15
It was just another day when Astilous and his group of four friends carried out their routine training at the Geffen fields. They had just been promoted to Magehood, the five of them wielding their new staff ostentatiously, sending waves of magic to willows and fabres.
They cheered and laughed when a creamy came by and got tortured at their hands. The fun continued for a while until Astilous screamed, instantly stopping the girth. The oldest among the group, he pointed a shaky finger at something large not far away. His friends gave similar reactions, ranging from wide-eyed stares to giddiness from fear.
"Run!" Astilous finally found his voice.
However, before they reached the city, the large apparitions caught up with the five and had them surrounded. Other novices training in the vicinity dropped their knives and ran for the city, spreading the news of the arrival of some monstrosity.
Astilous's legs went wobbly and he fell on his knees, pleading for mercy. The rest, except one who passed out, fell on their knees and started begging the four humanoid knights to let them off. Supposedly the strongest among the four, a silver knight astride a massive silver steed brandished his great sword and signaled for the other three to finish the job quick. The great silver sword went right through Astilous's chest and into another of his friend's. The long blade pierced through the heart of two at one time, killing them instantly.
The Stormy Knight whipped out a black dagger Abyss Knight had loaned him. He smote his round shield into the face of one, then stabbed the passed out mage. The last person remaining tried to escape, but the Doppelganger was already ahead of him. The young mage knelt before the phantom swordsman, crying and tugging at his leg. But before Doppelganger could say anything, a black sword belonging to the Abyss Knight impaled the mage from behind, and the young boy fell limb.
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The priestess woke up with sweat rolling down her cheeks. She recalled the nightmare she had earlier, and she could not help shuddering. She turned and saw Tesse looking in anxiously.
"Come in," she said rather inaudibly.
The priest heard it nonetheless. He strode into the room briskly, tending to the pale priestess.
"What ails you? Shall I –"
"I'm fine, Tesse. It's just that I had a nightmare. It was so horrible..." Manald interrupted.
"Wanna share it?" Tesse said, wiping sweat off her forehead with a cloth. "You might not feel so tensed up after that."
"I'm really feeling fine. As one of the main priest in this church, you should not waste your time on me. The others need help."
Tesse sighed, helping the priestess lean higher on her bed.
"If you insist, I shall take my leave. May god bless you."
The nightmare continued to linger in the priestess's thoughts, increasing her worry for the imprisoned assassin.
Before her stood the Lord of Death, the great silver sword hanging over her dangerously, which would come down and kill her in one blow anytime. She realized she was in the Sbanhealt castle base, in the spacious hall. Behind the large silver knight stood Doppelganger, Stormy Knight and Abyss Knight, who still had his horse.
"Die, mortal!"
The bright sword swung down, but strong arms pushed her away from the strike, Turning to see her savior, she found him lying on the floor in a pool of blood. The Lord of Death's blade struck Skull instead, the assassin jerking spasmodically. She heard him shouting for her to run as far as she could, but she just would not move. She could only sit there and watch her guild mate die slowly and painfully.
The Abyss Knight came forward, raising his black sword over the bloody assassin.
"No!"
The black sword went into the chest of Skull, ending his agony.
Putting the nightmare aside, she got out of bed and ran looking for her guild mates.
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A hand shook him violently, a muffled voice calling him. He continued snoozing, when someone slapped him hard across the cheeks. He woke with a start, grabbing his assailant by the neck.
"Ugh! You're killing me!"
"Huh? Nimb? Sorry."
Cerberus looked out of the window. Seeing the brightening of the sky, he realized it was dawn.
"For goodness sake you're still lazing in bed when Immuonnas is in danger! There's big news circulating!"
Cerberus grabbed his armor laid beside him and strapped it on hastily.
"Sorry. What's going on?"
"An alarm in the prison rang just a moment ago. The guards are reporting that an assassin killed a guard and escaped! I'm sure it's him!"
The knight leader wasted no time.
"Indeed? Hurry, let's go. Where's Piffy and Pay?"
"They went to check out the commotion," the rogue said, dragging her leader out of the house.
