Chapter 28: Death of a Conspiracy

The group finds themselves wandering through the sewers to get back into Meltokio, but after traveling the usual path to make it to the end they hear a couple of people speaking to one another quietly on the staircase. "This is the money…" One voice says, insinuating a secret exchange of sorts between both parties. Then another voice speaks in a familiar tone, with happiness being the primary emotion he has as he talks "It's all there…Hehehehehe!"

Regal scowls in anger and starts to head forward to investigate the source of the voice as the two people begin to talk, and the rest of the group follows to make sure Regal doesn't get into trouble. "How long before the King is dead?" A man in an armored mask inquires. The second man, Vharley, answers honestly "Probably another month or so with this poison."

The masked man growls in annoyance and states "So it takes a while…" Vharley explains in turn "I've been told to make it look like he died from an illness. It's slow, but he'll die for sure. Tell His Eminence, the Pope, to wait just a little bit longer."

Upon hearing this bit of information from around the stairs, Zelos whispers out "I see. I knew there was something wrong when the normally health King got sick." Genis turns to his best friend and asks "What're we gonna do, Lloyd?"

"Isn't it obvious? If we save the King…" Lloyd replies, with Raine in turn getting a spark of inspiration as she finishes the sentence with "He'll be in our debt. Let's go." As the group goes to confront Vharley and the masked conspirator, Sheena scratches the back of her head and bemoans "Why can't they just say that they'll save him?"

The movement of all nine figures causes the conspirator to take notice and turn his head while asking "Who's there?" Upon seeing the wanted criminals of Meltokio standing before him, his heart freezes with fear, especially as Zelos waves his right hand up and says in a jovial tone "It's the Chosen!"

The masked man backs off and states "Damn, It's Zelos!" Vharley hadn't noticed the group until the man pointed them out, and upon turning to face them all he utters out in surprise "W-What are you doing down here?!" Regal and Presea put on their most aggressive scowls while stating in unison "It's you, Vharley!"

The masked man quickly sprints off, knowing better than to face such a large number of people. However, Vharley assumes that his arrogance will be more than enough to save himself as he exclaims "Damn. I can't have people knowing about the assassination. Die here!" Vharley reaches into his clothes ready to pull out his gun, but Regal quells his anger as much as he could and says "…Be quiet."

He then does what he's waited years to perform, and leaps into the air so he can dive straight at the obese monstrosity of a man. Before Vharley grabs onto his weapon, Regal's right foot connects with the man's arm, shattering the bones and applying enough force to press his fat body against the stairs behind him. The stairs crack from the impact as Regal presses his foot against his gut, causing him to cough up some blood from his throat.

Regal places one other foot on the ground and glares down at Vharley with a fury unseen from him before, which frightens Vharley as he murmurs out "Y-You can't do this to me!" Regal replies in turn "You're right…Someone else deserves the honor of silencing you."

Regal flips out of the way as Presea leaps over his back with axe drawn in both hands. With tears of rage drawn in her eyes she proclaims "I won't ever forgive you!" Dropping from the air, Presea cleaves into Vharley's chest with her axe, causing a heavy gush of blood to emerge from the scar. His body began to die out, but before he was all the way gone he slowly said "I'm going to die here…? …No way….Not…like that damn…Alicia…" The name of Presea's sister causes the girl to rip her axe from the man, allowing him to finally burn in hell for all the pain he has forced Regal and her to endure, with his corpse now soaking in his own blood.

Presea, swinging her axe off to the right to shake the blood and viscera off from this man's death, proclaimed in one last outburst of anger "Don't insult Alicia!" There was a moment of silence amongst the group to allow Regal and Presea to calm themselves down, and then Lloyd points out as he looks disgustingly at Vharley's body "So he was the link between the Pope and Rodyle of the Five Grand Cardinals."

"And the Pope is connected to Kuchinawa as well." Sheena notes in a melancholy tone of voice, while Raine adds on "The Exspheres in Tethe'alla passed from Vharley to Rodyle, and the experiments related to the Cruxis Crystals were passed from Rodyle to Vharley and ultimately to the Pope." Zelos then rubs his chin and notes "The Pope probably asked them to assassinate the King in exchange for his cooperation."

