So. a bit of a skip. we're at Kvar's place now. You know, sneaking through the 'ecsape route...' "eh?" '... nothing.. .most places like this have an emergancy exit.' that bit. we're skipping a little further, but shrug.
In anycase, there's a warning in this chapter. It's down a bit. You shouldn't be able to miss it.
December 21st
"We need to split up into two groups." Raine says, showing the paths on the holographic screen. "One group to take out Kvar, who is blocked off due to a locking mechanism. The second group will take care of the locking mechanism while rescuing the.. prisoners." They knew now. Experiments, or Hosts, was the name to call the people at the ranch. Prisoners felt better to say. "Colette... you choose." Daichi was looking a bit edgy, wondering when they'd round on him with questions. Colette blinks, and turns, looking over them all. Kratos was smiling, through the blood of the unfortunate two Desians that had gotten in their way, his eyes bright. Lloyd was looking about, mostly on the second door, then her. Genis was watching Raine and the computer, and Raine and Sheena were watching her. Aurian was looking anywhere but at her or the others, or the door. Shikka was looking kinda pensive, in lion form, blood on his paws. Piers was clean, but Daichi was as splattered as Kratos.
"Umm..." Kratos's abstract attention shifted to Colette, and she shivered. "How about... Lloyd chooses!" she looked ashamed and relieved when Kratos's attention shifted to Lloyd. There definitely seemed something not right with the man now. Lloyd blinks as he realizes Colette shifted the responsibility to him, again, and thinks.
"I'm on Kvar's team." Lloyd says, taking a step or two over.
"I'm with Lloyd. I can elemental shift to Spirit Magic." Piers says. Kratos takes a few steps, and stands very pointedly next to Lloyd.
"Uh, yeah, Kratos and Piers with me." Lloyd looks at the rest, thinking. "Genis, you and the Professor on the other team. We'll need the smarts and healing for them.... Shikka, you and Daichi too, on that team." Lloyd looks at the remaining three. "Colette... please go with the Sages." Colette blinks and smiles, moving.
"What about Aurian and Sheena?" Piers asks.
"With us." Lloyd says, sighing. "Aurian's been here, before, once that she remembers, and Kvar's said that he caught her. I don't think he'd lie about that, it's his job... so, if we get lost..." Aurian is clinging to her glaive, but she moves over.
"I can find.. him again.." she was still clearly scared of Kvar.
Piers pulls out his staff. "Let's go..."
"Wait." Raine says. "It's nearly midnight, and we've been up since dawn." Kratos blinks, seemingly coming back to the real world by the way his smile drops away. "We should hole up for the remainder of the night." Aurian blinks rapidly, and then moves for one of the doors.
"Why do these ranches have so many weird systems?" Lloyd shouts, annoyed as he cuts down a robot, following Aurian.
"It feels like this one has even more annoying ones than the others..."Kratos mutters, slicing through a Desian.
"It's to prevent intruders."Raine sighs."It's only natural that it's designed to prevent easy progress."
"but we don't have time to be goofing around here!" Lloyd shouts.
Daichi rolls his eyes. "Get me to a terminal, I'll see what I can do about the automated systems."
"It would be so much easier if we could simply cut our way through..." Kratos's voice has an odd note to it as he says this. The smile was back.
"Settle down, both of you." Raine snaps. "What's wrong, Kratos? This isn't like you." Kratos blinks at her, and abruptly drops the smile, but his eyes are still a vivid red. Both swordsmen are silent. "Daichi, we'll see about that in the morning." Daichi grunts in acknowledgement, looting a corpse.
"that Kvar guy has to pay." Lloyd mutters. "That's all."
"Indeed." Kratos sounds a bit more of his normal now. "We cannot allow him to remain unchecked."
"At any rate, you must stay calm, and don't do anything rash." Kratos blinks as something he would normally say comes from Raine, but they reached Aurian. A storage room.
Daichi instantly heads to a crate. "Jackpot." He mumbles, pulling a bottle of pills out. the rest merely make themselves as comfortable as possible, although when Kratos starts pulling out his bedroll, Raine stops him.
"Clean up." Kratos apparently hadn't noticed he was bloody, and with a blink, moves off to a corner to take care of what he could without raiding a Desian bathroom. Aurian curls up in a corner, holding her head. she is not happy with being here. Shikka settles in the centre of the room, cleaning himself, purring lightly. Colette moves to go sit with Aurian, trying to cheer her up. Lloyd's cleaning, and sharpening his blades, and when Kratos has cleaned himself up, he does the same, with his long sword, a shorter one from his pack, and a set of daggers. Raine tells Daichi to do the same before he pulls out his bedroll. Daichi uses Aqua to clean himself. Piers snuggles against Shikka. After a while, when most of the room seems to be asleep, or as asleep as they can get in the current situation, Kratos gets up.
"Going to get re.... go to the bathroom." he mutters. His eyes are bright red in the dim glow that Aurian's magic has created.
Daichi watches, the pills beginning to affect him. "It's not safe to go alone..."
Kratos was smiling again. "I'll be more than fine." he mutters, a little too cheerily, as he slips out. Daichi seems emotionless. it takes hours for Kratos to return, and when he does, he's got a nice amount of blood on him. and the smile was getting wider.
"What were you doing?" Daichi asks.
"I couldn't find a bathroom." Kratos says, a little cheerily. "But I ran into some fun."
"You went to kill. Were you followed?"
"I killed them too." Kratos says with a shrug, the smile staying in place. he started humming a tiny bit, something that sounded like 'happy birthday', his attention wandering to something that wasn't real to the rest of them. Daichi frowns, his normally green eyes showing hints of red. For all intents and purposes, Kratos leaning against the crate he had chosen to do so against, was asleep, with a smile and blood on his face, and traces of 'happy birthday' being hummed from time to time.
