We stood there atop the Celestial Dome with rubble and debris all around us. Syemore then began to hover in the air from where he was. As he was. A mere, shroudless man and a perfect being both at once.
"Well, this situation definitely isn't ideal—not having the Arc Slayer. But it's as I said," Belle made her way next to me, preparing to once again face off against Syemore. She stepped so gently with those pretty bare feet of hers; the gold barrier rippling as she did. "We have you. So it's all in the same. If not, better."
I looked at her with a bit of confusion, taking a gulp before answering, "I'm gonna be honest with you, princess…"—blinking next and taking a breath—"I haven't the slightest clue what I am. So saying that doesn't necessarily inspire hope."
She gave me a faint smile as if already knowing I'd answer that way.
"As long as you know how to use that power you have. After all, you're still standing while many have fallen. I am only here because of you."
She looked solemnly back to Syemore in the sky. "As for matters regarding this Maven Knight... This is something that must be discussed in council with the Arcane King once all this is over."
I tilted my head, raised an eyebrow, and looked at her. "I see... So you're implying we're going to win this, then?" I replied charmingly.
"Of course we are," she said with a pleasant smile.
I smirked at her after she said that. And though I didn't entirely understand, this whole time, Syemore had been more than just an infiltrator from the Mountain Kingdom. Now he had claimed he was a Maven Knight—Maven Lord—whatever the difference was. The ones who ruled over all the world. The head of the trifecta Great Alliance—the World System that we all fall under… I could barely fathom the thought. I had almost forgotten that I had gotten arrested this morning… again. What the hell was even going on today?
I stared at the remaining hilt of the Arc Slayer, brought to wrought from Syemore's Forbidden magic. It was completely shattered, useless now for the remainder of this fight. But it had served its purpose. When I dropped it, I strategically weaved my apology to Belle in a bow of a compliment, "Your words are all I need to hear, princess… and sorry about this… give the Arcane King my regards, would you?"
"You'd have me deliver the bad news for you?"
"Means more when it comes from someone important."
"You like to play with your words."
"My tongue likes to dance," I said, looking her up and down as I walked forward. "In more places than one."
I had meant it more as a playful joke, but I could have sworn I saw her blush as I looked away. Though, I do tend to be delusional in most cases. Perhaps it was just my imagination that she was actually feeling me.
I started taking off my tattered Black Wolves jacket, tossing away the ribbons of it as it slid off my shoulders. I hardly realized it was so tattered after my previous squabble with Syemore earlier.
Underneath, I only wore a ripped white tank that was skintight on me. Extra revealing, especially in this basking light from the sun we were now so much closer to.
My muscles were cut and all the tattoos that covered my body like a body suit were revealed from my arms, neck, and top of my chest. Dark, shaded finger waves sleeved both my arms, leaving no part of my skin un-inked. Morning blossoms scattered on the right, and skulls scattered on the left that symbolized life and death. The ink on each side trailed past my wrists ending with each their own—a blossom and a skull with only my chipped black fingernails at the ends of them.
The half-finished wolf tattoo on my neck bolstered more as I revealed. And I began to rotate my arm in a circular motion with the other on my shoulder—eyes closed as I stretched.
I hardly even realized that Belle was watching me all the while from behind. I could feel those cool, blue eyes caressing the top of my skin, inch by inch.
I glanced back as she was rotating her jaw, subconsciously biting her lip at the sight of me.
"See something you like?" I asked coquettishly.
Her rosy face became even rosier. "N-n-no. Your... Your tattoos look nice," she said in a nervous attempt to save face.
"What do you say we get this over with and I'll show you something nicer?" I smirked, closing my eyes for only a second before shifting them back to our enemy—still talking to her as I flirted, "Tell you what... you pick the place—yours or mine, really doesn't matter—agenda's the same."
"Really now? And what is on this 'agenda?'"
"A creaking bed."
She responded with a joyful, playful laugh. And damn, did I love to hear it. It was so sexy.
