Plot point alert!
Anyway, after this I'll have to take a break for this mouth to organize things in college (meaning: final tests), so I'm warning you all before hand not to expect any other chapters this mouth. I'm sure you all understand.
No skit this time, but, at the end of the chapter I'll give you somehting extra. I'm sure you all remember that notebook Raine is always carrying around, right? Well, I decided to take a page out of it (literally) and write a little about the demonic lore for you all to better understand about artifacts or facts about the demons in this fic.
Now, start reading before Raine finds it out and call a hunt for my head.
Chapter 26
The One Reason
Colette and the others appeared in a wide open chamber, without any exit in sight except by the teleport rune from which they just came. On the end of the room stood the Centurion's altar with the familiar tear-shaped jewel floating above a flower-like bowl. This one was a bit brown but golden too in color.
"So that's a Centurion's core?" Zelos asked. "Looks more like some kind of piece of jewelry."
"Believe in us when we say it is very powerful," Verius spoke. "And that is only its outward appearance."
Emil walked forward to the altar as the group stopped at the center of the room. The reincarnated Ratatosk was about to reach for the core when the sound of an heavy impact coming from above reached his ears. Before all of them could look up, the rooftop exploded and rocks fell over Emil, who widened his eyes.
Ratatosk took control over Emil's shock and snatched the core as he jumped back, seconds away of being smashed by the falling rocks. A roar sounded in the room and the group looked up as something landed near Ratatosk. Before the Summon Spirit could react, he was bitten on his right arm by a powerful jaw, which made he let go of Solum.
Somebody jumped out of the undead-looking, winged dragon and took the core.
"Well, well. Look what we have here," a familiar demonic voice reached the ears of the group.
Lloyd, Raine and Sheena gasped at seeing the Hell Knight standing there, holding the core. Marta immediately entered in spirit form and flew to Ratatosk's aid. She swung her spectral spinner, but the dragon quickly let go of the blonde's arm before the attack could make contact. Ratatosk clutched his bloodied arm in pain.
"You again!" Marta exclaimed as she positioned herself between the demon and her crush.
"So it is true. You all are Summon Spirits…" the Hell Knight said. "Guess I should have just killed you all from the beginning."
"Well, too late for regrets," Sheena said, running to give support to Emil and Marta, together with the others. "And give us Solum back!"
"For me, this thing would have been reduced to dust the moment I touched it," to emphasize his point, the Hell Knight tried to crush the core on his hand, but was unable to make even a dent. "But it seems I lack the power for that. No matter…" he then threw it in the direction of his winged mount, which caught the core with its mouth and swallowed it, electing gasps from the entire group. "Once I get it back to Lord Nebilim, it doesn't matter whether or not you get the others, you won't be able to awaken Ratatosk."
"No! We can't let him destroy Solum!" Tenebrae said, appearing to be genuinely scared.
"If just one of us is destroyed, Lord Ratatosk will never recover his powers!" Aqua said.
"No need to explain!" Lloyd said, entering in spirit form together with Sheena and flying to intercept the Hell Knight, who summoned his overly large, ethereal sword to intercept the two before they reached him.
Lloyd stopped the weapon with his transformed, twin blades as Sheena continued and tried to slice at the Hell Knight with a light kunai, but the demon jumped behind, dispelling his previous weapon and summoning a bow while still in midair, taking aim and shooting an arrow that multiplied into a swarm.
The couple flew to the sides to avoid the poisoned projectiles and tried to hit the hunter demon with long-ranged blades of light and fire, but the Hell Knight blocked those with his ethereal, dark shields.
"Still too weak!" he yelled, producing dark axes and throwing them at the Summon Spirits, who defended with their weapons.
The demon continued to throw axes at the couple, who then flew to the sides again, avoiding the weapons. However, the Hell Knight quickly produced two lances and threw them at the same time, aiming for the positions Lloyd and Sheena would pass by. The action had the intended effect, as the two were unable to change directions in midair and were caught in the following explosions.
Marta left Ratatosk in Raine, Zelos and Colette's care to go after the Hell Knight's mount. She tried to slash at the undead-looking monster, but the creature leaned its head back and brought its wing up. Marta followed up with several spins, adjusting the angle of her arms up and down, looking like she was performing the steps of a dancer. Although she managed to inflict some superficial cuts on the bloodied and dirty wings, she was slapped by it and thrown some distance away from the monster, which jumped on the air and attempted to stomp on her with its talons. Marta rolled the moment the sharp claws came down, creating impressions on the earth.
The girl got up and sent two wind disks, which divided into several copies, against the monster. The dragon again protected itself with its wings, absorbing the impact of the magic disks like they were nothing. Marta clenched her teeth and flew in the direction of her opponent again. The mount tried to hit her with a breath of purple fire, which Marta jumped over. Spinning in the air, she extended the reach of her ethereal spins and brought them down on the head of the monster, this time managing to hit it. As soon as she hit the floor, she executed an Arte:
"Dancing Gale!" Marta slashed the mount across its chest, leaving a wind blade on the spinner's path, which further cut into the creature's flesh. She proceeded to slash again on the creature's chest and jumped in the air, applying another attack on the monster's head. All attacks left behind blades of her element which further cut through the monster's defenses.
However, before the girl could land, the mount's tail came up and wrapped itself around her body, applying a crushing pressure on the Whirlwind Rider. The monster then threw her to the side and leaned its head back before letting out a jet of purple flames.
Marta was about to be engulfed by the fire when an ice wall materialized in front of her, taking the attack and not even melting. She looked and saw Zelos with his hand on the ground, his magical aura glowing around his hand. She gave him a smile in thanks, which the red head returned with a toothy, charming one.
Sheena and Lloyd were pushed back by a vicious spin of the long, ethereal sword of the Hell Knight. The demon of General ranking snapped his fingers and his mount took flight, circling the room. The Hell Knight jumped in the air as the flying mount came to his position and fell on its saddle, taking flight.
Marta prepared to throw her spectral spinners at them before they could get away, but was stopped when the demon swooped down and his mount let out a jet of purple flames, covering part of the ground. She had to fly away to avoid the otherworldly fire.
Sheena and Lloyd also took flight, the ninja charged a spell and soon enough several spectral symbols appeared around her. They then joined in front of the Radiant Maiden and combined into a single magic circle.
"Luminus Chains!" several chains made out of light shout out of the circle's borders, going for the Hell Knight. The chains ensnared the dragon mount of the demon, keeping it on its place and burned it with light. A large beam of light shot out of the rune on the demons' direction, exploding on contact and releasing a bright flash.
However, when the light died down the group was surprised at seeing the Hell Knight and its mount not only intact, but with a huge, purple barrier around it. The demon chuckled at the expressions of his adversaries.
"You all obviously don't understand anything do you? The mount of a hunter is, but an extension of the hunter himself," as if to confirm his point, the flying mount opened its mouth and instead of fire, several purple, energy arrows rained upon the airborne Summon Spirits. "You don't stand a chance!"
Sheena and the others had to use evasive maneuvers to get away from the projectiles, however some managed to scratch them, leaving bloodless injuries that burned with pain. Thankfully, their protection had evolved with training, but if they took too much hits from those poisoned arrows, not even their Summon Spirit defense would be able to hold and they would be forced out of spirit form.
The Hell Knight tried to ram into Lloyd and Marta. The two avoided the aerial strike, but didn't have the time to evade the Hell Knight's sword when he materialized it in mid-swing. In the ground, the others were very worried at how things were faring for their friends.
Raine knew Lloyd, Sheena and Marta never trained aerial fighting before. They flew mainly as a means to evade enemies' attacks and put some advantage between them and a ground adversary, but with a demon of the Hell Knight's level, they actually had difficulty trying to evade midair. Sheena was also having some difficulty in getting close to attack and whenever they resorted to long-range attacks, the Hell Knight activated his mount's shield.
"Colette, can't you do something?" Zelos asked, looking at the girl.
"I don't have wings… and I can't do anything if he's not close to earth. I'm sorry," the blonde said, hanging her head low.
Zelos gritted his teeth. His magic wouldn't be able to reach the Hell Knight from this distance and he doubted any monsters Ratatosk summoned would be able to do anything more than being a meat shield.
It was then an idea came to the male Representative. It was a bit crazy, but it certainly could work.
"Colette," he called again, this time his voice was calm and he was actually smiling. "You can make weapons out of the soil, right?"
