Rean tapped his foot on the floor. "Okay, seriously. Where are they?"
He and the rest of Group A had reconvened at the Bracer Guild branch and were waiting for their remaining members, Morgan and Crow, to come back from their trip to Lohengrin Castle. The group had inferred that much from the position of their pins on the map, and there was reassurance from Emma and Gaius that they were only stepping out for a short while and would return by sundown. However, the minutes continued to tick by, and there was still no trace of the duo.
"The most they gave me and Emma was a phone call telling us to hold down the fort while they went sightseeing with some children," Gaius recounted. "Apparently, the boys were clever enough to submit it as an official guild request."
"I can understand the urgency of venturing out before sundown…" Laura muttered. "But they should have waited for us, at least."
"I have my apprehensions as well…" Emma looked out the window at Lohengrin Castle with a particularly troubled expression. "But at the very least, we can rest easy knowing that if anything happens, Morgan and Crow are with them."
Rean nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Both of them get along well with kids, not to mention that Morgan's the picture of reliability. Not to say that Crow's lacking in that department either, but… Well, it's Crow."
"His mind can change in an instant, like the tide crashing against the shore," said Gaius. "With that said, I believe he has already proven himself worthy of our trust."
"It's hard to believe that both he and Millium just transferred to our class this month, but it really feels like they've been here all along, huh?"
"Indeed. Both of them are full-fledged members of Class VII at this point."
The door to the Bracer Guild building opened, followed by a young boy's voice calling out, "Hey!"
The students turned around to find three visitors coming in through the doorway.
"Julian! Karno!" Laura recognized. "And…"
"Crow! There you are!" Rean ran up to their silver-haired upperclassman. He was carrying one of the boys on his back. "We've been trying to contact you…"
"Not right now," Crow responded. "Karno's got a bruise, so I need to treat it first. Where's the first aid kit?"
"Oh. It's over here…"
Gaius brought out a first aid kit and brought it over to the seating area where Crow had set Karno down. Crow wordlessly took the first aid kit and began treating Karno's bruise.
That was when the rest of Group A noticed two immediate things. The first was that Crow was not acting like his usual happy-go-lucky self. The gunslinger had not even so much as smiled at them even upon being greeted by Rean.
The second was that there was still one person who wasn't accounted for.
"...Where's Morgan?" Emma asked pensively.
Crow continued to remain silent.
"Crow…" Rean breathed slowly, trying to keep his emotions in check. "What happened out there?"
"It was so scary…!" Julian eventually cried out. "The castle suddenly got all weird right as we were about to leave. And then, Miss Morgan, she…!"
"She stayed behind so we could escape," Karno finished. "It's our fault. If we didn't have that idea…"
Crow finished putting on a bandage over Karno's bruise and stood up. When he turned around, he found Rean glaring at him, looking not at all pleased.
"You left her behind," the swordsman said.
"I was FORCED to leave her behind," Crow responded. "There's a difference."
"But you could've stayed with her and offered her support-"
"Oh yeah? And what was I supposed to do? Send the kids back on their own?"
"Rean, Crow. Please…" Laura accosted them. "You're starting to scare the children."
The two teens turned back at Julian and Karno. In the heat of their small argument, they had unknowingly startled the ones who were looking to them for guidance.
"Sorry."
"Yeah, my bad."
Laura nodded at them before directing her attention towards the children in question, kneeling down so that she was at their level. Her face was calm, but it was also very stern. "I'm sure I don't need to remind you two that traversing Lake Ebel and entering Lohengrin Castle without proper supervision is dangerous. The two of you should know better than to use the guild's request system for something like this."
Julian and Karno hung their heads in shame.
"We're sorry…" the former said.
"All we wanted to do was explore one of the rumors…" the latter said. "We didn't mean for any of this to happen, honest."
"If you realize what you did wrong, then I have nothing further to say on the matter." She reached out her hands and patted them on the heads. "What ultimately matters is that the two of you came back safely. Now, you may leave the rest to us."
