Disclaimer: I don't own SO:TtEoT. It belongs to Tri-Ace.

I'm glad that people like the story so far. But after having taken a look at the hit counter I was shocked. 630+ hits and I only got 6 reviews. Come on people, I need more feedback(although the comments made by IronCross and ThrogmortonMimic were very helpful in clearing a bit of my writing). Even if you simply like the story tell me so. I allow Anonymous reviews so please review. Now enough of my whining and on with the story.
And this is a BIG update. Hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 10: a new ally and preparing for war

"I feel like total crap."

Those were the first words that I spoke after passing out from my fight with Albel. I had just come too and when I looked around I saw that I was in a room. A room that I remembered from when I was walking in the Castle. I was back in Aquios.

"How'd I get back here? You don't go knock out for over a week from blood loss, do you?" the question was not directed at anyone, other then the ceiling. I was most surprised when someone spoke up next to me.

"Yeah, normally you don't, but Nel gave you some sort of medicine to keep you sleeping a while longer, until we reached the castle."

I looked at the door opening and saw Cliff standing there, leaning at the doorpost lazily.

"And it worked just long enough too. We only just made it here, about half an hour ago."

"Where are Fayt, Nel, Tynave and Farleen?"

"They're all fine. Tynave and Farleen stayed behind in Arias. They'd only need a little rest to recover further and then they'll help the town defense. Nel is reporting to the Queen that Airyglyph knows about the Thunder Arrow, Demetrio told us so just before you jumped out. And Fayt's with Mirage right now"

"Who's Mirage and why is Fayt with here?" the question didn't seem to stop popping up today.

"Mirage is my partner in crime and another Klausian. We separated after we landed in Airyglyph. She followed us here to Aquios and when she got here, only a few minutes before we did, she saw a girl collapse to the ground. A girl that Fayt met a few days before, back in Peterny. Her name's Ameena. She said she was here to come find an old friend of hers."

"Ok." It was all I could think of saying.

Looking around I noticed something strange. My sword was set against the wall, the sheath laying next to it. However there was not a scratch on it. Looking around some more, I also saw that my armor was gone.

"He Cliff" is started

"Yeah, what's up? More questions?"

"How come my sword's all fixed up.And where did my armor go?"

"Well, the first time Nel, Fayt and I were in Peterny, we split up for a bit. Fayt found this group called the Inventors Guild. With the Inventors Guild, you can hire inventors for various tasks, such as blacksmithing for your weaponry, cooking for your party's and more stuff. We hired a few blacksmiths to get your gear fixed up." He explained

"Thing is, the duplicator you used back in the escape pod has no problem making materials. It just alters the atoms that you clothes are made of. So all of your armor was made of a very light and durable metal called Mythril. But that stuff is very rare and expansive here on Elicoor. Fixing your sword was no big problem because they still had a small supply lying around."

"They need a new shipment of Myhtril for your armor and replacing your dagger. But we placed the priority on the armor. Welch, the Guild's receptionist told us I'd take about a week to fix, because a new shipment of ore was on its way to Peterny already"

"And how long ago was that? 2 days or something?" I asked Cliff.

"No it was 3 days ago. Fayt immediately went to get it fixed and we left the day afterwards, when they'd fixed your sword up already. Now if you don't have any more questions I'll go and check up on Fayt and Mirage. You need your rest for now. We don't know what Airyglyph will do now that the Thunder Arrow is nearing completion."

"Ok tell Fayt I said i'm feeling better. And can you tell me if anything happens?"

"Sure thing, to both requests." Cliff raised his thumb and gave me a grin before leaving and closing the door.

It was a few hours later when Fayt, Cliff and Nel came into my room to give me an update on the situation. Apparently Airyglyph was marching with a full force offensive to destroy Aqueria in one go.

"All soldiers capable of fighting have been requested at the front lines, to encounter the enemy at the Arias hills."

