Dodging the Insidious Hook 2: Dodge Harder
(Pardon the language used, and maybe some grisly scenes that may or may not be appropriate for the T rating…)
Alphonse crashed feet first onto the ground, tumbling forward to prevent any injury to his ankles. In the process, he lost his hold of his grimoire. He punched the rough concrete ground as he stopped his single forward roll, resting his weight on it as well as on his knee and foot. He took one whiff of the air and the bitter bile rose so strongly, he almost threw up. The heavy stench of death which clung around the chimeric monster, now permeated in the very air he is now breathing. He must breath consciously through his mouth unless he wants to upend his stomach.
If anything, the pitch-black darkness wasn't helping with his situation and resolved himself to address this particular problem first. However, with his grimoire now missing somewhere in the veil of darkness, he is forced to directly interact with the volatile nature of the ambient energy. Uttering a short prayer to any gods listening, Alphonse started to mold the ambient soul energy, hoping it wouldn't backfire on him somehow. Luckily enough, he managed to successfully turn it into a floating ball of white light, pushing the darkness back and creating an island of brightness.
Alphonse immediately spotted his opened grimoire, facing page down; its pages bent haphazardly. He quickly made his way over, ignoring the dull pain from the light injuries he sustained by the sudden fall, and plucked his book from the stained floor. He straightened the creased pages and patted away the dirt clinging to it, relieved on having his partner back for however short a time he had parted with it. Now, he needs to find Yui and escape from wherever that four-legged bitch sent them.
He tightened his grip on his grimoire as he closed his eyes in concentration, letting the soul energy pass through its pages as he casted another spell. When he opened them, they were still the same shade of steel grey to those unable to perceive the change. He flicked his eyes left and right, using his new found preternatural sight to search for Yui or the monster.
However, the sight hidden under the blanket of darkness made him tense. He was in a warehouse, probably the same warehouse they were hoping to get into. He could see a thin film of shimmering yet viscous barrier of some sort plastered to every side and corner of the expansive building. This, however, is not the reason which made him tense.
Dotting around the floor, were bones. Kith bones, human bones. Some were still intact, with bite marks heavily imprinted on their surfaces. Most were broken apart, but still recognizable. A skull with half of its face missing, as if torn off with one huge bite. More importantly, he could faintly detect, at the periphery of his Eldritch Sight just short of peering past the Shroud, the traces of the fractured and half-eaten souls of the victims. They were trapped within the barrier, unable to escape back into the wheel. Given time, they will do more than just linger harmlessly.
What is she? A Fampyr!?, Alphonse gritted his teeth. It's one thing after another with this woman. He took a deep breath, heavily ignoring the stench, and released it slowly, trying to ease himself somewhat. It wouldn't do any good for him and Yui if he lost his temper. Especially, if he's now planning to send one monster into this world's equivalent of 'The Beast of Winter's' entropic hands.
Alright. I got nothing but my grimoire and multiple decks of cards. Now, what advantages do I have against her? He mentally tallied his spells. She seems to be protected against fire-based magic, remembering his Fireball only did superficial damage, Let's try for the opposing element instead. Alphonse dog-eared the pages containing freeze-type spells. Let's not forget, she's also agile, he noted, but that very same agility can be easily shut down as shown by the druidic spell. He also dog-eared another set of spells. As he did so, a slip of paper fell from his grimoire.
"Huh?" The wizard gingerly picked the fallen object from the dirty floor. "What's this?" He examined the paper and turned it over. Near one of its corners, he could spot the familiar and graceful handwriting of Sona. Alphonse mumbled to himself wondering, "When did she even sneak this in?" He unfurled the paper to fully read her missive. As he did so, another paper fell, but he stopped himself short from catching it. Drawn on the plain piece of paper, is a circle. Not an ordinary circle, but a magic circle based on its intricate design. Thanks to his enhanced sight, he can sense the dormant, yet unidentifiable energy held within it. He ignored the suspicious paper for a moment and read the letter.
"Darcozzi-san," the letter started. The line made it certain to him he was indeed its recipient.
Darcozzi-san,
If you're reading this, it means you've found my gift. I apologize for the secrecy, but I took notice of your rather disheveled appearance during our brief meeting at the park. I understand you are a man who shoulders their own burden and would rather handle it on your own. However, I am concerned for your well-being and I cannot certainly force you into revealing them.
To this end, accompanying this letter is a charm. This signifies to those who receive such an item that help will always come to those who wish for it. Remember, the Student Council is here to serve the needs of the student body. We are always willing to help those who are in need of assistance.
