Note: Sorry it took so long. Got a nasty case of writer's block the past few weeks.
Note: My buddy on DA finished another cover art for Shakugan no Shana: Eternity. Please check it out on my profile page.
"They're coming at us from all directions!"
"There's no way out!"
"They've broken through the lines!"
"We're surrounded!"
"Man down! Man down!"
"Run for your lives!"
"There's no end to them!"
"Help!!"
"We're doomed!"
"Aaaaaaaaaaah!"
"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
"Why oh why did I join this group?"
Merihim still stood unnoticed at the top of the bridge, watching the carnage that befell the city before him, and listening to the screams of those who would soon fall. The buildings were in flames, and many died on both sides, Flame Haze, Denizen and Rinne alike. Neo-Bal Masque had quickly overran the entire city in a matter of minutes after its leader's arrival.
Before his forces, Mastan tore through his foes like a scythe in a wheat field. He was using only two arms again, to save on strength, and in one hand he held a single cleaver. But it was enough to decimate many enemies.
"To think an arrogant weakling like that is leading this rabble," Merihim said to himself. "If this group cannot even defend itself, then they would only be a hindrance to those three."
After Mastan beheaded a Domino Rinne and crushed a Flame Haze's head on the hard ground with a bare hand, one of his subordinates approached him. As he paused in his charge, other members of Neo-Bal Masque continued to advance ahead of him.
"The enemy's numbers have reduced to half," the Denizen reported to the Prized Flame, "they are defenseless against our assault, and what's left of them is retreating for Sereiden."
"Resume the assault lieutenant," Mastan said. "Maintain the pressure of the attack and ensure that no one gets to that palace in one piece."
Yes, my lord," the lieutenant said as he bowed, before leaving to command his battalion and inform his allies.
Mastan looked up towards the great flying palace of Sereiden in the middle of the city.
"So, that's where you'll make your final stand?" he said. "I'll make it your tomb by the time this is over"
Chapter 10: Siege of Sereiden
Kantaro stood by the main gate as most of the surviving Denizens and Flame Haze allied with Misaki entered Sereiden. All of them were hurt and wounded, and more than half of them went straight to the infirmary to be treated by Chigusa and Kazumi.
Pheles and Wilhelmina came in, with one supporting the other. Their clothes were tattered, torn and clawed, and bandages from the Specialist of Everything were tightly wrapped around their wounds. Margery arrived in her human form with pretty much the same appearance, minus the bandages.
The Chanter of Elegies was carrying a very tired Keisaku, and as soon as she landed on solid ground, she collapsed from the fatigue. Kantaro rushed to help her.
As he picked her up, Keisaku struggled to get up and spoke to him with a low grim voice.
"She was protecting me the whole time, and ended up like this. I'm still not strong enough yet, am I?"
"You tried to protect her too," Kantaro told him. "Even though you're supposed to be weaker than all your enemies, you did well. I doubt she would have survived this long if it wasn't for you either."
Keisaku took Margery from him, carrying her with what little strength he had left. "I'll take her to the infirmary," he said. "I can still do more, and besides, have to stay by her side."
"Just don't kill yourself from exhaustion," Kantaro said after him.
Pheles and Wilhelmina still stood near him.
"We couldn't stop him," Pheles said.
"Incredibly powerful," Tiamat said.
"Don't think about it too much," Kantaro said. "It's not your fault that the battle's tipped in their favor. Besides, we've faced far worse, haven't we?"
"But it's not as easy to use our full power when there's a risk of harming our allies as well," Wilhelmina said.
"Friendly fire," said Tiamat.
"True," Kantaro replied.
"Where's Johan?" Pheles asked after looking around.
"I haven't seen him yet," Kantaro said. "But I'm sure he's doing fine. After all, he's a pretty clever guy."
Wilhelmina scanned the city below. The chaos and destruction spread and grew like wildfire.
"What will become of the humans during all this?" she asked. "Indeed, our enemy might just have a great supply of Power of Existence."
"Don't worry about them, they can't be consumed, thanks to a perpetual Unrestricted System Johan-kun, Dantalion and Heca-chan designed," Kantaro explained. "They can't remove or bypass it, and it's tied to Sereiden. But if this palace falls, it's over for everyone in this city."
"I see," Wilhelmina said as she went deeper into the palace. "Come," she said to Pheles, "we must get to the infirmary."
"No, I'm staying here until Johan comes back," Pheles said stubbornly.