Nel's voice did not sound pleased with this development. It would mean a lot of death on both sides of the battlefield. Not to mention that the enemy had the advantage in numbers.

"So." I began, slowly sitting up, "When do we leave?"

"WE are going to leave in the morning. YOU are going to stay here and heal up." Fayt spoke up, his voice stern.

"If the man wants to join his comrades in battle, you should not stop him Master Fayt." A loud unknown voice suddenly boomed through my room.

"If he really wishes to join in our fight, he is more then welcome too. Every soldier more means a better chance of winning. Especially people of his level and name."

looking up I saw that Fayt and Cliff stepped aside to let an old man walk towards me. He was not wearing a shirt, and covering his legs was a red samurai dress. I never did figure out what those things were called. He had runological tattoo's all over his body, showing that he had mastered a great number of spells. He also had, despite being old probably fifty at least, quite an excellent physical built. Covering his face was a small beard and he was holding a sheathed sword in his left hand.

"Greetings , Master Lucifer. I am Adray Lasbard, warrior of Aqueria and I have heard many things about you." the man spoke up, this time his voice was in a normal volume.

"Pleasure to meat you Sir Adray." I greeted him back.

"No need for formalities, just Adray will do. Now let's make sure that you're capable of fighting properly. It wouldn't do to have one of our countries best fighters looking like this now would it?"

With that he raised his hands above me and started an incantation that caused all the runes on his body to glow up in a light green. There was also a bright colored orb in his hand, near my wounds. Instantly I felt my wounds feeling much better. The feeling was similar to what Nel and the other Runologists did at the Bequerel mine, only much stronger and faster.

Adray guided the glowing orb along al of my injuries a few times and I was feeling as good as new.

"I thought you said he'd need at least a few more days of continued healing and care by the medics here." Cliff looked at Nel with a look of utter surprise.

"It would, but I didn't expect Sir Adray to be back and attend to Lucifer's wounds himself. His runological power is higher then anyone else on the continent."

"Nel I've told you since you were a child." Adray's tone was sounding a little iritated about something. "Call me Adray. Sir Adray makes me feel old"

At that I couldn't help but hold back a little chuckle.

Later that afternoon I was introduced to the girl that Cliff told me about, Ameena. I was stunned when entered her room at the inn. She was an exact copy of Sophia, though a little paler. I also saw Dion sitting next to her.

"Master Fayt, Sir Lucifer. My apologies for spending so much time here. I'll return to work immediately." Apparently he thought that I was here to sent him back to work.

"Relax." It was Cliff who spoke up. "Fayt and Lucifer are only here to check up on you too. An old friend of them looks just like Ameena. Lucifer wanted to check for himself just how much they looked alike."

Ameena, who was talking with Dion when we entered looked up at that point. I noticed that even the eye color was the same as Sophia's.

"Are you all going to war? Dion told me that Airyglyph is preparing a mass attack, and all forces are sent to the battle field."

"Yeah, we are." Fayt spoke up, but he wasn't looking at Ameena, or anyone else, but he was looking at floor. Besides him I could see his fists shaking.

"I don't want to kill people. The reason I wanted to help complete the Thunder Arrow was because it could be used to pressure Airyglyph into surrender. Not this… This senseless killing. It's meaningless."

Fayt stayed in a minor depression the rest of the day. and i couldn't really blame the guy for it.

The next morning we left for Peterny, with a battalion soldiers with us. As many as could be missed in the royal city. We reached Peterny two days later.

In Peterny, Fayt, Cliff and I went to the Inventors Guild while Nel and Adray were staying with the soldiers. Upon entering the small building that housed the Inventor's Guild, I heard a girl's voice, most likely addressing us.

"Hello, welcome to the Inventor's Guild. Are you here to become an…" she stopped mid-sentence when she saw Fayt.

"Oh, you guys again. How are you doing? Your order's done and waiting for you right here. And who's your new companion? Is HE here to become an inventor?"

