Here is the action you've been waiting for! The awaited conclusion of chapter nineteen(although not of the Portugal mission!)!
Dairu sat on the keeps main stairway, near the very top of the keep and outside the door where they suspected the Innocence was being held. Aloisio was sitting a few steps above him, carefully carving a piece of small drift-wood he found on the floor into something non-specific. Arystar sat on the floor near the stairs, preferring to sit completely down then to have a defined seat. Joseph was the only one up and about, laying his back against the entrance of the keep and periodically re-adjusting his Innocence on his shoulder, keeping watch to the distance of dark and moonlight.
There was an iron silence through the area, except for the distant whistling of crickets and the smooth movements of knife against wood. When Krory spoke, almost everyone jumped a little in surprise, "If you don't mind me asking, Dairu…" He mumbled in a sort of wondering thought.
"Asking what?" Dairu responded, an eyebrow raised.
"Asking you… how you learned to make plans like this. You're almost a natural plan-maker, but I don't know anything about your past." Krory stopped, breathing in, continuing, "Were you in the military before you joined the Order?"
A smiled cracked through the solemn, waiting face of Dairu's, as if the question was so preposterous to ask that it was comical. "No, I was a student in Berlin before I joined. Besides, Yoshimata's the one who has taught me the most about plan-making." Seeing Krory look a little more confuse, no doubt because of his naturally tan skin, Dairu continued, "I lived in the Ottoman Empire before joining."
Krory nodded, understanding. Dairu continued, propping his arms on his lap and placing his head upon his hands, "I was the last born son in a family of..." He rubbed his chin and sort of shuffled in his seat in mild content but also in invisible discomfort, as if the mere beginning mention of his family had sent something as if a needle into his back, and now he was trying to find his way around it. Sighing, "Fanatics, to put it lightly. My great-great grandfather had been a Janissary, which was an elite core of soldiers in our Empire."
Blinking in curiosity, Krory pressed the matter further, "'Was an elite core'? What happened to them?"
Dairu's smile quickly faded, his eyes moving slightly to look at the darkness of the unwashed wall. "They grew corrupt back in the eighteen hundred's, taking on bountiful lands for themselves and killing sultans who tried to reform them back into a core of soldiers. Sultan Mahmud the Second, after trial and turbulence and several years of preparation finally deposed of the Janissary Corps and instituted a modern Ottoman army. My great grandfather's father was not just a soldier in the corps, but a Çorbacı as well. He was Europe's military equivalent of a colonel, but his orta, battalion, was not deployed in Istanbul or any other areas in the center of the Empire. With the..." He cleared his throat, becoming visibly even more uncomfortable, "... 'Event', he was given orders to disband his orta on threat of execution, and even then he tried to refuse. It wasn't out of corruption he refused, but out of pride." Dairu licked his lips, but found no saliva in his mouth to use. He took to his canteen on his hip which they collected from a Spanish market on the way here, drinking the water with elation he could pause.
When finished, he continued to accommodate Krory's obvious fascination of Dairu's family history. "He, my great-great-great grandfather, believed that the Janissary's were a group of proud warriors, whom were the guards of the Sultan even in the events that preceded him then. He used to say, 'There may be rotten apples on the tree now, but they shall fall off in time, for the tree is strong, and the freshest apples are stronger, and will stand the test of time while the corrupted apples rot away to the ground'. This meant that he actually believed that the Janissary corps was still a group of hearty warriors, even though that there was such obvious corruption and treacherous acts from the group. He..." As Dairu went further into the story now, his face was almost contorted and reddened with disgust and lack of viable rest between sentences, stressing his ancestor's obvious ignorance with vile parody in his voice. He stopped himself short of continuing onto attacking, instead brought his head down in shame and muttered in Ottoman Turkish, 'Repel evil with that which is better. We are Best-Acquainted with the things they utter', a verse from the Qur'an. Krory continued to wait in appropriate silence, respecting Dairu's feelings. Meanwhile, Aloisio had taken to listening to the Exorcists history, curious about how he came to be.
Although those two were listening intently, Joseph still leaned against the frame of the door with no intention of looking over to Dairu. His friend specifically gave him the private mission of looking out for them at the door, since out of the whole group, Joseph could see the best in the dark. Even then, he had already heard all of his friend's history, and that's how they connected when they met months ago: they both had dismal lives before meeting each other. Contemplating, Joseph gave a small yawn of boredom. He himself had a sort of cynical look on life, giving no mind to things within like Yoko, Dairu or Yoshimata. He didn't bother with 'the big picture'; whatever happened, happened. There wasn't anything to change that, but he still gave sympathy to one of the only people to give him sympathy, since even though he was cynical and dowry, he still had a conscious. The yawn complete, his eyes looked beyond to the horizon again, and he stood up straight in alarm. Right beyond the horizon, thirty-three large objects were moving towards them -- Akuma, barely a mile away. His breath caught, he tried to regain his breath and then called over to his unsuspecting comrades, "Dairu! Stanno arrivando!" Dairu, they're coming!
Dairu finished contemplating his words, after a minute of silence, continuing, "My ancestor would have rather died then quit his Janissary ways, but his subordinate officers convinced him to just let it go and keep the 'ways' to themselves. When the forces of the Empire moved in to continue to break up the rest of the Janissaries, his orta gladly broke up and spread throughout the Empire. Although contact was limited between each other, many soldiers still kept contact with fellow soldiers, as if their orta had been--" Dairu immediately stopped, and everyone was in alarm when they heard Italian being shouted towards them, the echoes breaching the solemn calmness of the serine, melancholy hall. Dairu blinked, recognizing the voice, and stood up while simultaneously adjusting his Innocence on his arm, "They're coming! Krory, Aloisio, you know what to do!"
Krory broke into sprint to reach the edge of the stairs, reaching to his pockets for a canteen of his own. Opening the flask, he drank down about half the onyx-colored liquid. Akuma blood. Krory himself relished the idea of carrying blood around him, especially since he had been so traumatized as a child, being taunted as a vampire of the village, but he did so out of convenience purposes. He first thought of the idea a month after becoming an Exorcist, bringing the flasks with him a month after so into Noah's Ark, battling the formidable Jasdevi, even probably dying. He learned to be more careful since then.
