Rean after half an hour of traveling across the lake towards Lohengrin
Castle Rean, Laura, Elliot, Crow, Kurt, Juna, Altina, Ash, Musse, Toval,
and Millium reach their destination and begin making their way up the
pathway towards the front gate. " hey doesn't Millium seem a little
quiet to you " asks Juna in a whisper looking towards Millium who
seemed ready to faint " it looks she just realized were we are heading"
says Laura " realized?" asks Kurt also whispering " yeah its probably
hard to believe but Millium has a chronic fear of ghosts" answers Rean
whispering " ghosts?" asks Juna " oh yeah this place is swarming with
ghosts, possessed suits of armor, Nosferatu you name it if it can
possess and float through walls its probably here" says Toval which
ends up making Millium more and more fearful, realizing that he was
terrifying her Toval tries to ease her worries " though now that I'm
thinking about it i didn't run into any when i investigated so maybe we
won't run into any now" says Toval which makes Millium feel a little
better . A little bit later the group end up infront of the very large
front entrance of the castle " alright then now before we head in there
Rean even though your probably the only here who can locate it i think
we should be very careful when you follow that signal we don't want
you losing control and going berserk on us the very moment you feel
something wrong immediately cover yourself" says Toval " i understand"
Rean answers and with that Toval opens the door and the group head
into the castle. Once they were inside the group immediately begins to
immediately begins to take in their surroundings " well this is certainly
classy if it wasn't so aged" says Musse " yeah tell me about it the
interior looks like its about crumble in on itself" says Ash " hey guys i
don't know about this " says Millium who is hiding behind Rean " yo
what's up with her, she isn't scared is she" asks Ash " well you
see..."Laura begins to explain but is immediately cut off by Millium " I'm
not scared of thing " she objects then as if to prove her wrong the front
door immediately closes on its own behind them with a loud boom
immediately after Millium screams a little and dives behind Rean " yeah
sure you ain't" says Ash " alright then lets begin looking for the source of
our fog" Rean says who starts to take off his hood to allow the curse to
track the signature but is briefly stopped for a second by Laura " be
careful" she says " i know" he answers and takes off the hood. As soon
as he does the signature immediately hits his mind like a flying brick
causing him grab his head in pain but it felt more bearable seeing as he
didn't fall to the ground this time he then begins to follow the signature
through the castle while the group supported him. after following the
signature for about an hour the strength seemed to suddenly increase
dramatically when they end up infront of a huge doorway causing the
searing pain in Rean's head to triple dramatically turning the brick like
impact into the equivalent to of being crushed by Panzer Soldat this
sudden hit him so hard that he could barely stand " i...ts th..is way" he
struggles to say " Rean you should cover yourself theirs no telling what
could happen if you keep letting the pain get worse" says Laura " i...ts
f...ine" says Rean who instantly falls on one knee " like hell its fine you
can barely stand up " says Crow who picks him up and slings Rean's
arm over his shoulder " l...et me g..go just a little longer" says Rean "
fine" Crow says sighing " but the moment you drop again the hood is
coming back on" he warns while letting him go so he could stand on his
own " thank you" says Rean" the group then opens the doorway to reveal
a long hallway which ended with another door. While heading down the
long hallway the pain in Rean's head begins to fade and seemingly
becomes clearer he then seemingly stops at the end of the hallway
about a couple of feet away from the door which causes everyone "
Rean did you find it?" asks Elliot " its just behind this door" Rean says as
he puts the hood back over his head " i suggest we stay on guard we
have no idea what this "source" is or what its capable of" says Toval"
agreed " says Musse. The group then opens the door to reveal what
seems to be a throne room and in the far back where the throne would
be a huge jacket spikes with the same appearance as the crystal they
saw on those Archaisms seemed to be growing like weeds from its
place the crystals seemed to be producing the fog as they predicted
but it seems that they didn't find any source of the curse " are you
kidding more crystals we came all this way looking for the source of the
curse and we get jack but the same darn effect caused by the curse !? "
yells Ash annoyed as the group gets closer and stops about a few feet
away from it. Once the group had gotten close enough the group begin
trying to figure out their discovery " that's odd so the crystals are what's
causing the fog but i thought they were just an effect of the curse" says
Elliot " maybe the curse makes these crystals appear and they cause
