Tränen Der Verzweiflung
Pamela dashed through the palace floating above the massive body of water. The rage of the scarlet sky earlier in the day faded but a deep blue seemed to seep in.
Stopping on the edge of what seems to be a balcony of some grand palace that used to extend over the grace of the land but now only stood so helplessly drowned, Pamela drew out her sword and wrought it down on the balcony ground.
The water flew quietly before Pamela with a color of deep sorrow like the droplets of a shut soul. The dust particles of the balcony flew up into the sky, only to drown in the sorrow of the water eventually.
How unpleasant…Pamela's train of thoughts is dominated by that look; one that wouldn't leave Pamela alone no matter how much she tried, "isn't this as if I am the bad one…"
"Damn it! I was so close!"
Zorne, laying on the ground, yelled into the sky burned red by the sun and the volcano. Pamela stood over Zorne, Weiβsilber taking on the devilish scarlet of the dawn.
"That's quite some strength for a RKS member, if only you didn't let loose in the end." Pamela let of a relief she had been holding since the start of the fight; she refused the temptation to think about what would have happened if Zorne did not "let loose".
"Shut it…" Zorne managed to bring herself up to a sitting position, "unlike you, we the RKS aren't devils who could kill without blinking!"
"Nonsense. Who is it just a moment ago that intended to drown a whole army of people in lava?" Pamela, not convinced at all, came right back at Zorne. To her bewilderment, Zorne seemed death-stricken. A black ring of tiredness started to eat away at her eyes while despair warpped around her expression.
"Father…"
Pamela perceived that she heard something from Zorne. Just about when she wanted to sheath her sword, Zorne stood up with her face veiled by her crimson hair. Pamela brought up Weiβsilber defensively to her chest.
"We…" Zorne said slowly. Pamela, not wanting to lower her guard, listened tentatively, "we are different from you!" Zorne lifted up her head and, for the first time since they met, stared right into Pamela's eyes, and with such resolution that surprised Pamela. Two beads of translucent jewel rolled down Zorne's cheek, revealing two transparent but deep trails of tear.
As if Pamela didn't hear her the first time, Zorne reiterated herself with even greater fortitude, "We RKS have our own pride, different from you Schwarzkreuz and the church. Even though we each have our own ways, we will show you eventually… our justice."
Zorne raised her head, her mind flying off to somewhere distant in the sky that seemed unreachable for everyone else. Then, as if Pamela no longer existed, Zorne flushed a little with the most serene smile that Pamela had seen;
"Father, watch me. I won't cry anymore…"
imaginary wings were growing out of Zorne's shoulder. Silhouette of a person conjured from the sunlight and shielded Zorne from the world. Zorne closed her eyes and let the last tear fall. Just before she left, she looked once more at Pamela, "You… are such a pitiful being…"
Pamela walked into the drowned palace. The pillars supporting the roof carved with naked seraphs were shining in the sunlight that soaked into the room Pamela was in. A thin layer of water deposited on the floor; the room was large like an arena.
"Come out, or are all RKS members only capable of manners like this?"
A killing instant suddenly rushed into the air and a whirlpool of water came flying towards Pamela. Drawing her sword, Pamela slashed the whirlpool in half.
"You seriously think you can take me down with something like that?"
"It will be a bother if you get me wrong." A girl showed herself in front of Pamela. She wore a competition swimsuit the color of deep sorrow; a white shell was attached to the right side of her head as a hairpin, "that was only for the sake of waking you up."
"Trauare Wrede, wielder of the Chaos Spear Leviathan."
"You know don't you?" the water from floor flew up to Trauare's hand and took the shape of a long spear across Trauare's face. Daggers seemed to fly out of her furrowed eyebrows and a green V-shaped blade emerged from the water. With one fling of her arm, Trauare brought Leviathan spinning around her with dazzling dexterity, finally cracking into the floor right next to her.
"What is it that I understood wrong?" Pamela inquired.
"Pamela Arwig, captain of the Schwarzkreuz. You saved me a lot of time going in search of you myself; I can chop you up right now and sink you in this sea." Trauare said with her usual bored expression.
"Back at you. The RKS who disturbs the peace of the empire, I shall defeat you no matter what!" Pamela, preparing herself for the upcoming fight, pushed the look that Zorne left her to the back of her head.
"The mission of RKS, peace of empire; all that junk meant nothing to me. But the felony of hurting my friend, you shall pay it back with blood!" Trauare narrowed her eyes; the atmosphere grew ten times as heavy.
"Klageharnisch!"
