I'm gonna throw a trigger warning for some of the violence in this chapter. Otherwise, enjoy!
oooooooo
Kayneth considered himself not a fool. From his standing, he was invisible and tactfully out of Haley's Psychic reach. A rare thing her power was among Magi. If he didn't know Adranga and his wife well, he'd mistakenly assume her power was a form of Mystic eyes. He gathered that in some ways, it was; but her gift gained strength from the mind rather than the magical circuits its host possessed… Which gave him a definite advantage.
A fragile psyche paved corrugated administrations of abilities: it was precisely that loophole which Kayneth arranged to exploit. Thanks to Adranga's observations from the audience, plenty of options to taunt his comrade's daughter lay at his disposal. Compassion, guilt, empathy (all things a Proper Magus would ignore as unnecessary distractions) instilled the ideologies of the woman and would begin her ruin.
His voice was an ominous echo as he vexed, "Adranga's failure! You'll now begin to experience the power of Lord El-Melloi, for the misgivings your damned Servant has handed me! Automatoportum defensio: Automatoportum quaerere: Dilectus incrisio!"
Haley's expression hardened. "You are just as responsible! I've seen Diarmuid's memor—"
"Silence!"
Fusillading the woman with thick, wriggling strings of Volumen Hydrargyrum while concealed proved the perfect plan to render her powers useless. He watched on while she frantically wormed her way through his attacks, barely managing to dodge his more powerful strikes. Crevices were left behind in the cement, dust clouds engulfing the Arena.
Blood spattered the pavement red and coated her sleeves. On trembling legs, the woman pushed off the flooring, speedily traversing the battlefield. Haley's repeated dodges would only serve her so long. Her breathing became ragged, her clothes shredding under the intense strikes; he only needed the right moment to pin down and attack her.
"How does it feel to receive a lashing from my personal magecraft?! This, this is for the damn curse that brought me down here with him!"
"What?" Haley skidded to a halt. She had nowhere to go. Blanking the roof of the battlefield, Kayneth's mercury expanded, raining blades in flashes of gleaming silver light.
Palms out and snapping into the air, her psychic waves halted a pitiful quantity, the unprotected waves showering her in multiple lacerations and forcing her to stagger.
"Yes, that's right! Your monstrous demon that you love so much cursed and dragged me into this damn hole! It's his fault, Diarmuid's fault that I am here! His fault that Sola-ui died!"
—
In the deepest fragments of his heart, Diarmuid acknowledged Kayneth's bitter words as truth. From the borders of the bounded field where he observed, his hands gripped the railings of the wooden barrier between him and the Arena.
The malignant curse no longer gripped the metaphorical strings of his soul. He and Haley saw to that, struggled and wept over it. He had thought it merely projection, when surrounded by those responsible for his suicide...but hearing his former Master so openly spew it, he could no longer refute it.
His final declamation that he had clung to upon his release from the Grail, that he would never forgive them—All those who betrayed him would burn in hell, haunted by his rage.
It seemed his wish in that moment had been granted, though in ways he hadn't foreseen. Now his Lady paid the price. He should be the one upon whom Lord El-Melloi exacted his revenge. He certainly deserved it in some ways.
Diarmuid's head lowered, his voice soured by regret.
"I'm sorry."
—
Haley flicked the blood seeping down her arm to the side, and smeared the cut across her cheek. "What are you talking about, Kayneth? The Judges—"
"Yes, the Judges of the Dead—those who supposedly look at your past deeds and choose the realm where the soul remains after death. I was darkened, cursed by magic and unable to wander peacefully, they said," Kayneth spat, his anger unmasked. "It was because of that wretched, useless Servant that I had been tainted at all!"
He was too fast, it was Achilles's unmatched agility all over again. Enhancement magic winking out, all the telekinetic could do was cross her arms across her face, shielding her eyes from the catastrophic blasts of Kayneth's alchemy taking shape and detonating like bombs around her. Nothing could keep her from screaming at her burning, ripping flesh and bones.
"Oh no, that will not do," the British man snickered, "You mustn't tear apart so easily. Hasn't your father's training made you more durable than that?" The Magus's sickening laughter was followed by the swift healing of her sweltering thorax and cleaved leg.