"Lady Laura…"
After giving them a smile of assurance, Laura stood up. "Crow. Could you give us a more detailed explanation as to what happened?"
Crow nodded. "Okay, so here's how it went down…" He then proceeded to explain what had happened during their expedition in Lohengrin Castle, up to and including the part where the castle tried to lock them in on its own volition.
"...A seal?"
"Yeah. There was this weird circular symbol and these glowing chains that kept showing up everywhere there was an entrance. I tried opening it after she blew me out, but it wouldn't budge."
"Laura, do you know anything about a seal?"
The swordswoman shook her head. "I have been there with my father multiple times, and this is the first time I have heard anything like it. There are certainly some old legends about Lohengrin Castle that border on the supernatural, but the people of Legram simply thought of them as just that: old legends."
"Clearly something else must be afoot," Gaius said uneasily. "This isn't the first time our class has encountered inexplicable occurrences in desolate areas."
Rean nodded. "Right. Can't forget about the old schoolhouse."
"Putting aside the seal…" Emma, who had been keeping quiet for the entire time, finally stepped forward. "You said that before Morgan threw you outside, the two of you were facing a walking suit of armor. Was there truly no one inside of it?"
"Positive. It was on one of those display stands when we passed by it the first time."
Emma hummed worryingly to herself. "Then we'd best hurry. There's no telling what other creatures will lurk in there now that the sun has gone down."
"By other creatures, do you mean…?"
"Do poltergeists truly exist after all?"
"We can ask those questions later," Rean spoke. "Right now, the only thing we need to know is that Morgan's in there and she needs our help fast. Laura, can you get us a boat?"
"Of course, Rean. I will contact the Arseid school and ask them to prepare an orbal boat for us."
"Good. The rest of us, make sure all of our equipment is ready. Meet up at the wharf once the boat's ready. We're not coming back unless everyone's in one piece!"
The group gave a collective grunt of affirmation and filed out of the Bracer Guild building. The only ones who stayed behind were Rean and Crow.
"Nice on you, Rean. Taking the lead like that."
"When one of our own is in danger, isn't it natural to want to go and help them? I'm sure if Morgan were here, she'd do the same thing." Rean then lowered his head to Crow. "I'm sorry for bursting out earlier. My emotions got the better of me."
"You don't need to act so seriously. Water under the bridge, right?"
"Right! Now come on. Let's not keep Morgan waiting."
"Try not to keep a lady waiting."
As Rean left the building, Crow was reminded of the last words Morgan had spoken to him. The way she expected him to be a good person despite his many attempts to say that he was otherwise… In the past, it never ceased to amuse him, but now? Her voice was continuously egging him on like it was a part of his conscience.
Just earlier in the month, he had sent off one of his longtime comrades on a suicide mission. Now here he was, venturing off with his underclassmen to save a girl he had gotten to know just a few months before.
"I'm getting soft…" he muttered to himself.
"Try not to keep a lady waiting…" Morgan grumbled to herself. "I'm starting to regret saying that. Some backup would be nice right now."
Morgan leaned her back against a wall, taking a moment to catch her breath. After defeating the walking suit of armor that had attacked her and Crow at the entrance hall, the odd symbol that was covering the entrance to the right wing vanished. Taking that as a sign to proceed that way, Morgan began her second climb up the castle, resolved to get to the bottom of the strange happenings by reaching the top.
The higher she climbed, however, the more enemies she encountered, each one stranger than the last. Some were poltergeists possessing suits of armor, in which case she could simply evade the easily-telegraphed attacks and hit them where they were vulnerable. Others leaned more to the supernatural side, like some floating demonic heads cloaked in a strange flame that looked like they were ripped straight from a child's nightmare. Against these sorts of enemies, Morgan found that her magic attacks yielded far better results than physical strikes, but this also presented another problem. Her orbments could only cast so many arts and she could only use her skills so many times. Therefore, she had to choose her fights carefully, pacing herself and managing her resources so as to not tire herself so quickly.