"By the way…" she said, "Thanks for the piggyback."
I raised a brow.
"I cast a thin layer of Holy magic thread on you just after we teleported up here. It seems that without you realizing it, you can detect if the magic is a threat or not subconsciously, unless of course, it manages to catch you off guard—which is a low probability. I noticed this the second we got warped by your Vice Captain's magic. If you truly negated all magic, then even his wouldn't be able to work on you. So I tested a theory, and I was right. To you, this thread is the same as my hand gently touching you. That's how I remained as I am before you without being affected by Syemore's Time magic."
I pushed out my lips and gave a face, nodding, still not really getting it. "I understand and I don't... so perhaps you can show me more of that gentle touch later to help me understand better—"
CRASH!
Two Phantomdrakes had collided onto us from the flank, engulfing us within them as they traced back to Syemore still floating ahead. His face, a disinterested look; clearly grown tired of our messing around while he was present.
"I don't know what baffles me more," he said. "Your tomfoolery, or the fact that you think you can win?"
Our silhouettes shone through the mouths of the Phantomdrakes before they burst and dispersed from us.
Blemishes of black coating covered parts of my body, partially transformed with those jagged fangs on one side of my face. And Belle, now armed with rose gold-plated armor throughout herself—resembling a gladiatrix.
The armor was still revealing as it displayed various parts of her skin, arms, breast, and legs, but from the knees down she had now worn gladiator heels, still showing off her pretty, pink toenails. And from her sides, she held two golden blades that looked as if they were forged from Holy magic blacksmiths—carved, sleek and intricate, matching her rose gold armor. On her head, she wore a majestic crown that could shift into a face shield at any moment. Her platinum white hair was down, accompanied by two white cloths that draped behind her like capes fluttering in the wind. And lastly, that pin of the white cartoon wolfdog in her hair—the only thing that did not match the rest of her gladiator outfit—or her outfit before for that matter.
"Holy Magic: Mana Fusion: Aegis Robes."
Robes, huh? I thought. I supposed it was more than what she typically wore.
We stood there unfazed as I replied, "That was a bit rude. I was still talking."
Syemore glowered back with his head tilted, then finally gave us half a smile. He then began laughing in spurts in that same maniacal way he always had, "No more games. Let's see how you fare against sheer, unrelenting force."
From Syemore's sides, he grew two more arms. When they shot out from him, they instantly formed a hand sign as his other two arms began to rotate in opposite directions—one above and the other below.
"I'm going to assume you've both never fought a Maven Knight before. There is a reason we live in the skies above you worms and not alongside you. We are better, stronger, elite beings worthy to be called gods. Magic may not work on you now, but sheer might will show you the difference in our power! Just try to best this!"
He completed the rotation of his other two arms, and the two others he summoned made another hand sign, more intricate than the last.
"Forbidden Time Magic plus Assembly Magic: Mana Fusion:"
As if from different dimensions, hordes of red pentagrams cast all over the sky around him. Through the pentagrams, pieces of dark gray, red, and gold armor came through, beginning to layer him unforgivingly. An endless assault as they piled up on him relentlessly, fusing into him—transforming him into some kind of half mech, half human monstrosity.
The pieces fluttered everywhere all around him, beginning to build large arms over the two additional arms he now had on his sides. They extended out—massive, clad in gold from the ethos. More gold armor wrapped itself around him, creating a crown and then a head around his waist that resembled a mech beast. Large gold and red horns formed from the armor above him casting shield-like plates that resembled scales of a dragon from his sides, curving and flowing out.
From the shoulders of his two large gold arms, were two massive, long blades sheathed to his sides. Their hilts were of dark gray metal, pommels like cinderblocks, and the sheaths themselves were gold with a red glow down the middle of both—blades that only a giant could wield.
Then, from his upper body, his "human" torso and up protruded over the mech beast head; filled with dark gray armor that seemed to fit him skintight up to his jaw—his body was now flexible and allowed movement.
