Episode 75 A Battle between Allies
Silver wakes up to find a pair of hands shaking her vigorously. Rubbing her eyes sleepily, Silver slowly rises into a sleeping position. She looks around in puzzlement for a second. “What’s wrong?” she asks, finding Rill in a panic.
“Silver, Fayvard and Mira are gone!” breathes Rill.
“What?!” Silver automatically grabs her bow and leaps to her feet. She inspects their campsite, poring over every nook and cranny with much detail. Fayvard and Mira are indeed missing, their sleeping bags and belongings still strewn about nearby.
A crunch of leaves sounds from behind Silver. She immediately spins, only to find Wake standing nearby. He shakes his head resignedly. “No sign of them anywhere.”
Rill rubs his chin worriedly, his eyes opened wide. “That’s strange…where could they be?”
In a quiet voice, Wake asks, “You don’t think they could’ve been…taken by the Fatalists, do you?”
“There’s no way,” Silver snaps, shooting down the idea immediately. “We would have heard all the commotion if there had been an attack. The two of them would’ve put up a fight. No, they must have left on their own power.”
“Unless—” Wake glances at Silver nervously.
“So that’s the kind of man he is after all…” Silver mutters darkly, her eyes narrowing into a frown. Hoisting her bow at her side, Silver rapidly moves to pack her things.
“What are you doing, Silver?” asks Wake.
“If Fayvard has indeed taken Mira in an attempt to resurrect the Sheath of the Maple Hero’s Sword, then there’s nothing we can do. We can no longer trust a man like that. I had my reservations about him from the beginning, but to think he would actually attempt something like this…”
“Then what do you suggest we do?” questions Rill uncertainly.
“Follow me,” Silver says in a low voice, her things packed. “The Rift Army will fight this war on behalf of our dimension. We will move on our own, without the others if need be.”
“But if Fayvard has indeed taken Mira,” Wake mutters slowly, “if he has taken Mira, then isn’t she in danger?!”
Silver shakes her head. “I hate to put it this way, but considering the portal back to our dimension has been closed, he will be hard-pressed to obtain the third Anti-Phoneme, Ophelia. That will buy us some time. He won’t hurt Mira or Hyacinth until he has Ophelia as well. We can’t afford to be chasing around trying to pin down someone who has gone rogue.”
“Perhaps obtaining the Sheath is the best way for us to win after all…” Rill suggests softly.
Silver glares darkly at Rill, a nasty look in her eyes. “If that is what you believe, then I cannot help you. But that is not something I can agree with. The Rift World will fight the Fatalists our own way.”
Wake watches Silver silently, a faint smile on his face. ‘I’m sure Tide would be proud of how far you’ve come, Silver…’
Within the tiny white walls of the hospital room, Arai sits still, lost deeply in thought. He clasps his hands, leaning forward in his chair with a frown on his face. Nearby, Lillia remains lying still, her chest rising and falling faintly as she sleeps.
Glancing over at Lillia, Arai swallows. A firm resolution lights up in his bright yellow eyes. He stands up straight, the golden sunlight reflecting in his hair. “Tau,” he calls softly.
A burst of smoke rises in front of Arai, as another Fatalist appears from out of nowhere. From out of the smoke emerges a brown-haired man, a mischievous gleam in his bright green eyes. The sharp locks of his brown hair hang loftily over his haughty eyes. Even his Fatalist robes appear edgier and sharper than the usual.
“Ya rang, Arai?” An air of smugness hangs around him as if he is savoring something particularly amusing.
“Tau,” Arai says again, his eyes on Lillia, “you are the commander of the Fatal Knights. Are your men ready for a war? It will be dangerous.”
“’Course,” answers Tau lazily. He laxly shoots a brief glance at Lillia too, who remains still in her bed. He makes no sign of being affected by the sight. “Plottin’ revenge, Arai?”
Arai does not immediately reply. His face remains clouded as he turns to look out the window, the warm sunshine splashing onto his face in sharp contrast. “Just do as you’re told, Tau. And be ready. This opponent will not be an easy one.”
“Tch,” Tau snorts. “The Fatal Knights’ve never lost a battle since I became commander. Don’t worry. I’ll honor our deal. I don’t like being indebted to people anyway.”
A faint smile lights up Arai’s face. “I am glad. I pray that you will have success in defeating our current enemies.”
“Hmph, piece of cake,” gloats Tau, disappearing again in a flash of smoke.
Arai remains still, listening intently to the slow, rhythmic breathing of Lillia. He stares at the spot Tau had been standing on, his eyes dark once again.
Their swords clash, before breaking away again as the two combatants each take a step back. Kunai breathes heavily, as does Fayvard, their eyes murderously locked onto each other.
Fayvard breaks into a sneer. “Ryuu never did manage to beat me in a sword fight in the end. You think you’ve got what it takes to beat me, Kunai?”
“Enough words!” Kunai roars, flashing to Fayvard’s side. He swings his sword horizontally, watching the jet black blade cut through the air with a thunderous gust of wind.
Fayvard leaps over the sword, jumping onto Kunai’s blade itself and using it as a spring to propel himself further into the air. He lands on Kunai’s other side, turns and thrusts forward with his sword with one snakelike motion.
Kunai leans backwards, avoiding the attack. He parries a second thrust with his own sword, sparks flying from the contact of metal on metal. “Die!” The two swords make contact yet again with a screech. They break away as both Kunai and Fayvard dash away.
Panting heavily, Fayvard watches Kunai warily. “Not bad…Ryuu taught you well. Your reflexes are fast too, as expected of a Thief.”
