I stood in front of Belle as we faced Syemore ahead of us, a few yards away. Phantomdrakes protruded from his back all the way out into the sky and onto the Kingdom streets.
He took on a new form than that purple Demon he transformed into since we arrived. The dragons above crystallized and looked like a giant sparkling tree above us, glowing a radiant blue aura.
Syemore became a real monster now after all the mana he had consumed. And if it wasn't already imperative that we had to defeat him, it became the mission. We were the last line of defense now.
Captain Tubolt of the Purple Panther Knights had been taken out. He currently lay unconscious on the ground behind Syemore, having bled mercilessly into the floor. The blood, however, seemed to have stopped, appearing dry as black carbon fibers formed over the gaping hole in the center of him...
The Phantomdrake that had attacked us both was gone; leaving only its hovering neck without the head after I had burst out of it.
When I thought back, I wondered how Syemore was able to dodge Tubolt's Wicked Blade Disaster or predicted that I would slash off his arm and head, disengaging with Full-Body Light magic before the strike... But I saw the slash connect. How had it been possible for him to activate it then?
Something was not adding up.
Right now, even though Tubolt and I didn't see eye to eye, I would not let his sacrifice go in vain. I would also protect Belle whatever the cost. And I'm glad I had made it to her just in time.
"Thank you." Was all I heard behind me. A gentle, honey sweet voice. A voice in contrast to the screams outside. Belle's voice. And it brought me back.
"Thank you," she said again, pursing her lips before continuing. "Greed."
She seemed to struggle saying that last part. It was as if she wanted to say something else but was forbidden to say it.
Her wispy white eyelashes glinted like crystals glittering from the sunlight's rainbow-turned colors that drifted past the sparkling tree of Phantomdrakes. "I lost my composure," she said. "If it weren't for you, that would have been the end of me, and I would have joined the others—as part of Syemore's arsenal... You have my greatest t-thanks."
I stared at her for a moment, back facing and still weary of Syemore before us before saying, "No need to thank me, princess… I'd do it all over again for you."
I saw her eyes gleam when I said that. What was with that face? She looked like she was about to cry...
"Anyway..." I said awkwardly. "Will you help me beat this prick?"
She bit her tongue again as she blinked; those deep blue eyes of hers were like the world when she looked at me. "Whatever you need from me, I am here," she said.
When I focused back to Syemore, he snarled, having not moved an inch since I had appeared before him and Belle. It was as if he was weary of me as well. So far everything he's tried on me had failed, and I wasn't sure what he feared more: the Arc Slayer, or me. Perhaps both, since I wielded it now. I hadn't even used it when I protected Belle—I used my damn fist instead... twas a habit.
He let out an intimidating roar from where he was. I don't think he could speak looking the way he did now. His features had taken the form a beast. Muscular and humanoid; if he wasn't already taller in that previous Demon form, he was the size of a Zonrogue now—about three-hundred-seventy centimeters tall. He had a large head with thick horns, curving upward, a grown tail with fur at the end, similar to a lioncat, large claws and hooves, and those same purple membranous wings but larger and wider than before.
The Phantomdrakes still attached to his back, continuing to feed him mana, and those faces... those creepy albino faces on both his pecs with the left awake and glowing, and the other sleeping sound still.
"Alright," I finally replied to Belle. "I have a plan—but first..."
I dashed as quickly as I had trailed off those last words, disappearing and reappearing in front of Syemore in a mere blink. The only motion was my extended arm to the side; Arc Slayer displayed like it had just been swung. I then let it drop, and it swung from side to side as it let my arm hang.
It was then that a cut formed from Syemore's hideous neck and spewed a shower of blood. The sound of the slash along with the sight of it was nonexistent—there was only the sound of spraying crimson.
But right then, the necks of the Phantomdrakes behind him shattered, cutting off his mana supply.
SHATTER!!