"Y-Yes, but what does...?"
"Just follow my lead on this one, my cute Colette and we'll be able to flatten that creep down and get the core back in no time."
Meanwhile, Sheena and Marta were avoiding a combination of poison arrows and purple flames from the hunter demon and his mount. Both were utilizing their defensive Artes, but knew they wouldn't hold on much longer.
Lloyd was trying to hit the demon utilizing his fire enhanced Artes, but the Hell Knight expertly blocked or evaded them. Every time he tried to go melee, the dragon attacked him, leaving some nasty scratches and he was almost ran by the hunter demon's mount at some point. Marta tried sending several of her spectral spinners on the flying demon, but all of them were deflected by the dark shield. Sheena tried to use magical attacks, but the Hell Knight wasn't just giving her any chances.
"Already giving up?" the demon sneered at the group.
"Not in your life time!" Marta replied angrily.
"Good, I hate when a prey gives up. Takes away the fun of striking it down."
The demon's mount was about to breath fire on them again when it was suddenly hit… by an iceberg. The demon was pushed back by the heavy projectile that shattered on contact, harming his mount. He looked around to see where it had come from, but had to bring up the barrier around his mount once more when another iceberg was launched at him.
"Good shot Colette!" Zelos' voice came from the ground.
Sheena and the others looked to see their friends on the ground around what looked like a catapult made out of stone. Colette was smiling as she touched the weapon and received the praise from Zelos. The reincarnated Celsius then formed another iceberg on the catapult, which threw it against the Hell Knight again.
"The hell?" the demon let out, before making his mount avoid the attack, but that distracted him long enough for the flying Summon Spirits to approach him.
The demon's mount tried to attack them, but the group quickly scattered and dealt a sequence of elementally enhanced attacks on the dragon mount, which roared in pain as the Hell Knight tried to focus on one of the reincarnated Summon Spirits, but was unable to get a clear hit while still having to worry about the icebergs thrown his way.
Marta flew down, placing herself at some distance from the Hell Knight and started to charge a spell. The hunter demon noticed that and tried to shoot and incinerate her with his mount's fire, but missed when it was attacked by Lloyd's Sword Rain: Flare and Sheena's Dawn Pillars.
The Whirlwind Rider finally charged her spell and released it:
"Typhoon Saw!" a wind tunnel former around her and engulfed the Hell Knight as Sheena and Lloyd got out of the way. Several of Marta's wind spinners materialized in the tunnel and shot to the Hell Knight and his mount, slicing at them like a rain of arrows.
The Hell Knight grunted when one managed to nick his helmet and activated his mount's barrier, however, he ended up being hit by another iceberg, which once hitting his shield managed to finally break it with the force of the impact. The hunter demon and his mount were forced behind by the impact, all the while being sliced by thousands of wind spinners. He tried flying out of the typhoon and discovered too late that he had been pushed to near a wall.
"Now Colette!" Zelos yelled.
The girl nodded as she entered in spirit form and could now feel the entire earth around her. She felt like her senses had greatly expanded to the entire room she was in. In fact, she could feel the entire room like it was an extension of herself.
So this is the power of the Summon Spirit of earth. Colette thought, as she turned and concentrated on the matter at hand.
As she looked at the demon, she felt like he was an intruder; a creature that shouldn't be here or anywhere in this world. So could feel the earth demanding him to removed. And so the Keeper of Terra's Oath did.
The Hell Knight was caught off guard when a pillar suddenly rose vertically from the wall right on his flight path. He didn't have the time to stop or correct his flight route and promptly slammed on the pillar. His mount stop, but his body continued to move due to the inertia as his dragon got violently hit on its head by another pillar that rose from the wall, effectively knocking it out.
Ratatosk saw that as his chance and hopped on Colette's catapult, saying for her to throw him at the Hell Knight. The girl was about to protest, but the look on Ratatosk's crimson eyes told her he wouldn't take any of that. Sighing, she did as he instructed.
The Hell Knight was still falling when he saw another projectile flying at him, this one smaller. He just realized what it was when it was already poising its blade to decapitate him.
"SHIT!" the demon let out as he summoned his sword just in time to be rammed by Ratatosk and impact with the wall behind him, which effectively made him let out an "ompf!" in pain. Fortunately, his sword had managed to keep Ratatosk's blade away from his throat.
The two started falling while brawling in mid air, punches and kicks being thrown at each other as the reincarnated Lord of the Monsters said:
"You actually dared threaten one of my servants? I'm going to make you regret having ever crossed my path, demon!" Ratatosk said with a murderous smile on his face as he held his adversary by the throat, his sword igniting with multicolored flames.
However, the Hell Knight was far from finished and managed to form a purple, energy dagger on his right hand. Ratatosk noticed that and held his adversary's wrist when he tried to stab him. The hunter demon was also holding the Summon Spirit's sword hand, which put them in a deadlock of sorts.
The hunter demon then tried to approach the dagger to Ratatosk's face. If he managed to inflict just a small cut on the brash entity's face, it would be enough for the poison he infused on the blade to work. However, his thoughts were soon derailed when he sensed another of the reincarnated guardians flying at him. He saw it was the girl and she had her spectral spinner ready on her extended arm.
The petite brunette then swung. Be it a lucky shot or actual skill, she managed to cut off the Hell Knight's right hand together with his dagger and not harm Ratatosk on the process. The demon let out a scream of pain at having his limb severed.
Realizing they were already close to the ground, the Hell Knight desperately kicked Ratatosk off him, throwing the Lord of the Monsters out of sword range, and pointed his palm to the ground bellow, summoning a runic circle which appeared near the ground. The demon dived into the circle and exited at the other side as a small, purple sphere, which made a close, U-turn and shot out of the temple through the same path which he had used to enter.
Ratatosk hadn't managed to stop his descend and was about to be crushed, but was stopped at the last instant by Marta holding his legs and using all of her strength to cease his fall. He then looked and realized his nose was inches from the hard, stone floor. The Lord of Monsters looked up to his savior from his position:
"Thanks Marta."
The Whirlwind Rider smiled as she put Ratatosk on the floor gently. The rest of the group sighed in relief. However, all of that was short lived when, while nobody noticed, the flying mount of the Hell Knight had recovered consciousness and breathed a fire ball at Ratatosk's direction.
Marta and Ratatosk noticed too late the flame ball their size was half-way to their position. In a split second, Marta made a decision and jumped in front of the purple, concentrated fire, using her defensive Arte. However, she had spent most of her power in the last magical attack, so the barrier was easily broken by the fireball and it impacted with Marta's body. Her already fragile defenses were easily eaten away by the otherworldly fire, but, luckily, her spirit form took most of the attack before deactivating. Marta took burns in the face, arms and torso, the fire easily destroying part of her clothing and scarring her skin.
The group stood with their mouths agape as the girl fell. To Ratatosk, it all happened in slow motion as he could just look with an expression of pure shock as Marta used herself as a shield to him. He finally found his voice:
"MARTAAAA!"
The dragon then took flight and charged at the crimson-eyed Summon Spirit, who was now standing, his head hung low, his hands clenched and a multicolored aura flaring around his figure. Ratatosk then looked at the dragon that had attacked his friend.
"YOU… DISAPPEAR!" he then pointed the palm of his free hand to the dragon that was roaring while flying to him. The multicolored energy on Ratatosk's aura rushed to his hand and concentrated on the palm. A thin ray of the Lord of the Monster's spiritual energy was shot from his hand and hit the dragon on his chest, exiting by the base of its tail. The monster seemed to go mute for some seconds.
Multicolored flames came out of the two, small holes on the creatures' body, until it exploded with Ratatosk's spiritual energy. Nothing was left of the Hell Knight's mount, except for Solum's core, which fell on the earth, completely intact and still in its dormant state.
The rest of the group went to Marta while Zelos picked up the core to look at it. Raine immediately kneeled near Marta, who had Ratatosk besides her, trying to make the girl open her eyes, reciting a cure spell when the reincarnated Sylph opened her eyes, a painful expression on her face.
"Ratatosk… are you all right?" she asked.
"Me? What about you? What were you thinking?" the harsh Summon Spirit said.
"I'm fine, silly," she said, giving a smile, although her face twisted a little in pain.
"Don't ever do something like that again, do you hear me?"
"Don't be so rash on her, she only wanted to protect us," Emil berated.
