When Laphicet passed through the gate, night had since turned to morning in Lastonbell; this meant that Hexen Isle beheld an... actually visible evening, much to his surprise. He could see some rays of sunlight poking through the curtain of Malevolence.
What he also found were three girls in high spirits, chatting around the fire and giggling with each other. Alisha's clothes kept fading in places and Margaret wore little more than rags, which told him they had not been idle. Yet they were cheerful, one and all; completely different from what Velvet said. Sadly, the first to notice him was Symonne, who waved with a big grin. "Hey there!" she called out to him. "Get over here and I'll give you a smooch!"
His first instinct was to flee the teasing; then a moment of observation made him rather aware his friend did not seem to be in a teasing mood. Laphicet decided to take a neutral approach and said nothing in response to Symonne; he simply walked up to the group, all eyes on him now. "Looks like you had a good day. Velvet told me about your plan earlier, did-"
He was interrupted when Symonne hopped up and wrapped her arms around him; a gleeful though chaste kiss was pressed to his lips and the other seraph twirled away, leaving him to stand there dumbfounded. Alisha and Margaret broke into giggles again while Symonne showed him a thumbs up. "Told you I would," she added cheerfully.
Laphicet took a deep breath and put the notion aside. He could sort through this experience later, when he was not in front of three young women drunk on victory; it was difficult to shelve the thoughts, though. Perhaps his face even gave it away for those first few moments, or Margaret remembered now; her laughter faded and she kicked at Symonne's shin. "You can't just kiss him like that, it's the first one he ever got!"
"...thank you, Margaret. I am so happy for your defending me. After laughing about it first, of course," he drawled. Not to mention that it was embarassing to have that little fact revealed to the other two.
Unfortunately, Margaret was unmoved and rolled her eyes at him. "Oh, don't be a baby, everyone has to have their first kiss sometime. And first kisses are special, so you do it properly, Symonne. That's an order."
Some days, Laphicet wondered what his life had become. He was a little annoyed with the situation getting weird, but also anticipating what Symonne would do next. True to form, she saluted her partner and sauntered back to Laphi with a grin. "She's got a point, so-" She stopped when he caught her face with his hands. Then he leaned in and pecked her lips much like she did before. His cheeks burned badly, but the sight of a dumbfounded Symonne was well worth it.
Laphicet grinned and gave her a pat on the head. "Two can play that game, even if you're better at it. Enough of this now." When Margaret began to laugh again, it was decidedly about the fish-like look Symonne still wore. He considered this a job well done and herded his friend back to the other two.
Alisha hid a smile behind her hand and nodded up at him, thankfully digressing: "The plan was a great success. My powers have grown at an incredible rate, to the point I can fight the hellions on this island on my lonesome if need be. The last battle we fought earlier left me with but a few scratches and flesh wounds, nothing life threatening." She reported with such a joy about being maimed before, even if just as an implication. Laphicet figured that becoming a hellion did change people in some regards; or perhaps it was still the high, he could not say.
For now, he went back to smiling properly. "Congratulations, then. How many did you fight today?"
"Seven."
He was about to ask a stupid question and stopped himself. Laphicet eyed Margaret for a moment after she gave him that answer, then nodded; 'just' seven, but each one powerful enough to lay waste to an entire town if it so desired. And all of them were devoured by Alisha, who was currently fidgeting a little. When he glanced her way, she spoke up hesitantly: "I, well, I may have gotten the clothes you lent me destroyed. Would it be possible to request another set, for after we are done here?"
It seemed that now was a good time to bring up one of the things he and Velvet talked about. He gave the therion a nod. "Of course. We can just deduct the cost from your rewards." And just like that, he had their undivided attention. Margaret and Symonne blinked up at him, Alisha tilted her head.
"Pardon, rewards?"