"Then this insolent conspiracy against the King is almost at an end!" Regal states, his anger now directed towards the Pope for starting this madness in the first place. Lloyd nods his head in agreement and states to everyone "Then let's not waste anymore time. Let's get the Pope!"

After throwing Vharley's body into the sewer water, the group runs into Meltokio. The guards were nowhere in sight, suspiciously enough, but the group didn't bother to question this matter as they ran straight for the castle where the Pope likely was at. However, once they reach the guards at the front gate, Sheena throws a seal that puts both guards to sleep before they can alert anyone else.

Zelos then opens the front doors and swings his right hand towards his friends while commenting "Follow me, I know where the Pope's quarters are." After sealing the door behind them, the group heads for the left side of the castle, barely taking the wondrous scenery to their attention as they head for the second floor and a single door on the farthest part of the castle. Zelos looks at Lloyd and says to him "Let me take the lead, I want to see the look on his face."

Turning around to face the door, Zelos slowly pushes it open and finds the Pope standing there with his back turned to him. "You're late." The Pope was clearly expecting either Vharley or the masked man to enter through the door judging by his impatient tone of voice, but as he turns around his eyes widen in fright as he sees Zelos and his eight fellow "traitors" standing before him.

Zelos smiles and says in a sarcastic tone of voice "Oh, I'm terribly sooorry!" The Pope almost loses his grip on his staff as he steps back and proclaims "What?! What are you people doing here?!" Lloyd steps forth and firmly says to the man as he lowers his eyebrows in a terrible glare "We have something we want to ask you about."

"You're poisoning His Majesty, aren't you?" Zelos inquires in a serious tone of voice. The Pope tries to brush off the matter with a simple "…I don't know what you're talking about." Zelos raises his eyebrows and states "You're certainly a stubborn little liar."

No one in the group feels like taking the Pope's bullshit and lies, and Regal states "Is there an antidote?" The Pope shakes his head and denies once more "I don't know anything!" This time, Presea steps forward and raises her axe at his neck while demanding of him "Don't move…"

Meanwhile, Raine goes for a vial of liquid she sees on the top of the Pope's desk and grips it between her fingers, leading to her glaring coldly at the Pope before saying "Then, let's have you drink this poison. It doesn't take effect immediately, anyway…" Raine starts to walk towards the Pope while putting two of her fingers around the cork of the vial. But before she can pull it off with a delicate tug, the Pope freaks out and says "A…All right! It's in the drawer in the desk!"

Raine felt a little suspicious of this claim and nudged her head towards Colette, who promptly walked over to the desk and opened the closest drawer, where another vial with a purer liquid inside was found buried within. "Here it is!" Colette proclaimed, while under his breath the Pope can be heard muttering out a single "Damn…"

Now that the antidote had been found, Presea was about ready to pull her axe away before Genis tapped on her shoulder to subtly tell her not to. He then looked up at the Pope and asked "I have something I've been wanting to ask you…Why did you try to have Kate executed?! She's your daughter!" The Pope defiantly replies with "…Sh-Shut up! What do you know?!"

Genis angrily contorts his face and glares at the man while saying "Yeah, I don't! I don't know, so that's why I'm asking! Are you stupid or something?!" Lloyd looks at the Pope and in agreeing with Genis' questions he also says "You have a half-elven daughter! Why would you take the initiative in creating rules to oppress half-elves?"

The Pope glances down after a momentary pause and takes a deep enough breath in as to not be cut by Presea's axe before explaining "When I was young, I also thought the oppression of half-elves was wrong…" Colette asks of him afterwards "Then, why? The church exists to offer salvation to all, does it not?"

"Are you capable of understanding the terror of growing older, while your children, who supposedly shares your blood, does not?" The Pope explains, and Genis says in turn "That's not Kate's fault. That's the kind of species half-elves are."

"Yes! And that is why they are shunned! I understand the feelings of those who persecute them, because my daughter is a half-elf. She terrifies me!" The Pope's proclamation just makes Genis take pause for a moment before shaking his head out of pity for the man's foolishness, and he pats down on Presea's hand to make her lower her axe away from his neck. Freed from being a hostage, the Pope is about ready to reach for the bookcase when suddenly a certain double-helix sword is jabbed right towards the man's neck.