Even as a monster, he still looked shocked. I meant for an attack he could not see so that he could not hope to regenerate as he had. All my attacks from here on not only had to be powerful, but they also had to be at top speed as well. I might not be as fast as Brand, but I could get fucking close.
He fell to his knees as he tried desperately to clench his neck, covering his wound so as to halt as much of the blood as he could. Because of the Arc Slayer, he would not be able to regenerate as fast as he had been. It was a clean slash.
So fast… I didn't even see the slash from the Arc Slayer… Belle thought to herself as she beheld him. How much stronger have you become?
"I recall you calling yourself a 'god'," I said to Syemore as his red eyes locked to my black ones, and a blank expression possessed me, watching him struggle like lowly fucking beast. "Yet here you are bowing to 'worms'."
His eyes defied me since he could not speak. "Now, as I was saying, princess…" I said to Belle, nonchalantly finishing my thought to her as Syemore continued decorating the floor with his pools of red iron.
I said something inaudible at this time. It was only a few words, but she understood the plan almost immediately. She nodded and said with shy conviction, "Understood!"
I closed my eyes and expressed a faint smile as I faced her slightly, "I knew I could count on you. Thanks, Belle." I said her name instead of 'princess', and I could have sworn I saw her blush through her goosebumps from her name rolling off my tongue like I was making love to it. And it hadn't even been intentional this time.
I blushed as well, Did I say something wrong? I was so naive.
I then took out my comm so casually as Syemore struggled still and started typing a message. A message in the chat with a specific crewmate whom I had planned with days before—whether we had known we would do it this way or not… a spontaneous plan that we built upon as we jumped off the cliff of scenarios. We told ourselves we would get here no matter what… three words… two words for a sentence and a name…
At the same time, Belle clenched her hands together, forming an intricate hand sign. As the message sent, I threw my comm back into my pocket. "Okay, where was I?"
The slash on his neck had finally healed. It was good I took my time. I finally saw how long it took for the effects of the Arc Slayer to last—about thirty seconds or so, but only in that area. If I kept hacking away at him after that strike, he would only activate that Full-Body Light magic and dodge the attacks.
As he stood, he towered me once more and went on the offensive, slashing three times consecutively at me. I parried each one with a frontal block with the Arc Slayer, cracking the worn granite beneath us.
He snarled again in my face, and I chuckled. "That all?" I mocked.
He then grabbed the Arc Slayer, and I let go purposefully so as to fool him to thinking he disarmed me. I twirled in the air using the momentum. "Sike," I said as I landed my right boot on his chest and sent him flying to a part of a wall still standing in this wide-open-no-longer meeting room.
CRASH!!
He landed clumsily, as I caught the Arc Slayer and landed skillfully down, rising from my crouch and standing there with the spotlight from above. The crystallized Phantomdrakes still occupied the sky, shooting the sun's rays in every direction. Like a giant floating tree with its roots severed and pockets of light peeking through.
Syemore laid in the crumbled stone all the while.
Before he could get up again, I bolted in his direction and leaped in the air above him, Arc Slayer in hand in a downward strike.
Through the smoke, large pieces of debris shot out to me, and I swung, deflecting each one with a repositioned piercing strike downward to him.
But just as I was about to stab him, he caught the blow with both his monstrous claws, and the dust blew away from us completely from the stalemate.
I flipped myself and landed on his outer claws, using it as ground to lock in my boots. I then shifted the Arc Slayer in his grasp still and attempted to pull it out, but he was too strong. Right then, he began charging a beam from his mouth and I watched as it took only seconds to charge and unleash onto me at point blank.
FEEUUUM!!
The Arc Slayer dropped and etched itself standing onto the ground yards away, and I flew further out. Syemore had sacrificed his arms but regenerated them with Full-Body Light magic—a continuous, annoyingly useful ability.
I bolted again immediately after landing, grabbing the Arc Slayer on the way. But before I could reach back to him, my foot got caught in a thick chain from the ethers. When I looked down, it was a chain unbeknownst to me at the time—Prometheus Chain... Alphonzo's magic. And from my own shadow at that—typical.
