Midterms are rearing up on my again and this time I got to kick them back hard :3
So enjoy these new uploads because maybe I won't be uploading anything till the day before Thanksgiving :3 Just maybe.
And speaking of Thanksgiving, there's a lot of thanking to go around:
-LightandDarkHeart: Thanks for the review and as for what you think -w- you'll just have to wait and see...
-Tris PhantomEvans: Thanks a bunch for the review and the whole thing of the Mark of Mastery will be discussed well, in this chapter cx So hopefully you enjoy this :D
-DiscoPanda: Really glad you liked it :D Hope you keep reading!
-NyanPanda10: Thanks a bunch and hope you keep reading :D
So thanks so much for everything :D Just a few more chapters and everything else will be new material from then onwards :3
Let's get this started shall we?
Chapter Thirty-Four
The Test
It was like any other day: gray, long, and insufferable. Specially after so much attention that they had given. Now he was much better, the incuse had stopped moving ever since it reached the halfway point. And now, almost half a month in intensive care, he was back in his old white room sitting down in his usual chair and playing chess with himself.
Then again, he was never alone.
"Your move, Galen."
"Don't call me that." He swiftly picked a knight in between his fingers and made his move after an hour of idly sitting.
"Why not? It is your name, isn't it?"
"One I have not used for a long time. Your move."
"Well, I don't see anything wrong with that. After all, you were a great general and valet to a great man. One who ultimately betrayed his own but a great man nonetheless."
"And that man is long gone. Just make your move already, Callisto."
But the bear only scoffed. "Our game will have to wait for the time being. You have visitors." He felt her presence leave the room before heaving a sigh and the door to his room click open. He stared solemnly at the chessboard with the half started game.
"Looks like you're feeling better."
He scoffed at hearing the little girl that had come to visit for almost half a year now. Clarice Florence, was it? "Didn't expect to see you at all. From what I've been hearing it's almost festival time at Reveille."
"Yeah, well, I wanted to make certain of something."
"What would that be, exactly?" he asked sounding curious but feeling bored inside.
"She wanted for me to verify that I knew you, Galen of Arcadios." At hearing the stranger's voice speak above the silence, Skiá lifted his head and found the girl he was accustomed to see during her rare visits. But the man that stood beside her, who looked rather feminine to him and only some inches taller than the girl, was beyond strange. Specially because he knew that name.
"This man is..."
Skiá only closed his eyes while listening to Callisto, the Chain that he had contracted to escape from the Abyss. Specializing in mimicry, it was easy for the bear to mirror another being and know their thoughts and feelings.
"And you are Angele Apostles, I presume." He stared at the chessboard before topping his own king over. "May I ask how you found me?"
"When Claire spoke of you after wanting to seek answers of the exam, I assumed she spoke of one of our people that cower in fear and hide from the world. But I precipitated my assumption. The moment she spoke of a man who used a lot of...peculiar nomenclature, well. Quite frankly I knew the moment she mentioned your language. After all, I've heard plenty of vulgarities of it from another."
Another...
"You must be gravely mistaken then. Any who know my language are already quite dead." After all, his only son had perished in battle not long after he left his family and joined his master's side.
"Well, Angele says that it's not true. Which is why we've come to get you." Claire's words rung in his head but they rung with an uncertainty that hurt his soul. False hope now was something he didn't need. He was old and decrepit, if not in body he was definitely in soul. He didn't want anymore pain.
"However much glee that brings me, I must decline."
"Why?" Claire's hurt voice wrung him for some reason but he quieted that thought and kept his will strong.
"I told you, dearie. I have nothing else in this world. The outside has nothing for me. Leaving and seeing what it has become...too much for an old heart to take when I've got nothing."
"Oh but you do, Arcadios. After all, your son didn't leave the world without an heir."
Skiá simply couldn't believe that. Life wasn't that forgiving. "Zephyr's child died when he was killed out in war. He has no progeny."
"I never said that the child was from hiswife."
