4: And All That Was Left...
Norst was floating high up in the air, overlooking both Roy, me and Mgudza, who was still being impaled by my bastard sword. I took out the sword, and a loud screech filled our eardrums and Mgudza fell to the floor, with her skin cracked, my sword still glowing. Norst started descending slowly towards us.
"You have served me well, Mgudza", said Norst and approached her, touching the hideous body with his bare hand. Suddenly, a gruesome show started happening that I won't bother describing just because I don't really want to die of famine. Long (and disgusting) story short, Mgudza was gone somehow being assimilated into Norst's body.
"She was a part of you, wasn't she?", said Roy with a smirk.
"You could say so" Norst smiled at us, still keeping his distance. I grasped my sword and kept a defensive stance.
Damn, one hell of a week. Way more action than in the past year alone... Note to self: Be more careful for what you wish for in the future, Logan...
"Let me put this straight," I interjected, "I'm no Mazoku, and I have no intention of joining you people for whatever it is you want to do"
"I wasn't expecting your cooperation," said Norst, smiling at me defiantly, "But if you are or not a Mazoku, that is yet to be seen".
"What?" I said. Norst hadn't even tried anything: he just stood there, smiling at both Roy and me, and...
ROY!
I turned around, just to watch Roy falling on his knees, grabbing his neck and grasping for air. I ran towards him and grabbed his shoulders and shook him.
"Roy! What's wrong?" All he could do was lift his gaze at me. His eyes were white, and he was hardly breathing: Norst was clearly suffocating him.
"LET HIM GO!" I demanded, once again unsheathing my sword and running at Norst. He was still smiling, evading every single one of my attacks easily.
"What do you intend to do, boy? Kill me with a sword? It might have gotten the best out of Mgudza, but you will only manage to kill me, Norst priest of Dynast if you are Lord Ruby Eye" he said mockingly. I kept slashing left and right to no avail, only furthering my anger. I could hear Roy grasping for air behind me, but I still couldn't get to Norst.
If I don't do something now, Roy's going to die!
"GAHH!!" I yelled, and my sword started glowing even brighter than before. I tried to slash at Norst, but to no avail: he was way too quick for me to try anything against him. I lunged forward, slashed to the left, slashed to the right, I even jumped and tried impaling him, but all he did was disappear and reappear next to me, evading the attack. It was almost as if he knew everything that was happening.
Anything, I have to something!
I turned my sight back towards Roy, and noticed he was still grasping for air, with a desperate look on his face. Norst was way too powerful for me to take on him alone and at the rate the fight was going, Roy was going to die.
"I guess that should do it," smiled Norst. First, Mgudza destroyed a whole city. Now, Norst was killing Roy and apparently enjoying it, all based on the ASSUMPTION that I was the reincarnation of Ruby Eye Shabranigdu...
This is sickening...
I kept slashing, attempting to hit Norst to no avail, "Let him go, you bastard let him go!". Suddenly, I noticed my sword was glowing as much as it could. It's bright light blinded me for a second, but didn't stop me from slashing left and right, this time blindly. Norst kept evading each and every one of my attacks.
"I guess a little tighter should do!" he said and I could hear a loud crackling noise coming from Roy's body. I turned around and he was up in mid air, grabbing his own neck, trying to grasp for air.
I stopped, grasped my sword and yelled from the bottom of my lungs. I felt as if air surrounded my body, swirling rapidly, with my sword glowing stronger and stronger.
"Hahahaha! Come, Lord Ruby Eye!", said Norst from his advantaged position, "Come and let us bring everything back to chaos as the Mazoku we are!"
I then ran and lunged towards Norst, with my glowing sword, using all my might and will against him. All I could hear was a loud gasp coming from Norst, and an even louder thump coming from where Roy had stood.
"Y...You..." said Norst, with a disgruntled look in his face, my sword stuck in his abdomen, glowing so much that every single inch of the destroyed Lassadia could be seen in the middle of the night.
