It was him. The man we fought earlier. The one who killed my friends and the one who battered Greed. If there was a mountain of things I did not understand, I was at its peak.
"Don't get the wrong idea. I don't like you or anything, but this path just happens to be the fastest way back to the Mountain Kingdom. Consider this repayment for handing over the Zion Orb and not continuing to fight back," he said flatly.
He stood ahead of me with that same silver weapon from earlier, except now it was in the form of a claymore, different in style and shape than my own.
I didn't say anything to him, I was too winded to even think straight.
"Apostles, huh?" he uttered as his silver claymore morphed back into its known silver orb shape. What had that thing been?
"You know of them?" I asked.
"Of course I do. After their little declaration of war, who wouldn't?" he replied.
From the distance across us, Plague shouted, "Who the fuck are you?" he said with bitter rage.
At this time, Slayer had hopped down from the tree he occupied, right next to Plague. "That one looks like trouble," he said.
"How? he has no mana like that worthless one over there on the ground!"
"It's not that he has none, rather… It's suppressed. And by the look of things, he did it on purpose. That is precisely why he is trouble," Slayer ended.
"Yeah, but I don't want to kill him, I want to kill Ryoku… I need to kill him," Plague replied. "Handle him for me, Slayer."
"No."
"What did you say?" Plague boiled.
"I'm not your subordinate, fool. Or did you forget who outranks you on the roster?"
Outraged, Plague grabbed Slayer by the collar and said, "Now you listen here, you scumbag. Our ranks don't equal our strength. Who's to say the lesser of us is not up to par with even Pride?"
"If that's the case, why don't you force me to stand aside?"
Plague clicked his tongue.
"That's what I thought. Get your filthy hands off of me," Slayer said, whipping away Plague's grip from his collar.
"We need to handle this accordingly. I'll handle Ryoku. You take care of—"
Before Slayer could say another word, Leon was behind them both as he said, "What's this? Arguing in front of an opponent? You two sure are cocky," Leon said as they turned their heads a bit too slowly to react. "Here. Let me make it easy on you both."
"How did you—!?" Plague said as Slayer gasped dimly from his appearance.
Leon hopped in the air and split-kicked them both. Slayer blocked with his large cross coffin and skidded a yard away. As for Plague… his arm had been completely blown off.
Plague grunted from that attack.
"Now… which one of you is man enough to fight me? Or you wanna rock, paper, scissors still?"
Both Slayer and Plague clicked their tongue at him. And that's when Slayer dashed to the side—right in the direction of Ryo. He was incredibly fast.
"Uh-uh… I said 'me,' not the weakling," Leon said, matching his speed and stepping in his way of me and Slayer in a flash.
Slayer stopped where he was and rotated the cross coffin forward.
In an instant, Leon breathed a short breath and widened his eyes.
Even in our fight against him, he always carried a calm and sure look on his face. The fact that he reacted that way with that simple move from this Apostle alone meant this Slayer individual was on another level. Even more than Leon.
Now that he was only on the other side of him, I felt his aura and it even more immense than Plague's. Just who are these Apostles?
"This guy's strong." Leon said, catching me off guard as he simultaneously bolted and parried Slayer's cross coffin with a silver katana before he could even finish his movement. He didn't even need to see the attack in order for him understand his power level.
Slayer staggered as they pushed back and forth against each other. To which Leon said, "That settles it. You'll be my opponent."
Leon's silver orb then morphed into a knife, releasing his advance and jabbed it at the coffin. The impact caused a loud crash that sent him flying backward at a ridiculous rate.
Slayer flew through the trees, and before Leon left, he said to me, "Hey kid," he was probably only twenty-nine, and I was twenty-six, but he proceeded to call me kid anyway, "I weakened that one for you. If you got any fire left. Take it out on him." And he was off, disappearing in the direction where he had shot Slayer.
When I looked back to Plague, he had lost his balance as he remained where he was with one arm.