Skiá froze at this. He had known that Zephyr had never been faithful to Letha, so for a slip like that to happen wasn't out of the realm of possibility. He had actually met one of them. Katra. But the woman and child she had from his son had been murdered in the Massacre. They had to be have been...otherwise he would have found them. A hundred and seventy year gap was too much for them to have survived either way.
"Whichever of his mistresses you're speaking of, there's no use. Any child would have been murdered within that time frame. You and I both know that."
"Not if someone protected them."
Skiá was starting to doubt himself, something that never happened. There was no way. There couldn't be...then again...He brushed his fingers through his hair before coming to a conclusion.
"What do you want from me?"
"A day." This confused him and that Claire sighed showed she saw this in his face. "You always refused for me to take you out of this place. So in exchange for letting you see your granddaughter, let me take you out of here for one day. If you don't wish to stay after those 24 hours then I will return you here and leave you be for good."
This was an opportunity that was risky wherever he saw it from. If he left, others would be aware of his contract with Callisto. Something that only the white-haired man knew of. But if he didn't he could miss the chance, the littlest possibility that he actually had a relative out there. His granddaughter nonetheless.
But in the end, he knew his answer. Blood was always thicker than water. In this case, more so than being imprisoned and this time not in a good-mannered hospital.
It was the afternoon already and I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of those Lords that were going to arrive today. So nervous was I that this afternoon Oz had actually disarmed me. Once. So after that, I put my head back in place and began giving him a real challenge. Alice somehow got added into the mix and it turned out that she was a great warm up for Oz.
Gilbert had found out that morning after coming back from Bethlem of how I was brutally training Oz. Even when I insisted that he was just fine, Gilbert still insisted that he supervise our training sessions. Needless to say that it was quite...annoying having him nag at every little thing I did. But before I snapped at him something else took my attention.
Some clapping took me by surprise and made me turn around while in the middle of the late afternoon practice to find Angele with four others standing to either side of him.
"Claire—" after what had happened the night before, Angele and I had grown on each other. He as a clever professor and I as the snarky student. "Our invitees have arrived." That Alice and Gilbert were already here was very well planned. He was always one step ahead.
"Just in the nick of time," I answer wanting to show nonchalance. Nodding Oz away, he glances to them then at me before nodding and leaving to sit with Gilbert and Alice in the far end of the courtyard. "Couldn't have caught me in any better time. So who's the merry bunch?"
"Don't mock us, little girl." It was the redhead girl that spoke that time. Her short hair was pulled up and barely tied into a ponytail. Her eyes were a bright amber but something seemed to danced in her eyes. Like some kind of flame. She scowled and furrowed her brow then placed her hands on her hips. If anything she was a year younger than me at most. "We're the ones who'll be kicking your ass until you cry for mercy."
"Duly noted." That tone of voice caught my attention. Ugh, I've been spending way too much time with Oz. His satirical tone is starting to rub off on me. Disregarding that, I rest my blade onto the dirt and lean my hands on the hilt. "So, who's first?"
"Manners, child," Angele reprimanded to which I apologize with a chuckle. He shakes his head with a smile and continues on. "How about we all introduce ourselves?"
"All right, that's fine by—"
"Master Derek!" The female shout that sounded vaguely familiar to me caught my attention and made me turn towards the group of people that caught up to the one that Angele brought.
"Oh, Vis." This time the one that talked had been one of the men in the group. "You've brought the others. Good." He then turns to me to continue the previous conversation. "How about we introduce ourselves from youngest to oldest and leave you for last."
I pass on a smile before agreeing. The five Lords come up in a lineup. The first to introduce herself is a girl with pretty green hair and emerald eyes. Just like the girl before, something seems to dance in her eyes. Something that swayed in them. She gave me a grand grin before saying anything. " 'Ello there! My name's Talis Hollegram. I'm the Lord of the Forest and I'm thirteen. I like spicy food and I love—" The redhead suddenly smacked Talis upside the head. "Hey!"
"We're not having an idle chat, Talis."
