Chapter 16
The moment Juno's barrier was fractured, Yu-ze's expression hardened.
"Fleur needs ninety more seconds to recharge. Damn it, Juno—what happened to prioritizing survival?" Yu-ze clenched his jaw, quickly considering his options.
"The synthesis is nearly complete," he muttered, surveying the ground. "I should've seen this coming…"
With a smooth motion, he slid a hand beneath his mantle and pulled out a polished flute.
Each segment of bamboo retained meticulously carved patterns.
His grip tightened around the bamboo, steadying himself.
"Improvisation, then."
The flute glistened in the pores of light as Yu-ze lifted it to his lips.
His gaze softened, and he grazed his fingers over the patterns.
His pulse steadied momentarily.
"Everything alright?" Li called from a lower branch, with his sword still drawn.
"Meditating," Yu-ze replied without looking away.
Li's words died in his throat as a grating note cleaved through the turmoil.
Yu-ze's body stiffened, and heat surged up his arms, spreading across his back like a branding iron.
His fingers danced over the flute, pressing down harder on each note.
Even his lungs felt constrained like something poisonous was suffocating him.
When the final note sounded, Yu-ze's vision blurred, and he slumped heavily against the tree as he took shallow breaths.
He lifted the front of his mantle to wipe the sweat dripping down his face.
"Damn… it hurts…"
"We'll handle it from here," Li muttered, stepping forward.
. . .
With the barrier ruined, Juno instinctively spread her fan, and branches lashed directly toward the monster's vast wings.
They coiled together, lengthening as they pinned the wings to the creature's side.
Hoku's heart pounded as his eyes swept over the creature's enormous form.
Its face remained distinctly its own, with black eyes dominating its convex features.
Where feathers should have adorned its wings, jagged, dark scales glinted dully against the filtered light.
The restraints began to erode, disintegrating into petals.
Juno grimaced, her grip on the fan tightening as she extended it further.
Her resolve was visible in every taut muscle.
Hoku realized that the number of snakes were amplifying and swiftly targeting.
'Those snakes are clearly after the monster. But, where could they have come from?'
The monster reared back, slamming its feet into the ground.
A blast of force ripped through the forest outward, sending gusts of wind hurtling toward Hoku and Juno.
Juno commanded the branches, dragging the monster forward until it crashed onto the ground.
In the stillness that followed, a faint chime sounded, like a taut thread plucked in the distance.
"Bells..." Hoku mumbled, firming his grasp around Cheshire.
His heart hammered louder in his ears.
A glint of silver emerged beyond the mist.
His body froze as a blade shot out of the fog, piercing through the monster's tail and pinning it to the forest floor.
The force jolted him back to his senses.
His eyes narrowed, as he gradually recognized the jade-carved handle, and star-shaped pommel.
The creature convulsed, the end of its tail thrashing violently, and billowing the fog outward.
"What the hell is he doing?" Hoku grumbled, frustration brimming beneath his confusion.
Juno tugged his shoulder, pulling his attention back.
"Li's elixir hasn't matured yet," she explained, with a steadier demeanor. "It's strong, but inflexible. Not like mine or Abel's—his weapon doesn't adapt to situations like this."
Hoku nodded, though the explanation merely left more questions.
'If it's so flawed, why does it still work?'
"That's not the only problem," Juno continued, lowering her voice. "This creature's a vessel. If we tear it open carelessly, the energy inside will be released—and that'll double the swarm we're dealing with."
Li's grunt came through the mist as he shoved the blade deeper, the jagged edge grinding against bone and locking the tail in place.
"Then what's his plan?" Hoku asked sharply.
Li didn't answer.
"Among the estranged objects we rely on," Juno said, "one is a pendulum."
Hoku's eyes narrowed. 'As in a hypnosis pendulum?'
The fog started to abruptly recoil, and the snakes tumbled from the legs of the creature like dead vines.
They quickly slithered in the other direction, following the dark barrier of mist.
Then, three glowing streams of transparent smoke slithered from the underbrush, converging beneath the creature to form a luminous circle.
Hoku instinctively stepped back, his eyes fixed on the swirling light.
"What's that?" he whispered.
"The pendulum's effect," Juno said.
Abel emerged unexpectedly from the thinning fog, his casual wave at odds with the heavy atmosphere.
"That was quick," Li muttered, as a corner of his mouth twitched.
Suddenly, from the center of the circle, two translucent forms emerged with liquid-like bodies that swirled as they moved.
They spiraled upward, leaving faint smoky trails in their wake.
Cheshire watched curiously, his emerald eyes blending with the reflection.
Abel exhaled heavily and circled the monster.
"Their job's simple: neutralize the wings," Juno said, her eyes fixated on the circle.
Their movements were synchronized, wrapping around the tattered wings.
Each pass sapped energy from its frantic flapping, slowing the creature's struggle.
"Why not just destroy the wings outright?" Hoku asked, glancing at Abel.