I looked to my left, at the source of the voice. Sitting behind a desk was a young woman, no older then twenty-five, with brown hair, tied in two ponytails that went to the sides of her head. She wore a strange black and blue dress, that seemed to push her chest up, and was holding some sort of wand with a hand at the end.

"No he's with my group actually. I was hoping you could give him one of those communicators as well." Fayt spoke to the young girl in question.

"Ok sure, here you go. Catch!" with that she suddenly tossed me a device I never expected she'd throw at me. A compact communicator. I caught it out of the sky and looked at it, blinking.

"With that you'll always be able to contact the Inventor's Guild and by the way I'm Welch Vineyard. I'll be the person you'll contact through the communicator. I'll give you all the important news, when it's still fresh!" Welch was quick to introduce herself and like before she was sounding extremely cheerful.

"So, Welch, you said my order's done? Can we have it now please? We're kind of in a hurry" Fayt asked Welch with a tone of seriousness.

"Sure thing, its right here." With that Welch pulled a packet from one of the many shelves behind her. It was wrapped in a cloak.

She pulled down the cloak to reveal my armor back in perfect shape. I quickly walked over and thanked her. with that we excused ourselves and went over to the southern exit of Peterny, were the wagon and the others were already waiting for us. We set of to Arias immediately afterwards.

We had reached Arias by nightfall and were soon in the meeting room with Clair.

"Airyglyph is marching from there royal city, with a large army. It'll be here the day after tommorw. We need to prepare for it as good as we can, while we use the time we have left. The runological weapons will all have arrived tomorrow afternoon. But it is late now. Let us discus out strategy tomorrow."

With that Clair, who was put in command of the war, dismissed the meeting. Fayt, Cliff, Adray and I needed to share a room together, due to the lack or rooms. Four beds were already arranged for us. We all went to bed soon afterwards.

A few hours later, I woke up without any particular reason. Looking around I noticed a few things. First off, I'd have trouble getting back to sleep thanks to Cliff and Adray both snoring rather loud, while Cliff had a strange grin on his face and a bit of drool running out of the corner of his mouth. The second thing I noticed was that Fayt's bed was empty. I stepped out of bed, took my sword from its standing place near the door and walked out of the room looking for Fayt.

My search soon brought me outside and behind the house. There was an empty spot of land there and Fayt was standing in the middle of it. He was holding his sword in front of him and quickly made a few slashes, while his sword was crackling with electricity. He must have been training with his 'Blade Enchantments' as he called them, trying to keep it up for longer.

Fayt returned to the same stance after 4 slashes. That was when I made my presence known to Fayt.

"That's very impressive. You must be dedicated to win this fight if you're even training this late at night"

Fayt turned around to look at me.

"Yeah, I made a promise to Ameena that I'd make sure Dion was alright. And I promised Sophia and Peppita we'd see each other again. I have to stay alive in order to keep those promises. And the only way to stay alive here is to become stronger."

"That's true, but there is only so much that you can learn from shadow sparring. If you really want to become stronger, the best way is to find a strong opponent and fight them."

"Yeah I know. But right now I'm trying to keep my Blade Enchantments for as long as possible."

"That's good, but I still think that it's better if you try it in an actual fight. I believe that, when you have to focus on attacking, defending and keeping your attack intact is when you'll reach the maximum effect. So would you like to spar with me for now?"

At that suggestion Fayt suddenly faced the ground.

"I'd love too, really. If it was sparring in the combat simulator. were we couldn't hurt each other. But too tell you the truth… I'm kind of scared about fighting you. Back, when you were fighting Albel, the both of you were moving so fast I could hardly keep up with my eyes. I think that when you're fighting against me, you defeat me before I could even strike at you"

I looked at Fayt as he was still staring at the ground. I knew I had to somehow cheer him up, but only one thing came to mind as a method for doing so.