One of the new arrivals, a boy of green hair and gray eyes comes forth and bows before us all. "My name's Rogue. I'm Talis-sama's attendant."
Said redhead from before stepped forth with the same scowl on her face and did her part. "The name's Envier Arcadia. I'm the Lord of Fire and I'm fifteen. And your fight with me will be your last, bitch."
"Language." Oh, yeah, spending time with Oz has been really rubbed off on me. Since he and Sharon have been drilling into me how I need to be more ladylike, I started cussing less. Then again, when the circumstance calls for it... A thought struck me, why did that name sound familiar?
The thought disappeared when I saw another from the group come forward. He has black hair and very prominent cobalt eyes. He slipped the cigarette off from his mouth. Another Gil, huh. "My name's Kujo Hunter." He grinned and brought his hand up to Envier's head before ruffling her hair. "I'm more of Envy's babysitter." I laughed for a minute before I caught the daggers that she was staring my way. Clearing my throat, I nodded for them to continue.
The one that came up this time was the boy that had spoken before. He had sandy blonde hair highlighted with browns. His eyes were of a bright brown. Like before with the others his eyes seemed to have something alive in them. In his there was this really odd sense that something swirled back and forth, like sand in the wind. He smiled and pulled the goggles that rested on his head down to rest on his neck. "The name's Derek, Derek Dragon. I'm the Lord of Spirits and I'm seventeen. Nice to meet you and I hope we have a great time in this test."
Another stepped forth from the lords. This time a boy probably some years older than myself stepped forth. His hair was curly and a bit long and was a deep cobalt color. His eyes were as clear and blue as the ocean and like all the others something seemed to be in there. As if swimming in them this time. He smiled and introduced himself. "My name's Arbel Artemisia. I'm the Lord of Water and I am twenty-four. Nice to be of your acquaintance."
"Likewise to you both."
Two women from the second group stepped forth. One was very nicely tanned and the other was a bit pale. One has black hair up in a bun and distinctive Occidental clothing. The other had short blue hair and Western attire.
The one with short blue hair and brown eyes smiled before introducing herself. "I'm Kathlyn and I'm Lord Arbel's attendant."
The gorgeous woman from before came forth and bowed before smiling and saying, "My name is Visulle and I am Master Derek's attendant."
I raised an eyebrow before asking, "Have we...met before?"
She giggled but answered right after. "You helped us at the Euclid Province with our lost priestess problem."
At hearing this I snap my fingers. "You're the one that nursed me back after that. Thanks again."
"It should be us thanking you. But you are most welcome, nonetheless."
Last but not least, the old geezer of Angele came forth. "My name is Angele Apostles. My age—" he gave it some thought before chuckling to himself. "My age is nothing of importance. I'll just say that I'm much younger than I look like."
"I'll agree to that seeing he's Duke Barma's friend." Oz's comment from afar made me chuckle a bit before we both sobered.
"I'm the Lord of the Shadows and as the oldest Lord, I will be designing how you take this exam."
"How about you just go in the order that you just went by?" I suggested and briefly stop before I keep going. "I really wanted to do a one-vs-five but I don't think teamwork is your guys' thing. Well, not if someone seems more fired up than the rest." At this little comment, my eyes wandered a bit towards Envier but quickly came back. "First, I am Clarice Florence and I'm sixteen. Let me thank you all for coming in such short notice. It was to my understanding that Angele only takes care of the Court of Miracles here and that you all reside in the four corners. For that inconvenience, I wish you had a pleasant voyage here. Now, placing the pleasantries aside..." Twirling my fingers through the hilt, I take Radiant Dawn from the floor and grin at them. "Now, what are the rules and what am I doing to pass this thing hopefully before tea time."
"Sharon-chan's got all the preparations for you celebration party!" Oz called out with a glee in his voice.
"Is she that confident in me?" I ask a bit pleased with the news but still a little nervous.