Eventually, she made it to the top of the right wing staircase, which opened to an outside corridor that connected to the left wing. It was a shame that she wasn't here under more peaceful circumstances like her first climb up, Morgan felt, or else she would have loved to take in the nighttime view of Lake Ebel.
"I'm guessing I can't just jump all the way down and see if I can escape that way…"
Just to make sure, Morgan peered her head over the railing. As far as she could see, there was nothing but an open lake below her.
"Okay, maybe not."
As unperturbed as Morgan was at this height, she knew that she had no shot of surviving if it meant she had to make a water landing. Swimming was still one of her weak points, and if she could only barely manage to swim across the length of a swimming pool, then trying to get back to shore while carrying her equipment would be a disaster.
Just as Morgan moved away from the railing, a chill ran down her spine. She heard the sound of footsteps making their way up the stairs.
"Not this again…"
Morgan readied her weapon and took out her ARCUS. To preserve the orbal energy in each of her orbments, she had been alternating between using her Enigma and her ARCUS with each fight.
"I've never been great at using ice magic," Morgan muttered as she activated Ignis. "But if it's just altering the state of water…"
Channeling her thoughts into her ARCUS, she touched it to the ground and caused a deluge of water to spill out onto the floor. Then, with another wave of her hand, the water solidified into a thin layer of ice.
"That should keep them busy for a while. And now… A tactical retreat!"
Morgan ran as fast as she could to the end of the corridor, not daring to look back. Right as she turned left to enter the left wing, she heard wailing followed by a series of weapons clattering to the ground.
"Did any of the enemies I defeated earlier wail?" Morgan struggled to remember. "Eh, not important."
Continuing her way up some more stairs, Morgan finally reached the place where she, Crow, and the children had made it the furthest the last time, where Karno had fallen down and prompted the group to turn back. In other words, everything past this point was unknown territory. As she set foot inside it, however, a glowing circular symbol manifested behind her, barring her from going back the way she came. Then, a pale haze began to envelop the small room.
"Shoot!"
Not a moment later, clusters of the haze began to take the shape of monsters. Morgan took out her Enigma and started preparing an art.
"Five…no, six of them," Morgan counted. "How should I go about this…"
One of the monsters finally manifested a corporeal form. Its appearance was humanoid, but it was far more brutish and muscular than a regular soldier. It wore no clothing save for a leather loincloth, an assortment of belts adorning the upper body and arms, and a giant round helmet with an array of holes for the monster to see through. What also caught Morgan's attention was the severed chains that were attached to the pieces of the monster's armor, including the wrists and abdomen. The other monsters began to manifest fully as well, taking on the same appearance as the first monster.
The monster in the front let out a loud growl and rushed at Morgan with nothing but its bare hands. Thinking quickly, Morgan ducked under the monster's initial swing and stabbed it in the stomach. Then, she pressed her orbment against the monster.
"Burst!" The orbment produced an explosion of fire that sent the monster reeling across the floor. The other monsters were steadily approaching her.
"What's with these guys?" Morgan wondered. "They look human, and yet they're not…"
Morgan held her forehead. Monsters that resembled humans and yet were not human at the same time… Why did that strike a chord in her all of a sudden?
She snapped out of her reverie in time to narrowly avoid another monster's attack. Morgan stabbed at both of its knees to cripple it, then jumped on top of its shoulders to get a better view of her position. In the few seconds she had to hang on top of the monster before it shook her off, she was able to plot the closest route to the staircase leading up to the next area. Given the cramped space of the room and the fact that she was sorely outnumbered, Morgan decided it was in her best interests to get out of the battle zone as quickly as possible.
