Chapter 54:
The midday sun kept its casual pace, unbothered by the chaos happening below. Stretches of white clouds occupied the sky above. On a normal day, a day like this would be considered a peaceful one—another day in the Valley… However, down below in the Valley Kingdom, a horde of Phantomdrakes rummaged this large, proud city, clustering its peaceful skies.
Atop two barriers, a final battle between the Valley's traitor, the one framed by him, and the Valley's princess was about to meet its conclusion… at least, that was the plan.
As Code teleported Greed and Belle above the golden barrier, he began to recall what he and Greed discussed just days prior.
***
**Two days ago**
Greed:
I led us in the walk toward the South Gate of the Valley Kingdom after the incident in the hourglass that me, Code, Ophelia, and Havoc had escaped from. Code met me from the front of the group as the other two dragged back.
"We need to discuss some things, so come with me to get groceries after we've freshened up a bit," he said to me and me only so the other two didn't hear. Though, I bet they still did anyway; they were both unhealthily nosy.
"Sure," I said in a disinterested manner, still facing forward, hands in my pockets.
The rest of the day's plans consisted of us getting back home and gathering groceries for dinner. Code and I left the Den after dropping Ophelia and Havoc off and having cleaned ourselves up, changing out of our sand-filled clothes.
After walking a good distance away in silence, we had already made it to the East Gate. Then and only then, amongst the crowd of people, was when Code finally decided he wanted to talk, but he simply opened his mouth as I beat him to it.
"So where is he now?" I said, already knowing the topic.
He closed his eyes and gave me an approving huff.
"You ARE getting sharper… Guess Asura and I were right about appointing you as Acting Captain."
"Gag… Don't ever give out compliments, Code," I said, casually looking over the crowd. "You sound like you've insulted me instead."
He said nothing as we strolled.
"Approximately twenty yards away, behind us," he finally said.
I didn't turn my head fully, but I saw him there in the distance, hiding amidst the crowd, following us.
Brown hooded cloak… I sensed our little guest since we had left the Den. I figured Code wouldn't start talking until we got to the city where it was noisier so as to not make it obvious. There was a reason he hadn't reacted yet.
"So then… what's the move?" I asked.
"The move? Why… nothing," he replied nonchalantly.
I raised an eyebrow at him.
"To put it more frankly. We are going to give him what he wants and then let him leave."
"You've got to be joking…"
"Not at all… We are going to use him for intel instead."
I found that interesting, however, I said, "Cool, but maybe keep it down a bit? They would only send a Sensory type user to spy on us after all. You're one of the only ones aside from myself and maybe Havoc that could have spotted him."
Code scoffed, closing his eyes while he said, "Do you know who you're talking to? Even with Sensory type magic, at this distance and with this bustling crowd, you'd have to focus twice as much… Also, I've been switching thoughts with our little 'friend,' so he doesn't even know we are having this conversation right now. We're in the clear."
Classic Code. Having a conversation with me and simultaneously keeping our "hidden" informant distracted by switching thoughts, making him believe it with his own, while gathering intel from him without him knowing, and keeping a fair distance to further disrupt the informant's Sensory magic amidst this busy crowd... I had hardly realized he was leading me along with him. I couldn't even begin to understand how he was able to do such a thing while keeping a calm demeanor about him all the while. This was truly the work of a high IQ and EQ man.
"This is even more proof it should have been you to lead the Black Wolves," I said eagerly. "Please trade me..."
"Fuck no."
"Come on, you're perfect for the role!"
"If there's anyone those band of idiots look up to as much as Asura, it's you. Besides,"—snapping his fingers to switch a thought—"Unlike you, I get more freedom with my Vice Captain's role."
"Yeah, you're really selling it. Trade me."
"I said no, dumbass."
I said nothing in reply and threw my hands over my head, closing my eyes in the process as we walked.
"Anyway… He's a Blue Phoenix Knight, so this helps build the case that the ones who kidnapped us are them—or are associated with them. He had started following us when we came back. That can't be a coincidence. My theory—he must have been ordered to follow us after we thwarted their plans at the church. Again... it's just a theory. I need concrete facts, however." He looked over his shoulder, and the informant had pretended to do something else as Code glanced. "He should have been trained to hide his thoughts better."
He turned back around, and I asked, "So, what exactly is he after?"
"Well, they took a young girl. Blonde. Pigtails. I don't know why, but it seems they're only using her. They plan to know where you'll be tomorrow evening so they can temporarily release her, lure you to go save her, and then lead you to a certain… 'location'… his forefront thoughts on the matter stopped there,"—he sighed—"If only I could read minds on a deeper level like Marley..."
