Astarotia supported me as we both limped towards the ship, to my surprise, Alissa and Cynthia were there, they both provided cover fire for us.

"H... How did you guys get here?" It was even a struggle just to speak

"Heh... I used teleportation though 2 more extra people took a huge chunk off my mana" Astarotia too seemed to be struggling

"What?! USELESS BITCH!" The demon king roared out as he came crashing towards us

He raised his arms and formed 7 lances of darkness, with a flick of his arm, the lances headed straight towards us

Alissa and Cynthia managed to shoot down 3, by their trajectory, the other 2 would hit Astarotia while 1 would hit me. I pushed Astarotia away and unsheathed Azazel, the hilt deflected 1 lance

'Lilith, activate the Blast shield at the places where the lances will hit!'

'There's not enough energy!'

'Then take more from my core!'

1 lance was deflected from my chest while the other managed to break through my shield and took a huge chunk off my helmet

I was lucky to still have my head in place

"JUST FUCKING DIE!" He roared out as he arrived in front of me and tried to kick my waist

I managed to block without much problem all thanks to the shock distribution feature of DK, he realized that trying to kill me was pointless so he changed his target to Astarotia who was on the ground

For the first time, I saw fear in Astarotia's eyes, she kept crawling back as she muttered 'No, please forgive me'

'Lilith, thrusters!'

'It is the last of your energy, after a single thrust, you will only be left with 1%!'

'DO IT!'

The thrusters on my back shot me in front of Astarotia just as the demon lord stabbed the lance towards her chest, the lance pierced me and I immediately grabbed hold of it to prevent it from reaching Astarotia who was behind me

"You motherfucker!" He roared out as another lance appeared on his other arm

"GET LOST MOTHERFUCKER!" I shouted as I aimed my palm towards his chest and discharged a gamma blast that sent him flying

I looked at my chest, blood flowed down as my vision kept switching from dark to red to static, the similar beep kept repeating in my head but this time it's notifying me that my body is badly damaged... no good, I'm going to collapse but if I collapse now, I will be as good as dead

Call it something that was developed through countless battles, I always struggled to stand straight even if I was out of energy, even if the pain was unbearable, I had to stand up, I won't fall, I can't afford to

♠♠♠

"GRAB ZENO NOW!" Alissa shouted out to Guardian 3 as she pulled the fear-stricken Astarotia towards the ship

Guardian 3 managed to carry the now immobile Zeno inside the ship, the hatch closed and they blasted off as soon as they did

"What is wrong with him?!" Cynthia asked in a panic as she kept tugging on Zeno's arm

"Zeno! Zeno! can you hear me?! it's Alissa, it's okay, you're safe, there are no more monsters... you" Alissa struggled to keep her tears from rolling before continuing " You can lay down now, there's no more harm, there's no more pain"

At Alissa's voice, Zeno's body seemed to have relaxed and collapsed but before he hit the ground, Guardian 3 managed to catch him and carefully laid him down

"Guardian 3, transfer all medical knowledge from Guardian 4 to your system!" Alissa commanded as she manually took off the locks from DK

"Transfering Data, due to the lack of communication devices in the planet, transfer rate has been affected by 90% estimated time of transfer, 2 minutes"

"JUST GET THE NECESSARY DATA FOR A SUPPORTING ROLE!" Alissa shouted

"Acknowledged, estimated transfer time, 20 seconds'

"Cynthia! hit Zeno's body with a small amount of lightning magic!"

"Got it!"

Cynthia clapped her hands just as Alissa asked her to and carefully placed her palms on top of Zeno's chest and discharged a small bolt of lightning

"Thanks, now 3, give me that scalpel!"

"Roger!"

Alissa tore through the nano suit that Zeno wore and revealed his chest, Cynthia could only gasp at what she saw, Zeno's body was riddled with scars and burns. Blood flowed out of Zeno's pierced chest along with a black liquid which was used as an artificial blood for the mechanical parts of his body.

Alissa carefully cut open his chest and with precise movement, moved the skin, revealing the extensive damage that his body received. One rib was broken and pierced his lung, Alissa moved and removed the shards of bones, she then poured a weird red liquid all over the wounded part, this was one of the most life-saving tools that were created for cyborgs, Flesh nanotech, it's role was simple, to be applied on any part of the body which was critically wounded, the nanotech will then transform itself into the flesh and will close the wound, everything will be restored even the smallest blood veins. This was Flesh nanotech though amazing has 1 fatal setback and that is it can only be used on a specific cyborg

The nanotech Alissa used was made solely for Zeno, the nanotech inside has stored Zeno's body information thereby enabling it to immediately shape itself to any part of Zeno's flesh as long as there's enough nanotech that is

Alissa then moved to Zeno's core which was his heart, it was part machine and it was part flesh, it was barely beating and is only able to do so thanks to the machine's aid, Alissa then ordered Guardian 3 to take the mobile energy bank from the ship's emergency supplies

Guardian 3 moved to a corner and carried a box the size of a small chest, connected to it were 2 wires that were colored red and black. Alissa took them and carefully inserted them into two openings on Zeno's heart, she pressed a button on the box and it lit up as clear surges of energy transferred to Zeno's heart, the weak pumping machine started to thump more energetically.