I let go of him and resumed position, this time slashing forward. I could see him dodge left... quickly, but not enough as to not allow me to to move my sword quickly enough to hit his flank and send him flying to my left.
"GAAAAAH!!!" I yelled, running towards him, all while he was still getting on his feet. I slashed my sword right in front of him, cutting him cleanly in half from the waist.
"So... so you're not..." said Norst, while reforming his own body. "So you're not Lord Ruby Eye after all", he started laughing. "All the better, now I have a reason to dispose of you and not holding back!" he yelled and raised his hands towards me, throwing off a large glowing ball towards me.
Not really taking note into whatever it was he had said about me not being Shabranigdu, I raised my sword and cut the ball of light in half, each piece going off course and exploding in the background, far away enough from me. The shockwave came back at me, but all it did was flunk my hair a bit, and a large cloud of dust came blowing instantly after that, blocking both of our visions.
"Impressive!", yelled Norst. I could barely make out his shape from the debris and the dust flying all over from the previous explosion, but I could definitely notice how he started floating up in the air. Then, his whole body started glowing, and a barrage of bright lights came my way. I dodged them all, moving as fast as I could, when I noticed a presence right next to me.
"ROY!", I said, apparently looking relieved.
"Let's get this son of a bitch", he smiled with his usual attitude.
Boy am I glad to see you...
"Let's do it!", I said and took a high jump in the air; one that I should say I never thought was possible for me. I must've leapt at least ten feet, ending right in front of Norst. His face was priceless when he saw me, widely opening his eyes, and stretching his arms towards me.
I didn't let him finish, instead slashing right in front of me and cutting his hands off his arms. That wouldn't stop him most likely, but it did throw him off balance, plummeting towards the floor. I fell with him, a bit slower, and held my sword straight down, and as soon as I fell, I impaled him in the gut.
"GAH!", yelled Norst and some sort of energy made me fly a few feet away, taking my sword away from his body. Right after I got up, Roy followed by throwing several fireballs at Norst, creating a huge explosion in place, followed by a large dust cloud that blocked all our views. I then -somehow- managed to see Norst in front of me... only he looked much bigger and formless. I would describe it, but it's impossible to describe at all. Let's say he was just... formless, but huge. Like a large... mountain. However, I somehow knew he was Norst.
Anyway, I rushed at him and slashed, taking out a rather large chunk of his... uhm... I'm gonna call it flesh for simplicity's sake, but it was definitely not flesh. I heard a loud screech, and when the cloud dissipated, I could see Norst missing an arm and part of his torso. Yup, not a nice sight at all. Especially if you take into account his sigh, fixated on me and irradiating such hate that... you know the drill.
So as soon as I drew back, Roy moved back in, shooting several flare arrows at him. From what he'd told me, none of those spells were going to do anything against him, so I somehow took notice of his strategy and rushed back in after the smoke lifted by the flare arrows cleared. I once again cut Norst in his flank, embedding my sword in his body. However, the only thing he did was smile at me and grab my sword with his hand.
"Nice work, boy, but not even a Knight of Ceifeed can stand up against the priest of Dynast", he smiled and his body started glowing once again.
"Back off!", yelled Roy. However, I heard his warning too late, and the large explosion that ensued blinded me completely, and I fell unconscious.
The last thing I could hear was "This is not over yet, Knight of Ceifeed", and then everything went to black.
When I came back to myself, I was laying down in the cave we had taken shelter earlier, with Roy giving me his back, staring outside. The embers from our fire were still there, hissing and smoking. From what I could see outside, the landscape had changed considerably: from being the cityscape of Lassadia to a huge wasteland.
"You feeling better?", said Roy, while I sat up and grabbed my head. It throbbed a bit, but it was nothing serious, I just felt a little dizzy. He turned his head towards me, and smiled, "I guess you have no idea what happened back there, do you?"
"Not really," I smiled.
"Well, Norst said it himself. You're not Shabranigdu, so you can rest assured with that... What you did for me was quite something" he said.