The blood took effect immediately, his skin turning a shade of reddish-pink pigment. His face contorted with a wicked and cocky smile, his muscles tightening. "I... smell... prey..." The Baron growled with absolute delight in his voice, going so far as to jump off the balcony, grabbing onto it again with his hands after a sort of roll in the air that made him into a sphere in the air, and literally launching himself off the balcony to the bottom, laughing along the way.
Sweat-dropping for a moment, Aloisio and Dairu shook it off and got to work. Aloisio first tried to ram his way through the door to the chamber that they kept company outside of, but it would not budge. He rubbed his shoulder, scuffed from the hardened blow with a 'damn it' under his breath.
Dairu lightly put his hand on Aloisio's shoulder, shepherding him out of his way. He put his index finger and middle finger combined by his thumb under them on his Innocence, over the top of his hand, muttering "Invocation," and his weapon appeared, covering his hand and lower arm. He immediately on instinct pressed the small notch-button inside and unseen in the glove, on a sort of handle that is meant for controlling the entirety of the obscene weapon, and the slightly large, roundish object that rests on top of Dairu's hand and gauntlet fired. The chain, dragged by its master, ringed as the object smashed through the wooden door as if it were a cannon ball against the bow of a ship.
Outside the window that gave the keep a see into the courtyard, Aloisio and Dairu both could hear the explosions that could mean only one thing: the Akuma have arrived.
Arystar slammed into the floor of the keep almost immediately after take-off, the foundation shaking from both his might and the age of itself. Not minding the damage he may have done, the beast ran, gliding across the face of the earth as if it were but another sky to explore. The beastly Baron shot past the boy, nearly dragging with him with a gust of disturbed wind as he prepared to launch himself again as twice before. His heels dug down to the stones and dirt of the yard, gathering his momentum.
In front of him, he could barely count all of the Akuma that floated in the air, or the ones that sat on top of them for support. One of them cackled, pointing a menacing finger towards Arystar, "Rushing towards your own imminent death, Exorcist?"
Over the Baron's face an arrogant but strong smile formed, shooting back, "That…" He clenched his fists, barring his teeth, "… remains to be seen," and he let his momentum free. The ground echoed with the force of his launch, sending dirt flying behind him like left-over residue from a cannon. The stronger and obviously more intelligent Akuma leaped off their 'steeds', preferring not to get so close to the vampire-like Exorcist. However, the lower and lethargic Akuma that lacked planning or concern weren't so lucky; with no other Akuma to guide them, they floated like open targets for the mad-happy Baron.
The Baron met the first one with a slap on each sides of its body, breaking through the armor to literally crack the demon in half. With no time to waste, Arystar quickly twisted his body to turn himself onto the remains in practically a second while they were in the air, allowing him to propel himself to meet the stronger Akuma. Firstly, he met a sort of teddy bear-like demon, whom immediately revealed a cannon within its arm to dispatch Krory. To this, Arystar grabbed the arm and threw himself at the demon's stomach, fangs to sink into the skin. The bear was too surprised and paralyzed by this unorthodox way to kill, leaving it helpless to fight back as the Baron injected his own blood into its bloodstream. The Akuma squealed in a high-pitch whine, vaporizing in seconds. From where it was, an already disappearing cloud hung and shining in the moonlight was red flakes that could remind one of snow. Crimson.
The demon that previously teased Krory, shaped like a gargoyle with wings and all, was now in shock; its previous overconfidence replaced with a rapidly growing sense of fear. It had a reason to now. It screeched, "Stay away from him! He's a close-quarters fighter, so don't let him near you!" And the other humanoid Akuma all sounded agreement, while the lower leveled ones simply followed as they were told with stolid silence.
Krory used his Exorcist cloak as if a completely solid form and smacked himself to a different stance in the air. He previously looked towards the moon, but now he looked down towards a lower leveled Akuma below him. Rather then to attack the weakling and give it reason to fight back, Krory landed on the satellite and used the plausible balance provided to launch himself towards two higher leveled Akuma, shaped as a clock-face and a toy doll, respectively. He grabbed the one shaped as a clock-face and immediately smashed his fist into it, causing it to plummet to the ground while he turned his attention to the next one.
The demon growled as it fell, dazed by the attack enough to being paralyzed from even attempting to slow its landing. Not that it could, either way, My form is a damn clock!, to put it in its words when it transformed to the delight of the other Akuma. Its temper was now raging, itself trying to figure out how to get revenge. I'll show that little bastard! I'll stay behind him, and when he turns his back, I'll show h- ! Its thoughts went completely blank before they were finished, its mouth a-gape. It was no longer falling, but it never hit the ground either. Realization dawned in its last moments of its demonized life, realizing that it was impaled right through the center of itself.
Joseph was breathing heavily; sweat dropping down his forehead as he looked upon what he had done above himself. He had lived as a scoundrel, a bastard child even, in the streets of Italy. Even then, he never once, never at all suspected he would actually kill someone or something, even if for a righteous cause. As the beast above him gasped in shock, Joseph regained his swift but permeable fortitude and flicked the large sword. Off came the demon, flying off the blade as if a disk toy a child would use, even though itself was nearly five times bigger then Joseph downright. The Akuma itself is destroyed, the soul inside released by the Innocence in the sword. Joseph stepped forward, resting the blade in the grass that rugged the courtyard, looking up to the sky to see the shadows moving among the stars. He noticed, even though he lacked any intuitive nature at all, that it seemed that when one shadow moved, a star would disappear by itself. It sort of scared Joseph for some reason, since before now he barely knew of anything besides birds being in the sky; but now, right above him, were the demons in the sky! Krory, a vampire, the Akuma, demons beyond the meaning of the word. E' praticamente un incubo... 'It's almost like a nightmare…' Joseph thought.
With all this idle-minded miniature thoughts coming from Joseph's mind, he nary noticed behind him an Akuma had been watching all this time, hanging on the wall in its form of an imp from childish tails, with spikes and even deformed little wings hugging its side. Itself also advanced, but not nearly as foolhardy as its brethren, it had come prepared with its own chunk of the pack. With it, it carried a small group of seven unevolved Akuma which gave no presence other then taking up space around it. The evolved Akuma raised its hand, gathering attention. "Alright, here's what I'll do. I'll strike at the twerp head-on. He looks like a small little bastard, so he'll be easy as anything to beat. After I take care of him, we'll go inside and secure the Innocence for the Earl. Got it?" The lower levels merely groaned a small response to it, causing the leader to sigh. I can hardly believe I was one of these damn zombies once. How could anyone, especially the Earl, put up with such lethargic soldiers?