"That fucking punk!" Plague said bitterly as he held a hand over to the area where his arm was. "Tantra, huh? What a bitch. I should have seen that coming… Fuck!"
I began rushing him from where I was. I had to take this opportunity. Whatever this was… whether it was by the Keeper's hand or just dumb luck, this was a blessing.
I accelerated at my fastest speed, both claymores in my hand, and my Mana Fusion just barely hanging on. I was only feet away from him as I crossed both Zeus and Hades for a massive swing, but then a wave of poison rushed out from him and covered my right forearm.
When I looked back to Plague, he had shot out some poison from his left hand. "Oh, I'm sorry, did you think you had the edge just because that guy came to your rescue?" he said ominously.
I slashed the poison glop and leaped away.
When I landed, my right hand had been infected with poison…
"He weakened me. He did not disable me. Now pay the lesson with your arm." He flexed open his hand, and the poison began coursing through my right arm.
I watched in horror as it flowed upward at an alarming rate. I didn't have time to think. I had to do something…
SLASH!
Like all the adrenaline had been my anesthesia, I didn't think twice as I slashed off my right arm, severing it from the shoulder joint of my body and the poison along with it before it could reach my torso.
My severed arm had corroded and withered into nothing but decay before it even reached the snow, where it had left only rot—a twig of what it once was.
"Holy shit! You just sliced off your arm like it was nothing! You're fucking badass, Ryoku!" Plague said, an empty compliment.
I bled profusely from that spot. My entire right arm was gone, and even my other claymore, Hades, that was held by it had begun to corrode and wither to ash after touching that poison.
"Forgive me, my friend," I said to it as if it were living. "Zeus and I will avenge you."
As I said this, I heated Zues with Firebolt to a scorching heat and pressed it onto my shoulder joint. I grunted and shuddered from the pain as I left it there until my blood had coagulated.
"By the Keeper! I can't believe how badass you are! This is truly a splendid gift to get to end your life this way!" Plague shouted like some psychotic fan, spreading his only arm out and looking to the sky. But then, like an unforgiving itch that refused to go away, he stopped and then said, "Hey… were you talking to your claymores just now? And here I was believing you find meaning in nothing."
"You misunderstand." I replied, "It's not that I don't find meaning in anything. It's just that I don't find meaning in you."
Plague, as if his face could be seen through his black veil and that white glowing cross, seemed to flare a rushing wave of wrath.
"I almost forgot how much you piss me the fuck off!" he roared, his moods swinging like a pendulum. It was then, a pool of poison flooded the place like it had before, melting trees and even turning some of them into liquid poison before falling to the ground.
I lowered Zues and heaved for a moment before planning my next course of action.
Right now was the second half of our devastating battle. I, Ryoku of the Crimson Dragon Knights from the Valley vs. Plague, the Ogre of the Apostles.
There's a chance I may die… But, please, Keeper… any god… let me put a mark on that fucking man.
***
At another section of this snowcapped forest, Leon had finally caught up to Slayer, whom he had shot a distance away from Ryo and the others.
They clashed at lightning speed, so fast that those who witnessed them could not even see who struck whom.
As Leon slid away, and Slayer alike, across from him, he said, "Why are the Apostles here at a mine and not a Kingdom to steal from?"
Slayer took his time to respond as he stood up straight, dusting his shoulder off while he did, "We've taken our share from the Mountain already—and from the other main Kingdoms for that matter. That is why the Mountain sent you to retrieve this one, was it not?" he asked, his tone still stoic all the while.
"Yeah, but the deal was that you take one from each Kingdoms and let them fight over the Orbs at the mines. I might not be devout to any one Kingdom, but I'm well informed… Or did you forget your own declaration?" Leon pried.
"Things have changed," was all Slayer said.
"Well, that's not much of an explanation, is it?" he said as he slung the bag with the Zion Orb off his shoulder and threw it a way behind him. "You seem like a reasonable one. How about this… whoever makes the other bleed first gets the Zion Orb. What do you say? Do you accept?"
