Chapter 4
Book
Somewhere in the Northern Regions....
"Pious is Dead."
"Well, that certainly is a shame."
"He was an inferior soldier. His use to us was beginning to expire."
"Be that as it may, he was talented. No matter. Did he find the location of the Book?"
"Indeed he did. He told me the location before the Girl arrived and killed him. It's located in Jagd Dorsa."
"Good. I would like it if you went and retrieved it personally."
"As you wish, Lord Archemis."
Southeast of Ambervale......
When Ritz awoke from her well deserved rest, she found herself in a wagon car being pulled by a pair of Red Chocobos. The bumping of the road had stirred her, and she moaned as she felt her numerous wounds that had erupted on her body from being struck by Pious's devastating Holy attack. Across from her was Marche, looking at her with a relieved faced.
"What happened?" she said in a daze.
"That giant Bomb almost destroyed all of Ambervale. I managed to stop it, but you had suffered some nasty wounds. We're on our way to Sprohm right now."
"Shara....." Ritz whispered as she sat up. She looked out the window as the rugged countryside passed by. The rain that had begun to fall when she arrived at the Palace had come and gone, and the first few golden rays of sunlight pierced the spent rainclouds.
"I'm sorry, Ritz. I know how much she meant to you," Marche said compassionately.
"I loved her, like a sister. And now she's gone." Her voice had sunk into a tone of abject sadness.
"She's not the only one. Our entire Clan, gone. Ezel, Lini, Palanza. Everyone dead," Marche reported. Unlike Ritz, the only noticeable emotion in his voice was anger. These people were their friends. They had fought so many battles together, and now....
"No, no it can't be. That's not possible!" Ritz boiled over with emotion. This was unlike her. Seeing Shara hanging from the bloody wall of the Palace had jarred something inside her. All she felt now was a volatile concoction sorrow and rage. She slammed her fist into the side of the cart.
"Well, almost everyone. I couldn't find Monteblanc. No trace. I found death records for the others, but not for him. He seems to have disappeared from Ivalice altogether.," Marche said.
"So...he may still be alive?"
"Yes. It's quite possible. In fact, I'm willing to bet that he is. But right now, we have some more pertinent issues."
"What?" Ritz asked, puzzled.
"When you were unconscious, you kept muttering something about 'the book'," Marche said. Ritz thought to herself for a moment, then recalled Babus's dying words.
"Babus! Before he died, Babus told used the last of his strength to tell me about 'the book', and how 'they know'"
"Do you have any idea what that means?" Marche asked, almost rhetorically. Babus could only have been referring to one thing.
"The Grimoire. It has to be that," she responded. "Archemis must know about the Grimoire. But what could he want with that? Nobody in this world has the ability to manipulate the book in the way it was designed."
"That's true. But we also know that it's our only way back home. And if they get their hands on it, it'll be that much harder." They sat quietly for a few moments, contemplating their situation.
"Well in that case, we'd better go back to Ambervale, now!" Ritz exclaimed as she came to realize why Pious had attacked the palace. Marche shook his head.
"The Book is not in Ambervale. It never was. Babus hid it at Dorsa by request of Mewt last time we were here. That Bishop must have gone to Ambervale to get the location out of Babus," he informed her.
"So, do you think he succeeded?"
"There's only one way to find out, isn't there?"
The Next Day.....
Jagd Dorsa was a decaying ghost town north of Sprohm. Even the bandits and bountyheads that tended to use Dorsa as a haven from their hunters were absent. There were rumors that Dorsa in particular had been cursed by Remedi. People claimed that the Dark Queen had been born at Dorsa before it was torn apart, but of course that was false. Remedi was only a figment of Mewts desires, his memories, and thus had not been born at all. But people still refered to Dorsa a hexed city.
Marche and Ritz walked through the dusty streets of Dorsa with apprehension. Although it appeared to be silent, Jagds were the most treacherous places in all of Ivalice. Most people would prefer to scale Lutia without a guide than to even walk past a Jagd. The stone and clay buildings had begun to erode, collapsing in on themselves from years of disrepair.
"Well, Babus did choose a perfect hiding place. No one would expect the Gran Grimoire to be hidden here," Ritz remarked as she surveyed the area. Because of a vein of particularly potent Black Magic than ran through the heart of Dorsa, that sky above it had been scarred. Angry clouds boiled overhead as thunder rumbled through the allconsuming gloom. It was an imposing sight.
