Episode 57 Offer
Rill’s eyes widen as they fall upon the Fatalist now approaching him in the semi-darkness. Even in the gloom, an eerily gentle expression can be seen on Arai’s face.
Unconsciously taking a step back, Rill finds himself with his back to the wall behind him. Arai raises an empty hand, signaling that he is unarmed. Rill relaxes slightly.
“Calm down, Rill. I have vested my trust in you and I do not see any reason for me to waver now. Not even after learning you have killed Blod.”
Rill swallows in fear. “What…what do you want, Your Majesty?” he asks, his voice quivering slightly.
“You are a Fatalist,” Arai announces tersely. Rill merely widens his eyes silently in response. “As such, I expect you to fulfill your duties as one. Your sin of murdering a comrade is acknowledged, but not forgiven. For that, I must request that you repay to me a certain debt.”
“What…what are you talking about?” Rill asks, abandoning all pretense.
Arai narrows his eyes, those electric yellow eyes gleaming malevolently but kindly in the gloom. “Rill. Your loyalties lie with me, not with them. Bring me back the Shield of Wizet from Ryuu and the others. Lead them to me, so that I may recover the Shield.
“The Shield is a powerful weapon, Rill. A mere mortal cannot do it, but I can. If you bring me back the Shield, Rill, I will be able to thank you handsomely. I will use it to bring back Ivy from the dead.”
“What did you say?!” Rill gasps, his eyes widening again as he stares at Arai with shock and amazement. His eyes glitter with uncertainty as he mulls the mage’s words. Meanwhile, Arai merely responds with that same persistent, gentle smile.
The Fatalist Fain sits in a chair as he watches a scene unfold through a tiny mirror. He peers into it, his aging face unfathomable. Finally, he turns away from the mirror and stands up, a glimmer of sunshine falling upon his weathered face through the partially closed curtains in the room.
He picks up his Dragon Shiner Bow, feeling its weight in his hand. Fain sighs. “I suppose it is about time for me to enter the fray…”
Silently, the Fatalist departs from his room, his black robes rustling ever so slightly as he does so.
The rest of the group comprised of Kunai, Ryuu, Fayvard, Silver, and Wake continue on, trudging slowly through the darkness of the underground. The staircase has taken them back down into the depths of the earth, as they follow a slightly wider, but wilder cave onwards. The cave appears to have been carved unevenly through a process of erosion, with large stalagmites and stalactites emerging in every corner.
The path is now wide enough for a couple of them to walk side by side. Kunai walks silently next to Ryuu, who appears to be immersed deep within his own thoughts.
“Ryuu…” Kunai mutters, breaking the silence. His voice echoes softly through the room.
“Hm?” Ryuu grunts back, apparently jerked out of his train of thought. “What is it, Kunai?”
“I get that our current goal is to rescue Zack and Cynthia…but what about after that? What’s your plan for after we rescue them?”
“I figured we’d somehow find a way to engage the real Arai and cut off his head for real this time. The major problem is going to be how to do that while also avoiding getting into battles with the other Fatalists.”
“As I thought,” Kunai murmurs, “this isn’t going to be easy.”
“No,” Ryuu replies thoughtfully. “But don’t worry about it too much for now. Right now our main priority is to make sure that Zack and Hyacinth are safe.”
“Right.”
All of a sudden, as the group continues walking, their path opens up again into a wide, airy hall similar to the one in which they were split up with Rill. The corridor remains dark, but once again, a light breeze floats towards their faces. Three sets of faceless gargoyles line the hallway on either side, while at the center of the hall is a spiraling stone staircase leading upwards. At the other end of the hall, the path continues on, disappearing into the darkness.
“Huh? Another hallway?” Kunai murmurs. “Are you just going around in circles, or…?”
“No, this one is different,” Ryuu grumbles, his breath low in order to avoid echoes. Nonetheless, his voice echoes ominously through the darkness.
“Which path shall we take? The one up, or the one continuing onwards?” asks Silver in the brief pause that follows.
“Up is probably the way to go,” chimes in Fayvard, “seeing as how we’re trying to get up to the main castle and out of this here basement.”
