Chapter 35: Light and Shadow
The concrete hallway was cold and dusty, cobwebs were visible in corners and the light was darkened, yet Brian's vision did not waver and he kept going forward. He turned a corner and was faced with yet another long empty hallway, the building seemed to be deserted yet Brian could not shake the sense of uneasiness away from his mind. The Ancient knew that there had to be at least one person somewhere in the building yet he did not know where.
Brian walked up a flight of stairs and peered cautiously around the corner to look for any enemies, he found none and became suspicious. "Where the hell are they?" Brian asked himself.
The young man then came across a steel door at the end of the hallway, it was unlocked and unguarded. Brian walked up to the door and, dreading what could be behind, opened it. It swung open and he charged in with his sword held in front of him, but instead of finding the enemy he instead found himself in a large room with a soft leather couch with a coffee table in front of it, the walls were brown and the floor was covered in a blue mat, the room itself wasn't too big yet it wasn't small, there was a bed in one of the corners as well. Brian walked up to the table and saw that there was a note on it, he picked it up and read it.
"Search the basement," read the letter.
He growled and scrunched the letter before throwing it at the wall and left the room, slamming the door behind him. Brian quickly made his way to the basement after running down a few flight of stairs, now no longer caring if there was anyone around. Eventually he came across a large steel door at the bottom of a small flight of stairs, he approached it and found it to be unlocked.
It has to be a trap, but what else am I supposed to do?
Brian slowly opened the door and entered carefully, he found himself in a dark prison-like environment, there were several concrete cells with thick steel doors and iron bars all over the place, everything was quiet and dark and no sign of life could be sensed. As Brian passed the different cells he noticed how everything appeared to be more quiet than before, that was until he silently turned a corner and saw a dim light from an open cell, he heard noises coming from it. As he approached the cell and the source of the noises became clear: it sounded like Rom crying and Ram either whimpering or just snarling, there was also another voice present as well. When Brian glanced into the room he saw a guard watching over the twins and was saying abusive words to them, the guard was also glaring viciously at Rom. The twins themselves were chained up to the wall and were covered in dirt and snow, Rom's hat was on the ground next to her.
"Stop your crying you damn whiner," grumbled the guard. "No one is coming to get you."
"Shut up dummy! Stop being mean to Rom!" yelled Ram.
The guard stared at her for several seconds before walking up to her, Ram looked at him with nervousness and feared what was going to happen. The guard raised his right hand and swiftly slapped Ram on the left cheek, bits of spit flew out of her mouth and landed either on the guard or on the ground, a large red mark could be seen where she had been slapped. It was enough to bring Ram to tears.
"So you're gonna cry too, eh? It won't help you, no one will save the two of you. No one."
The guard said this as he leaned forward at Ram, their noses almost touched as he got closer to her face, his expression was frightening the twins. Suddenly Ram launched her head forward and collided with the nose of the guard, he fell back and felt his nose, it was bleeding. He looked back at Ram and snarled at her as he brandished his weapon – a steel dagger.
"I'm gonna bleed you till you're all drained!" growled the guard as he approached Ram with the intent to kill. When he got close to Ram and prepared to stab her in the gut a sudden jab of pain erupted from his back, he looked down and felt a blade pierce through his back and the point of a sword came through his chest. Suddenly a face appeared next to his left ear and uttered a few words.
"Not if I bleed you first."
The guard, now a lifeless corpse, fell to the ground as the sword was forced out of his body, leaving the bearer of the weapon alone with Rom and Ram. The twins looked at the newcomer and immediately recognised him: it was Brian, a grim look was upon his face and his eyes flared fiercely. The twins had surprised looks on their faces at first, then it turned to joy. Neither one of them could get the image of the killing of the guard out of their minds for the rest of their lives however.
"Hold on you two, I'll get you lot outta there once I find the keys," stated Brian.