"There's a hidden passage under the White Goblin Pub. It leads to an underground vault that contains the Grimoire. That's where we need to be,"Marche said.
"And where Archemis's men will be too, if they beat us to it," Ritz replied.
"Let's hope that doesn't hap-" Marche stopped, midsentence. He had heard something that was not part of the ambient atmosphere. Ritz reached for the hilt of her Rapier. She had heard it too.
The two warriors remained perfectly still. It sounded like a footstep on the clay tile roofs of the buildings. They held there breaths as another creaking footstep was heard.
"The roof..." Ritz whispered. Marche nodded carefully, almost unnoticeably. Suddenly, there was the quiet, almost inaudible sound of a bowstring being drawn.
"Get down!" Marche yelled as he and Ritz hurtled themselves to the gound. And arrow shot through the air right by them, shrouded in an azure halo. The arrow struck the wall of the shop behind them, and, rather unexpectedly, detonated. A blue explosion issued forth, launching chucks of clay in all directions. Marche and Ritz regained their composure in time to see the rain of Ultima charged arrows falling from the sky.
With battle trained reflexes they dashed across the street into an alleyway, deftly avoiding the hail of piercing death plummeting to meet them. They dove into the alley as an arrow struck the ground where they had been standing a fraction of a second before hand. The explosion propelled them further into the alley, and temporarily out of range of their assailants. It also made their landing much more harsh.
"Those where definitely Ultima Shots," Marche said as he picked himself up. He quickly drew his Paradox Blades, their steely gleam crackling with energy.
"Hunters. Great. Looks like Archemis was waiting for us," Ritz added. She adjusted a strap of her armor that had been knocked loose by the fall.
"Which means he was here first. We're in deep here, aren't we?' Marche said jokingly. The two of them had been in many situations like that before, and had survived, albeit not unscathed.
"The pub is still about 70 feet away. If go fast, we might just make it," Marche said as he felt the shudder of an Ultima shot hitting an adjacent building. The Hunters ha found where they were, and seemed perfectly content to chip away at their defense until they had a clear shot.
Marche began to step forward to make his mad dash for the White Goblin Pub, but before he could leave the alley way, Ritz grabbed his arm. He turned around in surprise as Ritz kissed him on the lips. Before he knew what was happening, though, it was over, and Ritz was starring sheepishly into his eyes. He smiled.
The two bolted out of the protection of the Alleyway and ran directly at the White Goblin. The Hunters where surprised at this foolhardy maneuver, but it only took them a second to recover their shooting pattern, firing Arrow after arrow infused with the devastating Ultima spell. Each strike came closer and closer to the hitting their mark, leaving large craters at each point of impact.
Ritz and Marche ran with tunnel vision towards the sign depicting a white goblin sitting on a stump, holding a giant mug of ale. That was their singular goal, and they managed to focus on reaching it so thoroughly that they didn't even notice the Utima Shots that were tearing up the street behind them. To them, it all seemed to move in slow-motion.
Finally they had reached the Pub. Ritz scrambled to grab to handle to the door but, to her horror, it was locked tightly. Thinking quickly, and with the sound of an arrow whizzing towards her head, she struck at the heavy wooden door with her Vent de Dieu. It splintered immediately. But she was too slow. Before she could even step in the door, an arrow had zeroed in on her. She turned her head as the projectile drew closer to striking her dead. Time seemed to slow to a crawl.
At the last second, there was a violent swishing sound and a flash of steel as Marche swung his Blades and cut the Arrow in half, stopping it from reaching Ritz. However, the act of cutting the arrow released the energy of the Ultima spell in concussive form. The shock wave struck Ritz's savior directly in the chest, actually launching him through the window of the Pub and into the far wall. She dashed into the safety of the pub as arrows continued to embed themselves in the wall, and releasing their destructive energy. She rushed over to Marche's body that lay motionless in the corner.
"Marche!" she cried out as fell to her knees. She felt his neck for a pulse. There was none. Frantic, she reached into his pocket, praying that he had come prepared. To her relief, she retrieved the golden feather that he had kept there for emergencies. She placed the Phoenix Down on his chest, and prayed that she wasn't too late. She breathed a heavy sigh as the feather emitted it's lifesaving aura as it sank into Marche's chest. It vanished into his black Materia armor and suddenly Marche jerked back to life, gasping for air.