Snap.
"Well, that's low," I said in a low tone.
Code could sense I was bothered by that.
I then glanced back to Code, knowing there was more than just the surface level of what he was telling me… "Let me guess—you want me to fall for it," I asked.
"You really have gotten sharp."
I sighed and looked up to the orange-pink sky as the evening sun went down. "Is that it?" I asked decidedly.
"That's all I got. I don't even know what this 'place' is that they're planning to lure you into. But don't sweat… If all goes well after our little stroll around the city today—I will be there too…"
"And you intend to do what exactly?"
He took a second to answer. I could tell he was reviewing the information he had just traded this fool behind us.
"Follow him."
I blinked.
"Won't he notice? What if he's tasked with spying on us the whole day?"
"He won't. He was clumsy, and I managed to trade a thought telling me where he needs to be after he gathers some intel on where you'll be. His only time limit is before tomorrow evening, so if we give him the intel now, he'll probably leave early… I traded a similar thought back so as to make him think it was his own and so that he doesn't forget to do it… Though he can only leave if he leaves with something… So go ahead, Captain… Where do you plan to be tomorrow?"
I sighed again and kept walking side by side with Code as he let off trading thoughts with our follower, letting him get closer to us.
"Gonna grab some dinner with Ryo tomorrow evening near the South Gate… you know the place."
"Ah, alleyway noodles. Sounds just like our Captain," he jabbed, then lowered his head with his round, thin-framed glasses shifting down his nose, revealing his blue-gray eyes. "Well… have fun…" Glancing ever so stealthily over to the informant around the corner.
We kept walking around buying groceries at the outdoor market and bantering about whatever else. Code and I don't ever talk this way, but it was all an act to make sure the informant was completely satisfied with the intel he received.
After thirty more minutes of walking around aimlessly and pretending to be busy, our follower finally left.
"Looks like that's my cue…" Code said as he handed all the groceries to me.
I gave him a nervous laugh. Looks like he really needed to buy all these things, and I was just muscle to bring it all back to the Den. "This was your plan all along!" I said like a fool who finally figured out he was played.
He gave me a bland look like playing me was child's play. "There's five fucking gallons of milk in there; I plan to use most of it for baking. By the Keeper, I swear, if I come back and that's all gone again, I'll murder someone for real."
"I don't think any one of us drinks that much milk..."
"Someone fucking does! And I will find out who one of these days."
He walked ahead of me, took out a smoke, and lit his cigarette, flicking his intricate silver lighter and proceeded not to say anything for a good minute. "I pre-made dinner and breakfast for you idiots already. Just prepare it and heat it up, and you'll be good for the next day or so…"
"You plan to be gone for more than a day?"
He stopped with his back facing me now. The breeze picked up and fluttered his Black Wolves jacket.
"Let's hope not…" he said, pondering.
I had also been lost in thought as we exchanged our silence with each other.
"Just one day," I said finally. He glanced over to me, fixing his round glasses with his middle finger as usual. "You have one day to do what you need to, and if I don't hear from you, I'm beating Syemore's ass, with or without proof. Are you still going to follow me then?"
"I only follow the strong, so in other words,"—turning to face me—"of course I will." He smirked.
I didn't even smile. I hated flattery; it was easier to take criticism. But I knew why Code was talking this way, and it quite frankly pissed me off.
"You sound more like a captain by the day. I don't want to jinx it, but… If I don't come back—"
"No. Gonna stop you right there. You know I hate that shit… Whatever you must do…" The sun began setting, and my shadows elongated. My silhouette masked the front of me now, and I glowered back to Code. My eyes glowed from the darkness with the shining light from behind me. I said without a hint of regard that was more of a plea than a command, "Make it back to us. That's an order."
Code was silent for a while, and then he threw his hands in his jacket pockets before turning completely around again, facing away from me once more. I didn't quite see it, but I could have sworn he smiled when he turned away.
"I'll create an opening for you. That's how you'll know I'm okay. Let me know when, and I'll be there," he started walking away from me. "I'm gonna cast that spell like I did for Asura back then. It'll take me some time to set up, but this way, even if I don't know where you are or can't see you, I can still warp you... anywhere. So, just give me five minutes before you go and kick his ass."
"Understood," I said to him as he proceeded away, waving a hand to me with his back still completely facing.
"Before I go," he stopped walking and glanced back. "Have you figured out what you are yet?"
The breeze picked up a bit more, rustling the scattered leaves on the ground around us along with our jackets. The expression I had was unwavering as the silence between us grew. "Hard to say," I said casually, saying nothing more.