Abel shook his head. "It's not that simple. These creatures were engineered with fail-safes. Tear the wings apart the wrong way, and the energy stored inside will erupt. You don't want that."
Hoku's fingers dug into his palm against Cheshire's body
"Engineered by humans?"
Abel nodded. "They're designs, not born creatures. Every pattern is deliberate, just as every flaw is intentional."
Juno interjected, with a firm stare.
"Understanding those patterns and flaws is the only way to exploit them."
Hoku scowled. 'Idiots. Did they build these things to wipe us out?'
The translucent beings tightened their spirals, pinning its wings under their weight, as the branches dissolved quicker.
The smoke gradually turned blue before dimming as the mist thinned and stretched the circle wider.
Li stepped back, gripping his sword firmly as he observed. "Yu-Ze's venom compensated for the earlier mistake," he said, coldly.
"Venom?" Hoku asked.
"A rare but brutal power grade," Abel replied. "It poisons both the target and the wielder.
Yu-Ze's Dizi doesn't just kill—it consumes him, and every use essentially twists his organs inside out."
Hoku's stomach churned. "Why use it at all?"
"Because it works," Abel said simply. "The fog, the snakes—that was him."
The circle shrinks inward, and the translucent figures dissolve into the remaining smoke.
Then, the vapor abruptly coalesces into a single thread of light, before shooting forward, and piercing between the creature's wings.
The creature shuddered, its wings drooping lifelessly as patches of skin peeled away, exposing rotting flesh beneath.
For a moment, silence blanketed the forest.
Hoku glanced at Abel, whose pendulum swung steadily from a slim platinum ring around his knuckle.
'This… did this come from the pendulum they speak of?' Hoku wondered.
The chain gleamed and revealed a small fish-shaped weight at the end.
"Are you telling me two tiny fish can handle this thing?" Hoku asked.
Abel's lips quirked. "You can trust me."
The pendulum chimed again, the sound sinking into Hoku's ears like a low hum.
"Close your eyes," Abel said, his tone suddenly firm. "Unless you enjoy being put to sleep-this pendulum doesn't discriminate."
Hoku hesitated, glancing at Juno, who had already shut her eyes.
Reluctantly, he followed suit, muttering,
"How come it didn't affect us before?"
Abel didn't respond.
Before Hoku could press further, a wet tear broke the silence.
The monster collapsed, its wings shredding, its body disintegrating into viscous chunks that spilled into the darkness below.
A sudden light bleaches the darkness behind his eyelids into a searing white, and the air trembled as the trees groaned under the change.
"What's happening?" Hoku's voice wavered.
Abel shouted over the din, half-laughing, half-panicked:
"Oh la vacche! Here she comes!"
The Memoir Chapter 14
Objective 8
This is a possible death point. Death points will refer to the point in your reoccurring journey when your sequel has ended due to unforeseen disasters.
Your confrontation with the Polyphemus Moth is the earliest occasion of your death.
Avoid it and continue further. I will do my best to notify you of each death point on the record list, but you must remember to follow the order of the instructions in this Memoir.
Otherwise, you'll risk avoiding the wrong threat.
Rule 19
Grades identify the aptitude responsible for an Elixir's procedures. They do not calculate strength, nor do they determine the form those procedures will take. An Elixir is classified by the recurring relation present in an Elixir's different expressions, even when the expressions themselves appear unrelated.
Many Grade names remain from early records. Their titles often preserve the image or circumstance first associated with an aptitude rather than describing its effects literally.
Venom Grade
A harmful exchange with the bearer forms part of the aptitude itself; something taken from or imposed upon the bearer is used within its procedures.
Artifice Grade
The aptitude takes effect through objects deliberately fashioned by the bearer, allowing a made vessel to retain properties unavailable to its materials or ordinary construction.
Floral Grade
One planted root may branch into several dependent expressions, each retaining its relation to the source from which it developed.
Light Grade
An operation may retain continuity with its origin despite distance, separation, or an intervening boundary.
Contrary Grade
A condition ordinarily reserved within its usual range may remain valid despite the rule that should prevent it.
Composition Grade
Deliberate arrangement may become operative in its own right. Language, image, craft, performance, and other constructed forms are known to serve as carriers.
Mono-Specie Grade
A living pattern may manifest apart from its original body or location without alteration to the pattern itself.
Pleomorphic Grade
A living pattern may assume forms ordinarily incompatible with one another while retaining the same underlying succession.
Fallacy Grade
A condition established as true need not exclude its contradiction; both may acquire validity without the first being erased.
Reprise Grade
A living state may return towards a pattern it has previously held, allowing restoration through recurrence rather than reconstruction from nothing.
Sympathy Grade
A relation established between separate conditions may cause alteration in one to acquire consequence in the other.
Artisan Grade
An aptitude brought within its vicinity may lose its independent standing, allowing it to be retained and made part of another operation.
-The Memoir Chapter 14 End-