"What happened!" he yelled as he rose to his unsteady feet. Ritz was overcome with alleviation as embraced Marche.
"You were dead! You stopped an Ultima shot from hitting me and the blast launched you through the window," Ritz answered. She backed away quickly. She was surprised at herself. Twice in one day she had displayed more affection that she had in most of the time she had known Marche.
With the blasts of Ultima Shots shaking the establishment, Marche walked over to the corner of the bar, next to the lavatories. His movements where unstable as his body was still in shock from being dead for a few seconds. Hs stomped on the ground, and a strange hollow sound came up from under the floorboards.
"The passage is right here," he said. He stamped violently on that spot until the wood gave way and his foot sunk into the cavern below. Using his Paradox Blades, he hacked away at the small section of floor until the secret hall under it was exposed.
"This way!" he called to Ritz. "And hurry up! Those walls aren't going to hold up much longer!" Ritz ran over and jumped down the hole and Marche vanished into the darkness. At that very moment, an Ulitma Shot blew a large hole in the front of the Pub. Arrows began to pour through it, decimating the interior of the tavern. The assault shook the underground cavern fiercely, and caused Marche and Ritz to break into a sprint for the steel wall at the end of the cave. To only light in the dark grotto came from that wall, where a pair of torches glowed, empowered by Fire Magic. They raced to the end of the rocky hall, and, upon reaching their destination, turned the heavy metal valve that unlocked the vault inside. They both pulled on the heavy metal door, causing it to creak open with a howl of the rusty hinges.
Once inside, they locked the door from the inside to stall any of the Hunters that choose to follow them into the pit. The dim room was still shaking from the relentless rain of Ultima empowered arrows, but it held.
"I've been expecting you," said a voice from within the chamber. It came so abruptly that Ritz and Marche jumped upon hearing it. There was the sound of a pair of fingers snapping, and the torches that surrounded the perimeter of the vault ignited, illuminating the room.
The center piece of the hidden chamber was a tall diamond that shot rainbow light around the room. Inside was sealed the Gran Grimoire, their goal. But what was shocking was that there was a man sitting on top of the crystal.
He was a black clad Ninja holding a pair of Masamunes lazily, as if he was not expecting a fight. His eyes shone with an unnatural purple color, and they seemed to glow behind the veil that concealed the rest of his face.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I am the Second Megalomancer. I am called Sagaro Sake, the Lightning Blade," he said nonchalantly.
"Another Megalomancer!" Ritz said, drawing her Vent de Dieu. The vault was just large enough for the three of them to engage eachother in a full out fight, but it seemed to be small enough to cancel out the Ninja's naturally agile maneuvers.
"What do you want with the Grimoire?" Marche asked sternly. Sagaro stood up, still ontop of the giant diamond that concealed the Gran Grimoire. He laughed.
"That is none of your concern. It's really none of my concern, either. I have no idea what Lord Archemis intends to do with it, only that I must retrieve it. And I do intend to retrieve it." Ritz stepped forward, assuming a combat stance with her rapier held ready to strike at the Ninja.
"That's not going to happen. I managed to defeat that Bishop on my own, but as you can see, there are two of us here. You're not getting the Book," she said defiantly. Again, Sagaro laughed and spoke:
"Don't confuse my with that foolish Bangaa. Pious the Preacher was a puppet that had lost his use. I should thank you for killing him. But make no mistake. I will not fall as easily as he!" With that, Sagaro lept from his crystalline perch and somersaulted through the air, almost hitting the roof of the vault. He whipped out his Katanas, and began his fierce assault.
Sagaro struck with such speed and magnitude that Ritz and Marche were quickly knocked back to the wall. He thrust his sword towards Ritz's head, but she dodged at the last second, rolling across the floor. The tip of the Masamune embedded itself in the bedrock. Marche saw it as an opportunity to strike, but before the devastating power of his Paradox Blades met their target, Sagaro simply vanished into thin air.
