Episode 69 Another War Begins
A slightly tentative knock sounds on the other side of the wooden door. Flynn raises his matted golden head weakly, his body still chained against the wall behind him. By now, his golden hair is dusted with black grime and soot, and his cheeks are definitively hollower than before.
Through the door comes a hesitant Ophelia, carrying a tray of food in her hands. Flynn stares as she places it on the floor in front of Flynn, casting a spell to allow the food to magically sail into action and begin feeding itself to Flynn.
“Y-Your food…” Ophelia murmurs, before quickly turning away.
“Hey,” Flynn cries in a rusty voice, a spoon full of porridge prodding him on the side of the mouth. “What happened to your sister? Is she not the one who usually brings me my food?”
Ophelia pauses by the doorway, while the spoon persistently begins shoving itself up Flynn’s nose due to his irresponsiveness. “I got it, I got it!” Flynn growls, opening his mouth at last to allow the spoon to feed him.
“Mira crossed into your dimension.”
Flynn looks up with surprise, staring at Ophelia’s back. “I see… Did you not want to join her?”
“No, the portal closed for some reason before I could go through.”
Flynn blinks with a look of realization. “I see. Then His Majesty must have regained the Shield of Wizet and closed the portal before you could go through.”
“What?!” cries Ophelia, turning to Flynn.
“Either that, or your friends decided they did not want you to tag along,” Flynn trolls with a sneer.
“That’s not true!” Ophelia retorts reflexively. “I mean…at least…I hope not. I would do anything to help them succeed…!”
Flynn sighs. “Of course that is not true. I can clearly see that all of you care for each other very much.”
Meanwhile, the magical spoon continues to prod Flynn persistently on the side of his face. It swings upwards, poking him in the eye. “Ow! Hey, watch it!”
“Here.” To Flynn’s surprise, Ophelia suddenly bends down, picking up the bowl of porridge and feeding him directly herself.
“H-Hey, what do you think you are doing?”
“I’m feeding you,” Ophelia replies softly.
Begrudgingly, Flynn opens his mouth and allows Ophelia to feed him. He chews, not bothering to look Ophelia in the eyes. “This is why all of you in this false dimension are fools…”
Ophelia softly closes the wooden door behind her, emerging once again into the dark stony passage outside. All at once, footsteps sound in front of her, causing her to look up with surprise.
A messenger dressed in brown scurries quickly towards her, quickening his pace as he spots Ophelia. “Ah, there you are, Ophelia!”
“What’s the matter, Red?”
“Bad news, Ophelia!” the messenger cries. “The Nightless Empire has begun an invasion of Victoria Island!”
Ophelia scrambles into Ryuu’s office, bursting through the door. She breathes heavily as she spots a huddle of people already gathered in the tiny room. Some of them are poring over a map stretched out on Ryuu’s empty desk.
“Ophelia!” Sasha says, emerging from the cluster of people to stand at Ophelia’s side. She holds baby Arai in her arms.
“Sasha!” Ophelia gasps, peering around confusedly. Behind her, the messenger Red slips into the room as well. “What are you doing here?”
“Ryuu instructed me to check up on you if anything happened,” Sasha answers matter-of-factly.
Glancing worriedly at the darkened faces of the various academy professors in the room, Ophelia frowns. “What’s all this about an invasion from the Nightless Empire?” she asks.
Sasha’s face darkens as well. “Well, our relations with the Night World haven’t been that great ever since the Nightless Empire overthrew the Charemis Monarchy. But to think that they were actually plotting an invasion…and with such timing, too. Those bastards!”
“This is bad,” one of the professors, a burly, brown-haired man with a thick goatee says, “with Headmaster Ryuu and all of our main forces gone in Arai’s dimension, we do not have the adequate forces to repel an invasion of this magnitude.”