The floor beneath Pamela's feet started to shake. Pamela jumped out just in time before a pillar of water shot up and smashed into the roof with an angry roar.
"Take this!" spinning Leviathan in her hand, another pillar of water shot out from the spear towards Pamela. "Naïve!" Pamela brought Weiβsilber down on the top of the column of water and, pushing down, jumped above Trauare. Injecting her aura into the air, Pamela sent her sword pressure slashing towards Trauare. A third pillar of water flew up around Trauare, diverting the pressure of Weiβsilber into the floor, sending smashed rocks flying in all directions.
Pamela made a round flip in the air and landed her feet. Trauare came propelling herself out of the water at Pamela before Pamela could fully gain her balance; a raging barrage of melee attacks ensued, ending in a stalemate where Trauare pressing her Leviathon on Pamela.
"It's over. Drown! In the depth of water." Immobilizing Pamela, Trauare sent a bulk of her aura into the air around. Water burst out from the thin air and soaked the two.
This is bad… Weiβsilber, get me out of here!
"!?"
Trauare back away from Pamela before Pamela flung Weiβsilber smashing down into a huge wave of crimson-burning sword pressure that came chasing after Trauare. Wielding Leviathan across her chest, Trauare's aura blocked the pressure.
"Too slow!" Before Trauare had the time to worry, Pamela was flying across a few meters behind her.
"Weiβsilber!"
Pamela sent another wave of sword pressure accelerating towards Trauare. Just then, a third aura suddenly appeared in the air. A smile broke out over Trauare's face and, to Pamela's surprise, Trauare withdrew Leviathan and backed off. With the opposing force of Leviathan now gone, the first pressure wave came propelling towards Trauare, who is now sandwiched.
"Moron!" Pamela shouted in a whisper, an expression of worry spread across her face.
"Zornesharnisch!" the voice came flying out of Pamela's deathly attacks.
This time, a blazing crimson pillar of fire flew up around Trauare while Zorne teleported herself right next to Trauare.
"Zorne, you came to help!" Trauare smiled warmly.
"No way. I just happen to come by…" realizing their plight, Zorne controlled her embarrassment, "it's not the time for that. Although I don't want to say this, she's quite strong. We have to back off!"
"Well, if you say so. This thing is no match against us!"
With her right hand crossing Zorne's left hand, Trauare raised Leviathan and Zorne raised her metal arm. The aura of desperation merged with the aura of rage and the blazing pillar fired up in much increased violence, dissipating the two waves of pressure of Weiβsilber.
Pamela was still squatting several meters since she fired her last shot. The image of the blaze as if scorching itself into her head.
"How pretty…" Pamela immediately regretted after she said it and watched her attacks die in the overwhelming dominance of their enemy. Soon, the roof started to shake and came falling down. Pamela, alerted to the situation, just caught the time to defend herself. The heavy rooftop brought an earthquake around the three, sending water trembling beneath the surface of the ground now half cracked. In the dust remains of the palace, Pamela found herself facing Trauare and Zorne, who were also looking at her.
That aura… they are quite good at combination attacks.
The killing instinct faded from the air as both parties lost their will to fight.
"Just this time." Pamela said while sheathing Weiβsilber.
"That's my line." Trauare said with the same bored expression before the fight, "I will definitely have this debt returned." With that, Trauare and Zorne left the palace.
Pamela stood alone in the ruins of the palace. The sun, now more than halfway across its daily journey, bathed down on Pamela with paleness.
"But the felony of hurting my friend, you shall pay it back with blood!" Pamela came to think of Trauare's words. Arriving at her conclusion, she murmured to herself;
"RKS is the disturbance of the empire's peace. They are the evil ones…"
The idea of a friend coming to the rescue seemed like it would take a long while for Pamela to assimilate.
Fliegel! Lufteste Sleipnir
"Freu, something is floating up!?"
"Sky Fortress Sleipnir… Let's hurry Strudel. We have to get away from here befo…"
Before Freudia could finish, a giant shot of Lustatem flew down from the fortress and grinded into the terrain seemingly in front of the church behind a distant mountain. A trembling impact, carrying the muffled screams of thousands, reached Freudia and Strudel a few seconds later.
"Freu?"
Freudia closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh.…
Freudia has heard a lot time ago, that the sky lives by a separate reality than the ground.
Never thought it could be this different…
The sun as if scorched the taint spots out of the sky. The fortress floated freely above the ocean of clouds that segregated the lower world from the heaven. Flocks of transparent spirits glimmered and frolicked in their heavenly dance around the sky fortress.