"Teleportation!" Marche spat as if it were a curse word. Ritz was too distracted to notice, though, and was taken by surprise when the elusive Ninja appeared over head in a puff of golden mist. He came down with both his swords at once. Ritz managed to block it at the last second. She forced him back again and into a wall, but before she could deliver the final strike, Sagaro simply teleported away again.
He reappeared ontop of the diamond laughing hysterically at Ritz and Marche's fruitless attempts to strike him even once.
"As much as I'm enjoying this, I'm afraid Lord Archemis would not be very appreciative if I returned later than arranged. So I'll have to end this little encounter now." With that, he raised his right-hand Katana and drove it into the diamond cocoon of the Gran Grimoire. Much to the shock of Marche and Ritz, it shattered completely, sending razor shards of diamond in all directions. The two hit the deck to avoid being impaled by the flying shrapnel. When they stood back up, to their horror, Sagaro was standing there, holding the mystical tome in his arms.
"No!" Marche yelled as he boiled over with fury. The power of the Paradox Blades reacted with his raw emotions, and his ensuing attack was lightning fast in it's ferocity. Marche struck dead on with the Prima Cross, it's volatile energies causing a hurricane of devastating energy around his and Sagaro's unfortunate form.
When the force cleared, only Marche stood, breathing heavily. He stared down at the Paradox Blades, which were still glowing with the residual energy of the attack. He had never struck with such speed or power before.
"Where's Sagaro?" Ritz asked as she uncovered her eyes. She had shielded them from the brilliant light of the Prima Cross.
"I....don't know...." Marche replied, still in shock.
"Did you get him? Did the attack connect?"
"I'm not sure. When the Cross hit him, he kind of melted away." Marche looked around the room. Suddenly, he realized that something was wrong.
"The Book!" he cried out. Ritz jumped up.
"Did you destroy it?" she asked concerned. Marche shook his head in defeat.
"No, I'm sure I didn't. I would have noticed. Sagaro got away." He threw the Blades into the wall in rage. They had failed, and now they were stuck in Ivalice. Ritz came over and put her arm around him to comfort him.
"Hey, the attacks stopped!' Ritz noticed as the rumbling above had subsided. "Sagaro must have pulled back his forces." She stood up and held out her hand. Marche looked up and rose as well as they headed for scarred surface.
Somewhere in the Northern Regions....
"Pious is Dead."
"Well, that certainly is a shame."
"He was an inferior soldier. His use to us was beginning to expire."
"Be that as it may, he was talented. No matter. Did he find the location of the Book?"
"Indeed he did. He told me the location before the Girl arrived and killed him. It's located in Jagd Dorsa."
"Good. I would like it if you went and retrieved it personally."
"As you wish, Lord Archemis."
Southeast of Ambervale......
When Ritz awoke from her well deserved rest, she found herself in a wagon car being pulled by a pair of Red Chocobos. The bumping of the road had stirred her, and she moaned as she felt her numerous wounds that had erupted on her body from being struck by Pious's devastating Holy attack. Across from her was Marche, looking at her with a relieved faced.
"What happened?" she said in a daze.
"That giant Bomb almost destroyed all of Ambervale. I managed to stop it, but you had suffered some nasty wounds. We're on our way to Sprohm right now."
"Shara....." Ritz whispered as she sat up. She looked out the window as the rugged countryside passed by. The rain that had begun to fall when she arrived at the Palace had come and gone, and the first few golden rays of sunlight pierced the spent rainclouds.
"I'm sorry, Ritz. I know how much she meant to you," Marche said compassionately.
"I loved her, like a sister. And now she's gone." Her voice had sunk into a tone of abject sadness.
"She's not the only one. Our entire Clan, gone. Ezel, Lini, Palanza. Everyone dead," Marche reported. Unlike Ritz, the only noticeable emotion in his voice was anger. These people were their friends. They had fought so many battles together, and now....
"No, no it can't be. That's not possible!" Ritz boiled over with emotion. This was unlike her. Seeing Shara hanging from the bloody wall of the Palace had jarred something inside her. All she felt now was a volatile concoction sorrow and rage. She slammed her fist into the side of the cart.
"Well, almost everyone. I couldn't find Monteblanc. No trace. I found death records for the others, but not for him. He seems to have disappeared from Ivalice altogether.," Marche said.
"So...he may still be alive?"
"Yes. It's quite possible. In fact, I'm willing to bet that he is. But right now, we have some more pertinent issues."