The two ran across Prontera to the western side, where a crowd was gathering near the prison. Before they started looking for the rest, Pay and Piffy were already running in their direction.
"I'm positive that Skull escaped," Pay said with relieve rather than frantic.
"Bah! To think that you're glad! This is going to mean serious trouble, not only for that thick-head, but for us!" Piffy grumbled.
"At least we don't have to see him executed," Pay argued.
Cerberus looked among the crowd, as if expecting someone.
"Where's Sagi and Manald?"
"I'm not sure about the wiz, but I think I see Manald over there," the alchemist said, pointing to a white-robed priestess trying to break past the crowd to reach them.
"How do we tell this to her? She can't stand murders, especially done by Skull. She's bound to get a blow if she learns of this," Maraulea asked as the priestess drew nearer.
"She'll eventually know, why not tell her earlier," Cerberus said.
Manald confronted the four, a look of bewilderment on her face.
"Is it true that…"
"Unfortunately, yes," Piffy answered her intended question.
Cerberus nudged the alchemist for blurting it so bluntly, after he saw the priestess's eyes watering slightly. Maraulea put an arm around her, whispering comforting words to her.
"How could he kill the guard…? Even if he planned to escape, he shouldn't have!" she cried.
"There must be a reason, otherwise he won't think of it," the rogue consoled.
Manald swallowed hard and glared at the rogue.
"No matter what it's a sin to kill! First, Galor. Now a guard! He's getting atrocious…"
"We may not know why he killed the guard, but he's just seeking justice for his sister by killing Galor. What's more, that sick man stabbed him!"
"And your sick man actually ran off the prison!" a deep voice sounded behind the priestess.
A monk advanced dangerously, forcing Manald backwards. He turned his attention to the knight, Cerberus.
"That sadistic assassin of yours killed my men. I will never forget this. Prepare to be doomed, Avenger. The king had ordered a town-wide search, and his men are already hunting for him. He is now wanted, dead or alive."
"That was underhand, Tien. You had bribes aggravating and exaggerating the situation, making the king succumb to it!" Cerberus snapped, grabbing the monk by his long brownish coat that reached his knee.
"Go on, hit me. Have you too little things to worry about?"
Both men stared dangerously at each other, the tension building up. Cerberus released the monk's coat, partly because Manald was pleading him to cause no more trouble, and partly because he knew that Tien's bribes would exaggerate matters again, which might eventually bring him into prison. Spitting on the floor in disdain, Tien gestured for his guild to leave.
"We've got enough worries at hand," Pay reminded his knight leader.
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The west gate had been breached. Mobs of zombies, goblins and nightmares terrorized the city, destroying the west portion of Geffen swiftly. Towers and walls crumbled by the charge of the demons, innocent lives claimed by the four's sword. Mothers carried their crying children and escaped the city, planning to seek refuge in other cities.
The wizard council held impromptu meetings, gathering last minute forces to withstand more summons from the four. Several scouts were assigned to different towns, requesting reinforcements to help even the odds of the battle.
Because these four humanoid knights came too suddenly, the wizards fought half-heartedly. Groups of mages and wizards fell from increasing scores of demons, their spells only wiping out a very minute portion of the demon mob. The more experienced wizards endeavored to cast large-scale destruction spells, however, the lengthy amount of time required for the sophisticated incantations allowed the demons to intercept fast.
Very few managed to cast it successfully, jets of fire and fierce storms clearing a few scores of demons. The rest expected more of these to come, but the few wizards who cast these energy-draining spells collapsed upon the spell completion. Elementary magic spells affected them little, which drained away recently promoted mages' energy unnecessary.
Soon enough, the streets of Geffen were stacked with dead wizards. Hunters who resided in Geffen too joined in the battle, but offered little to destroy the army. The Lord of Death smashed the walls with his massive sword and his steed's charge, sending the hunters falling to their death. The city of magic was now reduced to a city of dead sorcerers.