"Yep, rewards. You are partaking in a duty that few can and fewer would; of course there is a lot in it for you as well, but we would not ask you to do it just for self-improvement. So Velvet and I decided that you will get paid per hellion killed, even if we can't offer the bounties such monsters would usually get you. Our estimates are that every single hellion on Hexen Isle is at least capable of threatening a proper town, so we pay you ten thousand Gald per kill. At seven dead, that leaves you with seventy-thousand Gald right now. How you share the money with each other is, of course, up to you. So keep tallying them up, if you would."
He could not help but grin over their wide-eyed expressions. Ten thousand was a lot of money, the very idea of having that much to themselves might have broken their minds. Especially because neither of them ever thought much of worldly gains, but suddenly learned they were rich; soon, they would be even richer.
"I can not possibly-" Alisha started, but Margaret kicked her side and made her shut up. The princess leveled the first glare Laphi had seen her give, but the younger girl did not seem affected by it.
"Laphicet is right that monetary compensation is appropriate. Monster extermination is a service we provide. And it'll help us work independently; we will need money to keep working after we leave this place. Velvet can't always give us stuff, so with this we are set to buying whatever we need, when we need it." Margaret had known just as well that the second point was more relevant for Alisha; she probably even suspected that this was part of why the siblings decided as they did. The world ran on money, no matter who or where.
At least Alisha seemed mollified by that consideration; she lowered her head a little, frowning softly. "I supposed it makes sense to build up a war chest," she admitted, "though I am still uncomfortable accepting money for doing something that is necessary."
He had half a mind to interject, but Symonne did it first either way: "You're still thinking like a princess when you're not. Some people might offer you gifts out of gratitude if you help them, but most won't; so you need to have some source of income, else you need to stop doing good in favour of finding food and shelter."
Alisha grimaced, but she did not argue the point. Margaret sighed as well, making to lament: "It is a world where this is no longer needed that we are working to achieve. Sadly, we are far from that ideal yet."
Now Laphicet felt like joining the misery. "You girls really have a way of dragging down the mood," he needled the lot; Alisha merely lowered her head, Margaret shrugged, and Symonne touched a finger to her lips for some reason.
By the time he realised why his fellow seraph did that, it was already too late. Symonne's grin returned and she got halfway to her feet. "How about we go back to making out, then? I can't drag down the mood without talking, now can I? Come on, shut me up!"
The heat surging through his body was something he would have to get used to, or so Laphicet figured. He held Symonne's gaze for a moment, but broke eye contact when she puckered her lips expectantly. His heart was beating erratically despite the fact he did not have one anymore. "I, uh, I'm going to get back to you on that." The renewed giggling from Margaret did not help calm his embarassment, so he did the only thing he could: he turned and fled.
Sadly, he could not outrun the realisation of what happened earlier: Symonne kissed him. And he kissed her back.
Once the laughter faded, Alisha made her light displeasure known. "You two do realise he is still young, yes? Do you have to be so hard on him?"
Symonne was still only paying token attention, mind awhirl about the two kisses from earlier. She missed Margaret's response for the most part, but gathered it was about Laphi being able to tell them to stop if it became too much. Which Symonne agreed with, though this time she felt it had been a little different. She had actually wanted him to do it. Now that he left without doing so, there was a palpable sense of disappointment.
Now, was this Symonne's fault for being a notorious tease? Maybe. But she still felt disappointed, which bothered her. She did not want to think about the implications, of what it might mean. Or what it might not mean; she might just be desperate for positive attention that he so freely gave, wanting more and more of it even against his own desires.
Exhaling the thoughts with a deep sigh, she shut the subject matter in her mind and turned to the other girls. "So, to recap, the plan for tomorrow is that Alisha plays bodyguard while we practice with our Armatus." She noticed the looks on both their faces now, a mixture of surprise, wonder, and worry. They knew she changed the subject, and rather badly at that. But they were both considerate, so they let it slide without comment.
After a moment, Alisha answered: "That was the idea. Although, now that you speak of it, I was wondering; what exactly does armatisation feel like?"