Kayneth began to approach to close their gap, Volumen Hydrargyrum changing shape. It flung towards Adranga's daughter like a whip, snagging her ankle and slapping her to the earth with a shattering crack. Kayneth half expected her spine to be fractured, his lip curling at the thought.
Shutting her eyes, Haley swallowed her grunt. Her magic—suppressed by her own accord—sang in answer to undo the damages.
This was nothing. She knew far worse pain than the screeching in her back, and the air sucked out of her lungs from impact. It was merely well-deserved punishment, for what she had done to Medea, and planned for Kayneth.
"I know from where you watch, Diarmuid, that you must be in agony. Do you feel her pain? Whatever you feel, is only an ounce of the disgrace you have befallen upon me!" Kayneth's hatred thundered. "I'll keep tearing her apart and piercing her back together! Come save her, lest she end up as have I and Sola-Ui because of your uselessness!"
My Lady I—
"No! Diarmuid, I swear to God, stay back!"
Irritated by Lord El-Melloi's hateful spewing, Haley planted her feet firmly (standing just out of reach from Voluminum Hydrargyrum as she shook her head and shouted, "When will you stop blaming him?! It was you who didn't trust him! YOU who went into that castle alone, and YOU who thought it was smart to hand over control of a Heroic Spirit who had a damn charm spell to your wife!"
"QUIET!" Kayneth roared, aiming hollow-pointed mercury bullets at Haley's battered form with vicious, deadly precision. Gobbets of blood and membranous tissue exploded as the missiles implanted into her tender flesh, simultaneously imploding and fragmenting to add another hideous layer to the Magus's brutal carnage.
Hugging her tattered torso in an unsteady, largely ineffective attempt to stem her copious blood loss, Haley rebutted, "I've seen it… through Diarmuid's memories… He's not impartial, but had you valued anything he could do, it would have been vastly different! Look how far we have come, by working together, by trusting in each others abilities, we—"
"Hah, the abilities your father trained in you? Everything you've got is from what Adranga beat into you," a satisfied snarl curled Kayneth's invisible lips. "He revealed to me his work on you. You are nothing but a lab rat that he concocted, able only to utilize basic magic—a failure as a Magus, whose worth lies in niche tricks. You and that pathetic excuse for a Heroic Spirit are perfect for each other in that regard!"
"What… you… you knew? And did nothing to stop him?! He was TORTURING me, and you KNEW!"
HALEY! You must end this quickly! Do not engage in his provocations! Diarmuid's worried warning stuck in her brain like a burr, disappointment at his inability to understand her deceptive strategy stinging harder than it should.
Pretending to fall for Kayneth's goads and lashings before enacting the entirety of her plan was how she planned to cope—how to allow him to get his pain out before enacting the inevitable. If she survived, of course, but she hadn't doubted that. She had promised to return, she just never said how.
This ignominious act aided in the urgent task of discerning his location. Diarmuid's assumption that Kayneth would attempt to counter her psychic abilities with his invisibility was valid. The previous Master and Servant duo heavily relied on it. Apparently, his wife had considered it cowardice, which dragged the Magus's pride through the mud; it had goaded him to carelessly infiltrate his enemy's stronghold, thus leading to the demise of his magic circuits.
The fact Kayneth was bold enough to blame Diarmuid for those miscalculations deeply upset Haley. Had he simply communicated his whereabouts or plans with his Servant, perhaps that scenario could have been avoided. Leaving his partner clueless only benefited their enemies, and directly led to paying the ultimate price of losing his, his wife's, and Diarmuid's lives.
Ignoring the resentment welling in her heart for the tragedy that befell her Lover, magic swelled around Haley's ears. Despite the pain from the constant whipping, she focused on the soft sound of footsteps and controlled breathing as Diarmuid instructed. Her senses weren't rendered useless, and the scale of Kayneth's force was waning, affected greatly by the provided magical energy output of the man anchoring the Magus's grander talents. This dip in strength was the perfect time to initiate her plan.
Once she pinpointed Kayneth's approximate position, the disjointed earth cracked open like an egg, flying in opposite directions and swallowing the contents of the Arena. The British man's infuriated bellow reverberated like an uneven chorus, his alchemic magic circling his flickering image as a shield of protection.