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Just when dawn broke, Sagizeulus was already on his way out of the church, where it was still silent. Nobody was in the main hall, so he took the opportunity to exit the place. The wizard had his energy and vitality restored to him in such short nap, which surprised him. Usually, it would take at least a day to recover completely.
His destination was the west gate, where the Overlords usually were when they wanted to meet him. He fiddled with his necklace as he walked the silent streets, a breeze ruffling his brown hair. The wizard did not remember how or where he had that necklace, but the man who took him in, known as Scarlet to him, told him that his parents left him that.
But, he recalled nothing of his parents. He inquired Scarlet on several occasions, but the man told him little. He only knew that he had the necklace since a very young age. People often marveled at it, even though he did not find anything unique about it. It had two rings strung together with a chain, the two nondescript rings locking each other. One of it was black, and the other was silvery.
Sagi walked past the Odin fountain and entered the west of Prontera. He spotted six figures loitering at the west gate, no doubt it was the Overlords. He asked the gate guards to open the gates, allowing him access to the outside fields where they were.
"What do you want?" the wizard asked coldly.
Tien cracked his knuckles, sneering at the wizard's question.
"Isn't it obvious? We need you to destroy the Avenger. I called you here to fill you in on my plans."
"Bah! Must I bid to your commands? You call me and dispose me at your own free will?"
"It's totally up to you, wizard. I've a big network of men, I can easily spread the news that Sagizeulus, the renegade wizard, invoked the dead branches into life."
Sagi clenched his fist, his chins trembling in rage.
"You asked me for help in the first place! Now you're slandering me! Damn you, Tien!"
"Hahaha… So you better do the right thing. Work for me, and destroy Avenger. That simple. Now for the plan…"
The monk grabbed Sagi's robes and pulled him closer, both of them face-to-face.
"I've picked an abandoned house lying in the middle of Payon woods. Your job is to lure them there, and my man Von will finish the business. I know you can't bear to kill them, so I've made your job so simple."
Sagi wanted to pull free of the monk and return, but someone caught his attention. A young boy came running towards them, the wizard recognizing him as a Geffen scout judging from his attire and the Geffen emblem at the sleeve. He stopped the boy, for he sensed something fishy happening.
"You're from Geffen. What news do you bring?"
The boy wiped his sweat before continuing rather breathlessly.
"I'm here to request reinforcements from Prontera. Geffen is under attack!"
"Damn it. Who's behind the attack?" he pursued, grabbing the boy's shirt anxiously.
"The Lord of Death and three other demonic knights."
The wizard swore, then turned to Tien.
"If you want to make me your scapegoat, go ahead. I'm out. Find somebody else to do your dirty jobs."
With that said, he crushed a butterfly wing, setting his destination to his hometown, Geffen.
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Five members of the Avenger sat by the fireplace, discussing their next plans after they left the crowd for the alehouse. The alehouse was crowded as usual, and it was surprising that they even got a seat. Piffy took his mug of ale and washed it down in three loud gulps, wiping away the liquid dripping down his chin.
"You, come," the alchemist called out, waving the barkeep to him. "More mugs of ale!" The balding barkeep, around in his forties, wiped his greasy hands on his apron as he took his order.
"Right away!"
The barkeep returned to the fireplace table a moment later, serving three mugs of foaming ale. Manald wanted to order some grape juice, but she realized that she did not know the barkeep's name, except "You, come", as Piffy always called.
Piffy noted the priestess's look, while he licked the foam off the top of the mug.
"Yes? You need something?"
"Err… Grape juice for me."
"I see. You, come!"
"You come" made his way to their table again, smiling broadly at them.
"Yes, what do you need?"
"Grape juice for my priestess friend here," Piffy shouted to be heard among the roaring customers.
"Sure, coming right up!"
"You come" took a bottle of grape juice on the counter, and returned to the table.
"Here's your drink, Manald."
"Huh? How'd you know my name?"
"You come" gave a brief laugh, then replied her.
"Of course, pretty lady. How could I not know the prettiest priestess of Prontera? That Tesse, how are you two getting along?"