I blushed and quickly changed my tone, "Well, I do owe you a seventy... something gold coins. I hope that lessens my debt a bit or two"
"Not one bit", Roy laughed. It was nice for either of us to keep such high spirits, especially considering Norst could be coming after us at any given moment. "You really are one of a kind, Logan Feniss", said Roy, without turning back this time.
"What do you mean?"
"I guess you wouldn't know, being such a dense asshole", he laughed, this time getting up and coming closer to me.
Hey, have some mercy on the wounded...
"If what Norst said is true, you're definitely not Shabranigdu"
"I get that much", I said.
"You're quite the opposite"
Huh?
I wasn't really following him. All those names that seemed like they came from a storybook were starting to get to me: Shabranigdu, Dynast of the deep sea, Chaos Dragon GrauDolphin... or whatever they were.
"Flare Dragon Ceifeed", said Roy ominously, "You do not have a fragment of Ruby Eye Shabranigdu, but one of Flare Dragon Ceifeed, Lord of the Shinzoku. Basically the big boss of all good guys", he finally smiled.
"Like... Ruby Eye's counterpart of something?" I inquired.
Roy nodded and smiled, "See what I told ya? One of a kind..."
I kinda felt cheated at some point. I don't know why, but I never asked for this kind of... power, or whatever it was. And then it hit me....
"So back in town, with Mar... sorry, Mgudza's supposed rapists... and the bandits..."
Roy nodded. It was me, I had done it myself: apparently I had the power to do all that. But if I could do all that, why couldn't I defeat Norst?
"You can't", Roy said, almost as if reading my thoughts, "Because, quite opposite to Norst, you're still a human being. Having Flare Dragon's fragment of power does not give you instant godhood or something"
So all the luck I've had previously was basically... my own doing? Because I'm a Knight of Ceifeed?
"We still have to stop Norst. I may not be Shabranigdu or whatever, but now he wants to kill me because I'm a Knight of Ceifeed..."
"And he inadvertently woke up that part of you destroying Lassadia and trying to kill me: while trying to awaken his lord Ruby Eye, he ended up awakening one of his dreadest foes. It's quite ironic if you ask me"
I suddenly got up and started fixing my blade and my armor back in place. Roy got up and looked at me worried.
"What're you gonna do?", he said.
"Well, I have to stop Norst: you said it yourself".
Roy then started laughing out loud, "You think you're gonna run off your debt that easily?" he said and then grabbed my shoulder pads, "I'm going with you", he smiled.
I smiled back, "Thank you". We got ready, with Roy leaving his backpack in the cave, and fixing his robe and hood back in place, "You know, being a Knight of Ceifeed must be quite interesting, power wise, but I do have some tricks up my sleeves", he smiled.
"Let's see what you can do with those, old man", I smiled.
"Interesting, coming from a 23-year old that actually looks and acts like he was 10", he laughed and started walking outside the cave. "So, you coming? Norst's probably still in Lassadia, waiting for us to come"
"Yeah, right away!", I said, and we both ran towards the wasteland that had been Lassadia only a few hours ago.
We had barely slept ever since we got to Lassadia, and the sun was already starting to rise, but our spirits were high enough to not let that bother us and run towards the battle full-on. We arrived in Lassadia a few minutes later, powered by Roy's Ray Wing, and found in the middle of the wasteland the figure of Norst waiting for us.
"You took your time, Knight of Ceifeed", he smiled, "Lord Dynast will be most pleased when he hears news that I, Norst, have killed you"
"That's if you ever get to deliver those news", smiled Roy. Instantly he pulled back and started chanting a spell.
"I thought you should know that the spell of Lord Ruby Eye will not work against me", he smiled and just stood there, ready to take on Roy's spell.
"DRAGON SLAVE!" he said, while looking at me, with his palms directed at Norst and the huge ray of red and black flew his way. Just before it could hit, I ran towards Norst and slashed right at him. He had to choose to either take the Dragon Slave full on or be cut by my glowing sword. Whichever he choose, he was definitely going to be hurt badly. He leapt right, and the Dragon Slave hit him head on. I ran away as fast as I could, but I was caught in the explosion nonetheless, being knocked down almost instantly. I got up as fast as I could, and I could notice Roy begun to chant another spell, while a large barrage was directed his way. Norst was in the air, barraging us from his advantaged position. I ran towards Roy and started deflecting as much attacks as I could with my sword to protect Roy while he casted.