This was Haley's sole advantage: her illusion spell hiding Diarmuid's trusted weapon phased out, at last revealing the blood-red spear Gae Dearg strapped across her back. The metal whined in delight as it slipped out of its clothed sheath. Severely lacking in skills regarding any physical weapon, there was only one use of the spear she was capable of utilizing.
Gae Dearg hurtled the distance, assisted in trajectory by Haley's psychic power. She spun the javelin in a cartwheel-like motion, as she'd seen her Knight do on the battlefield. It was a blur, clashing with a loud ring against the steel of the silver alchemy in front of her. Every point the blade touched drooled down like thick soup, the magic cut aside by the weapon's ability.
Sprays of detonating Voluminum Hydrargyrum whistled by, slicing through skin and bone, spattering the tiles with her blood like deadly rose petals, before phasing out completely.
—
"Ahgggghhh!"
Lord El-Melloi's fury erupted over the loss of his most precious magic spells. Gae Dearg was a weapon that severed all magical ties, the magecraft unsalvageable. This was the second time the high-ranking Magus had been thrust into a corner by an inferior creature who made a mockery of Magi.
No craft to analyze, no true skill to put his talents as a Magus against, while also shadowed by the evil from the Grail Diarmuid had thrust upon him, and a second-rate fool as his magical supplier. Glory had been long lost, and this… wretched woman would now use his former Servant's weapon against him?! The humiliation began to wire its way into each step that closed the distance between them.
Stealing away his admirable Mystic Code accelerated his pace, but not before Haley hurtled Diarmuid's weapon. Kayneth dropped to his knees, swearing at the woman's pathetic aim, and her laudable persistence that shattered his invisibility.
Oddly, things aren't going your way, his bratty Detainer mocked. Too bad, I think. I wanted to see what 'Lord El-Melloi' bragged so cockily about.
Blast it all! Pain rippled in his leg where the spear ejected, pulled back by the woman's power and pointed readily in his direction. He'd strike now, put on display just what a person of his skill was capable of, Mystic Codes or no.
Gusts of wind drew towards him, sucking the air from Haley's gaping mouth. Gae Dearg clanged on top of the ground as she clawed at her throat from the lack of oxygen. Rapidly advancing upon her, he snagged the spear, gripping her bicep and flipping her over, shoving her face into the floor. "Curse yourself for crossing my path, and taking arms with a spear you know no use of!"
Haley choked, unable to inhale; she had forgotten that Kayneth had an affinity for wind and water.
"Come Diarmuid—come save your woman! Get disqualified, or forfeit like the pathetic fools you both are! I'll grant the prestigious Adranga that much mercy for his daughter."
Was that their plan? She had wondered (what with her opponent's loose mouth over his connection to her father) if there had been some sort of promise between them. Losing here, ordaining her own blood awaited her with eagerness.
Rescuing Diarmuid would always be her main purpose fighting here, but the sudden afterthought of rewriting what those knew of her, or removing the bounty in her name became a forethought. She was gambling for the fate of two souls, not just one.
But her lungs were burning for any sort of relief, ruthless pain devouring her limbs and torso from Kayneth's stabbing. Prior in the match, the ruthless Magus blew apart her limbs before purposefully sealing them back together in attempt to maim and torture, and he continued that strategy even now.
Haley couldn't fathom it. What had she done that was so terrible to be destined for one tragedy after another? An innocent child, mangled and beaten—repeatedly stitched back together like a broken doll. Why? She had been good, and kind to others… Had remained hidden and only taken what was needed. So why ?
Why be tormented in this way by an opponent who held a delirious grudge towards a Spirit she revered, loved ?
Clenching her teeth, bypassing the need to breathe, her focus shifted to the pummeled tiles as she outstretched her hand. A choked sound left her parted lips as her beloved's spear stabbed through the back of her hand, pinning her to the ground.
Kayneth tapped a finger at his folded arms, a pleased expression fermenting his features. "Had enough, have you? I am not finished. How about the feeling of your innards twisting, your heart beating faster than it should, and your intestines twisting?!"
Unintelligible grunts of undiluted torment overrode any intellectual thought. El-Melloi made true on his threat, internally mangling her organs. Magic from either end—she could no longer tell—restored her at an agonizingly slow pace.