December 22nd
Raine wasn't thrilled when she woke and found that Kratos was bloody again, but Kratos refused to clean himself on the grounds of 'why bother? I'll be getting bloody again shortly.' Raine scowled, but Genis quickly interrupted them with a handful of fruits and breads for breakfast. They weren't going to risk trying to cook anything. Daichi isn't hungry. Nor has he slept. Kratos took an apple, but once they had turned around, he stuffed in it his pack. Lloyd ate a bit, though not as much as he normally would, and Aurian ate a piece of bread. Colette ate the crust off one, and then passed it to Lloyd. Genis ate his normal amount, under Raine's watchful eye. Piers and Shikka eat normally.
"Kvar team, wait an hour after killing him to destroy the ranch, and set a silent 30 minute timer. That way, we'll be sure that we'll all be out of the ranch in time." Raine says. Kratos was staring at the door, a hand over his smile, Lloyd and Sheena nod at her instructions, and Aurian was twitching, looking everywhere but at them. "If you aren't out by tomorrow, we'll come for you." Piers is serious for once, Daichi emotionless.
"Ok."
"All right."
"y-yes."
"..."
".. let's get going." Raine sighs, the lights winked out and then the parties split. Aurian, her ears flicking, lead the way, as Kratos killed every single Desian within his reach. Lloyd was watching him warily, apparently having finally noted the man's smile and bright red eyes. Sheena made sure to be one person away from him. Piers, although saving his magic for later, used defensive spells. they reach a room with a inactive teleportation pad. Lloyd walks over, an stomps on it.
"Nope. Still locked." Kratos appears to be humming to himself. Lloyd gives him a wary glance. "Hey, you all right?" Kratos blinks over and down at him, his smile flickering, but then staying strong.
"Yes. Everything is all right." Kratos says, looking about the room.
Piers sighs. "How do reactivate the pad?"
"that's what Raine's team is for." Sheena says. "The computer said there was a lock to Kvar's location, this must be the lock."
"..um.." Aurian was pointing to a door that had just opened.
"..." Kratos looks at it, and Lloyd grins.
"He's through there!" Lloyd runs for it, and it starts closing.
"Lloyd! Wait!" Piers runs after. Lloyd lunges through the gap before Kratos can do more than turn and take a step, Aurian shouting that Kvar was a crazy bastard, and he wanted Lloyd, so Lloyd shouldn't go, and Sheena whirling, startled. Piers manages to get through the gap too, stumbling, using his staff to balance. The door slams shut behind them. Once it shuts, Aurian's voice vanishes, as does any footsteps from the others.
Lloyd gets up, and thumps on it. "Hello?"
Piers grunts, dazed. "Fool." No response. Lloyd thumps it once more, before turning, and offering a hand to Piers.
"well.. Hallway. One way to go now." he looks down it, and draws one of his blades. Piers rolls his eyes, following Lloyd. Lloyd draws the other one.
Kratos stared at the door, his smile faltering. Aurian was looking quickly about, her wide eyes flicking across the walls. ".. you know a way on." Aurian flinched, and nodded. "Show me." She nods again, and rushes for a point at the wall, her thin hands working.
The hall is long, with no doors, no windows, and no Desians. Eventually, a door at the end. Piers is tensed. "I hope you know what you're doing Lloyd..."
"Finding Kvar." Lloyd says. The door opens before Lloyd gets close enough to touch it. Pillars of glowing liquid cast an eerie green glow in the room, ranks and ranks of them. Lloyd steps in, and then gasps. Humans, in the ratty clothes and metal collars of the ranch prisoners, floated in them, their faces pained.
The staff Piers holds glows with the spirit energy. It glows darker than usual. "These people have suffered..." Other than the tubes with humans in them, there doesn't seem to be any sort of lighting in the room, nor anyone else in it. The other end has a row of 7, smaller pillars, one thick one the center.
"this... what.. is this...?" Lloyd's walking down the aisle. "They're... humans..."
"This is the factory." a cold, formal voice calls out.
"Factory? For Exspheres?"
"Of course." A man walks from behind the largest pillar, holding a ring-headed staff, clad in dark blue, with gold shoulder pads, and bloody red gloves. His hair was platinum blond - Kvar. "You must remember your last visit - Exsphere's, those very stones you use, are born from human lives. This is where I trade the worthless for that with worth."
"I don't use Exspheres. And Lloyd doesn't abuse the sacrifice." Piers says. Lloyd has looked aside at the wrong moment - one of the men next to him gave out a breathe of bubbles, a dark blue gem burrowing out of his neck.
"I should hope not. That is my Angelus Sphere he's using. My perfect Exsphere." his dark eyes flick to one side as a projector opens and shows a busty green haired woman.
"... So this is Lloyd." the woman says. "I see, he does bear a resemblance."
"Angelus... Isn't that what Kratos asked Daichi about?" Piers whispers to Lloyd.
"Kratos asked Daichi about something called Angelus?" Lloyd asks, looking confused.
"I'm glad you can get back to me, but I wish you wouldn't change the subject, Pronyma! It's clear you've been stealing research data from my Angelus Project!"
"I grow tired of your accusations, Kvar. As I have told you, I know nothing of it."
Piers rolls his eyes. "When we first met up with them."
"If that was in Triet, then I wasn't there." Lloyd reminds Piers.
"Stubborn woman. I suppose I should expect no less from one who usurped the leadership of the Five Grand Cardinals." Kvar continues. "Take heed, Pronyma. Once I retrieve the Exsphere from this inferior being, I will become the Leader of the Five Grand Cardinals. When that happens, you'll be begging for my forgiveness."
"Oh, yeah. You were playing in the ambiguously camp fortress."
".. ambiguously camp...?" Lloyd asks, confused.
"You speak nonsense, Kvar. I've also heard that Rodyle has talked you into joining him in one of his schemes. But it would be best not to believe you can deceive Lord Yggdrasill for long." she vanishes.
"So, the Mana Cannon is no longer a secret." Kvar mutters. "Well, it doesn't matter."
"Yeah. Suspiciously gay, in other words."
"Oh! do you have any cousins with blue hair in a pony tail like this." Lloyd puts a blade away to mime having his hair in a flop over his right eye, then in a tail down to his ass. "that wear cloaks black on the outside, and bright red on the inside, with gold tassels on the lower edge?"
