Tales of a Lost Sword 20

Episode 20 Poison Cowboy
The green-haired individual smirks, showing off his canine teeth. His hair flutters slightly in the breeze. He continues to point his sword at Takuya. “Did someone order a hero?” he announces jauntily.

Zack’s eyes widen. “Who…the hell is that?”

From the ground, Kunai looks up half-consciously at the taller figure standing just over him. His face is obscured by the light of the sun, though his green hair waves merrily in the wind.

Takuya glares angrily at the new arrival. He forms another ice sword in his hand. “Who dares interrupt the playing of my frozen requiem?” he growls in a deep feminine voice.

The green-haired man raises an eyebrow. “Huh? The hell’re you talking about? Requiem? Well, whatever. I guess I ought to give you the courtesy of introducing myself before I lop off your head.”

The man abruptly lowers his sword. Instead, he stretches out his hand to shake Takuya’s. From the sidelines, Zack and Ophelia watch in amazement.

“The name’s Fayvard Vincent Ralphus Lunari, Joukai member.”

Takuya clenches his teeth, his fists shaking violently with rage. “How dare you utter such disrespectful words? You shall be the one that shall pay for interrupting me!”

Behind Takuya, another set of footsteps sounds. Ryuu suddenly arrives on the scene, his trench coat flapping in the breeze behind him. He carries his signature flaming sword in his hands.

“Heh, always doing such unnecessary things…Master Fayvard.”

Zack and Ophelia’s eyes widen with surprise as Ryuu enters the battlefield. “What is Headmaster Ryuu doing here?” Ophelia murmurs.

“No, more importantly…” Zack mutters, “‘Master Fayvard?!’”

“I do not care about your identity,” Takuya responds callously, whipping his sword through the air. Several flecks of ice fall to the ground. “I shall merely exterminate you!”

Takuya dashes forward with lightning speed, but Fayvard deflects the attack with an almost lazy grace. He uses his own sword to push back Takuya’s with brute force, causing the latter to stumble backwards.

“Tch!” Fayvard growls. “I don’t like people who are single-minded like you.” With blinding speed and prowess, he takes a single step forward, and stabs Takuya.

Takuya raises his sword to block the attack, but with amazing strength, Fayvard merely pierces his sword straight through Takuya’s ice sword. Takuya’s eyes widen, as Fayvard’s sword goes straight through his chest.

Fayvard pulls his sword back out, shaking the drops of blood off its blade. He glances lazily at Takuya, who is standing motionless, his eyes widened.

“Battle’s over,” Fayvard says simply.

Takuya suddenly contorts his face into one of rage. He bares his teeth. “The hell it is!” he growls. Once more, a layer of ice forms around the hole punched into his chest, closing the wound. Takuya tosses the broken fragments of his ice sword aside, and forms a new one.

“This shall be your requiem of death!”

“I hate persistent people too,” Fayvard roars back. He holds up three fingers. Then he lowers them one by one, until he reaches zero.

Suddenly, Takuya trembles and falls to his knees, frothing at the mouth. He twists his body around violently, gasping for air.

Fayvard steps over Takuya’s body on the ground, looking down at him coldly. “It ain’t the sword wound that’s gonna kill you. It’s the poison. I poisoned you with that hit. There ain’t no ice that’ll heal poison wounds. Now go be a good boy and die.”

“D-Dammit! You can use poison attacks?!” Takuya howls, still contorting his body. However, his movements quickly begin to slow. His eyes bulge, and his gasps for air become even more pronounced.

Fayvard smiles evilly. He bends over and picks up Takuya by the collar, staring him right in the eye. “Right, so while you’re dyin’, I’m gonna rob ya.” Fayvard reaches into Takuya’s pockets, searching its contents. At last, he draws out a rusty old pendant, the ruby in its center still glimmering dully in the sunlight.

“Yo, Ryuu!” Fayvard tosses the object to Ryuu, who catches it. “This it?”