After searching the various pockets of the deceased guard Brian stumbled across a key, believing – correctly – that it was the key to unlock the chains that were around Rom and Ram he stood up and unlocked the handcuffs around their wrists and ankles. Once the two were back on the ground, and they had gotten over the cramps in their legs and arms, they looked at Brian. Suddenly the Ancient was forced to the ground as the twin Candidates of Lowee tackled him in a tight hug, the impact caught the young man by surprise and he dropped his sword, the Share Energy died down around him.
"Whoa there! Settle down you two," demanded Brian in a surprised tone. The startled Ancient then heard the sounds of sobbing and felt his shirt get damp, he looked at the twins and noticed that they were crying on him.
"Hey, you're okay now, there's nothing to be worried about," Brian said in a soothing tone.
"But… *sniff* but Mina… is she… is she *sniff* okay?" asked Rom who struggled to hold back her tears.
"I don't know, I haven't seen her yet,' replied Brian. He then put his arms around the twins and hugged tightly to comfort them.
"Big brother, I'm scared."
"I can tell. Don't worry, little sisters, you'll be fine now."
Rom and Ram looked up at Brian, despite their tear stained faces the Ancient could tell that they appeared surprised. "Hey, you just called us little sisters, that's the first time you said that" Ram pointed out.
Brian was stunned at himself for calling Rom and Ram his little sisters, he never called them that despite being called big brother all the time. He didn't know if he did considered Rom and Ram as his little sisters when they first called him big brother but now… now he did consider them as siblings. The Ancient smiled and patted the twins on their heads, calming the CPU Candidates of Lowee. Rom and Ram were still somewhat teary but had cheered up a bit, causing Brian to smile at the two of them.
"Well, the two of you are like little sisters to me, I believe it feels only right to call you that," explained Brian. "Besides, you call me big bro so there. Anyway, I gotta get you two out of here, but before that I've got to find Mina and Blanc."
"B-Blanc? She's here too?" asked Rom.
"Yes, I'm afraid so."
This only caused Rom to start crying on Brian's shirt again, Ram gripped the Ancient tightly and stared at him. "You better save Blanc, or else I'm never going to forgive you," Ram stated bluntly.
Brian nodded. "Understood. You two better get to the surface quickly before anyone shows up."
The twins shook their heads. "Don't think you can just save us then ditch us, dummy, we're coming with you!" exclaimed Ram.
Rom nodded, her puppy dog eye technique making its mark on Brian once again. After cringing at himself mentally he sighed and looked at his 'little sister'. "Alright, fine, you can tag along, but stay out of harms way or I won't forgive myself."
"We can fight too," said Rom.
"I know you can, but I don't want either of you to be hurt."
"Just let us help, dummy. If it makes you feel better we'll just cover for you, hows that?" Ram suggested.
"Fine then. Come on, let's get Rom's hat then move out."
The twins nodded and let go of Brian, he stood up, picked up his sword and retrieved Rom's hat who happily accepted it, together the three of them then left the cell and the deceased guard behind. The twins walked behind Brian as they made their way down the long dark corridor, the group remained on vigilant is case anything came out of the shadows to attack them, yet nothing of the sort happened. Rom held onto Ram's arm as they continued on their way, passing the usual cell or store room, it felt to the group that they were walking in circles, but they pushed forward nonetheless. Rom seemed uneasy as she clutched her twin sister's arm.
"Ram, do you think Miss Mina and Blanc are alright?" asked Rom.
"I'm sure they're fine, well, as fine as they can be down here," replied Ram in an attempt to cheer her sister up. "We can rescue them for sure!"
"O-Okay, if you say so..."
"Stay low, stay frosty," said Brian in a deep and low voice. He couldn't help but chuckle slightly afterwards.
"Um, I don't understand what's funny," said Ram.
"Neither do I," responded Brian.
The group approached a closed steel door that led into another cell, low noises could be heard coming from the other side of the door, causing Brian to raise his sword and walked slowly towards it. The Ancient leaned on the steel door and put an ear against it to figure out who was talking, to his ears it sounded like Mina groaning and another person sighing, it sounded like a guy and Brian guessed that it was a guard. He looked over at Rom and Ram who were watching him.