Then, from the halt of my advance, Syemore met me and threw a large fist, pummeling me backward.
I flew, stopping midair as he grabbed the end of the chain and twirled me wide and violently, crashing and shattering pillars and large leftover pieces of the walls that still occupied the wide-open space. I crash landed and formed a crevice into the floor, and the moment I had arrived, Syemore had already been there over me with another mass of condensed light in his mouth. Before I knew it, the charge let loose, again at point blank.
FEEUUUM!!!
The beam blasted onto me and through the ground in a diagonal fashion. Shooting through the side of the hill that the castle was perched upon, petering out after perforation.
Smoke had emitted from it, and he raised his head and roared like he was the apex all along.
He then looked over and found Belle a distance away, walking, trudging in her direction now.
She had not moved an inch from where she was standing—still holding her hand sign. Sweat trailed down the side of her face when she noticed Syemore catching wind of her.
Step after step, his massive hooves echoed in the room and shook the ground at his wake. Belle stared back with defiance as he crept ever so slowly.
"Ah... That scent..." A creepy voice sounded from Syemore, though his beastly mouth did not move. "Such a wonderful scent."
She began sweating even more as he drew near.
"The scent of fear... my favorite."
Then, he opened his monstrous mouth and something within appeared as if he was regurgitating something—a human head.
Wet and slimy from saliva; the white hair within was unmistakable as it rotated and shot open its eyes onto Belle, staring at her from within his beastly mouth.
"Disgusting." Belle scoffed.
Syemore merely chuckled at the response. "You know what's disgusting, Sun Killer?"
When he said that name, something inside Belle began to ignite a world of trigger at the mere utter of those two words.
"Slaughtering your siblings... One. By. One. Without mercy." he ended, and Belle's eyes shuddered once more.
"How..." She asked with a harsh rasp in her voice, shadows forming over her eyes. "How do you know that?"
"How else would I know? You did it for my people after all."
"Do not ever utter that name to me." She struggled to say.
"Aw... does it bring back cruel memories? Have you not come to terms with what happened that day?"
"Shut up!" She yelled.
"You cannot change your past. The blood is on your hands. And you only have yourself to blame..." He got so close, all he had to do was reach for her, but he leaned in and chose to whisper instead, "You were the one who chose to do it after all..."
Belle was silent. The shadows over her eyes had completely hidden their beautiful blue hue. The sky in them could no longer be seen as dark clouds formed within them. Sweat trailed profusely down her neck and onto her breasts as her hands trembled, almost undoing her hand sign.
No... I can't. I can't lose my composure again, not like this! She thought. Even the voice in her head trembled. He's trusting me to get this done! I must! I have to—
But she couldn't help it. Tears formed in her eyes as she blinked and found herself in an entirely different place. The sky was red with blood mist as she stood on a hill—a mountain of bodies. And when she looked down to their faces... they all looked exactly like her.
"N—No! Not again… Not again!" she screamed as each of the lifeless faces shared those same beautiful eyes... but the sky was gray within them.
Tears of fear trailed down their cheeks as each one held the look of fear just before their death. Their bloodied lips, their scars... all of them did not ask for this.
And then one of the lifeless spoke to her, "Why, Belle?"
Belle shuddered her lips as she looked to the one who spoke.
"Why did you do it?" Another one spoke opposite from that one. She whipped her head with a horrified look upon her.
"Why?"
"We were only ever kind to you..."
"What did we do to deserve this?"
"Why?"
"Why?"
"WHY!?"
"... did you kill us?"
She lost her breath and could not speak back, her whole body trembled now as she began to lose that rosy color on her skin. She was pale as death.
And then in the distance, standing on a similar mountain of bodies, was a male who shared her features: fair skin, platinum white hair that was medium-length, white eyelashes, and eyes that were deep, deep blue...
He looked at her with an expression that could only be described as disappointment.