Ryuu nods, handling the pendant with utmost care. “Yeah. This is the Anti-Paradox, all right.”

“All right!” Fayvard howls nastily. He glares at Takuya. “Get outta my face, you bastard!” He throws Takuya back down to the ground, where he lays still silently.

Zack and Ophelia stare on at the scene uncertainly. “Umm…” Zack begins.

Ryuu pockets the Anti-Paradox and sheathes his sword. He turns to Zack and Ophelia. “Sorry,” Ryuu answers, “I’ll explain everything later. Right now, let’s take care of the injured ones first.”

“Right,” Zack agrees. “I mostly took care of Mira’s injuries, but Kunai n’ Hyacinth are freshly hurt.”

“I see,” Ryuu comments, his eyes straying over to the still figures of Kunai and Cynthia. His eyes rest for a long moment on Kunai.

‘You did well, Kunai…’

Kunai opens his eyes, staring once more up at the plain wooden ceiling of the Kimura mansion. He raises his head from his futon and looks about the room. Mira and Hyacinth are laying on similar futons next to him, both sleeping peacefully.

The door into the room slides open. Ryuu enters, wearing a kimono. “I see you’re awake, Kunai,” he says in a low voice.

Kunai rubs his head, grimacing slightly. “Yeah, I guess…” He stares about the room silently, as Ryuu watches him sternly from the doorway. “W-Wait a minute—I don’t remember much at all. What are you doing here, Ryuu?”

Ryuu sighs. “I figured you guys would need my help, so I went to check up on you. More importantly, I was on my way to the Kimura mansion on business, so it was on the way anyway.”

“T-Takuya Kimura…what happened—” Kunai sits up straight, alarmed.

Ryuu suddenly raises a pendant in his hand. He tosses it to Kunai, who catches it. Kunai holds the pendant carefully in his hands, which is attached to a rusty old chain made of gold.

“Is this…the Anti-Paradox?” Kunai murmurs, his eyes wide.

The door is abruptly thrown open. “Course it is, kid.” A green-haired figure saunters into the room, a slightly sour look on his face. Kunai stares at the new arrival, a confused look on his face.

Ryuu tracks Kunai’s stare. “Kunai, this is—”

“Fayvard Vincent Ralphus Lunari,” Fayvard interjects, jabbing a thumb at his own chest.

A massive wooden door slams shut behind Arai, sealing Rill within the room of rock and sand. Arai glances back momentarily at the door, behind which Rill continues to practice frantically with his newfound Fatalist abilities.

Arai then proceeds to stride down the darkened passageway leading into the room. Eventually he comes back out into a wide hallway with open arches overlooking the city below.

A golden-haired Fatalist stands outside waiting for Arai, his arms folded, a wide smirk across his face. His blonde hair is brushed neatly back. He watches Arai intently with a pair of glimmering aqua eyes.

“That new Fatalist doing pretty well, hm?” the blonde Fatalist says, his voice sailing into the air melodiously.

“Yes,” Arai answers, the faintest trace of a smile on his own face. He glances at his smiling comrade. “What is the matter, Flynn?

“Merely indulging in the company of Your Highness, of course,” Flynn returns.

Arai flashes a sly smile. “Please do not waste my time, Flynn. What about your mission would you like to discuss with me?”

“Aye, aye, Your Highness,” Flynn answers. He unfolds his arms, staring at Arai seriously for the first time. “I just wanted to make sure that my comrade for this mission would be capable of handling the rigors of a Fatalist mission, that is all, seeing that he is indeed a rookie.”

“Rill will be more than capable as your ally on this mission,” Arai retorts plainly.

“That is good to hear,” Flynn says enthusiastically, slashing the air with his fist. “If this Kunai and Ryuu are as strong as you speak, I cannot wait to head to the other dimension!”
—END TWENTY—
New enemy approaches! See you next Tuesday.