"What?" Ritz asked, puzzled.
"When you were unconscious, you kept muttering something about 'the book'," Marche said. Ritz thought to herself for a moment, then recalled Babus's dying words.
"Babus! Before he died, Babus told used the last of his strength to tell me about 'the book', and how 'they know'"
"Do you have any idea what that means?" Marche asked, almost rhetorically. Babus could only have been referring to one thing.
"The Grimoire. It has to be that," she responded. "Archemis must know about the Grimoire. But what could he want with that? Nobody in this world has the ability to manipulate the book in the way it was designed."
"That's true. But we also know that it's our only way back home. And if they get their hands on it, it'll be that much harder." They sat quietly for a few moments, contemplating their situation.
"Well in that case, we'd better go back to Ambervale, now!" Ritz exclaimed as she came to realize why Pious had attacked the palace. Marche shook his head.
"The Book is not in Ambervale. It never was. Babus hid it at Dorsa by request of Mewt last time we were here. That Bishop must have gone to Ambervale to get the location out of Babus," he informed her.
"So, do you think he succeeded?"
"There's only one way to find out, isn't there?"
The Next Day.....
Jagd Dorsa was a decaying ghost town north of Sprohm. Even the bandits and bountyheads that tended to use Dorsa as a haven from their hunters were absent. There were rumors that Dorsa in particular had been cursed by Remedi. People claimed that the Dark Queen had been born at Dorsa before it was torn apart, but of course that was false. Remedi was only a figment of Mewts desires, his memories, and thus had not been born at all. But people still refered to Dorsa a hexed city.
Marche and Ritz walked through the dusty streets of Dorsa with apprehension. Although it appeared to be silent, Jagds were the most treacherous places in all of Ivalice. Most people would prefer to scale Lutia without a guide than to even walk past a Jagd. The stone and clay buildings had begun to erode, collapsing in on themselves from years of disrepair.
"Well, Babus did choose a perfect hiding place. No one would expect the Gran Grimoire to be hidden here," Ritz remarked as she surveyed the area. Because of a vein of particularly potent Black Magic than ran through the heart of Dorsa, that sky above it had been scarred. Angry clouds boiled overhead as thunder rumbled through the allconsuming gloom. It was an imposing sight.
"There's a hidden passage under the White Goblin Pub. It leads to an underground vault that contains the Grimoire. That's where we need to be,"Marche said.
"And where Archemis's men will be too, if they beat us to it," Ritz replied.
"Let's hope that doesn't hap-" Marche stopped, midsentence. He had heard something that was not part of the ambient atmosphere. Ritz reached for the hilt of her Rapier. She had heard it too.
The two warriors remained perfectly still. It sounded like a footstep on the clay tile roofs of the buildings. They held there breaths as another creaking footstep was heard.
"The roof..." Ritz whispered. Marche nodded carefully, almost unnoticeably. Suddenly, there was the quiet, almost inaudible sound of a bowstring being drawn.
"Get down!" Marche yelled as he and Ritz hurtled themselves to the gound. And arrow shot through the air right by them, shrouded in an azure halo. The arrow struck the wall of the shop behind them, and, rather unexpectedly, detonated. A blue explosion issued forth, launching chucks of clay in all directions. Marche and Ritz regained their composure in time to see the rain of Ultima charged arrows falling from the sky.
With battle trained reflexes they dashed across the street into an alleyway, deftly avoiding the hail of piercing death plummeting to meet them. They dove into the alley as an arrow struck the ground where they had been standing a fraction of a second before hand. The explosion propelled them further into the alley, and temporarily out of range of their assailants. It also made their landing much more harsh.
"Those where definitely Ultima Shots," Marche said as he picked himself up. He quickly drew his Paradox Blades, their steely gleam crackling with energy.
"Hunters. Great. Looks like Archemis was waiting for us," Ritz added. She adjusted a strap of her armor that had been knocked loose by the fall.
"Which means he was here first. We're in deep here, aren't we?' Marche said jokingly. The two of them had been in many situations like that before, and had survived, albeit not unscathed.
"The pub is still about 70 feet away. If go fast, we might just make it," Marche said as he felt the shudder of an Ultima shot hitting an adjacent building. The Hunters ha found where they were, and seemed perfectly content to chip away at their defense until they had a clear shot.