"Ugh. Fine," Ratatosk said, begrudgingly, giving the control back to Emil. "Marta, thanks. But you really shouldn't have sacrificed yourself like that. I would have survived that attack."
"And what kind of… girlfriend would I be… if I let you get hurt?" Marta talked back.
Emil blushed and was unable to speak anything else at that remark and Marta's smile. Sheena smirked and shook her head. It seemed the brunette had taken her teachings to the heart. Raine stopped the spell after Marta's body had regenerated from most of the burns, however there were still marks all over the girl.
"That's the most I can do. Those flames carried chaos energy with it and based on what we know, our bodies would reject healing chaos magic," Raine said. "Marta will have to heal by herself from now on."
Zelos then arrived near the group and cleared his throat to call their attention. They turned and saw him holding out the Centurion's core. Emil nodded and got up as Colette and Raine helped Marta to stand still, although the girl insisted she was fine.
Emil took the core and performed the hatching ritual. The jewel shone with a yellow light as it opened in a fashion similar to a flower blooming just like the others. Chunks of rock and dirty that had been left from the battle started to shake and suddenly shot to the core, circling around it. There was a bright flash and next thing the group knew, they were looking at something that resembled a cross between a chameleon and a wing-less dragon.
It stood on its four legs and its body was mostly brown with scales that stood out of the body in a fashion similar to parts of an armor. The creature was approximately the size of Lumen.
Solum then opened his light-brown eyes with vertical pupils, darting them around fast, taking in the surroundings and the beings near him. Then, with a strong voice, which seemed to be more fitting for a dragon than a chameleon, he spoke:
"That's certainly a surprise. You all feel familiar, but I'm quite sure I never saw your faces before, except that of my brethren of course," he looked at the Centurions.
"Hi Solum!" Ignis said happily. "Good to see you again."
"Ignis. As beautiful as ever I see," he said with a draconic smile on his reptilian face and a soft, almost suave tone. He then turned to look at Aqua. "And you're not that far behind, Aqua. Still a sight for shore eyes."
"Great…" Sheena said, rolling her eyes. "A Centurion Zelos…. just what I needed."
"I was actually trying to be courteous, miss…"
"Sheena."
"Hmm… pardon me, but you resemble me a bit of the gracious Luna, the Summon Spirit of light."
"That's because she's her reincarnated form," Emil said. "Tenebrae, Ventus, you… should…" before Emil could continue, he fainted without any warning.
"Emil!" Marta called as the group and the Centurions approached the now unconscious blonde…
- / - / - / - / - / -
Sorrow and anger…
Those were the only things he could feel…
Sorrow that he had failed to protect that which was the main reason for his existence, his purpose in that world. His heart felt like it had been ripped from his chest and stabbed multiple times, just for it to be torn apart.
Then came the anger at those he knew were responsible for this. Those… those… parasites! No. Even parasites were less harmful to the world than that scum. Parasites had a place in this world, in the life cycle and the environment.
The humans. They were nothing, but a filthy blot that sucked everything they touched dry. They destroyed what they didn't like and twisted everything to fit their selfish desires. The world was no different to them, as was… the Kharlan Tree.
"Ratatosk…" a voice called behind him.
He turned from the sight of the withered and dead Kharlan Tree to greet Origin, Luna, Celsius and Efreet. From all the Summon Spirits, they were the only ones left. The others had either been inserted into the Flow of Souls or had already reincarnated. His family was literally broken and torn apart. And for what? For this stupid war waged by the mortals.
He turned and was about to go away when he heard Celsius calling his name. He stopped and spoke without turning, his tone broken and apathetic:
"It's over… the world… it's going to end soon."
"That's not true," Origin said. He then turned to look at his equal, his once brother-in-arms. "I have managed to alter the Law. Mana isn't essential to life anymore. Now we just have to wait and…"
"Wait? WAIT?" he finally exploded. All of the anger and sorrow raising up and showing on his voice. "WAIT FOR WHAT? For the humans to destroy this world?"
"Ratatosk…" Efreet tried, but was interrupted.
"LOOK AROUND YOU! My tree is dead! Killed by those pathetic excuses of living beings! And did they even stop to consider it? NO! And even if they did, they wouldn't give a flying fuck! Don't you see? All they care about is themselves. If they have to destroy the world to see through their desires, they will do so without a moment of hesitation!"
"Not all the humans are like that," Luna tried.
"Say that to Verius! Or did you already forgot what they did to her with this war?"
He felt his eyes start to get moist and his vision blur. What was the last time he had cried? He didn't even know he was capable of such. Celsius stepped forward and said in a scolding tone:
"We know you're angry, but you don't need to take it out on Luna."
He was ready to talk back, but decided not to. Besides, Celsius was right. It wasn't their fault, it was the human's.
He again turned and this time ignored the others calling for him...
...
He was now sitting in the Ginnungagap, in front of him was the portal to Niflheim, closed like it had always been ever since the final of the War for the Young Aselia eons ago. He had been staring at the portal for at least a week now, his thoughts never leaving the fact that the Kharlan Tree was dead and he couldn't do anything against its murderers without losing all of his power and being forced out of this world because of the shortage of mana.
"My lord..." he turned to see Tenebrae and the other Centurions there. They were all united and showing concerned expressions on their beastly and humanoid faces.
He didn't say anything, simply looking at the portal once more. He could feel the thin line of tears on the sides of his face. Ever since coming back from the Tree's meadow he had been silently shedding tears while keeping his face emotionless the entire time.
"I'm sorry to bother you my lord, but we need new directives," Ventus said, calling his attention again.
"With the war, the bonds between us and the monsters were forcefully severed and now the energy which sustains the life in this world has changed," Tenebrae said. "We need to know what we are to do with the mana that we are still manipulating."
"I see..." he said.
That was one more thing that revolted him so much. Without his monsters, he couldn't act against the humans anymore without resorting to a direct intervention. Sighing, he decided to direct his Centurions for now:
"Gather all the mana available and store it here. We have to keep the seal at all costs."
The Centurions nodded. However, Tornitrus, the night-blue, bat-like Centurion of lightning with horns on his head and spikes on the extremities of his wings and talons, said in a harsh voice:
"But my lord, even if we do gather the mana, it'll eventually be consumed by the humans' machines. And already some species of our servants' are dying. Just the other day we noticed several elves departing. Couldn't we maybe... ?"
Ratatosk knew what Tornitrus would suggest, but they didn't have enough monsters under their control to attack the capitals of the human countries. He was saved from having to explain that by Glacius, the snow-wolf-looking female, Centurion of ice:
"And how do you suggest we do that with the tiny amount of servants we have right now? We would only be sending them to their deaths," she said in a smooth, velvet voice.
Like Ignis, her figure resembled that of a voluptuous, human female, however, her chest area, arms, legs and thighs were covered by thick patches of snow-white fur. Her hair was of an icy-blue and her eyes were of a golden-yellow. Her canines were sharp and her hands and feet replaced by wolf paws. Tornitrus shrugged and turned to leave with the other Centurions.
He was about to resume his position when he heard Lumen's voice calling to him. Turning, he could see Ignis and the Centurion of light standing near him. It was the first time he saw his two usually cheerful servants look so worried.
"Are you alright boss?" Lumen asked, his tone a sad one.
"Is there anything we can do?" Ignis asked.
He had to admit their concern was touching. Although Lumen wasn't exactly an exemplary servant and Ignis most often would forget to relay him messages from Efreet or report on something, the two did their duties accordingly. They kind of reminded him of Gnome and the Sylph.
"I'm fine. You two should worry about your orders for now," he said.
His two servants looked between each other, but nodded to him in the end, saying if he needed anything, he could call them and they would come in a "poof". He smiled as the two left. Those two would often cause some trouble, but he knew he could always trust them.
His servants and the other Summon Spirits... they all were his family, but he never realized how much they mattered to him until he started to lose them, one by one. And now, here he was… soon to lose even his Centurions, the ones that were virtually a part of himself. He knew it was just a matter of time before even the mana they were storing in the Ginnungagap was consumed. And when that happened the demons might…
He looked to the portal.
Yes, the demons…
They would just love to slaughter those humans alive, wouldn't they? They would surely bathe in their blood and devour their lifeless carcasses once they were done with them. After all, many of them were still resentful for their defeat at the War of the Young Aselia… and he knew of one that would just love to have an excuse to invade, Treaty be damned.