"Weird," Margaret responded instantly, "at least in the beginning." She pondered momentarily and Symonne gave her the time, merley nodding in agreement. Her partner continued soon after: "Armatisation dissolves all borders between us. Symonne and I are one, truly one. With the powers of both and the weakness of neither, a mind born from two yet more than twice as capable."
"We don't really keep memories from the other one, though. I think the arte prevents that, so we can separate again. There needs to be some line of separation, else we couldn't become ourselves again."
"Yes, that is true. I have to admit I prefer it that way; we do share our emotions, but memories are a different matter... in my opinion, at least."
It was a good point, one that Symonne would not argue. She simply nodded and then returned to the original question; neither of them had actually given Alisha a proper answer. "I can't really put into words what it feels like, it's not something that can be described without experiencing it. It doesn't feel like we are two people working together, we just... are. An Armatus is the only time I am fully material like a human-" "-and the only time I am so filled with mana I can cast just by moving it around, like a seraph."
Margaret's interruption went without comment. Alisha nodded, perhaps even actually understanding. "I saw Sorey armatise a few times," she told them quietly. "Perhaps Lailah never considered me a worthwhile squire, or she simply forgot, but I never got the chance to try. I still wonder, sometimes. With such power at my hands, maybe I could have made a difference without resorting to... well, this."
The therion motioned for herself, her tail twitching a little. Symonne began to consider that matter, but did not get far before Margaret's next words distracted her: "Thinking too much of the past will make you lose sight of the present and the future. Speaking of, you will reach the first step of your journey in a manner of weeks, but the hardships only begin after that point. You are aware, no?" Symonne paused and eyed her partner, unsure what to make of that statement; Alisha mulled it over as well, but did not seem to make much progress. Margaret saw their reactions and elaborated, rather more sagely than one her age should: "Power corrupts, the more you have the more tempting it becomes. Resisting that temptation takes an extraordinary strength of character and will."
They both made noises of understanding and Alisha inclined her head. "I see and I agree." She then opened and closed her mouth a few times as if unsure what to say, before her expression hardened and she met Margaret's gaze evenly. "And I will not be corrupted by the power I obtain here, or in the future. This I so swear, to the both of you and the world, that I shall hold onto my virtues."
Even though she did not look at Symonne, the sheer certainty in her tone made the water seraph believe it. There was something ethereal about Alisha in these moments. Margaret, however, was not impressed. She simply held their new companion's stare and uttered a short, meaningful response: "Be careful with such vows."
No more was said, but Symonne did not need it. She heard her friend's forcefully calm words. She saw her absently finger the pendant the girl had carried since the day they first met; remembered seeing a similar pendant elsewhere. Remembered a man who danced upon the field of battle, with the same style. It could be a coincidence. All of this could be traced back to Velvet as well. But the pieces fit so far.
Unaware of Symonne's suspicions, Alisha slumped a little, her previous certainty gone to be replaced by melancholy. "When I was small, I sometimes imagined myself as the shepherd. The style I utilise in battle is descended from Saint Eleanor herself, but that is the closest I will ever get. I always wished to transcend the possible," she admitted to them softly, "but that is so much easier said than done."
Margaret flinched. Symonne noticed, but said nothing. She rather distracted Alisha for now, uncertain what to make of her own suspicion. "You just did transcend the possible. You maintained your personality as you lost your humanity and in a week or two will hold enough power to..." she trailed off and blanched as the reality of her own situation reasserted itself. Only when Alisha waited for her to finish the sentence did she do so, hesitant: "...to be rivalled only by the Lord of Calamity, and the gods."
She had been too drunk on victory to realise before, but she just helped make another threat to Heldalf's ambitions. Then again, did it really matter? Innominat and Minkkubi would be enough on their own, anyway.
