The Outergod's Avatar-Chapter 53: A Friend

Izikel’s gaze followed the direction the spear had come from, tracking its path through the air until it landed on Sophia.

"Sophia," he breathed out, relief washing over him like a cool breeze on a blistering day.

But that feeling was short-lived.

She wasn’t looking at him. Her eyes—focused, unwavering—were locked onto the monster in front of her. The expression she wore was not one of reunion or joy, but one of grim resolve. A soldier preparing to finish a battle.

Izikel’s heart dropped as the realization struck him like a hammer: she was going to kill Felvin.

The spear had embedded itself deep into Felvin’s monstrous form, the corrupted flesh hissing and writhing around the wound. With a pained groan, he dropped weakly to his knees. Despite the twisted limbs and inhuman shape, it was still him—still Felvin.

"Wait!" Izikel shouted, but Sophia didn’t flinch.

Without a second thought, he and Lyzah took off running. Dust and blood stained their boots as they closed the distance, frantic to reach her before she did the unthinkable.

Lyzah reached her first, arms outstretched as if she could physically hold her back with sheer will alone.

"I won’t let you hurt him!" she shouted, her voice shaking with emotion.

Sophia paused, her face impassive, eyes heavy with pain. "I’m sorry, Lyzah... but I have no choice." She avoided their gaze as she spoke, and that alone told Izikel how hard this was for her.

"Sophia, this is Felvin," Izikel pleaded, stepping beside Lyzah. "You can’t just kill him. I’m sure we can find a way to turn him back. He hasn’t even attacked us... he’s still in there. If he were truly gone, we’d already be dead."

His voice cracked at the end, raw with desperation. He had seen too much death in the past few days—too many faces twisted in agony, too many bodies left behind in pools of blood. He wasn’t ready to lose another, especially not like this. Not Felvin.

But Sophia’s expression didn’t soften. If anything, it grew colder, though her eyes shimmered with unshed tears.

"If it is corrupted," she said, her voice low and trembling, "then it shall be slaughtered."

When she raised her head, streaks of tears were already streaming down her face. Her lips trembled, but her hands did not.

"I have no choice," she repeated, and now the sadness bled into her voice, a haunting melody of duty over heart. "In matters like this... you can’t let your heart waver. You must strike with resolve. Sometimes... sometimes that’s more important than strength."

And then, without another word, she stepped forward. Lyzah tried to grab her, but Sophia gently pushed her aside, stepping around both of them. Her fingers wrapped around the spear’s shaft, and slowly, deliberately, she began driving it deeper.

"In a battle between allies," she said quietly, "the resolve to kill decides who lives and who dies."

Her tone was flat now—numb. Her face was streaked with tears, and yet there was something chilling in the way she said it, like she had convinced herself this was mercy.

Izikel stood frozen, powerless. He could see the pain etched into every line of her face. Felvin wasn’t just a comrade to her—he was something more, he was her friend.

And yet, she was the one killing him.

Izikel’s hands clenched. He wanted to scream, to tear the spear from her hands, to beg her one last time to stop. But something in him knew he couldn’t stop her even if he tried.

Instead, he stepped forward, kneeling beside Felvin’s broken body.

The twisted features still bore a faint resemblance to the man he once knew. There, in the curve of the jaw, the line of his brow—remnants of the human beneath the monster.

Izikel reached out and touched his face gently.

For some reason he could tell that he was dreaming

Summoning the last traces of soul energy he could muster, Izikel pressed his fingers against Felvin’s forehead and entered the dream.

In the dream, Felvin stood tall again, human and whole, smiling as he held Sophia’s hand. They were married, living back in the village. The sun was warm, the fields golden, and laughter filled the air.

’Ironic,’ Izikel thought bitterly, ’that she held the spear that was ending his life.’

Felvin’s monstrous mouth twitched into the shadow of a smile.

And with his last breath, he murmured the words, "Thank you."

Izikel couldn’t tell if it was directed at him or Sophia, but just like that, whatever life remained in Felvin’s body slipped away. His white, empty eyes finally closed.

Lyzah collapsed to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably. Her tears hit the earth with soft splashes, mingling with the dust and blood. She couldn’t keep the pain in anymore. Neither could Sophia. The cold mask she’d worn cracked, and her knees buckled. She sank down, cradling her own hands as if they burned her.

Izikel remained still, the wind tousling his hair as he stared at Felvin’s corpse. His chest felt hollow, and his thoughts spiraled with doubt and fear.

What have I gotten myself into?

They left not long after. No one said a word. The silence hung between them like a shroud, heavy and suffocating. Each of them lost in their own pain.

The sun beat down mercilessly as they trudged through the Wildlands, its golden rays offering no comfort. Their bodies ached, blistered with sweat and dehydration, but they pressed on.

Hours passed in silence.

Eventually, the forest rose up before them, a towering wall of green and shadow. The sun was already dipping below the horizon, casting long streaks of orange and crimson across the sky.

"We shall rest here for now and continue when it is dark," Sophia said weakly. "I’ll go find us some food and water."

She didn’t wait for a reply. She just turned and walked into the woods, disappearing between the trees.

Lyzah dropped to the ground, her limbs shaking, her face pale and hollow. There were no tears left in her. Her body had cried all it could. She stared blankly ahead, silent.

Izikel sat beside her, unable to offer comfort, unable to speak. His throat was dry, but his mind raced. The image of Felvin’s eyes—once bright, now dull and lifeless—wouldn’t leave him.

He couldn’t calm his thoughts.

He was scared. Scared of what he had seen, scared of what he now understood. The thing that had corrupted Felvin... it was chaos energy. The same energy that now flowed inside his own soul.

Was that his fate?

Would he one day turn into a monster too?

Would Sophia end up driving a spear through him?

He didn’t want to die. He didn’t want to become something unrecognizable. He didn’t even want to be here.

He just wanted to go back. Back to his old life. To sit in front of his computer, headphones on, losing himself in games, worlds where death didn’t mean anything.

’Why did I have to be stupid? he thought bitterly. Why did I take my own life?’

But then another voice in his head answered, that wasn’t your fault.

No. It wasn’t.

It was Oroborn.

Oroborn had made him do it. Oroborn had pulled him into this cursed world. Oroborn had made him suffer.

But he wouldn’t let him win.

’I’ll survive’, Izikel told himself, gripping the earth beneath him.

’I’ll endure, and I’ll find a way back’

That was his final decision.

After all he wasn’t even meant to be summoned to this world. He wasn’t brave or noble or selfless, so why should he stay and suffer for it.