Cecilia moved in a flurry, her glowing blade turning into an indistinguishable blur of light as she recklessly attacked me.
My first few attempts at parrying her ki weapon resulted in chips forming on my blade—and that was with me reinforcing my weapon with ki.
I ducked, spun, weaved and pivoted at a speed that only I could pull off with such accuracy and timing.
Her attacks her monstrously strong and fast, but her swordplay wasn’t on the same level as mine.
Suddenly, Cecilia’s weapon blinked out of sight as she positioned her now-empty palm directly at my face.
Once again, my body screamed at me that I was in danger, and I reacted by grabbing her outstretched arm and pulling it away while leveraging it to position myself to her side.
Just in time, a cone of glowing energy was released from Cecilia’s open palm, right where I once stood.
“Can all you do is dodge and run away?” she said, her voice apathetic.
Cecilia’s ki-clad elbow struck directly at my sternum, launching me several feet off the ground and knocking the wind out of me.
Before I could even hope to get back up to my feet, I spotted Cecilia sprinting towards me with her newly-formed ki weapon ready.
I desperately tried to reach for my sword, but it was a few inches out of reach. Still, I struggled, trying to claw at the ground to drag my aching body to my only chance at coming out of this alive.
It was too late as Cecilia’s shadow swept over me and I spotted the glimmer of her weapon.
There was nothing more I could do except close my eyes and wait as I was defeated—or in the worst case, killed.
However, the pain never came. Cecilia’s ki sword buried itself into the ground, inches away from my face, and the impact once again destroyed the reinforced ground beneath me.
My opponent smiled, her face close to mine. “That’s once that you would’ve died.”
“Enough!” I yelled. Grabbing hold of my sword that had fallen into reach, I struck Cecilia at her waist using every ounce of ki I could muster at the moment. My blade couldn’t cut through the protective shroud of ki wrapped around her body, but the force did manage to push her away from me.
Cecilia twisted her body, landing nimbly on her feet with a smirk on her face. She was no longer the friend I had grown up with. Nico really was delusional, thinking that everything was forced onto her by the government.
I gripped the sword in my right hand, withdrawing the ki that had been protecting my body. If I wanted to defeat her, I wouldn’t be able to do so by wasting my precious ki on defense.
Noticing this, Cecilia withdrew her weapon, letting the glowing rapier fizzle out of existence.
She got into an offensive stance and gestured for me to come. She didn’t say anything, but didn’t need to. She didn’t even see me as a threat, igniting in me an anger with newfound determination to defeat her at all cost.
Letting out a roar, I imbued ki to my legs in explosive pulses, matching it to my stride. I reached her in three steps at a speed that even caught her by surprise. I swung my sword upward, hoping to at least throw her off balance, but Cecilia stood still and let her ki barrier soak up the brunt of my attack.
Her hand, coated in a thick layer of ki, actually managed to grip down on the sharp edges of my reinforced blade.
She pulled on the sword, pulling me along with it, and slapped me across the face with the back of her hand.
I had managed to protect my face at the last minute but I was still sent tumbling on the ground and my vision swam. Getting back up on my feet, I was immediately met with a barrage of attacks from Cecilia as she swung my own sword at me.
“My trainer was right. You two were dead weights holding me down, especially Nico,” she whispered. “I’m glad I managed to get rid of you both.”
The mention of Nico’s name brought forth another explosive wave of anger. Despite how crazy his conclusions had been, he had done everything because he cared about Cecilia—loved her. For her to spit on those emotions made me mad, despite all of the accusations he had spouted towards Lady Vera.
“Shut up!” I roared. Enveloping my hand in ki, I sidestepped her next downward slash—the end of her attack pattern—and parried the blade so it would get buried in the ground.
Even with my chipped sword, the ki she had embued around it was a strong enough attack to split the reinforced ground and get stuck.
I immediately followed up, delivering a powerful punch across her jaw and another just below her ribs.
My knuckles felt like they had hit a concrete wall, but I managed to make Cecilia stagger for just a split moment. That moment was enough for me to pry my sword out.
At that exact moment, an explosion resounded around the arena, surrounding the entire dueling platform in clouds of dust and debris. I noticed the translucent barrier surrounding the dueling arena quiver before disappearing as screams and shouts of surprise filled the area.
I stood still for a moment, confused at the turn of events until a flicker of movement out of the corner of my eyes.
“This duel is over!” she cried out as she dashed towards me.
She let loose a flurry of swings with her newly-formed ki weapon, unleashing sharp crescents of energy. The attacks bombarded the ground around me, raising even more dust and debris in the already-chaotic situation unfolding. However, I remained focused, wanting to end this duel just as much as she did.
Gripping my sword with both hands, I infused the remaining ki I had left into its blade and prayed for it to endure one more attack. Within the smokescreen of dust obscuring my vision, I managed to spot the faint shadow of Cecilia mid-air.
Her plan to use those flashy attacks to obstruct my view of her might’ve worked on most, but my sharp senses and instincts allowed me to guess her next move.