"Ah, Freu look! They are shining!" Strudel called out to Freudia, "I wonder if I could shine like that, too…"
"Strudel, we are not here to play. We have to get to Tia fast."
"Ehehe "
The transparent creatures circled above Freudia and Strudel. Looking from below, they took on the endless blue of the sky; their beings looked as broad as the boundary of the sky.
"Say, say, Freu!"
"What is it this time?"
"How does Freu look at Tia-chan?" Strudel put on a mischievous grimace at Freudia's blush. Pure curiosity seemed to dominate her expression, but there seemed to be something else that couldn't quite be told.
"T-tia was my childhood friend. She also taught me a lot of things… and… and…"
"Freu and Tia-chan are friends so Freu like Tia-chan?"
"T-that… of… of course…" Freudia's voice dropped below a whisper as she looked away, "a-are you done asking questions? Let's go."
"Ye~~s " Strudel followed Freudia as she flew off towards the interior of the fortress, her expression unreadable.
The interior of fortress was embellished with the same type of gothic statue as in the imperial training hall. Two rows of giant pillars lined the way to a roofed room in the center of which a single status of a winged unicorn stood erect, its heading pointing towards the distant sky through the top roof beams.
Past the room, a similar boulevard led to an area closed off by high walls. The middle section was linked by a series of descending and raising stair steps in an arena format.
"…"
On the other side of stairs, there was a platform holding up a large, sapphire orb; the orb shimmered in the sunlight and glowed from within.
"The Heroine of Justice, Bluste is here!" a girl with orange jumped down from the sky. She had a pair of wind goggles and two pairs of toy devil wings attached to her swimsuit-looking attire.
"Waa, so cool " Strudel complimented innocently.
"Evil snowwoman, how dare you show yourself in front of me! I will best you with the ultimate technique of justice, Lustatem. Prepare yourself!" the girl exclaimed with a competitive smile.
"So it was you after all who put the sky fortress back in operation, Luste?" Freudia asked the obvious as a slight headache began to crawl up her brain.
"Alas alas! I am Bluste, not Luste!"the heroine of justice looked bewildered.
"Weren't you asked by Sichte to help Grolla? Go back to the Count's castle now." Freudia said. But Luste's naivety only made it seem like a mother trying to coax a disobedient child.
"Bu~buuu! I still want to pla- I mean, heroine is very busy!"
Closing her eyes again, Freudia murmured to herself, "this is all because Tia spoiled her too much…"
"She is so energetic " Strudel murmured back.
"ANYWAY!" as if forgetting all her heroine game, Luste started to soak the space around her in her aura. The air around her lit up in a light orange steam while the transparent spirits started to gather around in a cheerful round of waltz, "all evils will be annihilated! Take this!"
Two blocks of air suddenly condensed from the orange steam around Luste and shot towards Freudia from the top and bottom. Freudia took a spin to her right and floated up; the two blocks clumsily flew past her. Raising both her arms to her shoulder length, Freudia's frozen aura began to fill the entire sky. Soon, cleansing snowflakes fell from the sky, soaking everything in a layer of white.
"Freu, so pretty!"
"You are good, evil snowwoman! Then how about this!"
Luste jumped into the midair. The steam of orange aura intensifying around her, "Ultimate technique stage 2, PROMINENCE!"
Air blocks condensed around Luste in dozens and simultaneously started to shoot towards Freudia.
"Kopiekreisel!"
Ice clones of Freudia jumped out from their main body like ice images and started to dance in the rain of Luste's attacks, which flew back and bombarded the fortress ground.
"That is so cheap!" Luste whined.
"Are you done playing?" the voice came from behind and Luste and caught her by surprise. She turned back quickly, only to be greeted by a knock on the head by Freudia.
"Awww… I lost…"
"So Freu is the real hero!" Strudel chanted in.
"At least make it a heroine…"
Luste let out of deep sigh with a pouted mouth, "but I am not going back to the castle! That's not heroine-like at all!"
What is kid… "Listen to this Luste," Freudia imagined Tia for a second and put on her best coaxing tone, "the Count's castle is now being invaded by the evil church armies and the people in the castle are asking for help. Isn't it more like a heroine to go popping up in front of people in need in the most dire situation and help?"
"Ohhhhh!" Luste's expression suddenly became a lot of enthusiastic, "I see! I will head towards the count's castle right now!" with that, Luste left in a hurry, leaving Freudia blushing in the face for saying what she wouldn't usually say.
