Okay, shoot me later. After this mass-upload. I've had a million things to do and no time to do it. And I literally just had to go through the MSWord whole document Re:AST and get Parts 33-38. I sent the last three of those to Coren, because I don't think I'm gonna have the time next week to do the beta'ing myself. 35 WILL go up tomorrow, if I have to write it on my hand in permanent marker. (Which would be difficult, given that I don't HAVE a permanent marker right now...)

Sorry, getting distracted.

GO VOTE! (Yes. I will be pushy. ;p)

Enjoy the mass-upload!

What's with all the lefties, eh? –Kairi

"Kill it, what else?" –Kairi

Chapter 3.3 – Akzeriuth
Part 31

"...Do you two want another sword?" Cantabile asked as Sync and I stepped back out into the entrance hall. Twilight growled something, and I shrugged.

"If you want to help, go right ahead."

Cantabile had been in Choral Castle under orders to disassemble the fomicry machine. She'd just finished when Sync and I showed up. The two of us had figured that, riding on Twilight, we'd have no difficulty beating the second group to the Deo Pass while still remaining behind the first.

So long as we defeated the Sword Dancer quickly, that was.

I stepped up to the sword and reached out to touch it.

Darkness erupted from around the base, and the Sword Dancer rose up out of that, Ultimatus looking like it was slung across its back while two other swords were drawn.

I jumped back a couple of times and let the fonons of my own sword condense, even if I was mostly just a fonist for this battle.

Sync rushed forward with Twilight and Cantabile to either side of him, and I noticed right away that Cantabile used the exact same sword style as Guy... except, left-handed. What's with all the lefties, eh?

"O flames of hell, cremate mine enemies in a cage of fire! Infernal Prison!"

The Sword Dancer screeched and slashed at Sync and Cantabile, leaving Twilight a chance to attack from the other side. Valkyria was even getting in on the action, mostly just irritating the heck out of the opponent, though.

I smirked and started casting again, this time dropping a Sapphire Riot on it, followed up by another Infernal Prison.

Then Sync jumped back a couple of times and I ran in to take his place for a few moments. True, my strikes didn't have a lot of power behind them, but at least I was still doing damage.

I rolled under a swipe, then jumped to the side and hissed. My knee. Of course.

I cursed quietly as the Sword Dancer batted Cantabile to the side. Judging from face she made standing up and the way she, like myself, was putting most of her weight on her left leg, her leg was starting to act up as well.

I forced my leg to cooperate for a moment, at least, as we both ran back in. I let loose a Guardian Field, and Cantabile put a little pressure on her leg before smiling at me. I smiled back, since I'd noticed Guardian Field will heal the caster, too, but only if someone else is in the circle with them.

And a quick healing arte or something of the like is often enough to get my knee to stop hurting, even if only for a little while.

Which meant Cantabile and I only had so long to defeat the Sword Dancer.

"You don't know any artes, do you?" I asked her. She frowned.

"I know a few, but I don't exactly have the magick to use them repeatedly," she admitted. I shrugged.

"We've got some Pineapple Gels, and plenty of Orange Gels," I said, blocking a slash and then running back to start casting again. Cantabile let Twilight and Sync take over the melee fighting as she, too, retreated. I noted the odd frown on her expression before she even started casting and prepared for just about anything.

"O hellion's roar, resound! Bloody Howling!"

I couldn't help but cringe at the field of fonons. "Hope you didn't need that... Raging Mist!"

Cantabile sighed. "I can make another..."

"I'll stick to Sapphire Riot and Icicle Rain."

Sync flipped back twice and gave us an exasperated look. "What are you two trying to do?"

"Kill it, what else?"

He shook his head and muttered a 'never mind' before running back at the Sword Dancer. Cantabile and I shared a short laugh before we unleashed our artes again, a Sapphire Riot to compliment her Bloody Howling this time.

Then she started running, and the field of fonons sucked up around her.

Twilight and Sync decided to back out, and that was when I finally spotted it. The pale, colorful strands of light that I'd have almost mistaken for wire.

'Over limit...'

A dark field spread out from under Cantabile's feet, and suddenly everything seemed to vanish. I recognized this from Sync and Asch using their Mystic Artes, though I usually didn't get much warning.

The Sword Dancer froze when the dark pool touched his feet, and Cantabile smirked. "Don't think you can escape this!" she taunted. "Gates of Helheim, release! Black Freeze!"