Kicking off of the monster's back, Morgan rolled to the side and got back on her feet. She swung her weapon in a wide arc in front of her to keep the masked monsters at bay before jumping back and activating Ignis. Her body now enveloped in flames, Morgan poured her magic into her orbment and aimed it downwards, using Elwind to propel herself into the air and above the horde of monsters. She then fired another burst of Elwind to keep herself airborne, successfully hitting one of the monsters at the same time. As she landed at the base of the staircase, she poured the rest of her magic and aimed it at her feet, conjuring up a wall of fire in front of her.
"There. That should keep them occupied for a little bit-"
Her brief moment of triumph was swiftly interrupted when a masked monster barreled through the flame wall like it didn't even exist and decked her in the side. Morgan screamed as she was sent crashing to the nearest wall and slumped to the ground. Pain seared across the left side of her body, and both of her hands went limp, causing her weapon and orbment to fall out of arm's reach.
"Dammit…" she croaked, just barely managing to retain consciousness. "I was betting it all on that one."
She reached into one of her pouches and retrieved her ARCUS, but she knew she was in no position to fight back. The monsters had already moved to corner her, and she was too exhausted to use any of her skills. Her legs simply refused to move.
'No…!' Morgan frantically searched for something, anything that could give her an opening. 'There has to be something I can do!'
The monster at the front looked down at her, revealing that behind the mask were two red eyes. It raised its shackled fist, ready to strike.
"Not so fast!" a male voice shouted.
Immediately afterwards, all six monsters were pelted from behind by gunshots.
'That voice…!' Morgan recognized.
All of the masked monsters turned around to reveal a party of five teenagers all armed with weapons, and at the forefront was a young man with silver hair dual wielding orbal pistols.
"Crow?" she gasped. "And everyone else, too! You came for me?"
"Of course!" said Rean. "Class VII doesn't leave anyone behind. Crow!"
"I gotcha, Rean!"
An ARCUS link tied between them, Rean and Crow launched their coordinated assault. Rean opened by crouching low to the ground and sprinting forward at blinding speed. Using his Gale technique, he darted in between the masked monsters faster than they could keep up with him. Every time he passed one of them, he would slash at their legs, bringing them to their knees.
Once all of them were incapacitated, Crow began lining up his shots. His orbal pistols began pulsating with energy. "Yeah, you're done!"
The gunslinger then proceeded to wildly shoot in a variety of different directions, contrary to what his initial concentration had led the others to believe. But right as Morgan was about to comment that he had missed his chance to deal critical damage to the monsters, she noticed that each bullet was suspended in midair, pulsing with a black-colored energy that indicated they were infused with the time element.
"Cross Raven!" Crow snapped his fingers, and all of the bullets descended at once, cleanly flying through the holes in each monster's mask. Six perfect headshots. Six dead monsters.
"Yup! And that's how it's done!" Crow remarked, blowing away the smoke coming from his pistols. "What do you think? Do you guys have some more respect for your elders?"
"Yeah, yeah, you're amazing…" Rean answered drolly.
"Honestly…" Morgan concurred. "You'd actually be a lot cooler if you didn't say stuff like that."
Morgan struggled to get up from the ground, but the pain in her left side flared up again, preventing her from moving too much.
"Morgan, you're hurt!" Emma realized. She knelt to Morgan's side and hovered her orbal staff above her injured side. "Just hold still. I'll heal you."
"I would also like to lend my assistance," Gaius followed up. "My master quartz has a few wind healing arts of its own."
Morgan nodded. "Thanks, everyone. You're the best."
Laura knelt down and gave a comforting smile. "It's good to see that you're still in one piece, Morgan. I'm relieved that we were able to make it in time."
"Yeah, I'm relieved too," Morgan responded. "That wasn't one of my finest moments, if I'm being completely honest."
"We definitely could've gotten here sooner if the top of that one staircase wasn't suddenly covered in ice!" Crow complained. "Seriously, what the hell was up with that?"
"Uh…" Morgan pulled at her shirt collar, hoping that Gaius and Emma didn't notice the bead of cold sweat that had just appeared on her forehead. "Hey! How did you guys even get in here anyways? I thought the front door was blocked off."