"Is he going to be okay?" Cynthia asked worriedly

"Yeah, he's going to be okay, as long as his wounds close and his heart keeps beating, he will be okay, now for the hard part"

"Guardian 3, carry Zeno towards our room" Alissa ordered before looking at Cynthia "Can you please carry Vicereine towards your room? I'll speak to her once she wakes up" Alissa requested,

Cynthia looked at Vicereine who was lying peacefully beside Zeno, she carried her and moved her towards her room

"Well? isn't it about time you snap out of it?" Alissa looked at Astarotia who was holding her head in the corner

"I- I- I got Zeno, I-no, I mustn't! but, but I must! no, no, I won't!'" Astarotia kept muttering, Alissa moved and hugged her

"It's okay, you're fine, Zeno is okay now but I need you to come with me to our room, let's watch over Zeno, okay?" Alissa smiled

Astarotia calmed herself down as she looked at that smile, a smile that was forced. Astarotia looked at Alissa and noticed that tiredness in her face. Astarotia nodded and with each other as a support, they moved towards the room

The ship managed to return to Arcadia kingdom, Zeno was immediately carried towards the examination room with the help of Guardian 1 and 2 while Vicereine was restrained somewhere, Guardian 3,4 and 5 were charged to watch over her.

Alissa immediately started to run tests on Zeno's brain, if anything were to happen to his brain, what's the point of healing his body? Alissa released a sigh of relief as she discovered that nothing was wrong with his brain. Alissa closed the open chest and poured Flesh nanotech on the wound, seconds later, the wound was gone.

Zeno was now peacefully sleeping on the medical bed as Astarotia caressed his face, Alissa sat on the chair next to the bed and just fell asleep. Astarotia caressed Zeno's face, she combed his hair with her hands. She smiled sweetly as she continued doing this action over and over again, she never got tired nor did she ever got bored, this repetitive action seemed like it can go on forever, Astarotia too wished this moment would go on forever

♠♠♠

The next day, Vicereine seemed to have woken up, she struggled at first but in the end, she gave up since all of her weapons and equipment were taken away from her

Alissa entered the door and spoke to her, they were both face to face inside Alissa and Zeno's room. Guardian 1,2 and 3 were all on guard against Vicereine

"Vicereine, it's fine, I won't hurt you" Alissa spoke softly

"I am not Vicereine" Vicereine replied with anger

"Perhaps now you believe so but soon, you will remember" Alissa stood up as Guardian 5 pushed a monitor inside the room

Alissa sat beside Vicereine which greatly weirded her out

"Aren't you afraid I'll take you as a hostage?" Vicereine asked

"I'm not afraid, I know you won't hurt me" Alissa confidently smiled

A montage of Vicereine and her squad was played, Vicereine watched on and started gasping, who was that woman on that weird square shaped device? was that really her? was the person beside her really telling the truth? They seem to have battled countless monsters along with different people but the one that caught her eyes was the man with a sword, he was the only man who held a sword whenever he charged into the battle, she watched on as the man and herself cooperated through different situations, there were even times where the monitor turned black and only played recordings of their conversations

"Come with me" Alissa stood up and held Vicereine's hands

Vicereine was confused, she didn't know what to do nor what to think, according to her memories, she was brought up from an orphanage, she was raised to be a devout follower of the church, she never once asked if what she's doing was right, she only moved

But what will she believe? a storm brew inside Vicereines mind

"Vicereine, trust me" Alissa smiled

Vicereine couldn't feel but assured, it was different from the cold tone of orders that come from the mouths of the different saints in the church

She stood up without even knowing it and followed her towards what seems to be a medical ward, they entered and Vicereine saw a man lying peacefully on the bed she felt pain inside her heart, she was confused, why would she feel so? does she know the man lying on the bed?

"Wh-Who is he?" Vicereine asked with a shaky tone, the pain was unbearable for her

"Don't you remember? he's the man you love" Alissa smiled

"Don't you dare come close to him" Cynthia blocked Vicereine

"I- I need to know if he's okay" Vicereine was too confused to even think straight so in the end, she went with her feelings, and that is to watch over the man lying on the bed

"He's in that state no thanks to you" Cynthia glared at Vicereine

Vicereine bit her lips and bowed her head, Cynthia's words seemed to have made her think of what happened after she was kidnapped if what the woman in front of her said was true, then the reason the man is lying down on that bed right now was because of her! it caused her more pain, without a place to vent it, she can only shed tears without even knowing

She collapsed on the ground and started wailing, she kept voicing out his name, though she didn't know herself, she kept saying his name

Alissa patted Cynthia's shoulders

"I'll take it from here, I'll make sure no harm happens to Zeno"

Cynthia softened her gaze towards Alissa and even more so when she looked at Zeno, in the end, she left the room