CHAPTER XXIX

Fear No Evil

"I would say that we're in the clear," Athena panted, "but the last time I said that, we ran into more Corrupted around the corner. Literally around the goddamned corner."

"Yeah," Echo said, stooped over. "That's why I kept my mouth shut this time, too."

Athena peeked around the wall they hid against. There were no monsters in sight, but they could not be too careful in this thick fog.

"Why the hell are there so many monsters in the Second Layer?" she mused.

"I don't think we're in the Second Layer at all," Echo said.

Athena looked at her partner.

"I sorta figured out that my Semblance whines louder and louder the deeper into the Labyrinth we go, and from the feeling right now, we're deeper than the Third Layer."

"Wait..."

"Yeah. Remember what we talked about? How this whole city might be one giant personal Labyrinth?"

"You're thinking that we're in a section that resembles the Second Layer, but it's actually below the Third."

Echo nodded.

"Great."

More disgusting sounds came from behind.

"We should move," Echo said.

They pushed on through the fog, guided toward safety by Echo's Semblance, but this was the first time it wasn't nearly as useful as it normally was. It hadn't decreased in reliability at all; she could still sense threats with 100% accuracy. The problem was that this Labyrinth spawned threats seemingly at random. She wouldn't get a warning until the threat was mere inches away.

"Shit," Athena said.

They both stopped dead in their tracks. In the middle of the street, just ahead of them, barely visible in the fog, was the silhouette of a humanoid figure. This one wasn't twisted and writhing like every other Corrupted, however.

Athena glanced over at her partner, who had a white-knuckled grip on her bow. She began to shake as she gritted her teeth.

How did I not sense him until now? Echo berated herself.

"Hmm? Oh, I thought I smelled beautiful women."

"Moloch," Athena growled.

"You remember me. I suppose that's no surprise. We did have quite the intimate encounter the last time we met. Your soul definitely was quite delectable. Unfortunately, that stupid essence I harbor is so unpredictable that it sent you into the World of Shadow instead of into my belly."

"What the hell do you want from us?"

"Well, I can't spoil the surprise now, can I?"

"Quit fuckin' around!"

He smiled. "I suppose I'm interested in settling the score. Among other things, of course."

"Wasn't your body falling apart the last time we saw each other?"

"Yes, well, that was a...previous version of myself, so to speak. Dr. Watts and my brother have been able to develop improvements over the old variants. You must have encountered the Übersoldaten by now, hmm? Wondrous beasts, I must say. A mixture of Grimm, Lesser Daemon, and human. Who knew that such a combination would yield such a powerful, obedient soldier?"

"What, you're using one of those things as your vessel now?"

"Oh, no, no, my dear. I don't need a vessel where we are."

She tightened her grip on Pallas and Aegis.

"This is the home of our kind. We have no limitations here. We have free rein to do absolutely as we please."

Both Echo and Athena were in fighting stances by now, but Moloch continued to remain where he stood, hands behind his back, menacing smile on his face.

"When we first fought, I did not have the luxury of time," he said. "But now, I can do whatever I want to you." He pulled up a hand, extending a talon from his index finger. "I may start with... sautéing your lips. They certainly look...delicious."

The girls turned to run, but they barely took two steps when they ground to a halt. He was already in front of them, standing much closer now than earlier.

"Hmm," he mumbled. "You know, perhaps I should permit you to run. If only for a while. After all, the amygdala's flavor is far more exquisite after it has soaked in epinephrine and dopamine. So. Please. Run, my beautifuls."

Both broke into a dash before he even finished his sentence, cutting through the thick fog, leaping over fences and dodging Corrupted that barred their path. They stopped for nothing, only briefly glancing at one another to confirm that they hadn't been separated.

When they both ran out of strength, they stopped. Echo collapsed to the ground, legs and lungs on fire. Athena only barely managed to stay upright, stooping over and breathing so heavily that it hurt.

"Is he gone?" Echo said, fighting her way back up to her feet.

"For all we know, he's been on top of us all this time," Athena said.

"Athena, what can we do?" she said, her voice borderline panicked.

"I don't—"

"Found you!"

Athena turned to fight against Moloch, but it took a mere three moves for him to parry and counter her every action before he drove his hand through her abdomen, utterly crushing her aura and lifting her in the air.

"Athena!" Echo screamed before attacking wildly.

Her advance was pointless, however. Moloch hurled Athena at her, sending both of them to the ground in a heap.

"Bloody hell," Moloch sighed. "I got carried away."

Echo fought the daze, stringing Sentinel around her body before strapping Aegis to her back and picking up Pallas along with a badly injured Athena. Ignoring her unstoppable enemy, she shouldered her partner back into the fog, trying to get her as far away from him as she could.