"Fayt, did you forget? You are the one who defeated Demetrio, who had almost killed me. In a fight even when facing an enemy far superior to yourself, you should remember this: Iin a fight, all the difference can be made by a single attack. No matter how strong you are, if your head is cut of from your body, or you get pierced by a sword, you'll still die and lose. All you need in order to win is one good hit. In my fight with Albel I would have lost if I hadn't thrown that dagger into his Palm of Destruction. You can do the same to any opponent"

Fayt raised his head as I said those words.

"So if you have the ability too see through an opponents attacks, you have a good chance to win the fight no matter how much difference in skill there is. And I know the perfect way for you too learn that."

Fayt blinked at me and put his sword in a ready stance. It was only now that I noticed that the electricity never left the sword.

"We'll spar for as long as we are able. I'll fight at a level that you can keep up with, until you see through my attacks and force me to stop holding back. Whether it happens tonight or a year from now, we'll just keep on training as often as we can, so that you can become strong enough to fulfill your promises. Are you ready?"

Fayt gave a quick nod as I unsheathed my katana and got in a battle stance as well. After a split second of waiting Fayt charged at me and I did the same to him

We had closed the distance between us in a few seconds and out swords clashed. We pulled back out swords as we started something similar as to what I had done when fighting Albel.We were striking and blocking each other's strike at high speed, although I hardly had trouble defending from Fayt's attacks, I couldn't land any hits on him either.

Every time I got close to hitting him, he would either jump away or quickly bring up his sword to block my strikes.

We both jumped back to get some breathing room. We had only fought for a few minutes now but already Fayt was breathing very heavy and with one hand was clutching his head. My breath was also a bit faster then normal, but nowhere near Fayt's heavy breathing.

"Very good. Your defense is excellent. And you can alter between attacking and defending pretty good as well." I complemented Fayt's performance so far.

'Now' I thought to myself 'let's see what you do when an opponent disables your weapon'

Again I rushed at Fayt and again we both slashed. This time however my katana was in between Fayt's sword and torso. Maneuvering quickly I used my left hand to grasp his right arm, which held his sword. With my sword I slashed at Fayt.

Fayt quickly brought up his left leg and used the armor on it to stop my sword from hitting him. Then he quickly brought up his right knee as well and kicked me in the arm, forcing me to release him. I quickly kicked him with my right leg and, due to the fact that he was airborne right now, Fayt was sent flying a few feet away and made a landing in some of the bushes.

He walked out a few seconds later, stumbling and holding his head.

"I think that's enough for one night, don't you agree Fayt?"

"Yeah, if I try to keep the enchantment intact any longer I'm going to have one hell of a migraine in the morning."

I looked at Fayt's sword and saw, too my surprise, that his sword was still crackling with electricity, showing that during our spar he had continuously used his Thunder Blade.

'What's going on here?' I thought to myself. 'Fayt's Thunder Blade is supposed to give the enemy a massive shock upon contact with either the enemy or a conductor for electricity, such as steel or water. But during our entire fight I haven't once been shocked. Strange'

Suddenly Fayt crashed down to the floor in front of me.

"Fayt!" I yelled out and quickly ran to his side. he had passed out from a combination of physical exhaustion and mental stress, most likely due to his training and our spar. It was nothing a good night's sleep wouldn't fix up.

I managed to put Fayt in bed, after dragging him in firemen style, and then quickly went to bed. Unfortunately my discovery from earlier that evening was all to correct. It was very hard to get to sleep with both Cliff and Adray snoring like mad.

The next morning Clair had called a strategy meeting.

"Although the enemy has superiority in numbers, we can fight them from a distance with runological weapons. We'll use runology to deal with the Dragon Brigade, too. If we fought them head on, we'd be playing right into Airyglyph's hands. We must maintain our distance and avoid close combat at all costs. The operations begins at the break of dawn tomorrow. I want all units ready."

Following this the other commanding officers and I quickly gave an affirmative. Clair then dismissed everyone except for Nel, Fayt, Cliff Adray and myself.

