Chapter 6: Révolutionnaire
It was nightfall.
Galatea slowly readjusted Cynthia's blanket and walked quietly out of her bedroom. She glided down the stairwell, past the rooms of her compatriots, and out of the dark inn. As she opened the door, she found herself facing another silver-eyed warrior, whose left eye had been maimed and hair cropped short. She had been waiting here for several minutes, and it was clear that she was growing slightly impatient.
She approached the warrior. "Yo," said Galatea cheerfully. "Long time no see, old friend. A marvellous technique of hiding Yoki you have there, by the way," she commended, mock-clapping her hands. "It took me more than a few minutes to realize there was a hunter after me."
If all goes well, I'll have defeated her and gone back up to my room without waking Cynthia.
The woman with one eye hardly acknowledged her greeting. She drew her Claymore, letting it gleam menacingly in the moonlight. "Former Number Three, is it? I have come for your head."
"Pleased to meet you again, assassin Raphaela. It seems you left the Organization with the same reasons as I, although admittedly you have suffered far more than I could ever imagine." She raised an eyebrow. "Now that we really have nothing to do with each other at all, why have you come to challenge me?"
Raphaela pointed her sword at her. "Draw," she demanded.
"After fighting a general of the Army itself, I have barely any interest in dueling fellow ex-warriors," drawled Galatea. Her nonchalant expression flickered slightly as Raphaela forced her hand, clanging her sword roughly against the other's. "Really, what is your business with me?" asked Galatea seriously, as Raphaela forced her to back away.
"Army?" Raphaela paused ever so briefly. "I see. So they have also tried to eliminate you. And having failed, they were forced to send me." Raphaela took advantage of Galatea's momentary shock, and swung. Galatea blocked the blade, but it was a mistake. Raphaela's strength was so great that she was jangled, and Raphaela took advantage of her momentum and charged, hurling her into a building on the opposite side of the street. Rubble covered the sprawled Galatea as Raphaela slowly walked towards her. "But unlike them, I won't leave the job undone."
"And you still obey them, despite your non-existent affiliation with the Organization?" Galatea smiled as she stood, flinging the rubble away from her bleeding head and body. "Are you not aware that the Organization is but a pawn of the Army? That one serves as the other's arm?"
"All that I'm interested in is the preservation of what little I have," said Raphaela, dashing forward and ramming her shoulder into Galatea's exposed face. She toppled back. "If that means also, the preservation of this world, and its freedom."
"This is not true freedom," said Galatea, her Yoki floundering against the cold, ineffable void of an aura Raphaela had hidden. "It is ignorance. Ignorance that has continued for too long."
"Ignorance?" Raphaela scoffed, bashing away Galatea's sword and shooting a hard knee into her adversary's stomach. Galatea crumpled to the ground, but Raphaela kicked at her and she flew back up, only just landing on her two feet.
The former Number Three smiled. "Yes, ignorance. Ignorance that I intend to eradicate, in the name of justice."
They exchanged another succession of attacks. Galatea's arm began to trickle blood, and Raphaela felt a sting on her thigh. "Since when did your heart become so soft in a world of swords?"
"Didn't you hear?" replied Galatea, unable to suppress a smile. "I became a nun. You cannot follow God without a soft heart. Although admittedly," she added, "I've been following someone else much more important to me in the past two weeks."
Raphaela merely raised an eyebrow in reply as she raised her sword in a lowered guard. Galatea did the same. They inched closer, and their bladetips had just brushed one another when they leaped, Galatea swinging upwards and Raphaela from her side. Raphaela was quicker than her younger counterpart, and Galatea gritted her teeth as a painful wound lacerated her abdomen. The ground was bathed in blood. She staggered back, and fell. She felt Raphaela stab into her legs, and she cried out in pain, feeling metal cut into flesh and bone. She clutched at the pavement, gritting her teeth at the agony of the bone and muscle that Raphaela had torn apart and sundered.
Raphaela pulled her sword out of Galatea's thighs, her face impassive, and raised her sword for the final blow.
Galatea could not see Raphaela bring her sword down. She could only see Cynthia's face. Smiling. Laughing. Crying.
"I'm so sorry…"
But the decapitating stroke was not to come. Raphaela leaped away as her expression flickered for one brief moment. An elongated finger had stabbed at where she had just stood, and it slowly withdrew as she positioned her sword in a defensive guard.
Awakened Being?!
Galatea's sightless eyes narrowed. A new aura had revealed itself, and its emitter stepped out behind an adjacent building. "Who are you?" demanded Raphaela.
"One who has business with only one of you." It was a man's deep voice, and it was oddly familiar to Galatea's ears. "Stand aside, one-eyed warrior," said the newcomer. He emerged completely from the shadows, his boots tapping quietly on the pavement. "But I cannot allow you to kill her. This child… is of interest to the one I serve."
