Mist of Doom

One Month and Three Weeks since the Last Death (Nine Deaths)

"… Ricardo!" A voice like tempered steel reached the ears of the captain of the Fang of Iron, who was mounting on his precious liger, waiting for the moment when the owner of that same voice finally appeared.

"I already saw ya!" Replied the beast-man, with a thunderous voice. Accompanying the steeled voice, the rumbling of the gallop of an earth dragon and a dozen ligers could be heard.

There was no time to stop and talk, nor to devise a plan; the final details would have to be defined on the fly, in the short space of time and distance that separated them from the mist. Ricardo supposed that Julius had already been informed, that was the order of the messenger that he had sent him, so the result should not be different; therefore, the only thing he would have to talk to Julius about would be their roles once they entered the area covered by the mist.

Confident that his subordinate had been able to properly explain to the knight what was going on, Ricardo gave his liger a pat, which immediately began to gallop. The little sub-captain did exactly the same, and behind her the rest of the mercenaries began to ride towards the massive fog formation within which the fight against the White Whale was taking place.

Julius, having observed the mercenary leader's quick reaction, pulled the reins of his agile land dragon, signaling it to quickly approach him. Once he found himself riding parallel to Ricardo, Julius shouted at him without taking his eyes off the front. "Ricardo! Besides going in there and rescuing Felix, what is your plan?!"

"Hmm… I thought ya'd know by now!" The werewolf yelled back, visibly puzzled.

"I get the picture, Ricardo. But I need you to ratify it to me." Remaining calm despite the frenzy of the situation, Julius asked Ricardo to brief him on what he had in mind.

"My comrades aren't gonna fight the whale, it'd be useless!" Ricardo answered, pausing to look at Mimi, who was galloping to his right a little further back than he and Julius; after a moment, the mercenary looked back at the knight. "While ya're coming here, I informed them that their task would be to rescue the knight with whom the little lady made the deal; ours, and by sayin' this I include ya and Mimi, is to help the Sword Demon defeat the whale!"

"Hmm… I see. Considering the situation, that's definitely the most effective way to decrease casualties. Well thought out."

"I only have in mind to finish the job I was assigned, Julius!" Ricardo corrected, glancing sideways at the knight. After all, he was a mercenary, not a knight, not a hero. "Those casualties ya speak of were warriors who agreed to come knowin' that they might never see the sunlight again. What happens to them, and the remainin' survivors, is their own responsibility..."

"…" Julius heard the mercenary's reply, but refrained from answering.

In a sense, Ricardo was right. Like the warriors that they were, the men and women who attended the White Whale hunt did so with knowledge of the consequences that the battle could bring. During a battle, the goal is always to keep the lost lives to a minimum, but it would be too naïve to think that there would not be unfortunate cases; especially if the enemy was an ancient mabeast that terrorized the world for four hundred years.

Nevertheless, Julius had sworn allegiance to the kingdom. And that meant fighting for and protecting its citizens; and all those warriors under the command of Felix and Wilhelm were inhabitants of Lugunica who wanted a better future for their country. For this very reason, Julius could not turn his back on them.

It is true that this was not his battle, and that his role throughout the combat was in the rear, ensuring that no civilians entered the area. But now the situation had changed, and Julius was ready to give his all to prevent more lives of honorable warriors from being lost in the battle against the Mabeast of the Mist. So it didn't matter if Ricardo did it just because it was his job, he would carry the wishes of the fallen warriors and focus on defeating the whale; only then would the survivors be saved.

"We're 'bout to arrive!" Ricardo suddenly reported, causing several shouts to be heard in response behind him and Julius, coming from half of the group of mercenaries that had been under the knight's command and the group under Ricardo's command. And although a small portion had been left behind guarding the road, the Fang of Iron felt united once again, which had considerably boosted their morale.

The whole group approached the mist at breakneck speed, and it was then that what had previously been battle cries muffled by the distance and the density of the mist, took on an entirely different meaning. They weren't battle cries, or at least not all of them were. Amidst the screams and cursing, one could hear grunts and howls of agony and pain; as if the gates of hell itself had been completely opened.

"Aaaaarrrrrgggghhhhhh!"

"HEEELLLPPP!"

"MAAAAMMMAAAA!"

"Someone…! KILL ME!"

"I! CAN'T! STAND! IT! ANYMORE! ARRGGGGHHHH!"