"I think Mina is behind this door," Brian stated to the young Candidates. "I also believe it is locked, but I do have a plan. You two go behind those boxes over there and I'll convince the guard to get out here, once they're out I'll dispose of them."
"Well, alright then, but don't kill that person, even if they are a big meanie," said Ram.
Brian grumbled about Ram's request but nonetheless went along with it to please her and the shyer sister. The twins hid behind the set of boxes nearby and watched as Brian knocked on the door three times and crouched nearby, the door opened and a lightly armoured guard came out, he looked confused and peered around. The guard shrugged and as he turned around to re-enter the cell a savage hit landed on the side of his face, the guard turned around and saw only a fist covered in blue energy smash into his face, breaking his nose and knocking him out. Brian shook his fist around and he looked back at the pile of boxes to see Rom and Ram peeking over.
"It's fine, the guy's still alive and breathing, for now that is," said Brian to the twins.
Ram nodded and walked towards the cell with Rom following her closely, Brian entered the cell first and saw Mina chained up to the wall, she seemed unconscious. The Ancient crouched at the knocked out body of the guard and searched his body while Rom and Ram tried to wake Mina up, Brian found a key in one of the guard's pockets and grabbed hold of it before returning to Mina, who was starting to wake up. The Oracle of Lowee opened her eyes slowly and saw Brian leaning over her, the rattling of chains and a key could be heard as she watched the young man unlock her from her chains. She fell to the ground and was caught by Rom and Ram, who then hugged her tightly, slight crying sounds could be heard from Rom who was overjoyed in seeing her guardian and mentor again.
"R-Rom, Ram? You're safe?" asked Mina in a tired voice.
"Yep! Big brother helped us out before we found you," explained Ram.
"Big brother? You mean Brian?" She looked up at Brian who could only shrug before throwing the key away.
"You alright?" Brian asked Mina.
"Y-Yeah, I should be fine, nothing really happened to be except for being chained up of course," replied Mina as she hugged Rom and Ram.
"Look on the bright side: there weren't any tentacles around the place."
Mina cringed as his words processed through her mind, her thoughts turned towards a manga that Blanc had created a while back which contained a certain ecchi scene involving tentacles and a Mina-like character alongside a Vert-like character. It wasn't something that she wanted to remember any time soon. Brian noticed the cringed expression on the Oracle's face yet decided to not delve into the matter, though if he did the Ancient would surely have wanted to view Blanc's ecchi manga for 'research' purposes.
"Come on, I think Blanc might be down the hallway," said Brian as the twins helped Mina off the ground.
The others nodded and followed Brian as he walked out of the cell. After looking left and right for several seconds Brian decided to head right, and after walking for a few minutes they turned around a corner and ended up in a hallway which Brian and the group hadn't been down. With a slight nodded the group followed Brian down the hallway with the Ancient in the lead, Ram was behind him with Rom attached to her, Mina covered the rear. They listened to every cell that they passed but nothing could be heard, eventually Rom began to loose hope and started to cry. Brian noticed this and walked over to her.
"Rom, it'll be alright," said Brian to comfort the young goddess. He patted her head and watched as she looked up with tear stained eyes and cheeks.
"W-What happens if we don't find Blanc?" asked Rom.
"I… I don't know, but we better do find her, or else I will never forgive myself if she isn't found here."
Eventually they arrived outside a steel door that they hadn't listened to yet, a small spark of hope then crept back into their hearts. Brian walked over to the door and put an ear against it, to his delight there was a sound, it sounded like Blanc groaning in despair. Then there was another voice, a voice that Brian had not heard before, it sounded like a woman. Brian managed to open the door as it was unlocked and he charged into a large dark room, before him across the room was Blanc chained to the wall and a woman in steel armour and a trident in her right hand stood in front of her, she looked over at Brian and grinned.
"Good to see you managed to get here with those rotten bitches," Severia said in a condescending tone. "Now then, lets get this over with."
"My thoughts exactly," responded Brian.
