Before the attack of Knossos…
Many whispered at how straight and tall the Braver walked through the streets. As if the events of last time did not happen whatsoever, his confidence untouched, his confidence even shining even more than before. Otherwise, the street were silent, relatively speaking. No adventurers coming in or out of Babel, the tower and entrance to the Dungeon. It was only natural, as many have been ordered and hired to keep their position in the city. Despite the precautions, Finn's thumb tingled like crazy. A part of him wanted to abort this whole personal vendetta, to return to his Familia and fine tune the plans…but he shook his head.
He had to put his trust in them. To win, or at the very least, last long enough until he won himself. He tightened his grip on his spear and came to a stop, in front of Babel. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes, before opening them. He wasn't surprised at all at the four individuals approaching him. The Guliver Brothers were all healed up themselves, with only their pride still bruised. They frowned, from underneath their helmets, as they walked up to the Braver.
They did not care for the masses. They did not even care that much for revenge, all things considered. The only acceptance, the only praise, the only woman they needed, was Lady Freya. They came here out of duty. Perhaps a bit out of frustration. But mostly because they were ready, to pick up the slack, if the one named Braver was not up to the task. Taking one look at his expression, his eyes…they moved. Walked towards him in one line, their hand raised.
One by one, they clapped Finn's own raised hand. The baton was passed. No words were needed to be shared. He was worthy to be their, the Pallum, representative. For now, at least. With that gesture finished, the brothers disappeared, taking their positions in the city, for the upcoming chaos ahead. Finn cracked his knuckles before exhaling slowly.
"I know you're there. Come out."
He slowly turned around as he said so, looking up at the rooftops. As soon as he fully faced the area, golden glitter and sparkled announced her presence, soon forming the Pallum Knight's body, sitting at the edge of the tiles, her feet dangling over the air as she rested her chin on her palm with a sneer.
"So you came, you absolute idiot. What, was last time not good enough for you? Our race really hit rock bottom if you are the smartest of this era."
Finn still felt an ache in his heart, at the genuine disgust in her voice. Still, he allowed the rest to wash over his own skin. The fact he didn't visibly react caused her eyebrow to twitch with annoyance, especially as he pointed his spear at her.
"Fianna…or whoever you truly are…I am here to finish things properly."
She spat to the side before leaping down, manifesting her own spear. With each step she took forward, her spear changed between the other weapons she had. Sword, axe, hammer, step by step, until finishing with the spear once more.
"Hmph. Second round, then?" She raised a mocking eyebrow at him. "Remember how I easily beat you?"
"You never beat me."
Fianna paused, blinking for a moment. For that instant, she forgot about her hatred, her fury. All she felt was sheer bafflement, especially at the matter of fact tone that Finn used. She tilted her head, staring at Finn through her helmet with a half open mouth for what felt like minutes.
"Hah?"
"You ran off. And I was still breathing and never admitted defeat." Finn smirked as he pointed his thumb at himself. "You never beat me. This is still round one."
It was a nonsensical statement. And yet, the sheer belief behind his words, that he did not experience defeat…what else could Fianna do, but double over, clutching her stomach as she began to cackle, to laugh at the stupidity before her.
"Haha…hahahahahahaha…!" She covered her eyes, touching her helmet with her palm. "The audacity…!" She looked up at the sky, almost wistfully. "I planned to just make you kill yourself…it isn't like you could stop me…" She rolled her shoulders before pointing at Finn with her weapon. "But fine. I will give you absolute defeat."
Finn smirked, even as the sweat ran down his skin. That was step one successful. There wasn't much he could do against her divine authority. It also took her out of the large scale scheme of things, if she wasn't going to shut down all the Pallum in the city.
Step two would be the hardest part however, as the two Pallum began to circle around each other.
"I don't need my divine authority to destroy you. With people like you…You have to lose everything first. Then, you have my permission to die. With you gone, all will follow soon enough."
"Not on my watch," Finn growled back, flexing his fingers as his feet slowly slid over the ground.
"Especially on your watch."
"Then why wait?!"
"I tried to be nice for once, but fine, let's go!"
