I do not own Familia Myth or any of the characters.
Unfinished Business 2
Ethan knelt beside the dwarf as Ryu drove Alf's Lumina into the ground beside his head. Ethan's eyes scanned the room that his Lightning Spree had ruined to slaughter a dozen monsters the dwarf had tried to give them in a Pass Parade, then dropped back to the dwarf. "I'm only asking this once before I start cutting. Where's the one-armed bastard run off to?"
The dwarf, in spit of his wounds, spat blood in Ethan's eye. Ethan sighed, wiping his face, then drove his Xiphos down into the dwarf's thigh.
"What are you planning!? Ethan shouted over the dwarf's shriek of pain.
"Ethan?" Bell called out from behind them both. "Ryu?"
Both looked back at him and Ethan sighed, standing and sheathing his xiphos, Ryu likewise sheathing her tanto, though she kept her foot on the dwarf's shoulder, digging it into a burn.
"I'm assuming you found our...friend on the eighteenth floor and came to find us?" Ethan asked.
Bell nodded. "Did you kill him?"
Ethan and Ryu glanced at one another before shaking their heads.
"We left him crippled and immobile," Ryu said. "How'd he die?"
"Numerous stab wounds," Bell said.
"Wasn't us," Ethan said.
Bell nodded, glancing at the elf before turning back to Ethan, face growing dark. "Cassandra had a vision. Sorry, but I can't remember the specific words sue told me. I know it featured all of our deaths. The only actual lines I remember are the beginning. 'The one who must not be approached is catastrophe incarnate. The one who must not be touched is the oracle of certain death. A mother's lament shall call forth disaster, and despair shall let out his newborn cry.'"
Ethan frowned, staring at the ground for a moment before his eyes widened. He looked to Ryu, paling. "Juggernaut."
Ryu went pale instantly and nodded. "We need to find him. Now!"
Ethan nodded as Ryu ran for a tunnel off to the side. "Bell, get out of the Dungeon!"
"But-"
"TAKE THE OTHERS AND GET THE FUCK OUT! ! !" Ethan thundered before sprinting after Ryu.
He caught up to her after several minutes, only for both to skid to a stop as an explosion rang out behind them. "Another one?"
"They've collapsed a dozen tunnels, you destroyed that room, and now another explosion," Ryu said. "This needs to stop, now."
Ethan nodded. "Agreed. No more magic."
Ryu nodded and they both raced back toward the explosion. However, after a few minutes, Ethan skidded to a stop as Ryu stopped, then backed up toward a different passage. Then, just as Ethan reached her, she was off, Ethan two steps behind her.
"Get her, troops!" a male adventurer with black plate armor, minus a helmet, and a greatsword roared, several others charging.
"JURAAAAA! ! !"Ryu roared deafeningly.
Ethan's eyes narrowed slightly as his eyes pinpointed Jura, standing just behind Bell. His sclerae darkened to black as he glared at theses two, one who had hurt Ryu more than could ever be healed fully, and the other who had expressly ignored Ethan's attempts to save his life. At the same time, his Irises shone crimson as he surged forward, passing Ryu. Jura needed to die for Ryu to be able to move on, but it couldn't be her that did it. Just from her shriek when she saw him, Ethan knew. If she killed Jura, she'd be burned by the flames of revenge. She'd survive, and would still be the woman he'd fallen for, but she'd be burned. But if Ethan killed him, she'd be safe, and she would accept that it's over.
Ethan leapt over the adventurers moving to stop her, then slashed downward at Jura as he descended. However, Bell stepped into the way, deflecting his sword with his own hieroglyph knife, drawing a pure white knife Ethan had seen Welf making for him from a unicorn's horn, Hakugen, he thought it was called.
"I told you to leave!" Ethan snarled, lunging and trying to stab Jura over Bell's shoulder, only for the Hestia Knife to again deflect Ethan's sword.
Ethan's free hand flashed up with his Xiphos, but Bell pivoted and knocked it away before kicking Ethan backward. Ethan flipped, landing on his feet. Bell had improved a lot with his most recent level up. Just as Ethan landed, however, Ryu reached them, finally having torn through all twenty of the adventurers Ethan had jumped over, and struck at Jura with Alf's Lumina, only for Bell to again defend him with the Hestia Knife, then with Hakugen when he deflected Ethan's blade again. Then, Jura turned and fled. Ethan growled in irritation and push kicked Bell backward before taking off after Jura with Ryu. We race after the Evilus member in a pair of blurred streaks. He rounds a corner and we shoot after him. He tosses a monster bait at us and I slash it aside. Monsters swarms us, but we shred out way through them rapidly. Then, we're past them and continue sprinting.