"HEEEELPP MEEEEE!"

"ARGH! ARGH! Get… it… out… of… my… HEAD! Aaaarrrggghh!"

Inevitably, the determined and confident faces of many of the mercenaries lost the shine they had regained. The utterly crazed guttural screams gave the impression that, instead of a battlefield, they were approaching a madhouse. The victims of the Mist of Mental Contamination, having lost the notion of their surroundings, screamed hysterically while they fought the demons that inhabited them.

With no one between the group of mercenaries and the lone knight able to identify the screams as an effect of the mist, together they advanced ignorantly. With the fog getting closer every second, the gazes of all those gathered there were filled with courage. Cladding their hearts with steel, the combatants advanced on their mounting beasts, preparing themselves mentally for what they would encounter within the mist.

"Once inside, we'll go forward! Ya divide into three groups and look for the royal knight!" With those last words addressed to his subordinates, Ricardo took his great hatchet in hand and prepared for what could be his last fight as a mercenary.

"It was an honor to serve by your side as Juli the mercenary!" Julius then shouted. A comment that the mercenaries failed to identify whether it was a joke to lighten the mood or sincere words of appreciation. However, before anyone even thought to ask about it, Julius added something else. " I entrust the safety of the Knight Felix to you." And with those words, the royal knight grasped his sword and set about cutting down the mighty enemy he was soon to face.

Finally… "Survive! Without any of you, the family would be incomplete! Accompany Mimi once again to watch a new sunrise together!" And so, the three warriors who would face the whale entered the mist, with the battle cries of the mercenaries as background music.

With determination burning in their chests, even as they watched their leaders disappear behind the cloud mass, the rest of the Fang of Iron also plunged into the mist, not stopping the battle cries aimed at raising the morale of the group. And it was then that the cries of determination and courage were drowned out by shrieks of despair and madness. And though many did not come from the group that had just entered the fog, many did.

"Arrghhh! What's… HAPPENIN'?!" Cried out one of the hooded demi-humans, clutching his head as if it were about to explode.

"Ahhh! AHHHH! ARRRGGHHH!"

"NO! IT CAN'T BE! SHUT IT UP!"

"I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!"

With the whispers of the mist seeping into their minds, those weak to its influence fell victim to its terrible effect. Having lost all sanity, some began to beat themselves against the backs and heads of their ligers, causing the canine beasts to react violently, knocking them over with a jolt or simply throwing themselves sideways to get rid of their rider.

On the ground, the mercenaries, driven mad by the effect of the mist, continued their acts of self-flagellation, clawing at their faces or arms and tearing off shreds of skin in the process. Those most severely affected had even reached the point of tearing off entire patches of skin, leaving the muscle totally exposed. Others opted to keep pounding their heads and fists against what was closest to them; what now turned out to be the ground covered by rocks and grass.

With blood streaming down their faces and reddened eyes, the victims of the whale's mist struggled to escape the demon that had infiltrated their bodies. And even those who had avoided harming their liger, and therefore had not been knocked down, could do nothing but cover their ears and cry out in despair, thus hoping to silence the resounding whispers that pierced their brains incessantly.

In the face of the harrowing image, those who had not been affected by the fog watched in horror. Determination faded from their bodies, being replaced by fear and bewilderment. Acting according to the companionship that united them as a group, those unaffected by fog stopped the riding and approached those affected in order to help them.

"LET GO OF ME! Arghhhh!"

"AAAAHHHHHH! STOP IT! IT'S ENOUGH!"

However, the reactions of the deranged individuals to the aid attempts were one of utter revulsion. And their reactions only worsened when their mist-resistant companions tried to stop the self-flagellations by force. With reasonless shrieks, the crazed mercenaries violently pushed away those willing to help them and resumed their physical expressions of despair.

"They don't let us help them! What do we do?!" Questioned one of the sane mercenaries, completely overcome by frustration.

They had a job to perform, they had orders to follow. Even so, they could not leave their brothers-in-arms behind; that was one of his creeds. "The Fang of Iron's more than just a group of mercenaries, it's a family, and as such, it never turns its back on one of its brothers"; those were the words Ricardo had spoken to them when they formally joined the group. "You're now an Onii-san more," Mimi used to say.