The Akuma put its hand on the inside of the wall, itself hanging from the outside and the lower leveled Akuma floating next to it. Using the wall as if a sling-shot, the Akuma used both hands to sling itself at Joseph, pulling its two gigantic weapons from the holster in its back as it cut through the air to the distracted Exorcist.
Joseph watched on in amazement of the spectacle, believing all the Akuma were preoccupied or were subsequently destroyed by Arystar. When the Akuma fell back even further to the darkness of the skies, farther away from Arystar then before, he finally fell down to the planet after hopping from Akuma to Akuma, even using the momentum and surface of the close-ranger fighters to keep him in the air. Landing with a large thud on the roof of the keep, Arystar allowed himself to catch his breath. The Exorcist looked at his flasks, with two remaining out of three. He counted how many he destroyed, ten, adding to the one Joseph helped destroy, eleven. So if we've destroyed eleven, and there were about thirty to begin with… He quickly looked throughout the air, seeing only about four level two Akuma and around six level one Akuma. Arystar began to feel uneasy, looking back down to Joseph for visual support. What he saw made his heart skip, and he yelled out in warning, "Joseph! Look out!"
Joseph heard the warning, although he was too far away to understand. Not that he had any time to, anyways. Before he could begin to comprehend what his fellow Exorcist said, he force of a mud slide slammed into the ground behind him and sent him flying off his feet through the air. His sword was forced into the ground by the impact, flinging its Invocator further. Joseph landed on his side, rolling for three broad times on the grass and dirt with the breath beaten out of him. He heard a sinister laugh above him, but while he could not dare raise his head from shock, he feared he knew what was coming to him.
The voice growled, "Get up, Exorcist." Joseph didn't respond to it. The beast waited for a few moments, then growled again, "Or would you rather die as a dog in the mud?" Joseph didn't understand a lot of the English spoken to him, but he recognized a few key words that pang back to his childhood: die as a dog. Fury overtook him, the barriers of limitation put up feebly in an attempt to keep order around others were shattered, causing Joseph to immediately run for his sword, which was about fifteen feet away. Joseph could feel the ground shake as the demon followed in suit, but he was far too deep into his temper now to even give a backwards notice.
With the Italian Exorcist is his sword now, which due to the special properties of Innocence he was able to pick up with most ease but strike as if as powerful as a grown man, and with the impish demon were two powerful maces that, to one most learned in Polish history, known as a pair of military-modified bulavas, which were each four feet in length and overwhelming in power and crush; obviously, this was this Akuma's special weapon, which it wielded with obvious expertise. The two opponents stared at each other, with the Akuma of the pack brought by the imp surrounding them in a large perimeter and the Akuma in the sky watching on in amusement, but also in relief that they had time to reorganize their attack against Arystar. Neither duelists moved, however. Even with the lust for what surely must be its last kill 'til it can transform once more for only the Earl's wishes, the Akuma stood still. Even with the tempered rage that was still circulating within him but almost lessening, Joseph Colombo did not move.
Their eyes meeting, the Akuma made the first move. The Akuma was fast, alright; in Joseph's eyes, it seemed to blur as it moved across the land in large strides. The first blow came from the Akuma's left mace, which Joseph blocked. The second came just as fast, but with the sword already preoccupied with the other mace, the right one managed to smash the awkwardly positioned hilt of the sword, narrowly missing Joseph's fingers.
Joseph's hands were shocked by the abrupt force that flowed through the hilt, causing him to step back twice from the demon. Having no control over most of his left hand temporarily, he kept his grip as best he could on the hilt and swung completely down in offense. The Akuma managed to dodge the sword easily, instead making its way around Joseph in an expert manner to engage him from his unguarded left. Joseph stepped backwards twice, bringing his still numb hands to bring his sword to block. Again they clashed, loud cracks breaking through the air.
On the top of the keep's tower, Krory watched with growing fear, for he knew that while that Akuma wasn't nearly as fast as Krory was, it was still an overwhelming experience for such a young Exorcist. Fearing the worst, Krory leaped off the tower to help his comrade. However, several Akuma recognized the impish Akuma's strategy as viable, so they went out of their way to help. Being intercepted by a sort of spotted octopus, which is known by some as a Greater Blue-ringed Octopus, primarily found in the Pacific. The rings on its entire body glowed with what seemed to be anger, but after two seconds of the glow intensifying that wish was too good to be true, for the light retreated into the body and let loose a burst of energy from the rings. Being stricken, Krory was pummeled mercilessly against the walls of the tower.
Gasping for air after the attack, Krory could only whisper his request, Joseph, hold on, for just a little longer!
Inside the keep meanwhile, Dairu and Aloisio had previously opened the door that was sealed shut, probably by the Knights Templar in a retreating manner, and entered. The room itself that was protected by the door was dark and seemed damp. There was only one window to the outside, but that was barred up as well with some plywood, although Dairu paid no mind as to whom had done it. Aloisio quickly grabbed a flashlight, as described before as merely a tube, and turned it on. Inside, there was a spectacle of art: paintings of saints of the Catholic faith, effigies in statue-form of some of the more famous Templar Grand Masters, wooden crosses with some having the sculpted body of the Messiah on them in crucifixion, and so much more. Against his own inner desire to stop and examine with beloved scrutiny the beautiful works of art, however, Dairu hastily went on to look through the work with no precision in detail other then looking for signs of the Innocence. He has remembered after a great deal of experience with other Exorcists and his friends that the Innocence could be "jewel" that was "encrusted" on another object, or in some cases the object itself. However, the problem was if the Innocence was encrusted inside a sealed object, the light emitted natural from the strange substance was unseeable, only making matters worse. And right now, just by telling from the howls of pain of unearthly demons outside, that matters were only heating up.
When we entered the room…Dairu begin to think to himself, … we didn't see any light at all. Could the Innocence be inside something? A box? A package? He turned, trying to find Aloisio in the dark. He found the Finder, no pun intended in that statement, looking carefully but quickly as he was through the art on shelves made of wood, between paintings stacked on the floor and even behind them if they were mounted on the wall. Dairu called to his partner, "Aloisio, try looking for a box of some kind. Maybe it's hidden there!"
