Chapter 10: The Second Loss of a Leader

"DAMN YOU!" Lestat cursed as he continuously tried to slash Chobits.

The latter blocked each attack, smiling widely in amusement.

"Temper, temper, Lestat." He said. "Or you might become like PARC."

The remark only made Lestat angrier and he blindly continued to attack the rogue knight. This was the cause of his anger: He had lost a member and friend, one quite close to him, and he could not forgive Chobits for it.

The Criterion base was under attack. Chobits led his army of Halloween Rodents. Unfortunately for the Criterions, most of them had left to recruit and to prepare the armor and weapons. Those left behind were still in training. Many of them had gotten injured fighting the Rodents. Because of this, Lestat had ordered Darth Maul to contact the rest of the Criterions with a communication crystal and have them fall back. But before Darth Maul could reach the crystal in his bag, Chobits had fired a poison arrow behind him. Lestat had seen this and watched as Chobits approached the writhing body of poor Darth Maul. Chobits thrust his sword down through his chest, and the Criterion breathed his last. PARC had also witnessed this terrible event, and he and Lestat faced Chobits with heated fury.

Jerk took Darth Maul's place in contacting the rest of the Criterions and approached his guild mate's corpse. Searching his bag, he found the communication crystal and called into it.

"Macky! Macky, are you there?"

"What's wrong, Jerk?" Macky's voice in the crystal replied.

A Halloween Rodent suddenly shot an enormous fireball at Jerk. The Criterion jumped away in time and hid behind a tree,

"We're under attack!" Jerk exclaimed. "Under Lestat's orders, we need you and your group to fall back immediately!"

"We're on our way." Macky replied.

Jerk placed the crystal in his bag and rejoined his brother, who was already running out of reagents. It took a while before a blue moongate appeared in their midst. A knight in bloodrock armor stepped out from the gate followed by a group of knights who came out one by one.

"What in the--!"

"Halloween Rodents!" Shacklebolt interrupted Macky.

"Everyone," Macky announced to his group. "Help the others. I'll look for Lestat."

It was chaotic. The base was filled with the blood of some Halloween Rodents and the Criterions themselves were becoming exhausted. Arrows zipped through the air while fireballs were shot back. Flamestrike and Poison spells were being cast, and underneath the chants the mages recited were the thuds of swords and axes on the bodies of the Rodents, which were drowning out the clashes of the weapons of PARC, Lestat, and Chobits.

"Why so angry?" Chobits asked maliciously, blocking Lestat and PARC's attacks. "This is war. There is bound to be someone who dies."

PARC growled.

"Then consider yourself as one of those who die!"

He swung his war axe but Chobits parried with his sword and pushed PARC away. Lestat came next, slashing his weapon horizontally across his opponent's head, but he ducked just in time and attacked the Criterion's mid-section. Lestat swiftly blocked it and pulled up his sword. He swung it downwards and Chobits rolled away, pulling out his reagents.

"An Ex Por!" He chanted.

Lestat reacted late and froze in his steps. PARC came up from behind, and Chobits, sensing the danger, whirled around and clanged his sword against PARC's. Kicking him away, he caught him off-guard and pulled out another handful of reagents.

"An Ex Por!" He chanted again and PARC froze.

Chobits sneered.

"You Criterions are still no match for me. This time, I'll make sure you breathe your last."

He took out more reagents from his bag and chanted, "In Ex Grav."

"No!" Lestat yelled. He knew what was coming next.

But two Halloween Rodents came and stood against him, prepared to strike if Lestat made a move. Chobits pulled out a bottle of pinkish liquid from his bag. He held it up by the neck and waved it at PARC.

"You know what this is, don't you?" Chobits said, grinning nastily.

PARC scowled at him and Chobits decided to answer his own question.

"This is a Greater Explosion. One of the very last things my victims see before they meet their end."

He then turned to the struggling Lestat.

"And you," Chobits said, "Are going to have the honor to watch him die before you do."

With one last vicious grin, he tossed the explosion at PARC. Everything had gone in slow motion as Lestat watched the deathly bottle fly towards his paralyzed mentor. But it seemed, though, as if a miracle arose in an instant. Before the bottle could hit PARC, someone's arm, covered in a bloodrock gauntlet, had extended a hand caught the bottle. It was caught with great care and much caution that it did not explode at contact. This was the miracle, and Lestat could only be glad and relieved that PARC's life was spared.

"Macky!" Lestat exclaimed.

"I was just in time, I see." Mackyl said, grinning, and he tossed the bottle to the nearest rodent.

As expected, it shattered on the vile creature's head, allowing the pink liquid to flow from it. But this liquid immediately emitted an explosion, and the rodent dropped on the ground, headless.

"This battle is over, Chobits. You and your filthy band of rodents are outnumbered." Macky said.

"The Heretics have come!" Spectre yelled in the background.

Chobits sneered, and he tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword. He could not admit defeat, though he was indeed outnumbered. Not far away from them was a moongate, where a number of Heretics stepped out. Meryl came last and this seemed to make Chobits change his mind.

"Alright, you win." He said. "But this war is not yet over."

Chobits called to the Halloween Rodents and pulled out a rune. Taking out some reagents, he chanted "Vas Rel Por", and soon, a moongate appeared. But before he could step into the gate, he heard a female voice yell his name, and all turned to Meryl, who quickly stomped towards them. She bumped into Saber, but instead of apologizing, she immediately grabbed his bow and pulled an arrow from his quiver.

"Hey!" Saber yelled, but Meryl did not notice, and she loaded the bow, aiming directly at Chobits.

She stopped midway between Chobits and her cousin, still holding the bow and arrow. Meryl was filled with anger; an anger she had never before felt. But Chobits grinned his usual nasty grin.

"I'll be waiting for you when the real battle begins." He said wickedly.

"MURDERER!" Meryl screamed and released the arrow, but rather awkwardly.

She was actually a poor archer and she had no skill whatsoever with a bow. The arrow coursed clumsily through the air and missed Chobits, landing a few feet away from him. With one last grin, he stepped into the moongate while the rest of the rodents followed.