"I do not think that mere power fits King Claudin's vision," Alisha told her and paused to order her thoughts; Symonne took the moment to work through the implication, not having known whom the quote was attributed to before. The therion sighed in the meantime. "I always felt that his words are meant to convey overcoming our human vices and shaping a truly kind world."
Silence hung over them for a long time after that. All three girls were lost in their own thoughts and soon turned in for the night, still mostly quiet; once again, all under the same blanket. It was comfortable.
As they were drifting off however, Margaret talked softly to Alisha: "Having doubts is natural. We all do, human and seraph and hellion. But in my opinion, you are in the process of transcending the possible. That is the easy step, to earn power capable of changing the world. Only most people never even get that far and the difficult part begins afterward. Achieving the ideal you set out for when you began, to stay true to yourself despite the enticing, unrivalled power you wield. That is your true test, Alisha. And I believe in you, even if no one else will."
There was no response; Alisha lay on her belly for her tail's sake and faced the sea instead of them. Symonne could still tell the therion was crying. She said nothing either, simply nestled a little bit closer to her partner. Her suspicions did not matter right now. Maybe they would never matter.
The next few days had a certain pattern to them, so Symonne noticed; wake up, eat breakfast, kill a hellion, rest up, kill another hellion, and so on until lunch, then a break before killing more hellions until dinner.
Alisha could now go head to head with these hellions without even her greater form; she left most of the actual fighting to Symonne and Margaret, but the few times she interfered to protect them from greater injuries saw her with little more than scratches. It was a great help, but also concerning; just like Symonne herself said that second evening, she now realised that their companion was perfectly capable of challenging Heldalf to single combat. She might even win.
But again, it did not really matter anymore; perhaps it was the knowledge of Velvet's and Laphicet's presence, but Symonne realised she began to accept the eventual outcome. She did not like how her mind changed ever so slowly over time, but the only way to stop it would be to leave her friends. All of them. So Symonne stayed. Stayed and wondered about having friends. Not just Laphicet and Margaret, but Alisha as well; it had only been a few days, but the three of them grew accustomed to each other. Fighting against such incredible odds pushed them closer together; they slept next to each other, ate together, got used to the others' presence. Alisha protected them from harm without any complaints, taking claws, acid, fire, and more whenever their Armatus was found wanting or dissolved too soon.
At the same time, Margaret and Symonne grew more proficient in a matter of days; their combined might was capable of damaging the beasts of Hexen Isle. As the days passed, the two of them could sustain it for longer. But during all that practice, Symonne began to understand her partner a little better. She started to realise that her previous suspicion was more than that. As their time armatised grew longer and more frequent, she retained ideas and imprints of her partner's mind. Symonne was now certain that Margaret was not just a girl of average power, not even somewhat above average.
Had she not already made her guess, it would not add up. Now that the initial wonder of armatisation wore off, Symonne could focus on the faint echoes she retained each time; there was a quality to her partner, an inner strength she had never beheld before. Beneath this young girl's friendly face lay steel, but also traces of a howling sadness. Something that ran deep, filled with worry and guilt. All of it chained by an indomitable will, a will bound to the idea of making things better.
Velvet Crowe teamed up with an inn girl, trained her. That much may have been coincidence. But for the girl herself to take up Artorius' style so easily and quickly? For her to wear that pendant, and to remember a life long past? The way she reacted to questions about that life, even?
It was not a suspicion anymore, not even really a guess. But she said nothing.
If Symonne was right, then Margaret had good reason not to mention this matter. In addition, if the seraph girl did bring it up thoughtlessly, that might break their friendship. If she was right, this subject needed to be treated with care. She had to consider Alisha as well; even though they were friends now, they only knew each other for a week. Who knew how that one would react to learning that one of her idols walked the earth again? Who knew how she would react to the truth long buried? Symonne could make some guesses and she liked none of them, so she kept quiet. She could not lie to someone who regularly was a part of her and vice versa, but there was no need to bring it up, either.
"It's nice to see the sun again," she told her friends; both of them turned to the orange sky above in response, smiling. Symonne smiled, too. "We're making good progress with the island."
