Free Web NovelPavela's back was pressed against the wall, the cold of the bricks seeping through her cloak and uniform into her skin.
Her breathing was shallow and rapid, each inhale like a rusty bellows.
Something creaked in her chest; it might have been an old, misaligned rib acting up again, or perhaps just her lungs protesting.
Her left hand could still move.
Her right arm, from shoulder to fingertip, was a numb, dull ache, as if filled with lead, hanging by her side and trembling slightly.
The metallic taste in her mouth had gone from “occasionally surging up” to “constantly there.” She couldn't even be bothered to spit anymore; it was just a waste of energy.
A large section of her cloak's hem was torn, ripped when it snagged on barbed wire as she climbed over a wall earlier.
The exposed uniform skirt was stained with mud, snow, and blood—some her own, some from her opponents.
The snow continued to fall.
Large flakes tumbled from the lead-grey sky, swirling in the halo of the gas streetlights, like countless tiny white butterflies drawn to a flame.
The alleys of the Old District became a labyrinth in this visibility; every corner could hide an explosive arrow.
Pavela closed her eyes, resting the back of her head against the wall.
The bricks dug in painfully, but this pain actually cleared her mind a little.
--【Warning】--
--【Blood pressure continuously dropping.】--
--【Right arm periosteal healing reduced to 29% due to secondary impact.】--
--【New stress fractures observed in left fourth and fifth ribs.】--
--【Blood loss has exceeded safe threshold.】--
--【...Do you have any solution?】--
Pavela opened her eyes.
She stared at a patch of peeling plaster on the opposite wall for two seconds.
“No.”
--【...】--
“I only left home today to have cake with a friend.”
“I was even thinking of bringing a piece back for Eleanor.”
“Who would've thought eating cake could lead to so much trouble?”
--【...Then what should we do?】--
Pavela smiled.
The corners of her mouth curved slightly, tugging at the dried bloodstain on her lip, which cracked a little, oozing fresh blood beads.
“Don't worry,”
she thought.
“I've just thought of a few really cool ways to die.”
--【???】--
--【What do you mean by a 'really cool way to die'?!】--
“Let me finish.”
“I didn't have the chance on the battlefield before, but now I need to plan it properly.”
Pavela raised her left index finger, as if speaking in class.
“First, I'll charge one last time, taking down as many as I can, then fall in the snow, face up, eyes slightly closed, with a faint smile on my lips. Snowflakes will land on my face, my hair spread out on the snow, just like an art painting.”
“When Eleanor finds me, she'll definitely think I died peacefully and beautifully.”
--【...】--
--【Your blood loss has already exceeded the safe threshold.】--
--【At the current rate of bleeding, less than two minutes after you fall, a large amount of blood will overflow from your mouth and nose.】--
--【At that time, your 'faint smile' will be replaced by a face covered in bloody foam.】--
--【Your silver hair will also be soaked with blood, turning dark red, sticking to the ground like a damp rag.】--
--【It won't look like a painting.】--
--【It will look like a crime scene.】--
Pavela's mouth twitched.
“...Alright, the first one is out.”
She cleared her throat.
“Second, I'll rush in with a dagger in one hand, confront the guy with the short axe, and take him down with me at the last moment. Both of us fall ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) simultaneously, weapons crossed and impaled in each other, frozen in the snow like a sculpture.”
“It has that... tragic aesthetic, right?”
--【Your right arm is already useless, and your left shoulder is likely close to dislocating.】--
--【The actual effect of 'rushing in with one hand' would probably be: you'd run three steps and fall due to losing your balance.】--
--【Lying face down in the snow, butt in the air.】--
--【Not like a sculpture.】--
--【Like you tripped.】--
“...”
Pavela was silent for two seconds. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
“Third.”
Her tone was still persistent. “I'll stand still and wait for them to surround me, then at the last moment, say a really cool dying message—like 'Tell Eleanor, I didn't disappoint her'—then close my eyes and calmly meet my death.”
“I'll stand still and wait for them to surround me, then at the last moment, say a really cool dying message—like 'Tell Eleanor, I didn't disappoint her'—then close my eyes and calmly meet my death.”
--【Your vocal cords are already mildly swollen from repeatedly coughing up blood.】--
--【What you say won't be a deep, powerful dying message.】--
--【It will be a string of hoarse, phlegmy, slurred syllables, possibly interrupted by coughing.】--
--【It would probably sound like this: “Tell Elean—*cough cough*—or—*cough cough cough*—I didn't—*cough*—”】--
--【Then you'll double over, clutching yourself in pain, as the coughing exacerbates your rib fractures.】--
--【Someone squatting on the ground, clutching themselves and coughing, delivering a dying message.】--
--【I don't think that's cool.】--
Pavela rubbed her chin.
“...You have a point.”
She leaned against the wall, looking up at the lead-grey sky. Snowflakes landed on her eyelashes, cool and refreshing.
Her expression was very serious, as if she were contemplating a math problem.
Then her eyes lit up.
“Wait.”
“What if I could use Return Power?”
--【...】--
“Not much, just a little.”
Pavela's tone suddenly became enthusiastic, as if she had been struck by inspiration.
“I have a great idea.”
“I'll use the power of the Path of the Tower to detonate the ground around me at the last moment, creating a small destructive shockwave to knock them all over—no need to kill them, just knock them over—then I'll stand in the center of the crater, hair fluttering in the wind, eyes glowing in the dust, my cloak flapping loudly from the blast—”
--【No.】--
“—Then I'll say 'This is the power of the Destroyer,' and slowly fall—”
--【No!!!】--
“—I've even thought of the falling posture: kneeling on one knee first, then falling to the side—”
--Pavela von Schwartz!!!】--
Pavela closed her mouth.
“What's wrong this time?”
--【Listen to me clearly.】--
--【Current spinal nerve damage repair progress: 23%.】-- ƒrēewebnovel.com
--【The conduction pathway of Return Power is already close to its collapse threshold.】--
--【If you try to call upon the power of the Path of the Tower now, there won't be any 'eyes glowing in the dust.'】--
--【What will happen is: the backlash from Return Power will cause your spinal nerves to instantly sever, your entire body will lose muscle control, and you'll collapse limply on the ground like a noodle with its bones removed.】--
--【Collapsed on the ground.】--
--【Limp.】--
--【Like a noodle.】--
--【Limbs splayed in four different directions, mouth agape, eyes rolled back, possibly even incontinent.】--
Pavela's expression finally cracked.
--【That's what it looks like to be killed by the Path of the Tower's backlash.】--
--【Do you think that's cool?】--
“...”
Pavela's mouth opened, then closed again.
She imagined the scene.
Then she shivered.
It wasn't from the cold.