Slayer was silent for a moment more, then said, "I accept. I won't have to wait for you to bleed if you're already dead before then."
Leon huffed disapprovingly, but then, completely uncharacteristic of him, grew a wicked smile on his face; the type that one would only get when facing a strong opponent.
"Let's dance then," he said as he morphed his silver knife into a spear and tossed it aggressively toward Slayer.
As the spear came, Slayer slammed the large cross coffin onto the ground before him. The snow from below jumped from the impact, and a loud clang echoed from it.
The spear had made impact, but not where Leon had anticipated.
Floating in the air, it seemed his silver spear's tip had made contact with a golden wall emitted by the large white cross.
"Interesting… so that's not magic," Leon observed.
Slayer did not speak as he stood behind the cross, and the silver spear floated, staying suspended onto the golden wall it struck.
Leon bolted and became a blur. He reappeared in the air in front of the spear and kicked the end of it onto the golden wall with intense force, cracking it.
Slayer huffed as Leon had somehow managed to slightly perforate.
He twisted a mechanism behind the cross, and it started twirling, red lasers shooting out of its three facing sides.
The motion pushed back Leon and his silver spear in the air as Slayer grabbed the end of the cross—the red lasers still beaming out—and swung it with one clean slash in the air like a giant laser blade.
All that remained was a flashbang as Leon witnessed the impending attack on him, bearing a wicked smile all the while as a series of red explosions emitted in the sky.
Back in the area where Ryo was facing Plague, a red light and the sound of explosions sounded nearby in another grove. They paid it no mind as they glowered at each other.
Ryo:
No more words were said. I couldn't even feel pain anymore. Whether it was the cold that numbed my senses or the lingering adrenaline from this battle. The loss of an arm meant nothing, but the loss of my claymore, Hades, had been something I wasn't going to let die and wither away without repayment.
The snow had been stained from the spewing of my blood before I seared it to a halt. My armor was dipped in red, not just of my own but also of my comrades after carrying them this far.
My face was numb and stained in that same crimson, my orange hair draped down, revealing its medium-long length. I had lost the hair tie that kept my bun in place some time ago.
My breathing was rough but steady. I was focused.
Whether I died fighting this enemy or somehow made it out of this alive—if that was even a possibility—all depended on my resolve. I was at least going to die giving it my all.
As I took one dreaded step forward, Plague unleashed a horde of poison serpents my way from his other decapitated arm.
Because he didn't regenerate, it appeared he was not an Anatomy user like I had anticipated, however, he was still able to unleash spells from that blown off joint.
I pocketed the thought for later as they charged me, and I rushed in a direct path through them.
One serpent after the other, I dodged, so close that even a mere graze could be lethal if I let it touch.
Not yet. Let me land at least one strike on him first.
I sprinted, dodging, leaping over them endlessly as they protruded out from him without end.
More and more, my eyes and body past the point of tiredness, past the point of numbness, I kept on. Though my Mana Fusion was petering out, some flicker of flame inside me echoed among the chaos.
Flick…
I didn't know what it was, and I didn't care. If it were a distraction from my weary mind, I'd ignore it. If it were a hint of what power lay within that I was unaware of, let it burn.
I inched closer and ever closer to him. Each second of dodging, each step, felt like hours passing and time stopping at the same time. Like a dream where you needed to run but could not.
My left leg had started to fall behind. Somewhere among all that evading and running, I had somehow sprained my ankle. I didn't even feel it until I noticed my movements faltering.
No matter. The idea of pain was a waste of time.
I kept on and kept on. Plague was within a few steps of me now.
One strike. Just let me land one strike.
I wanted him to look me in the eyes when I died. I wanted him to see the face that defied his very existence. I wanted him to know, with every ounce of my worthless being, that I hated him. I wanted him to remember my face every time he opens his filthy mouth—that this was the face that symbolized how utterly meaningless he was.