I watched, rather a bit impressed, as the pool of black rose up around the Sword Dancer and then froze there before shattering a moment later.

The Sword Dancer stumbled back away from Cantabile as Sync, Twilight, and I were given the ability to move again.

I glanced at Sync, who frowned, then grinned and looked over at me.

Sync ran in toward the Sword Dancer, making use of his over limit to knock it back again. I was right behind him when he hit the ground.

If it weren't for the fact I'd gotten used to this over a couple of months of fighting alongside Asch and Sync, the way I got absolutely no warning of being half-dropped in a pocket dimension would have really disoriented me.

As it was, it hadn't happened in a while, and I didn't noticed that Sync was almost done until he let off with the all-too-familiar 'Now you die!'

I used Energies to draw up every fifth fonon I could and latched onto the trail end of Sync's Akashic Torment. "Don't think we're finished yet!" I hissed as Sync and I were swapped out.

The faint outline of the glyph from Akashic Torment lit up again, this time with red flame, as I took to the air, hanging there for a moment as the usual pillars of Akashic Torment reared up, but the fire collected at the tips of my outstretched fingers, rather than hitting the Sword Dancer.

"Eternal faith..." The two balls of fire were flung at the Sword Dancer with one final cry. "Sorcerer's Rage!"

I landed and the odd half-dimension where Mystic artes were performed disappeared, revealing Sync right behind me, Twilight and Valkyria off to one side, and Cantabile in the back.

The Sword Dancer stumbled twice before falling to one knee with a dark chuckle.

:I see... Perhaps you are strong enough to release me after all.:

A sword materialized in the ground as the Sword Dancer began to disappear.

:I look forward to our next confrontation.:

And just like that, the Sword Dancer was gone.

Cantabile breathed a short sigh of relief and sat down, stretching her leg out and massaging it while watching the sword cautiously. "It's not planning on attacking us again right away, is it?" she asked.

I shook my head. "No... You can't feel it anymore, can you? Besides, that's not the sword that was here before. That's not Ultimatus," I said, stepping forward and ignoring the fire in my right knee as I pulled the blade out of the ground, which it had been rather well stuck into.

Having custom-ordered the sword for Luke's birthday (and having done plenty of research on swords in the past), I'd taken the time to measure my own, wondering if it really was the traditional katana it appeared to be.

A ten-inch hilt, large enough for two hands, gave way to a thirty-inch blade. Which was about an inch and a half long for an old Japanese katana, but the extra reach was well-balanced and useful for the sword style I'd developed.

This sword was very, very similar. In fact, the very base seemed to be designed after a katana, albeit without a hand guard. The hilt, if I had to guess, was about two inches longer than mine. The blade, on the other hand...

"Sheesh. Stand that thing up on point, it might be taller than me," Sync grumbled. I chuckled and did so. Sync was 5'5", and the sword was maybe—lots of emphasis on that maybe—a half foot shorter than him. "Okay, maybe not, but close enough."

I laughed at his misfortune and went back to examining the blade in my hands. It was oddly light for the long length, and the hilt was rather decorative. Colorful vines seemed to wrap around it, reaching down along a few inches of the blade even. I frowned as I noted that the magenta vines carried leaves, the green carried thorns, and the dark teal...

"Those flowers look like lapis dart to me," Cantabile said. I swung the sword around a moment, then looked around.

"Ah, there we go..." I muttered, finally spotting a bat and running at it.

Sure enough, the blade was poisoned, and I smirked, going back to examining the blade for a moment and noting the fonic alphabet written along one side of the blade. I frowned, realizing it was Ancient Ispanian. "What does Sielvinviour mean?"

Cantabile cocked an eyebrow. "Silver Clematis. Why?"

I smirked and looked down at the blade again. "A fitting name."

Sync sighed, but smiled. "So... are we leaving or not?"

I nodded and broke the fonons of the sword down, letting them rest on my left arm. It still wasn't completely healed, but that was fine. I wasn't planning on switching to the new sword immediately anyway. I looked at where Cantabile was sitting worriedly. "Are you going to be okay?"

She smirked. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

I considered arguing with her, before I sighed and shrugged it off, jumping up onto Twilight's back. Valkyria was already in place on his head, so Sync ducked over and gave Cantabile a quick hug before racing over to jump on behind me.

Twilight started running, and I focused on my knee to start fortifying it again. It wouldn't do to have me limping when we caught up to the others.