Another of the professors turns to him. “What about our students? We can—”
“Fool! Are you serious?! The parents would never approve of sending their children off to war against the Nightless Empire! Besides, they’d be no match against a real military. They’re just kids!”
“C-Calm down, Professor Rayne!” Sasha cries, rushing over to calm down the rumbling professors. “We’ll think of something, we just need to—”
The door suddenly bursts open again. This time, another messenger dressed similarly to Red appears in the room, panting heavily.
“Yellow! What’s wrong?” Sasha asks, turning swiftly to the new messenger.
“This is an unconfirmed report from our scouts in the field…Fatalists! The opponents are…Fatalists!”
“What?!” Sasha gasps. An uproar rises from among the numerous professors gathered in the room.
“Yeah…however, they aren’t dressed like Arai’s Fatalists. But there’s no mistaking it…the enemy has fighters that can use skills we’ve never seen before!”
“That’s impossible…to have assembled a Fatalist army without our noticing…”
“There’s no choice after all…we’ll have to send the students off to war.”
“Are you serious?! I told you, the students are not ready for such a thing!”
Sasha takes a deep breath. “Everyone! Calm down! We won’t get through this by panicking. We have to think of a strategy to deal with this. Perhaps we can settle this diplomatically—”
“Diplomatically?! Are you kidding me?! There’s no reasoning with that emperor!”
“Yeah. We’d be better off putting together whatever forces we can under these circumstances…”
Ophelia sighs nervously as she watches the bickering people in the room. ‘Mira…what should I do…?’
A hastily-constructed camp outside Ellinia bustles busily with scouts and soldiers moving back and forth. Within a luxurious tent set up at the head of the camp rests the emperor of the Nightless Empire. Alto joins him by his side.
“Your Majesty,” Alto sneers, bowing low as he enters the tent. “Your plan is near fruition. As we predicted, Victoria Island is in complete disarray. Our Fatalist forces shall soon overrun the hapless Ellinia. The Maple World will belong to the Nightless Empire in a matter of time.”
The Emperor growls bad-naturedly. “You mean my Fatalist forces. The Anti-Paradox belongs to me alone. Do not forget to whom you are indebted, Alto.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.” Alto’s smile flattens ever so slightly.
A loud explosion rocks the rebuilt Joukai Academy in Ellinia. Those gathered within Ryuu’s office scream with panic as the room shakes violently. Dust falls from the still-quivering ceiling. Several of the professors press against the only window in the room, looking outside at the commotion.
“Those bastards… They’re attacking the school directly!”
“You’ve got to be kidding me! Have they no shame?”
“Sasha!” Ophelia cries desperately. “What will we do?! We need to do something to hold back those troops!”
However, Sasha merely stands deathly still, paralyzed, her eyes glistening with uncertainty. “This is bad…”
“Haha! This is fun!” one of the hybrid-Fatalists screams to his friend, firing a barrage of bombs from his bow that erupt into flames upon the helpless Academy. Flames immediately burst into life along the walls and tiled roof of this corner of the school. The fire crackles greedily, consuming the building with reckless abandon. The shapes of people darting about inside can be seen through the windows.
“The Maple World shall die!” the friend cackles, hurling a couple daggers like throwing stars. “Hahaha…die, die, die, DIE! …The Maple World will die.”
Within seconds, a wave of blood splits through the friend’s body as multiple cuts are carved into him. In another second, the cuts solidify into gigantic icy stalagmites which glitter in the light of the sun. The friend stumbles about dizzily, unable to do anything else.
“Wh-what the—?!” the firebomb Fatalist cries, jumping back with surprise.
A bolt from a crossbow flies into the friend, striking him between the eyes. He collapses onto the ground, dead. Xavier, Geronimo, Kai, and Valoria arrive upon the scene, their eyes narrowed with resolute focus.
“All right, we made it in time. Let’s defeat the Nightless Empire!”
—END SIXTY-NINE—
Second time the series has made it to 69 chapters. What a magical number.