Alius Terra
Chapter 9
The Finer Points of Bad Religion
The walls of Lionel Castle, dulled to a light brown with the passage of years, loomed over Hunter, Agrias, Trent and Rad. The sun shone brightly overhead, unaware of the catastrophes happening under it's light. Hunter was feeling particularly uneasy, after all, he knew they were about to walk into another trap, but he couldn't tell everyone, and he knew the enemies' armament, but could only procure enough Rubber to insulate himself and Agrias. Boots could be heard on the top of the wall, and Ramza poked he head out over the battlements.
"Wait there, I'll open the gate!"
"You'd like to do that wouldn't you!"
Ramza whirled around, as the ever-annoying Dark Knight stepped into view. he grumbled about another trap as Gaffy whistled, calling his cohorts on the other side of the gate. The exact force hunter expected ran up, weapons ready. Gaffy pointed at Ramza in a rather corny fashion and yelled,
"Ramza! It is me you must fight! En garde!"
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The clashing of steel and dark energy could be readily heard from beyond the gate, but Hunter and friends had their own issues. A first wave of arrows and blades was easily fended off by him and Agrias, being immune to their lightning-based weapons made them nigh invincible. Then the summoners put their art to work, the icy maiden Shiva showed no mercy. Then the battle was truly joined. Trent held his spear out behind him in a batter's position as he charged a knight, screaming a strange battle cry.
"The cold spares no one... Tsunami Ice!"
And swung his spear like a massive blade, which had become, coated in ice and cleaving a knight in two. Agrias called out to the divine around her, and several blasts of lightning struck around a poor summoner, robbing him of his magic. Rad parried a blow from another knight, trying to concentrate long enough to cast a spell of silence on the other summoner. Hunter's blade clashed with the last knight's, he ducked, weaved and parried, unable to penetrate the knight's offense long enough to strike a telling blow. Sparks flew as the swords struck, and there Hunter saw a way to get the upper hand. In a crazed swing, he rant he edge of his blade along her helm, sending sparks flying into his foe's eyes, and his foe staggering back. Hunter charged at her, his katana dragging in the dirt, and leaped up, slashing his blade clean through her. The air around her exploded into tiny balls of lightning as she slumped to the ground, dying. He landed next to the corpse, dazed. What the fuck? Did I just do Rough Divide? That can't be right!
"Hunter! Look out!"
Rad's warning was almost too late, Hunter jumped aside just in time to avoid an Earth Slash from an angered archer. Must have killed his girlfriend... The archer was getting ready for another, when Trent's spear pierced through his chest. from across the wall, Ramza cried for help. Trent nodded at Hunter and leaped into the air. Finally Rad mustered the energy for a spell he rather liked, and cast it on a poor summoner.
"Reason with confusion, judge with recklessness! Brave Insanity!"
A red aura of pure rage engulfed the summoner, and he charged at Agrias waving his staff wildly. She quickly withdrew her sword from the other summoner's corpse, and braced herself as the crazed magi ran himself right onto it. The gate rose, and Ramza and Trent stepped out, Gafgarion's mangled body lying in the courtyard. Ramza beckoned his friends, calling,
"We must hurry!"
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"Ramza! It is me you must fight! En garde!"
With that cry, Gafgarion ran forward, calling upon the powers of the nether regions to drain Ramza of his life with his feared Night Sword. Ramza staggered a bit, thrown slightly off guard, but as soon he regained his composure, Ramza flipped off of the high wall, and crashed down onto Gafgarion with his sword, slicing a deep wound into the older man's shield arm. He dropped the shield and held his blade back, gauntlet on it's tip, and thrust it forward.
"A small price to pay... Dark Wave!"
A massive wave of black energy slammed into Ramza, but it also seemed to aggravate Gaffy's wound. Ramza shook his head and charged, screaming.
"You'll never win if you do that Gaffy!"
Ramza's charge surprised Gaffy, still dazed from his own attack. He tried to block, but his wounded arm moved too slow for his own good, and Ramza struck, shattering his shield into a thousand gleaming pieces of mythril.
"So I'm not the only one with new tricks huh?"