"Once I get that Exsphere..." Kvar looks at the teens.
"You'll look fabulous?" Piers asks.
"Naw, his face is too ugly." Lloyd says. "But this guy, he had blue hair. and you're the only one I know with blue hair, so you're probably related. Except he was all 'Next time we meet, Lloyd Irving, you'll be mine.' Shikka thinks his taste in clothes is too bad to be related to you."
"..." Kvar has a throbbing temple.
"I am inclined to agree. Too golden. Yuk."
"Wait. are we talking about Kvar, or this guy I met at the ... 'ambiguously camp fortress'? Because I was talking about the guy there. but yeah, all that blue and gold don't go together. Silver'd be better. even with all the white lining." Lloyd says, looking at Kvar. "It also clashes with his hair. White hair and gold shoulder things... not so good."
"Yeah. Kvar IS a fashion disaster." Piers mutters. "I prefer my villains to have a sense of style."
"Magnius was ok. Although, the tiny vest didn't look that good on him, and neither did the dreadlocks." Lloyd says, tapping his chin and thinking. "the purple and tan wasn't too good, but it's a bit hard to go back to pale, if you're tan."
"Once I succeed in retrieving that Exsphere, any suspicions I might have been under will be but a distant memory." Kvar says loudly.
"Oh! How rude. We are TALKING!"
"and the fashion police will still remember you!" Lloyd shouts back. "You won't be cleared from those suspicions!"
"Also, we aren't the ones who started talking to someone else. Are you always this rude to guests?"
"Maybe that's what all the security systems are for!" Lloyd says gleefully. "To entertain his guests, cause he sucks at it!" Kvar grits his teeth.
"I'm sorry, Voldemort, are we annoying you?"
"who's Voldemort?" Lloyd asks. "I was thinking Orochimaru, but his hair wasn't long enough. Kabuto?"
"Enough!" Kvar shouts, lightening arcing off his weapon as he slams the pointed but of it into the floor. "I will have that Angelus Sphere for Lord Yggdrasill!"
Piers assumes a battle position. "Lloyd! I'll provide magic support!"
"Got it." Lloyd mutters, before drawing his second blade again. "You're not going to take this from me!" Lloyd charges. "You're not going to take mom from me again!" Kvar dodges easily, landing atop his pillar.
"You've got it wrong." he's still polite-sounding, but he's also plainly furious. "I didn't kill Anna. It wasn't me." Three floating machines warp into place behind him.
"Guarda!" A light aura surrounds Lloyd and himself, preparing to deflect spells... Slightly.
"Your father killed her."
"Lies!" Lloyd shouts, charging for Kvar again, preparing to leap. "You turned her into a monster, you forced dad to kill her! You killed her!" Kvar snaps his fingers, and in mid jump, Lloyd gets blasted by lightening from the three Energy Stones. Lloyd quickly brings his blades together to block, but gets sent back to earth anyway.
"Shadowa!" Piers reacts with a blast of shadows aimed directly at Kvar. Kvar moves his left hand, and one of the Energy Stones cuts off its attack to intercept Piers's. The lightening Lloyd was blocking continues past him, racing down the hall of tubes, and shatters the first rank. the humans fall limply out among shards of glass.
"Explosa!" Piers tosses a glowing orb at Kvar. It explodes on contact with anything. Kvar frowns at him, as the Energy Stones fly into a triangle to blast Lloyd again, and the Cardinal drops from his perch. Lloyd takes the hit, and yelps, getting sent flying down the hall behind him, loosing grip of one blade, which flew, quite naturally, to the other side of the room. the other thudded into the ground next to him as he skidded.
"Lloyd!" Piers yells. "Groundara!" Blasts of rock fire at Kvar.
"Spark Wave." Kvar swings his scepter to point at Piers, casting the third level Lightening spell at the boy. A ball of it forms around Piers and seeks to lift him. he walks forward, avoiding a few of the Groundara rocks, but taking a few hits besides. "Exspheres that grow inside a human cannot be removed." Kvar says, stopping before the hall where Lloyd lay. "A-012 transformed into a monster." Guarda and Piers' GC remaining from Lloyd absorb some of the damage, but the teen is pitched into the ground. "she lost her mind."
"Shut up!" Lloyd screams, staggering to a stand.
"And that's when-"
"-SHUT UP!"
"-Your father killed her." Kvar finishes with a malicious smile.
"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Lloyd runs back at Kvar, but he only has one blade, so his normally quick attacks had massive holes in them that Kvar calmly exploited, stepping into Lloyd's right side where there wasn't a blade. Piers slowly gets to his feet.
"Gr... Deluge!" He blasts forth the torrent.
"Lightning strike." Kvar swings his scepter, knocking Lloyd into the path of the water, and then three consecutive lightning bolts knock him back. Lloyd screams, his limbs convulsing as the lightning was boosted by the water. Piers grunts in surprise. Lloyd manages to remain standing, but he's got cuts over him now.
"Just.. die!" Lloyd screams, charging Kvar again with his one blade. he was crackling now, little tiny sparks of turquoise as his Exsphere, or Angelus Sphere, shone clear indigo. Kvar finally parries, then while Lloyd was reeling from the impact of metal on metal, Kvar slams the butt of his staff into Lloyd's solar plexus. Piers groans, sinking to his knees. Lloyd chokes, losing his breath.
"Don't worry." Kvar says, holding his scepter steady. "the completed Exsphere was unharmed. that's why..." Kvar pulled his scepter back, and Lloyd slouched to get his breath back, his coat staining darker. "there's no need to hesitate!" Kvar spins his scepter and catches Lloyd across the face with it. Lloyd yells, and is knocked completely off his feet.
"D-Diamond Dust!" Kvar snarls, using his scepter to block a good many of the shards of ice, but his clothes get rips as well. The next attack on Lloyd, however, came from the Energy Stones, and Lloyd screams again, but keeps his grip on the blade he had.
"Nuisance..." Kvar says, glaring at Piers. "Thunder Blade." Piers yells out, losing consciousness.
"Damn you!" Lloyd grunts, lightening crackling off him, but his own have stopped.