Aloisio nodded, but asked from afar, "Do you remember what Headquarters told you about the Innocence? How did they even know it was here, anyways?"
The Exorcist remembered back to the briefing, remembering that Komui explained this sort of process of finding Innocence to him.
Komui looked from one Exorcist to another to another, seeing the strange and unlikely trio of comrades. He continued on after his initial greeting to them, "You three will be sent to Portugal, specifically in Vila Nova de Barquinha. After endless studies of myths and legends of the local Knights Templar during the Reconquista, we have determined that they uncovered an Innocence of practically immense proportions while fighting the Moors in what is now Portugal." Komui took a deep breath to gain some holding on the words, and continued on, "During the Reconquista, the future King of Portugal Afonso Henriques stopped his troops for rest on July nineteenth, 1139. Whilst the Portuguese Christian Army rested after weeks of battle and hard travel, Afonso went out for a walk by himself on a trail to get away from the stench of his troops washing. While he was out, he claims he fell into a large hole that was nothing but sand; no grass or plants around it at all. After stumbling to get up from this hole, Afonso noticed something glittering in the sand. Picking it up, he discovered that it was a jewel that had obviously been lukewarm for some time. He was fascinated by this jewel, stating that it 'glowed with the holy power of Christ yet held the solidified form of diamond'."
Komui picked up his mug of coffee, and he sneaked a peak to judge how well the Exorcists were taking this in. Dairu and Krory were interested, definitely, but Joseph showed little understanding other then a few words, as shown by a disinterested gaze looking at Komui's desk, and occasionally to the map of the Iberian Peninsula he had up. Putting the mug down, he swallowed the last of the coffee in his mouth and continued, "Legend says he picked up the 'jewel' and, with help of his sword, picked himself out of the hole by stabbing it deeply into the ground, allowing him to get a grip. He took the crystal back to camp, where his troops were already getting ready for rest. So intrigued he was after walking the distance to camp while staring into the jewel that he ordered a local jeweler and craftsman to make him a pendant for it, but he did not ask for a complicated one due to the shortness of time he had in the area. Staying with the craftsman and jeweler overnight, he watched the jewel be given a sort of wooden pendant to hold it by the jeweler in conjunction with the craftsman, whom also went to create some sort of string or rope to make it into a necklace for the man. Pleased with the result, Afonso left both of them some money as a payment of gratitude and continued on with his army when they awoke. However, soon he began to notice something strange about the jewel. It glowed whenever he felt awry emotions like anger or upset, as if it were responding to him. He ignored these basically, too preoccupied with his troops and formations. However, soon his troops entered a momentous battle, known historically as the Battle of Ourique."
Komui sighed, and casually threw the file down. "While it is indisputable that the battle itself happened, there are many bizarre rumors and myths that surround it. For example, many sources detail that Saint James the Great intervened on the side of the Portuguese Army, while other sources state that Saint George was the one that intervened. So jumbled up this story has been that finally some Christians have jumped to the conclusion that Christ himself came to help the soldiers. However, after several years of repression by propaganda needs by the Church, our researchers have found out that it was not an actual Saint that rescued the army, but it was actually Afonso Henriques. The Portuguese Christian Army and the forces of the Andalusian Muslims of the Almoravids met in fierce combat on July 25, 1139. The battle raged back and forth until Afonso was driven away from his army, although they didn't give notice. Nearly seventy Andalusian Muslims chased him, off horse-back, through the fields of Ourique, all seeking the glory of killing the prince themselves. Afonso was on his last legs and running as fast as he could carry himself in his heavy armor, but he couldn't hope to escape. It says that once he lost his breath and was exhausted nearly to his limit, he turned on his pursuers to fight them to the death with his war-sword." Komui took another periodic sip of his coffee. "He was obviously no match for them all, let alone seventy soldiers. After a ferocious match between them, Afonso was near death with still sixty soldiers left standing with his army still fighting in the distance. As he was about to be finished off, Afonso's chest began to glow with what's described as a 'holy light', that enwrapped Afonso and seemed to confide with him. Taken off-guard at first, the soldier that was to be his executioner quickly tried to kill Afonso with his sword, but it's written in the legend that 'the hand of God came down to protect Afonso, transferring his armor to the defense that would suit a fortress, but with the lightness of a feather of merely the most whimsical bird.'. In short, the soldiers that weren't scared off by the light and stood to fight Afonso were all killed; their swords bouncing off his armor and arrows merely reflected to the ground. The Order wants you three to go to its last known location, which is told at the end of the legend to reside in a castle in Southern Portugal named 'Almourol Castle', as a fail-safe the Knights Templar created incase they were overrun." He let out a breath of relief, the story finally over.
Immediately, Dairu asked a follow-up question, "Do we have any schematics for this mission, of the castle?"
"Yes, they're right here, if you want to take a look at them." Komui took some aging, but still viable, parchment out of a pile on his desk, which Dairu took when offered by hand. "You'll have some time to look over these schematics, so try and plan accordingly for the mission. As far as we can tell, there have been no recent visitors or any events for Almourol, so you'll be in a free-zone to do as you'd like. However, please consider the fact that the castle is a land-mark, so try and not to destroy it completely." He adjusted his glasses, "The last thing we need is the Portuguese government developing a vendetta against the Order. Anyways, you're all dismissed."
Dairu responded, "They followed a path of bread-crumbs, essentially. That's how they track down Innocences, most of the time. They compare legends…" He moved a painting out of the way to peak behind it, "… And compare them to real-life events. This process goes on and on, which is why, most of the time, the Departments are total wrecks with books and papers. They… 'try to correlate legend with actual scientific theories', to put it in the words of Science Director Reever Wenhamm. They look through book after book after book, day after day, looking for these strange events. If they can find a match in modern history, such as accidents or happenings, then they send a Finder to look over the event in the local areas, if he cannot find the Innocence alone. Then, if the story proves true or needs more investigating in a likely event of probability, they send a squad of Exorcists."
Afonso was scurrying through a box of jewels, examining each for some kind of glow to them. "So basically, shoot and try not to miss?" Hearing a reluctant sigh of approval from Dairu, Afonso grew a smirk on his face, victorious, "Knew it."