the effect like with the pleroma grass assumes Juna " i don't think so if
that were the case then we see the effect of the higher elements but
the atmosphere here is unaffected" says Elliot. As the group were trying
to figure things out Rean seemed or what was left of Ishmelga's curse
seemed to be attracted to the crystals causing Rean to subconsciously
move closer " wait a minute what if the crystals aren't an effect caused
by the curse" says Elliot at the same Rean had gotten close enough to
the giant crystal growth his cursed hand seemed to softly tremble
causing Rean to slowly lift his hand as if the trembling was his hand
asking him to move with Rean responding he then subconsciously
places his hand on the crystal growth " what if the crystals are the
curse" says Elliot in realization then noticing Rean wasn't with in a split
second he whips his around immediately and calls out to Rean " Rean
don't touch that the crystals are the curse!!!!" Elliot's words immediately
snapped Rean out of his trance but it was to late suddenly the giant
crystal growth responds to Rean's touch immediately causing his
cursed hand to somehow magnetize to the crystal growth. Rean
immediately feels a sharp pain run through his whole body like it was
being forcefully torn apart and being sucked into the crystal through his
cursed hand causing him cry out in pain " darn it we got him away from
there" says Crow who immediately runs towards Rean only to be
stopped by some sort of barrier the crystal then seems to increase the
process of pulling something from Rean's hand into it self which
instantly causes Rean to lose control of himself as the remnants of
Ishmelga's curse forces him to transform into his berserk ogre form
and seemingly starts try and pry Rean's cursed arm away but it proves
be futile as his arm doesn't budge " what's happening to Rean" asks
Juna" i don't know but it's like the Ishmelga curse is trying to escape the
crystal" says Elliot after a bit of time the the crystal instantly stops
resonating with Rean's cursed hand and explodes causing a huge cloud
of dust to cover the throne room and throwing everyone towards the
back wall except Rean then everything goes quiet. It takes everyone
about a minute to recover from having the wind knocked out of them
from hitting the brick wall " what the hell was that?" asks Ash " no idea
but it seems like the crystal was reacting to the Ishmelga curse" says
Kurt " we should discuss that later we should make sure Rean is okay
first" says Toval " right" says Juna as the group begins to search for
Rean the dust cloud seems to settle a little allowing them to see Rean's
silhouette in the distance " their he is" says Laura the group then begins
to make their way towards him. As the group gets close enough to
Rean the dust cloud fully settles allowing them to see that some of
Ishmelga's curse seemed to have left Rean's body some what mostly
on his face seeing that some of the corrupted parts of Rean's face
seem to have vanished " Rean what did that crystal just do" asks Toval "
i don't know it felt like it was tearing something from my body and
before i knew it the crystal exploded in my face" he answers Elliot then
immediately starts trying to detect if anything has changed with an
analysis art " i wish Emma was here to help us she always was better at
detecting curses" he says " but from what i can tell something has
definitely changed " " i can confirm as well there has definitely been a
change from last time" says Altina also scanning Rean with Claimh
Solais " hey guys i think we should worry the changes to Rean after we
get out of here " says Toval " why is that ?" asks Kurt " well remember
what i said about ghosts" says Toval " yeah " says Juna "well it looks like
their coming back " he says as swarms of spirits start immediately
swarm around the interior of the castle and many Shadow Spirits,
Wandering Armors, and Wandering Swords begin appearing in the
throne room were the group was and surrounds them " so how are we
going get out this one?" asks Crow " we'll have to fight our through" says
Rean " but there's to many of them how are we supposed to fight our
through this?" asks Juna " then it's time for us to use our trump card "
says Rean " you mean? " asks Elliot "Class 7 activate your combat links
its the only way we can have an edge in this fight " says Rean who
immediately activates his combat link and connects with Toval " huh it's
been awhile since I've experienced the feeling of having a constant
sense of someone's presence" he says and activates his baton
immediately everyone else begins activating their combat links with
Kurt linking up with Juna, Ash with Musse, Altina with Millium" leaving
only Crow, Laura, and Elliot who haven't linked " I'll be on stand by incase
someone needs to tag out" says Crow " you two should hurry link up "
he says leaving Elliot and Laura who seem unsure about linking with
each other as they stare at their own Arcuses " we can this Elliot" says
Laura who gives a determined look " huh r..right" says Elliot pushing