"I'll explain," Angele called getting my attention back. "First and foremost your objective is to defeat each Lord at her or his own terms. As far as rules go, there are but a few. First, no using powers that are not your own. Ergo, no Chains. This applies to the Lords as well. Second, no helping hands. This goes for the lords too. If any of your attendants interfere, it's an automatic win for that fight for Claire and vice versa. Lastly, you must not only win against them physically but also mentally. There are lessons that each can teach you. If you don't learn them, it's a fail for you. Understood?"
"Yes sir. No Chains. No handy-mans. Learn lesson. Three for each."
"Excellent." He turned to the others and they left while Talis stayed behind, really enthusiastic about it. "Talis, you're up first."
"Yeah!"
"Just to be sure, I'll put a barrier around the grounds." Angele raised his hands and made a barrier appear around the courtyard. It barricaded Talis and I inside a decent piece of the courtyard, almost all of it. "No one comes in or out."
Under the connected outer halls, the creaking of a wheelchair slowly approached to see what was happening. Cheryl Rainsworth's brow furrowed at seeing the lords together and out of hiding.
"What was so important that you needed to show me, Ruf?" she inquired from Barma as he pushed her wheelchair along.
"To see what the child is truly capable of. And the reason why I'm not fond of the Court and it's people," he replied with a grimace on his face. Under the shade of the hall, they were hidden from the view of the others that watched from the other side of the courtyard.
"It seems that it could be fun." Both turned to find Oscar Vessalius as well.
"Oh, Oscar-sama!" she chuckled before getting more comfortable in her chair. "Well, this might be interesting after all."
"Ready?" Angele glanced towards both sides were each of the combatants stood. "Begin!"
Before Claire could see her, Talis disappeared from in front of her and attacked from the side. Feeling her approach, Claire had time to block the blow Talis had given with a wooden sword. Was she serious about this?
Claire took a step back before grinning at Talis. "Pretty tough for a little girl!"
"Thanks!" she chirped. "You're doing pretty good yourself!" She disappeared again while keeping Claire on her toes.
"Why is Talis playing around with her?" Derek asked Angele.
"It's the first round," he replied. "Talis is probably getting her used to it."
Talis jumped away from Claire after a round of cat and mouse and tossed her wooden sword aside and pulled out a wooden slingshot.
"Seriously?" Claire sighed with a scoff.
Talis only giggled before putting a nutshell and shooting it at her feet. The nut made contact with the floor and burst into a bright, blinding light.
"Nice," she mumbled before she started looking for the kid again. She was fast. Claire had speed too but hers was moderate, theirs was much greater. She had to think quick on her feet. If using powers that didn't belong to her was out of the picture then she had to make do with the ones that belong to her.
Like Radiant Dawn...and the other twelve! Quickly she sheathed Radiant Dawn back and stood in a stance with no weapon.
Envier scoffed, "Is she seriously going to fight with no weapon?"
Angele simply smiled which caused Envier to scowl. "Don't underestimate her."
"I may not be fast or be able to stop time by myself but—" She raised her hands above her head. "I sure can make it shake!" She swung and brought the hammer down causing a grand tremor to shake the ground. It shook so much that Talis stopped in her tracks, stumbling like a baby. That pause gave her enough to summon Achlys and snapped it towards Talis. But Talis regained her footing just in time to jump back but not before getting a visible scratch on her forehead.
She touched it while smiling. "Nice idea. Guess it's time for me to get serious too." She twirled once and something happened that baffled Claire. Three more copies of Talis appeared and began jumping around her.
"Haven't seen that one before," Arbel commented with a scoff.
Angele chuckled as well at the technique. "The forest of the east harbors the ruins of Albine. The spirits that live there are quite mischievous and know a trick or two. She must have learned that from the Winchester Quadruplets."
"Hey, hey!" they all called together, tauntingly. "Can you guess which one of us is the real one?"
It was really giving Claire a headache to see four of her. Watching as they jumped around her, she noticed something odd. The scratch that she had done with Achlys wasn't on one. Was it a mind trick? But seeing that two others didn't have it only assured her suspicion. Only one...