With that in mind, none of the mercenaries dared to propose to abandon those affected by the mist. However, the Fang of Iron also had a name to protect. They could not afford that whatever was causing the panic attacks and madness would overtake and defeat them.

"It's to be somethin' related to the whale..." One of them muttered, expressing in words the suspicions of everyone present.

"More specifically, to this fog. But… why does it only affect some of us?" Added another, questioning the nature of that mist and the reason behind the fact that only part of them were being harmed.

"We've no time to waste and this shit happens…" Another one lamented. Faces like his, full of anxiety and defeat, began to appear among more and more of the mercenaries, who, having split from the main chain of command, did not know how to act.

"We can't just stand here!" Exclaimed a demi-human with glaring tiger-like features, standing out amidst the fog, the screams, and the words of concern. With a hard expression, the beast-man looked at all of his companions like an iron tower. His teammates immediately looked back at him, after all, he was one of the elite members of the group, second only to Ricardo in physical prowess. "We've a job to do. I think we'd split up, but not as we're ordered. One group stays with those affected by the fog and the other..."

"Guys, I found the solution!" But before the warrior could finish speaking, another of the elite members, a slim, foxy looking one, exclaimed excitedly. He was the best healer in the group, who, since the first mist-affected people had begun to appear, set out to find a way to counteract the effect. "It requires an enormous amount of mana, but the healin' magic seems capable of mitigatin' the effect of the fog."

"So the fog's definitely to blame?" The beastly warrior questioned, approaching his fellow healer.

"Yeah, it is. I'm pretty sure. I can feel it, too, after all." Replied the humanoid fox, wincing. "It doesn't seem to affect me as much as it does others, but I'm able to hear it. It's as if... the fog, or the whale, is speakin' to me… It's the mana imbued in the fog, no doubt about it. That's why I think we'd get the fog victims out of here. So I agree with you, we'd split up. Especially since I now fear even more for the life of the knight Felix. He should be able to deal with those weak to the fog much more quickly than I can, but it doesn't seem that the cries of the affected warriors have diminished."

"I get what ya mean." The tiger-faced warrior answered. After which he looked up and focused on his companions gathered around him. "This is what we'll do: those capable of fightin' will go deep into the fog with me, those skilled in the use of healin' magic will stay to heal those overcome by the fog and help get them out of here. We've no time to lose, so don't let the captain down and give it your all!"

"Captain..." Mimi mumbled, as they rushed into the depths of the fog. From the look of discomfort on her face, it was obvious that something was bothering her.

"Yeah, I know. I hear it too." Ricardo answered, heeding the cries that had suddenly erupted behind their backs. There was no doubt that these were his subordinates.

"Given the screams from before, and now those, there's no doubt that what causes them is related to the whale; considering the time when the screams began to be heard, there is the possibility that the fog is the cause." Julius commented, after having analyzed the situation for a brief moment "They are your soldiers, Ricardo. If you think it's necessary, you can go back to them."

"That's not an option. We've our job and they've theirs. Besides, the Fang of Iron is made up of the most efficient mercenaries in all of Kararagi, so you shouldn't underestimate them like that. They'll find their way around. Won't they, Mimi? " Ricardo smiled viciously, and then flung that question at Mimi. However, it went unanswered, so the beast-man immediately looked at his little companion. What had previously been a look of discomfort had now been transformed into a grimace of pain. "Are ya okay?!"

"Hnk! Y-Yeah, it's just that…" Clutching her little head, Mimi tried hard not to succumb to the whale's toxic influence. "Julius-san's right… It's like the fog… it's like the White Whale is whisperin' nonsense into Mimi's ear. It's sooo annoyin'!" With a courageous shout, Mimi shook her head and scowled at Ricardo. "That whale's very annoyin', captain. Let's hurry up and beat it, Mimi wants to stop it from whisperin' to her through the fog!"

"Ha, ha, ha! That's the spirit, kiddo!" Ricardo replied, regaining his smile, and releasing a raucous laugh.

"Hmm... It seems to have a greater impact depending on the individual. I cannot hear anything Mimi says she hears. How about you, Ricardo?" Bringing his hand to his chin, Julius questioned Ricardo once he finished his exchange of words with the demi-human girl.

"Me? I'm doin' great! Although it's true that I felt a kinda pressure when enterin' the fog, but it's nothin' that a good battle can't fix!"