their worries and the past behind them they immediately activate their
combat link and prepare for battle " Class 7 our objective is to escape
the castle fight with everything you got and push your way through !!! "
says Rean " right " responds everyone else as they charge forward
towards a group of shadow spirits and wandering armor fighting their
way through with arts and crafts while using their combat links to
support each other in the fight. After an hour of fighting their way
through the castle the group mange to escape the castle through the
front entrance. The sudden stop in adrenaline from the fight
immediately cause their exhaustion to catch up to them immediately
causing everyone collapse to their knees panting " you weren't kidding
when you said swarming " says Juna in between exhausted breaths " i
feel like I'm going to faint Rean could you hold me" says Musse
exhausted but obviously not serious about the fainting part " yeah if you
have enough time to say that your fine" says Ash " speaking of Rean "
says Kurt which makes everyone else look to Rean who was on one
knee panting " yeah ?" asks Rean noticing everyone looking at him " hey
your not falling unconscious and coughing up blood " says Crow " it
looks like you touching the crystal did more than change your
appearance physically " says Elliot " seems so and it looks like we also
fixed the issue with fog" says Rean causing everyone to look around the
area causing them to notice that the fog had drastically changed as
well" we should head back to the bracer guild I think we've overstayed
our welcome" says Toval everyone agrees and they all begin making
their way back to where they left their boats and begin heading back to
the lake town. As the group get closer to the lake town they begin to
notice that the people have noticed the change and begin cheering in
celebration as the group stop at the pier and begin making their way to
the bracer guild. Once in the bracer guild the group have a discussion
about what has happened then they begin to about their next move " so
what are you guys planning on doing next?" asks Toval the group thinks
for a minute " i think that while we are looking for the other members of
class 7 we should keep eye out for these crystals if their the only thing
keeping this curse we should destroy them" says Kurt " Kurt is right we
saw how big that growth got more than likely that could be an indicator
of how strong the curse must be in an area" says Elliot " we'll i hope you
guys succeed in bringing your friends back together sadly i can't go
with you I'll still have to keep these people safe" says Toval " then i
guess this is good bye then" says Laura " what do you mean" asks
Altina " we'll i mean i don't think anyone else in class 7 is gonna feel very
welcoming when I'm around" says Laura " Laura you can't keep thinking
like that" says Rean " but" says Laura " Rean's right beside i think it's less
of you think people won't welcome i think it's more you won't be able to
feel welcome yourself " says Elliot " i mean you didn't hesitate to forgive
me when you saw me you can't let those feelings of uncertainty come
back now" Laura then hangs her head a little then thet hear her laugh a
little as tears begin to fall from her eyes " your right all this time I've
done nothing but worry about how the others would think of me and
worried about my participation in that dispute but i know that if you can
forgive me for what I've said i know that the others could find it
themselves to forgive me and each other" says Laura " so i think i will
join you as well the spirit of class 7 has slumbered long enough its to re
awaken it" she says with a motivated tone " right" says Elliot " so then i
guess we should head back to Valimar and Ordine " says Crow " right
they should be fully charged to open the spirit path again" says Rean " i
guess i'll come with you to see you off" says Toval. so the group head
back to where they left Valimar and Ordine the trip happened to be a lot
faster thanks to not having to travel through a corrupted fog " its
honestly unbelievable i can't believe I'm seeing Valimar and Ordine
again" says Laura " I'm as surprised and pleased to see you as well" says
Valimar " Valimar are you charged well enough to move to the next
signature " asks Rean " affirmative " answers Valimar " Valimar do you
think you could gives an update on where the signatures are " asks
Crow " of course one moment it appears that one signature has again
moved.the same as the other two times" answers Valimar after a
couple of seconds of processing " okay who the heck keeps moving
around" asks Ash " no idea maybe that will be our next target" ponders
Rean " alright then Valimar lock on to the moving signature and then
open the spirit path" he says " you do the same Ordine" says Crow "
affirmative" says both divine knights " we'll it was nice seeing you guys
again" says Toval as the spirit path begins to open " right hopefully we'll
see each other again " says Rean " that would be great any ways good
luck " Toval says as the group is then transported to their next location.