Ryu opens her mouth to begin chanting Luminous Wind's incantation, only to catch herself. We can't risk any more damage to the Dungeon. Not when that's exactly what Jura wants. Finally, after winding from path the path a few times, I jump, slamming a drop kick into Jura's back, sending him bouncing into a chamber where multiple springs pass through. Then, as I catch up to Ryu in the room, Bell leaps over us and lands in front of Jura, turning back to us.
"Why are you doing this?" Bell asked.
"Because Ryu can't be at peace until Jura's dead," Ethan said. "He cost her everything once, and what he's trying to do now is something that absolutely must be stopped. That thing cannot be summoned. The only way to stop it is to kill him, so get out of our way. It's already too late for you to leave, but it's not too late to stop him."
"I should have made sure you were dead last time," Ryu growled, glaring past Bell at Jura.
"Rabbit Foot, kill her!" Jura pleaded in a screechy voice that irritates me. "I'm begging you! It's awful! My whole body hurts! The bleeding won't stop! The arm she cut off..."
"I-Is it true?" Bell asked. "That you cut off this man's arm?"
"Yes," Ryu said. "I'm the one who severed his arm. I sliced his ear off, too. And what of it?"
"Take a closer look, Bell," Ethan said. "His arm and his ear are both old wounds. They happened five years ago."
Bell blinked in surprise and looked back, his eyes widening as he saw that Ethan was right. While the sleeve of Jura's severed right arm was tattered and bloody, the arm was clearly not bleeding, and neither was his severed ear, which should have coated his ear and face with blood by now, especially after running.
"Your claims don't add up," Bell said.
"What are you talking about!?" Jura demanded. "I explained-"
"Then why are you alive right now?" Bell interrupted. "If she had cut off your arm, your ear, and blasted you with her magic, how are you not dead?"
Jura stared at him, obviously scrambling for a viable explanation. Instead, Bell flicked a small, red crystal at him.
"It's a kaenseki, an Inferno Stone, right?" Bell asked.
"Where did you find that?" Ethan asked.
"On the floor while chasing you three," Bell said.
Ethan narrowed his eyes. "Good plan. Use Inferno Stones to decimate the floor. Smart. But it's over now. Step aside, Bell. I'm ending this."
Ryu glanced at him, then nodded, and Ethan started forward, Bell hesitating before stepping out of the way. As Ethan neared Jura, however, Jura clicked his tongue and whipped his left arm forward. A whip no one had noticed him grab shoots forward, snapping out at Ethan, only for him to duck under it and leap back, Bell likewise putting distance between himself and Jura.
"You and those idiots from Rivira are worthless!" Jura spat, standing as his face gained a wicked, irritated expression. "Even if you didn't kill Lion, which I wasn't really expecting given The Guardian's involvement, I was expecting you to at least slow her down!" He rested the whip against his shoulder before pulling out an elixir. With an impressive display of skill and practice at being one-handed, he removed the lid of the bottle and poured it over his head, healing the various self-inflicted cuts and burns over his body. "Turk did well, but he slipped up in the end. He got nervous about you, Lion, and set off the explosions too soon." Then, he cast about twenty Inferno Stones about the room.
"Oh no you don't!" Ethan snarled, launching himself forward with Ryu, only for Jura's whip to snap against the ground.
The crystal above then hattered, and Ryu hurled herself to the right as Ethan went left. A second later, a massive, ten meder long serpent crashed to the ground where we'd been, hissing loudly. It had blue skin, six amber eyes, and a collar around its body just below its head with a crystal jewel set into it. Along each side of its mouth are nine holes, eighteen in total, that, if Ethan's memory served, were for sensing heat and were more sensitive and accurate than its eyes, to the point that damaging them would actually blind it, eyes or no.
"Lambton!" Ethan swore. "Typical!"
Jura laughed. "Meet my pet!"
"How did a monster from the Deep Floors get up here!?" Bell gaped.
"I brought it from Knossos!" Jura grinned proudly. "It's one of the monsters the crew over there captured! You probably know what I'm talking about, since you were mixed up with those creepy talking monsters and the Ikelos Familia!" He ducked as light Blade flashed over his head.