Haley, I cannot sit idly by as you suffer for my misdeeds against Kayneth, I must—
NO! Haley cut off Diarmuid's frantic communication, the field bursting around her.
Flipping over, the rock and debris she hovered over Kayneth cracked into his ribs. Oxygen found its way into her center in a burst, but that didn't stop her from launching all of her body weight onto Kayneth.
"Stop it! " Her fingers squeezed his throat, her stare blazing with hurt. "Stop taking your failures out on me! Stop tormenting me! I didn't do anything to deserve this, and neither did Diarmuid!"
The body beneath her thrashed, further dispelling languishing pain that Haley blanketed out, incensed by confusion and strife. It wasn't fair, and while she had accepted his beatings earlier for repentance to the soul she would send away, this went far beyond that.
All Haley ever knew was struggling, and surviving, and Kayneth had exploited it to an outrageous degree. This had become way more personal than it needed to be: a match for survival shifted to an explosion of pent-up guilt and frustration. "You're wrong! Feel it! Feel what I've been through, and what you've done to Diarmuid, too!"
The Psychic's magic spiralled out of control as she looked menacingly into Kayneth's turquoise eyes. Let yourself be susceptible to my magic until I release you, and feel every bit of it.
Illusions warped reality, replicating her truth as if it were his own. Blazing pain scorched every nerve ending in his body, reproducing the real feeling of his flesh being stripped to the bone. Every joint in his skeletal system snapped—from his toes to his fingers.
His dandelion-colored hair shredded from his scalp in unison to the symphony of fracturing bones and cracking skin under sweltering heat. Haley continued her relentless psychic assault, shoving her words to the forefront of the Magus's tormented mind.
"I was burned alive, I had every bone in my body broken in every which way possible, and so, so many more horrifying things—"
Agony tore through Kayneth, his jaw dislocated, unable to vocalize his crippling pain—though in reality, his broken wails echoed throughout the Arena.
"I-It was terrible! And you, you are trying to capitalize on that pain? How dare you blame Diarmuid's curse for you being here when even you threaten to kill in this way!"
Hot, angry tears stained Haley's face, Kayneth's agonizing screams forcing her to cover her ears. "And Diarmuid… the pain he's suffered…"
Haley engulfed the Spirit before her with every nasty misgiving the Irish hero endured on account of Kayneth. All of the Heroic Spirit's wishes crushed, the overwhelming grief from being betrayed a second time—all of it. But what she wanted him to realize most of all, was the truth that flashed in her dreams and through bits of her lover's psyche when she'd ventured into it.
Sola-Ui stared longingly into Diarmuid's reluctant eyes, begging him to fight by her side whilst shedding any ounce of decency held by Kayneth's name.
She should have ceased the visions there, but his vindictiveness and her despair exacerbated her jaundiced actions.
This hollow facsimile of a man possessed a wicked soul, gathering enjoyment out of her and Diarmuid's misery. The last thing he needed to see, to feel was the shattering pain of his heart being skewered. Haley thrust that hopelessness and excruciating sensation of a blade taking his life into his mind, cringing deeply at Kayneth's anguished ululations.
Haley, that is enough! Diarmuid chastised, snapping her back into reality.
Hands lowering from her ears, her empty stare fixated on the Spirit's haunted visage.
Haley stumbled backwards, dropping onto her rear, perturbed by her current actions. Kayneth was a despicable man, unnerved by the cruelty he inflicted on others, believing himself above everyone else. His terrible persona did not excuse behaving in such a detrimentally similar manner.
What… What was she doing?
Her clenched fists met the ground and she forced herself to speak. "...Release."
Utterly ashamed, Haley hung her head, unable to move. It wasn't supposed to go this far. Their calculations and careful plotting should have exposed Kayneth's body and pierced him in the heart with Gae Dearg…
Not this.
Not these horrific acts she displayed for everyone to see and judge. Not after she and Diarmuid were celebrating this hellish tournament's inability to break them. Had they been wrong? Or was her unrelenting need to satisfy her promise to save her Knight responsible?
To what ends would she go to keep that promise? She wasn't even sure anymore… she was only certain that she was entirely at a loss of what to do, and it was ripping her apart. Her love was challenging every moral she had instilled within herself.
