Tales of a Lost Sword 23

Episode 23 Night
Mira and Ophelia sprint headlong down the corridor towards Ryuu’s office. Zack follows nonchalantly behind in almost lazy fashion, walking at a slow and steady pace.

The two girls finally reach the door of Ryuu’s office, and pound heavily on it. They burst through the door and find Ryuu inside, packing his things. “What the hell’s going on here?” Ryuu says as the girls enter.

“Zack told us everything,” Mira shouts breathlessly, anger in her face and voice. “You aren’t seriously going to prevent us from fighting in this coming war, are you?! After all we’ve done…”

Ryuu sighs, glancing at Zack as he finally arrives at the doorway. “You’re too young. That mission to find the Anti-Paradox was one thing, but this is real war we’re talking about here. You will seriously face the risk of dying, especially at your current level.”

“This is not fair, Headmaster Ryuu!” Ophelia pleads. “We’ve proven ourselves in the mission! We want to help the cause as well!”

“Forget it!” Ryuu growls angrily. “You don’t understand what you’re getting yourselves into. I may have let you go on that mission, but there is no way I’ll let you fight in this war. I have something else planned for you two. I will let you know what it is when I get back.”

“When you get back?” Ophelia blinks.

“Now that you mention it…” Mira mutters, looking around, “you seem to be packing up for quite a journey.”

“Yes,” Ryuu replies, “I’m heading out for the Rift World. I need to get in contact with Silver who fought with us in the war against the Myougun last time. We’ll need all the help we can get, and with her influential position in the Rift World, she’ll definitely help bolster our forces.”

“More importantly, what is this plan you have for us?” Mira asks persistently.

Ryuu shakes his head impatiently. “Look, I’ll tell you when I get back. I don’t have the time for it now. I need to get going soon,” he says with exasperation.

“Hmph, that just means you don’t know yet what you’re gonna do with us!” Mira cries.

“Yeah, whatever,” Ryuu says, walking over to the door of his office and waving lazily to the girls. “I will talk to you when I get back. See ya.” And without another word, he disappears through the door and down the hallway.

Zack watches Ryuu leave. He whistles. “Phew, that’s that, I guess. I probably shouldn’t have told you girls about all this anyway.”

Ophelia shakes her head wildly. “Of course you should have! We’re part of this too!”

Mira folds her arms, glaring sourly at Ryuu’s office.

Suddenly, a set of frantic footsteps sounds down the hallway, as one of the students at the school hurtles towards Ryuu’s office. He comes skidding to a halt in front of the door, glancing at Zack, Mira, and Ophelia each.

“Where’s Headmaster Ryuu?!” the student cries, wildly looking about.

“Ya just missed him,” Zack replies calmly. “What’s the matter?”

“He just left?!” the student bawls, his eyes widening in panic. “That’s bad news! Now what am I gonna do? Ahh, what a horrible situation!”

“H-Hold on just a minute,” Mira says, rushing over to the boy. “What exactly is going on? What’s this bad news all about?”

The boy covers his face with his hands. “Th-There’s a Fatalist on the campus!”

Zack, Mira, and Ophelia each exchange looks with each other. Zack is the first to speak up, rather calmly. “Oh, you’re probably just talkin’ about Rill. He ain’t a real Fatalist, nothin’ to go crazy over.”

“No!” the boy howls. “It’s not Rill! It’s a real Fatalist! They look nothing alike!”

“Wh-What?!” Mira cries, her eyes widening. She glances at Zack. He narrows his eyes.

“A real Fatalist, huh?” he mutters. Suddenly he turns to the boy. “Lead the way.”

“What?!” the boy cries, stunned. “You’re not thinking of fighting this guy, are you?!”

A hand suddenly grabs the boy on the shoulder from behind, causing him to jump in alarm. Fayvard glares at the boy with a frightening look on his face. “Hey, quit yapping your gums and lead the way, kid. If it’s a real Fatalist nearby, we gotta take him out now!”

The boy finally nods, though hesitantly. “A-All right!” He immediately begins sprinting back down the way he’d come, waving for the others to follow. Fayvard and Zack sprint after him.

“Wait! We’re coming too!” Mira shouts.

Zack turns back, looking over his shoulder at Mira and Ophelia. “You two, stay where ya are! This is way too dangerous for students!”

“You gotta be kidding me if we’re gonna just stand back! We wanna fight too!” Mira cries, taking off after Zack.

“Yeah! I wanna see the Fatalist with my own eyes too!” Ophelia agrees, running after Mira.

The crescent moon glows brightly overhead, illuminating the otherwise vacant landscape. Far ahead in the distance lies the skyline of Skylark City, its brightly lit skyscrapers rising high into the heavens.

Kunai and Xavier stand side by side at the top of a tiny hill, looking across the horizon towards the skyscrapers far away.

“You sure he’s somewhere around here?” Kunai asks, glancing at Xavier.