Marche began to step forward to make his mad dash for the White Goblin Pub, but before he could leave the alley way, Ritz grabbed his arm. He turned around in surprise as Ritz kissed him on the lips. Before he knew what was happening, though, it was over, and Ritz was starring sheepishly into his eyes. He smiled.
The two bolted out of the protection of the Alleyway and ran directly at the White Goblin. The Hunters where surprised at this foolhardy maneuver, but it only took them a second to recover their shooting pattern, firing Arrow after arrow infused with the devastating Ultima spell. Each strike came closer and closer to the hitting their mark, leaving large craters at each point of impact.
Ritz and Marche ran with tunnel vision towards the sign depicting a white goblin sitting on a stump, holding a giant mug of ale. That was their singular goal, and they managed to focus on reaching it so thoroughly that they didn't even notice the Utima Shots that were tearing up the street behind them. To them, it all seemed to move in slow-motion.
Finally they had reached the Pub. Ritz scrambled to grab to handle to the door but, to her horror, it was locked tightly. Thinking quickly, and with the sound of an arrow whizzing towards her head, she struck at the heavy wooden door with her Vent de Dieu. It splintered immediately. But she was too slow. Before she could even step in the door, an arrow had zeroed in on her. She turned her head as the projectile drew closer to striking her dead. Time seemed to slow to a crawl.
At the last second, there was a violent swishing sound and a flash of steel as Marche swung his Blades and cut the Arrow in half, stopping it from reaching Ritz. However, the act of cutting the arrow released the energy of the Ultima spell in concussive form. The shock wave struck Ritz's savior directly in the chest, actually launching him through the window of the Pub and into the far wall. She dashed into the safety of the pub as arrows continued to embed themselves in the wall, and releasing their destructive energy. She rushed over to Marche's body that lay motionless in the corner.
"Marche!" she cried out as fell to her knees. She felt his neck for a pulse. There was none. Frantic, she reached into his pocket, praying that he had come prepared. To her relief, she retrieved the golden feather that he had kept there for emergencies. She placed the Phoenix Down on his chest, and prayed that she wasn't too late. She breathed a heavy sigh as the feather emitted it's lifesaving aura as it sank into Marche's chest. It vanished into his black Materia armor and suddenly Marche jerked back to life, gasping for air.
"What happened!" he yelled as he rose to his unsteady feet. Ritz was overcome with alleviation as embraced Marche.
"You were dead! You stopped an Ultima shot from hitting me and the blast launched you through the window," Ritz answered. She backed away quickly. She was surprised at herself. Twice in one day she had displayed more affection that she had in most of the time she had known Marche.
With the blasts of Ultima Shots shaking the establishment, Marche walked over to the corner of the bar, next to the lavatories. His movements where unstable as his body was still in shock from being dead for a few seconds. Hs stomped on the ground, and a strange hollow sound came up from under the floorboards.
"The passage is right here," he said. He stamped violently on that spot until the wood gave way and his foot sunk into the cavern below. Using his Paradox Blades, he hacked away at the small section of floor until the secret hall under it was exposed.
"This way!" he called to Ritz. "And hurry up! Those walls aren't going to hold up much longer!" Ritz ran over and jumped down the hole and Marche vanished into the darkness. At that very moment, an Ulitma Shot blew a large hole in the front of the Pub. Arrows began to pour through it, decimating the interior of the tavern. The assault shook the underground cavern fiercely, and caused Marche and Ritz to break into a sprint for the steel wall at the end of the cave. To only light in the dark grotto came from that wall, where a pair of torches glowed, empowered by Fire Magic. They raced to the end of the rocky hall, and, upon reaching their destination, turned the heavy metal valve that unlocked the vault inside. They both pulled on the heavy metal door, causing it to creak open with a howl of the rusty hinges.
Once inside, they locked the door from the inside to stall any of the Hunters that choose to follow them into the pit. The dim room was still shaking from the relentless rain of Ultima empowered arrows, but it held.
"I've been expecting you," said a voice from within the chamber. It came so abruptly that Ritz and Marche jumped upon hearing it. There was the sound of a pair of fingers snapping, and the torches that surrounded the perimeter of the vault ignited, illuminating the room.