With a combined snarl, they both stabbed their spears forward, Tip met tip, and both recoiled at the same time. It was Fianna that recovered first, her weapon shifting to the daggers. Finn on the other hand used the recoil to just backflip, avoiding the flurry of slashes until his back hit the wall. He quickly moved up, as Fianna slammed her gauntlets, cracking the rock. She shifted her head a bit, as his spear swung from above, digging into her shoulder. It didn't pierce deep, as she quickly grabbed the shaft, and furiously tried to pull him closer.
To her surprise, he let go of his own weapon. Landing on his feet, he grabbed her helmet and slammed his knee into its visor. With a few jabs into her stomach, flinching at how touch her flesh felt like, he took his spear back as she reeled back, jumping away after cutting at her legs. She growled, the blood soon disappearing with a glitter of light as she rolled her previously injured shoulder.
"I don't feel any killing intent behind your blows. What, still scouting?! Think you can afford it?!"
"I still have questions."
"Curiosity kills the cat!"
Finn's eyes moved rapidly as the Pallum before him ran up at him, shifting her weapons repeatedly. He flinched as he realized he couldn't keep up with the sudden change of patterns. Fighting with a warhammer was vastly different to fighting with a shield, to a sword, to two daggers, to using magic. One moment he was trying to parry and just withstand the light weapons, only for almost getting his skull caved in by the warhammer. His dodging then became too predictable and slow before a whip left a nasty mark at his right thigh. Each time, the sheer dissonance made his mind freeze up, each time her weapons glowed for just a moment, he had to stop and actually think what was coming next.
Think and waste time, slow down his reactions, through that. He barely moved his head out of the way as a fireball almost took his head off. Still, he kept moving his spear, against the odds. And he kept moving his mouth, because this was not just a fight.
This was a confrontation.
"You don't want to hate, do you?! Else you wouldn't ask for emotional dampening!"
Fianna froze. He took that opportunity to swipe his spear diagonally, the upwards swing spilling her blood. She clutched her chest with a hiss before responding in kind, drawing her bow and arrow to skewer her opponent.
"Of course I don't want to hate! Who wants that?! It's distracting, it's painful, it's agonizing! But who cares?! I have it now, this vengeance in my heart, and it's aimed at all of you!"
"I doubt it!" Finn responded, ducking and weaving between the arrow rain, closing in to stab at her stomach, only for a shield to block him.
"Then you are blind!"
"I doubt this hate is only directed at the Pallum!"
Fianna roared, stomping on the ground. Finn stumbled just a bit, but it was enough for the sword to cut into his side before he caught the blade with his palm. For a moment, she shoved him sideways, both of the gritting teeth, before Finn came to a stop, pressing his foot against the wall, as he struggled against the steel in his flesh.
"You're right, I also despise the gods! Want a cookie?! What's with all the talk?! It will change absolutely nothing!"
"It helps me to understand! You! Your reasons!" He started to pull the sword out, just a little bit, before leaping away as fast as he could. "It'll help me be better!"
He knew what it must have sounded like to her hate addled mind. His words of respect, of showing how much he thought of her deeds, unknown as they were…must have sounded incredibly taunting. He saw how her veins bulged, her fingers twitched, as she stared at the ground with wide, deranged eyes.
"Too late." She snapped her head up. "Thousand years too late!"
Finn narrowed his eyes, as she ran at him with a spear. He slightly moved his arms. He saw her grin. He saw the start of glittering light. In that moment, as her weapon lost its coherency, he stabbed forward, bursting through with as much speed as he could. Her eyes widened but she couldn't react in time, as his charge took out a chunk of her side. She stumbled, in pain, as she covered her stomach, holding her bleeding side.
"Gah! How?!"
As golden light began to heal her up, Finn wasn't one to hesitate, as he rapidly spun his weapons, becoming a whirlwind of attacks. Fianna was forced to block with only one hand, as she retreated.
"You're smart, figure it out!"
"Damn you!" She screamed, before grasping her sword with both her hands, her side wound healed up already.
Yet he ducked swiftly as the sword became a hammer, and stabbed her into the foot. She screamed, swinging daggers at him, but he was already gone.