I didn't care if I was wrong for it. That was my mission.
One more step was all I needed to be within swinging distance. And I had made it.
I took Zeus in my left hand and threw it backward so far that I could have dislocated my shoulder doing it. I swung down with a path directly to his neck.
But then I heard the sound of a splat… and it was not from my swing…
My eyes were still wide in rage. I thought I had swung, but in my peripheral, I saw my other arm flying off into the distance just after swinging.
"That's right… I was supposed to tell you," Plague said, a mere foot away from my face, "Your captain… he lost his eyesight fighting me."
My left side splurged and sprayed blood, and a wave of poison slash had shot past me from behind. When I looked at his once missing arm, it was there once again. Without the black sleeve of the robe that shrouded it. Purple. Muscled. Like a demon.
No… I thought he wasn't an Anatomy type? No, this can't be right… this was something else entirely. Like an innate ability. Like Star…
The contact had been made at my left shoulder joint; the poison was seeping inside my body. The venomous splatters dripping on me from all angles as it burned through my skin.
I was so close…
Plague was only a foot away from me as I stared down into his black veil and glowing white cross, seething at him after what he had just said. It was like the Keeper telling me that I did not have the right to lay judgment on this man. That I was unworthy of even becoming that reputation in his mind. All because he bore the title of Apostle.
I clenched my teeth so hard that some of them cracked and chipped off.
I was so close, Captain… My friends… Shelly… I thought for some reason. The girl whom I fell in love with in our small village just before coming to the Valley to become an Arcane Knight.
I was so close to saving you that day…
In my mind, the image and scene of us in the rain invaded all thought and all sense.
In that moment… I was there.
***
**A memory and the present intertwined**
I held her in my arms, and she bled profusely from her nose, her mouth, and a gaping hole in her chest.
The rain poured down, washing away the blood that continued to spill into a puddle around us.
I'm sorry, Shelly… I had apparently said, my voice sounded like a thought in this apparent here and now, I was too late… If only I had been here a second later!
Her green eyes had started to become lifeless, but she twitched an arm up dreadfully slow to my face—so slow and staggering.
She held a bloodied hand on my cheek as she said, Not… your fault.
Yes, it is! All of it is! Not being here on time, not saving you, not being strong enough to fight alongside my friends, running away, begging for my life! All of it… because I was too late, too slow, too weak… none of this would have happened if I was just stronger.
Her bloody hand remained. Though she was dying, it carried a warmth that was so nice.
She grinned and gave me a pleasant smile through the blood that continued to gush out from her mouth. You are a light, Ryo. Do not lose your shine. When I see you, I have hope. I am sure when others see you, they see the same. That is why I fell in love with you. You never stopped smiling… laughing. Being that ray of light that the Valley sees now.
I couldn't stop my tears as they left my swollen eyes. My nose drooled, and my teeth seethed as I gasped uncontrollably to her and her last words. These were exactly the words she had said that day.
Whether or not there is a Keeper, keep being that light. Because when you do, no matter how unending the darkness, you are there. I refuse to believe that the Keeper only lets darkness reign… because if that were true, you would not exist.
Her hand fell, and she coughed horribly, spouting more blood.
Shelly!
She smiled through it all.
I love you, Ryo… You… are… my light…
Her eyes turned gray, and her smile was still on her face as she passed on, looking directly into my soul all the while.
I cried and roared in agony, holding her tightly to me. The blood may have stopped, but the rain did not.
Ryo…
Her voice once again. But it was not from her. It was my consciousness in the form of her.
Flick…
Ryo…
Shelly? Where are you?
Here. Always.
A hand from the ethers touched my chest and faded into her. She was as beautiful as I remembered. Dirty blonde hair, bright green eyes, rosy cheeks. The face of a girl who hated her name, yet it was one I loved…
Flick…
So please…
Flick.
Win.
FLICK!
Not for me. Not for anyone.