Code disregarded the question he just asked, then reassured me, "Don't worry about it. I was just curious."
"It's not that I don't want to tell you, it's just that… I can't. And I don't know why…"
"Sounds complicated… In any case, until the day comes when you're able to tell me—or want to for that matter... that's the time I want to hear it." He turned away again, followed by the snap of his fingers, and he was gone—replaced by a speck of dust.
It was just me now with the bags of excess groceries we bought. Me and the evening sunlight, switching shifts with the waking night. That was the last time I saw Code.
***
**Present**
In a blink of an eye, Belle and I were warped in the sky by Code's magic several meters high above the Arcane King's castle. We were teleported to a scene that he caused moments before. An enormous building had crashed just before we got here, right on top of Syemore. The debris looked like floating pieces of rubble with gold ripples below them as the dust began to settle on top of this golden barrier covering the whole Valley Kingdom.
This barrier Belle had cast was called the Celestial Dome. An advanced Holy protection spell with wide-range capabilities. Because of her vast amount of mana, she was able to cast spells like this all on her own with a measly charge time of five minutes…
Belle's Holy magic was of Divine typing. A rare sub-type of Creation magic able to use all other sub-typings of its category. She was the only one ever known in this existence to have it... as the stories go, that is.
This spell didn't have a time limit, nor does it have to be maintained by hand sign. The only cost was how much mana she had to sacrifice for it. If I had to guess, it probably had to take at least four mages of Ryo's level to cast something this big.
I knew not the depths of her mana, but I could tell she was only at half her full power now, which was still a lot by my standard.
I held Belle close in my arms above a large piece of rubble—acting almost like an elevated podium among the debris.
Finding the Arc Slayer, I let go of her, hopping off the concrete; her bare feet gently landed on top of it as she stayed herself elegantly there. And a few feet away, just past the Arc Slayer itself, Syemore lay mangled among large pieces of rubble.
When I reached for the blade, the rubble that lay over him burst out, blasting its pieces my way like an explosion had gone off.
BOOM!
I grabbed the Arc Slayer swiftly and raised it to my side, both hands at the hilt, swinging horizontally at Syemore, who had arisen from the heaping pile.
SLASH!
A drawn-out clang sounded from it as it cut him completely in half across the torso. It was a different kind of slash. Somehow, the power of my swing had coursed through both halves of him, dispelling the Full-Body Light magic he was about to activate.
Without hesitation, Belle saw her chance. From behind me, she raised a palm in the direction of his severed body. No incantation needed—a simple cast…
Sharp, light spears appeared from all directions around him and stabbed both his severed upper and lower halves.
Stunned that her magic had actually worked, Syemore shouted with a blood-filled mouth, "Holy magic!?"
A stern look cast over her face and her blue eyes radiated as Belle replied, "You can thank the Arc Slayer for that."
Syemore merely twitched his eyes as they drifted to the barrier we all stood upon. So that's it...
"Precisely," Belle said as if she could read his mind. "Celestial Dome isn't just another large-scale projection spell. It also enhanced the effectiveness of ally magic as well—in our case—the Arc Slayer."
This explained why that swing I made did more than just null where it had slashed; it also spread its nullification effects.
"The Arc Slayer is warded with another of the Arcane King's spells to tell the difference between magic from friend and foe—even if you use our own allies magic as your own. Meaning... I am able to enhance its capabilities with Celestial Dome and null all your magical properties at the same time,"—stepping forward, her bare feet rippled the dome as she arrived at my side—"This includes your Forbidden magic as well, nulling your immunity to my magic."
Syemore's eyes trembled. He even looked impressed, dare I say.
"Forbidden magic is still magic. Because of that, its greatest enemy is still Nullifying magic. So long as I strike after the Arc Slayer, my magic will have an effect on you," she said as she curled her fingers and flexed her hand. When she did, the light spears etched deeper into both Syemore's halves. "However small the window of opportunity may be, rest assured, I will strike when I see even a sliver of it!"
Right then, Belle closed her palm, forming a fist, and the light spears, along with Syemore's two severed halves, began to compress into a spiked ball of light.
"Suffocate," she said to him as she went for the kill, closing her hand completely.
The sound of Syemore's bones crunching played in my ears as I watched Belle's counter. She was not only powerful, but she was also a genius as well.
However…
A menacing laugh echoed through both our ears. There was then the sound of a crack, like the sound of metal breaking. When I looked down to the Arc Slayer in my hand, a large crack trailed down the middle of it.