Ethan narrowed his eyes. No one talked about Wiene that way. In response to the minimal attempt to kill him, Jura snapped his whip, ordering the Lambton to kill the three of them, and it exploded forward at Bell first. He leapt over it and it shot past under him, much faster than its size suggested. Then, as soon as it had passed Bell, it turned in a circle on a dime, curling its body before launching itself through the air at Ethan. He shot forward, slipping under it before it crashed to the ground with the force of an explosion, actually sending out a shockwave that hurled both Ethan and Bell. As they landed, they spun, only to find the great serpent had already burrowed into the ground.
All three tensed, readying themselves as Ethan drew his Xiphos, forming a Light Blade on both of his weapons.
"Wrong!" Jura jeered at them as they watched the floor.
Then, the Lambton burst out of the wall feet from Ryu, only for her to launch herself over it.
"So, the end has come, eh, Lion?" Jura sneered. "You and The Guardian can spend the rest of your lives together inside of this guy's stomach!"
"I'm tired of being a circus clown," Ethan whispered, Ryu's lips twitching as she restrained a smile.
"I was just thinking the same thing," she breathed back.
Bell nods in agreement and sends a Firebolt at the Lambton as he takes off. As he does, I streak past him and leapt at the thing, slashing at the holes around its mouth. It jerks its head back, and I only get one, but it's enough to very clearly get its attention, given the pained shriek it lets out. As I land on its back and stab my blades down into it, Ryu streaks past to attack Jura, only for him to again snap his whip on the ground. Instantly, the Lambton turns into a strike so fast it throws me off of itself, though Bell manages to warn Ryu in time for her to avoid it. Jura laughs as the Lambton coils around him protectively.
"You thought you could aim for me, eh?" Jura cackled. "You thought I wasn't ready for that!? I've imprinted this behavior on my pet quite well!"
"Ryu, is this guy really such an amazing tamer?" Bell asked.
"No," Ryu said. "I mean, he's one of the better ones, but I think he's under the Ganesha Familia tamers. That is, the Jura Halmer I knew five years ago was."
"Ah, shit, it's useless," Jura growled, voice trembling. "I'm still afraid. Lion! Disgusting Gale!" He held up his hand, which was trembling. "Look at this trembling hand! It's like a leaf in the wind! You almost killed me once! Of course I'm scared of-"
"Blade Rain!" Ethan growled.
Faster than a flash, the Lambton's head dropped, using its body to intercept the barrage of Light Blades. It shrieked in pain and reared up, thrashing, but when the blades dissolved, the wounds were still minor to the gigantic snake. Then, when Jura cracked his whip again, the Lambton shrieked and lunged, aiming directly for Ethan. He launched himself over it, keeping himself low, and landed on it's back before leaping toward the tail, his blades ripping along its body. It shrieked in pain, and as Ethan landed, he rolled to his feet just as the serpent lunged at Ryu.
"Aim for the holes around it's mouth!" Ethan shouted, both of the others nodding, Bell drawing Hakugen alongside the Hestia Knife.
Together, the three of them charged. Ethan felt his Berserk skill had faded slightly, so he forced himself angry by recalling the image of Wiene being killed by Gran. Bell used a second Firebolt to distract the Lambton, and together, Ryu and Ethan tore into the serpent's body, then darted out of the way of its attempt to defend itself. After Ethan's third pass, he sent massive barrage of Light Blades into the full length of its body. As he did, Jura ordered it to escape underground. However, before it could, Bell sent an Argonaut-charged Firebolt into the ground below it. The explosion hurled the Lambton backward, and Ryu and Ethan again tore into it. Both of them pushed themselves faster and faster as they ripped into the great Serpent, Ryu's speed massively outstripping Ethan's, now that she wasn't holding back. And the faster Ryu ran, the stronger her attacks became, actually ending up lifting the Lambton's body off the ground. The skill responsible for it, Aero Mana, formed a glowing, blue-green aura around Alf's Lumina, and multiplies her strength based on how fast she's running. In order to utilize the skill fully, she turned her passes into a set track, something like a five-point star. Then, finally, she and Ethan struck together, Ethan having switched from his two blades to wielding his sword with two hands, and the Lambton sailed across the room, crashing into the far wall and collapsing into a coiled heap against the wall. The wall instantly collapsed on top of it, burying it, and Ryu and Ethan both rounded on Jura.
"Game over, Jura," Ethan growled, a massive cloud of Light Blades forming around him. "No more pet to protect you."
Jura stared at them for a moment before beginning to chuckle. After a moment, the chuckle turned into high, insane laughter as he doubled over. Finally, he straightened up, grinning wickedly.
"You think this is over!?" Jura sneered. "This is only just the beginning! Do you know why I chose this place, Lion!? The Water Capital is linked across this zone! The whole area connected by the Great Falls is like one floor! Damage in one place is shared everywhere! That's what the Dungeon thinks, at least!"