FLICK! FLICK!
Win. For you… Even if it's wrong.
FLICK! FLICK! FLICK!
***
Right then, I felt a fire inside of me burn uncontrollably. My aura burned bright like a beacon of light. And Zeus had flown back into my mouth as I caught its hilt in my teeth, clanging from the intense grip. My eyes turned white, and I belted with all I had, a roar of unfiltered, unhinged defiance upon the Apostle in front of me.
Forgive me, my love… I used the image of you to soothe my soul… for I am a weak man and could not bear to hear it from my own voice…
Forgive me, Shelly, for I have succumbed to hatred.
My blade pierced into Plague's head as I continued to bore it down deeper and deeper still.
My roar rang like a psychotic battle cry, lingered in his ears. My teeth bled onto the hilt of Zeus, teeth cracking to the roots, and my aura burst, wiping away all the lurking poison around us. I couldn't see his face, but I felt his bemusement.
Not good enough… I thought. My fury continuing to burn and burn and fucking burn. More… More. More! MORE!! MORE!!!
I dragged out the blade and slammed it back again and again and again and a-fuckin-gain. Down onto his neck, cutting almost through. I roared so ferociously, I had become frightened at this feral becoming. Like when one chooses to jump off a cliff to die and instantly regretted it mid-fall. But there was no turning back now.
He leaped back and grunted as he tried to cover the gnarly gash on his neck, spewing out fountains of blood.
My motion kept me spinning as I appeared in the air before him. My silhouette was the last thing he saw as, from my shoulders where my arms once were, fire and lightning both protruded from the joints. Just as this Apostle had done with his once amputated arm.
And though I could not regenerate myself, I decided, then, to use the elements as my arms.
Zues had shattered, leaving only its hilt still clenched between my teeth as I seethed gutturally, "WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING!?"
I whipped the limbs of flame and lightning, and they met him instantly just as he was about to land, engulfing him in a tempest of what appeared to be Titans Clash, without the need of Mana Fusion nor my claymores.
I let out another horrible roar as I let it shroud him and saw his silhouette in agony through the electric blaze. Blood waterfalled from my mouth, my nose, my eyes as I sank further and further into utter hatred.
I wanted to keep going, but my body arched backward and I now faced the sky. My flame and lightning arms were still present, and in the distance, Plague continued to scorch and fry.
I let go of Zeus' hilt from my teeth's grip, and my newfound arms grabbed it, facing it upward. I didn't know what I was doing, but by the Keeper, I was doing it.
The aura burst through it and it became one large Firebolt blade for a second then started being swallowed by an unknown black void. The blade was so large it looked like something only a titan could wield.
"By the fucking Keeper…" Plague uttered as he sauntered out from the raging electric fire. His purple, demon-like arm covered his spewing neck all the while. "He awakened…"—his eyes widening in ecstatic amusement as if the glowing white cross over his face were truly his eyes—"Twice."
I glowed as the fire and lightning not only enveloped Zeus, but enveloped me as well, becoming a new form. My skin turned red, and my hair blazed with red lightning swirling and coursing through my veins. My eyes were still white as I became a deity of both fire and lightning, floating in the sky.
And then, just as quickly as the black void enveloped Zues, it enveloped me as well…
I had no idea what this form was, but my magic was no longer Firebolt. It was Grand Flame and Grand Lighting split in two without Mana Fusion—natural and just as it was like it was always meant to be. And this black void…
"He didn't just split his magic permanently; he evolved them to Grand at the same time!" Plague laughed hysterically, "That is fucking insane!"
Lightning and flame sparked the whole area, even coming close to Plague, but he did not care. He continued to marvel, "and his second awakening is…"
By the time my form had finished, I had become engulfed in a black armor. It felt and looked familiar as white, jagged teeth formed across my face, and a red glow emitted from my once whited out eyes.
As if Greed's vantablack and Zeno's Black Arcane Knight had met in the middle to give me this form, it enveloped me, etching into my skin—becoming my skin.