Raphaela wordlessly lunged, only to be mercilessly beaten back by a fist of steel. She staggered away, her sword vibrating from the force of his knuckles. "What… what the hell are you?" she asked angrily.
She had no opportunity to force the answer out of him as his hand penetrated into her stomach.
It had been so sudden. One moment, an imminent triumph against Galatea, and a reward from the mysterious hooded man who had employed her. Then, an unnatural hole in her body at the hands of yet another damned male warrior. Blood spilling from her mouth, she looked up in utter fury, into narrow, cold, uncaring eyes. He pulled his hand out, and she fell to the ground, unable to move. "Now, stay out of the way, old woman. You do not concern me."
Galatea gritted her teeth. "…Dante. What are you doing here?"
"A worthy question," declared Dante. He raised his hand. "To put a long story short, I am here to Awaken you."
*
Cynthia had slept for several hours, and when she forced her eyelids apart, glancing around, the moon was already beaming down upon the quiet city outside her window. She rubbed her eyes. "…Galatea?" she mumbled, her hands seeking her warmth. But she was not there. She raised herself up.
How she wondered why Galatea was not here.
I want her to spank me again, she thought shyly to herself. Obeying her every whim, letting her have her way with me, is so…
So pleasurable.
Despite these reflections that stirred her legs to open up ever so slightly, the unease that had replaced Galatea's presence remained. She pulled her clothes back on, stretching and looked out the window. She had expected to see a quiet street basking under the gentle moonlight.
She had not expected to see her lover and another woman wounded and helpless, vermillion dyeing the ground they must have been fighting on. But what was worse, was the man who stood before the two women two stories below, outside the inn. His face was one that Cynthia would always remember, in the darkest recesses of her heart.
The man who had almost murdered Galatea.
"No!" she whispered, horrified, her hand already reaching for her sword. "Dante!"
The Awakened Being had lifted his hand and was moving it slowly towards the helpless Galatea, when Cynthia hurled herself out of the window, the smashing and tinkling of glass shocking all three combatants. Almost unaware of her speed, she already had her sword in her two pale hands and was slashing wildly at Dante.
"This time, you're not going to lay a finger on her!" cried Cynthia. Her sword stabbed into Dante's outstretched right hand and threw it back. Galatea could not help gasping in surprise at Cynthia's superbly ruthless speed and coordination. Dante had barely recovered his right hand when she kicked him in the stomach and drew blood from his cheek as she slashed upwards. Clutching at her stomach wound, Raphaela looked on, her eyes also betraying disbelief.
Dante stood motionless, surprise registering in his eyes.
Cynthia closed the gap between herself and Dante. He closed up his guard as she began to hack at him again, allowing no opportunity to retaliate. "Get away from Galatea," she insisted. "Now!"
He calmly backstepped and danced around her, throwing several jabs and testing the distance between his fist and her sword. She calmly watched his lightning-fast fist, and then stabbed at his head. Dante weaved past and struck at Cynthia's hand, bashing open her palm and punching away her sword. "Run, Cynthia!" shouted Galatea. "You're not his equal without a sword." But the younger warrior ignored her even as Dante's fist shot out from his guard, aiming for her chin. Galatea was about to shout another warning when she fell silent. She had sensed a sudden halt in the flow of Yoki. Her jaw dropped in absolute amazement.
Raphaela's eye widened. "Im… impossible."
It was true that Dante had punched Cynthia in the face. He lip was bleeding, blood trickling out her mouth. But Cynthia's fist had also found Dante's face, and he was forced back, and heedless of her own gore, she now charged, swinging with a wild tenacity at Dante's vitals. She threw a straight, and Dante countered by digging into her stomach. But she did not even show a sign of pain as she hooked him in the face, and he was flung back again, his guard broken. His mind was racing. How can she fight back?!
It had not been long since they had crossed blades. But that she could even stand from his earnest attack…
Shaken into seriousness, Dante threw a jab, and then a cross. It connected, drawing the blood of Cynthia, but he blinked, and his head flew up, his chin and jawbone trembling. Although she had not drawn blood, his eyes widened in shock. She had attacked with an uppercut so early on?!
Are you telling me you can take my power… and stand? he thought, as they struck each other simultaneously again. Then that means, in the short time we have been apart, you must have undergone a tribulation at least as formidable as your first battle against me. He dodged another angry swipe from her, patiently waiting for her to tire. But even if she was beginning to feel the weight of his blows, she did not show it. Aside from Priscilla, what power in this world can possibly surpass Lady Riful and myself? Dante parried another wild swing from Cynthia and countered, his right hook sinking deep into her cheeks. Yet if that is not the case, there is no other explanation.
She coughed blood, her nose and mouth bleeding from Dante's stronger fists, but she did not fall. She barely shook, despite her black eye and warped skull.