He got up and walked towards the portal…
…
Screams of terror filled the air as the energy of interdimensional teleport magic became so thick in the air that it was almost palpable. Below the slope in which he stood was a city, burning to flames. Disfigured corpses littered the streets, some still being devoured by the demons, as blood colored the walls of red. The remains and insides from the demons' helpless victims decorated the parks and shops in a macabre fashion. It looked like hell had finally come to Aselia.
The humans (ever the stubborn ones) tried to fight back, in vain. They were more than inept to repel such kind of beings. He could bet they were regretting having so carelessly dismissed Origin and the others. Yes. No doubt they were wondering what they did to deserve such a fate. The ignorant, little pieces of shit…
Besides him were his Centurions, who couldn't help, but look with horror at the beginnings of what would be known in the near future as the Second Invasion. They would have already deployed all of the monsters available, but there wasn't a single one left under their command. All of their servants had their ties forcefully severed.
"What are we going to do, my Lord?" Aqua asked in a frightened tone. However, he remained calm, just like when he had heard from his servants about the demons starting to invade.
"Nothing…" his grin couldn't have been bigger. "We're going to do nothing…"
- / - / - / - / - / -
The group was around the unconscious Emil as they heard him mumbling something in Ratatosk's voice:
"My tree… dead… no… that wasn't…" suddenly, tears started to run by the side of his face, however, their color made the party gasp.
Those tears, Ratatosk's tears, were red, just like blood.
"Is he… crying blood?" Colette asked with her hands covering her mouth in shock.
"Yes," Solum said. "We saw Lord Ratatosk crying tears of blood at the death of the Giant Kharlan Tree."
"It was so sad. Lord Ratatosk cried for a week in silence," Ignis said. "He didn't move even a bit from his post at the Ginnungagap during that."
After a few seconds, Emil opened his eyes and suddenly sat up, bringing his hand to his forehead.
"Emil, are you alright?" Marta asked.
"Yeah… just… another memory," Emil said… but not in his voice.
Those directly in front of him widened their eyes at looking at his face. Marta got confused by that and got up together with the boy, just to see what had happened and also show surprise on her face.
"What?" Emil asked, still not realizing what was wrong with his voice. "Is there something on my face… wait," it was finally then he noticed. "The hell? Wait. I didn't want to say that."
The Centurions had serious expressions on their faces. Emil's voice was a now a mix of his and Ratatosk's, sounding like the two of them were talking at the same time. Not just that, his right eye was crimson red while his left was emerald-green.
"It would appear the two of them have assumed the control of the body at the same time," Tenebrae said.
"Another effect of the merging?" Raine asked.
"Possibly."
"Ugh," Ratatosk/Emil brought his hand to his head with an expression of pain. Marta asked if he was alright. "It's okay… just… man, he's annoying. Stop thinking so fast," Ratatosk/Emil berated with himself. "Um… I'm sorry. I'm just nervous. Even so, drop it."
"This is getting me dizzy," Ignis said.
"Well, I have to say. That's officially creepy," Zelos commented, just to receive a slap from Sheena.
"Can't you have a little more tact about the situation?" the ninja said.
"Ow! You know, I'm starting to think you have a sadistic side, Sheena."
"What?"
"Because the only way you express your affection for me is by hurting me. Makes me wonder if we'll ever see Lloyd the next morning when you finally decide to…"
Sheena was two seconds away from brutally murdering Zelos, that and blushing like she had never before in her life. Zelos was the last person she wanted to hear speaking about her and Lloyd doing that. However, she was interrupted by the temple shaking and dust falling. A second, stronger quake came, one that sent the entire group to the ground.
"What's happening? An earthquake?" Colette asked.
"That shouldn't be possible. Gnome and I are the only ones who had the power to cause quakes in this region," Solum said. He and the Centurions were the only ones unfazed, mostly because they were floating.
"I can feel chaos energy outside. In great concentration," Raine said.
"Hold on," Ventus said, taking flight.
The Centurion of wind exited the temple through the hole the Hell Knight had made when he invaded Solum's altar and quickly used his enhanced vision to look around. He finally located a whole battalion of demons within the mountains outside the temple.
The demons in the front row were mostly red, with twisted bodies, circular mouths, a single red eye and heads attached directly to their torso. Their legs were long with fangs at the feet and their left arm was short. However, it was the right arm that concerned the Centurion. It was bigger than the left one and bulkier, of an ashen-white, combining with the armor the demon wore on his chest and greaves, reaching until the demon's knees. He knew that in the palm was a hole, a cavity of sorts.
On the back row were Bone Archers and black demons who wore white armors and had two jagged blades replacing two fingers in each hand. They wore skull helmets just like the archers, but these ones resembled the skulls of dragons.
Commanding those demons, on a higher position on the mountain, was the giant, living, blue armor, General Narom'Kriaar.
"FIRE!" he commanded in demonic to his troops, waving a single hand while maintaining the other on his broadsword stuck on the earth.
The demons with the twisted arms raised their right hands, revealing their palms with holes in the end. Light started to accumulate around those holes as energy gathered. They raised their arms higher and shot, the energy accumulated forming spheres of concentrated demonic energy the size of Ventus.
The Centurion of wind dived back to the temple as the spheres impacted several points of the temple's roof, causing huge explosions that shook the insides of the temple and made some parts collapse.
"They're bombarding the temple with Besiegers!" Ventus warned the group.
"Doesn't this place have some kind of defense against attacks, like the other temples?" Sheena asked.
"Actually it doesn't," Ratatosk/Emil said. "Gnome never bothered to raise a barrier or anything. After all 'why bother when I can simply open a hole below the guys and drop them there with my pinky?'"
The group stood silent at that. Ratatosk/Emil spoke again, seeming to talk more to himself than to the group:
"That's kinda simple minded, don't you think? Well, no shit, it is. Why do you think Lumen and him were such good pals."
"I'm confused. Who's talking what?" Colette asked Lloyd.
"Don't ask me, I'm just as lost as you are," the red clad swordsman said, starting to feel a headache coming to him.
"Anyway, let's get out of here then!" Zelos urged them.
"I don't think that's advisable," Raine said. "That demon certainly proved to be a capable general at Cape Fortress. He will be waiting for us outside."
"Yes. He had a number of Bone Archers and Swift Cutters with him," Ventus said. "With Lady Marta's injury and Lord Ratatosk's situation even if you defeat the demons, Narom will still be an issue to deal with."
"So what? We just stay here and wait for him to bury us alive?" Marta asked.
"There's another exit here," Colette suddenly said, making the party look at her in surprise. "I… just feel there is. Like when I knew the path to the altar."
"You are turning out more like Gnome as the time passes, my fair lady. His knowledge was… impulsive, to say the least," Solum said.
Colette took the group to the right side of the chamber as the temple around them shook violently once more, parts of the chamber starting to fall. She touched the wall and suddenly the contours of a door appeared as part of the wall slid down.
The group entered in what looked like the beginning of a tunnel. In front of them was a slope that led to the underground. Colette and the others approached the entrance and the girl brought her fingers to her mouth and whistled. Sounds of something approaching fast were heard between the impacts of the fire from the Besiegers.
From the depths of the tunnel came several giant caterpillars, the same size the guardian Colette had fought. Sheena paled visibly at the sight of the insect monsters as looks of comprehension dawned on Ratatosk/Emil and the Centurions.
"Lookins," Solum said. "I thought they all had become extinct when the mana was burnt out of existence."
"It seems I… I mean, Gnome hid some of them in the deepest parts of the underground, were mana is thicker," Colette explained.
"Wait. You mean there is still mana?" Sheena asked.
"There are a few places in this world where mana is so thick it can't be burned so easily," Tenebrae said. "However, manipulating it in such a concentrated state takes a considerable effort. One of these places would be the Dark Abyss, the bottomless depths of this world that has connections to the spiritual realm."
"Whatever. Let's just get on these guys and leave," Lloyd said.
"We have to mount them?" Sheena let out with a bit of fright.
"You know…" Zelos started with his usual snide remark on his face. "If you're too afraid to go alone, I don't mind sharing a ride."
Zelos kept a smile as Sheena looked at him. Ratatosk/Emil was performing the binding pact with the once thought extinct monsters. The Radiant Maiden then said:
"Lloyd, I'm riding with you," her tone was more one of demand, rather than a request as she turned to her love interest.
"Um… sure?" Lloyd let out a bit dumbfounded as he and Sheena started to mount the huge insect.
