Earth’s Doom Starts with… Me?

"Her mana has disappeared."

Jeanne's shoulders slumped for a moment, and her bangs cast a shadow over her eyes. She tried to check again, making sure her sensing ability was still functioning correctly. Alas, the result was the same.

"General Zhang, what do we do...?" She turned to face the man who was laying on the ground, fear was apparent on her face.

"...Stay there. Don't do anything." The man answered, short and simple.

Jeanne swallowed back her fear, and did as she was commanded. She hated death more than anything, and she had never been able to get used to it even though she was surrounded by death every day. However, she was also a disciplined general. Duty came before feelings.

Elias peeked across his back as he walked away, stealing a glimpse of Chaerin's face.

'She's annoying.' He thought as he frowned.

'My head feels cloudy whenever I see her face, even though I just met her today,' he stopped on his tracks, '...Should I just kill her here before she causes trouble?'

"Hey, edgy prince. Your business here is done. It's our defeat," general Zhang smirked, "go attend to your next business and stop rubbing salt on our wounds, would ya? Seeing your face pisses me off."

"...I'm going now. You don't need to tell me." The dark-haired man shot a glare at general Zhang before heading off to the exit and disappearing from their sight.

"...Let us head back, too." Jeanne grimly said to general Zhang. Her face was bitter and tired.

Finally able to move, general Zhang stood up and stretched his shoulders, "let's wait for Owen's squad to arrive. I don't wanna carry two people."

"Okay..." Jeanne agreed with a weak voice and clenched her fists.

"General Zhang! General Jeanne!" A new voice abruptly filled the cave.

General Zhang and Jeanne looked towards the source of the voice and found Owen running up to them in a hurry. His breathing was ragged and he was sweating profusely.

"What is the situation? Give me a report." Owen said to Jeanne with a serious face.

"General Owen... I--" Jeanne struggled to find proper words to explain the situation.

"Reporting. We succeeded in extracting the serpent's soul, but we had a run-in with that edgy prince, and now we are unable to confirm the mission's success. One heavily injured, one perfectly healthy--me, and one unknown." General Zhang cut her off and gave Owen the report instead.

"You're not exactly healthy." Owen remarked as he eyed the blood-soaked white-haired man from top-to-bottom.

"And one unknown, you said? She's dead!" Jeanne raised her voice a bit, but was immediately taken aback by her own action. She had always tried her best to keep her composure, but sometimes, cracks form, and she couldn't always cover them up.

"No. As you've heard from edgy mcedgelord earlier, she's fusing," general Zhang answered nonchalantly while stretching his legs, "ahh, it feels so good to be able to move~"

"Fusing? What do you mean?" Jeanne asked.

"You'll know later," general Zhang turned to Owen, "she ate the soul. Don't worry, I'll explain the details later. Treatment comes first."

He walked up to Chaerin and lifted her body, resting her head carefully on his chiseled chest, "you really do have a knack for being saved," he whispered to her.

Owen nodded and walked up to Jeanne. His face scrunched when he saw the state of Jeanne's leg.

"Hang on to me." Owen offered his hand, which Jeanne immediately accepted. He pulled her up and circled her arm around his neck, helping her to walk.

"Thank you, general Owen." Jeanne looked down. Even though she was thanking him, her voice was dry and her frown was still resting on her bleeding forehead.

"...Don't use your injured leg for now." Owen said, ignoring her thanks.

--------

The three of them stepped out of the serpent's lair. Their eyes squinted as the sunlight hit their unadjusted eyes. The sky was already painted orange and the sun was sitting on the horizon, just about to say goodbye.

"Heh. At least we get a beautiful sight after all this trouble." general Zhang smirked.

He took a couple more steps before he stumbled upon a pile of dirt with a little yellow flower on top of it.

"What's this? A grave?" He wondered.

"No, that was my earth golem. That Elias must've reduced him to mere dirt." Owen answered spitefully.

"Aw, I liked sitting on his shoulder. Summon him again, Owen!" General Zhang pouted.

"Stay here. Wait for the others to come. It shouldn't take too long." Owen blatantly ignored him, and lowered Jeanne while helping her to sit down and lean on a nearby tree.