Galatea crawled away from Raphaela, grabbing her own sword. She forced herself up slightly, and raised her weapon. "CYNTHIA!" Cynthia rolled away from Dante's right cross and reached out, catching the sword Galatea had thrown. She struck a defensive stance and blocked Dante's combinations of unarmed blows, her reflexes, to Galatea's amazement, matching that of the Awakened Being's. In a gesture of almost poetic justice, she spun and slashed at his stomach. Blood dashed across the pavement once again, mixing with the gore of Galatea and Raphaela. Bleeding profusely, Dante stumbled back as Cynthia moved before Galatea, her eyes shining.
"You shall not pass," she declared quietly.
Galatea's heart surged in wonder.
Perhaps it is your devotion to me. Perhaps it is the fear of losing me. Perhaps you've been training for hours on end without my knowledge. But to see you like this… makes me proud to be yours.
It was quite moving, to bear witness to her junior's strength.
Cynthia… I'm pleased to be able to fight by your side.
Dante also seemed to realize the change. "I admit that I took you a little too lightly, he said, rubbing at the bloody cut on his cheek. "You've eviscerated me, something that I would never have thought possible."
I must have been bored with the many incompetent warriors I have fought over the decades.
"Perhaps it won't be so bad to return to how it once was," he muttered. "You have forced me to acknowledge your existence as a formidable foe." And with that, he smiled, and his eyes flashed gold. He clenched his fists. "Life is accorded only to the worthy. Those who are fearless of the highest pleasure!" Cynthia staggered back as Dante suddenly appeared before her, and his hand grabbed her collar roughly. She struggled to throw him off, but he… he had changed.
Is he activating his Awakened powers?
Suddenly, she saw his knuckles – and then red. Blood poured down her face as she reeled back in shock. He had struck her in between her eyes.
Damn him –
She felt her nose break. He attacked her, once, twice, then thrice. The force was incredible; like that of a centaur's hooves. His knuckles struck her face again and again, and before she could even roar in frustration, he had already welted her with his other hand, throwing a merciless hook from his left. He was completely silent; utterly focused on bringing about her oblivion. Cynthia felt the world flicker as her eyes began to see dots of white and black as his thundering fists gradually, agonizingly quickened, shattering her jaw, crushing the ridge of her left eye, denting her cheekbone, blackening her right eye, reducing her lips to a bloody pulp, mangling her gums into ruined blood and flesh. She felt her awareness slipping in and out. Even Galatea's enraged voice was becoming dim. After what seemed an eternity, Dante released her, and she fell on her knees, barely conscious, and ceased moving. Blood pouring liberally down her face, she moaned helplessly as Dante turned away and began to walk towards Galatea. "Now… " he raised his hand. "Where were we?" he said, ignoring Raphaela completely, who had been regenerating herself calmly. But it would be too late. It would all be too late.
Galatea swore. "Damn you," she gritted. "Why – "
"I decided that her power was worthy of respect," shrugged Dante. "She forced me to use my Awakened Powers. No mess. No fuss. Just a higher level of my capabilities." He smiled slightly. "I am now going to Awaken you, and turn you to Lady Riful's cause."
But as he prepared to attack, a surge of powerful Yoki suddenly enveloped the surrounding streets. They could all sense it, but Galatea was the most affected. "Cynthia!" she gasped.
Dante raised his eyebrow, and turned his head. "You surely jest – "
His eyes, for the first time, widened in sincere, true astonishment.
"It… cannot be."
Cynthia had raised herself up on one knee. Her entire body trembled, and her bloodied lips were bubbling incoherently. "I… won't have it…"
Raphaela looked at Galatea. What in the world is happening?
The guttural voice that emerged from the back of Cynthia's throat would be Raphaela's answer. "I won't have it… I won't let you take her away from me again… I WON'T HAVE IT!!" she roared, and a vortex of visible Yoki swirled around her, shaking the very ground and creating gusts of wind that began to rattle the windows of the street's buildings. The earth trembled as her wild emotions began to eat into her, revealing the dark beast that lurked within all silver-eyed witches – the Yoma.
"Stay calm, Cynthia!" shouted Galatea, her voice pleading. "Anymore and – "
"DANTE!!!" roared Cynthia, and her body began to regenerate, wounds on her face closing up. But at the same horrific time, her teeth began to elongate. Her countenance turned bestial, hateful, monstrous. The Yoma within her was overpowering her strength to resist, her humanity. Her eyes, her mouth, began to warp. As the Yoki continued to swirl around her kneeling form, saturating the air with power, Raphaela looked on in horrified astonishment, while Galatea screamed Cynthia's name. Her hand reached for the transforming Cynthia, calling desperately for her lover's name.
Dante smiled, wiping the blood from his mouth, and his smirk was one of pure satisfaction. "This was not according to the plan, but it is welcome all the same. One of the spectres is now Awakening. My Lady, your new follower is on her way."
As her features continued to mutate, a single tear slipped down Cynthia's darkening face. Her garbled, deepening voice had become a whimper.
"Galatea… help me…"