- / - / - / - / - / -
The ride had been surprisingly fast. Before they knew it, the group had quickly left the collapsing Earth Temple behind, not even hearing the sounds of the explosions anymore. They stopped at what appeared to be the end of the tunnel, with some short of carved, stone door at the end. Colette thanked the monsters with a bow as Ratatosk/Emil dismissed them.
"Do you know where we are, Colette?" Sheena asked, not recognizing the surroundings. Even the stone had changed its tone from a barren brown to a moss-green. There also seemed to be some precious stones incrusted in the walls that surrounded the path they were walking as an abyss stretched down below.
"I'm not sure. I'm sorry," the blonde said.
"Why are you apologizing? You took us out of there in one piece. You should be proud."
"Oh, really? I'm sorry for apologizing then."
Sheena sighed as Colette, yet again, feel back to that old habit of hers of over apologizing. Raine was looking around with interest as she walked to the door. Ratatosk/Emil also looked around. Now that they were out of danger he could feel Emil analyzing the memories they just regained and trying to figure out their meaning.
Or was it Ratatosk himself?
Argh, this is so confusing! Stop thinking so much and concentrate on the situation at hand. Ratatosk berated… himself? For all effects, he realized he and Emil were now the same person. We have to be quick. If the fusion is already reaching this state then we don't have much time.
"Any idea where we are, Raine?" Zelos asked the half-elf, his face straight and concentrated.
"No… but judging by the rock formations and the length of that tunnel, I'm pretty sure we're not in the Fooji continent anymore. It's even possible we crossed seas to another one."
"What? How can that be?" Lloyd asked.
"It's pretty simple if you consider the tunnel ran at the level of the bottom of the sea. Plus there are parts underwater that are not as deep as others, so it wouldn't be impossible to imagine there are a multitude of tunnels just like this that run from one continent to the other and…"
Raine went on and on in her lesson about geology, losing Lloyd after the first phrase. The reincarnated Efreet, could just look at the silver haired woman with a look of utter confusion. Marta decided to dismiss that and went to the door, calling the attention of the rest of the group:
"We should just get going. We don't know if there are any demons around and I kinda don't feel like staying in an underground cavern for too long," the rest of the group nodded, though Raine sighed at being interrupted in her lecture, even though nobody was paying attention anymore.
They opened the door and came across something they never expected to see: mining carts and tracks. Raine and Emil went to examine. The group then heard the faint sound of what looked like mining tools beating against rock at the distance.
"Are we in a mine of some kind?" Lloyd asked.
"But if that's the case, there shouldn't be any kind of activity in it. All mining operations stopped after the Second Invasion," Marta said.
"Well, it could be the demons," Aqua suggested.
"Please. What would the demons want with precious stones and minerals of the earth when these don't have any value to them?" Tenebrae scoffed at the theory.
"Actually, there is one thing in the depths of earth that could call their interest," Solum said.
"Wait. Do you mean… ?" Ventus started, but was interrupted when the group heard a scream of pain at the distance.
The group stopped what they were doing and drew their weapons, going to the direction they heard the shout. The group soon came across another door. Looking between themselves, silently asking each other if they were ready, the group nodded and opened the door. What they saw made their jaws drop.
They were on a high ground that overlooked a mine. An active mine. Human workers walked and beat with their picks on several different points of the earth around. However, what surprised the group the most were the demons walking around the human workers, looking at them with harsh glares, like inspecting to see if they were doing their work properly.
"What the… ?" Lloyd let out.
Colette looked from one worker… no. Slave, to the other. That was the only explanation as to why they were being supervised by the demons. She noted there were some people of shorter stature than some of the men and women around. They had approximately the size of a seven year old child, but their slightly muscular built was nowhere near that of a child.
There was also another thing that called her attention in all of the slaves: the red jewels stuck on different, exposed parts of their bodies. Marta also took notice of that and got surprised at recognizing the stones:
"Exspheres."
"What?" Zelos asked.
"These people. They're all using Exspheres, but with no Keycrest in them."
"Oh yeah. I remember dad saying something about it," Lloyd recalled, though he had been little when he heard his father mentioning the power amplifying stones.
"But why are they using it?" Sheena asked.
"Actually. I think they are mining it. Look at the carts," Raine pointed out.
The group looked at one of the passing mine carts pushed by a man with a sorrowful look directly below them. Indeed, the cart was loaded with newly mined Exspheres. Lloyd looked at them with curiosity. He had never heard that the Exspheres actually came from the earth.
"It's Magnius! Get down." Ratatosk said in a hushed whisper, urging the group to drop down. He looked to Solum and the chameleon-like Centurion nodded, casting a spell over the entire group, camouflaging their presence.
They peered over the border and, sure enough, could see the Desian Grand Cardinal flanked by some guards, talking to a demon that had a long whip in place of his left arm. The demon used an assortment of red bandages over his face, leaving just some patches of fur showing in his scalp. He was also wearing dark-brown, leather clothes and boots.
From that distance, the reincarnated Summon Spirits and Centurions, couldn't hear what he was saying, but when the Desian and demon started to approach they got parts of their conversation:
"… the host bodies have developed them nicely. However, the sections we excavated are soon becoming dry from the soul gems. But with this new batch, I'm sure we can dig deeper," the demon said.
"Good. Rodyle and Kvar have been pestering us for more Exspheres. Honestly, just that vermin of a mad scientist was bad enough," Magnius countered.
"Still, the project commended by the Great One must be fulfilled if He is to be please."
"You say that," it was then a man dropped near them, appearing to be unconscious. "Hey, vermin! Get up and back to work!" the Desian Cardinal growled, but the man showed no response. "Did you hear what I said, you scum?" he started kicking the man with his steel, pointed shoes.
"Wait," the demon said, approaching and turning the man's body up. On his collarbone was a crimson Exsphere, shining. "Hmm. It seems it has awakened."
"Really? Good. I'll be taking it then."
"Very well."
The demon then reached for the Exsphere on the man's throat and in one swift move ripped it off, taking some flesh off as well. The slave-master then handed the Exsphere to Magnius, who walked away, his business there already done with. The demon then whistled.
"FRESH MAN-MEAT!"
Five Savage Slashers appeared immediately after the demon shouted, their always open mouths salivating as their teeth seemed to glister in the lamplights of the mine. The slave master took distance as the demons dived in for the man's corpse. They started tearing apart his limbs and opening his insides with more efficiency than a psychopathic, serial killer, devouring the human's flesh like hyenas to the carcass of a deer.
Colette felt the urge to throw up again. Sheena noticed that and held her surrogate sister's head against her, shielding Colette's eyes from that brutality. Lloyd gritted his teeth as Marta and Zelos also felt nauseous. The group then backed away as they thought on what they just saw. Tenebrae then asked, turning their attention away from the scene:
"What do you think Magnius was talking about?"
"Sounded like something about the Exspheres," Raine said.
"Can't we help these people? They're going to die if they stay like this," Marta said with empathy in her voice.
"I would like to do something too, Marta," Emil/Ratatosk said. "But we can't just jump in. We don't have any idea how many demons there are in the mine. They could easily turn the humans into shields if we acted without a plan."
There was also the question of how they were going to get out of the mine without being noticed. As the group thought on that, they heard the anguished sounds of the human slaves being tortured as the cracks of a whip sounded in the mine, together with something spoken in demonic; possibly an insult.
As Lloyd was just about to send stealth to hell at the sound of one more downed worker being devoured by the Savage Slashers, an explosion sounded on the other side of the mine. Everything stopped as soon as the sounds of war cries echoed in the mine, the demons turning to see what was happening. Most weren't fast enough to register in time the tiny men carrying heavy weapons attacking their heads, torso and any body part they could reach.
Lloyd and the others quickly looked at over the edge again to see what looked like a rescue battalion. It had to be because they were all breaking the collars and chains that bound all of the slaves with their weapons and urging them to escape through a man-made tunnel.
"Who are those? Renegades?" Lloyd asked. However, the men were all garbed in battle clothing, instead of the familiar uniforms of the resistances.
"No. They're… dwarves," Raine said, surprised.
"Dwarves? But nobody has seen them ever since the Kharlan War," Zelos said.
"I heard rumors that daddy and the leader of the Renegades were supplied by dwarves, but I never thought it to be true," Marta said.
"Anyway, it seems they're kicking real demonic bottoms," Lumen said with enthusiasm.