The center piece of the hidden chamber was a tall diamond that shot rainbow light around the room. Inside was sealed the Gran Grimoire, their goal. But what was shocking was that there was a man sitting on top of the crystal.
He was a black clad Ninja holding a pair of Masamunes lazily, as if he was not expecting a fight. His eyes shone with an unnatural purple color, and they seemed to glow behind the veil that concealed the rest of his face.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I am the Second Megalomancer. I am called Sagaro Sake, the Lightning Blade," he said nonchalantly.
"Another Megalomancer!" Ritz said, drawing her Vent de Dieu. The vault was just large enough for the three of them to engage eachother in a full out fight, but it seemed to be small enough to cancel out the Ninja's naturally agile maneuvers.
"What do you want with the Grimoire?" Marche asked sternly. Sagaro stood up, still ontop of the giant diamond that concealed the Gran Grimoire. He laughed.
"That is none of your concern. It's really none of my concern, either. I have no idea what Lord Archemis intends to do with it, only that I must retrieve it. And I do intend to retrieve it." Ritz stepped forward, assuming a combat stance with her rapier held ready to strike at the Ninja.
"That's not going to happen. I managed to defeat that Bishop on my own, but as you can see, there are two of us here. You're not getting the Book," she said defiantly. Again, Sagaro laughed and spoke:
"Don't confuse my with that foolish Bangaa. Pious the Preacher was a puppet that had lost his use. I should thank you for killing him. But make no mistake. I will not fall as easily as he!" With that, Sagaro lept from his crystalline perch and somersaulted through the air, almost hitting the roof of the vault. He whipped out his Katanas, and began his fierce assault.
Sagaro struck with such speed and magnitude that Ritz and Marche were quickly knocked back to the wall. He thrust his sword towards Ritz's head, but she dodged at the last second, rolling across the floor. The tip of the Masamune embedded itself in the bedrock. Marche saw it as an opportunity to strike, but before the devastating power of his Paradox Blades met their target, Sagaro simply vanished into thin air.
"Teleportation!" Marche spat as if it were a curse word. Ritz was too distracted to notice, though, and was taken by surprise when the elusive Ninja appeared over head in a puff of golden mist. He came down with both his swords at once. Ritz managed to block it at the last second. She forced him back again and into a wall, but before she could deliver the final strike, Sagaro simply teleported away again.
He reappeared ontop of the diamond laughing hysterically at Ritz and Marche's fruitless attempts to strike him even once.
"As much as I'm enjoying this, I'm afraid Lord Archemis would not be very appreciative if I returned later than arranged. So I'll have to end this little encounter now." With that, he raised his right-hand Katana and drove it into the diamond cocoon of the Gran Grimoire. Much to the shock of Marche and Ritz, it shattered completely, sending razor shards of diamond in all directions. The two hit the deck to avoid being impaled by the flying shrapnel. When they stood back up, to their horror, Sagaro was standing there, holding the mystical tome in his arms.
"No!" Marche yelled as he boiled over with fury. The power of the Paradox Blades reacted with his raw emotions, and his ensuing attack was lightning fast in it's ferocity. Marche struck dead on with the Prima Cross, it's volatile energies causing a hurricane of devastating energy around his and Sagaro's unfortunate form.
When the force cleared, only Marche stood, breathing heavily. He stared down at the Paradox Blades, which were still glowing with the residual energy of the attack. He had never struck with such speed or power before.
"Where's Sagaro?" Ritz asked as she uncovered her eyes. She had shielded them from the brilliant light of the Prima Cross.
"I....don't know...." Marche replied, still in shock.
"Did you get him? Did the attack connect?"
"I'm not sure. When the Cross hit him, he kind of melted away." Marche looked around the room. Suddenly, he realized that something was wrong.
"The Book!" he cried out. Ritz jumped up.
"Did you destroy it?" she asked concerned. Marche shook his head in defeat.
"No, I'm sure I didn't. I would have noticed. Sagaro got away." He threw the Blades into the wall in rage. They had failed, and now they were stuck in Ivalice. Ritz came over and put her arm around him to comfort him.
"Hey, the attacks stopped!' Ritz noticed as the rumbling above had subsided. "Sagaro must have pulled back his forces." She stood up and held out her hand. Marche looked up and rose as well as they headed for scarred surface.