"But you need to be treated properly. Indeed, do you think he would want your injuries to worsen?"
Pheles sighed. "No, he wouldn't," she said as she followed her friend.
Not long after, Sydonay flew into the palace with barely a handful of his original forces. He changed into his human form to spare his energy and cursed as he entered.
"We're defenseless down there," he said. "This is turning into a massacre."
Kantaro put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry," he said. "We'll hold out in here. Just rest for a while and regain your strength. We'll be in for another battle soon."
As Kantaro let go and helped the injured to the infirmary, Sydonay grunted.
"Who's worrying here," he said.
SnSnSnSnS
As the Denizens and Rinne of Neo-Bal Masque swept the city, Lawin and Jean continued to watch from their hiding place. It was not long until they were discovered by a tall humanoid Denizen with a neck and head like a gulper eel's. In one hand, which had long slimy fingers like the other, he held a pickaxe. He was also accompanied by a pair of large ant-like Rinne.
"Saccofa," Lawin muttered.
"Someone you know?" Jean whispered beside him. Lawin nodded.
"I mussssssst admit Lawin, you've done well," Saccofa said with a hissing voice like a lizard's. "Not only have you done your misssssssssion properly, you've alssssssssso decided to partisssssssssssipate in the battle. I alwaysssssssssssssss figured you were the type that wassssss only sssssssssssuited to ssssssssssspying, yet here you are, about to sssssssssssslay one of those pessssssssssssky Flame Hazzzzzzzzzzze."
Lawin and Jean looked at each other and in an instant, the latter, jumped away and took out Valac's kunai vessel to fight. "I knew I shouldn't have trusted you!" she said.
"Wait! This is a misunderstanding!" he said.
"You mean, you're not going to kill her?" Saccofa said. "Oh well, if you don't have the sssssssssssstomach for it, I'll do it."
As he approached the Flame Haze, Lawin suddenly got between them.
"You can't do that!" he said. "She helped me with my mission, and I promised I'd keep her safe."
"You think I care?" Saccofa said. "If you're that willing to get in my way, you're my enemy, and an enemy of Neo-Bal Massssssssssque!"
The ant Rinne next to him came forward with surprising speed. Lawin responded by unsheathing a curved blade from his right wrist as well as a couple of claws from the knuckles on his left fist and attacked.
He pinned down the first Rinne with his claw and slashed its head off with his blade. As the Rinne burned away, he attacked the other one with a cross-slash, but it was evaded and the Rinne jumped up and clung to the ceiling.
As Lawin fended off an attack from the Rinne, Saccofa opened his mouth to throw a ranged attack, but Jean acted quickly and summoned a number of black moths and sent them all to his throat like arrows. Saccofa choked and fell back from the sharp blow.
Meanwhile, the ant Rinne climbed onto a wall and shot a small fireball from its mouth. Lawin parried it with his blade and lunged with his claw. However, his opponent jumped out of the way at the last split-second, causing him to embed his claw into the wall. As his foe landed behind him, he tried frantically to pull out his claw, but it was stuck.
As the Rinne jumped at him, he panicked and suddenly sprouted his wings from his back and smacked it with them. As the Rinne fell back, Jean finished it off by summoning several crows and using them like arrows to smash its head to bits. She helped Lawin and pulled him out of his predicament.
"Why would you defend me, even up to now?" she said.
"I'm not sure why either," Lawin said.
The pair turned to Saccofa, who had recovered from the Flame Haze's attack. Opening his mouth, he let loose an unavoidable spray of sticky goo and stuck them to the wall.
"You're dead meat now," the Denizen said as he approached them with his pickaxe raised.
"You guys look like you could use a hand," said the voice of a young man behind him suddenly. Saccofa whirled around to meet the newcomer with his weapon, but missed, and all he saw was a blur. A moment later, he felt several quick blows to the chest, a few to the neck, and suffered the pain of a dislocated arm, all before collapsing on the ground and passing out.
The goo that had trapped Jean and Lawin was peeled off by their rescuer, who was none other than Johan, former Mystes of the Reiji Maigo.
"You saved us," Lawin said, very much surprised, as well as confused.
"I had the feeling that there might have been some of our guys left behind in the retreat," Johan said with a smile. "Glad to have found two still alive."
"How would you know if we were on your side?" Jean asked.
"A Flame Haze and a Crimson Denizen fighting to protect each other, how can you not be on our side?" Johan said as he escorted them to Sereiden.