The search continued for another minute, until finally Dairu opened the only cabinet, it as big as two men. Fear began to rise out of him, muttering "Is it possible that the Innocence was taken already?..." He looked to Afonso, whom seemed to be more puzzled then actually concerned about the missing Innocence. With this Afonso began to shuffle, nearly dance around, the cabinet, his eyes comparing each side. He reached inside the cabinet and drew his fingers against the ancient wood. Finally, Dairu had to ask, "What in the world are you doing? Shouldn't we be looking downstairs for the Innocence?"
Afonso smiled again, like a sly fox, replying "Oh, but we don't have to. Tell me: if you were in the possession of a powerful and frightful weapon like the Innocence, that should never see the dark of battle, would you simply place it out in front like all these worldly items here?"
Dairu raised an eyebrow in confusion, but went along. "No…"
Afonso pointed from his head to Dairus with a single finger, "And that's the trick." His left foot entered the dark cabinet carefully, and a thump was heard. Afonso put his hands to the upper corners of the cabinet, and pulled out. In his hands was a large plank of wood, and behind that was a sudden release of light that overtook the shadows of the room in front of it, causing Dairu to put a hand in front of his closing eyes. The suit of armor was here! The legends were true! "Walla. The armor of Afonso Henriques himself; Innocence and all."
Outside, the battle was steadily reaching its climax. Joseph was barely defending and pushing the Akuma he was sparring with back, against the relentless and pounding blows it inflicted against his weapon. Krory was still tangling with the second-level Akuma, whom were more coordinated now that they didn't have to deal with more then one target. Krory, landing on the wall in a less then perfect fashion, snarled in frustration. I'm running out of blood, fast. He looked back to the pouches in his robe, and only saw one canteen left with Akuma blood inside. He cursed his bad luck, Joseph's bad luck, and everyone's bad-luck. The Akuma were fast, instead of charging in at random as per usual, they were trying to stall for time while keeping him divided from Joe. When it comes down to it, they needed help right now, but they had no idea where the rest of the team was.
Krory looked down, trying to catch his breath. In his mind, a fearful postulation occurred: Could they… have been killed? Was this a trap all along?! He could only barely stop himself from moving to go inside the castle. Torn, his options were to stay here and almost certainly allow one of them to get seriously injured or even killed, or he was to abandon Joseph to go get Dairu. However, that too meant one of them was to die, for if he left, the Akuma would surely take advantage immediately and move in for the kill. His face was fading from red, and his time was running out. He looked down to Joseph, his heart throbbing in his chest, seeing that Joseph was now being pushed further back by what seemed to be an unstoppable assault of twists, turns and clashes. His hands twitched, and he grabbed the last flask.
Joseph now barely parried every blow, and the flaunts and taunts that the Akuma made were unmatched. And he realized, just now, he should have listened to Dairu and practiced more while at the Headquarters. In his mind, ragged from broken concentration and stressed from reliance on reflexes and speedy reactions, he made a promise to himself and to Dairu, that he would practice as long as possible, whenever possible if they got out of this mess. If. He heard the Akuma cackle in delight, and he swung down on it with a horizontal slash.
However, this was to be an error. The Akuma caught the blow with feet dug into the ground, knees bent and bulavas' crossed in a sort of X, with the giant sword rested on top. Joseph moved to re-step and move away, but as if the Akuma had known this was going to happen, it caught Joseph's sword in a sort of pincer that refused to give way. A wicked smile cracked upon the face of the demon, and it yelled while laughing triumphantly, "Now, you die!" It lifted its left bulava into the air behind it, and swung down. The hand stopped suddenly, and the Akuma grunted in surprise. Krory had appeared from out of nowhere, caught the bulava in the air and ripped it from the demon's hand, and landed behind. He swung around, and his left fist slammed into the demon's back, sending it flying from the battle into a wall. The other Akuma, some level twos still mounted on level ones, rushed in to attack the Exorcists.
"Quickly!" Krory yelled, and he threw the bulava at the lead Akuma in the charging group, knocking it off its stead with a sharp growl of pain. Krory grabbed Joseph by the scruff, the sword still in the boy's hand, and ran towards the castle entrance. The Akuma followed, albeit they were slowed down by shock that the Exorcist would have been able to actually hit one of them so accurately at a distance like so. Krory had them in the back of his mind, his breathing becoming sharper and sharper as they fled. He looked passively at his left arm, seeing that there were sort of pentacles starting to show on his wrist and gaining color to his upper arm and hand. Dammit! He growled in his mind, With my body being strained like this, my Innocence can't properly break down continuous amounts of the poison! They heard shots fire behind them as they entered the castle's door, with only rocks flying behind them as they escaped into the darkness. However, with only their senses to guide them in this total blackness, and no moonlight to help, they couldn't help but run into Dairu and Afonso as both groups turned the corner.
Both struck back, they landed on their bottoms with surprised yelps. Krory's eyes adjusted all of a sudden, seeing that Dairu was holding a lit torch in his left hand to be able to illuminate through the dark halls. Afonso was already picking himself up, with him he brought Dairu and Krory. Joseph was still in Krory's right arm, dazed from the force of the flight they took. Dairu looked down the way that Krory came from, seeing the light of the moon in the courtyard. He could see distant hints of rubble, albeit he was too far to be sure. "What's left?"
Krory answered, "We managed to destroy at least twelve Akuma in all, but there's still a varied number of eighteen left." He held up his canteen, dropping it posthumously to the floor, "I'm out of Akuma blood on hand, and my Innocence can't keep up with the amounts I keep taking in." He stretched out his arm to pull back the sleeve, revealing the small, fade pentagrams on his arms. "You'd better get some ideas, because we're running out of time."
Dairu, shocked as well as concerned by the sight of pentagrams, rubbed the temple of his forehead. He looked from each Exorcist to the next, and finally to Aloisio. He hummed slightly, and looked back to them. A serious glare upon his face, he asked, "Can you all run?"
The remaining Akuma gathered in the air above the castle, as before with the level ones being the steeds. A monkey-like Akuma called from a few feet away to another Akuma, designed as a hat, "Do we have another plan?"
The hat snickered, and replied, "I don't know, what does the leader say about this?"
