Chapter 13
Richter's hand closed on air as Emil's scarf fluttered just past his fingers and the portal shut with a sucking noise. "Aster...? Marta? Emil?" They had left him... He wanted to think that they hadn't meant to, but the longer he stood there waiting, the more sure he was that they weren't going to come back for him.
Fire soared overhead and exploded against the inn.
People came pouring out shortly afterwards, thumping into him on either side. Lowering his hand Richter turned to look the direction the fire had come from. A man with dark hair jogged up and it took him a moment to recognize Yuan.
"Richter, is this the work of those demons?" Yuan asked.
"Probably..." Richter said.
Yuan's brows drew together. "Are you well?"
"Emil, Marta, and Aster went to help Ratatosk. He was under attack."
"I'm glad they left you in Palmacosta then," Yuan said. "We should see to the people."
"Yeah..." Richter said discontentedly. "Put out that fire if you can and help evacuate people. I'm going for Brute." A hundred yards down the street he nearly ran into Brute. "We're under attack," he said without preamble, although it occurred to him that Brute had probably already guessed that given that the inn was on fire and possibly a couple more buildings, given the amount of smoke currently filling the night sky.
"Where's Marta?" Brute asked.
"She went to help Ratatosk," Richter said. "She can take care of herself." He forced himself to believe that statement as well, even though his heart was trying to climb out his throat. Aster would be useless, and even if Marta and Emil were strong fighters, they'd been strong fighters the first time they encountered whoever this was attacking Ratatosk. That hadn't ended well, even if he couldn't remember the specifics, he knew that much was fact.
Brute cast a disgruntled look at him, but thankfully didn't argue. "I've sent Hawk to start evacuating everyone to the ruins. Are you up for distracting these demons?"
"For as long as I can," Richter agreed, feeling chilled by Brute's tone. "You go help the Vanguard. I'll take care of the demons." They both looked towards an explosion that came from the direction of the town square.
"We should hurry then," Brute said and took off running in a different direction.
Richter made for the closest road that would get him to the square.
The building beside him exploded as he rounded a corner. Ducking, Richter lifted an arm to shield his face from burning embers. The smoke cleared. He straightened, now able to see into the square past the rubble that had once been a shop. Alice's laughter rang clear through the heavy smoke and fog. Her dark form writhed sideways like a cobra claws lifted and fangs bared.
Richter clenched his teeth and drew his axe and sword, forging boldly across the burning remains clogging the street.
"ALICE!" he shouted.
Twisting around to face him, her upper body swayed on a tail of dark shadows, looming twice as tall as he. "You again." She sighed. "Decus told me that he met you." She leaned down, claws digging into the cobblestones. "So where's your little friend Emil?" she crooned. "I want to play with him too."
"I'll be more than enough." Richter sprinted to the right, flanking Alice just as her claws stabbed out of the ground beneath where he had been standing. While she was still bound, he cut into her side with his sword.
Yanking her hand free of the ground, Alice elbowed Richter in the face, sending him flying back.
"Stalagmite!"
Pillars of earth burst up from beneath her, piercing Alice's form several times before crumbling.
Alice turned towards Genis with a savage hiss.
"Hyah!" Tiger's fist landed on her face as he launched from the roof of a nearby building, the metal gauntlets he wore gleaming in the firelight. The impact of his punch rocked her head backwards and he landed in a quick roll and made a dash to get out from beneath the demon as she curled her tail around to try to trap him against her oozing body.
"Nurse!"
Richter felt his bruises heal even before he had realized he had landed poorly in a pile of rocks.
Raine jogged to a stop beside him and offered a hand down. Smiling, she pulled him up. "What? Did you really think you'd be fighting alone?" she asked.
"I..." He shook his head. "Where's Decus though?"
"I don't know. Let's focus on killing Alice first," Raine said. "Photon!" She lifted her hands up, raising her staff high and sent a blast of light energy towards the snake-like demon.
Richter sprang forward, blocking Alice's tail as she whipped it back their direction.
Flexing her claws, she stabbed them down at him alternately as he dodged backwards to escape. The tips of her claws burst back up beneath him, anticipating where he would move next, striking his back several times. Richter staggered, caught his balance and changed directions, running towards Alice instead, coming up beneath her arms while she had them buried in the ground again. Spinning, he sliced first with his sword, then buried his axe into her chest beneath her collarbone.
Twisting free of his attack, Alice whipped her tail around, smashing him to the ground and backhanded Tiger from the air as he made another leaping punch at her from the side. "Where's your sword, Emil?" she sneered at the blond.
"Don't call me that!" Tiger shouted even as he rolled to his feet again. "I hate that name!"
"Oh, for once, you and I agree on something."
"I don't even know you." Tiger pointed at her. "So shut your ugly face!"
Alice reeled back in shock, apparently having gotten a good look at the boy's face and realized her mistake.
