Earth’s Doom Starts with… Me?

"The heck was that?" I questioned as I tightened my ponytail. Was it time to face that prince already? Ugh, I hope this would work.

"Explosion. Can't you tell, little cub? Tsk, tsk~" General Zhang teased me with an exaggerated tone.

"I knowww, but how comeeee?" I replied with an equally exaggerated tone.

"Sometimes I'm amazed at how you guys can joke around even in the weirdest situation." Luke sighed while shaking his head.

"Hehe. Better than going insane, right?" I shrugged. Well, if I didn't learn to ease up, I'd probably have gone mad thinking about the innocent people I indirectly killed during wartime.

Call it escapism or anything, either way, it helped me cope. It may not be the right thing to do, and I wouldn't try to justify it, but if it helped me stay sane, then heck yeah, I would crack jokes even in the worst situations.

"I think joking in this situation is borderline insane, not the other way around." Luke said as he brushed off the dirt that was sticking to my shirt from crawling around.

"You may be right," I let out a light chuckle and stood up to get ready to fight, "thank you."

"Well, at least tell me if you have a problem. You act like a troubled rat sometimes." Luke also stood up and patted my head, before tidying up my bangs.

"You don't tell me your troubles, too. Say that again when you trust me enough to open up," I smiled wide at him, "I'll be waiting for that day."

His eyes grew bigger for a tiny bit, and then a slight chuckle escaped his lips, "you really are troublesome."

"Alright! Enough with the chit-chat~"

"Ack!"

A small yelp escaped my lips when General Zhang suddenly pulled the hem of my cloak, making me lose my balance.

"Can you stop pulling me!?" I groaned.

"Come on, little cub. That explosion must've come from porcupine." He ignored my grumbling and pulled me closer. Or more exactly, dragged me closer.

"Porcupine? Oh, general Emilio?" My eyebrows went up.

"Yup yup. His element is fire. Perfect against those leafy elves." General Zhang grinned as his eyes glinted with excitement.

"Oh, speaking of leaves, did you know that elves actually wipe with leaves?" I suddenly recalled our spat with the prince from before.

"What?" He frowned.

"What?" I asked back.

--------

"Gah!" General Emilio groaned as he grabbed on a nearby tree trunk to avoid getting blown away.

"You're back again? I thought you ran away?" Ioriell scoffed and extended his arm.

From the tip of his fingers, green air started to swirl and glow. It danced around his fingertips until it grew bigger and longer, until eventually my eyes recognized it as a sword.

"Whoa, cool... A wind sword? Is it possible to do that with my fire?" I whispered in a low voice, "oh wait, is it his crest? But then, what about his shield?"

Hearing my whispers, general Zhang smacked me lightly on my head and said, "dumb little cub. That sword is his crest, although there's probably more to it. The barrier you told me about was most probably just mana control."

"Mana control?" I perked up when a new term entered my head.

"Ssh. I'll explain later. You're gonna get us spotted if you keep babbling, noisy little cub." He replied as he pushed his index finger to my lips, pressing them shut.

My face went red when I recalled the incident regarding fingers and lips from before, and I immediately leaned back to avoid contact with his long, slender finger.

Just as we had planned, we didn't simply barge in randomly without any thoughts. We decided to hide and observe the situation from a distance, but not too far. We made sure to get close enough in case something bad happened, or if we needed to listen in on some info, which I suggested. I mean, what could I say? I was a little rat, and I loved eavesdropping.

"Where are your friends? Are they with that little defect?" Ioriell asked with a mocking look on his face. He was grinning, but not a good kind of grin.

"None of your business." General Emilio replied as he readied his needles using both of his hands.

"Did they send you here to stall time while they keep firing from up there?" The elf prince inquired, tilting his head towards the direction of the drip rifle.

"You should be focusing on the opponent in front of you." general Emilio replied.

'FWOOP!'

"...Or you might die."

A cut appeared on Ioriell's pale, smooth cheek, and leaked blood. In a flash, general Emilio launched his needles, and being the powerful prince he was, Ioriell was able to react by shifting slightly to his left, thus saving his eye from the needle.