The two Akuma broke out laughing hysterically, while back on the ground the impish Akuma rose from the rubble of the wall he destroyed. He growled, rubbing off Akuma blood from his chin. "That bastard…" He looked up the others, yelling, "Why aren't you going in after them?!"
The monkey Akuma jubilantly called down, nearly breaking out in laughter again, "Well, sir, maybe you should think of another brilliant plan to get us out of this!" The two roared in laughter again, in hysterics at their partner's embarrassment.
The impish demon on the ground felt his eye twitch, and he screamed at the top of his voice, "Shut the fuck up, you dumb pieces of shit! Or, so may the Earl help me, I'll kill both of you right now!" It grabbed the bulava by it side, the one that it held onto when it was sent flying, and stormed forward in a march. The imp approached the fallen Akuma that led the charge, seeing it still alive with the imp's bulava still lodged inside a gushing wound in its chest cavity.
The Akuma reached up weakly, trying to grab onto the imp's ankle. "H… help me."
The imp, looking down with scornful eyes, grabbed the hilt of the bulava and ripped it clean out of the gigantic wound. In a fit of anger, the imp slammed its re-acquired bulava directly into the wounded Akuma's skull. The blow sent a wave of blood and fragmented inner Akuma skull like a small explosion, splattering across the imp's body and decorating its bulava in red. Growling, with hatred in its eyes, "I will hunt you both down, and I will fucking destroy you for that trick!"
"Steady…" Dairu said calmly. Krory's feet slid down, sweat dropping from his forehead in concentration. Dairu held his hand up, looking outside to the courtyard. Aloisio held for dear life onto the Romanian man's back, and on his back was the ever-ready Joseph, whom had his Innocence held tight like a lance. Dairu was to hoof it, unfortunately. With almost a sense of regret of the action, he let his arm fall. "Go!"
Krory released the tension in his legs, rocketing himself out into the colder air of the night. Immediately, he and his entourage were met with volley after volley of Akuma bullets, falling from the sky like rain and smashing into the stones of the yard. With fragments falling onto his face, Krory kept on running. The yard's distance was very small, so it only took a few seconds to reach the wall.
Dairu kept a steady eye from the door, muttering "Now, here's the hard part for them…" He ran out of the keep, taking advantage of the Akuma's distraction with Krory.
Krory's legs bounded for the wall until he stopped directly in front of it. Jumping to place right in front of the wall, he used his momentum to launch once more into the air, but not straight into it, but right over the wall. With the feeling of weightlessness and uncertainty all around him, Krory could only hope that Dairu thought this through completely. With that, the earth beckoned him downwards, and himself unable to resist, he fell back down with greater speed. He landed after the few seconds from the leap into the air, on the other side of the Tagus River, on both his legs. Aloisio let out an "Umph!" from the harsh force, and Joseph yelped in pain from Aloisio's head hitting his jaw. Krory felt their pain; his legs were howling in protest from the stern ground they fell on.
Behind them, they heard not another volley of bullets, but… a primal-sort of yell. As the three turned to face this yell, it grew louder until the shadow emitting the yell finally descended unto them. A mace swiped at Krory's face, narrowly dodged. Aloisio and Joseph both lost their grip from the moving Krory was doing, dropping to the dirt behind him. Another mace was swung to attack Krory's hip, and he barely caught that one with his hand. The mace's owner grunted, struggling against the Exorcist's grip. Krory's finally adjusted to the sudden speed, seeing the attacker's familiar, demonized face. "You…!" Arystar whispered, his eyes meeting with the imp's.
The imp cackled, hissing "You're mine now, you filthy human." The imp let go of the bulava in its right hand, allowing the hand to grab onto Krory's wrist, whose hand was holding the bulava in place. The Exorcist gasped in surprise, trying to wrench free. The imp retaliated with a trying head-butt to Krory, which he received with its full blunt.
The strangest and most dizzying of colors and ultimate blackness flashed before Krory's eyes, morphing the world into a sort of painting that had no meaning but confusion. His grip failed on the right bulava, leaving him dangling by the imp's grip.
The imp raised its left bulava in what seemed the third time this night, roarng "Now die!" and swung downwards to its captured prey. The imp's mouth nearly dropped with saliva, thrill of the kill it was about to make, but stopped with a jolt of surprising origin. Looking behind its back, the imp saw something peculiar: a chain and a sort of object wrapped around the bulava. Tugging on the bulava to find the source of the chain, the imp saw that nearly fifty feet away was another Exorcist, in the same red and black uniform, holding onto his arm and the weapon on it for dear life.
The tanned young man, drenched in water, shouted in an unusual vigor of what seems to be a usually calm person, "Get away from him, right this instant! I will be your opponent in place!"
The imp blinked for a moment in surprise, then let out a terrible laugh. The other Akuma joined in, seeing and hearing everything that just happened. The imp slowed it's laughing, saying "You're just a boy! If this one couldn't handle me alone, how do you think you could stand a chance to me?" Looking around slightly, a victorious grin was implanted on its face, "Hell, even that other runt with the giant sword was no match for me." The Exorcist merely stood his ground, not responding at all to the imp's jeers. The imp licked its lips, stating "You know, I have to wonder about one thing: We didn't find any sort of Innocence around here, but we were told for sure that one would be here. However, all we found was you." The grin deepened like a sort of accusation of guilt, continuing, "Did you find it, perhaps? Perhaps…" The imp's free-hand grabbed hold of the chain immobilizing his weapon, "… you took it."
The tanned boy simply blinked, but it was obvious that under this sort of agitated exterior, there was a tang of worry.
Dairu knows that he isn't much of a strong person, physically. He barely did any sort of muscular training while in his home in Ottoman Palestine, instead being forced to focus on basic but crude military strategy and sword-play. He didn't do any at all in Berlin, instead focusing by choice on the arts, linguistics and history. Now, being faced with a giant imp that was twice his size and obviously proficient in its weapons wasn't exactly the problem. The problem was that he was attached to one of its weapons. Reflecting for a second as the imp spoke, Perhaps this wasn't the best of ideas…He had to keep a cool exterior, though, for as long as possible. Even an errant twitch of his face, a small look of his eyes could set off these demons, and he knew it well from stories passed by his fellow Exorcists.