"Yeah, it was supposed to be…" said Rean. "But when we all tried pushing it from the outside, we were able to get it open just fine."
"Seriously?"
Crow shrugged his shoulders. "I know. Weird, huh? I wasn't able to do it myself earlier, but as soon as I bring back a party, we're suddenly able to get it open!"
Morgan snickered to herself. "You see, Crow? You can work together with others if you try!"
"Aw, put a cork in it, Morgs. Although…"
"Although…?"
Perhaps it was just Morgan's imagination, but she could have sworn that Crow was stealing a glance at Emma. Before she could ask any further, Crow shook his head. "Nah, it's nothing! Anyways, this is as far as we went last time. How much further till we reach the top, Laura?"
"Up these stairs is another external corridor that leads to the castle keep," the swordswoman answered. "It's likely that whatever is causing this is in there."
"How do you guys know that's where you need to go?" Morgan asked.
"Because that's the only place in the castle that we haven't checked yet," Gaius responded. "Incidentally, Emma has also said that she could feel a mysterious energy coming from above. We're more or less following her lead."
"Emma?" Morgan eyed the bespectacled girl who was healing her. Could she have revealed who she was?
"It's nothing special," Emma insisted. "I just have a sort of sixth sense when it comes to things of this nature. And right now, I can sense something coming from the top floor of the castle. A mysterious energy, flowing out from there like a wellspring."
"Is that right…" From the sounds of things, Morgan surmised that Emma hadn't gone that far yet, but she was definitely coming dangerously close. "I just went up because that was the only direction I was able to go."
"We were lucky to have crossed paths, then," Rean said. "The enemies are getting tougher the higher we climb. We're definitely on the right track."
Emma finally lifted her orbal staff away from Morgan, as did Gaius with his ARCUS. "There we go. How do you feel, Morgan?" the former asked.
Morgan used her friends as support in order to stand back up. Her legs were still a bit shaky, and there was still a little bit of lingering pain in her left side, but she overall felt a lot better than she did just a few minutes before.
"I'm ready as I'll ever be!" she said confidently. "Look out, world! Cause Morgan's back in business!"
Laura chuckled softly. "Your enthusiasm never ceases to amaze. Normally, I would recommend that you stay out of combat for the time being, but given how dangerous the castle has become, we will need all the assistance we can get."
"I'll just stay in the back and provide support with arts, then! No one will complain if I do that, right?"
None of the members of Group A raised any objections. With Morgan finally back in their ranks, the students all made their way up the castle.
"Hey, Morgs."
"Yeah, Crow?"
He tossed her a battery. "Plug that into your orbment. That'll give it an extra boost of energy points."
"Okay. Thanks." She smiled at him. "And thanks for coming back to save me."
"Well, yeah! Why wouldn't I?" Crow grinned back at her. "I can't very well ignore the pleas of a maiden in need, can I?"
"Okay, I wasn't that desperate!"
"Oh, really? Then what would you call getting cornered by six monsters?"
"Th-That was just a minor miscalculation on my part! It happens to the best of us"
Crow chuckled. "Haha! Sure, sure. Well, good to have you back."
"Mm. Good to be back."
Morgan smiled at him before she turned around to catch up to the rest of their classmates. Crow had only said that for the sake of sounding courteous, but at that moment, it dawned on him that he actually did feel a little relieved to see that she was okay. Only a little, though.
"What IS that?"
The students finally reached the keep of the castle, an enormous indoor space about as spacious as their own school gymnasium. The students felt the cold night breeze blow across their skin as they approached the far end of the room, where they found a giant glowing blue orb sitting atop a pedestal.
"It looks like the orbs we've come across before, but it's far larger," Gaius noted. "I have an uneasy feeling about it."
"Look at the color." Crow pointed at the pale light that was flickering from the orb. "It's the same as the barrier on the front door. Looks like that's our ticket out of here."
