Tales of a Lost Sword 59

Episode 59 End of the Line
The footsteps of his comrades gradually disappear until all that remains is silence. Ryuu narrows his eyes, glaring at Fain the Fatalist standing before him.

Fain laughs, eyeing the tension in Ryuu’s eyes. “Young one…if you truly believe you shall defeat me, you are still much too young to understand the level of despair I will put you through.”

“Oh?” Ryuu smiles haughtily. “All I know is, you’re the one who killed Shuriken and Arai’s spirit in the Underworld, and I do not forgive easily!”

Once again, Fain bursts into a cold laugh, which only serves to enrage Ryuu even further. “Hahaha…forgive me, for I find it ironic that you seek retribution against me for slaying someone that was once an enemy, and someone that is no longer a friend.”

Ryuu bares his teeth, an ugly look reflected in his eyes. “I don’t know what you Fatalists did with him, but the Arai I knew would’ve never betrayed his friends like this!”

“The ‘Arai’ you knew never existed!” Fain interrupts sternly. “If you knew the extent to which you are fooled… Perhaps you would hate me even more. For, you see, though you may consider yourself closer to him, I am the one who mentored him all those years…I was the one who painfully spent all those years tutoring him, training him, pushing him to manipulate you pathetic creatures in the false dimension so that we may accomplish our goals here in the one true dimension…”

Fain raises his bow with lightning speed, blocking the almost instantaneous attack by Ryuu. His bow acts as a shield, guarding him against Ryuu’s quivering blade.

Ryuu’s eyes blaze with fire as he glares into the face of Fain from up close. His sword bursts into fire. “So you’re the one who twisted Arai into the evil person he has become?! You’re right…I didn’t hate you enough until now!”

With impressive speed of his own, Fain slides away from the reach of Ryuu’s sword, vanishing into the darkness within the room. Ryuu turns, raising his sword and using it as a torch to illuminate the room. Nonetheless, the darkness of the room remains impregnable, rendering Ryuu sightless against Fain.

“Do you know why this place is called the Trap Zone?” Fain’s disembodied voice asks Ryuu through the blackness.

“I don’t really care, to be honest,” Ryuu spits, holding his sword close. “Quit hiding and fight me like a man!”

A whirl sounds from behind Ryuu. He turns quickly, stepping out of the way just in time as a flash of gold soars past his side. The arrow crashes into the wall behind with a squelch.

“Tch, lucky dodge,” Fain mutters in the darkness.

“Oh?” Ryuu hisses, tracing Fain’s voice with his ears. He steps forward, swinging his sword. He strikes air as Fain slips out of the way at the last moment. Another arrow flies at Ryuu. He stumbles out of the way, the arrow piercing the wall behind him.

“You do recall my Fatalist abilities, don’t you?”

“Of course…” Ryuu growls between clenched teeth. “The ability to kill in one hit using the powers of the last person you killed…a cowardly power that fits you perfectly.”

“I shall make you regret those words!” Fain shouts, stringing another arrow in his bow.

As yet another arrow flies at Ryuu, he raises his sword, lighting up the path of the arrow. A shadowy figure emerges before his eyes. “I see you!”

With a flash of blue light, Ryuu teleports right next to Fain, swinging his sword. Fain uses his bow to block the attack once again as his Dragon Shiner Bow shows surprising resistance to the sharpness of Ryuu’s blade.

Ducking, Fain escapes, scrambling away as he quickly loads another arrow in his bow. “I won’t let you get away!” Ryuu roars, giving chase.

In an instant, Ryuu makes contact with Fain. His sword cuts into the Fatalist’s shoulder, drawing blood. Fain groans, but does not fall. He takes the hit in stride, stepping back and firing a Strafe at Ryuu.

The four arrows fly at Ryuu with supreme speed. Unable to dodge in time, Ryuu is forced to take all four arrows in the stomach. He bends over, eyes widened in surprise as he sees the arrows lodged in his stomach.