Indeed, the dwarves were slowly killing most of the demons and releasing all of the mine workers around. But the demons wouldn't let them walk away like that. Savage Slashers started to counter-attack, ripping away part of the armor with their sharp claws. Thankfully, the dwarves' war garb was resistant enough to sustain the fiery assault of the spider-like demons, though they gave in after repeated attacks.
The slave master was also fighting back, using his whip to tie up and throw the dwarves to the sides as he urged his brethren:
"FIGHT BACK, YOU SWINES! They're just little man!" when he lashed his whip hand again, he was surprised when an ax came down and cut off the point of the limb, making the demon scream in pain.
"Who are ye calling 'little', ya demonic bastard?" a dwarf using a brown, worn out armor, carrying an ax on his two hands said.
"You… DIE!" the demon lashed out.
The dwarf fought against the demon, blocking the blows with his ax and delivering heavy damage against the demon in spite of his lack of agility. The slave master then started to get fed up by being beaten by what he considered a "tiny human" and called out for a Tyrant.
The heavy defender came forward and bashed at the dwarf with its shield. The tiny man got up soon enough to avoid being smashed by the demon's modified limb. In a display of agility that wasn't becoming of a dwarf, the warrior swung his ax before the demon could bring its shield up, effectively slicing the Tyrant in half.
However, that made the dwarf open for when the demonic slave master charged and batted his weapon away, grabbing his throat with its normal hand. The dwarf started to feel suffocation as his lungs burned from the lack of air.
"Time for you to die, trash!" the demon said with a smile appearing between its bandages.
However, the demon never noticed the figure that approached it from behind and cut its head off with deadly accuracy. The dwarf fell as the demon's body evaporated, consumed by flames. The dwarf coughed as he looked up to see a hand being offered to him. The warrior saw his rescuer was a young man garbed in a red, unbuttoned jacket with nothing underneath and dark-blue pants.
The dwarf thanked the boy and accepted his help. When he was up and got his ax back, the small warrior asked:
"Who are you, lad?"
"A friend," Lloyd said with an easygoing smile. "Me and my companions are here to help you."
"Very well," the dwarf nodded. More demons then appeared as he gripped his ax. "In that case, let's send these rotten freaks back to their hell!" Lloyd only nodded and, with a smile, charged together with the dwarf.
With the help of the reincarnated Summon Spirits, the dwarves quickly cleansed the mine, rescuing the enslaved humans and some of their own brothers that had been captured, guiding them all through the tunnel which they had made to enter. Unfortunately, some of the slaves were used as shields and latter discarded by the demons once they saw their attempts at stopping the assault were useless.
Soon, the dwarves made it back to the tunnel, thanking Marta and the others as they left. The last dwarf to leave was the one Lloyd had saved, who stopped and turned to the young man, taking his helmet off. The dwarf Lloyd had saved had brown hair and eyes with a short beard and mustache. He then spoke:
"Might I ask your name, lad?"
"Lloyd. Lloyd Irving-Aurion."
"I'm Dirk. In the name of my people, I thank you and your friends for helpin' us. I'll spread the word of your deeds today."
"You don't need to," Lloyd said.
"Of course I do. Dwarven Vow #1: Let's all work together for a peaceful word," Dirk recited what seemed to be some sort of oath. He then turned and entered the tunnel before saying. "Collapse this tunnel. We can't risk the demons following us back to Moria."
Lloyd nodded and looked to Colette. The blonde girl transformed in spirit form and touched the wall. She slowly buried the entrance of the tunnel as the dwarf left. When she was satisfied that most of the tunnel had been sealed off, she took her hand off the wall and returned to her normal form like the rest of the group.
"Alright, that was cool!" Zelos said with a smile. "We saved a bunch of people and fought besides dwarves. Man, I'm starting to like this Summon Spirit thing."
"Really? I never figured you to be the altruistic kind, or even like battles and hard work," Sheena jabbed in.
"How can you say that, Sheena? Do you think I don't care for our brothers who suffer in the hands of the demons? I'm heartbroken you would think such a…" Zelos started, bringing his hand to his chest and assuming a dramatic tone.
"Alright, alright. Sheesh, you're annoying."
"Anyway. We should get going before the demons return," Ventus said.
The group nodded and Marta guided them towards where she said that she could feel the wind coming. The reincarnated Summon Spirits soon found an exit from the mine and saw the daylight ahead. They emerged in a path alongside the mountains, in the middle of what appeared to be some kind of valley. Raine looked around and said:
"I thought so. We're in the Toize Valley."
"What made you think so, my lady?" Solum asked.
"The rock formations and the equipments back in the mine. They had the logo of the Lezareno Company and according to official documents in Sybak, the only mine owned by the company is the one in the region of the Toize Valley."
The group looked at Raine with surprise. They had never bothered to even notice the mining equipment, too preoccupied with the situation of the workers in the mine. Colette then asked:
"Still, what did the demons want with that mine?"
"Now that…" a familiar voice said, making the group turn to the entrance of the mine they had just left. "Is the big question here."
"Netrioh," Emil/Ratatosk said in a serious voice.
"Hey there buddy!" the black haired, merchant demon said with a carefree smile. "You look fine. By the way, nice trick with the eyes, I'm sure the females will love it."
"Spare me of your flattery, Netrioh. What the hell are you doing here? Um… and sorry for that. I'm not really well lat… don't apologize to this idiot, you spineless wimp!"
"Wow! Now that's new. I didn't' know humans could make their voices sound like that," Netrioh said.
Ratatosk/Emil sighed. Colette and Zelos asked Raine who that demon was. As the silver haired woman explained, Lloyd repeated the question Colette had asked before.
"Oh, yeah…" Netrioh's tone lost its early playfulness and assumed a more serious stance. "Well, considering you all saw what was inside there…" he pointed to the mine behind them. "I don't see any harm in explaining it."
"Explaining what?" Sheena asked. "And if you were observing everything, why didn't you assist your brethren?"
"I already told you, jubblies, my work here doesn't concern the army," Netrioh said in an honest tone.
Sheena had a vein throbbing at her forehead at hearing the nickname Netrioh seemed to have come up with to her. Lloyd was also feeling annoyed at Netrioh's behavior around Sheena. Zelos had his eyes wide, thinking:
'Jubblies'? How had I never thought of that before? It's perfect! This guy is brilliant!
"So you don't care what happens to your own kind, as long as it doesn't affect you? Typical demon," Marta berated, to which Netrioh shrugged.
"Leave it alone, Marta," Emil/Ratatosk said. "It's in his nature. Demons are just like that, mainly towards those they don't care."
"It's just like my buddy says," Netrioh said, ignoring a swear Ratatosk directed at him, followed by an apology. "Anyway, have you ever wondered why we didn't send this world back to the Great Father once we conquered it at the end of the Second Invasion?" most of the group nodded with curiosity in their eyes. "Well, the motive why we didn't, is this…"
Netrioh took something out of the pocketed in his pants and threw it towards the group. Ratatosk/Emil caught it, opening his palm for the group to see. In his hand was an Exsphere. Netrioh continued talking:
"These soul gems that you have aren't nearly as powerful as the ones we create, but they proved to be quite efficient."
"Soul gems?" Colette asked.
"It's the rarest and most powerful of demonic artifacts," Raine explained. "It's said they are made from fragments of the souls of Demon Lords and store the souls of the fallen opponents of their wearers. But what intrigues me is why you implant them on the humans you were enslaving."
"As sharp as always, sweet cheeks," Netrioh complimented. His tone soon turned serious once more. "According to the information Nebilim gave to us, these gems have properties very alike those of our soul gems. The higher grade ones can even evolve together with their wearers and absorb other Exspheres, instead of feeding on the consciousness and soul of the wearer.
"However, these things need to be 'awakened' before they can be used. Lifeless beings, I think that's what they were called back before we invaded," the merchant demon said with a thoughtful expression and looking up while he crossed his arms. He shook his head and looked to the group again. "Anyway, these stones need nourishment to awake and once they do, they can have even more, increasing their power."
"Wait a minute," Lloyd said. "Nourishment? What does that mean?"
"You're really slow, aren't you?" Lloyd shot an angry look at Netrioh, but the demon shrugged it off .
It was then the merged Emil and Ratatosk felt another memory surfacing. Clutching his head, they felt like their minds were traveling to another place…
- / - / - / - / - / -
"So, you're saying the humans are using the Exspheres as the power source of their technology?" he asked in another meeting in the Twilight Palace's Conference Room. Gnome nodded to him before continuing.
