A/N: Greetings! This an introductory chapter to something I've been dwelling on lately after my latest playthrough of Berseria. For those that are new, welcome and I apologize for the format this is written in, but I do write my things on my phone during my downtime from work and school. I just simply don't have the time to format it out properly on my computer, so I do my best to make sure it's not too hard on the eyes.For those that read my primary story, Scions of Remnant, welcome to this story! As always, I thrive off of reviews and PMs, both good and bad. Can't get better at writing if I don't know if it's acceptable enough for all of you folks! Also, beware spoilers if you haven't played the game.
Twenty years ago, the people inhabiting the world of Desolation faced a grim fate. The Fifth Empyrean, Innominat, had awoken with the aid of Shepherd Artorius Collbrande and his Abby of Exorcists. When he awoke, Innominat's domain extended across the world, stopped only by the actions of the Lord of Calamity and her allies.
This Lord of Calamity, Velvet Crowe, had sought vengeance against Artorius. In her wake, she left behind devastation and destruction. Many lives had been ended by her actions, yet it was by this same woman's determination that she had awoken the other four Empyreans, reducing the Fifth's domain and allowing her and her companions to reach Artorius and Innominat. In one final confrontation, Velvet laid the Shepherd low, and sacrificed her future to trap both herself and Innominat in an infinite loop of feeding on the malevolence of the other, high above the Empyrean's Throne.
As a result, a fragment of Innominat took the Fifth's place, naming himself Maotelus. In doing so, the young Empyrean erased the rampant malevolence racing through the world, leaving only those who were truly daemons in their horrible forms.
One such daemon is Rokurou Rangetsu, a self-proclaimed Yaksha, a war daemon who wields the legendary blades Stormhowl and Kurogane Stormquell. Unlike most other daemons, he did not harm innocents, seeking instead the strongest daemons to slay. In so doing, he was protecting the people of Desolation. A fitting story, for one of the Lord of Calamity's companions.
Another daemon who fell under a similar umbrella to Rokurou, was a boy of five years by the name of Garl Vinland. Unlike other daemons, he was special. He became a Therion at the hands of the last few exorcists who sought to return Innominat to power. A year after Maotelus became an Empyrean, a former exorcist and the leader of its reformation found him caged in a small village in Eastgand.
Eleanor Hume, the former exorcist, freed him. He was taken to Maotelus at the Empyrean's Throne, though not even his Silver Flame could purify Garl; being a Therion has become a part of who he is. And so, Eleanor took him under his wing and settled in the same village that the Lord of Calamity had originated from: Aball. With her came a handful of reformed exorcists and their families, turning the frontier village once more into a thriving community.
Under her care, the small gangly boy with white hair and silver eyes grew up strong, though he remained somewhat shorter than most his age. Unnaturally pale white skin tanned under the sun, weak arms developed cords of muscle as he chopped firewood and learned to use a variety of weapons from Eleanor and "Uncle Kurou", who would drop by every now and again for a couple of days to a few weeks. As he grew, his white hair developed dark purple tips and became an unruly ponytail that he kept trimmed to just past his shoulder blades. An angular face developed as well as fangs, an aspect of his Therionized form which carried over to his human form. He took to wearing a long white exorcist coat with the sleeves widened to account for his Therion form, without the blue and gold embellishments until he grew tired of cleaning it every day. Then, he swapped to the same purple that Rokurou wore and donned the same sort of pauldron, stylized with a white wolf motif. The same motif would make its way to his coat. Beneath the coat, he wore a proper white shirt, black vest, and plain black trousers.
His Therion form took the shape of a partial white werewolf, changing his arms and head. His facial structure elongated into a snout, his hair became fur that spread over his neck and face, and his arms became claws that, according to Eleanor and Rokurou, were not dissimilar to the Lord of Calamity's, though his were only half the size of hers and white tinged with purple as opposed to her black tinged with red. Like Velvet, he wrapped his hands and lower arms with bandages to hide the black skin that came with being a daemon.
On his fifteenth birthday, he received from Eleanor and Rokurou a set of weapons.
From Rokurou, he received two mottled black and purple shortswords. The Yaksha explained to him the value and history of the weapons, being forged by the legendary smith Kurogane from his own daemonized head. With them came something unexpected: Rokurou officially adopted him into the Rangetsu clan with a grim statement.
"Make no mistake. To be a Rangetsu is as much a burden as it is an honor. It is a curse as much as it is a boon. But together, perhaps we can change that."