"Now, show me more of its power." the Exsphere's light immediately dies as Lloyd struggles to get his body to work. "...Inferior being.." Kvar walks over, and firmly plants his foot on Lloyd's left hand. "I guess an insect and an insect can only create another insect." Lloyd has no comment. that hurt pretty bad. "Thanks to trash like you, the Angelus Project was delayed."
"Don't... make fun.. of my mom... and dad!" Lloyd grunts, and manages to sit up. he grabs onto Kvar's pants for all of a few seconds before his grip fails, leaving a bloody stain on Kvar's knee. Kvar doesn't like this, but he grins. he kicks Lloyd back down, and stands on his other wrist.
"Die!" Kvar raises his scepter, intending to stab Lloyd with the butt of it, when a bit of glass draws a thin line of blood on one cheek before clattering to the floor behind him. Kvar is distracted. Another piece of glass hits his shoulder thing, and the third he catches, his eyes finding the thrower. "There you are." Kvar steps off Lloyd with twists of his heels. Aurian scrambles back over the bodies. Aurian flings another piece of glass, her fingers bloodied from the edges, and scrambles further back as Kvar knocks it aside and continues heading for her.
"I remember you." Kvar says. "You are the elf. the one who can't even remember it's name." She continues moving backwards, her eyes on him as her hands search for more glass. "Can't remember magic, either?" she freezes. "you don't." Kvar laughs. "A mere six score years without being able to touch Mana, and you've completely forgotten! Left to mere mundane ways of defense. Hah!" Kvar casts a Lightening right behind her, and the blast sends her skidding past him. "... Although, this means you still have that Exsphere, doesn't it." Kvar doesn't turn around. "Perhaps I shouldn't kill the three of you. Finish my Angelus Project, use the mage boy as a new test for it, and finish your Exsphere..." Aurian looks horrified as she gets back up, and she notices something within her reach as Kvar turns and advances. the elf wraps her blood slick fingers around the hilt of Lloyd's other blade.
"Stop." it was very quiet, but Kvar heard her, and continued. "Go away!" Aurian holds Lloyd's blade incorrectly as she charges, Lloyd rolling over with a groan to see her attempt to slash at Kvar. He blocks it easily, using Lightning Strike as his counter, knocking her back and down among the glass.
"Aurian! Get out of here!" Lloyd tries to get up, but fails. Aurian doesn't seem to hear him, as she gets up, glass falling to the floor with blood as fire flickers in spurts down her blade, her own blood not helping it stay lit.
"Ah, you're gaining it back." Kvar sounds pleased as Aurian slouches a little. "Get angry, get stronger. The Exsphere will grow faster." She charges him again, holding the blade better, and manages to knick his arm. He bashes her in the ribs like he had Lloyd in the face. Aurian flies for one of the rows of unbroken cylinders, the one she hits cracking. "Spark Wave." It shatters over her with the help of the lightning spell, pulling her off her feet. She manages to remain silent for a little bit, before she dropped the blade and screamed, suspended in the spell. It drops her, slick with blood and tank fluid. She starts getting up, glass sticking to her, lightening arcing and vanishing from her, fire flickering in the air for Kvar. The cardinal swings his scepter, and banishes the flames. Sheena drops down next to Lloyd, grabbing him and his blade and moving over to Piers.
"Need to get you two somewhere..." Sheena says, landing next to Piers. The teen is still limp. Another Spark Wave fires, Aurian once more its focus, although the elf was close enough that the twin blade's and ninja's hair. She collapses again, and Kvar steps close to kick the blade from her bloody grasp, and out of her reach. Sheena lets go of Lloyd, who was searching feebly through his pockets for a Life Bottle for Piers, and charges Kvar. Without looking, the cardinal swings, and hits her firmly in the gut.
"You are of no interest." Kvar says, without glancing at her as she is thrown back to fall holding her gut. "Humans like you are ten Gald a dozen. Elves, on the other hand..." Kvar kicks the thin woman over, pressing his boot firmly on her chest. She grimaces, making only a slight noise of pain as he digs his heel in. "Elves are rare, especially when the world is declining so..." Lightening arcs off him again, singing Aurian, and she flinches as small burns dot across her pale skin, but makes no more sound than pained breathing. "They start dying off, when there is so little Mana. It weakens them." Aurian was definitely struggling to breathe as he rested more of his weight on her, her fingers curling as she moved them slowly for his foot. He fixed that, resting his full weight on her ribcage to slam his other foot down on her left arm, a sharp crack sounding with a pained yelp from the elf, before he stood normal again, her arm beneath his foot. "... Of course, if it is a weak creature, the Exsphere may not mature properly... It might be best to simply take it now.." Kvar's scepter had a pointed end, with only a slight amount of blood from when he had injured Lloyd, and he drags it now across Aurian's right shoulder, ripping through her shirt, thin armor, undershirt, and into her thin body. She jerks, hissing, trying to twist away, but Kvar stamps on her broken limb, applying more pressure to her chest. The thin woman's rib's creak, and she stops struggling to twist away, struggling instead to breathe, squeezing her eyes closed. With the butt of his scepter, Kvar cuts another line in her shoulder, pulling back the edge of the slashed cloth and armor to show the red, golden swirled Exsphere set in scars on the woman's shoulder, scars like runes splayed about it.
"Demon Fang!" Lloyd has managed to get at least to one foot and a knee, firing off a week attack technique with his one blade. Kvar moves just so to let Aurian take the blow, and casts Lightning on Lloyd while he flinched at the damage he dealt to his already weak friend. With a yelp, he falls back, twitching.
"Stay out of this boy." Kvar flicks his attention to the human, and then back to the elf. "I will deal with you in a moment." Having stepped off Aurian freed her, and she struggled to roll over and crawl away, but Kvar kicked her again, pinning her on her back once more. She grunts as he presses down again, staring at him through the blood that tried to cloud her vision. "Maybe you'll turn into a monster, like the boy's mother. Pitiful, to travel with a time bomb such as yourself. Maybe the shock of having to kill you will finish his Exsphere." Aurian didn't seem to be able to hear him.