After receiving Ricardo's strident reply, Julius kept silent. Both leaders of the Fang of Iron, Mimi and Ricardo, stood out because of their above-average power. Did it have something to do with their not succumbing to the mist? If that was the case, wasn't Ricardo overestimating the mercenaries under his command? Julius was certainly hoping not, since they were the ones on whom his friend's rescue depended.

"Looks like your wish has been granted, Captain!" Yelled Mimi lively, snapping Julius out of his thoughts.

Faced with such a statement by the little girl, Julius focused on what was in front of him; At first he didn't see anything, but then he noticed it. At the background, deep in the ocean of mist, a silhouette could be discerned; a gigantic silhouette that was barely visible thanks to the spell used at the beginning of the fight to illuminate the skies. Without hesitation, Julius drew out his sword and gave a small pull to the reins of his dragon; the battle was about to begin.

"Ya're right, Mimi! Well, in that case, keep your eyes open! We've to find the Sword Demon! To defeat the whale, we'll certainly need his help!"

"Taking into account Wilhelm Van Astrea's deep yearning for vengeance, I have no doubt that, if he is still alive, he will find himself close to the mabeast. And I have no doubt that he is still alive; he will not die until that whale has been slaughtered." Said Julius, with a determined smile on his face.

The man known as the Sword Demon was a knight renowned for his achievement in snatching the sword from a Sword Saint, the one before Reinhard, after all. He had no doubt that the last to die in combat would be Wilhelm Van Astrea. But his faith was tested so quickly that his mind and heart nearly ceased to function for a moment.

"Could it be…? Captain, it seems that it isn't only one whale, but two!" Stunned, the girl alerted Ricardo, realizing that the huge silhouette was not floating alone in the mist.

"No! There're three of them!" However, the beast-man found it necessary to rectify Mimi. "For fucks sake!"

"Which one do we attack?!" The girl asked, tightly grasping her wooden staff.

"First we should get closer and take a better look at the panorama. Then we can decide what will be the best course of action to take." Julius affirmed, emerging from the momentary state of shock in which he had been plunged. "Let's focus on finding Wilhelm-san. If we can meet him, we can understand what is happening and why there are now three whales."

"Well let's move on!" Holding on tightly to their mounting beasts, the knight and the two mercenaries swiftly approached the three silhouettes.

Like sailors in the fierce waters of a raging sea, the three combatants navigated through the toxic mana mist with their eyes fixed on the terrible and ominous silhouettes that swam freely through the fog. As if they were guardians of different floors or sections, the three massive figures flew over the fogged area at different heights.

The first figure, representing a sort of mini-boss, was not more than five meters high of the ground. And it was even possible to glimpse how, at times, it would approach the ground and scrape it with its abdomen, while singing a melody of death and spitting out torrents of mist capable of eliminating from existence those whom it struck; the same spell that had ended the life of the adamant and noble woman who had organized the hunt.

The second figure was sailing through the fog at slightly more than twenty meters in height. Unlike the first, this massive silhouette did not descend to the ground, or at least not as frequently as this one. However, that did not prevent her from attacking those hapless survivors who were in the mist. Launching terrifying jets of mist capable of obliterating entire sections of the prairie, the second figure made sure to assiduously increase the hysteria and fear that already reigned on the battlefield.

While the two gigantic silhouettes mentioned above sowed panic among the defeated warriors and, in crescendo, added more victims to the long list of warriors who had perished, the last silhouette, as if it were a king, as if it were the final boss of a dungeon or the beast to be defeated, flew over the battlefield without diminishing its height or deigning to join the fight.

Without attacking, the whale that was swimming in the highest section of the fog, about a hundred meters high, merely moved in circles, while it carefully observed how the combat unfolded... or, it would be more appropriate to call it a massacre. That last silhouette was not intervening, and even seemed to be avoiding the ground altogether; and Julius was not unaware of such behavior. Therefore, the knight decided to warn his two companions about it, but the reverberation of a powerful scream prevented him from doing so.

"Arrghh! Do this old swordsman a favor and drop dead, you revolting beasts!" The voice of a warrior, tempered by decades of training and combat experience, reached the ears of the three combatants who aimed to join the battle against the three whales. "Feel the wrath of my spirit flow through my sword! Nothing you do will be enough to end my life! I will not give my last breath until my blade has snuffed out your lives for good!