The group is mostly taken off-guard by this move, but Riku doesn't pay attention to their glares as he stands before the man with his eyebrows lowered in anger. "W-What the hell are you doing?! You already have your antidote!" The Pope inquires in a befuddled tone of voice, and Zelos is quick to point out "Yeah Riku, we don't need to waste anymore time with this idiot, come on, let's go sav-"

"SHUT UP ZELOS!" Riku retorts in a surprisingly angered tone of voice, which makes a chill creep through the room mere moments later. The teenage Overlord then glares at the Pope and says to him "First you ostracize your own daughter, then you agree to the formation of rules to oppress her and other half-elves, and then after years of neglecting her you decide to use her for your own selfish goals! Tell me, do you understand just how much damn emotional baggage you inflicted upon Kate by doing this?!"

"W-Why the hell are you bring all this up?!" The Pope asks in a puzzled tone of voice, which only puts Riku's blade closer to his neck. The teenage Overlord grits his teeth and says "You damned monster, don't you dare try and dodge this matter! You've explained well enough what you knew about half-elves, and yet you went and had a child with a female elf anyways! What the hell were you expecting to happen? You weren't going to get a pure human daughter out of it!"

"S-Shut up! What right have you to judge me?! A-Are you also a half-elf?! Is that why you are in league with these traitors?!" The Pope angrily defies against Riku's blade and words, and the teenage Overlord furiously exclaims "Who cares if I'm human or half-elf?! It wouldn't matter if I was a damn ogre, you don't treat ANYONE like a tool, most of all your own flesh and blood! Now you have one last chance. Do you understand just how much emotional pain you caused your daughter?!"

"I did everything I did because I am the rightful King of Tethe'alla! The moment I would end up becoming the King, I would reverse the laws I placed on half-elves and make my daughter the second highest member of society! And I don't care if I have to kill or use anyone else to get what's rightfully mine! And yes, accursed Chosen, that includes Seles!" The Pope's last remark makes Zelos' eyes briefly widen before he proclaims "You pathetic old geezer!"

"Zelos…Don't waste your breath on this man." Riku calmly says before he draws his blade away from the Pope's neck and turns around, hanging his arms low before closing his eyelids and hearing the Pope say "Heh…Such pointless triviality. But now your time is up! By now the guards will have realized something is wrong and will come this way, and I shall have made my escape before they arrive!"

The Pope quickly presses a button to open the bookcases up, giving him a safe passage out of his room. But as he prepares to run out, Riku suddenly flips his body around and holds the invisible handle of his sword with both hands and stabs the blade straight through the Pope's heart. The Pope's body is thrust forward as the blade pops out the other side of his chest. He lets out a pained gargle for a few seconds as the teenage Overlord slants his eyebrows and says to the man in a cold tone of voice "Stabbed in the back…Just like what you did to Kate for her entire life."

Riku rips his blade back out and dispels it, letting the person's body fall to the ground and bleed out as everyone looks on at the event with utter shock on their faces. The teenage Overlord then feels a painful sensation in his head and grabs the side of it while saying "Ugh…W-What…What just happened?" He then notices the Pope's dead body and lets out a gasp while thinking to himself "N-No…I didn't want to kill him. He may have been a bastard, but I was intending to let these events play out as they should…"

"Riku…What the hell did you just do?" Zelos comments in a disbelieving tone of voice. The teenage Overlord glances concernedly at the group and then at the Pope's corpse, saying in turn "I killed the Pope…But I don't know why. Whatever emotion I felt before I killed the Pope…I-It wasn't my own. I honestly can't explain what happened…"

"I don't think an explanation is really necessary. It's obvious that Riku wasn't acting right, especially when you consider he acted the same way when we rescued Kate. I can only imagine it has to do with a subconscious memory…But more to the point, Zelos has a point. As much of a monster as he was, killing the Pope now will only work against us." Regal explains quietly.

"Huh? How come?" Lloyd asks in a puzzled tone of voice. Zelos explains "There is this thing called 'due process', Lloyd. Criminals need to be judged before they are punished. It would've been perfectly ok to kill that old coot AFTER we told the King about all of his crimes, but now the Pope is going to be seen as innocent and we'll look like the traitors."

