concept to him to consider legitimate reasoning that drove people to crime.

The tarp whipped open again, and several medics carrying artifacts rushed inside. The healer in charge, restlessly pumping blood through his heart, snapped orders as the medics responded with practiced urgency.

It seemed like the Sentinels were asked to vacate, and they hesitantly obliged and stepped back a few steps, but Haruka in particular refused, choosing to stay by Kiyoshi's side.

Without the luxury to waste time, the medics begrudgingly allowed it and worked quickly to set up the artifacts. One of which was a device placed next to his head, a clear sphere of swirling silver streaks that was attached to a mask via a thin tube that they placed over his face.

As his lungs were fed a steady stream of air, they carefully inserted what looked to be strands into the gaping hole in his chest. The strands were connected to a rectangular glass artifact that displayed an image of a heart. One of the staff held onto the artifact and infused it with their radiance, and the energy traveled down the length of the strands and into his body.

He felt slight shocks that kept his heart active, and the healer responsible for pumping his blood released his radiance as he let out a grateful breath. With the artifacts picking up some of the slack, he and his staff then turned their full attention to repairing whatever damage was left behind by the spike.

The passage of time was a blur as his consciousness continued to wobble on a knife's edge. The frigid grasp of nothingness crawled back into the corners of his vision once again.

"Stay awake." Haruka tried mending her stoic mask, but it crumbled further the longer her eyes remained fixed on her friend.

He tried using her voice as an anchor, but his hold was slipping. He let the side of his face drop on the bed as the strength in his neck left him. Even with the combined efforts of the artifacts and staff, his heart slowed.

His tired eyes went to Haruka, Dai, May, Sokuba, and Kakkona. "It was...an honor."

Haruka's eyes glistened with unshed tears, and she placed a comforting hand on his soot-covered hair, her thumb sifting through the locks soothingly. "Likewise..."

His eyes flickered, and he stopped resisting the darkness as it spread hungrily over his vision again. The sounds around him grew increasingly distant, and he allowed himself to fall hopelessly into oblivion.