Ethan swore harshly. "Turk! Fuck! Jura was a distraction! Turk's going to summon it!"
"Summon what?" Bell asked.
"It doesn't matter if the explosion is on the Twenty Fifth Floor or the Twenty Seventh!" Jura cackled. "To the Dungeon, it's as if the wounds were on the same floor!"
"What's going on!?" Bell demanded.
Then, the room shook as an explosion echoed from above them. Ethan and Ryu's eyes snapped up to the ceiling, both going pale.
"I tried to warn you to leave, Bell," Ethan said. "It's too late, now."
The echoing explosions continued, and then came the thundering crashes of crystal pillars collapsing, then the deafening explosion of crashes and crunches as an entire section of the Twenty Fifth Floor gave way.
"Stop!" Ryu shrieked, panicked. "STOP! ! !"
"It's too late," Ethan said as the trembling began to grow worse quickly.
"So, how does it feel to be set up, eh?" Jura was shouting over the roars of explosions and falling crystals. "You didn't pay attention when I threw out those bombs a little while ago, did you!? You were careless, weren't you!? Isn't that-" He stopped, grunting in surprise and pain as a Light Blade impaled him through the chest.
"Whatever plans you had with it, they're finished!" Ethan snarled.
Then, suddenly, as the largest tremor yet rocks the Dungeon, the Dungeon wails. It's not the cracking that sounds when new monsters spawn, it's not the roar of a monster, it's not the sound of part of the dungeon collapsing again, it's a literal wail. A deafening, inorganic, high-pitched shriek. Like a knife being dragged across a taught silver bowstring. Bell clapped his hands over his ears, and Ethan spun in time to catch Ryu as all of the strength drained from her body, being replaced by despair and terror.
"It's just like that time...all over again," Ryu breathed despondently. "Alise."
"Ryu," Ethan said firmly, turning her head toward him. "It's going to be okay. We'll get out of this. I won't let you die."
Ryu nodded, though she looked far from reassured. "I'm sorry. This is all my fault."
"No," Ethan said, kissing her forehead. "This is Jura's fault. We'll be okay. All we have to do is escape the Water Capital."
"How?" Bell asked.
"We'll fucking climb, if we need to," Ethan said, standing and pulling Ryu to her feet, Ryu seeming to be slowly regaining her strength.
However, as soon as she saw the Juggernaut, that strength would be gone instantly. So they needed to leave before that happened. He turned toward the tunnel, only to stop as human screams began to echo from it, distant, but rapidly growing closer. He even recognized a couple of the voices. The adventurers he and Ryu had passed in order to reach Jura when they finally caught sight of him.
"Bell, who came down here with you?" Ethan asked. "Who came looking for Ryu?"
"Almost half of Rivira," Bell said. "She was framed for a murder on the Eighteenth Floor, so Turk, a werewolf, convinced half of Rivira that Ryu had fooled the Guild into pardoning her, but she was still a murderer. They came down her for revenge and the hope that if they brought her back, the old bounty would be on the table."
"I see," Ethan nodded. "I'm surprised I didn't see Bors, if the hope was for eighty million valis."
"He knew you'd be there, and wasn't going to risk having to fight you both for a small chance at maybe getting a bounty that was cleared," Bell said.
"Then he was smart," Ian said. "We'll have to tunnel our way back to the main cavern. We can't take that tunnel."
"What is it?" Bell asked. "What's coming?"
"You mean you still haven't figured it out, Rabbit Foot?" Jura's voice croaked as he pushed himself up, hurling an empty glass bottle aside, his wound shrinking, though not healing entirely. "Even though Lion is so upset that she's practically dying?" He chuckled, blood still running out of his mouth. "I've summoned the beast that butchered the Astraea Familia!"
"It's the Dungeon's ultimate defense," Ethan said. "It's unstoppable."
"Really?" Bell gaped.
"Don't use magic," Ryu warned, looking at both of them very seriously. "It's body reflects magic."
Both of their eyes widened before they nodded.
"If we have to fight it," Ethan began, "which is an absolute last resort, I'll try and make an opening for you to use Argonaut."
Bell nodded, then turned back to Jura. "Why? Why would you do this?"
"To tame it!" Jura cried. "Even though I was pissing and shitting myself that time, I couldn't take my eyes off of it! I knew from the moment I saw it that I must have it!"
"I'm cutting his head off," Ethan growled.
"Too late," Ryu breathed, trembling in fear again. "It's already too late!"
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