The two of them looked at one another before charging, Brian swung his sword at Severia who blocked it, she then bashed the blade away and smashed the end of the trident staff against his chest, sending Brian to the ground. Severia was then met with the onslaught of Rom and Ram, who had transformed into the White Sisters and began to attack the Dark Captain with their ranged magic attack, it didn't help the Dark Captain that Blanc was sniggering in the background while Brian had gotten himself back onto his feet. Severia knew that she had to deal with one at a time, and her first target was to be Brian.
One on three is too hard, even for someone like me, although I suppose I can separate him from the Candidates and their Oracle if I manage to drive them out of the room and lock the door behind them, leaving me with the boy. Yes, that'll have to do!
Severia steadied herself against the magic attacks of the White Sisters and the swift slashes of Brian's sword, the Dark Captain blocked and dodged attack after attack, she proved herself quick and agile during the fight. Finally Rom and Ram raised their staffs at Severia after she was bashed to the ground and shouted in one loud voice.
"Ice Coffin!" the White Sisters shouted.
Shards of hard ice burst forth from their staffs and crashed onto the ground around Severia, the ground around her then lite alight and ice smashed into the Dark Captain, cracking her armour and throwing her away into a nearby wall. Blanc watched the scene occur and smiled at her little sisters, they then attempted to run towards their big sister but the groans of Severia stopped them. Brian raised his sword once more and prepared to continue the fight. Severia the Stoic, however, looked more than just angry, in fact she looked completely pissed off.
"Right, that does it, no more holding back," snarled Severia. "Tidal Crescent!"
The head of Severia's trident began to glow brightly, then the Dark Captain charged forward and swung the trident around 180 degrees horizontally, as she did this water came from the trident head and smashed into Brian, Rom, Ram and Mina. The water didn't splash onto them, instead is it them like a rock, not to mention it was as deadly as sharp swords and areas of the skin were cut. It also managed to force everyone except Brian towards the door due to the force impact of the deadly water attack, Severia seized the moment and charged at the group. The Dark Captain dealt a savage blow to Rom's head and kicked Ram in the stomach, sending the two of them into Mina who fell out of the room, Severia then closed the door and locked it. Brian stood up and growled at his opponent.
"Grrr, curse you!" Brian yelled as he swung his sword at Severia, who blocked it before sidestepping him and smashed the trident staff onto his head, sending him to the ground once again.
"Give up already, you'll never be able to defeat me," said Severia calmly. "We both fight in two different fighting styles: you fight like a warrior who tries to deal a savage blow before the fight has even made its peak, my fighting style counters that and thanks to my agility I'm able to deal a blow in three different ways after I block you."
"I don't need counselling! Now die!" Brian swung at her legs and got back on his feet before backing off. Even if his Share Energy increases his speed and strength he wouldn't be able to do much damage, this Dark Captain was different than the others he quickly realised.
The two attacked each other once again, both parrying each others blows and attempted to strike at the flesh whenever the opportunity arose, Brian managed to make a few slashes on parts of Severia's unguarded arms and legs, though it would not be enough to take her down. All of this happened at Rom, Ram and Mina tried, and failed to open the steel door. Blanc continued to watch it all occur and she couldn't help but feel sad as the CPU of Lowee watched Brian get beaten down to the ground on several occasions only for him to rise up again, angrier than before.
"This has gone on for long enough," grumbled Severia after what seemed like an eternity had passed despite it being only ten minutes at least. "Bursting Point!"
Severia's trident began to glow and a rune appeared at the middle point of the trident head, suddenly a burst of bright energy came forth and crashed into Brian's chest, sending the young man against the wall and leaving him barely conscious. His shirt was ripped around the chest and the skin was marked with severe cuts and bruises, the Share Energy had managed to prevent severe damage though, either that or Severia's attack wasn't as damaging as it was meant to be. Brian stood up and leaned against the wall only to be hit on the face, Severia raised her trident towards Brian.
"The Right Hand said he wanted you alive, but he didn't say unharmed," said Severia with a wicked grin.