Shitori Sona,
Student Council President
He tried to stamp out the delightful feeling which bloomed inside his chest after reading the letter. If he read the letter before today's ongoing crisis, he would see it as her excuse into trying to peer into his personal business. The attached charm acting, if anything as visual distraction. However, with his current sight accidentally revealing the 'charm' to be anything but a simple drawing. Questions were beginning to fill his mind one after another. Questions which distracted him from the more pressing and deadlier matters currently at hand.
He mentally spat out, Dammit Shitori-san! Alphonse moved to pick the suspicious paper, pausing just inches from it, deliberating if it is a wise idea to touch it, not knowing its hidden effect. Though, if this object made its home within his active grimoire and has not done anything other than snuggle itself between the pages; then it is safe to assume, it would not go ahead and surprise him with something else.
Alphonse did what any sane Kith would do in such a situation, he poked a finger at it and waited.
Hmm, nothing. The strange energy didn't react to his physical prodding. He poked it yet again and looked around, trying to spot any changes in the environment. Barrier's still there. No noticeable difference in the landscape. Satisfied of its non-reactivity, he finally picked it up and buried it deep into one of his pants' pockets along with the letter it came with. Now, where was I?
Yui screamed as she fell, flailing her arms and legs for any hold at all. Once the maw dropped her, she hit the concrete floor awkwardly. All she could feel is pain. Every miniscule movement is nothing but unbearable pain throbbing throughout her entire being. Hot tears rolled down her dirty and unseen bruised face, her cheek resting against the blood-encrusted concrete. She wondered in the oppressing darkness.
Why? Why is this happening? She blinked and blinked, but near as she can tell she was engulfed in total darkness. Strangely enough, her thoughts were coherent in contrast to the situation she found herself in. Weird, in dramas and anime this would be the right time for the character to panic. Especially, if there's a fantastical monster lurking in the dark.
She chuckled weakly, wincing at the painful jabs, "I guess, I'm playing the role of the helpless damsel-in-distress. Alphonse-san, you better re-rescue m-me." A slow sinking feeling started to descend upon her. The missing unbearable weight of fear and hopelessness soon fell upon her, like a silent crash of a waterfall. She started to hyperventilate, her thoughts were now muddled. The crystal-clear mind she had earlier now seemed like a distant dream.
"Wh-what's going on? W-why I-I—." She flinched as something scrape in the darkness. Yui bit her lips hard, stopping herself from uttering a single sound. The scraping loomed ever closer, and she heard the soft almost inaudible footfalls of something lurking with four padded feet. Suddenly, a hand latched around one of her ankles and hoisted her up in the air; Yui screamed in pain.
"There you are," said Viser as she examined the human, like she's some sort of choice meat at the butcher shop. "Scrawny." Yui tensed and tried to struggle as the stray devil kneaded her muscles. "Lean meat with little fat." Viser licked her lips with her snake-like tongue, "You're going to be chewy."
"Let go of me!" cried Yui as she flailed her free leg trying to get the monster to free her.
"Tsk, humans. They just don't know when to give up. Listen. You're nothing but food. So, no hard feelings alright?" Viser then slammed Yui against the concrete floor, knocking her unconscious. As she lifted her up, a fresh stain of red was left on the floor. "Such weak and fragile creatures."
"Aah. Rhuk. Sehn!" Viser twisted her human torso around. Standing over the far side of the warehouse, illuminated by a bright and wispy light over his head; the magician held his glowing book wide open and six balls of white light with red hues arc up and raced towards her. Viser immediately leaped in action, her huge framed move almost impossibly fast. The missiles missing her by a wide margin.
"Ha!" Viser smirked, "I've been meaning to go and look at where you landed." She tossed Yui to the side carelessly.
Alphonse looked on impassively, staring straight ahead with both feet planted firmly to the ground. It's as if he's daring her to run him over. A card appeared on his hand one moment and disintegrated the next. Familiar vines erupted out of the ground directly at the path of the stray devil.
"The same trick won't work twice, you numbskull." Viser jumped high into the air, sailing pass the annoying trap. She landed just meters away from him and stood on her hind legs, preparing to crush the puny magician under huge foot. Alphonse, in a surprising show of nimbleness, flipped backwards, avoiding the attack. Viser was definitely caught by surprised at his agility. It was widely known that magicians rely heavily on their protective spells for defense. Their fortress-like mentality makes them a tough nut to crack, but once you've broken through, or bypass said protection; they are essentially sitting ducks. This magician, however, seemed to not taken heed of his predecessors.
Maybe his defensive spells are weak? So, he relies more on not being hit, rather than tax his meager defense. Well then.