"DOLPH STRASH!", yelled Roy and a large shockwave that looked like a spear in the air was directed at Norst, exploding on contact. After a few seconds, the barrages kept coming and Norst started descending.
"I'm runing out of tricks here!", declared Roy.
"I thought you said you had quite a few under your sleeve! Start using them god damn it!", I demanded and kept deflecting each attack.
Roy then chanted a few more fireballs and flare arrows just to buy us some time, and then started gathering some energy in his hands again, while murmuring some words.
"I think I have a plan! Keep Norst at bay for a few seconds!" Roy yelled and I nodded, while still deflecting the rays of light that kept coming at us as Norst descended. As soon as he touched ground, I charged at him and started slashing my sword while he kept avoiding it.
"GET OUT OF THE WAY!", yelled Roy and I did so, while he yelled, "RAGNA BLAST!!".
A large ray of black light emanated from Roy's hand and hit Norst dead on, creating a huge explosion...
...is what I would've liked to say, but nothing happened. Nothing at all. I turned towards Roy who looked as puzzled as I did.
"Didn't you get the news? Lord Hellmaster is DEAD!" said Norst, while charging at Roy and sending off various beams of purplish and black light at him. Suddenly, a circle formed in the floor and Roy got out of it right in time, as it exploded an instant later. I stood there, surprised at Roy's capacity and Norst's tenacity. Both of them were superb in their own accord, but there was no way we could defeat Norst... not the way we were doing at the moment.
I then thought about back when I was fighting Mgudza. My sword had started shining brightly and when I cut her she couldn't move... it looked as if I was gonna be able to kill her if Norst hadn't interefered. I instantly grasped my sword and ran towards Norst.
"YEAAARRRGHHH!!!" I yelled and lunged at Norst, who was recovering from a Fireball Roy had thrown him. It had caused no damage, but his field of vision was clearly disrupted, and he had needed some time to recover from it.
Please, Ceifeed... grant me the power to defeat Norst...
My sword was starting to get really warm and I could see it's glow. As soon as I got to Norst, he shrugged and I pierced his body with my blade, yelling with all my might.
"This... No!!!" yelled Norst, unable to move. I heard the familiar crackling noise coming from his skin, and his eye sockets and mouth started emanating light.
"NOW!!", I yelled.
Roy caught to my plan and gathered once again the energy in his palms, with strong winds engulfing his body.
Darkness beyond twilight
Crimson beyond blood that flows
Buried in the flow of time
In thy great name, I pledge myself to darkness
Let all the fools who stand in our way be destroyed
by the power you and I possess...
As soon as he finished his chant, Norst was looking terrified, the streams of light running even more wild inside his body, making it almost translucent.
"DRAGON SLAVE!!", yelled Roy once again, and the large ray of red and black hit Norst once again, throwing me off balance and... suddenly, I stopped moving. Somehow, or someone had put up a protective barrier around me. Maybe it was myself, maybe it was Ceifeed's fragment inside my soul, but I didn't care.
All I could hear was the loud explosion and the dust cloud dissipating. Suddenly, Norst appeared in front of us, extremely hurt, with both his arms gone, a large hole in his flank, a good chunk of his face gone and one leg missing.
"That was... interesting... Knight of Ceifeed...", he said, "Know that this isn't over yet. I will come back to defeat you one day, if only for my pride as a Mazoku..." and suddenly disappeared.
I sighed, grasping my sword and falling to my knees in the floor, breathing rather heavily. I turned to Roy, who was still standing, also breathing very heavily from all the stress of the battle.
We looked at each other and smiled.
We won. Even if it was only a temporary victory, and Norst was sure to come back for us, we had won.