Chapter 32

A large cleared area opened between Tiger and his designated target. While the other party guests knew what Tiger was capable of now, they still didn't seem inclined to leave the area entirely, perhaps thinking they would be safe. Sizing up the guard that was propping up the blonde angel girl, Tiger could already tell there was going to be some collateral damage.

Everyone was standing around, as if waiting for some kind of signal to start the fight. Vance's guards didn't seem thrilled to make the first move, which let Tiger wondering if he might be in the wrong for starting the fight.

Alvin's gun sounded off. A guard staggered back.

In a rush, six of the guards came running towards their group armed with pole arms. Tiger ignored them and rushed towards the girl.

Her lemon-green eyes opened slightly wider and maybe something of her situation got through her drugged haze since she weakly struggled against the man holding her up by her arm. Pulling his sword, the guard stepped forward to swing it at Tiger, but wasn't expecting the boy to skip a step to the left and come in after the blade had passed to punch. He heard a sick crack as his fist struck the man's elbow and the sword dropped from his grip, as did the girl.

Collapsing to the floor, the girl looked up at them as Tiger jump kicked the man in the chest, knocking him backwards several steps. She was apparently disinterested in sticking around and stumbled to her feet to make a wobbling run for the yard.

Another guard intercepted her as Tiger was finishing off his first opponent with a knee-snapping stomp.

Zelos briefly blocked his way as he and a guard with a sword dueled past. The man died, gurgling on his own blood as Zelos shoved his sword through a gap in his armor under his arm and pierced something fairly vital. Dodging around the redhead, Tiger found that the new guard already had his sword out and was holding the girl by her throat against his chest. She weakly beat at his arm.

Tiger stumbled as he suddenly felt weaker and a long gout of fire nearly caught Alvin as he was rushing towards Vance, sword drawn. With a sinking feeling, Tiger glanced around to check the battlefield, having gotten lost in his own little fight and realized that the party guests had fled, the buffet table was on fire, and there were at least five bodies laying on the floor, either dead or in severe amount of pain, but still more guards were arriving from the house.

'We're not going to win this,' Tiger realized.

Vance had retreated behind a wall of guards and was laughing maniacally while the guard with the girl was slowly dragging her back that direction.

'I'm not gonna let them get away with her.'

Pushing to his feet, Tiger made a rush for his target again. Another guard with a boxy weapon stepped in between him and his goal and a gout of flame roared from its end.

Drawing back his fist and shouting in fury, Tiger punched the fire, sending a shock wave of energy forward that blew out the flames and crumpled the front of the weapon. Everyone who witnessed it paused in shock, giving Zelos time to dispatch two more guards and Tiger ran past the man with the flame gun to leap and land a kick on his target just shy of the girl's head. Crumpling the guard's breastplate, he rode the man to the floor and grabbed the girl as she lost her balance. Throwing her over his shoulder, Tiger sprinted for the nearest exit, running full tilt towards the front yard of the mansion. "Alvin! Zelos!" he shouted to let them know he was retreating.

"Terminus Pride!" Alvin shouted.

Tiger went to his knees as he suddenly felt dizzy. The entire area went dark, then burst into flame with a raging heat that instantly made him start to sweat. Pushing through the weakness, he shifted the girl on his shoulder and started running again as something behind him exploded.

"Alvin..." he heard the girl whimper. "Help me..."

Too breathless to explain that he was already helping her, Tiger jumped down the stairs to the front 'lawn', art garden, whatever the Elympians called it and turned partially to see that the entire front patio was on fire now and had caught the front of the house as well. Alvin came charging out, Zelos a step behind.

"The boat!" Alvin shouted and pointed wildly towards the left.

Unable to remember what Alvin was talking about, he simply turned and ran after the man along with Zelos. They charged around the side of the house and when he saw the dock, Tiger saw the boat and two goons in grey suits that he and Alvin had taken out earlier. The two goons were staggering down the dock towards them, drawing weapons of some kind. Zelos suddenly sped past Alvin to meet the men, flying on angel wings. He decapitated one in a single pass, then spun around to stab the other in the back while they were stunned. Alvin pelted past the corpses and jumped down into the boat.

"How are you planning on rowing us fast enough to get away from this?" Zelos asked.