I don't… I don't know what to do anymore…
Mulling over her spiraling integrity and ethics had been a dangerous distraction. Kayneth grabbed a fistful of hair, lifting and dangling her above the ground. Spit flying, he seethed, "You've… fallen so low! I won't be fooled!"
Forget Adranga and his absurd plans for his daughter. He'd kill her for her disrespect. He'd had enough of being a part of the demented games of others. "I am weary of your mind games and tricks! What was it your bounty said? Remove your eyes from their sockets?!"
Without a second thought, two fingers pierced deeply into the limp woman's face. Her miserable cries were music to his ears after what she'd forced him to endure. He felt naught but triumph, retrieving the rounds of her crimson countenance.
Tossing the appendages aside, on Kayneth's free hand, a dark ring glimmered in chaotic black light. Groaning doors opened, pathways to demented, roaring evil spirits threatening to spill into the Arena.
A gift from his teacher, Rufleus Nuada-Re Eulyphis, to turn the tides of any battle in the Underworld. A befitting end, to the woman who thought herself powerful enough to settle curses of the lost.
"You'll watch the woman you love die—" Kayneth belted through clenched teeth, monsters of different realms ready to maim and feed on the soul of the living.
Kayneth! That is not our plan! Darius shouted telepathically.
The Detainer of Kayneth had been gawking in interest at the events unfolding. The tides continued shifting throughout the entire battle, no clear victor in sight as the combatants took out their grouses on each other. It had been entertaining, as they struggled for power, each in their own disastrous way trying to force the other to understand.
Pity to them both for their unfortunate circumstances.
However, his former teacher's disgruntled position was of no measure to him, if he were to throw away his entirety for being here. There was value in that woman. If Adranga succeeded in his spell to render her a puppet as he planned, the possibilities for wealth and power were endless.
But if Kayneth threatened that because of his overinflated, damaged ego...
Forget the blasted plan! If I fail here, then goes all my chances of freedom from Hades! I will not disgrace myself any longer by idling by for the sake of another! Had you not been so useless, this ending would not be coming our way.
A paused beat was followed by a flat tone. You'll betray Adranga then?
A ghoul (with a mangled chin and skin dripping from its figure like a grotesquely melting candle) broke free from the confinements of his teacher's ring, latching onto his opponent. It began eating away at her flesh, as she frantically, albeit feebly, wrestled at it.
Let that be his stupid Detainer's answer.
"—And just like that you'll—!" Kayneth's voice caught in his throat, his limbs disobeying any sense of logic.
Magic winking out of existence, Lord El-Melloi called back the evil spirit to its position in the ring, as his hand forcefully caved its way through his ribs, plucking his heart and crushing it in his grasp.
—
Diarmuid ogled at the battlefield, silenced alongside the audience by what he watched unfolding before him. His hands shook on the wood he gripped tight enough to crack, unable to make sense of it. His leg hovered over the banister, ready to ruin the match to rescue his woman from the horrors befalling her, from the death she'd almost incurred, until the command was uttered across the way.
"Recall your evil spirit and then rip your heart out—End yourself, Kayneth."
His own death flashed behind his eyes, Gae Deag piercing deep into his heart and out his back, thus ending his participation in the Grail War. His hand slowly crept its way to the dog chain at his neck, gripping the tag at the end of it. "This…"
None of this was right. He knew that pain all too well, and would never wish it on anyone, nor could he believe to be witnessing it as a spectator… He goggled as the barriers surrounding the Arena fell, and Kayneth glowered at his very heart in his own hand.
Shaking away his disbelief, Diarmuid ejected from his position and onto the platform. The majority of Haley's actions he held in question, nauseated by the lengths she had ventured to achieve victory. He had withheld scolding her for her choices against Medea, knowing full well they were out of exigent circumstances but this…
...This had been entirely different, and contrary to her character. He knew not why, nor would he focus on that at this moment. What was more alarming was her reluctance to heal herself. He found himself next to her within seconds, scanning the playing field for her displaced organs, coming up empty.
His coppery hue only found a bloodstained battlefield, disheveled structures and Kayneth's collapsed husk, heart still in hand.