A magic circle formed on the palm of her hand and spikes of earth shot out from the red circle. Alphonse twisted sideways, barely missing the sharpened stalactites. One of them suddenly erupted near his left leg, exploding like a fragmentation grenade and peppered him with high-velocity shrapnel of sharp rocks. Alphonse reflexively shielded his face with his grimoire arm. However, it was uncalled for, as most shards bounced off something which shimmered blue as it was pounded.
Another card appeared and then disappeared on Alphonse's hands. As it did so, the area glowed, bathing the entire warehouse in pale green. Viser stepped back, baffled as to why he needed the light. He could obviously see her through the veil of darkness. She was surprised even more as her hand—no, her entire body emitted the same gentle green glow.
"What is this?!" she demanded from him. He, however, held his silence, face remaining impassive as a fortress wall before a snowstorm descended on her, obscuring him entirely from her vision with a wall of swirling white. Viser could tell this wasn't any ordinary snowstorm. Small, yet sharp ice shards bounced off her body, but not before leaving a small cut each time they did so.
Viser growled, instead of facing me head on, he opted to kill me with a thousand cuts. She wasn't having none of that and raised both of her arms, preparing to banish the magic-induced snowstorm.
Three missiles suddenly penetrated through the white wall and exploded with such force, she staggered back from the shock. Her magic laid in tatters and forgotten as she tried to regain her bearings. One of the exploding missiles slammed straight at her face, and blood slowly dripped down from the corners of her mouth.
"You fucking mortal!" Viser screamed at the top of her lungs, "I'll make sure to eat your bones, so none will know you're dead!" The only thing she could hear, aside from her ragged breathing, was the incessant wail of the conjured storm which seems to have gotten much faster suddenly without her noticing. She tried again to banish the magical storm, but every time she did so, those same exploding missiles stopped her before she could do anything other than create a pretty light show.
Gritting her teeth, Viser pawed the floor in preparation before galloping in a straight line. She fought through the swirling crystalline white fog. Each shard that so much as touched her, left a trail of red in its wake a shooting pain that soon cascaded in to a dull roar, seeming to last an eternity.
She soon found herself bursting out of the snowstorm, covered from head to paw with her own blood. Her hair haggard and haphazardly shorter than before. She hurriedly scanned her surroundings, know now that it wasn't a bright idea to not have the tricky magician within her sights at all times. She spotted him just in time to dodge one of the blue spectral blades coming for her neck. With how fast they were coming at her compared to earlier, the blades finally earned their pounds of flesh and dug themselves deep, severing flesh and tendons, slicing clean through bones, and nicking arteries.
"Th-this is—How?" Viser whispered to herself, having dropped helplessly on the concrete, her strength slowly leaving her. She stared down at her stomach, one of the spectral blade dug itself deep in her that she wouldn't be surprised if it went out of her human back. She tried to grab the hilt of the sword only for her glowing green hands to pass through it like a pale misty fog. She then stared straight ahead, looking at the magician who walked with deliberate slowness and as silent as a ghost. The green glow somehow giving him an eerie atmosphere.
She outstretched her hands and a huge magic circle appeared in front of her. She poured all of her remaining power in this one powerful spell as a last-ditch effort, hoping to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. To the mild surprise of the stray devil, he kept up with his slow pace. He made no move to defend himself, or interrupt her casting and continued to walk leisurely towards her.
"Take this!" Viser felt the powerful surge erupt from the magic circle and a focus explosion engulfed the entire area in front of her. This was the same spell which killed her former king and his entire peerage. She ignored the jabbing pain as she breathed hard from exhausting her magical reserves. Those soon turned into laughter, relieved to be finally rid of the annoying human.
The dust slowly settled down, her laughter soon subsided as she took stock of the damage from her last attack. She discovered the one side of the barrier which acted to hide her presence lay in tatters along with the gaping maw of whatever's left of that side of the warehouse's facade. As the dust thinned out, a silhouette materialized out of thin air. Her blood froze and her jaw dropped. In front of her is the one person she didn't expect to see ever again.
"Hello again, Viser." The man said to her in the same smooth baritone voice she still remembered to this very day.
"I-I—You—" stammered the stray devil.
"Oh. You don't remember me anymore?" The man wearing an impeccably crisp black suit to go with his combed jet-black hair lamented. His taut pale face wrinkled into a small frown. But, she could clearly see the mirth dancing within his crimson eyes.
"My King… T-talion." Viser stared wide-eyed at her king. No, former king. She knew he is dead, killed by her own two hands. "You're dead! I know you're dead!"