"Just cut the ropes," Alvin ordered and braced himself as Tiger rocked the boat jumping in. "And sit down," Alvin added as he did something with a wheel and lever at the front.

Deciding he had probably said that for a reason, Tiger carefully set the girl down in a seat and crouched beside her as the boat suddenly took off. They sped across the water so fast they merely skimmed the surface. Feeling as if someone had pulled a drain plug out, Tiger sank to his knees, head resting against the girl's lap helplessly.

"Were you hurt?" Zelos asked and shifted over beside them. "Here, Hunny," he said gently and tipped the girl's head as he put a bottle to her lips. "This will help you feel better."

She tried to pull away from him, but was unable to resist, or perhaps recognized the taste of whatever Zelos was giving her and quit fighting. She coughed a couple times as Zelos slid off his seat to crouch next to Tiger.

"Hang in there, kid," he said. "You're doing good, okay? We've about lost them."

Unable to quite figure out what the redhead meant, Tiger closed his eyes and concentrated on breathing.

"Alvin," the girl said. "You really did come to save me," she lifted her hands and Tiger cracked his eye open to find her wiping her face with them.

"Sorry I didn't come sooner, Elise," Alvin said. "You all right? He didn't do anything to you, did he?"

"They killed Rowan," she said. "He was with me when they came to kidnap me..."

Alvin muttered curses under his breath. "That's one more thing I need to kill him for." Tiger felt the boat slowing and darkness fell over them as the sound of the motor echoed on wet walls.

"We need to ditch the boat," Zelos said.

"We can't get back to Rieze Maxia with it anyway. We'll have to find a way to sneak onto one of the passenger liners."

Finding the strength to sit up, Tiger looked up at the girl he had saved. 'Elise.' Putting on a smile he asked, "How're you feeling? Are you hungry? I swiped some snacks from the party if you don't mind them being squished."

Her lemon-green eyes reflected the lights that glowed near the floor of the boat as she stared at him in shock. "Who are these people?" Elise asked.

"Zelos Wilder," the redhead said, placing a hand upon his chest with a suave smile. "I'm humbled to make your acquaintance, my sweet."

Unable to match Zelos's charm, Tiger settled back on his heels and cleared his throat, "Uh. Tiger Festival."

"What?" Elise stared a thim. "Is that your name?"

"Well, it's what I'm going by right now," Tiger said. "Long story where someone kind of started using my name and I didn't really like it anyway so I'm going by Tiger."

She picked at the hem of her short skirt and frowned at him. "Then what's your real name?"

"Emil." He cringed. "See? Tiger's much better."

Elise hummed softly. "Alvin, where are we?"

"In the slums of Trigleph, down by the docks but we can't stay here. This will be the first place they come looking," Alvin said.

Unable to suppress the urge to cough, Tiger turned away from Zelos and Elise and covered his mouth with his arm, gripping the side of the boat.

"You all right?" Alvin asked after Tiger managed to force himself to stop.

Waving his hand, he gestured vaguely. "Fine," he choked and opened his eyes to find that the boat had been turned off and Zelos was holding one of the severed ropes as he stood on a concrete platform. Alvin held his hand down to help Tiger out. Disliking that he needed the assistance, Tiger pulled himself out of the boat and looked back. "What're we going to do about... uhm."

Alving looked at the rug-wrapped package in the back seats. "Nothing we can do," he said finally. "Balan will understand, I'm sure..."

"What?" Elise grasped Alvin's coat and pulled. "What is that? Is it important to Balan? Shouldn't we try to save it?"

Tiger bit his lower lip and looked at Alvin long enough to determine that the brunet wasn't going to be able to tell her himself. "Uhm. Balan... isn't going to be needing it," he decided to say.

"Vance killed him," Alvin bluntly finished.

"Oh..." Elise's knees collapsed and she sat on the wet concrete with her hands over her mouth, tears streaming down her face.

Zelos released the rope and used a foot to push it back the way they had come.

"Yeah. Really mucked this one up..." Alvin said with a sigh and crouched to put his arm around Elise's shoulders and help her to her feet again. "We need to get moving. We've got to get back to Rieze Maxia and at least report to Gaius, before he decides to take matters into his own hands." He led the way down the concrete ledge, releasing Elise to walk behind him as she wiped her face with her hands again.