"I do admire your tenacity!" Moloch's voice echoed throughout the mist. "It's something Azazel himself has praised in you mortals!"

What am I even doing? Echo thought as she practically dragged Athena along.

"This may be a good place to rest," Ilia said. "The Parliament building is only a few more blocks away, but we don't know what we'll be facing in there."

"Agreed," Fiona said. "Hey, Perseus, are you gonna be all right?"

He didn't react. His mind was still fresh with the memory of Lilly, projected to him by the power of this world. He glanced at the Rune of Atonement. Its all-seeing eye's gaze was fixed on his soul and the scales were tilted maximally in one direction.

It dawned on him that the memories probably weren't brought to life by the Labyrinth at all. Given the power of these magical runes, it was entirely possible that those images were conjured up by the Primal Rune residing on the back of his left hand.

Are you passing judgment on me?

The rune pulsed, almost as if responding to his question.

Meanwhile, Fiona had been paying close attention to Perseus. His mind was clearly elsewhere, but beyond that, something was bothering him deeply. She wanted to ask what it was that perturbed him so much, but she didn't want to intrude. After all, she wasn't a member of his circle of close friends. It wasn't her place to do any prying.

"Ready to go?" Ilia asked the group.

"I think we could use a little more rest," Fiona said, catching Perseus's attention.

"Haven't we rested enough?" Hanuman said.

"I just don't wanna take any chances. Parliament's right there, so there's no need to rush. I think we should be completely ready before we head in. After all, that Malphas person had the power to teleport us away. I just wanna make sure we have all our bases covered."

Perseus watched his companion. Was she stalling for his sake? No, it couldn't be. There was no way she could possibly know what it was that burdened him so much. Or maybe she was just that perceptive.

Echo panted as she continued to shoulder Athena toward safety. Where that would be, she knew not. This world was hostile to everyone born in the light and it threatened to swallow both of them whole. Without their friends nearby, the only two Wraith-Knights in the team, they were all but defenseless.

"Dammit, Echo," Athena coughed out blood. "Stop being so goddamned stubborn."

"No!" Echo cried through tears. "I'm not leaving you here!"

"I refuse to watch you die with me...Echo..."

"And I'm not leaving your side!"

Echo gasped before ducking herself and her partner into a niche. The snarling and growling grew louder and louder, but the monsters did not enter their hiding place, instead lingering around out on the street.

"I'm..." Athena panted, sliding against the wall down to the ground leaving a trail of blood on the brick, "...you know I'm not gonna make it..."

Echo balled her fists. This was not the same as the Labyrinth they had gone through last year. Athena really was dying. Being unable to do anything about it ripped her heart into uncountable shards.

"Echo..."

"I'm not leaving you," Echo said, her voice stern and resolute through the tears. "Even if I die here with you, I'm not leaving. I'd rather die with you right now than to live forever without you."

Athena looked up at her companion, who stood strong, determined to defend her until her last breath. Echo quickly knelt before the love of her life, planting the deepest kiss she could on her lips as tears fell. She leaned her forehead against Athena's, closing her eyes as she held her partner by the cheeks, whose warmth was fading.

"You've shielded me all this time," she whispered. "It's my turn."

As consciousness threatened to abandon her, Athena looked outward. Echo, the smallest and most unassuming of their entire group, was now the embodiment of ferocity, tearing away at the massive horde of Corrupted and other ancient monsters of legend, stabbing arrows into nearby enemies and launching Dust-loaded arrows at further targets. She vaulted over enemies, sliding beneath larger ones, deftly delivering perfectly aimed shots at the softest points on her enemies' bodies.

But Echo's stamina could not last forever. Even in her stupor, Athena could see each gash, each bite that caused Echo to yelp in pain before countering with an arrow stab to the eye or a powerful strike with her bow transformed into a staff. It wouldn't be long before Sentinel's wielder would fail. She was only mortal, after all.

"Echo!" Athena cried out as her partner was surrounded by a dozen monsters, each one descending upon the youngest of their group with the intent of rending her flesh.

Echo made brief eye contact with Athena, acknowledging that their lives were about to end, but there was no surrender in her bones, not one ounce of sorrow. Instead, fire coursed through her veins and lightning charged her soul. It was a sensation unknown to her. Never before had she felt such an intense desire to live.

The pain she expected from the teeth and claws of her enemies did not come. She looked around curiously. The rain had stopped.

No, not quite. Surely, the rain had stopped, but not in the way she was accustomed to. Each water droplet remained suspended in the air, failing to reach the ground. The monsters surrounding her were similarly frozen, some mid-flight and mid-snarl. She looked around curiously at the sight. She turned to Sentinel, her bow. It was broken in half, the string loosely hanging in the middle.