"Fire..." it was soft, from the elf, as Kvar nudged the gem in her shoulder, but sparks flew, from within and from the flames that erupted about them. The cardinal recoils, singed, chipping the gem and then Aurian shrieks, the flames raging larger. Lloyd struggles to get up again, Sheena moving closer to him and Piers as the liquid, fluids from the tank and blood from Lloyd, and Aurian, hissing as it boiled on the spot from the flames. The flames dance as they fly for Kvar, Aurian struggling, her limbs refusing to work quite right, coiling into a ball.
"Spark Wave!" Kvar casts the spell once again, and Aurian screamed, her battered voice rising in pitch until it abruptly cut off, the spell continuing until it drops the thin elf to the ground, her hair stained crimson. "Damn elf..." Kvar got no further, a dark violet shape ramming into him, blade tearing into his right shoulder, too high to do any lasting harm.
"Otanjoubi.."Kvar gives a sharp cry of pain, the whispered word nearly completely hidden as the cardinal falls to the ground with the shadow on top of him.
"Oh. Hello there, Kvar." The mercenary's voice would have better suited Lloyd, cheerful but for the twist on the Cardinal's name, barely contained hate concealed there. Kratos's hands twist their grip on the hilt of his blade, the gloves cut, soaked with blood. Blood dripped from rents in the man's clothes, in the light armor underneath, and the crimson liquid was splattered across his face, on the teeth he showed in a smile, under the eyes of the same color that held an inner, unbalanced light. "I'm afraid I didn't see you there..." Kratos twists the blade, bone cracking inside of Kvar as he turns the blade from horizontal to vertical. Kratos leans close, his eyes dancing, grin wide on his face as Kvar yells with pain.
"Did you miss me?" Lloyd shudders at Kratos's hiss, hearing it clearly despite the other man's scream. Aurian was still but for twitching limbs, electricity still playing off her. Sheena too watched in horror as Kvar's shoulder gave a sick noise, ripping of flesh and cloth, cracking bone as Kratos forces his blade free – the limb forever ruined at the joint, but still attached. Kratos straitens from his slouched forward position on Kvar's torso, standing as he pulled the mage up by the ruined limb. Kvar gets to his feet with a smaller cry of pain, and Kratos nods, seemingly sympathetic despite the wide grin and twisted light to his eyes. Kvar's cries rise in pitch as more flesh tears, bone creaking once more as Kratos jerks the limb away, ripping it from the cardinal's body. Kratos watches Kvar dispassionately for a second as the man claps a hand to his profusely bleeding shoulder, before regarding the limb in his hand, then threw it over his shoulder like the trash he obviously thought it was. Lloyd flinches as the limb thumps to the ground not far from him, staring in horror.
HERE IS THE WARNING.
THAT WAS A LITTLE TASTE OF WHAT THE REST OF THE CHAPTER IS.
If you don't like gore, mutilation, torture...
..very, very, very slow death...
Skip to the next chapter.
That's all this chapter has left.
SCROLL BACK UP IF YOU DON'T LIKE GORE, AND CLICK NEXT CHAPTER.
I'll give you who skipped a brief 'this is what happened' at the start of the next, but for those who like this sort of thing....
Enjoy.
"Fire." Kratos said the same thing Aurian had, his voice still excited and cheerful, at odds with the mad smile and glint in his eyes, the indication of his hand at Kvar's steadily bleeding shoulder. The cardinal yells, jerking away from the flames that sear his side, but the blood flow ends. The stench of burning flesh and cloth make Lloyd gag and Sheena twitch, but Kratos's crazed smile never shifts. Kvar makes a gasping, choked noise that quickly becomes a cry of rage, his left hand switching its grip on his scepter, swinging the bladed head into Kratos's side. Kratos grunts slightly, catching the pole against his arm, taking a gash from the bladed ring. Lightning arcs down and off the pole arm, racing up the mercenary's arm, his bloodied hair shifting to rise, but his wide smile stays constant.
"Bad boy." Kratos breathes, batting away Kvar's scepter with his right hand and sword, knocking it from the mage's weakened grip, smiling as he shakes out his hand, lightning flicking and arcing off. "I'm going to have the fun here." Kvar takes a half step back as those crimson eyes remain locked on him, the madness inside the man clear now as he takes a matching half step forward, the tip of his long sword weaving back and forth. Kvar's narrow eyes flick from the taller man's face to the blade, and the next thing he knew, Kratos's hand was about his neck. Kvar chokes a noise out as Kratos lifts him, then spins and hurls the smaller male toward the remaining cylinders of Human Hosts. The Cardinal crashes into the tubes of his creations, shattering one on top of him, the human inside collapsing out. Kratos stepped on the glass, crunching it beneath his boots as he walks for Kvar as the mage shoved aside the human with his one arm, grimacing at the glass cutting into his back. With the ever present smile, Kratos leaned and gripped Kvar about the neck once more, blood slicked fingers tightening around the half elf.
"Not... to a damn.. human!" Kvar choke out, gripping Kratos's arm with his remaining hand. "Spark Wave!" Kratos grunts as the spell fires, staggering to keep his balance as cylinders rupture around the two men, the mercenary's grip on the Desian Cardinal's neck failing as electricity played havoc on his system. Kvar pulls back once released, quickly picking his way away from the insane mercenary, before turning and running for his scepter.
"Where are you going, Kvar?" Kratos's shield flies, sending blood flicking through the air as it hums, and hits Kvar squarely in the back. Kvar yelps, falling forward, and Kratos slowly makes his way over to the Cardinal, peppered with glass shards, leaving bloodied footprints. He regards the scepter first, bending to pick it up, then hurling the weapon to the wall. Lloyd and Sheena flinch at the loud noise, glad that it was the opposite wall, the scepter falling to the ground as some electricity arcs from the taller male, his movements occasionally jerky rather than deadly, predatory grace. Kvar gets to his feet, looking wild as his neat hair was no longer so, his strange colored eyes wide and fixed on Kratos before he tries to reach his scepter, turning his back to the man. Kratos lightly catches up to him, his blade flicking out before him to slice through the back of Kvar's right leg, neatly cutting the hamstring. Kvar yelps, falling down, before scrambling to continue forward. Still smiling, Kratos leisurely catches up with the man as he tries to crawl away.