Strudel flew to Freudia's side, "Say, Freu, is the count's castle in a big pinch right now?"
Freudia shook off her headache and responded nonchalantly, "how so? I only see a large-size headache coming the way of the church armies."
Freudia and Strudel took off, along with the flocks of spirits. The sun was on the second half of its journey of the day. The church was still in the distant…
So was Freudia's mind.
Reencounter des Blutes
A hollow roar vacuumed through the mountain-side dungeon, carrying the resentment and regrets of the dead.
"What a morbid dimension…" Pamela commented as she stepped through the space that was conjured by a strong magic aura which she came to investigate after leaving the palace of Poseidon. A rotten smell of corpse as if started to waft over the place.
A narrow pathway lined with bars glowed eerily in front of Pamela; there didn't seem to be another way out of the dungeon. Pamela stepped into the path. Suddenly, a pile of white skulls and skeletons emerged behind the bars and a vault shut Pamela off from behind; blood was dripping from down from the ceiling onto the skulls, looking as if the dead are devouring blood.
"Eyah!" Pamela let off a short squeak before she gathered enough courage to look up again. The smell was real, and the glowing bars were a jail between which thousands died.
"What is up with this place?" Pamela's voice is trembling out of a fear that she doesn't want to acknowledge. Forcing her legs into motion, Pamela dashed through the jails under the purple-glowing glares of the skulls while covering her ears. A few pieces of rocks fell from the cracked ceiling of the dungeon and hit the ground, sending off a creepy kack kack sound resonating through the dungeon.
Eventually, Pamela arrived at a larger dungeon that was pitch dark. Judging by the feeling under her feet, Pamela could tell that the path is leading up to somewhere. Just then, a crumbling noise came from behind her and the floor beneath her started to shake.
"!?" Pamela drew out her sword and dashed forward. A faint source of light seemed to appear to the left of her. Pamela aimed at it, "Weiβsilber!" and jumped out following the pieces of crusts that she blew off. The dungeon collapsed behind her with the same hollow sound.
"That was dangero…" Pamela trailed off as she looked up. The cadaverous atmosphere trapped the dimension in gloom as blood drizzled down from the murky black sky, dying the ground red. Pamela stopped and let the blood roll off her armor; the blood carried thousands of voices in them:
We hate… give us back our life… why us… help… no please…
…
CHURCH!
The scream from the depth of the dead souls surprised Pamela.
Church? What are these souls talking about… don't tell me it's another one of those RKS nonsense of church persecution; I've had enough for the day…
But Pamela also knew; she knew that the souls didn't lie. Pushing away her doubts, Pamela concentrated on seeking the source of resentment that she felt; one that is deeper than souls.
The traces of aura took Pamela past columns and columns of statues, all of which had as if faces of agony carved into them one above another. Eventually, among a dozen of such pillars, Pamela arrived behind of a purple-haired girl clad in bloody armor. A single piece of cloth wrapped around her waist, also blood-stained. In her right hand, a long sword whose blade was sharp enough to be seen glowing stabbed into the ground where a pool of dead souls gathered in pain and slowly dissipated.
"Swordswoman Grolla Seyfarth, if I am not mistaken?" Pamela raised her morale and called out. The girl turned around slowly with her head down. The bloody rain gathered behind her and, slowly, the form of a skeleton wielding a body-sized scythe appeared among the droplets of blood. The girl looked up at Pamela; her eyes were glowing violet just like the skulls that Pamela saw down in the dungeon.
"You are?" Grolla demanded coldly.
"Pamela Arwig, the captain of the proud Schwarz of the church." Pamela replied. Her confidence seemed to return from her words.
"Schwarzkreuz?!" Grolla's voice grew full of resentment, "how understanding it is of you to come give me your neck!"
The sword in Grolla's hand was dyed red suddenly, as if preparing itself for a feast. Pamela looked at the sword and immediately recognized it, "Devil's Sword Grollschwert, parallel in name with my Holy Sword Weiβsilber, I wanted to have this match so long ago!" a wave of fighting spirit surged in Pamela's voice.
In Grolla's hand, Grollschwert throbbed violently. "the sword is calling… a response to your sword?"
"It was said that the primeval haunted spirits that were defeated by the holy sword resided in that blade of yours. Looks like that is not just a rumor." Pamela didn't hide the proud from her face; against Grolla she definitely sounded more like justice.