She grinned and summoned Excelion. "Of course I can. I just need to watch close—" I wrapped the sash around the only real one and jumped over her before stepping down on her head and making it kiss the ground. As gently as she could, of course. Claire landed steps away and smiled when she looked over her shoulder. "And pay attention." The barrier around them shattered.
"How?" she cried with a sniff while holding her forehead and sitting cross-legged, facing her.
"Easy." Claire smiles and helps her get up. Facing her, she tapped at her own temple. "The others didn't have it. You maybe be able to show me illusions but replicating humans is something impossible. Neither their appearance nor their behavior."
"Whoa!" Talis called jumping up with a grin. "You're good!"
Before Claire could thank her, Envier pushed her aside with a scowl on her face. "Yeah, yeah. Celebrate all you want, Talis is the easy one. But when I'm finished with you, you'll be begging me for mercy."
"We'll see."
Envier pulled a pair of scimitars that made her whistle in appreciation. Ever since Claire found out that Radiant Dawn's figure was malleable to her liking she had researched about the countless amounts of swords in existence. But after trying many styles, as she thought, a saber was something that just felt natural and right. Eniver however looked like she was in her element holding the two.
"Begin!"
Envier disappeared shocking Claire and giving her a feeling of dread that spread all around. Not really knowing where she would appear she quickly summoned Seiren to fully protect. Envier ended up attacking her left side that had been protect somewhat by Seiren. Without leaving a moment's reprieve for Claire, Envier kept charging on and on while Claire simply protected herself with Seiren.
"Damn—you're—fast!" Claire panted while trying to find an opening to attack the redhead.
"Ready to give up yet?"
"Hardly!" she grunted and feinted catching Envier from behind, off guard. She summoned Radiant Dawn and was ready to strike but when a fire wall burst from the floor out of the blue she had to back off before getting caught in it.
"Lord of Fire, 'member?" she taunted with a grin on her face.
"Nifty trick there," Claire admitted before reversing the grip of her sword while still holding it in her right hand. "Guess it's time to fight fire with fire." Claire charged her and both clashed for a couple more times before Envier got tired of playing around. Slicing open a hole on the ground, she made a burst of lava on the floor and jumped into it actually hiding underground.
"Just fantastic," Claire mumbled under her breath while trying to figure out where the redhead would reappear. For some odd reason Envier was one of the few people that Claire couldn't follow, Break being one of them. She'd gotten used to his moves but he had no pattern to follow. Envier was the same. She was so spontaneous with her actions that it was hard for Claire to figure out where she would pop out from. But it didn't take her long to find out when Envier begin breaking out from beneath. Claire barely had any time to get out of the way and even then the scimitar struck her right shoulder.
"Got you, you're unable to proceed!" Envier called with a triumphant glee on her face.
"Not quite." Claire smiled lightly with a grimace of pain from her right arm. Instead of forfeiting she changed the saber from her right to her left hand and held it in a reverse grip.
"You're ambidextrous. So what?" Envier scoffed with a scowl.
"All right then." Claire simply grinned before charging at Envier at an amazing speed. Envier could tell in a heartbeat that the change of stance had done something with Claire's speed. It had enhanced it almost as good as her own. And that initial extra burst gave her enough momentum to outrun Envier and catch her by surprise. Envier slipped back and fell on all fours on her back. Claire was to attack when she suddenly stopped and instead bopped Envier's head with the hilt of her saber. With a big, goofy grin Claire said, "Game over~" With that the barrier broke. Three to go.
"B-But how?!" Envier shouted furious of the outcome. She turned to Angele infuriated beyond belief. "She didn't even attack me!? How the hell did she win!"
"Exactly because of that," Angele agreed and motioned for Claire to explain her actions.
"I did say that I would fight fire with fire—" Claire nervously said while massaging the back of her neck. She grinned towards Envier while she finished her reason for not engaging her. "But seeing her so fired up like that, well. I decided to let her calm down. Fighting fire with fire will only get you burn, after all." Envier said nothing but stomped out of the arena and with Hunter on her heels to patch her up.