SnSnSnSnS
Back in Sereiden, in its prisons, Alicio sat in a corner of his cell. Just some distance outside his reach, on a small stone table, was the vessel of his contractor, Aphrodite.
"Do you sense that Alicio? There's chaos outside," she said.
"Shut up," Alicio said. "Who cares about that?"
"Even up to now, all you are thinking about is the Flaming-Haired Blazing-Eyed Hunter."
"And the Mystes of the Reiji Maigo," Alicio said wrathfully. "I want to kill him so badly! Only I deserve her!"
"And just how far would you be willing to go?" said a voice.
Nearing the cell was what seemed to be a human, Kensei Satou. But something was different about him: his eyes were deep crimson.
"We can grant you any wish you want, as long as you desire it with all your life," he said.
"I do," Alicio said greedily. "Let me out and give me this power!"
Kensei glanced at Aphrodite's vessel. "You won't need her anymore by the way," he said.
"Wait, if you separate us, he'll die!" Aphrodite protested.
Kensei took the vessel in his hand and gripped it so tightly to the point that it began to crack.
"As far as we're concerned, he's already half-dead, at least from within," he said. "But if you come with me, you'll live like never before..."
The vessel crumbled into dust, severing the bond between Flame Haze and Crimson Lord.
"...and so much more."
SnSnSnSnS
Instead of immediately meeting up with Pheles, whom he believed would be alright, after arriving in Sereiden with the few people he could rescue, Johan searched for Kantaro. Fortunately, the Mystes had not been hurt as much as the others, but then again, he had also taken down the least number enemies compared to his comrades on the council. He found Kantaro on a balcony overlooking the city.
"How's it looking?" Johan asked him.
"Not good," Kantaro said as he watched the forces of Neo-Bal Masque prepare to attack. "They should be here in a few minutes."
"They of all people should know how stupid it would be to assault this fortress directly," Johan said.
"But when their leader comes charging straight for the gate…"
"We'll be screwed," Johan finished for him with a pondering look. "To think, they managed to turn the tables completely using a single moment."
"To attack from the middle and then use the chaos and confusion to add to the momentum, a pretty good strategy on their part," Kantaro mused.
The two men looked at each other at the same time.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Johan said. Kantaro nodded.
As predicted, it did not take too long for the battle to continue. Fortunately, by this time, most of the Flame Haze and Denizens had regained some of their strength, but morale was low and fear was high. Few could even stand in their assigned posts.
The Rinne flew up towards the palace first. Most were shot down by the Domino Rinne that waited atop the walls and behind turrets, but the first volley was barely large enough to wipe out the first wave.
"Fire at will!" Sydonay ordered from atop the main gate. On others sides of Sereiden, Wilhelmina and Johan issued the same command.
As the first wave of Rinne were reduced to oblivion by fireballs and missiles, the second wave approached. This time, the Rinne were accompanied by Denizens.
The Denizens wasted no time in taking out the walls' defenses with their Unrestricted Methods at range. However, most of the Denizens were only able to attack once, before being shot down by a blast of flame from Sydonay, a spear of ribbons from Wilhelmina or a ball of super-compressed air from Pheles.
As the third wave came, Mastan charged for the main gate.
SnSnSnS
From a distance, atop a building, Yuri watched the battle. Explosions and flames of various colors flashing in the red sky reflected on his glasses as he looked intently.
Merihim joined the former Flame Haze.
"Still being fighting the temptation of joining the battle I see," he said. Yuri stayed silent. "You really realize that we cannot reveal anything yet."
Yuri nodded. "Why did you come here?" he asked without looking. His eyes stayed glued to the battle.
"You already know the answer to that," Merihim replied. "There was something I had to see before moving on."
"I came for a different reason," Yuri said. "Do you know why I joined, why I was revived? I died without protecting anyone. But with the power I now have, I can protect everyone, including her."
"Ironic that the one you once protected her against is now her ally," Merihim said. "By now, you've probably noticed that she's taken in another boy?"
"But is he really willing to protect her with even his life?" Yuri said.
There was a loud, violent explosion as Mastan breached the main gate. His forces wasted no time in swarming in and storming the palace.
"It doesn't look too good for them," Yuri said.
"Don't interfere," Merihim said. "I want to know just how strong these people can really be in a pinch."
"Even if I do something, it won't change their fate much," Yuri said as he hovered above the floor and flew towards the palace.