Eleanor's gift was a guandao, much like her own, with the exception of the blade. Unlike the blue tint hers possessed, his was the same hue as the purple tips of his hair. And like Rokurou, her gift came with another boon.
"This weapon is merely a tool in your arsenal. The true weapon is yourself. I have prohibited you from devouring except for when the need arose, but no longer. I trust in you not to abuse your abilities, and hope that you will act responsibly. You are free to leave and do as you wish, but you will always have a home with me."
Thus, with his newfound freedom, Garl departed his secluded home in Eastgand with Rokurou. They traveled to Taliesin and boarded a ship called the Van Eltia, where Garl was introduced to yet another former companion of the Lord of Calamity: the earth malak Eizen. The two made fast friends, speaking of the things that Garl had read about and that the Reaper had seen and people he had met. One of these topics was Benwick, the former captain of the Van Eltia after Aifread's death.
"Benwick lasted as long as Aifread did, with my Reaper's Curse. But, his time finally came a couple years ago when my curse reared its ugly head. He had come up with a way for us to communicate even though he couldn't see me. Honestly, I'm surprised that I never even thought of it before. He would speak, and then I would respond by writing on a sheet of paper for him to read."
They travelled for two years before returning to Aball for Garl's seventeenth birthday. Upon their return, with Eizen in tow, they noticed something was wrong immediately. The exorcists were clearly on edge, and several of them were wounded, though they let the daemons and malak through without hesitation. When they found Eleanor, they began to learn of the situation.
"The cape housing the Shrine of Tranquility, as you all know, is an earthpulse point. Things have begun to crawl out of the darkness, but they aren't daemons. When they die, they dissolve. And they all have white bonelike masks. What's more, is that they can be killed even by people that don't have a high resonance. The problem lies in the numbers with which they come. They're like an endless tide that want nothing more than to kill humans and malaks. They ignore everything else, including wildlife. That they can even perceive malakhim is worrying."
And so they fought, learning more about their foe. In particular, Garl noted that he gained no strength from devouring them. For a year, they attempted to keep the threat of the creatures, which they named Shadows, under control. The effort was thrown back in their faces when reports of Shadows came from Haria Village in Southgand. Reinforcements from Yseult, soldiers mostly, found Haria nearly lifeless with the exception of a grown Kamoana and her foster mother Medissa. Both of the former Therions were formidable combatants in their own right, with both of them having a high resonance. Both had formed contracts with malaks becoming something akin to what Magilou was, without her theatrics: capable of using malak artes, yet not part of the reformed Abby.
When it seemed the problem in Haria, which stemmed from the Temple of Amenoch, had been contained, more bad news came in the form of a letter from the witch Magilou. For whatever reason (Garl had determined that the women held a soft spot for flowers, and suspected that she was there to tend to the field that bloomed over the earthpulse point), she was visiting the earthpulse point on Lionel Island and found the place overrun with Shadows. They had even killed all the daemons that roamed the island, leaving it barren of sentient life.
They had made the mistake of thinking that it would be fine to leave the Shadows trapped on Lionel Island; none of them had suspected that the Shadows would begin attacking from the sea in different forms than they had already seen after another couple of years. Soon, travel by sea was nearly as dangerous as it was to travel by land near Haria or near Aball.
Then the news of the Shadows attacking the port city of Reneed came, a pronged assault from two directions: Shadows from the Warg Forest, and from the sea. Reneed fell in mere hours.
It was just after Garl's twenty-fourth birthday when talks among the leaders of the various influential organizations began about what they could do. At the current rate, none of them would survive more than a few more years. These talks took the better part of the year, until they agreed upon one thing.
To pray to the Empyreans for aid. The first step came in asking the youngest and most involved Empyrean about what they could do. And so, this brings Eleanor Hume's delegation consisting of Rokurou, Eizen, Garl, and Magilou before Maotelus at the Empyrean's Throne.
"Are we sure he can even do anything?" Garl asked the group as they ascended the stairs. Beside him, Rokurou hummed in thought.
The years had been kind to the daemon and human members of the group. Rokurou's hair now completely obscured the daemon side of his face, though the other half only possessed wrinkles from smiling and laughing. His messy hair was still black, though a silver streak could be seen here and there. He had bulked up a bit as well, reminding Garl of the drawing Rokurou had made of his brother that he had seen. On his back were two sheathed swords, Stormhowl and Kurogane Stormquell. The yaksha was capable of using both greatswords at the same time, a boon of the strength granted to him by his daemonhood.