Kunai does not reply. Instead, he stands still, swaying slightly as he fights to maintain focus. Slowly, he places a hand on his forehead, wincing conspicuously. Noticing this, Fayvard lets down his guard momentarily. “Huh…? What’s wrong with him?”
As his vision goes cloudy and dark, Kunai tumbles forward. Cynthia bounds towards him. “Kunai!” she shouts, before Zack grabs her by the arm, holding her back. He shakes his head.
Grinning widely, Fayvard reenters his fighting stance, his sword poised to strike. “Well, whatever…if you’re gonna leave yourself open like that…!”
‘Are you the master?’ The voices instead Kunai’s head whisper incessantly. With amazing reaction time, he suddenly returns to his feet, seconds before Fayvard reaches him, and extends his sword, deflecting Fayvard’s full-speed attack.
Surprised by this abrupt counter, Fayvard is thrown off his feet momentarily. He slides backwards with a jerk, but Kunai lunges forward and strikes, drawing blood as he expertly carves open a wound across Fayvard’s left side.
“Damn it!” Fayvard curses as he tumbles onto the ground, blood splashing out of his wound.
Kunai comes to a stop standing just above Fayvard, his face grim. “Are you going to stop now, Fayvard?”
“My ass!” hisses back Fayvard, quickly scrambling back to his feet as well and pummeling Kunai with a relentless sequence of blows with his sword.
With a smile broadening across his face, Kunai easily deflects each attack. “Remember when you kept thinking I had diarrhea back in the Fatalists’ castle, Fayvard? What happened to that Fayvard?! To that man Ryuu placed all his trust in?! Was everything just a lie, just like with Arai?!”
“Diarrhea is not something to joke about!” Fayvard returns with a sneer. “But the man Ryuu trusted is the same man fighting you right now! You’re the one who’s mistaken…Ryuu trusted me precisely because he knew I’d do whatever it took to win, even if it meant sacrificing him!”
“You bastard…!” Kunai roars furiously. “People are not chess pieces! How dare you twist Ryuu’s words around like that?!”
“You don’t know Ryuu like I do!”
“The hell you do!” With dominating speed, Kunai parries another blow from Fayvard. In a flash, he strikes Fayvard’s sword out of his hands. The sword lands with a clatter on the ground nearby as blood leaps into the air from Fayvard’s hands. “If anything I knew Ryuu best!”
Kunai pushes forward with his sword to make the finishing thrust. However, Fayvard leaps out of the way at the last second, causing Kunai to miss. He falls forward, unable to stop his own momentum. Taking the open opportunity, Fayvard grins with triumph.
“Looks like it’s my checkmate, Kunai!” Fayvard quickly reaches forward and pulls Kunai towards him as his eyes glow with a poisonous green light. “Poison Mist!”
A cloud of noxious green gas leaps into the air. Kunai covers his face with his arm, but finds that it is not enough. The gas penetrates through his defenses, threading its way into his nose and lungs. His eyes watering from the stinging gas, Kunai suddenly begins coughing violently as the gas enters his throat.
“This ain’t good!” Zack hisses from the sidelines. He hurriedly grabs his Kage and takes a step forward, before stopping along with Cynthia and Fayvard as something strange happens.
Kunai’s black eyes cloud as the poison gas enters his body, seeping into his veins. His vision begins to fade as the poison takes its toll. Then without warning, the poison’s effects just as quickly disappear. Kunai freezes, his lungs clearing miraculously. He widens his eyes as he spots what appears to be the very hazy figure of a female cleric standing in front of him. Her Black Anakarune robes billow gently in the breeze, before fading away into nothingness.
“Iv—?!”
The next second, a pair of white angel wings descend upon Kunai, engulfing him in a ball of white light. As the light clears, the gas has been entirely evaporated, and Kunai returns to his knees completely healthy.
“Impossible!” Fayvard cries, taking a step back with astonishment. He quickly retreats, grabbing his sword and warily reentering his fighting stance against Kunai. “There’s no way he could’ve healed himself from poison on his own!”
“What just happened?” Cynthia whispers, turning to a wide-eyed Zack.
“No way…” Zack murmurs with disbelief etched onto his face. “He…just cast Dispel…!”
Returning to his feet, Kunai dusts himself off before directing his sword at Fayvard again, his eyes gleaming with intense focus. “Come, your sneaky tricks aren’t going to work on me, Fayvard!”
Narrowing his eyes, Fayvard can only frown ill-naturedly in return. “I don’t know what the hell’s going on…but I’m not gonna ask any questions. Though it looks like you’ve got quite a few tricks up your sleeve. All right. Don’t hold back against me, Kunai!”
“Of course not,” Kunai growls back, “I intend to beat you into submission!”
“I’d like to see you try!”
With stunning speed, the two of them clash swords again, the shriek of their metal blades scraping against each other piercing the otherwise silent forest. From afar, several birds leap into the air in fright.
Kunai pushes forward with all his strength against Fayvard’s strength, but the two appear to have reached a stalemate. Neither sword appears willing to concede an inch. Releasing his hold on Fayvard and slipping past him, Kunai slides past his opponent and turns, swinging his sword violently.
“SOUL COM—”
“EXPLOSION!” Fayvard interrupts, yelling at the top of his lungs. A blast of fire like a volcanic eruption leaves Fayvard’s sword, as the wave of hot lava rushes towards Kunai.
Kunai’s eyes widen from the surprise attack, but he has no time to react before the wave reaches him, engulfing him in molten heat and ash.
—END SEVENTY-FIVE—