"Yup, no doubt there. The guys have dug the underground reserves ever since the beginning of the war."
Ratatosk sighed as he looked around. Undine wasn't present and wouldn't be anymore. According to Origin, she had accepted to be a test subject for the first phase of his plan. Ratatosk didn't know exactly what the plan was about that it even needed Undine to test something out and, frankly, he would rather not know.
And now came the news of how the humans were managing to make their technology work. Ratatosk never knew what the Exspheres exactly were about. That was a secret that pertained only to Gnome, who took care of their underground resting places, and Origin, their leader and the one responsible for overseeing the cycle of life in Aselia. But now that he heard about how the humans were using them, he was starting to wonder if it wouldn't have been smarter to simply smite the little stones to dust before the humans learned how to use them.
"But how are they awakening them? The Exspheres require nourishment from some kind of life form to unleash their true capabilities?" Volt asked.
"Normally, they would awaken by naturally consuming the proteins in the earth, a process that can take tens, even hundreds of years to finish," Maxwell said. "But it seems the humans managed to discover a way to maneuver around it."
"How?" Selphie asked.
"The Exspheres are pretty much parasitic beings; they extract nourishment from other life forms by attaching themselves to them."
"Wait? Do you mean the humans are attaching the Exspheres on themselves?" Fairess inquired.
"I doubt that would be the case," Efreet answered that. All of them had the basic knowledge on what the Exspheres did and their awakening process. "Like any other parasite, the Exspheres would leave their host weak and possibly end up killing them. I don't think the humans would be so masochists to try it out on themselves."
"Actually, they don't need to," the Lord of the Monsters spoke, attracting his brothers and sisters attention. "Did you already forget? They have the perfect subjects for that. The half-elves. They are using the half-elves to awaken the Exspheres, if what Mithos and Martel Yggdrasil reported to me is anything to go by…"
- / - / - / - / - / -
Emil/Ratatosk woke to reality in time to pick up Zelos exclaiming:
"Are you saying Exspheres are awakened by… consuming people's lives?"
"Bingo! You know, you're not as dumb as you look," Netrioh said.
"Huh! Says the guy wearing leather. Seriously, that's so out fashioned," Zelos talked back, crossing his arms.
"It might be here, but in Niflheim it's never out of fashion. Plus, chicks dig guys in leather," Netrioh retorted.
"Of course, if you don't have anything more to go for."
"Both of you, SHUT UP!" Ratatosk said. "It's already bad enough I'm getting a headache every five seconds with this situation, I don't need you two bickering to add to the sum!"
Netrioh apologized to his "buddy", ignoring the subsequent protest. The rest of the group was slowly processing the horrifying news. Marta was specially shocked that the power-amplifying stones her father's organization had been using to fight off the demons were actually made by sacrificing people's lives. Raine remained just as calm as always, but internally her mind was racing with thoughts. She started to find out that with that little piece of information many things started to make sense. Thinking back at what they witnessed in the mine, she asked Netrioh:
"The Desians, what do they have to do with the production of Exspheres?"
"Everything," Netrioh answered. "That is their main purpose; to research ways of better using the Exspheres. Their… ranches, I think was the name, they're actually giant, Exsphere manufacturing plants."
"So, all those people that the Desians capture… they use them all to…" Colette said, but couldn't end the phrase. The prospect of what truly happened with the people suffering in the Human Ranches was too frightening to her.
"That's right. You see now? Your people were spared to serve as food for the Exspheres. With them, our Lords will be able to equip battalions of our army with substitutes of soul gems and conquer even more worlds."
"And all this time… your mission here was to sneak some of the Exspheres to the Merchant Clan use as bargaining chips," Ratatosk said.
"Guilty," Netrioh said with his hands up in a signal of surrender, though his smirk never left his face.
"How can you do that?" Marta snapped. Making Netrioh look at her with confusion. "You leave us alive just so you can use us as livestock for these stones!"
"Before you go and verbally beat me to death, let me say something; we didn't do anything that you humans wouldn't have done," Lloyd and Colette let out an "what?". "Who first discovered the Exspheres and found a way to awaken them through this method, huh? Do you think we would bother ourselves trying to figure it out when we could simply get rid of this world that gave our Great Lords so many headaches? No. The knowledge of the awakening method was passed on to us.
"If we are monsters by giving you this fate, then what are you, the ones that showed us this possibility?"
At that, Marta looked to the ground with a sad expression, not having any comeback to that comment. Lloyd and the others also looked to the sides, knowing that Netrioh was right. The merchant demon chuckled again as he shook his head.
"Y' know, if I were you, I wouldn't go on and try to dismantle the Human Ranches, because if our Lords discover the Exspheres are proving to be too troublesome, they might just go ahead and give the order to purge this world of life," Netrioh said in a tone of someone that pointed out the obvious.
He started to walk to the group, passing by their side. The demon then heard Lloyd speak and that made him stop:
"We're not going to give up," Lloyd looked to the merchant demon as he spoke next. "If these stones are the motive for all of this bloodshed, for the Desians to exist… then I'll destroy them all!"
Lloyd remembered his battle with Kvar and what the Desian Cardinal had said about his mother. Netrioh said the Desians researched ways to use the Exspheres more efficiently and his mother was constantly being chased by the half-demons after she was rescued from the Asgard Human Ranch by his father. It was very probable that his mother had been a test subject in one of their researches.
Thinking back, Lloyd remembered Anna having some sort of stone carved on her right hand, but he never once bothered asking her about it, though he had heard his father constantly ask her if she was alright and mentioning Exspheres. These stones were the reason his mother had lost her life and many other families were being destroyed.
"Really?" Netrioh asked, appearing amused. "You know that there are humans using them, right? You would have to go over them to…"
"If they try and stop us, then we'll just have to beat them up for good," Emil/Ratatosk said. "I also don't like the fact these things are one of the reasons the humans actually managed to kill my tree."
"Yeah. If they never existed, then the war probably wouldn't have reached the point it had," Marta said.
"That's just wishful thinking, ya know?" Netrioh replied.
"Even so, for people to use them at the cost of other's lives… it's just not right," Colette said, her voice assuming a serious connotation. "No life should be sacrificed for a reason like that."
"I also don't like the idea of something like that going on," Zelos said. "And I think we don't really need these things if they will just cause trouble."
"If all of these deaths, all that the Desians have done was just for the sake of awakening these stones, then I swear, in the name of my family, that I will help my friends to destroy every last one of them, even if that makes me spill blood of people from our world," Sheena said. "If they use these things and can't even understand the sacrifices that were made to awaken them, then they should have never found out about them."
"What about you Raine?" Lloyd asked their only half-elven friend.
The rest of the group looked at Raine, who seemed to be reflecting deeply about that. She finally spoke:
"People are sinful creatures. They compete for power and sacrifice everything for it. It's in their nature. The Exspheres are just another instrument for their greed," Lloyd raised his eyebrow at her and was ready to call her when she concluded. "So, I think it's only befitting that they pay the price of their foolishness by having one of their favorite sources of power taken away from them."
Lloyd and the others smiled at Raine. The red clad swordsman put his hand on her shoulder, making her look at him. When Lloyd flashed his boyish smile at her, showing his support, Raine felt a sudden urge to look to the side and hide the almost unnoticeable pink tint her cheeks were taking. That boy really was something to get to her like that.
The group was woken from their monologues by the sound of Netrioh laughing. They looked back at the demon, who was hunched over himself as he laughed. Sheena was about to snap at him and ask what was so funny, until Netrioh achieved to recover his breath and wiped away his tears to say:
"You guys really ARE something! You haven't changed at all from how you were back then. Maybe a bit more naïve, but the attitude is just the same," Lloyd and the others looked between themselves, knowing Netrioh was speaking about their past selves. "Seems like things will be more fun than I thought."
Before the group could ask further, a purple aura surrounded Netrioh and the merchant changed into his demon form. Two black wings sprouted from his back, his hands changed into talons and his face now looked like the one of a hawk, with a grey beak in the place of his mouth and nose. His clothes also changed, turning longer and parts of it seemed to have turned into black feathers.