"A holy sword used to slay the powerless only to be thrown away at the end? Laughable." Grolla's voice started to be distorted and Pamela realized it; Grolla's voice was synchronizing with that of Raimond Seyfarth, the shadowy skeleton behind Grolla which she could just barely recognize.
"The church is protecting the peace of the land," not wanting to lose in cause, Pamela retorted, "the RKS who's ruining the church's effort is the bad one!"
SILENCE! Grolla's voice is now nothing but a deathly hollow roar haunting the place, how dare a dog of the church like you bark like such! You and that holy sword of yours can all drown in this sea of blood!
Possessed by the devil's sword!? Pamela wondered to herself for a split second, during which Grolla already reached face-to-face with Pamela.
ENGRAVE! Grolla roared as she brought down Grollschwert from her top left, aimed at Pamela's chest. Drawing Weiβsilber in front of her, Pamela blocked the attack just in time. The blade of Weiβsilber screamed under that of Grollschwert as the latter slices against the body of the former. Pamela forced a lift-up of her sword while Grollschwert was reaching the bottom of Grolla's height and came back to Grolla in a vertical cut aimed at Grolla's head. Quite adroit, Grolla threw up Grollschwert with her left hand, dodged Pamela's attack with a jump and caught Grollschwert in the midair. Adding her height above the ground in her attack, Grolla injected a huge amount of aura into her sword before bringing it down once again at Pamela, locking her in a defensive position.
Landing on the ground, Grolla twisted her sword a little and came loose from the deadlock and quickly brought Grollschwert into a devastating horizontal slash. Pamela jumped backwards in a flip, dodging Grollschwert's sword pressure.
"Take this!" while in mid-air, Pamela took an aim at Grolla with Weiβsilber, sending three shocking waves propelling towards her. Grolla murdered the wave with an angry cut and dashed at Pamela.
"!?"
Surprised at how easily Grolla evaded her attacks, Pamela didn't have enough time to readjust herself and was soon dominated by a series of violently unorganized sword slashes from Grolla. Grolla's eyes grew more and more purple as Raimond's voice intensified;
KILL HER… KILL THE GIRL WITH THE HOLY SWORD!
As if aching in head, Grolla brought down one heavy sword blow that forced Pamela to back off.
"GUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA A!" leaping into the mid-air, Grolla's voice once again synchronizing with the ghosts;
TRUE ART UNLEASHED! GROLL~SCHWERT!
Multi-directional sword pressure flew out from around Grolla; glowing brightly purple, the thrash sound that the pressure made as it sliced across the air resembled much that cried by an anguishing soul. The waves zigzagged down towards Pamela and one hit head-on with Weiβsilber, pushing Pamela all the way into one of the pillars behind her.
"Arh!" Pamela squealed. A thin wound opened on her left arm and blood started to ooze out. When she opened her eyes again, Grolla was walking towards her. Raimond's ghost, holding his scythe, slowly rose behind Grolla. Grolla's right arm was draped in a cloth of blood.
She is fighting without regards to her life… looks like I will have to take care of Raimond's soul first. Closing her eyes, Weiβsilber, give us power…
Then, everything became slow motion for Pamela.
MORE… BLEEEEED MOOOOOOOOOOOREEEE!
Grolla screamed; the bloody Grollschwert came slicing down through the dimension. A platform opened the moment before Grollschwert reached Pamela's neck that teleported Pamela behind Grolla, face-to-face with Raimond.
DIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
Raimond bellowed, waving his scythe towards Pamela.
"Too slow!" Pamela, already in the attacking position, aimed at Raimond and Grolla behind him, "Weiβsilber!"
AARRRRrrrr"rrrgghhhhh!" Grolla's voice disintegrated from that of Raimond while Weiβsilber blew her back, landing her on her back.
"I… what am I…?" the violet in Grolla's eyes faded; the left half of her armor was already shattered and the pieces came falling off like the rain of blood from the sky.
"Looks like it's just the destiny that the devil's sword perishes at the holy sword!" Pamela claimed triumphantly at Grolla.
Remembering the situation, Grolla managed to stand herself up. The wound on her arm made her groan a stifled groan, "this is the end? But for comrades… I can't fall yet…"
Looking up at Pamela, "Damn it! Pamela Arwig, I shall not forget this resentment!"
With that, Grolla left. The deathly atmosphere slowly dissolved and Pamela found herself standing under a rising moon dressed in a silky layer of cloud.
Comrades? This girl also says the same… RosenkreuzStilette…
Den Seppy Ruinen
"I won't let you take away Mister Zeppy!"