"I definitely sense some kind of power coming from it," said Rean. "Is this the source of the energy you were sensing earlier, Emma?"
"There's no doubt about it. I suspect this orb is the cause of all the strange things going on in this castle. If we can destroy it, I'm betting everything will return to normal."
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's get it!" Crow took out his pistols and aimed them at the orb.
"Crow, wait-!"
Before Emma could say anything else, Crow fired a single bullet from each pistol. Right as they were about to make contact, however, a large symbol crackled into existence, protecting the orb. The bullets bounced harmlessly off and fell onto the floor.
"Well, it was worth a shot. Should've guessed there'd be another barrier." Crow shrugged his shoulders like wasting two bullets was no big deal.
"Great. Now what are we going to do?"
Gaius shifted his body, putting a hand on his spear. "Wait. Something's wrong!"
The other members of Group A looked up to find that the orb was now glowing more intensely than before.
"I feel an incredible torrent of energy pouring out of it!" Emma warned. "Everyone, get back!"
The entire floor seemed to rumble as the orb reached its maximum brightness. The students averted their eyes to prevent themselves from being blinded. When the light eventually died down, they were confronted by a giant, ethereal figure floating in front of the orb. Its form was skeletal in appearance, and it was clad in flowing robes and wore a crown atop its skull. In its hands was a large staff tipped by a purple orb.
The entire group immediately got into formation and took out their weapons.
"Emma, what is that?!" Morgan exclaimed.
"A Nosferatu…" Emma answered, looking just as surprised as the rest of them. "How could it manifest something like that in the real world?"
"It's on a completely different level than the foes we've encountered before," Laura noted.
"There's no way we can afford to lose. Not here!" Rean shouted. "Let's give it everything we've got!"
The specter opened its mouth towards the air and let out a loud screech. Out from the orb came three masked brutes with chains on their wrists.
"Not those things again!" Morgan cursed.
"Leave them to us!" Rean shouted. "Crow, back me up! Same as last time!"
"Same as last time! Got it!" Crow drew his orbal pistols and formed an ARCUS link with Rean.
While the two of them grabbed the attention of the faceless mooks, the rest of the group focused their attention on the main enemy. Being a spectral enemy, the students were quick to find out that normal attacks phased right through it, which meant that it was up to Morgan and Emma to use their orbal arts to deal damage. Occasionally, whenever the Nosferatu would swing its staff to attack, its body would glow even brighter and become corporeal. Whenever that happened, it would finally be susceptible to physical attacks. Through the ARCUS links, the students were able to find a rhythm of attacking first with orbal arts, then having either Laura or Gaius attract the monster's attention while the other would strike while it was vulnerable.
After some more exchanges, the Nosferatu began doing a different motion. Instead of swinging its staff, it held it upright before thrusting it downwards.
Emma's eyes widened. She shouted, "Gaius! Below you!"
Gaius noticed that the area around him was glowing a sinister energy. He instinctively jumped up and away, just barely managing to avoid two skeletal hands that clamped together from the ground like a bear trap.
"Be careful!" Emma warned. "If that thing catches you, it can drain your soul energy!"
The lancer nodded. "I will be sure to watch my step from now on."
Morgan huddled close to the other mage. "It'll be dangerous if it decides to go after Crow or Rean. Emma, do you know any spells that can defeat that thing?"
"It will be difficult to outright defeat something that's already dead, but…" After pursing her lips for a moment, Emma nodded. "I do know one. It's the most powerful spell that I know right now. However, it requires a long casting time."
"How long do you need?"
"I'd say about…a minute or so?"
"A minute… Okay! No problem!" Morgan flashed a confident grin at Emma before shouting, "Laura! Switch to Gaius! We're going to buy time for Emma!"
"Understood!" Laura severed her ARCUS link with Morgan and looked to the tall figure at her side. "Shall we, Gaius?"
"My strength is yours."