“Yeah,” agrees Ryuu, “that sounds about right as well.”
Wake turns his attention to the gargoyles on either side of the hall. “All the same, those gargoyle statues creep the hell out of me. Are you guys sure they won’t attack us again if we move?”
“Good point,” Kunai notes.
“Tch, what a pain in the ass,” hisses Ryuu, drawing his sword. It bursts into flame, lighting the dark hallway.
At the same time, the gargoyles suddenly burst into life. The stone wings on their backs begin to flutter, as they sail into the air carrying tridents.
“Oh, here they come!” Kunai gasps.
“Damn it…” mutters Wake, drawing his pistol. He takes aim, nailing one of the gargoyles directly through the heart. The bullet pierces the stone chest of the gargoyle and creates a hole straight through, but it does not seem to affect the gargoyle. It continues flying at Wake, undeterred.
“What the—!” Wake cries, jumping out of the way as the creature swipes at him with its trident. Fayvard steps in just as the gargoyle retreats, smashing into it with his sword. One of the wings snaps off, as the gargoyle attempts to continue flying awkwardly on one wing.
“Persistent bastards,” Fayvard growls under his breath.
Another of the gargoyles flies straight at Silver. She raises her bow, firing several rounds in rapid succession, but the arrows merely bounce off the stone skin of the gargoyle ineffectively. Silver ducks as the gargoyle passes her. Wake aims his gun at the gargoyle, shooting several holes into the gargoyle’s body.
Ryuu waits for one of the gargoyles to pass him before he attacks, swinging his sword and cutting into its head from behind. Ryuu’s sword leaves a deep cut on the back of the gargoyle’s neck, but otherwise the creature remains intact.
The gargoyle circles, coming straight for Ryuu once again. This time, Ryuu sends a blast of fire at the gargoyle, engulfing it in flames. As the gargoyle is momentarily stunned from the attack, Ryuu sprints towards it, stabbing it through the heart with his sword. The attack proves fatal, as the gargoyle crumbles into tiny stone pieces.
“These bastards sure are annoying!” Fayvard howls impatiently next to Kunai. Two gargoyles circle him, taunting and jeering at him as they do so. Fayvard takes a swing at one of them, but misses.
Meanwhile, Kunai takes aim at the gargoyles as well. He leaps forward to meet one of the gargoyles as it circles, swinging his sword at the same time. “Take this! Power Strike!”
Kunai runs straight through the gargoyle, slashing it apart into pieces. He lands on the other side as the pieces of stone that was the gargoyle fall to the ground with a clatter.
Fayvard turns to Kunai, momentarily distracted by his attack. “What the hell was that attack?!”
“Eh?” Kunai blinks. “It was just a normal Power Strike…”
“The hell it was! You disappeared for a moment. It looked more like Assaulter!”
Fayvard’s words suddenly jar memories in Kunai’s mind of his fight with Lord Kimura in the Underworld. “Now that I think of it, I did…” Kunai murmurs confusedly.
“Tch! At least know what moves you’re using if you’re gonna use them!” Fayvard roars back. With a shout, he pins down the other gargoyle against the wall with his sword, driving his blade deep into the gargoyle’s body. With a yelp, the gargoyle bursts into pieces.
Ryuu lowers his sword as well, having downed another gargoyle. Two remain. They huddle together some distance away from the group, surveying them contemptuously.
“Right, let’s finish this,” Ryuu growls.
However, before he can even do anything, two bolts of lightning illuminate the dark hall. With two flashes of bright light, the gargoyles fall to the ground in fragments, dead.
The five look around in surprise for the source of the attack. Ryuu narrows his eyes, turning especially quickly. “Lightning?!”
From within the depths of darkness at the other end of the hallway come a set of footsteps. Ryuu braces himself, raising his sword in front of him. But he relaxes as the new visitor comes into view.
“Rill!” Wake shouts, as the figure appears.
Rill emerges from the darkness, a darkened but determined look in his eyes as he steps forward, his clawed hand still smoking from the lightning attacks.
—END FIFTY-SEVEN—