His white hair became one with the armor behind him, forming a diadem resembling some type of ancient society and carved in glyphs. His two original arms were free-flowing as he stretched them outward and a separate pentagram formed, splitting in two in opposite directions, revealing and summoning from both ends a giant, long chain sword—an urumi the length of a flagpole. The legs he once had were completely gone, fused completely below an airship-like mount as he emerged proud atop it like a centaur or even a chariot, hovering by sheer aura alone as the air below him distorted. His presence was ethereal as he finished his incantation,
"… Armor of Eternal Twilight. Ultimate form."
The aura roared harshly onto us as Belle and I covered our eyes from the blast of wind. Then, as it settled, winds fluttering our hair and earrings—her jewelry chiming in the high winds, we both faced Syemore in his new form. I spoke out to her without facing, "You sure you wanna do this—fight him with me?"
"Well, I'm not going to sit back as you do it alone."
I uttered a soft approval to her, then said, "I know you won't. You're just that type of person… and that's what I admire so much about you. The Valley is lucky to have you as its number one, and I am lucky to have you at my side."
She peeped softly at my words like, once again, I had said something embarrassing to her as she looked a bit flushed.
"Listen, princess…"
Her ears perked.
"Just follow my lead. Only strike the spots where I strike. If you do that, you'll definitely do damage to him. You can treat me like the Arc Slayer, if that helps you picture it better."
She turned her head to face me finally. I was still focusing on Syemore who was readying, flaunting his gigantic presence in front of us.
And her eyes sparkled as she replied, "Okay!"
"Let's go then!"
We dashed at flash speeds in opposite directions from Syemore's large form, flanking him.
"Useless," he said. His voice was like that of a thunderous god's.
He swung the urumi he held so fast that bladed pieces of it detached one after another, bending its straightened shape like a bladed ribbon to whip and crack upon the surface of the dome in every direction.
Then, straight down the middle of us, he struck the urumi on the floor of the barrier, causing a huge shockwave that could have crumbled the Arcane King's castle itself and then some, had we still been there.
BOOM!!
The shockwave blew me and Belle away, causing us to fly quite a distance from him at the center. The rubble and debris around him blasted away as well. They looked like cubes in the air as his shockwave struck down onto the Celestial Dome.
Following my lead, I dashed to the side counterclockwise as Belle did the same. I bolted just behind Syemore as he whipped around just as quickly with a giant golden fist, to meet mine there, and our fists clashed.
We both recoiled from the impact, and Syemore's fist was now dented from the strike. Right in between us now, Belle had appeared as if she teleported and pointed both her blades like cannons in his direction, aimed right at his dented armored fist as she released a blast.
FEUUUM!!
The blast covered Syemore completely, but with one swift motion of that urumi of his, he slashed horizontally and dispersed the blast of light from Belle. It whipped wide past us over our heads a few meters as we ducked beneath.
At first, it had seemed that there was no damage to him—and there wasn't, except on the area of his dented fist as it had turned black from Belle's blast. That alone had confirmed that our fighting strategy worked. We just needed to hit with a harder attack next.
Right then, Syemore raised his urumi directly upward and threw it right down onto us. It elongated, turning into a whip once more, dividing us as Belle and I bolted away in opposite directions.
When he lifted the urumi again, it flicked, and the ripple of the chain whip caused a massive explosion from below it.
BOOM!!
It was a harsh red color that engulfed the immediate area. I ran out of the smoke, witnessing Syemore reel it back again from what had been yet another devastating blast.
As I continued to run, his red glowing eyes tracked me. I blinked and he was gone…
Then, from above, he was there, floating and facing down over me. His airship of a lower half like a shadow blocking out the high sun. The mech beast head on his lower torso opened and monstrous teeth sprang out before crash-landing at point blank directly onto me.
Shit.
CRASH!!
Another large-scale shockwave emitted from the impact.
I flew out from the smoke backward and Syemore crawled out like a cockroach with those two giant gold arms of his. The urumi once more whipping the smoke away as he found me and dashed again. His speed was incredible for his size.