"Look at you," he said. His voice like an echo. "You commit the act, yet you still do not dedicate?"—he closed his eyes and shook his head—"You are so pathetically weak, sister."
When the mountain he stood on revealed, they were all the same bodies and faces of himself. Each one sharing the same expression of fear and bewilderment, yet... he cared not.
"No brother! I... I'm..." Belle stuttered her words; she barely even got those words out as the male stared at her with utter contempt.
"Pathetic."
Her eyes blurred as she tried to reach for him; feeling like a dream as she ran but went nowhere.
"Brother! Please! Please! I'm sor—"
Her hands were about to slip from their hand sign, but then she felt firm calloused hands grip hers.
Two strong, firm hands...
"Belle," he said to her, his voice like a cool breeze in the night, "I'm here."
She gasped and she was back on the battlefield, her hands trembling but in place, held together by him once again.
"I-I'm sorry... I keep failing... I promise I'll—"
"No," he interjected. Quiet. Stern.
She stopped speaking and let him lead.
"There's nothing to apologize for. You are the strongest person I know."
Her eyes widened at his words, and she finally looked him like he was the answer.
Her eyes gleamed, the reflection on them spiraling out of control as she almost lost herself trying to utter his name. She trembled still but felt her heart calm, its beats becoming stable with each second.
When she saw his face, he only held a pleasant smile, eyes closed, and behind him, a wave of blood etched his outline a few feet away where Syemore had stood.
A pool of red splattered on the stone floor once more as Syemore began to spout it profusely. It waterfalled off his and the beast's mouth like a fountain as he fell to his knees hard, revealing the Arc Slayer stabbed through from behind—thrown previously.
With her tears drying, she shook her head and said his name passionately, "Greed…"
***
I remained silent and stared at her for a while. "I'm gonna let go now," I said at last, and she nodded confidently.
As I did, I turned around and faced Syemore, bleeding all over the ground. "This seems to be a common theme for you. Do you like the ground that much?"
He staggered his eyes to me with wrath behind them, and I dashed.
He raised a claw to me in response, casting a spell—Sylva's,
"Gale Magic: Hydra's Claws!"
A gale of vicious winds raged vehemently back to me, slowing me down, but it wasn't good enough.
Though it cut like blades and continued its chaotic advance, it only shred my clothes as I pressed forward.
He cast another spell—Jecht's,
"Primal Magic: Hydro Shark Asylum!"
And right then I was caught in a large bubble with water that seeped from the ground.
As I struggled for a moment in the spell, Syemore threw his arms over himself and attempted to pull the Arc Slayer out from his back. The contact with the large blade, especially with it being pierced through him, had been eating away his mana greatly, second by second. Even grabbing the hilt or trying to push it out the other way wiped chunks of his mana, becoming a chore for him. To him, it was like a splinter that he couldn't quite grasp.
"Curse this fucking sword!" He rasped harshly, blood gushing, pouring onto the battlefield.
I swam but could not move from my spot. This magic was cast by manipulating actual water, which was different to break free from rather than if the water was cast directly from the spell.
Captain Jecht's magic was mainly his Primal typing with a secondary ability to manipulate water from the steam he emitted naturally. When it came to such things, it took a bit more effort to break free...
"Stay in there, you pest!" Syemore yelled as he raised another hand and expanded the water sphere I was in and floated it above the ground now. Then, along with me, a shiver of hydro sharks began to form, spreading all around me, readying their attack.
"FEAST!" He chanted, and the sharks shrouded me like I was a banquet.
They gnawed on my limbs and body as Syemore watched, beginning to chuckle all the while.
It was then my black coating began to spread like a disease upon my skin, covering parts of my body, arms, legs, and on my face, forming those jagged fanged teeth that wrapped halfway around my head partially, for now.
This much should do...
I began to swim downward, dragging the sharks with me. Even without these hydro sharks gnawing away at me, this water was already tedious to swim through.
But I did it anyway.
BURST!