Severia then charged forth and struck Brian in the right arm, the trident entered the bone of the arm between his elbow and shoulder, the snapping and cracking of bone could be heard loud and clear. The trident went through the arm and into the wall behind Brian, impaling him to it. The Ancient screamed out in pain and saw large amounts of blood flow from his arm, apart from that he couldn't move or feel anything from the elbow or below it. Blanc watched in horror as Brian's arm was impaled to the wall and couldn't help but slightly tear up as she saw Brian writhe in agony.
"Brian! Grr, damn you Dark Captain, I'll smash you when I get outta here!" yelled Blanc.
"Oh shut up," groaned Severia. "Now then, time to get you to Agandur's Right Hand."
"W-What… for?" Brian asked her in an exhausted voice.
"I suppose I can tell you: you're going to be used for the return of the Dark Lord, in fact you are going to be the vessel for him."
"You're not going to use him for your damn plans!" yelled Blanc. "Screw this Dark Lord of yours!"
The Dark Captain turned around and glared at Blanc, she then walked over to the Loweean CPU and slapped her on the face, twice. "How dare you… you will never understand what my master means to me, never!"
"Tch! Go to hell."
The Dark Captain then snarled at Blanc and repeatedly hit her in the face or the gut, causing Blanc to cry out in pain and growl at her abuser. Brian watched it happen and felt his anger growing at an alarming rate. There had been times before in his past when his anger would override everything but that was a rarity, this time however things were different. Someone he cared about was being beaten up and couldn't fight back, not to mention his right arm was out of commission, possibly for life. Brian growled loud enough for Severia to hear and grabbed his sword in his left hand, the Ancient raised it over his pierced right arm.
"Wraith Blade!" shouted Brian. His sword glowed and he slashed downward through his right arm, severing it from his body. Looks of shock were upon Blanc and Severia's faces as they watched the young man fall to the ground without his right arm, blood flowed down his coat and dripped onto the ground, Brian appeared to be in pain yet didn't show it by yelling. One other thing Blanc and Severia noticed was the Share Energy around Brian: it was heavily condensed and shards of flaring blue mist flowed from where his right arm previously was. The two of them watched in amazement as the blue mist combined into solid form and turn itself into a new right arm, though it remained bright blue like the Share Energy. Brian stared at it in wonder.
"Whoa, never knew that Share Energy could do that," mumbled Brian. "Now then, time to die!"
The Ancient charged at Severia, who was now unprepared for a fight as she hadn't expected a turn of events like this, although she did have a dagger strapped to her belt she knew that it wouldn't be enough. Brian and Severia traded blow for blow, the Ancient was now the one with the upper hand and pressed his advantage, slashing at Severia and causing her to bleed in several places. Finally Severia ran at Brian with her dagger poised to strike him in the throat, however she stabbed him not in the throat but in the right shoulder, the Ancient growled in pain and grabbed the Dark Captain by the throat, he raised her off the ground and a wicked grin formed on his face. His grip on her tightened and Severia began to flail around for air.
"Mess with the best, die like the rest," Brian said in a malevolent tone. He then stabbed Severia in the gut, causing her to cry out in pain. The Ancient then threw the limp Dark Captain across the room and watched her collide with the wall, she then fell to the ground and appeared dead. Brian seemed to calm down and walked over to the fallen Dark Captain, he searched through her satchel and recovered a key. Brian walked over to Blanc and released the CPU from her chains, he caught her as she fell to the ground.
"Hey, you alright?" asked Brian.
Blanc looked up at Brian, she appeared to be sad and frightened, out of instinct he put his arms around Blanc pulled her into a hug, the CPU of Lowee responded by quickly hugging him back. Blanc then began to mumble some words as she pressed her head against Brian's chest.
"Hmm? Are you saying something, Blanc?" asked Brian.
"W-Well its just… well, I feel weak, I couldn't fight back once I saw what had happened to Rom, Ram and Mina. I could have fought back but I couldn't or else… or else my sisters and Mina would have died," replied Blanc in a quiet voice, she then began to slightly cry and tears formed in her eyes. "And now you lost your right arm, all because I couldn't fight back."