Eleanor had also aged well, though the last few years had added stress lines to her face. Her red hair had been pulled back into a single ponytail that extended to the same length as Garl's, ending just after her shoulder blades with her Transient Spear on her back. Her guandao had been traded out as the threat of the Shadows grew, and her exorcist dress traded out for simple exorcist armor, sans helmet. On her white breastplate was her sigil, the pink petals of a Princessia which she had donned after a conversation with Bienfu regarding Velvet. Despite nearing her fortieth year, she bore no wrinkles or gray hair, though she had most certainly worn a look of maturity very well.
Eizen and Magilou looked the same as they always did, along with Bienfu.
Rokurou finally broke the silence as he spoke his thoughts.
"I doubt it. His domain purifies malevolence of those that don't embrace their darker parts. Shadows, as far as we know, have nothing to do with malevolence."
The Therion nodded, having the same thoughts on the matter as well. Then he looked at Eleanor.
"Speaking of Maotelus, what exactly can I expect? All I remember from seeing him way back then is that he's a massive silver dragon."
The woman smiled as she reminisced.
"He's kind. A gentle spirit, until you threaten the things he cares about most. Unfortunately, we may have to discuss one of those things that he might not want to talk about." The exorcist glanced upwards for a moment, as if staring at something in the sky that only she could see until Garl realized that there was something in the sky. "Before he became Maotelus, he was a young malak named Laphicet. Then Velvet started calling him Phi, after he made an effort to show that he wasn't her younger brother who was also named Laphicet. Between us, I think he had a bit of a crush on Velvet, which was part of the reason he was so annoyed at being treated like her brother by her."
Beside them, Rokurou and Eizen chuckled until the Reaper made to explain their thoughts.
"Oh, he had more than a little crush on Velvet. Poor kid loves her, though I don't quite think he understands what the feelings are yet."
Bienfu made to speak until Magilou gave him a sickeningly sweet smile before she spoke.
"Kid has it rough. It's unfortunate that our dear Vel will never see it. But, on the off chance she does somehow get the chance to live a normal life at some point… I have one hundred gald that she won't even recognize when someone likes her romantically if they don't outright say it. Seriously, do you remember how many times people asked her to marry them? It's so unfair for her to look so great without makeup!"
"Alright, you're on. One hundred gald on Velvet eventually finding someone she can be with. You know, if she ever gets free." Rokurou answered. He blinked and rubbed his chin in thought. "Wait, is that something we should actually be hoping for? If she were freed, then Innominat would be free too."
Eizen shrugged. "I wouldn't worry about it."
They arrived at the top of the staircase, where they noticed Maotelus watching them carefully. All of them, sans Garl, smiled brightly as they approached the Empyrean.
"Maotelus, it's been awhile!" Rokurou called with a wave. When the massive silver dragon did little beyond glance down before returning his gaze to the sky, they knew something was wrong. The yaksha crossed his arms when they finally came to a stop, while Eizen cleared his throat.
"Something's clearly bothering you, Maotelus. Something up in Innominat's Domain. What's going on?"
The dragon seemed to sigh before lowering his gaze once more, this time keeping it upon his former companions.
"Innominat's Domain is… faltering. The artes keeping it aloft have begun to fail, and I fear for Velvet's life. Innominat himself has all but disappeared I feel; I'm not even sure if he's still up there with her. But you came at a good time. I cannot go up there, but you… you all can. You can see what's happened up there."
The group collectively glanced at one another, until Eleanor stepped forward.
"We'll take a look, but we came for a different reason. There are creatures coming from earthpulse points, threatening to overwhelm us. We call them Shadows. Do you know anything about them? Where they come from, how to stop them, anything at all? Please, we're grasping at straws in an attempt to hold them back."
"Shadows…" Maotelus said thoughtfully. "Black creatures bearing bonelike masks which disappear when slain?"
"That would be them!" Magilou chimed. "You seem rather knowledgeable about them, kid. Have anything to share?"
"I'm sorry, but no. I know of them only because they try to break through at this earthpulse point from time to time as well. But there may be something we can do to learn more. Or you can do, rather."
"Whatever it is, I'll do it." Garl stated as he stepped up to match Eleanor, causing Maotelus to blink once in confusion until a light seemed to go on in his head.
"Oh! You're Garl! I remember Eleanor bringing you here, it's good to see you again! Though, you are a bit bigger than I remember."