"You are Echo Atalante," a voice said from behind her.

She turned to the source of the voice, a man whose face she had never seen in her life, and yet who was oddly familiar to her.

"I have been watching you for a long time, Echo," he said. "This moment proves to me that you and I are kindred spirits after all."

"You're..." she managed in spite of her injuries.

"Yes. Allow me to introduce myself formally. I am Sir Tristan of Kameloth, a Knight of the Round Table. Like those who have formed pacts with your friends, I, too, am a Wraith-Knight."

She glanced over at Athena, who was also frozen in time, screaming out for her. "Is this...all in my head?"

"Perhaps it is. Perhaps it is the final moment just before your death, a dying dream, if you will. Or perhaps we are in a pocket reality which is sequestered from your reality, one in which time does not behave in the manner you are accustomed to. Regardless of the situation, what you are experiencing now is very real, Echo."

"Why have you come to me?"

"Because of that fire in your heart. You face impossible odds and yet you refuse to simply lay down and die. Why is that?"

She looked over to Athena, never breaking eye contact with her. "I have someone to protect."

Tristan smiled. "I, too, had someone. Back when I was alive. It was a forbidden love, but a love nonetheless." He began to circle her. "Tell me, Echo Atalante, how much are you willing to give to protect the ones you love? How far are you willing to go to keep them safe?"

Echo looked straight ahead. There was no doubt in her heart. Only pure resolve.

"What are you willing to do to protect your friends?"

Echo turned to him. She had but a single word with which to answer his question.

"Anything."

"Then, so be it. Echo Atalante, shall we forge a pact on this day?"

She gave him a nod of perfect assent.

"As you will. I am Sir Tristan, Wraith-Knight of Kameloth, servant to Arthur the Pendragon of Albion. Dost thou, Echo Atalante, swear to uphold the knight's code of justice, honor, valor, and mercy?"

"I swear."

"Then, I, Sir Tristan, shall walk the path of darkness and light with you, Lady Echo Atalante of Remnant, to protect those you love from all danger no matter the cost to you and I. Wield my bow and command my destiny."

"Echo!" Athena's scream pierced the void as the monsters descended on the girl she loved with all of her heart, but their teeth did not pierce her flesh, nor did their claws reach their mark. An explosion rocked the area and Athena shielded herself from falling debris and from flesh and bone that flew her way. She looked out to Echo, who stood in a drunken daze. Athena watched as her broken bow reassembled itself as she aimed it skyward.

A barely visible black mist rose from her feet, floating all around her body. She let loose her arrow, which soared into the heavens, vanishing behind the black clouds. Thunder sounded in the distance as black lightning struck a nearby building. And then, a rain of black arrows began to fall.

Athena watched in horror as hundreds of arrows impaled her companion, suspending her from the ground, but something did not feel right. Echo turned her face toward Athena, giving her the most menacing grin the latter had ever seen before a sudden pressure exploded from her, tearing her body apart and manifesting as a black dome and sending shadowy fire and lightning in all directions to zap the surrounding Corrupted and other monsters into ash. Slowly, the orb of blackened light began to recede, revealing a newly rebuilt Echo.

Her tattered clothing had been replaced by a black outfit with purple trim that covered her from neck to foot. Her bow had taken on a new appearance as well, one that could only be described as "demonic," adorned with jagged blades that extended past the tips. Her dark brown hair had also changed, returning to its length from when she had first started at beacon, complete with high ponytail.

But it was her eye color that had undergone the most drastic change. Just like Yuan and Xanthus's eyes when they were using the full power of their Wraith-Knights, hers had shifted from their normal light greenish hazel color, replaced by a golden halo of fire emerging from her pupils outward.

Athena's jaw dropped as her partner resumed her relentless assault against the vast horde of Corrupted and other monsters, but unlike just a few seconds ago, she no longer tired nor did she harbor much of any emotion at all. As far as Athena could tell, her companion seemed oddly calm. Focused was probably the better word.

Echo quickly launched an arrow of darkness in her direction, impaling in the eyeball a monster that had managed to sneak up on her. Athena looked at the writhing misshapen abomination, watching as the shadowy arrow dissipated. She took a closer look at her companion. She was firing arrows left and right at targets near and far, supplementing her close-range blade work with the newly-formed Sentinel, but her quivers were empty. Each time she drew her bowstring back, blackened arrows would manifest before she sent them flying.

Athena watched in complete awe as Echo effortlessly engaged the monsters surrounding her. At one point, she vanished from sight, the force of her movement enough to crush the concrete beneath her feet while creating sonic booms. The only times Athena would be able to actually see her was when she stopped to stab an enemy in the throat with her bladed longbow or to fire more shadowy arrows at distant targets, each one exploding with the force of an anti-aircraft missile.