"Whoa, that's pretty fast..." I mumbled in awe, watching that scene.

"Nah, I can do better~" General Zhang hummed beside me.

"Then do it, stop bragging." I pouted as I lightly stepped on his feet.

I flew my gaze over the battlefield again, and saw that the fight was starting to get steamy. Ioriell didn't hesitate to close the distance between them in an attempt to not waste any time and end his foe quickly, but general Emilio was fast on his feet, plus he got an excellent defensive ability, which looked just like how a porcupine would raise its quills when threatened.

'SWISH!'

Ioriell swung his sword towards general Emilio's head, but the hair on his head blossomed into quills, and stopped the sword from ending his life. In one swift motion, general Emilio threw a needle at the elf prince's throat, which he deflected.

"Tch. This is getting nowhere," general Zhang clicked his tongue in annoyance, "should I step in?"

"No. That's the point, didn't you listen to my story? He's just supposed to be a distraction while Jeanne swoops in to finish him." I whispered in a low, but impatient voice.

"I did. But that simply won't cut it." General Zhang replied.

I just stayed silent as I felt like my words were stuck in my throat. I was also skeptical about this plan, as well. Could we truly outplay the elf prince with such a simple tactic?

"Let's modify the plan a bit before Jean-jean dies trying to assassinate that prince, shall we?" General Zhang winked at me.

"What?"

'BAM!'

My confusion went out the window and was replaced with panic when my vision was filled with sparkly blue-white lightning sparks everywhere.

"Hello there, little princey~" General Zhang said with his trademark grin on his face.

Oh god, that eel...

He legit just casually landed in the middle of both of them, destroying the ground beneath his feet as lightning sparks flew around his body.

"You... White hair..." Ioriell's eyes squinted upon seeing a new entrant, "are you the one who started this forest fire? My subordinates told me a certain white-haired pest was running around igniting explosives and killing elves."

"Ooh~ I'm famous, yay." General Zhang smirked mockingly.

"You shall pay for what you've done, alongside with that human friend of yours!" Ioriell cried out and dashed forward towards the laid-back general.

'BANG!'

"What?" The elf prince frowned when a bullet pierced his right thigh, coloring his silky pants with the color of the wine that his brother loved so much.

"Uh... Long time no see? What's up?" I awkwardly said as my spot up in the tree was discovered.

I was pretty strict on trigger discipline, but that eel must've purposely didn't even try to dodge or block the attack so I would step in. Ioriell's sword was literally just centimeters away from his neck. And yet, his face beamed with joy when he saw that I had fired my shot. That slippery eel!

"...I thought you were the one manning the sniper up above, so it was the blonde one, huh?" Ioriell smirked, "great! Now all the participants are here!"

"Skip the speech, we can't waste a single second on the battlefield." I replied as I re-aimed my barrel towards him, already charging up for my second shot.

"You're right," Ioriell said before disappearing from my sight and reappearing again just inches from my face, too close for shooting, "and the same applies for you."

'STAB!'

Red blood trickled down the tree branch, and onto the ground.

"I know. And I don't waste any time." I grinned when I felt warm liquid encompassed my hand. I had condensed my mana into the shape of a spearhead on my hand, just like what I did earlier during my training with Elena.

I pierced his wrist that was holding a sword, stopping his movement, but also injuring my left shoulder in the process, since I wasn't fast enough to completely dodge his swing. But all in all, not a bad effort, I'd say. Major improvement since the last time we faced him.

But that might also be because he wasn't activating his mana shield as much as before, which led me to believe that he might either be running out of mana and was trying to conserve it, or he was just careless, which seemed much less likely. Probably he needed his mana for something else? To save the forest maybe?

"...You!" He growled and threw a punch at me.

"Ack!" I frowned and bit my lips, bracing for impact. There was no way I'd be able to dodge his punch in this close of a distance. At least spare me a concussion!

'THUD!'

"Oy, oy~ Who told you that you can hurt my little cub?" General Zhang's voice entered my ears, and oh god, never have I ever felt this relieved when hearing his voice.

He caught Ioriell's arm, and gripped it so hard that I could faintly hear cracking noises.

"Your opponent is me, little princey~"