With a mutual nod, Laura and Gaius formed an ARCUS link. From behind Morgan, Emma started to chant her spell.
The Nosferatu then let out another screech, summoning three more minions. This time, they spawned directly behind Laura and Gaius and right in front of Morgan and Emma.
"Don't think this'll go the same way twice!" Morgan wasted no time in activating Ignis one last time and pouring her magic into her ARCUS. "If fire won't work, then let's try water!"
Morgan thrust her ARCUS downwards, causing water to spill out onto the floor. Then, she imagined in her mind the water solidifying and shooting straight up, similar to her flame wall. With a wave of her hand, the water shot up and became a wall of icicles that blocked the monsters' path.
"It worked!" Morgan cheered. But before she could start celebrating, the monster in the front began pounding on the wall. With each strike, the ice wall drew closer to its breaking point.
"Looks like I'll need to work on that when I get back…" Morgan briefly turned her head around to check up on Emma. The witch remained in a state of concentration, her eyes glued shut to focus on her spell. A glowing magical circle had appeared at her feet, indicating that she was getting closer to completion.
At the same time, the monsters finally broke through the ice wall and made their advance towards Morgan's position. She got her orbment and weapon at the ready, but despite the odds being against her, she wasn't afraid. Why?
The answer came in the form of a bullet that flew in from the left side of the keep and struck one of the monsters in the chest. A second later, there was a small misty explosion that came from where the bullet had landed, enveloping all three of the masked mooks and freezing them in their tracks.
Morgan smirked. "Right on time."
"What would you do without me?" Crow quipped. "That's, what, the second time I've had to save your hide today?"
"I knew you'd come back to help me, my Trickster," she replied with a giggle. "I trust you; need I say more?"
"Yeah, of course you do…" The gunslinger then blinked twice. "Wait, did you just-?"
"Come, great towers!"
Emma used both her arms to raise her staff towards the sky. The magic circle beneath her feet grew brighter, and a set of five more circles began to form around the Nosferatu and its minions.
"Rean! Laura! Gaius! Get out of the way!"
The three of them had been busy engaging the Nosferatu. When they heard Morgan's yell and noticed that the air around them was changing, they immediately retreated until they were safely outside the range of Emma's spell. An image of a stone tower inexplicably began rising up from each of the magic circles.
Emma opened her eyes. "Lord Albireon!"
Five beams of light converged into one singular mass of magic above the monsters. Once it reached maximum capacity, all of the magic rained down as a ray of destruction, enveloping the Nosferatu and its minions in a bright light. The other students had to briefly avert their eyes so as to not be blinded by the brightness of the attack.
When the light died down, the Nosferatu and the masked monsters were nowhere to be found.
"Did that do it?" Rean asked.
"Not yet! There's still that thing!" Crow aimed his pistols at the blue glowing orb, which had somehow remained unscathed from Emma's spell. "Maybe if I tried it now…"
However, things would not prove so simple. Right as Crow pulled the trigger, the orb began to glow brighter yet again, emitting an eerie pulse that not only knocked the bullets aside but also brought the entire group to their knees.
"Why can't I move?" Laura had been trying to use her sword as support to stand up, but she was completely immobilized in place.
"That thing must be freezing us in place!" Morgan figured.
"How could I have been so careless…?" Emma bemoaned. "I had no idea it had this much power left."
"Looks like I've got no choice…" Rean muttered through clenched teeth. "Ha…"
Morgan gasped, immediately realizing what Rean was planning on doing.
It looked like Emma had also caught on, because she cried, "Rean, no! If you're not careful, you'll be drawn into it!"
Rean faltered. "Wh-What are you…?"
'Dammit, Morgan! Think! There has to be something I can do!' Her eyes darted around the room, trying to look for anything she could use to her advantage, yet all she saw was an empty keep aside from her classmates and that giant glowing orb. According to Emma, it was the source of all of the strange happenings she had encountered since entering the castle.