"…Not necessarily. The Pope seemed to be a fan of these type of vials. If we show the King the antidote and poison vials, he might believe that the Pope was planning to usurp him." Raine says as she holds up the bottle of poison in her right fingers. "Guess it's worth a shot. Come on, let's take the Pope's secret passage out of here before the knights show up." Zelos' comment leads to the group swiftly making their way past the Pope's fallen body and out through the secret passage.

Running straight for the upper floors of the castle, Raine comments to the teenage Overlord "Riku…We won't have to worry about you going out of control like that again, right?" Riku glances back and says "Honestly, considering only the Pope instigated that behavior, I imagine you won't have to deal with it again."

"…I would hope so." Raine comments in a melancholy tone of voice. She then drops the matter as the group approaches two guards in front of the King's quarters. They nervously see the group of nine standing before them and begs of Zelos "Ch…Chosen! I'm sorry! Please prepare yourself!"

Since Sheena didn't have anymore sleep-inducing seals on her, the group was all but prepared to fight when Colette spreading her wings and taking flight caused the guards to freak out and say "It's an angel! An angel has come down from heaven! It's the second coming of Spiritua!" Apparently, the two guards hadn't been informed on the Chosen of Sylvarant, which puzzled everyone but Zelos, who uses this chance to scare away the guards by saying "Yes. She is the angel of death and destruction! Spiritua has returned!"

"Pl…please forgive us, oh great angel!" One of the guards falls onto his knees and bows before Colette, and the girl nervously mutters out "Ah…um…um…what should I do?" Lloyd glances at Zelos and whispers to him "Hey, what are you doing?"

Zelos snaps back with "Just follow my lead and don't worry." He then looks at Colette and says in a bombastic tone of voice "Oh, holy angel, how shall we deal with these mortals?!" Lloyd whispers up to Colette "…Just say you're going to kill them."

As the guards are lowered in bows, Colette turns to Lloyd and nervously murmurs "B…but.." Lloyd gives a reassuring nod and says "It's okay. Just say it like you're in command." Colette then turns back around and spookily raises her hands into the air while nervously proclaiming "Um…um…Die!" One of the guards lifts his body up and clasps his hands together while begging of the angel "P…please! Forgive us!"

"Holy one! Please spare their lives in my name! I will defeat those who oppose you and once again act as the Chosen to spread the teachings of Martel. Please!" Zelos finds himself really getting into this act, and Colette nervously states "Ah, okay…I shall forgive you!"

"Did you hear that?! The angel has recognized the Chosen as the true holy will of the church! Leave at once and claim the body of the holy one's first victim the Pope, and capture the Papal Knights that followed his unholy will!" Zelos exclaims, and one of the guards quickly rises to his feet and says "Y…yes, sir!"

"And revoke the wanted status of the Chosen his companions at once!" Zelos adds one last little detail to his plan, and the guards run off while proclaiming "Everyone, do as the Chosen commands!" Their footsteps eventually leave the area, and as Colette lands on the ground she looks merrily at Zelos and says "Wow! Everyone did what you said, Zelos!"

"To think we'd be saved by the Legend of Spiritua." Regal says in a relieved tone of voice. "Yeah, and I managed to deal with our little setback caused by Riku killing the Pope! All of you owe me one and you know it." Zelos smugly smiles at the group, and Lloyd socks him one on the right shoulder before grinning and saying to him "You just had to ruin it with that, didn't you? But seriously Zelos, thanks for doing that."

"Hehehe, not a problem. But seriously, now we need to save His Majesty." After Zelos comments on this, the group walks into the King's quarters, where they find the bearded man covered in his own bed sheets as his regal, braided blonde daughter stands before the group with a shocked look on her face and a fan held in both of her hands against her chest. "W…Wait!" The girl proclaims to halt the group's advance.

Zelos handles the girl in his usually suave tone of voice "Princess. Please let us see His Majesty." The princess replies in a worried tone of voice as she glances at Colette "I don't know anything about the return of Spiritua, but my father is sick. My father only wanted to protect Tethe'alla…"

Zelos takes things a little more seriously as he explains "We know…Are you aware that His Majesty has been poisoned by the Pope?" The princess' eyes widen for a moment as she lets out a gasp and says "That can't be…" Lloyd nods his head and explains "The Pope was executed by the guards for revealing his conspiracy against the King."