He had to mentally adjust to her switching her weapon out of nowhere…but so did she. The change of her armament led to a gap in action, miniscule as it was. And he wasn't the Braver for nothing. It took him a while, but he finally saw it, that moment of consideration, that moment where her mind was not focused on the fight, but on choosing her next tool. In that gap, he could land hits. In that gap, he could push her back. Not that he was dominating her now, but he rebalanced the fight, with each of them giving each other an injury over and over.
Which wasn't as equal as he liked, as she was capable of healing herself up…but even she had to have limits to how much she could heal.
Any further thoughts on that topic came to a sudden stop however. Suddenly, he heard it. The chaos that occurred out of nowhere, as the screams of civilians, the roars of adventurers, and the screams of monsters filled the air.
He couldn't help himself. He stopped for just a moment, to listen and feel the dragons and wyverns appear in the city. He couldn't help but worry for a single blink of an eye, how his Familia was doing. That distraction almost cost him, as the hammer smashed into his left side. He barely managed to raise his arm in time to guard his head, but it was not the best exchange as he smashed into a building. He coughed as the dust entered his lungs, clutching his left arm as he stumbled away under the cover of the artificial cloud. He leaned against a wall in a nearby alley, catching his breath.
Fortunately, it wasn't broken. Just…paralyzed from the pain. He flexed his left arm a few times, breathing out slowly before grasping his spear with both his arms again. He felt the desire to run off, to support his Familia. But he knew the moment he did so, nothing would stop Fianna from entering the fray herself, from using her special abilities to absolutely ruin whatever balance the current war possessed. Then, he felt the urge, to activate his magic, to cross the gap between him and his opponent.
His thumb tingled, and Finn immediately rolled forward, avoiding the descending warhammer on his skull. Bouncing over the ground with his feet, the Braver clicked his tongue before intensifying his footwork, increasing his agility to its limits once more, as the goddess before him ran at him, switching her weapons in an even faster pace.
He twirled his spear in response and bounced off a nearby wall, cutting her throat in the process, but not lethally. Instead of using his magic, he relied on the environment once more. Until he figured it out…he would not use Hell Finegas. It was his ace in the hole, to change the tides, to even give him immediate victory if the stars smiled upon him. But…he refused. After all, he was a fool. Or rather, he tried to be a fool for once. He desired a perfect victory. It made no sense. It was utterly irrational given the situation at hand. And yet, he wished for it. To fully know the vengeful entity before him, to know what her story was, how she turned out like this.
Because he was Finn Deimne. The one who wanted to support and shoulder the Pallum race…and that included the screaming, raging knight before him as well. Even if he didn't know how to make her reveal her own heart to him, he'd figure it out, one thrust of his spear at a time!
/
A culmination of the Valgang Dragons' blast hit a certain individual head on. He tried to absorb the attack as much as he could, screaming in righteous fury, but his tools broke before his will did. He roared in agony, before being sent to the ground.
"Bete!"
Still steaming and smoking, he forced himself up to his shaking feet, snarling as he stumbled forward.
"Fuck off, I'm good!"
"Look at yourself, you aren't-"
"This isn't a damn vacation, focus!"
Riveria breathed heavily, but grit her teeth and drew another arrow, started another chant. She glanced at the black wind clashing over and over with the hateful flames before forcing her attention back on the entire situation at hand.
Monsters dying. Adventurers dying. The elite growing more and more tired, the more they had to deal with the dragons, the wyverns, even the Violas. The suicide bombers, the enslaved, the mindbroken.
Taking the scenario in, from a place wide open to the public, yet hidden for it was not the center of battle, the Night Queen giggled to herself. Ah, how wonderful, when a plan went just smoothly. It would be even more smoothly, if she just went ahead and stabbed every single one of those damn gods in the confusion…but what would be the point in that? She wanted them to see it all, to witness it all, as their so called precious children were dying one by one.
And here, Thanatos acted like their original plan was the only one that was going to work! She was proven right to avoid the Evilus of the past, only now coming to the front to take over. Those fools wouldn't know proper preparation if it hit them in the face!
"That stupid spirit plan, who needs that?! It was nice as a backup, but as always, my own plans are more than enough! Far East! Dungeon! Orario! All are covered by me!"