Schwer covers her head and wrapped her hands around the white squid on top of her milky cat suit. Dark particles started to appear out of the thin air and gathered into bundles and, soon, formed an army of shuriken-shaped shields that orbited rapidly around their conjurer.
Freudia gave Strudel a look; Strudel rubbed her own cheek with her finger and gave a mischievously laugh.
"…!?"
Freudia lifted her arm and an ice mirror erected itself in front of the advancing shuriken; the blades carved into the ice surface while some others deflected and fell off.
"Strudel, take care of yourself; I can't guarantee your safety in Geisterwand."
"Yes-yes, not to worry "
The ice mirror shattered under the bombarding pressure of Geisterwand. Strudel danced among the rain of attacks like a blue firefly among the elapsing black time. Freudia flew forward towards Schwer, Geisterwand blades grazing past her.
"Schwer, open your eyes!"
"No! Just leave us alone already!"
Zeppy, out of Schwer's expectation, jumped towards Freudia; his head sharp like a drill.
"Mister Zeppy…" Freudia stepped one step aside and Zeppy flew right past, "alright, Mister Zeppy, let's do this together."
Zeppy stopped himself in the mid-air and reverted back towards Freudia with such speed that matches Schwer's Geisterwand.
"Schneekristal!"
Summoning her own snowy minions, Freudia dashed towards Schwer but Zeppy arrived before her.
"Needle!"
Schwer's dark particles formed a metallic helmet on Zeppy, who charged forward in a barrage of drills.
"… fackel!" Freudia threw an ice crystal beneath Schwer's feet. Schwer jumped backwards, taking Zeppy with her, to dodge the ice torch which suddenly jutted up from the ground. However, Freudia already teleported behind her.
Then, things went in slow motion for Schwer; sensing Freudia's magic from behind her, Schwer immediately summon her dark particles to form a crushing attack behind her. However, Zeppy already jumped towards the same direction and was sandwiched.
"MISTER ZEPPY!"
Schwer screamed at the top of her lung while putting all her remaining aura into halting herself. Zeppy let out a few squeaks; he didn't sound sad…
Just then, color started to fade from Freudia's figure which burst in a snowy shine. Seconds later, Schwer on landed on the ground; an ice crystal embodying a frolicking Zeppy descended slowly from above her and landed on Schwer's extended hands; the ice thawed slowly and Zeppy danced merrily on her hands.
"Mister Zeppy…" Schwer's voice trailed away in a teary tone after she gladly pulled Zeppy into her hug.
"Freudia…?" Zeppy squeaked a few times, as if explaining the situation to Schwer. When Zeppy was seemingly done, Schwer stood up, "Freudia… thank you, for protecting Mister Zeppy."
"You still have a far way to go, it looks like. But disregarding that, why did you just do that?"
Schwer paused for a second and murmured "birthday".
"A-again? Didn't all of us celebrate your birthday last time? Although it was a bit late…"
"No, not mine. Tia's… Tia's birthday is coming up soon, so I went in town to talk to everyone about a party. But the town was empty…" Schwer's tone began to fill with a sadness, "everyone just wanted to exclude me and host a party on your own, didn't you!"
Freudia closed her eyes in her usual habit, "I am getting a headache…"
"After all… after all I only have Mister Zeppy…"
"Listen to me, Schwer," Freudia cut in, "during the period of time when you were not in Zuvenberg, the church has launched a Witch Hunt and everyone went to the front line."
"I-is that so…" Schwer's expression cleared up; Zeppy squeaked a few times again.
"Thus stop with your misunderstanding, it's troublesome."
"…"
"… but the idea of a birthday party is not bad. After I bring Tia back, let's all sit and plan something out, OK?"
A rainbow seemed to break out over Schwer's expression. Not hiding her blush, Schwer nodded slightly and left with Zeppy.
Freudia watched Schwer take off.
"Ruu, really wanted to rub the mouth of Mr. Squid… but Ruu didn't get in the way, right?"
"Right, nicely done, Strudel." Freudia said as Strudel descended from the sky.
"Say, say, can Ruu be included in the birthday party celebration for Tia-chan as well?"
"If you'd like."
Fondness filled Strudel's expression, "Freu, so kind "
Freudia, without responding, left for the church again.
"Such data… is this really necessary…" Strudel murmured to herself and followed after Freudia.
The Egyptian style ruin that Schwer's aura generated as a playground darkens out. The graffiti-like statues that lined the walls glowed eerily as an ephemeral, ominous laughter filled the empty space.