"Wait, what?" The princess says, but Raine urgently points out as she pulls out the antidote "We have to neutralize the poison. Please move." The Princess moves out of the way and lets Raine walk up to the King, where she opens the vial and puts most of the liquid into his mouth, helping him swallow with a careful hand.

After a few seconds, the King slowly opens his eyes and lets out a groan that makes the princess run to the other side of the bed while merrily proclaiming "Father!" The King opens his eyes as he sits upright, and with his vision slowly coming back he murmurs out a quiet "W-What…?

"It looks like he's regaining consciousness. Your Majesty, do you recognize me?" Zelos steps up to the front of the bed while asking this, and once the King blinks his eyes a few times he weakly says "The traitor…Zelos. Have you come to kill me?"

Lloyd swings his right arm and reassures him with "No! Zelos saved you!" However, Zelos just murmurs to himself "Traitor…yes, that does suit me. Anyway, we were set up by the Pope. We have no intention of harming Tethe'alla."

"Even if the ruling family were to doubt him, the church, soldiers and citizens will certainly side with Zelos the Chosen. We have the return of Spiritua with us, after all." Raine explains as she folds her arms against her chest. The King begrudgingly asks "…What do you want?"

"We want to see documents concerning the hero Mithos and the Kharlan War." Lloyd replies, and the King rubs the front of his forehead while answering "They are storied in the archive on the second floor. Do what you will with them…Do not show yourselves in front of me again. I am…tired. I want nothing more to do with the church's power struggles."

"…'Thank you for saving my life.'" Riku firmly says to the King, and the man says "…Excuse me?" in response. "You could at least say you're thankful to us for being alive, instead of being selfish about this." The teenage Overlord then says as he glances at him calmly.

"…Who exactly are you supposed to be to address me in such a manner?" The King inquires in an almost angered tone of voice, but before Riku says anymore Zelos slaps his right hand against his mouth and says "Forget about it Riku. Very well then, Your Majesty, we shall allow ourselves access to the archives."

The group then backs out of the King's bedroom and heads straight for the second floor, with Zelos pulling his hand away from Riku's mouth and saying "You just really want to get us in trouble today, don't you? You may not be from this world, but that doesn't mean you can just talk-back or kill members of high authority."

"No, you're right, but it wouldn't have killed him to just say 'Thank you' and be done with it." Riku says, leading to the Chosen mentioning "Yeah yeah, I agree with that too, but he'll probably warm up to us once he recovers. Seriously man, I'm just worried about ya."

"Well thanks Zelos, I really appreciate it…" Riku says with a half-hearted smile as he turns his head back. The group then enters the Meltokio Castle archives, which still had a ton of books in it but was otherwise smaller than the Sybak archives. "Alright, let's start searching!" Lloyd excitedly proclaims.

The group spreads out across the entire room, searching through every book they can find in search for information on the Kharlan War, leading to a good fifteen minutes spent before Riku flies atop one of the book stacks and grabs one of the books, opening it up to find a language he cannot decipher on his own. He lands on the ground as the group begins to gather and says "Hey Raine, Colette, do either of you understand this?"

He flips the books around and holds the bottom of the spine to show it to the two he mentioned, and Raine comments "Ancient elven letters? …Wait. This must be the book!" Raine pulls the book from Riku's grasp and holds it in front of her face as she flips back to the index, commenting in a delighted tone "Excellent! They do mention Colette's illness!"

"Nice find Riku! Who would've thought they book would've been on top of a stack?" Lloyd says happily, and then turns to the Professor as she begins to explain "Lets see…In order to prevent the erosion of the Cruxis Crystal, a Mana Fragment and zircon are fused using Boltzman's technique to create a Rune Crest. Fibers from the Mana Leaf Herb, when placed in the crest, protect against the crystallization caused by the illness…Everything else is just theory"

"So in other words, we need a Mana Fragment, Zircon, and a Unicorn Horn, right?" Genis asks, and with a nod of her head Raine adds "And a Mana Leaf Herb. Then, we make something called a Rune Crest, and attaching that to the Key Crest will suppress the crystal's activity."

"And I guess Altessa will have to make that." Lloyd says, and Presea then asks "What is happening to Colette's body?" Raine replies "It is as Altessa guessed…She is inflicted with 'Chronic Angelus Crystallus Inofficium'. It turns a person's entire body into a Cruxis Crystal."