Ramza merely glared, and launched himself at Gaffy again. But the Dark Knight was ready, having been drawing in dark power since his shield broke, and he struck.
"A thousand evils within my blade, Darkside!"
A deep purple aura covered the man's sword and he almost casually swung it at the charging hero. At the point of the hit, everything went into polarized vision for Ramza, and reverted to normal as an explosion of unholy power threw him at the wall. Ramza called for help, at the same time trying to summon the ki to restore his own life. A moment later, a streak of blue metal came from the sky and crushed Gafgarion. Trent stood next to the dying man, watching him cough up his own lifeblood.
"Ugh... is this the end...?"
Ramza stood, shaking his head slowly, "Goodbye Gafgarion." and pulled the switch to open the gate. He and Trent walked out to find everyone else in fairly god shape, and waved for them.
"We must hurry!"
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The party drank their potions on the run, searching all parts of the ancient castle for any sign of the Princess. Dozens of empty rooms, as if the entire garrison had simply vanished, greeted them. Finally they came to a small chapel, built next to the dungeons. The Cardinal awaited within.
"So... I guess Gafgarion's not as good as his boasting. You are indeed good, even for a bastard, however..."
The Cardinal circled the altar slowly while continuing to speak.
"I won't have you interfering any longer, hand over the stone."
Ramza shook his head, "Where is the Princess?"
Draclau merely chuckled "What, you think you can help her? She doesn't need you, for she chose our help over yours."
Agrias gasped, "You lying son of a..."
"The Princess is thinking for herself now, dear knight. With her help, we can change the world. Something you can't understand."
Ramza retorted, "You think I want to change the world? I'm not that reckless!"
"Ah ha, so you say, but yet you hold the Stone, you can change anything with it's power, allow me to show you..."
The Cardinal pulled the Scorpio stone from his robes. It flashed an eerie red glow, and the whole room seemed to darken. A vortex of red light slowly formed, the stone at it's locus, and Hunter yelled to his friends,
"Watch out! This is no ordinary force! Stay sharp and keep your eyes on the stone!"
The vortex swirled faster, wailing souls came out of nowhere and flowed into the rock, their cries so wretched and despairing that the party winced with the pain of the departed. Then, a flash of red lightning, the souls made their exodus from the stone, and the vortex of light faded. The Cardinal was gone, in his place was the horrid beast, one of the twelve devils of Lucavi, Queklain.
'Bwa ha ha ha! You pitiful worms! Your death cries shall be my music, your frail bodies my instruments! Come now!"
The strange fold on Queklain's stomach opened to reveal a gaping maw of nasty sharp pointed teeth. An anguished cry came forth, and Rad fell down, asleep, while everyone else had a strange feeling that the Grim Reaper wasn't too far away. Ramza cried for his allies to slay him quickly. Agrias charged forward, pouring all her being into Holy Explosions, the waves of holy power tearing the abomination's flesh. Trent, unable to leap in the cramped space, simply lunged at the beast with his lance, spinning the point of it into him as a massive drill. Ramza simply hacked and slashed at the putrid flesh mound, and Hunter came up with something special.
"Oh it's on now demon! Thunder Omega!"
Hundreds of tiny balls of lightning converged on the beast, and ripped into it with a massive blast of heat and electricity, almost a kind of Thunder and Flare hybrid. Queklain quickly smashed Trent on the head, and turned to pummel Ramza when a stone hit him in the head. Everyone turned, to see Rad wide awake, and turned again as the air seemed to vibrate.
"What the fuck? Killed by a rock? But I'm a fucking demon! I'm immortal! Graaaahahah!"
The grotesque form of the beast was vaporized in an explosion of red light, and after it faded, the Scorpio stone fell to the floor, flickering with spent energy. Ramza picked up the stone, and gazed at it suspiciously. He placed in the pouch with Taurus and turned to his companions.
"Let's get the hell out of here!"
And that's precisely what they did.
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So there we have it, the end of Chapter 2. Not the expected end of that battle huh? Anyway, I won't go straight into Chapter 3, gotta have an interlude of some kind.
I shall return.