He then twisted the hilt of his urumi, and it straightened, becoming like a spear. When he met me, the tip of the elongated blade thrusted at my center, pushing me backward onto the floor of the barrier. Syemore forcefully pushed with the blade, using his momentum to keep me pinned to the golden floor, dragging me across the top it.
"Greed!" Belle shouted from the sky as she flew past.
She met Syemore head-on emitting a light from her armor that obscured his vision.
"Cheap tricks!" He yelled.
But the flash bang was enough of a distraction for me to get a grip on the blade and remove myself from under it, letting him bolt past us. The urumi then skidded on the floor of the barrier, stopping his movement, and he whipped back around to face us from behind.
Right then, a slash had intensely formed from his side before he realized; green liquid spewed out in his astonishment. When he looked back to us, he noticed my hand had taken the form of a black blade for but a moment.
Then, just as fast, Belle appeared next to him with a golden blade. She outstretched her left leg in front of her, positioning her for a powerful strike in the same exact spot.
SLASH!
The strike was so strong that Syemore staggered, and more green fluid sprayed out profusely.
He then raised a golden arm and slammed it down onto where Belle had been, palm facing, fingers spread out. But she disappeared before it struck.
When she reappeared, it was with me as we stood side by side yards away from Syemore struggling in his green liquid.
"Nice hit!" I said to her.
"Nice setup," she returned the gesture.
With the huge gash of a wound he received, Syemore became enraged, roaring out his aura once more like before.
"Annoying little pests. I will…"—from his back, metallic cylinders shot out; a fusillade of missile launchers presented as his eyes glowed from murderous intent—"fucking annihilate you!"
Right then, stockpiles of missiles shot out from his back and flew toward us unendingly, homing in and crashing one by one as we split up again and separated the flurry.
Belle bolted in the sky as they followed, leaving trails of explosions behind her from their barrage.
I ran so fast, my arms could not follow as they fluttered like a cape behind me. I made a half circle some distance away from Syemore as the missiles trailed behind.
I closed the distance, and the missiles didn't miss a beat as it followed me all the back to where he was.
Syemore then took both golden arms and unsheathed both the enormous golden blades from his sides and cross slashed outwardly upon my arrival.
I threw both arms to my sides to protect, and the massive blades clanged upon meeting my impenetrable black coating.
The missiles drew near as I spread my arms, and his blades flew out while he still held them. He was wide open now.
I dashed and met him at his center with a fist ready to throw, but once I did, I was met with a forcefield that halted my strike.
"So close, yet so far away," Syemore said as the missiles finally caught up to me and rained down.
B-B-B-BOOM!!!
"It's not over!" He yelled as he summoned a cluster of sigils all around me above the smoke.
They glowed and shot high energy beams onto me after the missiles had struck, and another devastating blast roared upon me
BOOM!!!
The smoke shrouded us thickly as Syemore remained in place of it, watching through his forcefield that protected him from the blasts.
"A valiant effort, but futile nonetheless," Syemore mocked through the smoke, unable to see me.
And then from the ripple of his forcefield, he shuddered.
As he followed where it had trailed from, he found a hand rested upon it directly in front of him.
The smoke still obscured his vision, but he knew when he saw the handprint—the presence that still lingered behind it.
And he shuddered even more at the sound of my voice. "Nice barrier."
When the smoke finally cleared, Syemore witnessed me casually leaned up against it after having survived his endless barrage.
"How...? What are you?"
"Hm..." I said, pondering a bit. As I said this, I gripped my hand upon his forcefield and it groaned. "You know...? I don't have a witty answer for you right now... Sorry."
And when I clenched my fist, it shattered all around him with effortless ease.
SHATTER!
Syemore's eyes widened in disbelief.
He began swinging his massive blades, first to the right as I ducked to dodge it. His left blade swung next from above and I stepped to the side with another easy dodge. Then an upward swing; dodge. Cross slash; dodge. Swing after swing, slash after slash—he missed. And he was backing up all the while as I inchingly drew closer with each dodge.