"Splash!" Genis shouted, his spell drowning out whatever the demon had been about to say.
Tiger sprinted up the side of a burning building then kicked off it to back flip away just as Alice slammed her tail into the bricks. Drawing his fist back, he slammed it down on her face with a shout, "Demon Fist!" that sent an arc of light racing ahead of his attack, then contacted with his physical blow to knock Alice to the ground entirely.
Richter felt Raine's energy building up beneath him and looked down to see a healing Arte circle glowing at his feet.
"Stalagmite!" Genis cast again, piercing Alice's body with stone spears.
Feeling refreshed, Richter launched forward to make his attack, slamming his axe into Alice's neck.
Her yellow eyes focused on him, mouth twisting into a toothy grin. Spikes of darkness shot up from the ground beneath him, stabbing through his torso before retracting. He heard Tiger and Genis object in pain and knew they had been hit as well. Alice picked herself up while he was stunned and lifted her hands, the smoke and fog swirling in the sky above her.
"Don't let her do that!" Tiger shouted and was already in motion, running away from the healing circle Raine had cast beneath him. Genis was smart enough to move into it.
Richter chose to take Tiger's warning and attacked. "Blessed Drops!" he shouted, dropping a bubble of water on Alice's head.
She cringed but wasn't given the time to recover before Tiger was on her with a quick succession of left-right punches. He suddenly sprang back, then upwards with a final axe kick to her face. "Eagle Dive!" he shouted.
Richter rushed in to tag his physical attacks on Alice before she regained her wits. Sword slicing upwards, he lopped off one of her arms, followed by a chop with his axe into her stomach.
"Stalagmite!" Genis cast again just as Richter sprang clear, leaping over Alice's tail when she whipped it around herself.
Alice screamed, her rage shaking the buildings and earth beneath Richter.
"My love! I'm coming!" Decus cried in the distance.
Richter looked on in dismay as the second demon surged through town, slinging buildings out of his way with two hands, third arm holding aloft his sword of darkness.
Aqua appeared beside Richter. "I'm sorry!" she cried, "I couldn't keep him occupied!"
"You tried," he said gently to the Centurion.
She gasped, her hands covering her mouth. "I have to go, Lord Richter. I'll come back as soon as I can." Aqua faded away.
Richter was already moving. Decus's sword smashed into the ground where he had been standing and the demon slid it across the cobblestones after the half-elf as he ran to escape the hit.
"Divine Saber!" Raine shouted. Lightning lanced down from the dark sky, catching Alice and Decus several times before the final blast struck the center of the square.
"Meteor Storm!" Genis shouted. Again the sky boiled with bright red and Richter instinctively dove back, grabbing Tiger along the way and hauled him to stand near Genis.
Raine arrived shortly after. "Healing Circle," she cast, a glowing arte lit up beneath them as Genis's summoned burning rocks smashed into the square.
Alice tumbled to the ground, writhing like a dying worm as Decus tried to shield her with his body.
Once the spell was over, Decus lifted his elongated snout and growled. "How dare you hurt her!" With a speed Richter hadn't been expecting, the demon launched himself across the square, sword swinging in an arc that hit all four of them, sending them flying. Raine shouted in pain as she landed in a burning building. Tiger sailed straight over the side of the bridge and into the water. Richter ended up getting tangled with Genis and they both hit the wall of a building.
Vision cloudy, Richter staggered to his feet, "Heal," he cast on himself. His eyes cleared just in time for Decus's sword to pin him to the wall.
"Lord Richter!" Aqua cried in dismay.
A black wolf formed out of the darkness and savagely attacked Decus's arm, chewing and biting until the demon was forced to retract his sword and swat at the monster.
Richter collapsed to his knees, panting in an effort to remain conscious. He pulled a gel from his pocket and chewed that even as he gathered the effort to cast Heal on Genis who woozily sat on the ground beside him.
A herd of polwigles came hopping out of the darkness in a rolling wave towards the demon, joining the fight with the wolf and multitude of bats that winged from the roiling smoke.
"Heal," Richter cast.
Genis groaned and slowly got to his feet, hand to his head. "Oh man. That hurt... Where's Raine?"
"I'll find her," Richter said and turned to run raggedly for the building he had seen her crash into. Fighting through the smoke and flames, he finally found her lying beneath a burning beam. "Raine," he called, coughing. Sheathing his weapons, he crawled under the smoke to her and grasped the wrist he could reach. Pulling with all his might, he slid her across the floor just as the beam crumbled and collapsed. She left a trail of blood. Digging in his bag, glad that he hadn't had the chance to empty his pockets anytime earlier that day, he found a life bottle and carefully propped her head to pour the liquid into her mouth. "Come on, Raine," he urged. "Get up."
Swallowing reflexively, the half-elf woman coughed and pried her eyes open.
"Can you move?" Richter asked.
"I think so."