Parallele Linien
By the time the deathly atmosphere dissolved around Pamela, the lunar blossom was already at its full bloom. Pamela adjusted her hair a bit in the nightly breeze as she watched the misty cloud above her hand gently wrapped around their princess, compared to whom, the evening sky was only a half-filled canvas blessed with her sacred hue.
The city of Zuvenberg was as if reflected onto the moon as a whole and seemingly floated in the sky. "What a waste for such a beauteous full moon…" Pamela soliloquized as she slowly advanced towards the source of an aura coming from the top of a clock tower that stood erect. Pamela could nearly feel the distinctiveness of this aura; the elapsing flow of time was as if engraved into it.
The interior of the clock tower was just as well immersed in the serene smile of Artemis. An intricate fiber of intertwining gears waltzed around Pamela as she ascended the stairs; the eternity of time deeply reverberating around. Finally, a narrow staircase led Pamela onto an open-air corridor under the night sky. The huge clock stood besides the corridor, facing the moon on the other side.
"Mine, mine, isn't tonight just packed with visitors?"
Pamela looked up to the voice; a girl was standing on one of the huge arms of the clock. The lunar light shone on her figure, revealing her mid-long emerald hair. Her white blouse was half torn, showing the black lace of her garment inside. Dusts covered her body and a few traces of wounds lined her left thigh and right shoulder.
"Sichte Meister, captain of the RKS Special Operation unit, am I correct?"
"Are you Schwarzkreuz?" Sichte jumped down from the arm and landed in front of Pamela. She faced Pamela front-on, as if preparing her best to block off Pamela from what was behind her.
"Correct. I am Pamela Arwig, captain of Schwarzkreuz." Pamela, as always, put on her best pride, even though half of which might only be fabricated façade.
"Mine, a captain coming to the front line… well, looks like I can't say things other people, huh?" Sichte laughed her cool-natured, yet somewhat bitter laugh.
Pamela slighted grunted, "By the way, that's quite some appearance for you, totally ragged." Relentlessly mixing acidity into her tone, Pamela mocked, "or should I say that perfectly fits the head of some organization that is only good for pulling together witches for evil?"
However, the acidity didn't wear off on Sichte's cool nature as she simply gave a crisp giggle, "Isn't this so discourteous of me; thanks to the persecution of the church, I had some quite gruesome childhood, you see… at this point in time, I simply can't bring myself to care that much about clothing anymore."
"Persecution of the church?" the atmosphere around Pamela is suddenly drenched in a smell of arsenal as she started to produce whirlpools of her aura, embodying the whole area, "the fault resides in peace-disturbing witches like you, it only serves you right!"
The cool smile vanished from Sichte's expression as she sensed the solemn seriousness, "It's true that our way wasn't the best at all. But that doesn't mean we think the church is any better, especially if the goal of the church is to annihilate the magi from this land."
"The witch hunt was launched for the sake of capturing rebelling dissidents among the magi and leading them onto an upright path of life, absolutely not for some violent genocide!"
A smile returned to Sichte's expression; this time, of a different nature that immediately offended Pamela, like she was earlier in this fateful day, "I couldn't bring myself to believing that at all. Isn't that just what you were told with?"
"Are you insulting the Pope? That is unforgivable!" Pamela's belligerency has reached its climax, "Sichte Meister! I'll let you taste the justice of my sword!"
"Justice huh…" Sichte slowly pulled off her knifes from seemingly nowhere, "I wonder how the Count would react to that if he were hearing this."
"Prepare yourself!" Pamela let Sichte finish her last words and charged forward as she wields her sword in hand, ready to slash through the truth. What greeted her, to her surprise, was an immense dagger-sharp aura from Sichte. Pamela resisted but was still instantly forced to fall down to her knees.
"It's futile. Your magic attribute is weak against mine."
"M-magic?" a wave of anger flooded Pamela's brain, "stop kidding me! This power is no lowly 'magic' characteristic of you witches; this power is the holy 'miracle' granted to us Schwarzkreuz by God for the sake of combating you!"
"A very handy way of thinking, isn't it. Sorry, but I don't have that much time to spend in fighting with you. Allow me to finish this quickly."
The words blended together and all came rushing into Pamela's brain; Pamela couldn't remember when she heard those words, or even, whether those words weren't just some hallucination. In a blink of eye, Pamela caught the still image of five daggers flying towards her. Tilting her head sideways out of reflex, the blades missed Pamela's cheek by a hair bit.
"Remarkable reflex, but it's not making any point!"