From below the water sphere, a wave splashed, and arms shot out as I emerged from the Shark Asylum with a permanent devilish look on my face.
When Syemore saw me break free he had just about lost it. "How far does your power go!?" he shouted, almost elated even.
I shot down as the water poured and remained squatted and fist to the ground. The black coating, my signature, radiating a black, dim gloss if shadow could glint; sheen from water that had once enveloped me.
"There it is! That aura—your power! I want it! Give it to me!" he shouted once more, as one who neither feared nor wanted death. Welcoming its embrace, even for but a moment to witness—experience my power. The in between of blessing and curse. Sanity and insanity. That's what he was in this moment.
My eyes glowed a haunting red, whose light trailed with each movement. He blinked and I was there before him, dripping wet and fist to the ground, overwhelming his aura with my manaless own.
"Fine," I said, like a whisper. Ominous and carrying within it a menacing aura that was not of magic. An aura that bled, seeped darkness—one that can put out the light.
I took my fist and reeled it as far back as I could, swinging it downward and then curving it upward to its destination—which was Syemore's jaw.
"Then take my fucking fist... and fly like the phoenix you are!"—my fist kissed his jaw—"This is for making Belle cry, asshole."
I roared as my fist plastered under his jaw, and he staggered, shuddered uncontrollably as he received it like he had waited his whole life just to be fucked. His face contorted from the blow, biting his tongue, teeth chopping it clean off and then shattered as they made impact with his gums.
He flew upward at a ferocious speed, shattering the crystallized dragons above that were blocking the sky, letting the sun come through again. He flew like a meteor in the opposite direction, leaving this world instead of entering it.
Nothing in his path could stop him as farther and farther up he flew until he passed the barrier that shrouded the Valley Kingdom. The remnants of the shattered Phantomdrakes were all decorated above, along with him, sparkling crystals and light blue hues glittering the sky. And then… right on time…
"BELLE!" I shouted, knowing she had been done charging her cast seconds before I escaped the water prison. She had been waiting for my signal, and it was now.
She held a look of sheer determination and focus that no one could match. Her deep blue eyes reflected the glinting crystals in the sky along with her hair which actually sparkled, taking her beauty to a whole new level as she chanted with all her being,
"Holy Magic: Celestial Dome!"
As Syemore had passed the Kingdom's barrier, a golden aura rippled in the sky, starting from the outer walls of the Valley Kingdom, and then closing in on where he had flown through. The barrier was intricate, glowing so bright it illuminated the whole sky and painted it gold with Aegis scattered all throughout. It looked as if angels held it together, the protection of the Keeper's army over all the Valley.
When Syemore finally stopped flying, he was not only over the Kingdom's barrier—he had just flown over Belle's Celestial Dome as well. The Arc Slayer that pierced him had flown out just a few feet under, also above the golden barrier as it closed below them both. From above him, however, an arrow had flown through and past, inches away at this very moment above him, like it had made it through as well just before the barrier had shut completely. Eager to meet him at this very moment...
Snap!
The sound of fingers snapping echoed from far away, switching the arrow with something big. The whole Kingdom pulsed a glow for a second right then as well. And when it appeared, its shadow covered the whole area above the Arcane King's castle, right over Syemore. An enormous building in the sky, inches away from Syemore's face, taking its time to fall and slam onto him unforgivingly. Another kiss, desperate to embrace him; drawn to him by the force of utter gravity.
He could do nothing but watch it, wait for it, and take it face first as he and it roared back down, crashing onto the outer surface of the Celestial Dome.
A phoenix truly risen and forced back into its ashes.
Belle ran over to me as her spell had completed. A loud crash muffled from above us as she looked upward to see what it was. And before she could question, I said softly, "Come on." I reached out my hand to her delicate ones. "It's not over yet, princess… You ready?"
She nodded in response and grabbed my hand gently, then with one quick motion…
Snap!
We were gone and replaced with pieces of rubble from high above, two layers over the entire Valley Kingdom.