"I have been looking forward to this..." Kratos says, almost like a sigh, his grin staying put. "For so many years..." Lloyd stares and Sheena frowns at the strange note in Kratos's disturbingly cheery voice, a slight flux, quaver, as something other than words tried to come out as they regrouped near Piers, who had yet to do anything, moving away from the mad mercenary. Then the man brings his heel down sharply on the inside of Kvar's knee, bone cracking and blood spurting from under his boot. Kvar yells, pain wracking him as his knee is crushed beneath Kratos's foot.
"So... many... years..." Kratos's voice wasn't completely cracking, still cheery, but it shook now, although with what the teens and the man he was currently taking his time killing could not tell. He stepped off the Cardinal, a flicker of healing light dancing around them both, as Kratos healed the scattered wounds across Kvar, his knee shuddering, but not doing so much as a twitch beyond stemming blood flow. Kvar yelps, glancing up at the widely grinning mercenary, then scrambling for his scepter, managing to rise to one leg, his left incapable of true movement beyond the knee. With the help of the pole arm, he gets to both feet, barely able to put weight on his left, he staggers back out of Kratos's blade-reach, a full six or more feet away from the man.
"what?!" Kvar gingerly balanced, felt his torso, his shoulder, the leg he knew – from doing it to others – that had been incapable of moving only seconds before. "Why did you heal me?!" Kratos was before him, grin firmly in place, and he leaned forward into Kvar's face.
"Shh.." Kratos's voice was still eerily cheerful, and now was eerily sweet at the same time as he rested a finger before Kvar's mouth, mimicking the movement on his own face with the blade holding hand. "I am not going to let you go so soon.." Kvar reacts then, twisting his head away then biting down on Kratos's hand. Rage clearly flickers across the mercenary's face then, and he withdraws his bitten hand, the other swinging to punch the Desian squarely in the face. Kratos's knuckles crack about his sword-hilt as the cardinal goes flying from the impact. The mercenary continues to look enraged for a moment, looking at his hand, then a smile flits back into place, masking all the rage, but for his smoldering eyes. Kvar stands once more, before looking for his staff, finding the battered pole arm some feet to Kratos's other side. The Desian Cardinal wipes blood from his face, grimacing at his remaining hand before turning his attention to the somewhat absent eyed madman before him. If he could get his scepter before the mercenary returned his attention to the now...
"What do you think you're doing?" Kvar jumped, more than the hops he had been making to move over to his scepter, jerking back. Kratos was watching him curiously, mouth still in a wide, teeth baring smile, his eyes still lit within with a crazed light, making them seem to glow crimson. Kvar backs up, out of the mercenary's range of attack. A hum, dripping, and a yelp from the cardinal told what happened next. Kratos walks closer, his hands empty although dripping with his own blood, to Kvar, the cardinal grimacing at the blade sunk into his left shoulder, once again too high to deal massive damage, but carefully below the collarbone. And horizontal. Kvar struggles to reach the blade, the hilt, anything to pull the weapon free, but Kratos reaches him before that. Kvar grimaces, expecting the same treatment his other shoulder had received, but Kratos grips his blades hilt, and strains for a second, lifting the cardinal into the air by the blade. The half-elf yells, trying to grip the blade so it wouldn't go further into his body. Kratos watches the blood that trails down the flat of his long sword as if it was the most fascinating thing in the world.
"You... inferior being..!" Kvar hisses, trying to hold himself away from the maniac male. "Kill me, already, if that is what you intend!" Kratos's next words, hissed rather than cheerfully said, chilled those aware in the room.
"That takes all the fun out of it." Again, the mercenary's voice has a strange twist to it, almost like something else was trying to come out. Then a small chuckle did, as cracked as the smile on his face, and Kratos dipped his head, staring at the floor as twisted laughter manages to get past his lips. Kvar stares down at the mercenary as he realizes how far the man was cracked, Lloyd and Sheena staring in mild horror as Kratos takes one hand from the hilt, bringing it to his mouth to cover the laughter and smile, his grip and the angle of the blade staying the same without so much as a dip. It takes a moment, but Kratos swallows his laughter, straitening with his grin in place, if blood smeared by his soaked hand.
"And... I want to have all the fun... I can.." Kratos whispers, raising his left hand to his hilt again. "What will you do, Kvar?" His voice rises, again with the twist those aware labeled as his hidden laughter. "I shan't be letting you down. You'll have to do that yourself!" Kvar snarls, his grip slipping with his own blood and weight forcing him further down the sword, closer to the crazed mercenary.
"Spark wave!" Kvar shouts, struggling to keep higher on the blade. Kratos grunts, the spell enveloping him, playing havoc on his limbs. Unfortunately, this doesn't do to well for Kvar; Kratos's jerking and twitching within the spell wasn't releasing him from the weapon the mercenary held, but cutting him more even as the angle lowers. Kvar manages to jerk away from the blade before it clatters to the ground, Kvar's spell suspending the blood crazed mercenary like it had the thin elf. The spell finally finishes, dropping the mercenary. Kratos staggers, blood dripping heavily from his torn and soaked clothes, before he started muttering.