"They're fine now, just like you are right now. And there is no need to worry about me, I've got a new arm due to the Share Energy, that's good enough for me so don't worry about anything." Brian rubbed the back of her head and a caring smile formed on his face as the Share Energy died down completely.
"Despite your rugged personality you are quite caring."
"I-I guess that... well, you and your sisters must've helped change that. Oh yeah, here's your hat, found it outside the Basilicom."
Blanc gave him the smile that always made him blush while she continued to hug him after she put her hat back on. "I'm glad that we managed to help you, and thanks for retrieving my hat. Come on, we better get out of here and get back to my sisters and Mina before heading for the surface."
"This is getting ridiculous!" yelled Angel as a giant axe smashed next to him.
The fight against the killachines had been tough for the young sadist, through the combined efforts of himself, Wraith and Victor, who had finished exploring the buildings, they had managed to destroy one killachine. However, two more remained and everyone was starting to tired, even Wraith was starting to tire due to fatigue.
"Tell me about it!" responded Wraith, his voice now sounded like three people: his own voice, an old cruel lady and a psychopathic young woman. He had gotten rid off his scythe and was now holding his hand close together while dark purple and red energy was forming into a ball between his hands, Victor got near Wraith and stared at the energy. The top hat wearing man eyed it suspiciously.
It looks familiar, I might have seen it before yet I could be mistaken. I have to ask Miss Histoire about it if I should see her again, I doubt I would get any answers out of this mad fellow.
Wraith then let out a chilling laughter as the energy condensed and expanded in his hands, he stared at a killachine and walked towards it. He then ran at it before hold one hand with the energy up and smashed it into the body of the killachine, a dark purple and red light enveloped around them and blinded everyone close to them. Finally the light died away and Wraith was kneeling on the ground and was panting deeply, the killachine was heavily damaged and parts of it had fallen to the ground, including one of its arms. Angel seized the moment and attacked the large robotic monster, he jumped and climbed it until he reached the head, the sadist then stabbed the head with his sword and collapsed to the ground with the machine. He rolled on the snowy field and laid on his back before getting up again.
"I'm glad that Darkside is useful in this situation," mumbled Angel. "I can feel my power increasing."
The last killachine smashed one of its arms into Victor and sent the man flying across the field. He crashed to the ground with a part of his trench coat torn and blood across it. Victor looked up and saw the situation they were in: an exhausted Wraith, a slightly insane Angel and now a wounded Victor, the last killachine was still around and was prepared to kill them. That was until a shout was heard and Victor saw White Heart and the White Sister floating in the air, despite that they did appear tired and worn out. Victor also noticed how Brian, who was leaning against a wall with Mina, had a bright blue colour over his right arm.
"Oi! Get over 'ere so I can wreck you!" shouted White Heart.
The killachine responded by attacking the goddess head-on, both of them traded blow for blow, White Heart managed to strike a few slashes with her giant axe while Rom and Ram hit the machine with their magic attacks. It wasn't enough however as the killachine hit White Heart with its axe and sent her flying straight to the ground, as she was about to crash land White Heart was caought by a worn out Brian, he fell to the ground with the CPU of Lowee sitting on his chest.
"You idiot, I told you to stay out of this fight," grumbled White Heart as she helped Brian up onto his feet.
"I'm sorry, but I wanted to help you," responded Brian. "The killachine is wounded and I think a direct attack at his centre and head will win us the day."
"But that bastard of a machine is quicker than I thought."
"Then we'll just have to try a combo attack, just like we practised a few days ago."
White Heart nodded. "Alright then, but you've lost quite a bit of blood, I think you should..."
"No, I'm helping. Let's get this over with." The Share Energy engulfed Brian once again and together the two of them charged into the thick of battle.
"Time for our combo attack. Light and Shadow: Rain of Fury!" Brian and White Heart shouted together.