"Okay, now we have some hope!" Lloyd enthusiastically proclaims, and as Raine shuts the book she states "But there's not much time. It says that epidermal crystallization begins within a few months, and the final stages of the disease cause the body to completely crystallize. The internal organs start to crystallize once the epidermis does, and then finally…"

Colette hangs her head in a melancholy manner and states "…The subject dies." Raine paused for a brief moment before stating empathetically "I suppose there's no point in trying to mince words. Yes, exactly."

"Then let's hurry. Cute girls deserve to live long." Zelos says, following up with a merry wink towards Colette to try and lift her spirits up. Presea then asks "Where are the materials?" Regal answers for one of them "My company once handled zircon. If we go to the main Lezareno building, we should be able to find information on it and where it is stored."

"The Mana Leaf Herb…is probably in Heimdall, the elven village." Raine says in a worried tone of voice. "You know of that place?" Zelos asks in a bewildered tone of voice, and Raine nods her head and answers "I…I vaguely recall hearing the name of that plant before when I was a child…"

"…Huh, that's odd, considering the people of Heimdall forbid anyone that is not an elf to enter the village." Zelos comments, and Lloyd looks at him and asks "Why?" Leading to the Chosen swiftly answering "It seems there was some trouble between them and humans a long time ago. These days, no one enters without a permit from the King of Tethe'alla."

"I wonder if he'll give us a permit?" Colette asks, and Zelos shrugs his shoulders and replies "Who knows? He doesn't want anything to do with us right now. We could always try asking Princess Hilda."

"Then all that's left would be the Mana Fragment, right? Where would we get that?" Sheena asks, and everyone save Colette shrugs their shoulders before the girl answers "…In the scriptures of the Church of Martel, there is a passage that says, 'The colossal mana of the great motherland, Derris-Kharlan, rained down upon the earth in fragments, giving birth to all living things."

"…So we have to go to Derris-Kharlan?" Lloyd says, and Colette points out "There's no proof, but…" Lloyd stops her from finishing that sentence by saying "That's the enemy's main base. Let's deal with it last. Right now we should go to either Heimdall or Altamira."

Since they needed a pass into Heimdall, the group exit the archives and try to find Princess Hilda, who is standing at the front corridor of the castle while some of the guards remove the Pope's dead corpse from sight. Zelos takes the helm and asks her if it might be ok to see the King. She turns to face them and replies "My father…says he does not want to meet with anyone."

"But we have to go to Heimdall. The King is the only one that can issue the pass." Lloyd explains, and in turn Zelos politely asks "Could you please ask him for us, Princess?" After a momentary pause upon looking at Zelos' puppy-dog eyes, Princess Hilda says "…Zelos, if you insist, I will ask my father. Please wait a moment."

The Princess walks off to go speak with the King, and once she's gone Raine is quick to mention "Even if we receive the pass…Heimdall is not a friendly village to anyone except elves. I can't say if they'll give us a Mana Leaf Herb…" Lloyd is also concerned about this matter, but reassures Raine by saying "We'll get them to give it to us somehow."

"Yeah, and if all else fails, Riku can kill them all and take the Mana Leaf Herb!" Zelos was obviously joking when he said that, but Riku quickly glances at him like he lost his mind and proclaims in response "That was just a one-time mistake!"

"Hehehe, but seriously, we shouldn't have to worry about resorting to brute force." Zelos states, and by the time he's done with that sentence Princess Hilda has already returned with a nicely sealed letter in the grasp of her right hand. She hands it over to Zelos while saying "This is a letter from my father to Heimdall. You should be able to enter the village with this."

"Princess, you have my thanks!" Zelos says in a very appreciative tone of voice, and with a bow of her head she walks off to manage her own affairs. Once she's gone Lloyd asks of his Tethe'allan friends "Where's Heimdall, anyways?'

"The Tower of Salvation is located at the center of the world, right? It should be south of there, surrounded by the Ymir Forest." Zelos answers, and Lloyd proclaims as he looks around at the group "Okay, let's go everyone!" With everything prepared for them to go to Heimdall, the group is able to leave Meltokio through the front gates now that their names had been cleared, and upon getting back on their Rheiards they head in the direction Zelos suggested them to go to the Ymir Forest, where the first of three items awaited…

Next Time: The Hero's History