"Wilhelm-san!" Julius shouted, urging his beloved earth dragon further. That cry of rage and determination had revitalized his withered hopes, for it implied that the great warrior Wilhelm Van Astrea had not yet been defeated by the White Whale. "Ricardo, I'm going in there! I need you and Mimi to stay out of the fight for now! When the time comes, I'll count on your screams to turn the tide in our favor!"

After transmitting those words to Ricardo and his little second-in-command, Julius went ahead, finally reaching the area where the first silhouette was roaming. And the knight was soon able to fully appreciate the terrifying image of the great mabeast. With an enormous spiral horn sticking out of its head, a bloodshot eye that conveyed an animalistic hatred, a massive body dyed white ash and fins with details in crimson red reminiscent of blood, the White Whale, the Mabeast of the Mist, finally appeared before him in all its glory.

And that is not all the knight managed to witness. On the whale's back, resembling a deadly mite crawling through its fur, was Wilhelm Van Astrea. With inhuman speed, capable of leaving even the most experienced warrior speechless, the old man swept over the whale's body while dragging the tip of his sword, leaving behind deep cuts from which blood gushed out.

Julius, noticing that both the White Whale the warrior fighting against it were considerably wounded, decided not to waste any more time with unnecessary considerations and jumped from his land dragon, to later land on the whale; a stunt that would not have been possible if it had not been for the impulse given by his faithful mount.

"Die, you dreadful mabeast!" The aged warrior shouted, performing one last attack on the whale's head, which left it considerably dazed, and then quickly approach Julius; action that did not surprise the knight. It was only to be expected that the veteran warrior would perceive his presence so quickly. "I did not expect to see you here, Julius. After the mercenaries left the battlefield, I thought that I would not receive any more reinforcements... Although I cannot blame them for their actions either, the whole affair fell apart extremely quickly. I don't know where Felix is, and we have lost most of the allies that we gathered."

"I am aware of it, Ricardo already had one of his subordinates explain to me what happened." Julius responded to the gentleman's report, stating that he was on top of everything. "However, the Fang of Iron did not completely give up the fight. The two leaders in attendance and I came with the intention of assisting you, Wilhelm-san. Another group was assigned to rescue Felix."

The old man looked Julius straight in the eyes for a moment, before releasing a heavy sigh. "I'm glad to hear it. Felix... Felix is not well. It seems that the fog affected him immensely… And me... I think it impacted greatly on me, too... I feel as if something is missing in my head..." The gentleman shook head, while holding one hand to his right temple. "Excuse me, this is not the right time for an old man's delusions. We have to defeat the whale first."

"Whale?" Julius asked, puzzled. Julius wanted to know more about what the old warrior had said, but as he had stated, this was not the time to do so... With his gaze, the knight gestured to the whale they were standing on, and then pointed to the two remaining whales.

"Indeed." Wilhelm answered affirmatively. "I am not such an unwitting warrior as not to notice the changes in my enemy after long and arduous minutes of combat. It took me a while to realize it, I'm ashamed to admit, but once I noticed the small details, it became completely obvious. It is not three whales, but just one, which divided itself into three. The fiend did it after I managed to gouge out one of its eyes; as you can see, all the whales have the same injury."

Julius soon looked closely at the visage of the nearest whale and thereby confirmed what the old man had said. It was true, both whales were one-eyed. In that case, it made sense to think that the whale had split up, rather than calling in reinforcements; furthermore, never in history was there any mention of various White Whales, and although it could be due to the fact that they never got together, Julius didn't think that was the case.

"We have to hunt down the original, and with that the two copies should also die..." Julius reasoned, to which the portentous old man nodded. Julius really wanted to ask what other findings had led Wilhelm to conclude that the whale had split, since he doubted that the shared injury was the only thing the warrior relied on. However, he was aware that they did not have the time for this. "And the original is the one that is higher. Am I correct?"

"I see you came to the same conclusions as I did, Julius... In all honesty, I could not claim that you are... After all, I'm not entirely sure myself. But that's our best bet, so I think it would be best to put aside the two secondary whales and focus on the one that is higher. However, the real challenge lies in how to reach the main whale. I have been looking for the solution for a while now, but the truth is that I still haven't managed to find the way to carry it out."

"Hmm… I may have a way to do it, Wilhelm-san." And with those words, the final stage of the battle against the White Whale finally began.