Using Sentinel in purely close quarters, Echo was able to fell a hundred of her enemies, all in less than a minute. With Sentinel's full power, her destructive capacity tripled. She looked down the broken street, spying on maybe hundreds of dreadful creatures headed her way. She looked skyward, aiming Sentinel up and firing a single arrow. That arrow gave birth to hundreds more similar arrows of darkness, which then rained upon her enemies.

In short order, the surrounding landscape fell into silence. No snarl, no growl, no raspy breath could be heard for miles. There was only the sound of the rain and the occasional rumble of thunder in the distance. Without waiting another moment, she began marching toward Athena, who lost her balance and fell into her arms.

"I've got you," Echo said. "Hang on. Lemme see if I get this right." She closed her eyes, feeling for her newfound power. A pale green Wind Rune formed on her right hand and began to glow brightly. "Lebensatem."

Athena found herself surrounded by a soft, pale green glow. All but her most severe wounds healed up completely. The one that had threatened her life, however, only partially healed up, but Echo continued to exert as much magical energy as she could, eventually forcing even Athena's most severe wounds to heal to the point that no scars remained.

Echo stooped over, panting.

"Whoa, are you okay?" Athena said, bracing her.

"I guess the Wind Rune is only good for minor healing," she said, the golden halos of light in her eyes subsiding to reveal her light-green hazels.

Overwhelmed by all sorts of emotions, Athena wrapped her arms around her companion, trembling as she gripped her tightly.

"I thought I was about to watch you get torn to pieces," she said quietly.

"I thought so, too," Echo said, returning her embrace. "But I wasn't about to let anything happen to you. Not after everything we've been through together."

Athena wanted to continue embracing the love of her life, but it wasn't safe here.

"We should get moving," she said.

"There's a rift right over there," Echo said, pointing to a dilapidated building across the street.

Athena smiled before gesturing for Echo to lead the way. No monsters barred their path toward the rift; Echo had eradicated the entire horde that threatened them just a moment ago. Nevertheless, they both kept their guard up.

"You know, that new getup doesn't look bad on you," Athena said.

Echo's face reddened. "Do you really have to do this right now?"

"I'm just sayin'."

"Super sayin'?"

"You got it."

She sighed heavily. "Ingrid's lucky she's not here right now."

The house they were headed to began to rumble and they both stood their ground. The front door tore itself wide open to reveal their old enemy.

"Well, well, well," Moloch said as he strolled out onto the walkway. "I was beginning to miss the two of you...hmm? Something smells different about...you."

He pointed directly to Echo, who responded by allowing her new power to show itself in the form of those golden halos of fire in her irises.

"You haven't given up?" Athena said.

"Your wound," he said. "What happened to it?"

"Surprised? My aura's more powerful than most people's."

"No, no, that wound should have been unrecoverable, even by that boy Yuan's standards." He looked over at Echo once more. "I see. Your Wraith has the ability to use healing magic. How...inconvenient. After all, when you're equipped with healing or defensive magic, your offensive capabilities suffer as a result. The body can only handle so much magical power, I'm afraid."

Without a word, Echo raised her bow, aiming it directly at Moloch, who did not budge.

"You really think that you, a mere child who has just awakened to this power, could do so much as scratch a being such as myself, who has been mastering the arts for millennia?"

Echo's body unleashed a pulse of power as a black mist began to rise from her feet, the golden glow of her eyes intensifying. Moloch's expression grew serious as a black light began to form where her hand gripped her bowstring.

"You wouldn't dare," he said. "That amount of power you're putting into that single arrow is enough to annihilate even this very Labyrinth we stand in."

Echo maintained her silence, continuing the buildup of magical energy in her arrow. The winds surrounding her were strong enough to force Athena to step away from her.

"You must be insane," Moloch mumbled as he began to laugh hysterically. "It truly amuses me how desperate you humans can be!"

Still, Echo did not respond, allowing the energy in her arrow to continue building to the point that the very ground beneath her began to crack with the force of the gathering magical power. Moloch stopped laughing, vanishing from sight.

Echo let out a heavy sigh before allowing the magical energy to gradually subside. She had to be careful not to cause an unintended explosion. Meanwhile, Athena stared at her partner in complete awe. She and the others were familiar with what Yuan and Xanthus were capable of in the Labyrinth. This, on the other hand, was on a whole new level.

"Hey, so," she began as she approached her companion. "Was he, like, calling your bluff just now?"

Echo turned to her partner as her eyes returned to their natural color. "I wasn't bluffing," she said.

"You were really gonna blow up the world, huh?"

"With him in it."

Athena stared at her for a few moments before shrugging. "That's pretty fuckin' metal."

Echo chuckled.