"Let's see for how long you will keep this attitude going," he said in a stronger voice, right before taking flight and leaving the scene. The group could just look at the demon flying away, leaving a single black feather behind…
- / - / - / - / - / -
Lloyd and the others set camp at some distance for the Toize Valley Mine's entrance. Sheena was currently resting her head on the young man's lap, whose face initially assumed a tone of red that would put tomatoes to shame, but soon became normal as he and the group now pondered about what Netrioh had told them and their answer to the merchant demon.
"Do you really think we can do it?" Colette asked. "I mean, destroy all of these Exspheres? They must exist for a reason, right?"
"You don't exactly need to destroy them all, my fair angel," Solum said in the soft tone he used when speaking to females. "Just the ones being currently used."
"Even so, things are not that simple," Raine said. "The Vanguard and the Renegades need them."
"Raine…" Marta started.
"Do you honestly think they will stand a chance against the demons without the aid of Exspheres?" Raine interrupted Marta, making her close her mouth.
"Unfortunately, Raine is right," Sheena said, looking at them from her (comfortable, she thought) position. "Even we of Mizuho had to use them to survive against demons from lesser ranking. Without them, we would just be a bunch of weak humans."
"Except that none of you use Exspheres," Tenebrae said.
"Yes, but not everybody has the luck of being born as a reincarnated Summon Spirit," Zelos piped in from his place, sitting against a tree and with his hands crossed behind his head. "Without those stones, the Vanguard and Renegades would all be killed in two days, make it three if Nebilim is feeling lazy."
"That's kind of sad to think about," Lumen spoke up.
"But it's the truth. Not everybody is that strong. Not all of them can stand against creatures like demons and monsters and hope to survive. That's why there are protectors and bodyguards ever since human civilization established itself."
The group stood silent at that. Surprisingly enough, Zelos was completely right. They couldn't force the resistance groups to hand over their Exspheres simply because the power-amplifying stones were the reason the demons were terrorizing humans. They would have to postpone this until after they restored the Equilibrium of the world.
"Even so…" Marta said, standing. "I want to inform daddy and the leader of the Renegades about this. They have to know."
"I agree," Lloyd spoke up for the first time. "They are indirectly using people's lives. Most of the people on the organizations might not understand this, but their leaders, at least, have to know they are carrying the lives and dreams of the people slain by the demons."
"In that case, we should all go to Altamira. The city is close by and I heard the Lezareno Company is a big sponsor of the Renegades," Raine said. "They surely will have a cell there."
"Huh, I wouldn't be surprised if they actually did," Zelos said with an enigmatic smile. "The Bryant family was quite unique between the nobles. Actually, I think they are the only nobles I can say I like, even though I never met the current President of the Lezareno Company. By the way, where is Ratatosk?"
"He said he wanted to take some time alone to think on what happened," Marta answered.
"Well, I hope he's back to normal by tomorrow. It was already weird enough when they kept changing, but now that they're out in the same time is plain creepy."
"You don't have any notion of tact, do you?" Sheena asked with an angry expression.
"You offend me that way, Sheena," Zelos said, with a hand over his chest and a fake, hurt tone. "If I didn't, I wouldn't be…"
"The Last Romantic… yeah, I know. You've been flaunting this title over at every five minutes."
"That's not true."
"Yes," Tenebrae inputted. "Last I counted, the pause was of six minutes."
There was some silence after that, in which Sheena smirked and Lloyd and Marta tried not to laugh while Zelos made a face. The red head then turned to the Centurion of darkness and said, with a malicious smile on his face and his right eye twitching:
"You know, you might make a nice piece of steak, Tene-man…"
Tenebrae sighed, not for the menace, but for the fact that another person used one of the nicknames he hated so much…
- / - / - / - / - / -
Emil and Ratatosk, still both in control of the same body, sat on a nearby meadow, not very far away from the camp. Their consciousness started separating, for both boys' relief, and they could already form individual thoughts, though their eyes remained with its mismatched appearance.
Their thoughts were far away from the discussion their companions were having at the moment about the Exspheres. Rather, they had something more urgent on their minds:
"Seems you actually managed to come level with me if we reached this stage already," Ratatosk said. "We might be able to separate safely once we collect the last Centurions."
Um… Ratatosk. I have been thinking… about us separating and… Emil started, just to be interrupted.
"I can't believe it… having second thoughts now?" the Lord of Monsters said in an exasperated tone.
But Marta is going to become a Summon Spirit and she'll live forever. So I thought…
"In staying with her. Please… do you actually think you can take over my position for such a trivial motive?"
N-no! I just…
"We had a deal, remember?"
Ratatosk mentally huffed at that. The last thing he needed was his other self having doubts at this point. They were already getting close to recovering his powers.
I-I know… but…
"If you think I'll change the plan just for your petty desires, you're damn…"
You just say that because you want to finish what you started at the Second Invasion! Emil suddenly exclaimed.
Silence followed the mental outburst of the meeker of the two consciousnesses. Even Emil himself was surprised that he actually spoke back at Ratatosk for once, but he couldn't help it… if what he saw in those memories meant what he was thinking then…
"So… finally decided to grow a backbone, huh?" Ratatosk said, his tone dangerously low.
I-I… I… Emil couldn'tform an answer.
"Yes, you're right…. I would like nothing more than have the last humans being devoured by the demons," Emil made a mental gasp at that. "And I wouldn't hesitate in having them and the half-elves become extinct should a situation like the Kharlan War ever occur again."
How can you say that after everything we went through together? Don't our friends mean anything to you?
"They're not really human are they?" Emil stood quiet at that. "And even so, their parents and friends will eventually die, while they stay the same. So, in a way, I can wait."
But that doesn't give you the right to…
"Don't come to me spouting about rights?" Ratatosk's outburst silenced Emil. "You saw that, didn't you? Why do you think Origin even came up with this in the first place? You humans, if left unchecked, will destroy the world."
There was silence once more. Emil stood thinking at that. When Ratatosk thought he had gotten the message through, Emil said:
You're right. that made the Summon spirit mentally raise an eyebrow. I can't argue with you on that point, but that's exactly why Origin came up with this plan, right? So that the Summon Spirits could take care of things directly. Ratatosk stood silent at that. And I… I kinda understand what you did…
"What?" the Lord of the Monsters let out.
I felt everything you felt when we were remembering. And I… all of that rage and hatred… anybody in your place would have done the same.
"Even if it has brought pain to all those we know?" there was some sadness on Ratatosk's voice.
I think Marta will understand if you explain. Emil said with a mental smile. Ratatosk would have denied and ask what he was talking about that, but since it was his other self he knew it was useless. I'm sure we can think on a way to…
"Don't…" Emil let out an "huh?" on that. "Don't tell her."
But… she and the others deserve to…
"I don't care! Don't tell them!"
Emil was surprised at the sudden outburst. It wasn't like Ratatosk to worry about what others would think about him or his actions. Maybe he was starting to see the others as his late family. Emil mentally sighed:
Ok, I won't tell. But you should think about it, though.
Ratatosk knew he was going to take a long time to reflect, but not about telling Marta and the others about his involvement on the Second Invasion. No. He needed to rethink his plans for the future.
It seemed it was time for him to formulate a plan B…
Soul Gems, also known as Mëerh Akash, are, undoubtly, the most powerful and rare of the demonic relics.
They are forged by sectioning part of a Demon Lord's soul and applying a ritual on the fragment to crystalize it. The ritual can take eons to complete, but once it is done, the results are astonishing...
Soul Gems are one of the fastest ways for demons to gain power and climb the hierarquic stair in their society, however, just as they give power, they can also overtake its wearer's mind and soul if he/she isn't able to withstand the pressure the continuous use of such an artifact exerts on their soul. That is one of the main reasons Soul Gems are such a rarity even in demonic society; few are the demons that can actually use them without having their own souls being consumed by their ever growing powers. This is also appointed as the reason for the many tales of villians or common people that became monsters when came in contact with such artifacts.
Destroying a Soul Gem is also an externuous task. It's common knowledge that the power of these artifacts grow with the number of fallen adversaries' souls it absorbs, which also allow it to become more resistant. There are histories in the elven and human folclore about heroes that went through great ordeals to destroy these demonic jewels, whose mere presence was harmful to the world. The common concensus in all of them is that the supposed heroes had the aid of the Summon Spirits...
- Excerpt from "Demonology: A look into the Culture of the Underworld", by Raine Sage
Well, what do you think about the chapter and this excerpt I brought you?
Review, or Raine will start lecturing everybody on her book... for four hours straight without commercial or lunch breaks!