“This is the end for you,” Fain mutters.

“Not quite…” Ryuu says, still hunched over. He straightens up suddenly, pulling all four arrows out of his stomach. Not a sign of blood can be seen in Ryuu’s stomach.

“I see…” Fain says, watching as Ryuu miraculously remains alive. “You have done that once against me before, haven’t you? Using a shield of ice to protect yourself. I should’ve known.”

“Heh,” Ryuu smirks, “you ain’t seen nothing yet.”

Their footsteps echo ominously as they continue to trudge through the semi-darkness. Kunai brings up the rear, following Fayvard’s back. For just a moment, he looks over his shoulder behind him, as if trying to discern through the blackness the state of Ryuu’s battle.

Kunai jumps as he feels a strong hand grasp his shoulder. He turns back and sees Fayvard standing in front of him, an eerie smirk on his face shining even through the darkness. “Ryuu’ll be all right. We trust each other with our lives. He’ll never let himself be killed. He’s definitely going to come back.”

“Yeah…”

Giving Kunai a thumbs up, Fayvard turns around and quickens his pace to catch up with the others, who have already gone on quite far ahead. Kunai remains motionless for several lingering seconds longer, staring with dark eyes at the retreating figure of Fayvard.

Fain has once again disappeared into the darkness. Ryuu closes his eyes meditatively, sharpening his ears for any sign of the enemy. He breathes deeply, inhaling slowly through his nose and releasing through his mouth. Straightening his sword in front of him, Ryuu opens his bright green eyes again, penetrating with them through the blackness.

“Over here!” he shouts, turning to his right and striking forward. A splashing sound and burst of red shows that Ryuu has struck his target. However, Ryuu is forced to pivot immediately as a bright golden light sails past him, exploding upon the wall.

Another arrow flies past his left ear, barely missing. Ryuu jumps back as several more arrows fly at him. Gritting his teeth, Ryuu narrows his eyes, staring through the darkness. ‘He’s getting faster… Taking advantage of Shuriken’s powers, huh? That bastard…’

“Then I’ll do this!” Ryuu roars into the air, striking the air with his sword. A massive chamber of ice forms around him, taking the shape of a protective box. The ice crackles defiantly.

Yet another arrow flies forward, striking the wall of ice. Several large cracks form along the shelf of ice, but it does not budge. Dozens more arrows strike the ice now from all sides, forming deep cracks all along the perimeter of the cage, but still the ice does not break.

Finally, an arrow strikes the center of the wall directly in front of Ryuu. With a startling crash, the ice collapses completely, falling towards the ground in silvery fragments like glass.

Ryuu dashes straight towards the direction from which the arrow came. “Exactly what I was waiting for!” he shouts, swinging his flaming sword past the arrow.

But even as he speaks, an arrow zooms out of the darkness, striking him directly across the right side of his rib cage. Ryuu stumbles to a halt, landing roughly on the ground. His sword falls with a clatter, as the fire is extinguished, bringing the room into total darkness once again.

“Damn…it…” curses Ryuu, grabbing at the arrow in his side. Cautiously, he pulls it out, unleashing a stream of blood with a squelch.

“Oh?” Fain mutters. “You should have died immediately…I’m impressed.”

Fain takes several steps forward, but suddenly stops with a slight gasp of surprise. “It can’t be…” His darkness-adjusted eyes widen. Fain reaches into his pocket and draws out a tiny orb. Placing his palm over it, the orb lights up, filling the room with a golden light.

In Ryuu’s eye, a fifth pupil has appeared. “Impossible…a new pupil?”

Ryuu, clutching his bloody side, suddenly widens his eyes as well. “What did you just say?!” he gasps. But even as those words escape his mouth, a bright white light shines, overpowering even the orb in Fain’s hand and enveloping the entire room in its brightness.