The Therion crossed his arms.
"I don't remember that, but I've heard about it. Now, what did you need us to do?"
The dragon's lips seemed to quirk upwards in amusement for a brief moment as his gaze shifted back to Eleanor.
"He's a male Velvet, isn't he?"
The exorcist chuckled as she nodded.
"He can be. He has the same unrelenting drive that she did."
"Hmph. To stabilize the unraveling artes, I'll need help from Magilou and Eizen. Honestly, I just need Bienfu, and the other is a powerful enough malak to help me keep Innominat's Domain from falling apart while you're up there. Magilou being here would be a great help if any more of these Shadows decide to come. As for you… you'll be seeing if you can ask the Empyreans about what these Shadows are. They keep a close eye on Innominat's Domain, so it's my hope that you'll be able to speak to them."
Garl nodded and looked up to the structure he noticed earlier.
"Fine. So that's where we're going then? How do we get there?"
Maotelus shifted to reveal a small raised platform with steps. The dragon huffed, and the platform began to glow.
"Teleportation artes. You need to hurry, I'm not sure how long I can keep it stable."
Without hesitation, the Therion stepped up to the platform and in, ignoring the protests to wait from his friends. Maotelus blinked again.
"Oh my. Perhaps I should have told him that there are still a few malakhim on the lower tiers?"
"He would have gone in even faster if you did. Don't worry about it, he's capable of holding his own against both Eleanor and myself." Rokurou replied with a smile before he too stepped up to the platform. Eleanor trickled up after, leaving only Magilou, Eizen, and Bienfu.
"So…" Magilou began as she laced her hands behind her head, grinning mischievously at Maotelus. "Five gald says nothing interesting happens."
The dragon sighed even as Eizen snorted.
"I'll raise you ten and say that they somehow piss off the Empyreans."
"Guys, really? You both know that you're notoriously bad at winning your bets!"
"So I have a question." Garl stated as they walked through the Domain. "Who is Velvet? I've been hearing about her an increasing amount, but I don't know much about her besides that she was the Lord of Calamity and that she wasn't actually a bad person."
Rokurou hummed to himself in thought of how to answer the question, but Eleanor beat him to it.
"She's kind of like me. If her life had taken a different path, if certain things hadn't happened, then it's very likely that we could have ended up as exorcists together. She tries to act like things don't bother her, or that she isn't worried about her friends, but her actions say otherwise. I guess you could say she was the mother of our group, despite almost everyone being older than her. Only Laphicet, Kamoana, and I were younger or the same age, respectively."
Rokurou nodded in agreement.
"That's true. She grew quite a bit on her journey that led her to where she is now. But she isn't always pleasant; she knowingly killed people and doomed villages to daemonhood from malevolence as well. In the beginning, we were all just tools for her to use and discard if we became broken due to her one-track mind to kill Artorius and avenge her brother. She was a broken woman, and even at the end she was still broken. In a much better place mentally and physically without a doubt, but there is no perfect recovery after what Artorius and Innominat have put her through. Despite that, I stuck around to fight the powerful enemies she had. Though I suppose it wouldn't be wrong to say that at the end, I followed her out of a sense of loyalty."
Eleanor smiled wryly and glanced at Rokurou.
"Are you sure you didn't share Laphicet's crush on her, Rokurou?"
"What? Oh, no. I'm not really interested in romance or anything like that, not even in a sexual relationship. Besides, nowadays if I absolutely had to pick someone to have something with, I'd more than likely say you. We did raise Garl together, after all."
Eleanor shook her head. Years ago she would have blushed and stuttered, but she had become used to Rokurou's candor and the knowledge that men had found her attractive. While she never found anyone, she was sort of in the same boat as Rokurou. Her desire to have children one day was sated by her adoption of Garl and the visits from Kamoana.
Garl nodded slowly, dismissing the latter part of that conversation. He wouldn't admit it, but he was intrigued in learning more about Velvet Crowe. He had asked Kamoana one time when she was visiting Aball with Medissa about Velvet, but she didn't remember too much about her besides that she could be sort of mean and that she had comforted her one time.
When they finally came to the long staircase leading to where Eleanor and Rokurou said Velvet and Innominat were supposed to be, Garl braced himself. He wasn't sure what to expect, but what he saw when they reached the top wasn't quite what he was expecting.