I let out a primal roar, raising my sword and driving its sharpened tip straight into Cecilia’s shadowed figure with all of my might, clenching my jaw for the impact to come.
Yet the recoil I had expected from clashing with her protective shroud never came.
Instead I watched as my sword slid itself deep into Cecilia’s chest and come stained red out of her back.
I felt her weight falling into me; the warm viscous fluid spilling down my hands and down my arms.
“They… wouldn’t let me… kill myself. I’m sorry… this was… the only way,” Cecilia mustered, her breath ragged.
I let go of my sword, my hands trembling fiercely. “W-Wha—why? How?”
“As long as… I live, Nico will be… imprisoned… used against… me.”
I stumbled back, and Cecilia fell on top of me. To my horror, the blade sunk deeper into her and she let out a pained gasp.
“N-N-No… this can’t be…” I sputtered, unable to even form the rest of the sentence as I choked back sobs forming in my throat.
The dust from Cecilia’s last attack and the explosion around the arena had dissipated as I continued clutching Cecilia. Despite all of the action movies I had seen at the orphanage of the main character dying dramatically, Cecilia’s death was nowhere near the same.
She simply stopped breathing and fell limp. That was it.
“No! How? What have you done!?” Lady Vera’s voice screamed out from the side.
I turned my head towards the sound of the voice, more out of instinct than as an actual response. To my left were two figures, one male and one female. Both were in military armor, faces covered behind cloth masks. However, the male had taken off the goggles covering his eyes, revealing two different colored eyes.
Perhaps if it had been under any other situation, I would’ve reacted differently. I had found one of the men responsible for Headmaster Wilbeck’s death. I had also just heard Lady Vera’s unmistakable voi
ce behind the mask of the female assailant beside him.
Nico had been right, but that didn’t matter to me right now. I had killed a friend—no, I had killed the woman my best friend loved.
The world turned silent as I stared blankly as the assassin with a scarred brown eye and a green eye pulled Lady Vera away and escape.
I watched as the referee and the judges frantically made their way towards us while guards ran around, trying to control the mayhem.
And from the corner of my eyes, near the very entrance I had come from, I witnessed Nico as his expression crumpled into that of horror and despair.
Chapter 237: Expired Arrangement
ARTHUR LEYWIN
Long after the sun had set and night crept in, bringing a bitter chill along with it, I sat mindlessly by the fire. Above me, the stars that seemed the same in my previous world and this world glimmered like crystal dust across the horizon.
Virion, like a feeble infant, had fallen back asleep after crying. His body was in a severely weakened state and his mana core had been on the cusp of shattering. Bairon still hadn’t woken up, his injuries from the scythe much more severe than I had originally expected.
Hours must’ve passed since I last moved from my seat as my whirling vortex of thoughts digressed into an empty void. After the anger had fizzled out, the plans to save my family and Tess—the plans for revenge and justice—had all faded.
So I sat on the ground, running my fingers idly through the soft dirt beneath me, no idea where to go from here. The Alacryans now had control over the Castle and with it, the controls to the teleportation gates throughout the continent. It didn’t take a genius to guess that they would plan on taking Xyrus City next before slowly wiping away the forces of Dicathen.
With Virion in the state he was in right now, our side didn’t even have a leader. The lances were scattered and it was only a matter of time before they would be picked off one at a time until Dicathen had no hope of ever retaliating.
The crunch of leaves drew my attention behind me. Sylvie had come out from the earthen shelter I had conjured, but one glance was all it took for me to realize that my bond wasn’t who she appeared to be.
“Let’s take a walk, shall we?” she said, and her voice was the same, but the cadence and pitch were all off.
My heart quickened and I found myself trembling with rage but I wordlessly followed. For five minutes we walked, accompanied only by the snapping of twigs and the crush of foliage under our feet. A flurry of emotions passed through me as I stared at the back of the one responsible for all of the deaths and misery our people had to endure.
My mind raced to think of something to say, to think of something to do.
“Whew!” Sylvie breathed, taking a seat on a fallen log. “Controlling this body even for simple things like walking is hard work.”
I stared at the leader of the Vritra Clan and ruler of Alacrya and fell to my knees in front of him.
Agrona furrowed ‘his’ brows, contorting Sylvie’s face into an expression of surprise and frustration before he quickly relaxed.
“My, what an unexpected turn of events,” he said as I lowered my gaze to the ground beneath him. “Has the hero, and once mighty king, admitted defeat?”
“Agrona,” I said through gritted teeth. “You’ve made your point. Please, let Tessia and my family go.”
“Why?”
I dug my fingers into the dirt. “Because… I accept your deal. I’ll remove myself from this war.”
A chortle made me look up, only to see Sylvie cackling while covering her mouth. “You think our deal still stands, Grey? You were the only unpredictable variable that had even the slightest chance in hindering me, but as you said so yourself, I’ve made my point. Even you—with all of your inherent gifts and advantages—only amounted to this much.”