"soothing wind, ease our pain.." Kratos holds his head as he mutters this. "Healing wind.." he whispers, and a minty green breeze swirls through the room, wrapping around Lloyd, Sheena, and Piers. It tried to wrap around Aurian, but failed, running over her instead, before swirling around Kratos, healing some of the worse wounds on him. Pieces of glass clatter to the floor, before Kratos picks up his blade again, the spell finishing but without healing all his wounds by the blood still dripping from him. Kvar lets his left arm hang limp, the shoulder damaged and blood dripping from his fingers. Kratos watches him, his head not strait on his shoulders, ignoring the blood that gummed his hair to his face and head, the blood that trickled down his face to stain his teeth more and finally drip from his chin. His hand drops to his side, and then grasps his blade once more, pointing it at Kvar. The cardinal turns, spotting his staff, and hobble-runs for it. Kratos disapproves of this, and lunges after the man, still grinning widely as he flicks his blade out, catching the man on the back of the working knee. And through it as well. Kvar falls with a yelp, his single arm barely cushioning the fall, glass digging into his torso. Kratos's heel digs into his knee shortly after, the crimson eyed male watching with anger clouded amusement as Kvar flails with the pain, before he drags his blade through the leg above his boot. Kvar jerks, but makes no sound, even as it was clear he was in incredible pain, and Kratos appears disappointed with the lack of screaming. So, his blade flicks, blood scattering as he kicks the limb to one side, Lloyd and Sheena flinching despite the fact it wasn't flying in their direction, before the mercenary's blade stabs down. This time, Kvar does scream, and it rises in pitch, and rises some more. Lloyd's eyes widen, and he makes a soft whimper, pressing his legs together but unable to stop watching in horror. Sheena flinches, and Kratos regards Kvar with his crazed eyes, wide grin, and chuckles, softly, once more, before fire flicks over his hand, then across Kvar's stump of a leg, and the point where his blade pulled back. Kvar's screams simply didn't pause, even as the man's voice grew hoarse, he curled into the fetal position on the ground. Kratos watches, his smile straining to grow larger but not physically capable of doing so, instead the light in his eyes intensifying, making the crimson look more like a flame sort of color, orange-amber rather than bloody red as he circles Kvar. Suddenly that grin turns jagged, a frown, and Kratos spins on one foot, the other flying and connecting to Kvar's face. Kvar's screams, which had died in intensity, cut off as the Desian Cardinal goes flying from the force of the blow, his nose spouting blood once again. Lying on his back, the half-elf's vision was obscured by the bloody-faced mercenary's once more, as a blade bit into his left shoulder, once again too high for his heart.
"Are you getting tired of games...?" Kratos asks, his voice cheery and pleased, as he sinks the blade slowly into Kvar's flesh. Kvar flinches, flailing with his remaining leg, and Kratos casually steps on it, grinding his heel into the man's knee as he twists the blade so that it was at a right angle with the collarbone it cut into.
"Really?" Kratos asks in reply to the man's noises of pain, as if he had heard an answer in them. "So am I!" the mercenary's voice rises at the end as he jerks the blade free of the cardinal's shoulder, like he had the right arm. Kvar screams again, albeit a hoarse noise, as Kratos draws his blade free, flicking it through the air then across the remaining limb. Kvar's leg goes flying with another kick, to a different corner of the room. The mercenary grips the cardinal's remaining, albeit nearly detached limb, using it to wrench the man up, then to the side, throwing the Desian with his limb, letting it tear to send the remains of the man flying. The left arm was flung toward the door like trash, Lloyd flinching as it hit the wall and dropped down. Fire races through the air and over Kvar before he hits the ground, sealing his wounds closed and crispy. Kratos leisurely walks over, and hooks his foot under the man, flipping him onto his back. Kvar, although battered (was an understatement), bloody faced and in incredible pain, snarls up at the mercenary, glaring from black and crimson eyes that didn't want to work.
"Damn inferior being!" Kvar snarls, glaring up at the man, incapable of moving.
"Inferior... being..." Kratos muses, letting the words roll in his mouth, watching the half-elf man, his eyes half closing. "... you seem to like them. How about.." the mercenary leans down, his balance wavering for a little bit then grabbing Kvar by the hair and pulling the torso of a man up, his sword clattering to the floor beside him. ".. we make you look like.. a human." Kvar snarls at the crimson eyed male, even as a dagger flicks into view from its hiding place somewhere on Kratos's person. Carefully, Kratos moves the blade to the side of Kvar's head, crazed crimson eyes fixed intently on his target. Kvar makes a slight noise, as the pain through his scalp was added to with something about his ear, and something falls to the ground.
"You seem... to like to talk about them so... much..." Kratos adjusts his grip, turning Kvar about. The cardinal snarls at him, trying to snap at the mercenary's other hand when he was turned, but got nothing.
"Kill me, you bastard. Stop playing." Kvar gasps out, a sort of snarl to his voice, but not enough strength, or air behind it. Kratos grins widely, blood coming from the corners of his mouth as the urge to grin tried to overpass the ability to do so.
"No... That takes all the fun... out of things..." Kratos hisses, cutting away at Kvar's other ear, flicking the bit of flesh away and burning the wounds shut with a word. Kvar yelps, but the pain isn't as bad as the other wounds that still throbbed, just the cutting of the points from his ears to shape them like human ones.
"I should have used her Exsphere to kill your brat!" Kvar shouts. "Made you do the same to him as he-" Kvar cuts off, Kratos's fist in his face as the taller male dropped the remainder of the smaller with the blow. Kratos wasn't smiling now, his eyes dark red near black, but still holding the crazed glow, a snarl holding his lips now as he paused, breathing heavily. Kvar snarls at the mercenary, who growls low back at him, his crimson eyes bright with restrained rage. Slowly that smile came back, and Kvar stiffened as one hand curled about the upper part of his rib cage, the other on his hip, the dagger forgotten on the floor. Kvar screams as Kratos jerks the two apart, the cardinal's flesh and clothes ripping even as the mercenary's grip slipped with his own blood, then digging deeper into the cardinal to compensate. Lloyd whimpered at the sounds, clamping his hands over his hears, but not all the sound was blocked. The twin-blade closes his eyes, hoping that would help, but with what horrors he had seen recently, the things he imagined were just as bad as what he would be seeing, and so he stares, horrified, at Kratos's back instead. Sheena grits her teeth, and stares at Piers, and then Aurian, both of whom were still unresponsive. Kvar's shriek dies off, the wet noises of organs hitting already the wet ground as Kratos releases Kvar. Kratos seems to be frowning, watching Kvar's face, and then he abruptly slaps the cardinal across the face. Kvar jolts, although not much was able to move like that, and glares at Kratos.