The imp spoke in a more sinister tone then before, and Dairu tuned in finely to the next sentence, "We didn't find any sort of Innocence around here, but we were told for sure that one would be here. However, all we found was you. Did you find it, perhaps? Perhaps…" The imp slowed its sentence, and Dairu felt the hand it placed on the chain. The grip was strong, as he had feared. However, his fears of the strength of the demon's grip were nothing in comparison to what he felt after the demon broke the small silence, "… you took it."
Dairu's heart skipped, and sweat began to form on the pores on his head. This is bad; this is very, very bad. Dairu moved his hand to the holster on his pants' leg. He thumbed the switch inside his weapon carefully, thinking in anxiety and worry. If he discovers that Joseph has the Innocence… He blinked again, changing his minds' gears. No! I have to stall for him as long as possible! Licking his lips, he responded, "I have no idea what you're talking about."
The imp cackled in its own response to the response to its question. Its arm then swung and pulled the chain, causing Dairu to lose his footing to the strength of the chain. With little time and little of a position to respond in, Dairu pulled the blade from his leg pocket and pressed the button in his Innocence. The distance between the two shrank until they were so close to each other that they could smell each others' despised breathes. With a sickening hiss of discovery and taunt, the imp said "Well now, human… there's me, you, and that other Exorcist over there. You had two others with you before, if I recall. Does one of them have the Innocence?"
Using every single fiber of personal power between his mind and his face, he kept his gaze unflinching and resolved to nothingness. He dug his feet into the ground instead, his blade positioned toward the imp's lower, unprotected torso and the chain still attached to the bulava.
However, these attempts were far too much in vain as the imp spoke again, in realization, "Ah, so one of them does, huh? And you're just trying to stall for time, even though you're far too weak to handle anything stronger then a first level Akuma?"
Dairu's eyes buldged, Shit! He cursed in anger in his mind. "How…" Dairu whispered fiercely, keeping the blade strongly in hand and the bulava positioned away with rigorous intent.
The imp Akuma cackled in light of his intellectual victory, sliding its left foot over the dirt of the fertile ground near the river. The sinister grin let loose a sly retort, "You humans are so easy to read, don't you know? Always keeping your emotions caged incase you've got something to hide, and when it's revealed, you all always act so surprised." It took its eyes off of Dairu, looking to the horde of Akuma behind it that were spectating the event. "Go into the forest! You'll find two humans along with the Innocence. One of them is an Exorcist," The imp winked in play, "but he isn't a very good one at all."
The Akuma raised a cheer of blood-thirst, some laughing insanely. The first leveled simply broke formation to do as what their apparent leader ordered them to.
Dairu screamed, "No!" and pulled the Akuma's bulava past his body. The imp was pulled forward by the sudden leap of strength Dairu called upon with his emotions infuriated, and lost its footing in the somewhat muddy ground. The knife met the imp's exposed lower torso, slicing straight through its outer non-armored shell. The imp gasped in pain, grabbing Dairu's arm. There they were, stuck in a sort of dance of a grotesque dance by evisceration, the Akuma's face frozen with shock while Dairu tried to push the knife deeper inside.
The Akuma coughed downwards, the dark black-purple blood splattering into the dirt. The imps' eyes blinked, snapping out of the temporary shock. With blood dripping down the blade in small drops, the wound wasn't so much of a fatal wound, but more like a glancing blow. The Akuma's voiced cracked in annoyance, "You bastard…! Do you think you can defeat me with that, that little butter knife?!" The imps' voice rose as it cracked with pain, coming to a roar that nearly split Dairu's ears open. The imp mimicked what Dairu did to stab it and nearly pulled his right arm out of its socket. With the knife still in its body, the imp slammed its left knee directly into Dairu's chin, pulling on his arm, and began to struggle to free its bulava from the Innocence's chain.
Joseph and Aloisio ran as fast as they could through the Iberian forest, passing Portuguese Oak trees in abundance. Their boots smacked the ground like pounding fists of leather as they ran, and their hearts beated much faster than that. Through the woods they ran, with Aloisio taking point and Joseph following quickly behind with a sort of metal breast-plate in his arms. Aloisio turned his head, seeing no one behind them. However, he saw the strained look on Joseph's face, already reddened from lack of breath. Knowing what would happen next, Aloisio quickly grabbed Joseph's arm, catching him before he fell to the ground in exhaustion. Aloisio, himself Portuguese, could not understand Joseph's whispers in Italian, so he had to resort to trying to resolve him in English. "Joseph, listen to me." His other hand grabbed the boy's shoulder, trying to gather his attention, "We need to keep going. Dairu said he was going to get Krory out of there somehow, so we need to trust him."
Joseph murmed, "Dairu…" while trying to gather the strength to move again. His legs were weary, and his arms were still in pain from the blows he had to endure from the duel he had with the level two Akuma he foolishly took on. His hands were wrapped around the breastplate as if his arms had become cast-iron and bolted, his Innocence back in its deactivated form to loosen the weight he had to carry.
Aloisio took the breastplate from Joseph's hands, and knelt down. "Get on my back; I'll get us to the meeting-point faster this way."
Joseph didn't move in the slightest, blinking in a state of lost-thought; not even speaking in response.
Aloisio reached back and squeezed Joseph's shoulder, getting the small boy's attention. He looked deep into the boys eyes, saying "Joseph, I know you can hardly understand me, but I have to ask you, as an Exorcist of the Black Order and as a fellow being: Please trust me." Joseph blinked in surprise, taken-aback. Finally, the boy nodded out of his shell-shock, and stood up in full. Kneeling down, he felt the weight of Joseph descend on his back, and hugged the breast plate to his chest to protect it equally.
As his left foot was about to hit the ground to begin the run again, an explosion comparable to that of a large cannon flowered behind him. With the dirt that splattered into the air, Aloisio and his charges were sent about ten feet through the air to a rough landing on the ground. In the trees above, several intimidating shapes clouded the skies, on which demons with eyes seeming to glow sat. Then, hideous cackles of near-perverted pleasure rang from every direction, with demons slowly falling from the trees all around them like spiders from webs of wood and trunk. Any human being would feel a sense of eeriness and overwhelming fear, and Aloisio and Joseph just happened to be those two human beings. Aloisio stepped back, but stepped back into place once more when he realized that no matter where he would back up, he would face death. And that, he thought to himself, no healthy human being should ever be thinking: death at every move, no matter what you do. On his back, he felt Joseph's grip slipping slightly, but gave it no mind.