"Thank you for saving me," she said softly.

"Actually, you should thank Tiger. He's the one who got you out of there."

Surprised, Elise looked up at the man, then back at Tiger as he walked behind her.

Tiger put on a smile and waved. "Hi. Yeah. I punched out the guy that was trying to carry you off. I couldn't let a jerk like Vance just do what he wanted with a pretty..." his voice failed him as he realized what he was saying. Zelos, walking beside him prodded his back in an encouraging gesture to continue. Tiger cleared his throat, feeling his face burning, "Pretty girl l-like you and..."

Elise looked down, flushing as well. "Thank you."

Scratching the back of his head, Tiger laughed, "Ah - ha... it wasn't a ...problem or anything." He saw Zelos face-palm from the corner of his eye. "I - I mean... of course. I mean... Rescuing you from um... such... terrible people was... only the right thing to do. They obviously don't know how to treat a lady."

"Okay, that's enough," Alvin said and looked back at Zelos. "You need to take this one back to school."

"School?" Elise asked and looked at Zelos. "You're his teacher?"

Zelos smiled suavely, folding his arms. "Of course. Although a teacher is only as good as his student. Unfortunately Tiger needs to pay a bit more attention to class."

Tiger bowed his head in shame as Alvin actually chuckled.

"Uhm. I really like school. Maybe I can help you study?" Elise offered.

"Uh..." Tiger put his hands over his face. "No... that's okay. This is more of an individual project, I think."

They took a tunnel to the left and Tiger could tell that they were on a slight incline. The muck on the floor was occasionally slick and he made sure to stick near Elise in case she lost her footing and catch her before she fell. He had no problems with getting muddy, though by the smell he doubted it was just mud. 'At least it's not the muck from the battlefield at the Otherworldly Gate,' he decided and quickly tried to put that out of his mind.

...

Marta was still mad at them. Emil remained guilty silent while Ratatosk muttered about stupid human emotions in the back of his mind. He wished the Summon Spirit would just shut up, since Ratatosk wasn't helping the situation any and Marta would get over being mad when she felt like getting over it and there really wasn't anything he or Emil could do to make it better. They had lied to her, essentially and she had every right to be mad.

She sat in sullen silence on Judith, tucked safely in front of him as they flew towards the Otherworldly Gate, now three times living up to its name. Judith wanted to dive straight through the gate and fly out the other side, but not knowing exactly where Milla had linked it, he decided it was better to walk though.

"Lord Emil, Lady Marta," Tenebrae greeted as Judith landed in the mud near the gate.

"How have things been here?" Emil asked since Ratatosk didn't feel like talking still.

Ivar's wyvern landed in the mud nearby along with the winged dragon Aster was riding. Sheena had apparently decided to ride with Ivar again. Jude and Genis were mounted on the second winged dragon Emil had called, Genis steering it with Jude seated behind.

The Centurion shook his head. "We are running low on monsters, but most of the demons have been destroyed on this side."

"Okay. You guys rotate four at a time into Rieze Maxia and Elympios and make pacts with the monsters there, start getting things under control," Emil said.

"Of course," Tenebrae agreed, "Brilliant suggestion if I might say so myself."

This got Marta to snort and cover her laugh at least. Emil looked down at the back of her head and smiled slightly, gently rubbing her arms with his hands. She didn't shrug him off this time so that was an improvement.

"I'll leave it up to you guys to figure out who goes first," Emil said and was about to direct Judith through the gate when Aqua appeared on his other side.

"Lord Emil..." she said hesitantly.

Emil smiled at her. "Richter's still alive and doing better. He's at Altessa's resting. Go visit him."

She bowed her head, tears in her eyes. "Thank you!" She shimmered, disappearing.

Tenebrae sighed. "I suppose that leaves her out of the exploration party. Here I thought she would have liked to go first."

The air frosted over Tenebrae's ears as Glacies condensed into being sitting on his back, leaning against his neck. "You could take me instead. You know I enjoy your company, Tenebrae." She played with one of his ears, a snowy grin briefly visible on her ever-shifting form.

Looking mildly perturbed, the Centurion of Darkness snorted. "Only if you would quit riding me. I am not a mount."

"Oh, but you let all these people ride you? Am I not special enough?" Glacies teased both his ears, waggling them side to side.