At last, I rushed him, formed a fist, and threw it onto him in a drawn-out manner as color lost its purpose around us from the impending strike of my fist.
The look on his face said it all as he received yet another passionate kiss from my fucking knuckles.
BASH!!
The sound of a heavy blow onto his tank of a body echoed as he flew back, wiping the remainder of the smoke around us completely away. His urumi had shattered into multiple pieces, and he had released the two massive golden blades he held, twirling back to me. I grabbed them one at a time as they flew and chucked them both right back to Syemore, flipping as I threw the second. Both blades pierced consecutively down his center where I had struck him.
STAB! STAB!
He grunted—spewing blood from his mouth.
Then, just like before, like clockwork, Belle appeared in a blink from the ethers between us.
Her blades attached at the hilts, and they began to constructively transform into a ring that looked like a golden sun. The pieces that resembled its rays floated, held together by nothing but its own aura. It mimicked a bow and a bowstring made of light glowed, ready for her gentle grasp.
Turning her head away and closing her eyes softly, she was the complete opposite of the manner of attack she was about to let loose; like she was flicking away a piece of trash without thought.
And then she spoke with such still calm as if exorcising a Demon, "May the Keeper show mercy on you, for I shall not."
Syemore watched her attack unfold onto him. With wrath in his eyes, he was unable to do anything once again just as the building had fallen onto him, just like every strike he had received until now, in this moment, it had been complete and perfect checkmate.
"Holy Magic: Heavenly Arrow's Judgment!"
A beam of stars flickered. It was the spell she used to defeat a Colossal Sand Dragon in the Desert Kingdom single-handedly. And a fucking sight to behold…
FEUUUUM!!!
The beam of light shot through him two times the Kingdom's length. Shrouding him completely and then thinning out with Syemore nowhere to be found. Only the remnants of himself lingered in the air as the light beam echoed his demise.
Echoes of explosions emitted in a straight line afterward as it led out and away from atop the Kingdom. A dramatic ending to Belle's most powerful spell—overkill's unforgiving and yet heavenly sister.
Shards of metal and armor from Syemore rained down from where we were, landing piece by piece onto the golden floors.
It was finally over. The clouds, the people, and the Phantomdrakes below were still stationary and at a standstill. Perhaps soon, the spell will disperse...
As Belle fluttered beautifully in the air, she turned around to face me. Her soft and elegant smile found me as her deep blue eyes looked into mine, and I lost myself in them once more.
All those times I had looked up, those eyes found me—looking into my soul. Her wispy eyelashes sparkled like crystals along with her hair which flowed like heliochrome rivers. She raised the standard of beauty with each witness upon her and was forever the epitome of it.
And I looked at her like a bastard waiting to be saved.
It was then that the thought from earlier had crept back to my thickheaded skull. Reminding me what I so longed to remember... What I so fucking desperately wanted to remember.
This was it. It was you. Mylight.
Belle.
"Greed! It's done!" She said, her voice a bed of flowers and sweet like honey. "We wo—"
I was so lost in her eyes that I could barely comprehend anything. All I saw was the light in front of me, Belle, become shadowed by a color that did not belong on her. From her center, spreading unforgivingly...
"Never," a haunting voice whispered like a broken record of words spoken earlier. "Turn your back on your opponent... Especially one who is your natural threat."
Belle uttered a soft gasp and crimson waterfalls trickled down her chin.
That voice, Syemore's, rang in my ears as I watched in horror, "Fate is a bitch, is it not? My work here is not done... but yours is... Farewell, princess of the Valley."
His words lingered. Time was still stopped all around us; the Phantomdrakes were still present below... How had I not noticed…? I was such a fool.
The sound of a stab filled my ears along with his ominous words. My eyes followed, adjusting to the bright light which was my delusion.
With Belle, my picture of perfection—my light—had been impaled from behind like she never mattered, right in front of me…
"Gr-eed… I'm… sorry…"