White Heart flew into the air and swiftly smashed her axe several times against the killachine while Brian attacked from the ground and slashed his blade against the metal skin of the machine, every few seconds the attacks would get stronger and quicker until White Heart attacked the centre alongside Brian, who had leapt from the snowy ground. A bright beam of light burst from the centre chest of the killachine and smashed out the back, the large robot fell to the ground in pieces. Brian collapsed on the ground only to be caught by White Heart, who rested his head on her lap, a small smile was on her face as she patted his head. Angel approached her with a concerned expression, the dark energy around him had died down and Darkside was no longer active.
"Is he alright?" he asked.
White Heart nodded. "He will be, but he's still loosing blood. I have to take him back to the Basilicom before his condition gets worse."
"Alright. By the way, what happened to his arm?"
"Well, about that, he cut it off after it was pierced to the wall by a trident, then his Share Energy created a new arm for him. He'll explain it in more detail once we're all back at the Basilicom."
Rom and Ram, still in HDD form, landed next to their older sister. They all watched as Victor hauled Wraith up off the ground and the two of them approached the rest of the group. "I have to get back to the Basilicom, Brian needs treatment," White Heart explained to Wraith.
The former Oracle nodded and noticed that the young man was unconscious. "Don't worry about everything here, I'll clean it all up, just get going," responded Wraith, his voice now back to normal.
White Heart held Brian close to her and flew into the sky and towards the Basilicom, Rom and Ram looked over at Angel and noticed that he was worn out. "Hey, we can take you back as well" Ram offered.
"Sure, I need a good rest," replied Angel. Ram caught hold of his arms and flew off into the sky and was followed by Rom carrying Mina, leaving Wraith and Victor behind to clean things up.
"Well that's over and done with," sighed Victor as he fell to the ground exhausted. He saw that Wraith had cast his hood back but left his scarf on, Victor saw the long strands of brown hair flow in the new wind, it was the first time that Victor noticed that Wraith looked more human than usual.
"Yeah, we've got a lot of cleaning to do," said Wraith in a disheartened tone. Unknown to them a door opened and a badly wounded woman in steel armour wielding a trident stepped out and walked off and out of the base, leaning on her weapon as a staff. It was Severia, who barely managed to survive Brian's attack. She managed to leave the military base unnoticed and got away into a nearby forest where she collapsed onto a fallen tree, alive but completely worn out and slowly dying.
"I... I need assistance, and quickly," grumbled Severia as she pulled a phone out of her broken armour and dialed a number. The other end picked up. "I've got bad news, we've been driven out of Lowee, I'm the last survivor. I see, glad the Share Energy container made it safely, but I need assistance; I'm dying over here. Oh, you're sending over one of your new allies, huh? We'll see what happens I suppose."
Blanc sat on Brian's bed with the Ancient's head resting against her shoulder, the young man himself was covered in bandages around his body and was asleep. On the way back to the Basilicom Brian had woken up to find himself in the air above Lowee and was being held in a hug position by White Heart, when they arrived in the Basilicom the Ancient was taken to the medical bay and turned out to be eventually alright, although everyone was surprised how Brian's Share Energy managed to manifest itself in solid form to reconstruct his right arm. After being bandaged up he was taken to his room and there he and Blanc sat and read the rest of Blanc's novel which he found to be interesting and he liked it, afterwards he fell asleep. Blanc gently patted his head and smiled.
"Thank you, Brian, for everything you've done," said Blanc, despite knowing he was asleep. "I better go now, have a good sleep."
Blanc gently rested Brian's head on his pillow and she then stood up and walked towards the door, before she left the room the quiet CPU looked back at the sleeping young man and blushed. "Goodnight, Brian, I… I… w-well, it doesn't matter. 'Night."
A/N: I'm glad to have gotten this chapter out, I got a bit stumped on the fight scene between Brian and Severia, not to mention the final fight scene and the last part of the chapter. What do you think is going to happen now that Brian and Angel's time in Lowee has come to an end? Leave a comment if you have a suggestion, question or a request, I'm up for anything.
Now onto some news: I'm afraid that I am going to be taking a break from story writing for a few weeks, mainly because I need to catch up on other aspects of my life and I also gotta revise for my last remaining exam, so I would say I'm taking three weeks off so I apologise readers. Anyway, have a good day