I awoke to the rocking of a ship, and the sound of someone retching, my head feeling like it was full of rocks. My memories were, at best, muddled and unclear, as such, I kept my eyes tightly closed. It was as someone blew gently on my eyes that I was forced to flutter them open, finding myself staring up into the face of Ray, who smiled at me, before gently stroking my head, and then walking back, careful where she put her feet.
I opened my mouth to say something, but she placed a finger on her lips, and then pointed. Following her finger, I found myself staring at Lucia, covered in bandages along her torso. They were glowing, showing they were magical in nature, and were hard at work, and I stared, wondering what had happened to her, before something seemed to stab me in the back of the eye.
Ray quickly moved, placing a bottle of some of the nasty stuff at my lips, but I drank it down, feeling the warmth of the healing magics fill me, and when my attack had passed, she helped me to my feet, and the two of us exited the cabin. We didn't head to the deck, which I'd expected, but instead, she simply sat down against the wall, sighing, as she looked up at the ceiling, and joining her I found the rocking of the ship relaxing, even as someone else seemed to find it very much not so.
"So…that necklace you insisted on buying turned out to be a good investment after all," she said, and I had to think for a moment, only to recall it. The Fairy Necklace. I'd seen it in the shop on my first outing with Lucia and the Brothers. It had promised it could bring someone back from the dead in battle. I'd bought it for Lucia when we'd been gearing up for the Wave with the Soul Eater.
"Shame we can't get more of them," I added, remembering that the shopkeeper had no idea where the thing had come from, some adventurer with red hair had sold it, claiming to have found it on an island somewhere. He'd left shortly afterwards, and that had been years ago. After all, one-hundred gold was expensive for an item, and it had sat on that shelf for a decade and more waiting for us.
"It broke, by the way. Along with the Replica Weapon, the Robe of the Holy Mother, and most of her rings when she used her hand to protect herself from that backstabbing bi…from Therese's attacks," she said, sounding angry, and her tail bristling at the thought of the woman. I felt…nothing myself for her, despite what had happened, but I could understand her hate, and nodded at the mention.
"Balmus is going to be pissed off, given those were holy relics, and I doubt we can just pick more of those up from some shop," I said, trying to lighten the mood, and to her credit, she did scoff, but then leaned back against the wall.
"He's going to be mad alright, but mostly at the traitors who pretended to be our allies, only to get into position to stab us in the back," she opined, and I nodded at that. The man was a professional evil villain, and he knew who was responsible for this.
"Speaking of, how much do you know about what happened? You fought all three of them at once, and seemed to be winning until something changed," she asked me, and I had to take a moment to think. My thoughts were…I'd woken up confused, but that wasn't an excuse I could use anymore. I was well aware now, of what had happened, and it stuck in my craw, as I realized what I had been about to do, and what I had done.
"I…King L'arc and his retainers, Ladies Glass and Therese, invaded this world, to buy time for their own. On their world, the summoning happened right away, but of the Four Heroes, only one deigned to help them. The other three refused, and they've found it impossible to force them. So right now they have one Hero doing the work of four," I said, and that seemed to bring her up short for a moment, as she had a glazed look to her eyes as she processed this.
"Did he tell you all that or…?" she trailed off, obviously trying to think of how I learned it, and smirking, I tapped the bow on my wrist.
"(Insight) is a useful skill for gathering information, and in this case, I know quite a bit more than I did before, though I think any tactical briefs need to wait until we're all together again," I said, and she nodded at that.
"So, do you want to talk about you unlocking…whatever that was? Naofumi has already guessed it was something like his own Wrath Shield, though as he noted, it was quite a bit different," she said, and that gave me pause. She had the right to know, as soon as possible, what had happened to me, after all, Naofumi's version of the Curse was something he shared with Filo, so it wasn't out of the question that mine might have an effect on the two in my own party in some way.
"I…my Sin is Pride. I was…I want to say offered several, but I think it was more whatever was giving me this power selected it from a list, and I got to glance at it. Pride of the Leader would have let me control others, Pride of the Healer would have given me the ability to bring anyone back from even death. I wanted that one, but at the same time…," I said, and I looked at the Bow on my wrist, shifting it between a few forms with a thought.
"I couldn't WANT anything. I…Pride is the Sin of thinking yourself MORE than others. That you matter most of all, and the world revolves around you. So when it gave me Pride of the Hero, I was okay with it. Because bringing her back didn't even come close to measuring up to hurting those who had 'broken' her," I continued, the menu flashing up for a moment, revealing the Bow, now sitting nice and neat right next to the Bow's base form on the web of forms in my menu, like it belonged beside it.