So… this is…
"Shadowbane Armor… Knight's Tantra," Plague said in awe.
He began counting his fingers, the blood from his neck still spewing out, "One, two awakenings—one of magic, and the other of Tantra. And then evolving both magics to Grand…" he threw his demon hands to his veiled face and laughed maniacally, "Ryoku of the Valley, the dual ability mage of both Grand Flame and Grand Lightning magic, and a Tantra Knight! This is unheard of!"
At last, my massive blade moved. It fell like a falling building, casting a wide shadow over and around Plague.
And I shouted with an ethereal voice, "I'm going to save,"—my eyes found Greed on the ground, I could have sworn he was getting up—"at least one of my friends!"
Plague, in turn, stepped on the ground, melting the whole area in poison and summoning his poison-made hydras from them. They bellowed as my massive black blade crashed onto them and then onto him. Finally. Unforgivingly.
The slash was so devastating that it cut past all the hydras and down the center of Plague, splitting him in half from his left shoulder down. The ground cratered, and a massive slash beam coursed through the snow forest beyond.
***
From where Leon and Slayer were, they had witnessed the anomaly happen from a distance as a gust of strong winds blew past, interrupting their battle.
Leon's eyes widened at the sight of Ryo in the sky from a distance. And Slayer seemed to watch with an unbeknownst expression all the while.
Ryo:
As heavy smoke filled the air, I remained floating above the snow-filled trees. The black armor had suddenly gained was fading, and my arm of fire and arm of lightning had begun to fade out. Zeus' hilt had crumbled under the intense magical surge. It was not meant to hold that much mana, let alone Tantra infused within it as well… but at least it went out in a blaze of glory for its brother Hades. Yes. That was also for you too, my faithful blade.
Though the smoke had greatly faded, it was still so hard to see. But still I remained in the sky. Had my surge of mana and split of two Grand elements enabled me the ability to fly as well? Perhaps I, too, was now an SS rank mage after this? I chuckled at the thought. This was not the time or place to be thinking of such things. All that mattered was that I had done the impossible. I had wo—
When I looked down, I felt a strange gnawing through the smoke. And then when it wisped away, my eyes widened slowly. I was too slow to react—I couldn't even feel—as all I saw from below was Plague piecing his two halves back together and a poison hydra below me, clenched down onto my lower half…
"My opinion of you changed, Ryoku… You will not be a meaningless mage in my memories. I will remember you as the great hero of the Valley… fallen by the Ogre of the Apostles," he said, his insides reached out for each other from both his halves. It looked like a single entity of poison becoming whole once more. The wound on his neck from earlier had also begun to heal as if I had never dealt the blow.
And then I heard the tearing of something that shouldn't, and it echoed like the only sound in my blood-filled ears…
The poison hydra whipped its head, taking my lower half with it, staining the sky in a firework of crimson, and I fell back into the white forest in what seemed like eternity as nothing but a head and an upper torso.
The fall felt like forever as my vision blurred in and out, still facing upward toward the gloomy sky and falling snow above me.
That was everything I had. And even if it had turned out to be futile. I was happy with this ending. I dealt the strike I had hoped, and this enemy will remember me as a hero…
That was also not what I wanted… but Keeper. If you're out there… consider this… Thanks…
I've met a lot of people. Made a lot of friends. As much as I wanted to hate, I could feel nothing but gratefulness in this moment. Thank you for making my final moments count… as insignificant as I was at the end of the day. Just please let my last living friend live.
"I'll see you soon, Shelly…"
Greed:
When I had finally come to and trudged out from the trees, all I witnessed was Ryo's dismembered body fall back down into the snow in front of me with a soft thud.
And when I beheld him, all sense had left me… it was like that time, when I saw Belle get stabbed.
My eyes rolled to the back of my head, and I let out an ungodly roar.
"What the fuck… are you?" Plague said as he trembled at the sight of me.