"Quite. One last sweep tomorrow should be enough to finish this. We only need to clear out the hellions that remain."
"I concur. If we do finish tomorrow, we even managed to complete our original assignment; they did give us one week after all." And it was the sixth day's evening; Symonne showed a thumbs up to Alisha, then she cast another look around and took in their surroundings. The Malevolence had receded so far that the weird stone formations returned to normal, becoming solid stone pillars and normal hills. The sand turned back to being normal grains instead of finger-sized crystals. The sea was blue and white foam ran along the shore, no longer pitch black. Some darkness still hang in the air, but it was miniscule in comparison.
"I am rather surprised there were no ambushers or anything of the like among those hellions." Alisha's musings caught both Margaret's and Symonne's attention; the two exchanged a look, unsure what to say. It was a curious thing indeed, seeing that not a single monster had tried to trap or trick them beyond unusual combat techniques or senses.
"Perhaps," Symonne theorised slowly, "none of the trap-focussed hellions survived in the long run. Either that or there were none to begin with, but I can imagine anything lying in wait for prey simply failing to get enough food. Something too powerful might have sprung those traps and killed the hellion, too."
"But wouldn't those trapping capabilities be absorbed by whoever ate the original trapper?" Margaret pointed out, and rightfully so. Symonne hesitated thoughtfully while Alisha inclined her head.
"It may be possible that those abilities changed or fell away over time, if a potential trap maker was killed and devoured early enough. I do not believe we will find a satisfactory answer, so I rather just accept we have been lucky not to encounter traps. And perhaps we should pay more attention to our surroundings tomorrow."
"Sounds like a plan."
And so they did after another somewhat comfortable night; except that, much to their surprise, they saw no hellions. Nowhere. Symonne could still feel Malevolence all around, but there was not a single monster to be found.
A full sweep of the isle concluded, all three of them stood in its center, near the dragon skeleton they took note of before. Malevolence kept adding itself to the surroundings despite Alisha consuming so much of it. "There must be more in the Caelix proper," Symonne mused as she studied the area again, trying to remember how to access the place; it had been a long time since she needed that knowledge.
"Pardon me, Symonne, but do you know what this place was originally meant to be?"
She blinked at Alisha and realised what she said earlier. Margaret fidgeted to the side, unnoticed because the former princess was looking at Symonne, who nodded after a moment. "Dragon farm," she explained. "Dragons generate unlimited amounts of Malevolence, so they wanted to keep a few imprisoned here and harness that."
There were a lot of details purposefully left out; Symonne did not feel like going into details about this. Having to explain who this Malevolence was supposed to feed, or how the dragons they brought in were not dragons yet at that point. It would upset Alisha needlessly, about something that was long over and destroyed, no less.
"I see. Were there actual uses for Malevolence, then? I do not recall you ever mentioning any."
But of course, Alisha would catch onto at least that part immediately. Symonne hesitated again and tried to figure out what to say, which gave Margaret a chance to chime in: "As food. There was once a Great Lord who could safely devour Malevolence. I imagine this place was supposed to create a steady source of nourishment."
"I see."
"Anyway, Symonne? Correct me if I'm wrong, but dragons don't leave skeletons behind when they die, right?" Their human teammate pointed to the heap of bones a few dozen metres away. Symonne opened her mouth, but paused before any words made it out; she scrutinised the skeleton, still perfectly in place despite having been there for who knew how long. As if the creature had just died and everything else turned to dust around it. If she focussed, she could even tell that some of the Malevolence spewed forth from it.
"Not like this," she confirmed, feeling dread at the prospect. "This dragon isn't dead." She tensed and waited for something to happen, but the monster kept lying there. Symonne relaxed a little and giggled at her friends. "Hehe, I really expected it to rear up and fight us the moment I said it."
"Don't tempt fate, Symonne."