What? I thought, as Syemore's laughing echoed unendingly, and the contorted mess of him in front of us began beating like a heart…
"See, the problem with what you just said… Is that it goes both ways…"
He beat again and again like a heart racing. The light spears from Belle began disintegrating into the air and his compressed body began morphing and taking on shape, once more piecing his broken bones, shattered organs, and open wounds all within a grotesque ball of flesh. Almost like what one would do to clay as it morphed every which way.
"Forbidden Magic: Multicast: Regeneration—plus Time Reversal—plus Refurbishment."
After he said this, the Arc Slayer shattered completely. Both Belle's and my eyes widened at the sight of it and also Syemore, mending himself back together to normalcy—hand sign in place once he had reformed himself to nearly perfect condition.
He stood there, pristine body fully mending, and naked underneath the beaming sun we were so much closer to now. "I have dabbled in the Forbidden arts for so long, I know every enhancement and diminishment that can be cast… Forbidden magic can be layered on top of other abilities I've collected, granting me the ability to master those powers and cast multiple spells at once. It can give me access to spells otherwise not known of my own magic, pushing past the limit of what a normal mage is capable of. It can even grant me immunity to my weaknesses, such as Holy magic, or even Nullifying magic… nulling even itself, despite it taking a moment for me to activate… The realm of the Forbidden knows no end."
As he spoke, his reformation had completed, and his body had fully healed. His chest had formed back those two albino faces on both his pecs. That creepy face of the first Arcane King on his left, with its eyes and mouth open, emanating nothing but soft beams of blue light from them, and the other on his right chest, still sleeping soundly...
He made a hand sign as his bloodshot eyes looked like they burned a black fire from them. Then and only then, did the other face on his right chest open its eyes and mouth, emanating a dark red glow.
"Forbidden Time Magic: Eclipse of Chronos!"
Everything stopped. The movement of the clouds, the Phantomdrakes' rampage from below, people running, even the sounds of everything seemed to come to a halt. In this moment, he stopped time itself.
The only ones who could move in this stopped space were Syemore, Belle, and myself.
"As expected… you weren't affected, young wolf. Though I am surprised the Sun Killer can still move. Did you piggyback from the mutt?"
I observed Belle from my peripherals, making sure she hadn't been triggered again by those words. But when I saw her, she didn't look the least bit affected by them. Unless she had, and she was doing a very good job in holding in the emotion. She sensed me even though I wasn't fully looking at her. "You don't have to worry. Three is my lucky number. I won't let it happen a third time," she reassured. "This magic… this is Time magic, but not the normal kind. Time magic of this caliber could only be—"
"Yes, young princess… From a Maven Lord."
I clenched my teeth as he spoke.
"The face on my left is the first Arcane King… and this face on the right… is my father."
Belle and I wore horrified looks on our faces at the mention of it. Saying that this power was from a Maven Lord and then saying the face on his right was his father's, meant only that—
"My father was a powerful man… But he died before ever getting to use his ability to the extent it was meant for. He could never hope to achieve what I have just done… let alone stop time for a mere few seconds. Even still, his magic was regarded as a higher tier." Syemore looked upward as if we were not a threat to him, reminiscing about his past. "It was really such a shame that he was a pacifist and actually cared about you worms below. It's precisely because of his mercy that he was overruled by the Maven Lord council and banished from his post. After that, he took my mother, brother, and me, and we lived among you worms. And later on, he died among the same worms he looked out for—a peaceful, painless death…" He looked almost sad now as he paused, but his emotion changed completely when he spoke his next words, "Like a fucking coward."
His face and tone were of utter disgust.
"Since the day he was banished and took us with him to rot, I've loathed him with every fiber of my being. When he died and I began to practice the Forbidden arts, his magic was the first I took… How do you think I was able to defeat so many of your Captains up until this point? Dodge, Sylva's wind, have the time to cast Ark's magic to protect me against Jecht's spells, escape Tubolt's final blade slash with the Arc Slayer..." His eyes met mine. "Evade your slash to my neck and arm before I could Compress Tubolt?" He pointed to the face on his chest. "You can thank my father's magic for all of that."
So that had been it? It had been no wonder then... So long as he could help it, he could cast his father's Time magic at any given moment and protect or reverse his death.
Flowing from one emotion to another, Syemore orchestrated his arms in a drawn-out way and faced them upward. "Behold, the power of a Maven Knight of the Olympus Kingdom... you fucking worms."
The aura around him now was more intense than anything I've felt from him this entire battle. What filled the air was more like malice than it was aura.
Just how in the world were we supposed to beat this prick now with the Arc Slayer destroyed?
"Fret not, Greed." Belle said to me. This time calming me than I to her.
"We have you."