Scooping Haley into his arms, Diarmuid's dejected gaze still searched, hoping, as he said, "Though I cannot forgive your transgressions against Lady Haley—what transpired between us… I had fault in it. My face had created a rift, I had not appreciated your talents, nor had I paid attention to what grievances my chivalry had caused you. I am sorry, Kayneth. For everything."
—
The command seal faded from Darius's right hand, as a disappointed sigh left his narrow lips. It was unfortunate, letting the prestigious Magus go in this way. Too bad he left him no other choice.
He climbed the platform, hands settled in his jacket's pockets as he ventured to the body frozen in time on the platform. Diarmuid had departed a few seconds ago, holding a prize he wished to covet sometime in the future. Beneath his lashes he scrutinized Kayneth's form, still clutching his head and wearing a disjointed expression.
"I warned you about betraying Adranga; in the end, I was loyal to him and what he could do for us, well, me now." He nudged the stone-cold body with the toe of his boot, the Spirit's eyes slanting towards him with indignation.
Darius shrugged. "It was fun, teacher. You definitely put on a good show. I'll never forget the lessons I've learned from you." Bending down, he retrieved the dark ring. "I'll return this to its proper owner." Grinning, he stood, keenly aware of the Observers watching him. Offering the body below him a mock wave, he left to be ferried back home.
Kayneth managed a snicker, the eerie cry of a Shadow nearing.
The woman's imagery was still fresh in his mind while his replicated body no longer felt pain. Without his heart, he was merely a silhouette and untethered consciousness. A fitting end to how he felt. He had fallen from grace too long ago, and it all started when he wanted to add the Grail
as a trophy to his collection of esteem.
Well, if having been betrayed in the same way as his former Servant did not leave him in disgrace enough, not clinging to an ounce of pride would be his undoing.
So as the Shadow commanded by Loki readied to vacuum his soul and body to transport him to Tartarus, he forced—with the remaining energy he had left—his eyes closed and attempted to dispel what anger he had left. He thought of the poignant, yet miraculous spectacle of the most beautiful woman he'd ever met becoming his wife.
Kayneth envisioned the hot headed, red haired woman walking beside him with great pride, the medals of his accomplishments hanging high on a mantle.
Ah yes, a perfect outcome that would have been indeed, he thought, as everything turned to darkness.
—
Numb—that was the perfect way to describe how Haley felt. Numb to the pain in the holes where her eyes once were, and to the horrific condition the rest of her mind and body was in.
At some point, her hearing told her Diarmuid had carried her underneath the bleachers. He'd had the Underworld's Healers repair her injuries, her Knight's reassuring words that they'd found her torn-out orbs barely registering in her fugue-like haze. To remain strong, they promised to aid her in regaining her sight.
Haley didn't care. She had unequivocally earned this disability for the continued horrors she'd committed in her desperation to save Diarmuid. Whatever befell her while selfishly fighting onward was all due karma… If that meant being decorated in bruises and scars or becoming blind, then so be it.
For in the end, everyone had been right.
She undoubtedly was a monster.
oooooooooo
Kayneth is my arch nemesis when it comes to writing him. His attitude is like so many other characters and ugh. Alongside that, I researched like hell, trying to find some sort of idea WTF Kayneth can do outside VH and I came up quite empty. Majority of his traps and such were lent to him (hence in Case files Wavers need to pay back his debt) and though they say he is prodigy in this and that, they specify HIS UNIQUE techniques. So I took...some creative liberties.
Now for the angst. Haley is clearly spiraling, as she continues to have to against her key principles and ways of living to keep her promise to rescue Diarmuid, and has no clue how to achieve that any other way. Using her mind control against Medea was the start...and well, we can see she's not quite coping in the best of ways. Poor Diarmuid is having anxiety attacks over here, and not a clue what to do.
And Kayneths end, ahhhh. I couldn't wait to write it. He got a taste of his own medicine, and Diarmuid finally got to give his peace. Kayneth unfortunately is a stubborn one...but alas, I think it's appropriate for his character to believe in what he thought was the truth, regardless of what Haley shows him.
Well, that said... I hope this chapter was worth waiting for, and continue to have yalls support going forward! 16ish more chapters to go according to the outline and this story shall conclude...See you in the next installment!