Xavier nods, his goggles dangling over his eyes. “Yeah! You trust me, right? There was a reason why they wanted me in the ARES Project! I wasn’t the best tracker in the group for nothing!”

“Are they still treating you well in the ARES group?” Kunai asks.

“Yeah, it’s not as great as when I was a Paradox Hunter, of course, but ever since they cleaned up all the Paradoxes in the Night World, this is all I’ve been able to do,” Xavier responds. He reaches into his pocket and draws out a slightly worn arrow.

Holding it flat in the palm of his hand, Xavier raises it into the air. The arrow glows with a golden light for a moment, before magically spinning on its own away from the city, towards the west.

“Hmm?” Xavier mutters. “It seems your other self is that way, away from the city.”

Kunai nods. “All right, let’s head that way then.”

“You sure?” Xavier questions. “Even though all the Paradoxes in the Night World have been exterminated, heading out into the wilderness on your own is still pretty dangerous. Well, it’s your decision. You always were the reckless one in the ARES Project!”

“Let’s go,” Kunai says, Hasting the both of them. They leap off the hill and head out into the darkness beyond, flying through the wilderness at dazzling speed.

“Say,” Kunai says suddenly, interrupting the silence that has fallen between them, “how come you never told me that there was someone named Cynthia from the Cloud Family in the ARES Project?”

“Oh, you mean Hyacinth?” Xavier answers beside Kunai. “Was I supposed to? I wasn’t really trying to hide anything from you. She never really showed up at headquarters a lot, so I guess it never came up.”

“I see,” Kunai mutters.

Xavier glances at Kunai, scrutinizing him. “Why do ya ask about Hyacinth?”

“Nothing really,” Kunai mutters back. “I was just surprised that she knew somebody else that I knew…”

“Oh, that so, huh?” Xavier replies.

Silence falls again between Kunai and Xavier. Unknown to either of them, a third figure shrouded in shadow follows them from behind.

Fayvard and Zack sprint side by side at full speed, following the student as he leads them outside towards the forest. They glance at each other as they run.

“Where the hell is that other guy—Rill, or whatever? He should know something about this,” Fayvard shouts as he runs.

“Beats me,” Zack replies, “I haven’t seen him since our meeting yesterday.”

“Damn it,” Fayvard curses. “Wandering off at a time like this…”

The boy suddenly leads them to a clearing of grass just at the edge of the Ellinian forest. He comes to a stop, panting heavily. Up ahead, there is a loud commotion as several individuals surround a single blonde figure at the center of the clearing.

Fayvard and Zack slow to a stop, peering awestruck at the scene before them. Seconds later, Mira and Ophelia arrive as well, breathing heavily.

“Over there!” the boy gasps, pointing ahead.

The blonde figure is standing alone, surrounded by a circle of people, mostly students. He is dressed in a black kimono, but his face is unmasked, revealing his glittering aqua eyes. A wide sneer is splashed across his face, as he brandishes a double-edged dagger as long as his arm.

“Amateurs!” he howls, waving his dagger. Several students take multiple steps back, careful to stay away from within the Fatalist’s attacking range. “Where are the real pros here?”

“You want a real fight, do ya?” Fayvard shouts in a bad temper, stepping forward. He unsheathes his sword, baring his teeth.

“Oho!” the Fatalist grins, noticing Fayvard and Zack for the first time. “What is your name? Are you perhaps called Kunai or Ryuu?”

Fayvard flashes a smile in return. “Nope, I ain’t Kunai or Ryuu. You’ll just have to make do with me, Fayvard Vincent Ralphus Lunari!” He jabs a thumb at himself, raising his sword threateningly at the same time.

“Nice to meet you, my name is Flynn Schlieffer, Duke of the Ossyria Territory, though I suppose that name means little to you simpletons in the other dimension,” Flynn announces, bowing low to Fayvard.

“Duke of Ossyria, huh?” Fayvard replies. “Well, my family was kinda a big thing in Orbis back in the day, so I can kind of relate.”

The others gathered at the clearing watch the exchange with awe. Zack takes a step back, peering around himself at the circle of spectators.

“This is gonna be dangerous…” he mutters to himself. “There’s too many people watchin’ this thing!”

Behind Zack, Mira and Ophelia watch the scene unfold intently. “This is…what a Fatalist looks like?” Mira whispers, her eyes widening as Flynn stretches, preparing for the fight.

Across from Flynn, Fayvard raises his sword in both hands, a demonic gleam in his eye. “Everybody…” he shouts suddenly. “Get the hell out of my way! This is gonna get messy!”

Flynn returns Fayvard’s shout with a grin. He enters a fighting stance. “Are you sure you wish to fight me alone? You shall regret those sentiments!” He raises his dagger.
—END TWENTY-THREE—
This chapter marks the 200th overall chapter in the ToaL series!
How many characters can you identify?