Tenebrae shook himself and Glacies turned into snow, flying away from him in all directions.

"Ah!" Marta objected. "Tenebrae, you got me wet!" She glared at him.

"I would blame Glacies for that, Lady Marta. It's hardly my fault." He turned his nose into the air.

"We need to get going, Tenebrae," Emil said, though he didn't want to end the conversation. He could feel Marta tensing up again. "Why don't you come with us?"

Tenebrae's ears folded back in surprise. "I... if you wish for my company, I would be happy to join you."

Marta peeked back at him over her shoulder and Emil tried smiling at her to see if that would help. She sighed and turned away again, but did lean against his chest.

Guiding Judith with a nudge of his knees, Emil felt welcome enough to put his arms around Marta and kissed her hair. The wyvern cautiously sniffed the portal, then stuck her head through. Apparently seeing that it was safe to continue, she passed back into her native world.

Emil looked around as they got on the other side but was unable to identify where they were. "Ivar, where are we?"

"Lord Maxwell's shrine near Nia Khera," Ivar answered without even having to look around. "Are you sure you don't want me to come with you Lord Ratatosk? Lord Emil?"

Looking back at him, he caught Jude shrugging. "I can make the report to Gaius by myself," he said.

"Hey, are you forgetting me?" Genis asked and turned to glare back at him.

"Not... exactly, I just didn't want to volunteer you for-" Jude started to say.

"Of course I'm going with you. Sounds more interesting than playing around in some ruins-" Genis's voice choked, hands tightening on the reins of his mount. The winged dragon shook its head in mild distress.

"Oh Genis," Marta whispered.

Genis lifted his chin. "Where are we going, Jude?" he said firmly.

"Up, then north," Jude said.

"Yip yip!" Genis called, sending his winged dragon into the sky.

"Poor Genis," Sheena said softly. "I hope Jude will keep him distracted..."

"Let's get the components we need and meet him and Jude at Gaius's place," Aster suggested.

Ivar winced. "I'd have to give him my report..." he grumbled. He tapped his heel against his wyvern's side. The monster leapt into the air with a suddenness that nearly knocked Sheena off. She yelped in surprise and grabbed him around the waist.

Judith decided that was the signal to burst into the air, quickly closing the gap. Aster's winged dragon was not so agile and lagged behind some distance, struggling to catch up.

Tenebrae reappeared beside Marta and Emil, paws tucked as he flew like a bird. "I must admit, this world feels incredibly strange." He turned his head southwest, towards Fennmont. "I sense a great amount of Dark mana in that direction."

"There's a whole city covered in darkness," Emil said. "It's actually pretty neat. Unfortunately that effect will be gone in a few days."

"Hmm, a pity," Tenebrae said.

Marta sighed heavily and looked back at Emil. "When the mana runs out, everyone brought back will disappear, right?"

Emil's throat closed. He could only nod.

"What if we pour mana back into the spell... or have the World Tree sustain it somehow?"

"That would require there being enough mana available," Tenebrae said, speaking what Emil couldn't clear his throat to say. "Although, Lord Ratatosk's spell to rewrite the laws of the world so that mana isn't required for life is still in effect, the changes it is making are so small that it will now take several thousand years to modify the mana flow. It now must change Rieze Maxia and Elympios as well as Aselia."

Marta bowed her head in dismay. Risking getting elbowed again, Emil put his arms around her and gently rested his cheek against her hair. They flew in silence for nearly an hour, passing over Xian Du, past a mountain, and into another wet, cold valley. Ivar guided his wyvern lower and circled over what looked like an abandoned mine, the earth dug out in a deep, round hole with bridges spanning across it.

Ivar's mount landed on the upper rim of an excavated pit as snow began to fall. A cold breeze brushed against his shoulder and Emil glanced to his left, seeing a dancing snow drift he recognized as Glacies. She had followed them as well, he supposed. She drifted straight down the side of the old quarry, leaving a trail of frost in her wake.

Marta slid down off the wyvern and he followed before turning towards Judith to pat her side and absorb her mana. Once he was done with Aster's winged dragon, he looked over to find Ivar impatiently waiting at the head of a path, arms folded and tapping his heel.

"Lord Ratatosk, Lord Emil," Ivar said. "I've only had one lesson from you so far. When are you going to teach me more?"