Something did feel off, at the bottom of her heart. This faint sense of worry. This ghost like sensation that something was…cut off. But she ignored it, too euphoric to care. She saw from the sidelines, as always, those useless spectators grimacing, as if they actually cared.
"Does it hurt losing your children, oh mighty divine?! Does it aggravate you, that mockery of a legacy you built up in this forsaken world?! How does it feel to have your sins finally catch up on you?!"
People were praying. People were huddling together. They celebrated, when a certain hostess owner smashed a large wyvern to the ground with one punch. But that scenario was one of the few. No, those scenarios exemplified how meaningless it was all, for those little heroes to try so hard while elsewhere, there was only death.
"Does it pain you to be left behind, oh foolish mortals?! Do you feel hate for your gods, that do nothing to save you?! How does it feel for your pitiful faith to betray you?!"
The Night Queen clapped her hands, as if the climax of a play was about to be reached.
"You all are slaves to your mistakes, to your misplaced beliefs! But do not worry! I am setting us free, from your lies you tell yourselves, from your machinations that ruin all! No more heaven! No more earth!"
She sniffed, wiping her eye before pointing her finger at the sky, glaring at the heavens.
"Finally…finally…!"
True Freedom was almost in her grasp. Thus, Fate has been written and was reaching its end. Three places. Three locations of despair. And there was nothing that could be done. But alas, for that was Mortal History. Ups and downs. As mighty of heroes they were... all would fail eventually. The dice have been rolled and they were abso-
Piano music. It started off with heavy, singular beats, before the pace of the keys began to ramp up. In that moment…all battle ceased. The monsters, the cultists, the adventurers, living or dead, they all ceased, freezing in mid strike, mid movement. They looked at each other, in utter confusion. It was just music, and yet, it revebrated in their very souls, their very hearts.
In the Night Queen's case, it was quite literal. Her eyes went wide as she kneeled down, clutching at her chest, even as her slaves, Evilus members, frantically moved to her side. She could feel it, how the music was being played…through her. Her connection, from the depths of the world, reaching out to her, and then being sent to more invisible ties to her soul.
She gasped, trying to stand up frantically, realizing what was happening.
Aiz blinked, for a moment her hatred forgotten, as the Alter before her clutched her head, grimacing and groaning. At another battlefield, Ottar slowly got up to his feet, his eye closed from the blood seeping in, as the same happened with Alfia. Elsewhere, Finn stared at Fianna with wide eyes, as she had a more extreme reaction at the music being played, connected to her soul through the Night Queen herself.
"Leave me alone!" The knight flinched, clutching her head after throwing her helmet away, as she stumbled against the wall."Aaaahh!"
Tears fell out of her eyes, as she twisted in pain. She furiously shook her head, trying to stop the music from doing whatever it was doing, but it touched her very soul. Forcefully tearing out what she tried to hide from, to the front of her mind. Forcefully pulled out ALL her hatred, revealing it to herself and the world.
What could have been more painful than that, the whole truth?
"AAAAAAHHH!"
Slowly, the adventurers realized where the music was actually coming from, all their gazes snapping towards Babel itself.
-Jalter eyes, Alfia eyes, they all clear up, Fianna just gets a massive headache
-realization it comes from the dungeon itself somehow
"Pffff…." Tiona doubled over, not able to help herself despite her scorched hair, her cuts, slapping her fake legs a few times in amusement. "Hahahahahahahahaha! Damn, Lefiya, you rock, woooo!"
"Bell…!" Aiz muttered, at the same time as the Alter's eyes cleared up, glowing, before her head snapped up at the baffled Valetta with a growl .
"Well done, Hans…" Ottar whispered, as Alfia looked around, utterly confused with a pained expression, before her eyes landed on the King himself, realization starting to seep in.
Meanwhile…
"You musician motherfucker! HOW?!" The Night Queen screeched, her entire body glowing as she summoned up all her energy to stop this. And yet…
In the depths of the dungeon, unseen by those on the surface, the twisted maw opened wide, cackling in spite and hate as his fingers slammed into the keys, relishing in his master's outrage he felt through their connection.