The second group would have gotten on the ferry the morning before, and arrived at Kaitzur sometime in the afternoon. Which meant they would have made it to about halfway between the turn-offs for Choral Castle and Deo Pass. The first group would have probably camped outside Deo Pass for the night.

By the time we reached the road and started moving, I figured we'd be hard-pressed to beat the second group to the Deo Pass.

It was a two-day trip at the very least from one side of the pass to another. Asch, Sync, and I had usually taken three days, mostly to keep from exhausting ourselves. Which meant that if Asch was in the first group, they'd be taking about two and half. Enough to keep them ahead of the second group if Luke and co. decided to push it hard, but not enough to exhaust them overly.

Twilight veered into the forest at one point, and I figured we were nearing the second group. I glanced out, and noted that Sorylle, thankfully, hadn't caught our scent.

We stopped once we reached the Deo Pass, Sync and I getting down to give Twilight a bit of a break. It was now late afternoon, and with Luke and the others right behind us, we couldn't risk setting up camp until after dark at least.

So we started walking. Sync up front with Twilight, and myself in the back. Since my primary job right now was as a fonist, I saw no reason to put myself in the front of the formation.

Of course, that was when we weren't attacked from behind. At least I had a sword, though, because if I'd just had my bow, I'd have been screwed.

Sync and I decided to camp under a tree that night at a rather high point in the mountains. As the light faded, I was able to spot not one, but two campfires, one a few hours behind us, the other about a day ahead.

Luke and Asch.

I prodded Sync and we slipped onto the second plane. Sync looked around with a grin, while I started looking over myself, seeing what I could do about my leg and arm... actually.

*Guess what?*

*There are more collective spirit Energies in Asch's group than Luke's?*

I rolled my eyes. *That may be true, but that's not what I was going to bring up,* I said. *My arm should be done healing by the time we finish up in Akzeriuth.*

Then, just because I couldn't resist it, I looked at where the two fires were.

Sure enough, I could just barely see Luke's fire through the pink glow of Spirit Energies. Asch's fire was completely hidden, however, behind the wall of pink.

Well, between Jade's six and Asch's seven, as well as however many Reighn, Anise, and Natalia had, that's not surprising.

I smiled and slipped back into my body, pulling out my sleeping bag and happily curling up within, Sync and Twilight right next to me, and Valkyria deciding my hip was a wonderful bed for the night.

*-.-*-.-*-.-*-.-*

I frowned and looked around for a few moments before shrugging and walking for a while. It was strange. I usually appeared right under Cygnus. Oddly, I'd shown up under Sagittarius tonight. Once I reached my usual star-gazing area, however, I stopped and looked around for a bit before laying down.

"Is there any particular reason why I always show up under Capricorn?" Asch asked, suddenly appearing not much later. I frowned and shrugged.

"No idea."

"If it's any consolation, I have to run here from Gemini," Sync said as he, too, arrived.

Asch chuckled and laid down, Sync doing the same so that the three of us were laying with our heads together, our feet forming the points of a triangle. I let my mind drift over things for a while before I paused.

"Sync? When's your birthday?"

"Um... Shadow-Decan 22. Why?"

I thought that one over and smiled. "I get it."

"We don't," Asch mumbled. I giggled.

"Earth. The sun passes through constellations over the course of the year, and those constellations are split into twelve Zodiac signs. I was born December 7, so mine's Sagittarius. That's where I showed up tonight, probably because this is the first time I've done this on purpose," I explained. "Asch's birthday is closer to the end of the year, and Capricorn comes after Sagittarius. Gemini is on the other side of the circle, though."

"Ah..."

I smiled. So, he'd gotten it after all.

"I'm sorry."

I blinked and looked at Asch, before I realized just what he was apologizing for. I sighed and shook my head. "Don't apologize."

"But—"

"No 'buts,' Asch. Besides, you'll be taking it back eventually, anyway."

Asch was quiet for a bit. "Don't tell me you're following Luke's group even though I told you to go to Grand Chokmah."

"We're not," I said.

"Good."

"You'll still be pissed."

"Just as long as you're not in Akzeriuth."

I chose not to respond to that one.

Fun Fact: I have no idea where Sielvinviour came from. I thought it was actually a translation of 'silver vine' from some other language, but I couldn't find it when I looked later. -is shot for poor note-making skills-