In the center of the room was a white-haired man in elegant exorcist clothing, with a sword run through his abdomen to pin him to the ground. Based off of the clothes, Garl assumed this man was Artorius Collbrande, the former Shepherd. A glance at Eleanor confirmed it when he noticed the frown of disgust she wore upon seeing him. How his body hadn't decomposed yet, he wasn't sure.
Another thing in the room was a faintly glowing white orb, within which it was easy to pick out a woman with long black hair and a large claw. Her clothes left much to be desired, though Garl would admit that the woman was very beautiful. He would guess her age to be around twenty, though he remembered Rokurou once saying that she said she was nineteen.
A nudge from Eleanor finally drew his eyes to the last noteworthy thing within the room as she leaned over to whisper. A boy that looked to be around twelve or so, with long blonde hair that whitened at the tips. He sat between Artorius and Velvet.
"That's Velvet, but Innominat should still be locked into an infinite cycle of feeding on each other's malevolence with her."
As if hearing his name, the boy turned his head to look upon the visiters to the room.
"Ah. So you've finally arrived. I wondered how long it would take for you to come back here; I worried that I would be gone by the time you did." Innominat stood up, glancing at the four pillars of light that surrounded the room. "They have chosen me to be their voice in this matter, for a number of reasons."
"Gone?" Eleanor asked.
"Hmm. Yes. Laphicet's body is a fine vessel, and the only reason I'm still able to speak to you. I have been forced back to slumber, my status as an Empyrean stripped. Now, I am merely a malak possessing much more power than most. The earthpulse is constantly trying to drag me away to perform its function of birthing malakhim, using my soul to reincarnate. When that happens, and it won't be long now, Laphicet's body will be all that remains. His soul is no more, bound within mine as it is. But we haven't the time for that discussion, for we have something much more important to worry about."
"The Shadows." Garl broke in, drawing Innominat's attention. "Tell us how to end their threat."
Innominat cocked his head slightly.
"You're bold. Much like Velvet." He turned his gaze once more upon the lights around and asked a question. "This seems counterintuitive. They could easily have different views and destroy any attempt they could make due to it."
When no response came, Innominat's shoulder slumped as his attention returned to the group.
"Then they are set upon this decision." He directed his attention towards Velvet as he continued. "We are unsure of where these… Shadows as you call them, come from. They travel through the earthpulse, from deep within it. So deep, in fact, that it may lead to somewhere that isn't actually on our planet, but perhaps another. The earthpulse is more than just the planet; it is the connection of life. Malakhim are born from it, creatures whom possess abilities to use this connection. Malak artes. It has never been proven, but malak scholars have hypothesized that the earthpulse encompassed more than just our planet. With no suitable explanation for where these Shadows come from, it seems that those hypotheses have been proven. As such, we need to send someone capable of fighting these creatures at their source and end it, or this world of ours is doomed. They would have to be humans of course; malakhim are too closely attuned to the earthpulse to traverse uneffected by its pull. But they would need a malak guide, one which accepts that the earthpulse will swallow them to birth them anew."
Garl stepped forward and held up his hands.
"If you're just a powerful malak, then why am I still alive? I exist to feed you, yet Velvet and I should have died the moment you ceased being an Empyrean if my understanding of what we are is right."
Once more, Innominat cocked his head.
"Oh. I see. You're a Therion too, just like her. This is good news, actually. She possesses within her the soul of another powerful malak named Seres, whose death, combined with an arte of Melchior's design, created the Sorcerer's Ring Brunhild that Velvet now wields. It was my intention to have her devour me to create another, but I have no clue what possession of two such powerful objects will do. Unlike Brunhild, whose purpose is to increase its holder's power, one created from my soul would keep any current Therions alive. Yes, this works much better. Free Velvet by devouring the arte keeping her suspended. We must do this soon, before I no longer have the ability to guide you through the earthpulse."
"Wait! You can't just send us along without actually talking to us first! We need to tell people where we're going, let them know that there is still hope!" Eleanor interrupted. Rokurou, who had little to say up until now, simply placed his hand on her shoulder while Garl was already moving towards Velvet's prison. He stopped part of the way there when he noticed a broken comb on the ground. Idly, he bent to retrieve the pieces and put them in a pocket before therionizing one of his arms.
"I don't think we have the time to do that. They'll be fine, so long as we do our part. But this is likely going to be a one-way trip Eleanor, so you need to decide now if you're up for this. Garl has made his choice, and I've made mine. Velvet already sacrificed herself once, and we both know that she'll do it again if Innominat is no longer a threat. She's already had her revenge."