Margaret crept a little closer to study the skeleton; Alisha did much the same, the therion's tail twitching as the flow of Malevolence grew stronger. "Shall I try to eat it?"
Still no reaction to their presence. Seeing that she had time to think, Symonne thought back to the lack of traps they talked about; now there was one right in front of them. However, that memory and the skeleton being inert gave her an idea; she skipped forward and pulled both of her companions back, grinning. "How about we prepare some stuff before rousing it? You know, artes and techniques we can't use in combat times. Hit it hard before the fight even begins."
She saw their contemplations on their faces, but it did not take long for both to agree without any comment. They quickly settled a bit distant from their perhaps last opponent and talked over what to do, then went to prepare.
Symonne soon set up heavy combat artes all around the isle's center, followed by several chains to restrain the beast with. Each of these artes took her a good ten minutes to prepare and anchor, which meant she needed several hours and frequent breaks to replenish mana. But it would be worth it to avoid having to fight an ancient dragon; or, at the very least, to severely weaken it ahead of time.
Whenever she glanced to Alisha, the therion was sitting on the ground as if in meditation; Malevolence kept flowing into her tail as she prepared herself.
It was hard work, but Symonne was content about her successes; she barely even remembered how to set up war artes like these, the memories slowly returning as she worked. It might even be called fun to weave such intricate and vast patterns, though that fun turned into a chore after the first three; she completed the work with mechanical precision, losing herself in it. Margaret followed along and tried to help as best as she could, picked out the exact spots to anchor the artes to, and so on.
It was already late by the time they finished; the sun began to sink and a distant golden flash announced Velvet's and Laphicet's arrival.
"Alright," Margaret began softly. Symonne had recuperated after using so much mana and Alisha still absorbed more Malevolence. "Alisha, prepare your most powerful means of attack, now. Symonne, we will armatise and set it off, then chain it immediately."
Both of them nodded and they began.
. .
. .
When the two Crowes marched through a small corridor in the rocks separating 'their' beach from the island proper, the first thing they noticed was an uneven crater of glass. It had since gone cold, but the signs of battle were clear. No sign of their charges yet. Passing through this corridor however, they spotted them far ahead; half a kilometre away, human and seraph armatised and therion grown into her greater form. Each of Alisha's five tails was gleaming with an unearthly light.
Velvet and Laphicet both stopped to watch what was going on.
First the armatised duo rushed forward and stabbed her blade into the dragon skeleton's skull, then dashed back when it stirred and rose with a wail that shook the isle. Before it could so much as make a single step however, eight mighty chains shot out from all around it; they wrapped up its four skeletal legs, two chains each. Arte circles several metres wide hung in the air and on the ground, anchoring the bindings. Only a moment later, Alisha unleashed a wave of fire from her tails; she had aimed right for the dragon's skull.
Velvet and Laphicet felt the heat where they stood, saw the fire wash over the old beast, and then beheld its skull melting. But the monster still stood and wailed again, only to be silenced when another array of artes sprang into action; showers of sharp icicles rained down upon it, bruising the creature more as it tried to fight out of the chains. Powerful, multi-coloured beams shot forward and scythed through some of its bones. The earth rumbled, the skies howled, the anchors began to shift and move, but then Alisha reared back; from her tails flowed another wave of elemental power, lightning, fire, and pure energy. The elements mixed harmonically and hit their enemy in the head again, this time breaking its skull entirely.
The dragon fell silent and dropped to the ground, its skeleton scattering.
All was quiet. Velvet's jaw hung open and Laphicet's eyebrows were raised to his hairline. The siblings watched the Armatus end and fox return to normal, the three girls cheer and hug each other. Alisha then proceeded to devour every single bone of the dead dragon.
Laphicet glanced at his sister, whose surprise slowly morphed into a gentle, melancholic smile. Velvet's voice was quiet. "I didn't know he was still alive, but this is probably for the best," she murmured. "Better luck in your next life, Silva."