Sichte suddenly vanished from in front of Pamela; her bulk of aura suddenly reappeared from behind. A cage of knives shrouded Pamela from every direction.
I will be done for at this rate…
Forcing pressure into Weiβsilber, Pamela pushed the dagger-sharp aura away from her and dashed towards Sichte, blowing the flying daggers away.
However, Sichte disappeared again.
"Berserk and bloom!"
Another envelope of daggers encircled Pamela again, forcing her into a defensive position.
This is endless…
"Not yet! Zweiteblüte!"
Pamela was seemingly sealed away in a silvery dimension lined by dagger; she didn't even know what attacks her opponent launched. Weiβsilber throbbed violently in her hands, it seemed to convey something to its owner. Pamela disregarded the bother and poured her aura into the sword and flung it across above her head.
"HAAAA!"
A shock wave flew into the shrinking hemisphere of knives and blew an opening through the top. Pamela seized the chance to jump out while the knives collided in a shamble beneath her.
"That was slow."
Sichte's voice came from above; Pamela looked up and saw a huge smoldering boulder be pushed down towards her. Seeing no other choice, Pamela drove her sword into the juggernaut and an explosion quickly ensued. Among the shattered pieces, Sichte came flying down, knife in hand, in a position ready to attack while Pamela had yet enough time to retract her sword into an attacking position.
"Witches… how could I possibly allow myself to be beaten by a witch!"
Pamela's determination flared up in a crimson encompassing ambiance.
"I'll let you see all I got!" injecting all her emerald-glittering aura into the blade of her knife, Sichte brought herself down at full strength. The clash bred a vortex of intertwining aura. Induced by the existence in Sichte's aura, the time flow carved in the arms of the clock tower seemed to be lost in Chronos' hands as they gradually slowed to a stop, leaving a seemingly still image of Pamela and Sichte hanging in the mid-air.
In the next split second, the lunar silhouettes of the figures regained their motion again; Pamela soared into the sky as Sichte fell into the ground with a muffled cry.
"In front of Schwarzkreuz, there is no enemy!" Pamela landed and turned around, Weißsilber blazing in her hand. Pointing the blade at her enemy, Pamela's voice dropped into a solemn death call, "Sichte Meister, prepare yourself."
Pamela posed for a fraction of a second and charged forward towards Sichte, who was still lying on the ground, immobile.
"Man, what a troublesome Ms. Captain!"
A pillar of fire that Pamela could clearly recall erected itself before Pamela's way of advance. Stepping out from the pillar, Trauare and Zorne stood in front of Sichte, hoisting Leviathan and the metal arm, respectively, in front of their bodies as if using them as shields.
"Trauare… Zorne…" Sichte managed barely.
"What are we going to do, Trau? If we join forces…" Zorne, turning slightly sideways towards Trauare while keeping her focus on Pamela, whispered.
"We are retreating, Zorne. There's no way we could handle any effective fighting with Sichte like this." Trauare said with a boring expression, not minding that their strategy was spoiled at all.
"Got it." Holding Sichte up, Trauare and Zorne both gazed at the stern and confused Pamela.
"Schwarzkreuz is indeed worth its name," Sichte directed at Pamela, withholding the pain that was eating away at her body, "but let it not be forgotten; the pride of RosenkreuzStilette shall not perish."
With that, the three teleported, leaving Pamela alone under a moon dyed jet black by the magic aura that was still lingering around in the air.
… Did those two come to help? To save their captain from her pinch?
What if…
What if I were to fall one day…
Who…
Who will be there to help me…?
Pamela lifted her head, staring into the clock tower as the moon regained its mid-night glamor.
"W-what are you doing, Pamela! Weak, it's because they are weak and can't stand alone! I am strong, and I don't need it."
Stifling her hesitations in the usual manner, Pamela sensed thousands of small auras coming from the way Sichte was trying to block off from her.
"Is that so… that's where all the fugitive magi's are…"
Getting ready to leave, something further down the path of the corridor made Pamela gape:
They were covered in pieces of shattered metals; blue and red hairs were flying away in the wind like autumn grass. Their eye sockets were empty on their ghostly faces, as if mourning themselves unable to see the two bundles of white iris that were preserved in space and time by Sichte's aura in front of their corpses.
As if fading into the background of the night, the figures of a metal arm and Leviathan waned into drifting star dust along with their transient and anguishing wielders; their ancient cries engraved eternally in time.
Schneegestalt (Preview)
Mirrored on the other side of the bewitched moon, Freudia and Strudel arrived in front of the ruins of what seemed to once be a splendid church.