"We're here for other important matters," Ratatosk said dismissively. "Your childish obsession with Jude can wait."

Clenching his fists, Ivar shook with impotent rage then spun around and started marching down the path, swinging his elbows aggressively.

Sheena giggled behind her hand. "Reminds me of a cat," she said to Aster. "Getting flustered because someone blew in his ear."

The researcher turned to look at her and Emil caught Aster's shocked expression in profile before he covered his mouth with both hands to keep from laughing.

"I just want to pet his little brow spots-" Sheena squeaked when Ivar whipped his head around to look back at her.

Emil wasn't sure if Ivar had actually heard or not, but he certainly didn't get the chance to contemplate for much longer as his foot slipped out from under him. He tumbled forward, rolling down the muddy hill head over heels. Sheena slapped her hands over her mouth and jogged down the treacherous slope after him. "Ivar! Are you all right?"

At the bottom, face down in a puddle, Ivar lifted a hand and waved slightly.

Marta hurried ahead as well and by the time Emil got there, the women had helped Ivar up and Marta cast a healing arte on him to make sure he actually was okay.

"You demand I teach you and then act like this?" Ratatosk said, taking over Emil's body once again. He looked down his nose at the silver-haired man.

Ivar stopped in the act of wiping mud off his front and stared at him, mouth agape.

"You are not worthy of my direct attention."

Clenching his fist, Ivar stomped and swung his hand out. "But you said you would!" he shouted. "You're going to go back on your word?"

"My word? Why would my word mean anything to you when yours means so little?" Ratatosk demanded.

"Ratatosk," Marta said. "I wish you'd quit picking fights with people."

He gave her a look and winked.

"What do you mean by that?" Ivar demanded.

"You have no principles, Ivar. You switch allegiances at a moment's notice! First you served Milla Maxwell, then you followed Gaius. Now you're serving me. You remind me of a bit of fluff on the breeze, going wherever the wind takes it," Ratatosk said. "You say you want to win Milla's heart, yet you act like this. A great woman once said some very wise words: Are you a man or a dog?"

Marta doubled over, clutching her stomach as she tried not to laugh.

Ivar's jaw worked as he tried to think of something worth saying. "I'm not a dog!" he shouted.

"I'm unconvinced," Ratatosk retorted and sprang forward, drawing his sword in the same motion.

Ivar dodged back and blocked the attack with one of his swords, deflecting the blow aside when he couldn't match Ratatosk's brute strength. "I'm not a dog!" Ivar repeated and swept his foot out to sweep Ratatosk's leading leg out from under him.

Dodging back, he barely managed to avoid getting knocked down, but Ivar was on the offensive. His right-hand sword swung out, cutting the air just in front of Ratatosk's nose followed by a triple slash that would have turned someone slower to bacon strips. Ratatosk stayed just out of Ivar's reach. "You are a man of no substance." Ratatosk ruthlessly continued. "That is the power Jude has, Ivar. He is his own master and allies himself with those he deems useful in furthering his cause. You cling like a puppy to the strongest force that can stand to have you around. With that attitude, you will never be able to call upon my full power. So either decide to be a dog and admit that you will never defeat Jude, or become a man and decide your own path."

Hands shaking, Ivar stopped his attack and bowed his head. "I... will defeat Jude!" He slung a hand out wildly to point his sword at Ratatosk. "And I'll do it without your power! That'll show you!"

"Don't disappoint me," Ratatosk said and sheathed his blade.

"What?" Ivar lowered his sword in confusion. "Weren't we going to spar?" He narrowed his eyes, "Or am I back to being not worth your attention?"

Ratatosk strode past him. "I have seen you fight. You don't need physical training." He met Ivar's gaze. "It is your emotions you must master."

Tenebrae snorted. "Funny thing for you to say, Lord Ratatosk."

Irritated, he glared at the Centurion. "I never said emotions were pointless, but they should be used to your advantage, rather than leaving you open to be struck from behind at every opportunity." He shot Ivar a look again.

Ivar hunched his shoulders and frowned. He apparently knew what Ratatosk was referring to and didn't need it explained further.

"Maybe there's hope for him after all," Ratatosk mused to Emil.

Rolling his eyes, Emil forcibly took his body back and said, "Can we get back to what we came here for?"