Chapter 5: The Loss of a Leader

Meryl bolted up from the tree trunk, breathing heavily. She had just awakened from a nightmare of two armies of Chaos and Order charging furiously towards her. She turned to her zostrich and saw it still curled up and sound asleep beside her.

It was dark and only the stars and the moons served as the light. There was a slight breeze which made Meryl feel cool and refreshed. She was about to lean back on the tree trunk again when there was a sudden rustle in the leaves above. Meryl would have guessed that it was the breeze that caused the noise, but it seemed too strong for it to be so.

She gazed up the tree braches. Taking out some reagents from her bag, she chanted "In Lor." Her eyes enlightened and she was able to see as clearly as during the daytime. To her surprise, she found a lightly armed man watching her from one of the branches. She knew him: Chobits.

"I should be more cautious around you next time." He said, grinning, and he jumped off to the ground.

Meryl glared at him.

"What were you doing?" She asked with a tone of annoyance.

"My duty, milady." Chobits replied respectfully.

Meryl positioned her hand over the hilt of her sheathed sword.

"If you are going to kill me, do it now." She said, still glaring.

Chobits was a former Criterion under the first leader, PARC. Just when he was about to gain the guild's trust, he betrayed them and had many famed Criterion members killed. This had caused the temporary downfall of the guild, and the probable death of the great PARC himself. Chobits was now a rogue, siding with either good or evil depending on his favors. He was a neutral, but unlike the renowned Heretics, he was more inclined to Chaos than to Order.

"You know that I won't do that, Meryl. I could kill you anytime I want to, but now is not the time." He replied.

"Then what is your purpose for being here?" The Criterion snapped. "Don't try to protect yourself. I know you're here not just to watch me sleep."

Chobits let out a small laugh.

"Don't worry, milady. I don't plan on killing you… yet." He replied. "I look forward to meeting you in the battlefield."

With that, he grinned widely and pulled out a rune and reagents.

"Kal Ort Por." He chanted.

Seconds later, he vanished, leaving Meryl to calm herself down from the anxiety she felt during their conversation.

"I'll see you there…" She whispered a reply, even though she knew he could not hear her.

She assumed that Chobits, the traitor, had joined Urumi Kanzaki's forces. It seemed that the side of Chaos was getting much stronger—probably stronger than the side of Order. With this in mind, Meryl awakened her zostrich.

"Come on, our naptime is over." She said.

The zostrich hesitantly stood up and Meryl mounted on it.

"I know you're still tired but we've still got a long way. Let's go."

--

"Who is that?" Spectre asked worriedly as he watched the duel between Lestat and the mysterious mythril armored knight. "And who are the other two?"

Mamyel shook his head.

"I'm sorry to say I don't know." He replied. "They followed me here saying that they wished to challenge Lestat."

Totoy Mola snorted.

"If I were him, I would have followed Mamyel to challenge the women of the Criterions instead!"

All the Criterions turned their heads to him and gave him a blank stare. Miffy, on the other hand, shot him a death glare.

"What?" Totoy Mola managed to say when he found pairs of eyes looking at him.

"I can't believe you'd even think about women at a time like this!" Warlord said sharply. "Meryl would have given you more than just a glare if she'd heard that."

"Who said I was thinking about Meryl?" Totoy Mola replied. "I would have waited for her to mature a few more years, though, but she's already taken anyway."

The Criterions then shifted their heads to Greenarcher, whose cheeks slightly turned pink. Unable to bear the embarrassment, he decided to change the subject.

"Let's just continue watching the duel, shall we? It looks like the mythril knight has the advantage now."

--

Lestat panted as he held up his sword. He had fallen off his mustang after his opponent casted a Harm spell on him.

"I'll make this a fair fight." The mythril knight said under his armor and dismounted his mustang. "Stay…" He whispered to it.

He then faced the leader of the Criterions and prepared to strike him. Lestat quickly held up his shield and counter attacked. His opponent backed away and pulled out his reagents.

"Por Ort Grav!" He chanted.

But Lestat swiftly took some of his reagents too, and chanted, "Des Mani." The mythril knight was suddenly weakened and the spell he tried to cast, fizzled in smoke.

"You're better than I expected, Lestat!" The knight commended, and he charged at him with his war axe. Lestat, blocking the attack, replied with a bit of pride.

"Would you not expect it from the leader of a guild?"

He pushed his opponent back and immediately thrusted his sword forward, aiming for the shoulder area. But the knight easily evaded it, and spun behind Lestat, striking the back of his head with the handle of his war axe.

Lestat lost his balance and stumbled to the ground.

"Get up." The knight demanded in his deep, god-like voice.

Lestat rose. Holding up his sword once again, he hid away his exhaustion. He was determined not to lose this fight, not while he held the pride of the Criterions on his shoulders. If there were anyone who would defeat him, it would have to be a fellow Criterion.

He attacked the knight again, this time exerting more power than he did when the duel began. Blocking the blow with his shield, the knight swung his war axe diagonally at the Criterion leader, but narrowly missed. Lestat speedily counter attacked, but his opponent moved faster, and defended himself with his war axe against the vicious strike. Roughly pushing Lestat's weapon away, he grabbed reagents from his pouch and chanted again, "Por Ort Grav!" Lestat did not have enough time to regain his balance nor use a Weaken or Magic Arrow spell, and so was stricken by the casted lightning.

It was definitely not a pleasant feeling for the Criterion. It was as if he was being burned alive, but only for a moment. He dropped to the ground again, but before he could stand up, the mythril knight pointed his war axe under his chin. Lestat froze.

"You lose." The knight said.

This ignited a flame of anger within Lestat. He was humiliated.

"I have lost… the pride of the Criterions…" He said with regret.

The mythril knight seemed taken aback and withdrew his weapon.

"No, Lestat. You are still carrying that pride." He said, and finally removed his helmet.

Lestat's eyes widened with shock as he gazed at the knight's face. The watching Criterions also carried the same expression at what they saw.

"That isn't…" Warlord gasped.

"It can't be--!" Mamyel cut in.

"PARC!" Lestat exclaimed.