"Shall we continue?" Angele questioned seeing the mess her right shoulder was.
"I said I was going to fight you all continuously. I will keep that promise," she said while putting a time-out on her shoulder. It didn't heal the wound as usual but it did stop the pain and for now it would be enough for her to continue fighting for now unhindered. "Now, who's next?"
"That would be I." Derek's voice called out from the three remaining Lords. He entered the arena and Angele rose the barrier around them.
"Begin!"
"You seem a bit shaken up," Derek said with a little concern. "Why not just leave the three of us for next time?"
"That sounds too boring, don't you think? Besides, I had wanted to fight you all in one go."
"Your choice." He then pulled a foldable bow and shook it out once with one hand to assemble it. Weird, she thought, no arrows. He pulled the string back aiming at me. "But don't blame me if I accidentally kill you."
Right when he let the arrow fly Claire saw the glimpse of something shimmering on the string. Claire avoided it but something else suddenly hit her right shoulder with enough force to hurt her plenty. She stepped back and watched Derek with a stupid grin on his face while he strung back his bow once more. He let another arrow go by and this time she saw them. Two arrows. No, not arrows. Arrow. There's just one of them firing. The other is...
"An illusion!" she called and jumped out of the real thing's trajectory and let it head straight towards Derek. Seeing it come towards him, Derek quickly and swiftly strung another arrow to destroy the first he had fired.
"Not bad," Derek admitted and pulled the string back once more. "It usually takes a while for people to find out the Mirror Arrow. But that's just one out of two. Wonder how you'll figure it out from a thousand." He shot the arrow high in the air and let it fall towards her with great speed. But as Claire kept watching for that one she noticed that beside it more began to appear, and beside those even more appeared. Soon they covered the sky almost covering the light from hitting the courtyard.
There's only one real one, she thought. But as they fell onto her, she felt the scratches of many instead of one like she would have guessed. "W-What?"
"Didn't think I'd use the same trick twice, did you?" he asked with a grin. He pulled it back and let more arrows fly out towards her.
"Seiren!" she called summoning the shield that protected her from the arrows. She saw the arrows shimmer so they were real. But how could he shoot so many from one single arrow? Glancing at the bow that Derek held she noticed that on his hand that held the string something shimmered the same way that the arrows did. With that she finally understood. It made sense. Disbanding Seiren, she summoned Radiant Dawn and went head on towards Derek.
"Too cocky!" he called and launched a thousand more in the air.
"Not really!" she huffed back and avoided every arrow that was being fired. She feinted and summoned Legion and threw it right beneath Derek's feet. The spears quickly burst from underneath him and caught him by his clothes, pinning him up in the middle air. Having no way to move, Derek's hand finally cramped and let go of the bow and of something on his other hand that shimmered as it fell to the floor.
Claire walked up to it and picked up a small black rock. "So I was right. All this time you were using orichalcum as your real weapon. The arrowheads were the pieces you cut away with the string of the bow. The rest were the illusions I saw." She grinned when she realized something. "Secrets are all shrouded in haze but—" she held the rock up the sunlight and saw the glimmering that brought her to her conclusion. "With a little light everything clears up just fine."
The barrier disappeared. With that Claire stomped on the floor to make the spears disappear from underneath Derek. Curiously, he landed perfectly on his feet like a cat and came over to her with a huge grin on his face while passing his hand through his hair.
"You're pretty good," he admitted and picked up his bow. With one shake of his arm, he disarmed it and pocketed it back on his back. He extended his hand towards her. "It was a pleasure."
She grinned and shook his hand with glee. "Same here." She turned towards Arbel and Angele. Just two more to go. "Who's next?"
All I gotta say is three down, two to go -w-
Next chapter will bring you around on the other two and a grand surprise ;D Hoped you enjoyed it and stayed tuned for the next one!