A star-shaped Akuma learched forward, a manic and unbelievably evil face it had. "So, he was right after all! There's the Innocence, right in that human's hands!" It pointed its left edge like a hand right towards Aloisio, where he kept the breastplate safely clenched to his chest. "I'm getting it first!" It squealed with glee, moving menacingly forward as it floated.
A gorilla-sort-of-shaped Akuma slammed its large fists down in a sort of primal rage, protesting with a roar of challenge, "Why should you get the Innocence?! I should get it; I haven't gotten to fight this whole damn mission! All I got to do was just jump around and keep that Exorcist distracted!" This lured more protests and challenges from the other level two demons, showing the draw-backs of intelligence, even controlled. The demon's encirclement began to break up as they Akuma lost their ability to focus.
Aloisio, daftly taking his chances, bolted immediately through the nearest opening and ran to dangerous freedom, leaving behind a group that was divided amongst itself in which the nightmarish encirclement could not stand.
Once again, the Finder was running for his life. His boots slapped the ground once more in its hardened beat, and he was weighed down by his two charges. His training as a Finder for Portugal told him that the forests were not nearly as large as others, so if he kept running he would find an exit to this cursed maze of haze and moonlight. However, he began to feel Joseph's hand tugging at the back of his hair, almost like a rider telling his horse to stop. Surprised but always diligent, Aloisio slowed to a stop.
Joseph had finally come fully out of shock of the events that happened around him, out of the fact that they had no choice but to leave what surmounted to practically his own brother behind. He knew of the stories of the ferocity and hellishness of the Akuma, but nothing he could have heard of could have ever prepared him for the actual thing. He just wasn't like that, as he knew with shame. He acted tough and spoke with a tone normally as sharp as a knife, but he knew he wasn't nearly as sharp as one or nearly as tough as he acted. What really filled him with shame was that he was being carried like an injured boy, away from his friends and abandoning the mission like cowardly dogs in the face of bigger, tougher dogs. But his body wouldn't respond, because he just couldn't believe he was doing this in the first place. He just couldn't. But then, Aloisio helped drag him a little bit out of his shock by telling him something that made him focus. He couldn't understand much, but he understood that he was talking about Dairu and what he did to help Krory and let them escape. Joseph began to think to himself that perhaps it was too late; perhaps his friend was dead already. His mind yelled back with a defiant denial, causing his body to once again spring to action.
With a tug of Aloisio's brown hair in his hand, he got the Finder to stop running to listen, so he said, "Dobbiamo tornare da Dairu e Krory! Non li lascerò indietro!" We need to go back to Dairu and Krory! I won't leave him behind!
Aloisio raised his eyebrows, confused. He stammered, "I- I'm sorry, but I don't understand Italian."
Knowing what Aloisio just said since he has heard it so many times before, Joseph gave an aggravated sigh of disbelief. He pointed his finger at the ground, saying with impact, "Lasciami andare! Lasciami! Ora!" Let me down. Down! He pointed again, his arm practically waving from the urgency he did it. With hesitancy, Aloisio followed the boy's lead and let him down to the ground from his back. With the universal motion of agreement of nodding, Joseph continued on to point towards the way they went, his arm an extension of his soul.
Aloisio looked the way he went, his eyes bulged. "You want to go back that way?! Why?!"
Joseph looked back into his eyes, determined. ""Dobbiamo prendere Dairu e Krory!" We need to get Dairu and Krory!Getting the hang of trying to get his point around with Aloisio, he repeated just their names, "Dairu and Krory" slowly, making Aloisio look behind him, away from Joseph, covering his mouth in exasperated thinking.
He turned back after a moment of thinking and crouched down so he could talk face-to-face with Joseph, holding his shoulders to look him too in the eyes directly. Aloisio was surprised to see that the empty eyes he saw before were gone, replaced with eyes filled with complete determination. The crickets in the distance chirped and sang, and with their rhythm he realized that despite everything that they would face, every argument he would bring up, every obstacle they would face, that Joseph would never, ever abandon Dairu, and now Krory. Sighing in regret of what he is about to do, he followed the rules of ranks in the Order and followed the Exorcist's request. As he knelt down, he muttered absent-mindedly, "Well, 'Sir Exorcist', I have a feeling I am going to regret this for the rest of my life…"
The Akuma were still squabbling like a mad-house of debaters, going back and forth with their own accounts of what happened or what should happen, or even their own battles-stories, albeit exaggerated.
However, one Akuma among them was simply standing there among them, befuddled about what it just saw. "Did the Exorcist just get away with the Innocence…?" It muttered, and twisted its head in disbelief and looked in disbelief at its partners. The level ones were floating as stupidly as ever and the level two were arguing, as the lion-formed Akuma could only summarize as, a bunch of dipshits. Knowing it couldn't take on the Exorcist by itself, the lion Akuma let in an enormous breath and let out a thunderous roar into the forest, aimed at the group around it.
All the demons were rattled by this, turning to their counter-part with angered and confused glares. One yelled, "What the hell was that for?!" with its voice nearly breaking from anger.
The lion Akuma pointed its clawed hand toward the other end of the forest in the distance, screaming, "The Exorcist just ran off with the Innocence, you morons!" The rest of the Akuma were taken aback, but before one could start another blaming fight, the lion quickly used what wit it was granted, and used reverse-psychology as it continued on to growl, "I don't know about you all, but I am going to get that Innocence for the Earl myself!"
The other Akuma were outraged now, and the star-shaped Akuma began to float higher in the air, probably from its emotional state. It shouted out, "Like hell you will! That glory is mine!" And it flew off ahead of them. The rest followed, yelling their own profanity-laced instigations as they began to hunt for the Exorcist once more with the ever-more stoic level ones in tow, albeit slowly like floating slabs of metal.
The star cackled maniacally, its eyes glowing with enormous greed. I'll get there first, no doubt! I'm the fastest of all these losers! The star was moving so fast, however, that it failed to notice its target right below it. The targets failed to notice the star as well, both going their separate ways.
End of chapter nineteen. This story will be picked up in chapter twenty-one due to it's incredible length. However, in twenty, we will be focusing on Allen, Lenalee and Yoshimata's mission in Saint Petersburg, Russia.