Manald's cheeks colored when "You come" said "you two getting along"
"Don't get the wrong idea. He's just a friend of mine."
"She's right, she has someone else in mind," Maraulea added.
"Indeed? Who might that lucky lad be?" "You come" asked enthusiastically.
"I'm not telling you. You should return to work, nosey-baldie."
Cerberus lifted his mug of ale and finished the remaining half of it.
"I'm thinking we should split up go look for Skull. Damn, I can't believe he became a wanted man."
Piffy wriggled his nose, sipping a mug of ale, which eventually became large gulps. Sighing appreciatively, he started on a second mug.
"Ya know, that's rather troublesome. Might be better if y'all were to stay and defend this place in case something crops up."
"This is one of many alternatives," Pay said, sipping his mug of Payon Mix.
"If Skull escaped, he would not go out through main entrance of the prison. Its most likely that he went by a back door or something," Cerberus said.
Maraulea took a swig at her bottle of Morroc alcohol.
"The prison's located at the north-western part of Prontera. If Immuonnas escaped, he might be headed that direction."
"But we can't confirm anything just yet. Just like Cerberus said, we'll play by ear. We can only hope that he won't be spotted and napped by the king's men," Pay advised.
The possibility of this made Manald choke on her grape juice. She began to worry more about Skull, even though he had escaped the execution. Maraulea passed a concerned look at her close friend, patting her on the back to ease her throat.
"What's wrong? You've been rather quiet."
"Nothing actually," she replied blandly. "It's not easy to run away from the king's men. They're known to find anyone anywhere, be it the depths of Glast Heim or the mountains of Mjolnir."
"Oh, so you're afraid that Immnuonnas might be captured?"
The priestess nodded, swallowing a mouthful of grape juice. A group of four adventurers entered the alehouse, taking an empty table right beside theirs. They ordered mugs of ale and began talking excitedly.
"Scouts' been coming and saying that Geffen is under siege," a swordsman started.
"Hey I heard that just a moment ago. Lord of Death's behind that attack, ain't it?" another swordsman said.
"That explains why I see big groups of armed forces of Prontera marching north west before I came."
"The king is sending reinforcements over, even though I doubt that can hold the four evils back."
"He's already busy with that prisoner. Heard that insane man slew a guard in his sleep!"
"We should hunt for that lunatic. The king's offering a ten million zeny reward for that! Imagine that amount of money in our hands! We'll live in luxury!"
"Anyway, Geffen's in deep trouble, so scouts had said. Many wizards died defending fruitlessly."
Maraulea suddenly gasped, drawing attention from her guild mates.
"Did you hear that? Geffen's under attack! How in the black abyss did the four get there?"
"Yes, we all did. Maybe that explains Sagi's absence. When comes to his hometown, nothing else is important," Cerberus said.
Piffy took a pull from his mug, and plunked it down on the table.
"After hearing this attack, I think we might gotta split. Lets say Skull had indeed went north west, which leads to Geffen, we might find him there on the way. On the other hand, we could join the battle."
"Hmm, splendid. But what about the remaining?" Pay asked.
"I'm going to Geffen," Manald insisted, not wanting to leave any stones unturned. If there was a chance that Skull was there, she would give it a try.
"Me and Piffy will look for more reinforcements while you go to Geffen with Pay and Maraulea," Cerberus suggested.
"Err, actually," Pay protested. "I'm sorry but, I've heard rumors from my townsmen that the Payon cave started producing demons to attack the newly revamped Payon. I've been worrying about this ever since, and this is a good chance to offer whatever help I can."
"So… that leaves me and Lea," Manald said, biting her lower lip.
"Is that ok?" Cerberus asked.
"I suppose so. Geffen isn't very far from here, and I've got my zeny knife to make demons into coins!" Maraulea exclaimed excitedly.
"Then it is final then. I believe that Sagi will be there, you won't be encountering a lot of danger till then."
"I've no problem," Piffy spoke up after a long burp, his face reddening from the mugs of ale.
Cerberus stood up, raising his mugs to his companions.
"Till we meet again. Cheers, my friends."