Sylvie’s eyes, laced in displeasure, stared down at me. “The very fact that you haven’t even told your bond that I’m able to possess her body tells me that even from the very beginning, you were always expecting to lose.”
“Then what… what do you want?” I demanded. “Why did you appear in front of me again?”
“Again, asking questions I have no obligation to answer.” Despite his casual words, his expression was knitted in what seemed like worry. “I don’t expect to have the pleasure of meeting like this again, so… goodbye.”
I scrambled to my feet. “W-Wait, what about my—”
And like that, Sylvie slumped back, unconscious.
Screaming in resentment, I slammed a mana-clad fist into the ground, waking the forest and its inhabitants.
“A-Arthur?” Sylvie called, weary and disoriented. “What’s going on?”
I let the mental barrier—that I had grown increasingly better at fortifying—fall, allowing my bond to read my thoughts and memories unabated.
Still, I made it a point to tell her the truth verbally. “Ever since you broke the seal that Sylvia had placed on you, Agrona was able to take over your consciousness for short periods of time.”
I watched as Sylvie’s skin paled and her expression distorted into disgust. Her mouth opened, as if to ask me a question, then closed because she had found the answer in my mind.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”
Sylvie walked up to me, her thoughts and emotions blocked, and slapped me across the cheek. My head whipped to the side at the force strong enough to break a normal person’s neck.
“There. We’re even now,” she muttered before wrapping her arms around my waist and burying her head in my chest.
The tears that hadn’t even fallen while Virion mourned for his family spilled down my cheeks as my body trembled. I gripped my bond back tightly, afraid to lose her as well.
I had not only lost, but I had also begged to my enemy on bent knees. Sylvie knew the anger, guilt, sorrow, and humiliation tearing apart my insides and the very fact that she knew and accepted them was enough for me to move on.
Biting my lip until I could taste a warm metallic bitterness, I cried silently, the crystal dust above us shaky and blurred.
Sylvie and I had eventually returned to our camp later that night. The two of us stayed together outside, guarding the shelter that Bairon and Virion were sleeping in.
At one point, I must’ve fallen asleep because Sylvie sent a sharp mental probe, telling me to wake up. My eyes snapped open and I got up, only to see Virion and Bairon having a heated argument while Sylvie put herself between them.
“We have to go back! Our troops need us, Commander!” Bairon growled, struggling to stay up on his own two feet.
“And do what? It’s too late,” Virion snapped, leaning against the earthen tent for support. His eyes turned towards me, noticing that I was awake. “Good, Arthur, we should get ready to leave.”
“Leave? Where?” I asked, confused.
“Our Commander says that the war is lost,” Bairon retorted. “Most likely, the injury from fighting the scythe had rendered him incapable of leading.”
Virion cast a harsh look at the lance before speaking. “The war is lost. With the Castle in their hands, they have access to all the teleportation gates throughout the continent. It’s only a matter of time before they’re able to figure out how to fully control it.”
“So what did you have in mind?” I asked Virion.
Virion’s knees buckled, toppling forward until Sylvie caught him.
“Thank you,” he said to my bond before turning to me. “Camus, Buhnd, Hester, and I, along with a few other trusted friends constructed a shelter to take refuge, just in case disaster fell—although no one would’ve expected an outcome like this.”
The thought of Elder Buhnd sent a sharp pain through my chest but I swallo
wed it. “Where is it?”
“You can’t be serious,” Bairon interrupted. “You are a lance. We have a duty to uphold for our people. Are we going to abandon them and leave them all to die by the Alacryans?”
“We’re not abandoning anyone!” Virion snarled, his patience wearing thin. “But going back into battle and risking the death of myself and any of you three would leave no hope for the future!”
“The future…” my bond echoed.
“Yes! The future. We need to recoup if we ever want a chance to take back Dicathen,” Virion continued.
Bairon’s shoulder slumped and for the first time, the lance seemed fragile and vulnerable. “So… there’s nothing we can do right now to win this war?”
“Our best chance is for us to stay alive and gather the lances,” Virion replied, looking sincerely pained.
‘What do you think we should do?’ Sylvie asked, knowing that my thoughts were still filled with Tessia and my family.
I let out a sigh before staring at the two of them with a hardened gaze. “Sylvie and I will take the two of you to wherever this secret shelter is but after that we’re going to look for my mom, my sister, and Tess.”
“Arthur… “ There was a tangible distance in Virion’s voice as he said my name, a hollow and almost pained sound.
I shook my head, holding up my hand. On my middle finger was a plain silver ring that Vincent had given me and my mom. “This is an artifact connected with a ring that my mother has. It’s my only hope and I can’t leave her knowing that there’s still a chance she’s alive.”
I had kept it off during the war, but through the connection between the two rings and the fact that she and my sister both had the Phoenix Wyrm pendant, it was possible. And that the ring hadn’t activated because she was still alive… not because she had taken it off.
“I’ll direct Dicathians that I meet back to the shelter during my search, but I need to do this,” I finished.
TBATE Volume 7 Page 34