Fain places an arm over his eyes to shield them. “What on earth—?”

Ryuu finds himself standing alone in a room of pure white. At the center of the room is a fire, burning brightly. The fire burns very high, reaching nearly the ceiling of the room, but it appears to be well-contained, burning only in a very tiny circle at the room’s center.

Taking a wary step towards the fire, Ryuu looks around in puzzlement. For a moment, Fayvard’s face appears to consolidate in the flames, but in another blink of an eye, his face disappears. Ryuu narrows his eyes, staring pensively at the fire.

“Where…am I?” he mutters, his voice echoing through the room.

Footsteps sound from behind Ryuu. Turning immediately, Ryuu’s eyes widen as he spots the person standing before him. Arai’s golden hair sways gently above his blue eyes, even though there is no wind in the room. He is dressed in his old robes, rather than his Fatalist garb.

“Hello, Ryuu!” Arai grins. His voice does not echo.

“What are you doing here…?” Ryuu growls, reaching for his sword at his side. However, he finds that his sword has disappeared. At the same time, Ryuu notices that his wound has disappeared as well.

“Looking for this?” Arai asks pleasantly. He holds up in his hands Ryuu’s sheathed sword.

Ryuu strides forward impatiently. “Give that back!” he howls. But before he even reaches Arai, the latter throws the sheathed sword back behind him, and Ryuu can only watch as his sword vanishes into thin air.

“You are in a special space, Ryuu. Your sword is safe. What occurs here has no bearing on the outside world. In fact, time does not pass here.”

“Then…what am I doing here?” Ryuu blinks, forgetting momentarily that Arai is his enemy.

“Who knows?” replies Arai nonchalantly. He reaches into the pocket of his robes and retrieves a cookie. Taking a bite into it, he continues: “But it is certainly a unique opportunity that brought you here to me, Ryuu.”

“Y-You’re getting crumbs on the floor!” Ryuu howls absurdly, pointing an accusatory finger at Arai, his eyebrow twitching. Suddenly, Ryuu slows down, lowering his finger and staring at Arai wonderingly. “Wait…why are you eating a cookie?”

“What do you mean?” Arai asks. “I always eat cookies.”

Ryuu’s face grows serious as he glares at Arai. “Who are you?”

“What a silly question to ask,” Arai replies with a laugh, “I am the piece of Arai’s soul within you that gives you your hybrid powers.”

Ryuu remains silent, his eyes widened in disbelief. “I—you—what?! Where…exactly am I?!”

“I have already told you,” Arai continues, lowering his half-eaten cookie, “you are in a special space. I can send you back to the enemy you are fighting outside if you wish, but you cannot beat him the way you currently are.”

“The way…I currently am?” Ryuu repeats.

“Yes,” Arai insists, reaching into his pocket. He draws out a silver case. “You have to use this.”

Staring, Ryuu’s eyes widen again as he sees the case. “That?!”

“So you indeed recognize it,” Arai grins. “Yes. You cannot defeat this particular enemy on your own. It is time you make use of what I gave you long ago.”

“I see…” Ryuu mutters. Having made his decision, he steps forward, holding out his hand. “All right.” Arai deposits the case into Ryuu’s outstretched hand.

“Thanks, Arai.”

Arai merely nods in reply even as he begins to fade.

“I see now…” Fain hisses under his breath, examining the new pupil in Ryuu’s eye. “Having absorbed that kid’s powers, I must have also obtained the powers of his Paradox as well. Therefore, instead of killing my opponents, my arrows split their souls…”

With a groan, Ryuu heaves himself back to his feet with his sword. His green eyes sparkle dangerously. Reaching into his coat, Ryuu draws out a silver case. He snaps it open and removes from it a large chocolate chip cookie.

“It’s time to end this battle,” Ryuu roars, breaking off half of the cookie with his teeth.
—END FIFTY-NINE—
Probably the one and only cookie you’ll see in ToaLS.