He pulled out a few items from his pouch. A few pills, a flask containing some shiny liquid, and a bottle of water.

"Take these painkillers. It'll relieve a bit of your pain," he handed her the pills and opened the water bottle for her, "after that, drink this potion. It's not much, but it's infused with healing magic."

"Thank you..." Jeanne muttered between her ragged breaths.

"Don't thank me. I don't deserve any thank you, not when the outcome is like this." Owen said while he checked Jeanne's leg carefully.

"We managed to secure the soul, even though it's a bit different than we intended. This is a successful mission." Jeanne gulped down the painkillers and the healing potion.

"I'm not saying we failed this mission. This mission was undoubtedly a success, and a huge step for mankind," his eyes were stern, "but I have failed as a general. And thus, I don't deserve any thanks."

Jeanne wasn't able to say anything to comfort him. She looked into his eyes that were steeled with resolve. Meanwhile, the lights in her eyes seemed to have dimmed. How could their gaze differ so much even though they harbor the same sentiment?

"Quit moping around. If you feel so bad, do your job properly later when you meet the family of the deceased." General Zhang said as he carelessly kicked a stone near his foot.

"Ah! General Zhang! General Owen and general Jeanne, too?" A cheerful voice from afar alerted the generals and gained their attention.

"Hang on, we're here!" Dmitri shouted as he and the rest of the cavalries hurried towards them.

Once they had arrived, everyone scattered around into formation. Some of the cavalries formed a circle to guard the surroundings, while the rest of them, including the healers, immediately rushed to aid the wounded.

"We need healers over here, now! General Jeanne's badly wounded!"

"Hey, give me that first aid kit!"

"Prepare the mana potions, we're going to need a lot of mana!"

Shouts and commands filled the air as they tend to the wounded. General Jeanne was hauled into the cart alongside the healers while Owen stayed behind.

"General Zhang, would you hand the girl to us? We need to treat her..." One of the soldiers approached him timidly while fidgeting with his fingers.

"Hmm... Nope! This girl will be coming with me. Tee-hee!" General Zhang grinned at the soldier.

"Alright, sir... But what about you? You need some treatment, too..." He asked again as he took a step back in fear.

"No need, I'm strong~" He ignored the soldier and left, even though he was soaked with blood and his hand was clearly broken and swollen.

General Zhang looked around to find a nice, uncrowded spot, before saying, "Timmy, come out."

A wisp of smoke came out of general Zhang's body and slowly formed a familiar huge tiger in front of him.

The tiger purred and licked his face furiously, and then licked the girl in his embrace.

"Haha, Timmy! That tickles! Did you miss me, Timmyyy~?" He cuddled closer to the tiger, earning more purrs from the huge beast.

"Ah! Mr. Tiger!" A child's voice suddenly popped out of nowhere.

"Wolf, don't run around by yourself!" Dmitri came running behind the boy.

"Mr. Tiger is Wolf's friend!" The little boy approached the tiger excitedly as his eyes twinkled in delight.

'Roar!' The tiger greeted the boy with a gleeful roar before licking the boy again and again, until the boy's laugh resounded in the air.

"Wolf misses you, Mr. Tiger!" He rubbed the tiger's tummy eagerly.

"Ah, it's you." General Zhang let out a casual remark.

"Wait, you guys know each other? And Timmy is Wolf's friend?" Dmitri questioned loudly, completely caught off-guard.

"Yeah, that's true." General Zhang responded as he climbed on top of Timmy and laid the unconscious Chaerin slowly onto Timmy's fluffy fur.

"Wait, general Zhang! What happened to Chae?" Dmitri asked with a worried look on his face. After all, he heard a creepy premonition from Wolf earlier.

"Hmm... We'll let out an official statement soon, so stay tuned~ I can't reveal too much info to just everyone, or else I'll get smited with the holy hammer of lecture by gramps~" General Zhang replied with a high-pitched voice while imitating a news reporter.

"But--"

"More importantly, could you get me a marker? Permanent marker, if possible." General Zhang cut him off.

"What?"