"Kill me, bastard! Kill me or leave me to die as is!" Kvar manages to say, trembling with pain. Not that there was much of him left to tremble. Kratos's smile widens back to the point where it was straining his skin, and he shakes his head, a dagger flicking into his hand.
"you're going.. out of order... Kvar." Kratos flicks the blade around in a circle on blood slicked fingers, before staggering to sit on the remainder of Kvar's waist, grinning wider at the noises this causes the Desian to make. Kvar feels something off, a wet slicing sound before Kratos's dagger was in his view, a bleeding chunk of meat on the tip. "Dinner comes... before dessert" Kvar yells, trying to struggle back, but Kratos's other hand grips Kvar's jaw, forcing the Desian's mouth open. Kvar struggles and Kratos's dagger slices into the side of his mouth before he forces the bit of flesh off the blade via Kvar's teeth, and firmly shuts the half-elf's mouth and plugging his nose. Kvar struggles, trying to spit the flesh out, but fails miserably, Kratos's grip holding his mouth shut. The dagger was dropped by the cardinal's head, Kratos's now free hand moving to manipulate the underside of Kvar's jaw, then is throat, forcing the other male to swallow. Kvar clearly didn't want to, the way he tried to jerk his head free of Kratos's hands, but it didn't work. The Mercenary retrieved his dagger, cut another piece of flesh from just before him, spearing it on the tip and forcing the cardinal's jaw open just wide enough to slip the bit of one of his own internal organs into his mouth.
It took a while, the slow movements of Kratos forcing Kvar to eat his own inner organs, before the Cardinal managed to jerk his head away from Kratos's blood slicked grip and spit the bit of meat at Kratos's face. Somehow, this completely snapped Kratos's hold on what little sanity he must have left. The dagger clattered to the ground by Aurian, and Kratos's fist found contact at Kvar's jaw. This might be saying something; they were by the stairs of Kvar's raised platform. A sharp crack sounded, Kvar's jaw breaking under the force, and the cardinal letting out a strangled gasping cry of pain. Kratos's hand drew back, and smashed into Kvar's haw once more, sending the bone flying across the floor, then his hand repeated the motion, but higher on the cardinal's face. All Lloyd and Sheena could see, not that they wanted to see more, was Kratos's back, his cape and shirt torn, glass sticking in his body still, battered armor, blood staining the fabric even darker, and his arm, rising and falling as he repeatedly slammed his fist into Kvar's face.
"Feel the pain.." Kratos hisses out. "Of those inferior beings... "The twist he put into the pair of words translated into harder punches. "As you burn in the depths of hell!" Kvar's cries had halted, some time ago, but Kratos's fist kept falling. It takes him a moment, to finally slow, still sitting on the remains of a man, to blink and look at the Desian's mutilated face.
"...can't.. be dead... yet.." Kratos whispers, almost brokenly, staring at Kvar. "too.. easy..." The mercenary's voice was choked with something, and a dagger flashes out into his hand, a third one, and he plunges it into Kvar's still chest, then draws it back out and repeating the motion.
"Lloyd..." Sheena whispers, standing unsteadily. "..You have any gels?" She had to forcibly turn Lloyd's horrified gaze from the mercenary, before he nodded, eyes flicking back. "Eat one.. then take Piers and Aurian and go find a hiding place." Lloyd blinks, tearing his gaze from Kratos once more.
"...what...?" Sheena flinches a little at the raw.. something in Lloyd's voice, and helps the teen to his feet.
"Take Piers, take Aurian, go out, and find a safe place." Sheena says, indicating the unconscious teen, elf, and the door. "I'll.. get Kratos." She had to help him find his blade, moving quietly under the sound of a blade hitting flesh again and again, pulling the glass covered elf up, ignoring the barely open, glazed golden eyes, and slinging her left arm over Lloyd's shoulder while he dutifully swallowed an Apple Gel. Pier's right arm went over Lloyd's shoulder as well, and she helped him to the door. "Don't follow the blood path." She told him, and he nodded, shuffling out, half carrying the two with him. Sheena turns and carefully makes her way back to the mercenary. He was still stabbing his dagger into Kvar's now rather mushy chest, but without any real force to it.
"Kratos." Sheena pauses outside his reach, but the mercenary doesn't react, still drawing the blade back and almost dropping it point down into the pulp that was once a man's torso. "Kratos, he's dead." Kratos stops, blinking, she could tell that much from her angle. "You killed him." The crimson eyed male looks at Kvar's mutilated face, then the remains of a chest beneath his hands and dagger. Slowly, unsteadily, the mercenary stands, and Sheena takes a half step back, watching warily. When he turns to pick up his sword, Sheena was a little horrified to find his grin back, despite the new blood staining his face. Kratos bends to pick up his blade, and falls to his knees, weakly laughing.
"..." The laughter grows, and grows more cracked, like it wasn't truly what the man wanted to voice. "...fin...ally..." he breathes in the midst of his laughing, tilting his head back and his eyes closed as he kneels there, a sob like quality to his laugh now. "Finally..." he slows in his mad laughter, blood dripping to the ground, as he slumps to one side, like his energy had finally given out from blows he received hours before. He reached for the blood pool spreading about Kvar's remains, but couldn't quite reach it as his own puddle of blood forms. With a little reaching, he manages to smear his fingers through the cardinal's blood. "I'm sorry... it took me ... so long..." Kratos whispers, faintly. "...first... aid.." the sparks dance about him, and then the mercenary stills, his eyes closed. Sheena stares at him for a moment, before she gathers his daggers, cleaning them on a dead human's sodden clothes, and sticking them into her pouch. The sword was a little harder, but she cleaned it too and put it back into the man's sheath. She was surprised with how light he was when she finally lifted him to put one arm over her shoulders, but chalked it up to blood loss – something she was sure he was missing.
Lloyd half carries Piers and Aurian from the room, heading down the hall that he didn't come from, but the one that intersected with the one the other three had. Sheena joins them shortly with an unconscious, gore-splattered Kratos, and they hole themselves up in a store room.
You have no idea how much fun I had writting that bit of Kratos going batshit on Kvar.