"Is that why you are who you are now? All because I'm not among the living anymore?"
"No- Yes!" Viser loudly whimpered, confused at her present situation. "Any devil who kills their master is considered a stray. To be put down at once."
"Did you want me dead to free yourself? To feast on the corpses of humans? To do whatever it is you desire?"
"NO!" she vehemently denied his accusation. "It was an accident! I swear it was!"
"How can you accidentally kill me?" Talion asked her, cocking an eyebrow with intrigue coloring his voice. "It should be harder, no? After all, my dear, am I not also a Devil?"
"I was testing something new with my magic. To help you in the Rating Games. I-I didn't think it would actually work."
"Indeed? From what I could see, it worked brilliantly. I'm very impressed with you, my dear. In fact, tell me more about it."
Viser's face lit up with untold happiness, forgetting that she laid dying at the cold concrete floor. It was as if it was a dream come true. To share something once again with her beloved king. While at the back of her mind, a miniscule voice screamed at her to stop, warning her that everything was all an illusion by that hated magician. She pushed that voice away. It didn't matter to her if he is an illusion or not. She missed his voice, his scent, his presence. She's been running for who knows how long, eating whatever comes her way, surviving. She tires of her life as a hunted fugitive.
Maybe it's time to let go. Time to be with her beloved king once more.
Alphonse watched Viser expelled her final breath due to the critical wounds she sustained from his final attack. As well as from using that devastating spell which seems to eat anything in its way. He finally learned her name from the small glimpses of memory he needed to use against her.
The Wizard approached her cooling body, snapping his book close. The illusion of the Devil, Talion, shimmered and disappeared, leaving only his phantom standing victoriously in the field of battle, before it too disappeared.
"An unfortunate end to a sad tale, I suppose." He whispered to himself as he stared at the small smile that etched itself on her face. She was an abomination created by an alchemist from a long time ago. Abandoned by her creator. Hunted by humans for being a monster, starving and scared half to death; the Devil Talion, son of a minor noble of the Devil Underworld, made her a member of his peerage and gave her somewhere to call home. Somewhere to belong. Then one day, in a minor magical mishap, she accidentally kills the love of her life and all those she called friends. Which drove her mad with grief and was forced off from the only home she ever knew. She was hunted by the other Devils which drove her into desperation.
As unfortunate as her life became, the information he took away from his charade unexpectedly turned into a boon he needed. It was a win in more ways than he expected. He turned around and started walking away, leaving the stray devil's corpse to the authorities, most likely the once aligned by the Gremory family as this was their land. As she walked farther, there was something nagging at the back of his mind. Something told him he had heard the name Gremory before.
Was it at school? In town? He needs to keep an ear out. First, he locked his eyes at the unconscious state of Yui's battered and bruised form sitting against the small stack of deflated tires. He did as best as he could in treating the small wounds during his Phantom's fight against Viser. He was no doctor, but some of the injuries she received seemed grievous enough to warrant an immediate medical attention.
Alphonse gingerly hefted her on his arms. One of Yui's arms dangled listlessly in the air as he walked out of the warehouse. He tried to remember the direction of the small hospital which serviced the entire town and its outlying area. He knew it was somewhere at the center of Kuoh Town.
"Ara Ara", an unfamiliar female voice broke the rhythmic crunching of his steps. The wizard tensely checked the twilight world in front of him. Hidden in the shadows, he spotted the silhouettes of a group people. "The girls were talking about Yui-san's supposed date, but I would never imagine it to be something like this."
Alarm bells started ringing inside his head. This people know of Yui. Which means, they are affiliated with Kuoh Academy. Which also means…
Fuck my anonymity.
AN: I wonder who those people are?... Pfft, doesn't take a genius to figure it out.
Oh, instead of being the one-dimensional naked half woman with a taste for human flesh, I tried to make the poor canon-fodder that is Viser have a somewhat tragic back story and a reason for her becoming a stray.
Was totally the plan from the very beginning and not a hastily tacked on addendum to make it have a bit more interesting conclusion. /lie
On that note, I kinda 'suck' at trying to make battles interesting... Can't really make the protagonist pull out some crazy power-ups. Though, I did thought of one scenario for later chapters. Let's just say, having a god descend and occupy itself into his soul, isn't very conducive to his health. He ended up having half of his soul ripped apart (hey! that's sounds familiar [Or, probably a spoiler. Eh, who knows? I may or may not use it]). Maybe the next one won't be a total bore-fest.
Now, shoo *waves readers away*. Go read something else. While I'll drool all over the keyboard watching videos of the gameplay of Pillars of Eternity 2.