"I don't regret hurting her, Therese I mean. Or wanting to do more, to see what she had. Naofumi's version makes him a berserker, wanting only to kill anything that might be a threat around him. My version is a bit more focused. Anyone who might put themselves above me, who might take away what's MINE, is the target," I explained, and then ran my finger along my arm. It had a long, deep scar on it.
"Even when L'arc was attacking me, I couldn't focus on him, not once the possibility existed that I might not be able to put down Therese permanently. I HAD to break her, because she took something, she took someone, from me. Didn't matter what else it cost," I said, looking at the Bow, and then shifting it into its base form again.
"So one Sin makes you rage against everything around you that could hurt you, and the other makes you so focused you can't see anything else AS a threat, so you don't defend yourself. Not exactly the best trade offs," she commented, and I nodded at that.
"It's a deal with the devil, Motoyasu was right about that. Even if Naofumi has learned to focus while in his, it's still the same. He jumped into Glass' barrier, and I saw Filo taking a massive hit to her HP. If that bird weren't the tank she is, she'd have been shredded," I admitted.
"The power to be strong, to defeat any opponent, but in such a way that you can't ever WIN a single battle. Sounds like a Curse if there ever was one," said a new voice, and the two of us froze for a moment, before turning to see Lucia, in the bandages that weren't glowing quite as brightly as before. I was on my feet before I thought about it, though luckily, Ray was faster, and stopped me before I could do something stupid and hug her tight enough to break something.
"How are you feeling?" asked Ray after a moment, and Lucia winced as she tried to stand up straight.
"Bodily? I feel like a filolial stamped hit me dead on. Though, given I was dead for a few minutes there, it's better than I should. Mentally, I'm exhausted," she began, walking towards us, and then leaning back against the wall we'd been back against. She slid down it, and getting back into our spots, we sat on either side of her as she wriggled a little until she got into a position that didn't hurt as much, given the groans she periodically made as the ship continued to rock.
"I…I was too weak to defend the Hero. I was there this time, when we were attacked, and I had a legendary weapon and armor. Even THEN, I was still not up to the task," she began, and I opened my mouth to say something, but she turned sharply to me, making me bite my tongue.
"This isn't about me complaining about being weak, nor did we underestimate our enemies. We have to KNOW we have enemies to underestimate them, and no one could have guessed the Glass woman had allies, let alone that they would infiltrate our ranks, spy on us, and gain the trust of a Hero, just to be in the perfect position to attack the moment we won," she said as she turned forward, and I could almost hear the slight pause in her voice, so I kept my mouth shut as she continued.
"We know they're there, now, and I have my doubts that this is a trick that works twice on any of us. Still, they proved that their powers were greater than our own, and we have to find a counter to that. We cannot trust in luck as we did in both these previous battles," she said, looking towards me, and I knew I should say something, but for a moment, my mind drew a blank, stammering as I tried to think.
"You don't have to have a plan right away, but given how well your plan worked against the Whale, and were the one who countered the Glass woman the first time, you are the one I trust most to come up with a way to stop them, permanently, if necessary," she said the last in a harsh tone, and I could hear that she was chiding me for NOT going for the kill this last time…or perhaps her leaving out that I drove them off this last time since that was using the Curse Series of Weapons, something I intended on never drawing on again if I could help it.
"They were willing to kill someone special to me. They were willing to kill all of us, if it came down to it, and this whole world. They think they're being good people, trying to do it this way, but they're cheating. They're using the stats of both worlds, and Glass' own reaction when I found a way around it says she, at least, would have gone for the kill if she'd known she was vulnerable at all," I said, and she stared at me, and I knew exactly what she wanted to hear me say. Heavy as it was, I sighed, and nodded.
"I wasn't holding back, either time I've faced them. The first time, I just had no idea what they could do. This time, I was using a power that made it impossible to see them as a threat, until they were. Next time? I will end them. No questions asked. The next time we see each other, they will be my enemy, and my enemy doesn't get to walk away when they've made it clear they won't back down," I said, and that got her nodding.
Lucia rose to her feet. Well, she tried to anyway, but she winced in pain, and I used the same healing shot I'd used on the brothers during our first meeting. That seemed to, if not fix her right up, then at least let her move a bit more freely. With her on the up again, we made for the door to the cabins, where the deck awaited us, where the outside world awaited us, and the future.