She spoke up again. This time directed at only one person.

"Nel, I have a separate task for you to carry out, apart from the main force. I want you to break through enemy lines and destroy Airyglyph's command center."

Nel's only response was a one word question.

"Vox?"

"That's right." Clair then turned towards Fayt and Cliff.

"Fayt, Cliff, I'd also like to request your assistance if I may."

Cliff immediately spoke up with confidence, "Of course that's why we're here"

Fayt was also quick to answer with a simple "Sure".

"I never meant for you to become so involved in this, but..."

"We have to involve them. They're a bigger asset in combat than anyone else in my outfit. Except for Lucifer"

"Please don't worry about it. I have my own reason for wanting to fight, I want to end this war as soon as possible..."

"Right."

"Okay. Thank you, both of you. Fayt, Cliff. Please assist Nel in her operation."

Cliff and Fayt both quickly gave an affirmative to the request.

"So, Lady Clair," I started "What do Adray and I do? You didn't mention us in the Vox Elimination Team, so what are our orders?"

"Sir Lucifer Allheart, second in command of the shield legion, and Sir Adray Lasbard, the Crimson Blade, I have stationed both of you at the front lines."

At this my eyes narrowed a bit, while Adray, who had been standing in the room grinning, suddenly turned a bit more serious.

"The reason for this, is because both of you will have a massive impact upon the moral of the troops. Both out own and the enemy's. My Father's stories are already legendary and a lot of Airyglyph soldiers fears his powers. And Lucifer has defeated Albel Nox as well as two of Airyglyphs lieutenants. He is almost as famous among out soldiers as you are Father, and even more feared among the enemy's troops."

Adray gave a quick nod to show that he understood. I did the same.

"Now I have one final order to give, before I will dismiss you all. I myself am charged with the defense of the runological weapons and as such, shall not participate in the battle. Therefore Lucifer, as my second in command will have the supreme authority in the field of battle. My Father, Tynave and Farleen will serve as your direct subordinates for now and also have the authority to give orders."

Tynave and Farleen, who had been standing at the door, quickly spoke up with a "Yes ma'am!" as they saluted.

"Now you are all dismissed. Make sure that you get enough rest tonight, because tomorrow is a day of great importance."

With that each of us quietly left the seats and went outside.

After a few minutes of silence past between us, I spoke up to Fayt again.

"Hey, Fayt. Are you feeling ok again?"

"Yeah, I'm a bit nervous though"

"Shall we continue with out training then? It's the best way to get rid of unwanted nervousness"

"Sure, I need to take my mind of of things for now. Meet you at the plains at the east of town in twenty minutes ok?"

With that he left for the hall to get breakfast.

"If you guys are going to do some training, I'm going with you." Cliff was still standing next to me and had apparently decided he needed a workout as well.

"Indeed, one must never let a chance to hone skills slip. I will join you as well."

Suddenly our training group had doubled in size.

We spent the rest of the afternoon training most of the time there was at least one of us helping Fayt.

Cliff was giving Fayt some advice about moving in battle, Adray helping him hone his symbology skills. Fayt had learned some basic symbology from Nel and seemed to have a knack for using offensive Symbologie. Finally Fayt using his blade enchantments when sparring against me.

Finally, it was morning and we were al standing outside or Arias, on the Aire hills. On the other side, only a few hundred feet away from us, there stood the massive army of Airyglyph.

In the west we saw the sun rise and that was our clew. The war was about to start and it was not going to be a pretty day today.

How did you all like that? I hope you enjoyed the Fayt vs Lucifer scène. And my first attempt at humor in this Fic. Hope you liked it. As always, please review and tell me what you think.

Preview:

Next time: Lucifer fights side by side with Adray, Farleen and Tynave. All hell brakes loose on the battlefield and what will happen to the assassination team? Read it in the next chapter of Lucifer's Tale.