"Tenebrae and Aqua are distracting them. We need to end this quickly." Crouching, he helped Raine up and led the way back out of the burning wreckage.
Catching his sleeve once they were out of the fire, Raine stopped him from running off. "Healing Circle," she cast again, lighting the ground beneath their feet. He felt his wounds knit once more and energy return.
Nodding his appreciation, Richter sprinted away to rejoin the fight. The Polwigles had not fared well against the demon and many of them lay scattered around the square, dead and dying. The bats at least seemed to be providing enough of a distraction, swooping en-mass around Decus's head while the single wolf worried away at whatever it could reach. Decus twisted and turned, flailing with his sword and both hands, snatching bats from the sky and throwing them away.
"Blessed Drop!" Richter called, throwing his arte at Decus too late to notice Alice rising up, her hands lifting into the air as dark smoke lifted from the cobblestones and collected in her wounds. Boiling black clouds formed above her head, then stretched out to cover the square. Black lightning rained down.
Richter staggered as he was struck three times in succession before the entire area was pelted with acid rain. The burning liquid caught in his hair and stung his face as it ran down in rivulets. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to move.
"Prism Sword!" Genis called, though his voice wavered. He had not avoided being struck by this attack. Beams of light shot down from the sky, catching Alice and disrupting her attack.
"Heal," Richter cast on himself again and moved to attack, slashing at Alice while she was distracted and wounded. "Tidal Wave!" he called as he finished his physical attacks. He was not fast enough to avoid Decus catching him with a diagonal slash of his sword, disrupting his spell before it went off.
"Leave my beloved alone!" the demon snarled, hoisting Richter up and slinging him away into another building.
Slamming head first into the building, Richter crashed to the ground in a barely conscious heap.
"Lord Richter," he vaguely understood Aqua as her face wavered in and out of his vision.
"Richter," Tenebrae's yellow eyes hovered in the darkness just behind the water Centurion.
"Here," Aqua said and shoved something into his mouth.
Tasting the fruit flavor of a gel, Richter mechanically chewed even as bright lights exploded in the square beyond while Raine and Genis continued to fight.
"Why are you two here?" Richter asked and swallowed.
Aqua's eyes widened and she turned to look at Tenebrae.
"Where are Aster, Emil, and Marta?" Richter demanded, looking at the Centurion of Darkness.
Tenebrae's ears folded down. "I apologize that we cannot lend further monster assistance to this battle. The majority of our minions are at the Otherworld Gate..."
Snapping his hand out, Richter gripped the Centurion's throat. "Where. Are. They?" he demanded.
Aqua gently cupped his wrist. "Lord Richter, please!"
Tenebrae squirmed free and coughed. "The Gate of Nifelheim collapsed. We can no longer sense Lord Ratatosk... I can no longer sense Emil or Lady Marta." He hung his head. "It would be safe to assume... they're dead."
"Lord Richter?" Aqua clutched his hand as she leaned in, worry painted on her features. "Lord Richter!"
Pushing her aside, he found his sword and axe amidst the debris of the building he had crashed into.
"Richter?" Tenebrae cowered down and moved out of the half-elf's way as he strode forward. Whether the Centurions said anything else, Richter couldn't hear past the roaring of his own heart. Fury and anguish welled up from the depths of his soul.
Decus turned to look at him, distracted from the bats and Polwigles that were still hounding him. Lifting his right hand to block, Decus impaled Richter with his claws.
His axe chopped through the demon's wrist, severing his hand. Richter pulled it free and threw it aside even as he continued charging. Blocking with his left hand, Decus tried to stop Richter's advance again. The hand went sailing over Richter's head as he swung his sword through the demon's limb just below the elbow.
Reeling back, Decus's third hand brought his sword in to sweep Richter away.
Dodging around it with a twirl, Richter's sword flashed upwards, piercing Decus's chest and opening a cut clean to his chin. Leaping into the air, he spun, lopping Decus's head off with his axe.
Corpse collapsing to the cobblestones just after Richter landed, he turned his gaze upon Alice, finding her staring with wide yellow eyes. Her mouth moved. He heard nothing.
Alice lifted her hands into the air.
His throat burned and he realized he needed to take a breath as he launched in a run towards her. An earth spell erupted under her, distracting her long enough for Richter to arrive with a double downwards chop of his sword and axe at her face, cleaving both his weapons into her body when she ducked back at the last second.
She scraped him off with both hands, piercing him with her claws as she gripped him tightly. Lifting him high, she slammed him into the ground once, then again before he got his sword free to cut both her hands off.
He rolled to his feet again, collected his axe from where he had dropped it and launched himself at her again.
Twisting herself around, Alice's tail swatted him in mid air.
Stabbing his sword into the appendage, Richter hung on and flipped himself over to run along her body.
She swatted at him with the stumps of her arms as he reached her back and hacked with both his sword and axe.
Alice's head twisted around, gaping mouth descending towards him.