Eleanor took a deep breath before nodding.
"No, you're right. I guess… I just wanted to say goodbye. What about Maotelus and Magilou, Eizen and Bienfu? They'll never know what happened."
"Maotelus knows." Innominat stated. "Even now, they are all being informed of the sacrifices you are making." He pointed behind them at an orb which Eleanor recognized as Melchior's communication arte. Before she could say anything else, the orb vanished. The attention of them all returned to Garl as they heard him growl.
He thrust his hand towards the white barrier holding Velvet and devoured it, leaving the woman within to fall to her hands and knees with a grunt. She stood slowly, her joints popping as she did so.
The first thing she saw was Garl and his therionized arm.
"A Therion…?" She asked more to herself than of Garl. Her eyes widened as she looked around herself. "Where is…" She broadened her search until she found Innominat, who looked down at the ground when she finally did.
"Innominat. You, why did you free us?" Velvet asked. Eleanor cleared her throat, revealing herself and Rokurou to her. Her widened eyes narrowed dangerously.
"Hold on, Velvet. There's an explanation for everything. The exorcist said.
"Then you'd better start talking, Eleanor. You look… older."
The woman rolled her eyes.
"Gee, thanks Velvet. First time in twenty years that we've seen each other, and you have to rub in the fact that you didn't age while we did."
As Eleanor and Rokurou began to fill Velvet in, Innominat motioned for Garl to come over to him, next to Artorius' body.
"Take the sword. It's important."
The moment his hand came into contact with the blade, Garl's eyes narrowed much like Velvet's had earlier.
"This is a Divine Artifact. We should have no need for it."
"Just take it. There is method to my madness, I assure you. But Velvet must not know until it has already been done. Everything up here, minus myself and Velvet, was placed under an arte to halt the passage of time. Should you touch his flesh, you'll find that it is still warm. This is important, as it means his brain tissue wasn't damaged when I placed an arte upon it to keep it as such. There will not be five of us travelling through the earthpulse, but six. And an armatus is required to ensure we bypass the Shadows."
"I don't follow." Garl responded, though he did pull the sword free. Innominat motioned towards the sheath stuck into the ground a couple feet away as he explained further.
"Artorius will be coming with us."
"Hurry up then, Innominat. Velvet's gonna be pissed."
Innominat began casting an arte, one Garl recognized as a healing arte while he sheathed the sword. He noted the carved pendant tied to the blade and snorted to himself. For a man whose end goal was to remove free will and emotions from humanity, he was oddly sentimental.
A faint gasp was heard, drawing Garl's attention to Artorius. His chest moved slowly as he breathed, though Innominat's hand over his mouth stopped him from speaking immediately until the hand lifted slowly. Artorius' gaze then fell upon Garl.
"I heard… everything." The Shepherd stated lowly. "There is no need to explain. I will do as Innominat asked. Then you must devour me, while I am still armatized. I will not force Velvet to endure my existence any longer than necessary."
The Therion male shrugged, noticing a slight twinkle in Innominat's eyes that Artorius missed.
"If I must. If we're going then the time is now, before Velvet turns around to see what's happening. Rokurou and Eleanor trust me enough to wait for things to pan out, but Velvet doesn't know anything about me."
Artorius and Innominat were silent for a few moments as they observed the man standing next to the sheathed longsword. Then, surprisingly, Artorius smiled.
"I think… that you should try to get to know her. The real Velvet, hidden beneath everything I've made her endure. She might surprise you." Then he stood, reaching for his sword with his good arm. The noise of the weapon being drawn alerted Velvet, who turned around in surprise. Before she could react, Artorius raised the weapon.
"Nevn Hiw Ejuem!"
The armatization process was rather short, surprising Garl. He had expected something more than a bright light from the way he had heard it explained.
Artorius waved his sword, creating a rift.
"Time is short. Enter the rift, and Innominat shall do the rest."
Then, he entered the rift, ignoring Velvet's angered calling of his name. Garl gulped when her eyes settled on him.
"You! You did this!" She yelled. Behind her, Eleanor and Rokurou nodded and stepped towards the rift. The disappeared, leaving the angered woman looking towards it in confusion.
"Blame me if you want, Lord of Calamity. It's much easier that way. But for now, let's get moving." Garl stated icily. Then he too entered the rift, leaving Velvet alone.
She stared at the rift after him, clenching her fists. "That's my line. Did he really just steal my line?" Then she entered rift, determined to find out who that man was and kill Artorius once more.