'If only that thing weren't here… Everything's all your fault… Unforgivable…'
Such destructive thoughts began forming in her head. As they did, her vision started to turn red.
Wait, red?
She remembered Emma's words regarding her curse. Whenever it flared up, it would take the form of a red aura that was visible to all but herself. For the longest time, she was unaware that it existed as its own entity; only that it would occasionally activate under certain circumstances. Whenever she tried to make food, for one, as well as when she became enraged.
What if she tried to use that to her advantage? What sort of effect would that make?
Morgan concentrated all of her pent up frustration and directed it at the glowing orb. All of the trouble she went through, all of the sacrifices she made to get to this point… All consolidated in a desire to see it destroyed.
The sound of a sinister, high-pitched laughter ringing in her ears indicated her success.
"Morgan?" "You're…!"
Her classmates were all gasping, and for once, Morgan could make out why. It was difficult to see amidst the redness, but even she could see the change in the air. A thin red line stretching out in front of her, connecting her to the orb.
She slowly raised her left arm and pointed her finger at the orb. With a small, low grunt, the orb's impulse weakened, and the students were freed from their bindings.
"Everyone! All together!"
Resolving to make the most of the opportunity Morgan had given them, the students each unleashed the quickest yet strongest attack they could muster. Crow kept firing round after round of bullets until all the energy in his pistols was spent. Emma muttered some words and summoned a storm of mystical swords. Gaius let out a mighty howl as his spear was tipped with wind. Laura concentrated and caused her greatsword to be powered by radiant light. Rean did the same as Laura, and his tachi was wreathed in bright flames. One after another, their attacks assailed the source of the evil in Lohengrin Castle until finally, with one final fiery slash from Rean, the orb burst into tiny pieces that dissolved into the air. The strange glow surrounding the outside of the castle also faded away.
They had done it.
There were cheers of joy and sighs of relief alike. A long evening of separations, reunions, and ordeals was finally reaching its conclusion.
"...In the end, there are still some mysteries that we have yet to unravel. Like why those orbs appeared in the first place, and when Lohengrin Castle became such a breeding ground for fiends. I've ventured inside it before, but never were there any monsters such as that."
Laura sighed into her tea. She and Emma had finished writing their reports and were now relaxing in her bedroom. Being a viscount's daughter, her room was larger than what most commoners were used to, and it even connected to a small terrace outside. It provided ample room for Laura to move around furniture as needed so she could practice her drills, something that she was able to replicate to a lesser extent with her dorm room. The swordswoman had carried most of her personal belongings with her to Thors, so the room was a tad bit emptier than usual, but it was still well kept by the servants in the mansion. It was like she never left.
As for why they were one female member short, well, it was no surprise that Morgan had accumulated a lot of fatigue from fighting all by herself in the castle, and while Emma and Gaius were able to heal her up somewhat, it didn't stop her from passing out the moment she sat down in the boat. It took the group's combined efforts to make sure she didn't accidentally fall overboard on the ride back to Legram, and when they returned to shore, their first order of business was to make sure Morgan was delivered safely to the Arseid mansion for some well-earned rest. Currently, she was sleeping in the guest room.
"Even still…" Laura continued. "Your insight saved us all, Emma. You are truly a gifted individual."
"I-It's no big deal…" Emma said nervously. "I just have a few special abilities I've been practicing on the side. I'm glad I was able to use them to be of assistance."
Laura stared intently at the bespectacled teen. "I take it, then, that you aren't going to explain any further about these…special abilities?"
Emma glanced to the side. "...I'm sorry. But this isn't the right time for me to reveal myself to you all yet. I will, in due time. But not now."
Laura breathed out slowly through her nose. This wasn't the first time she had seen a classmate deliberately withhold information about their past, and it certainly wouldn't be the last, but thanks to her previous experiences, she had grown more accustomed to it. People opened up to others at different rates, that much she knew, and Emma was a good person underneath it all. The only thing she could do now was wait and trust in Emma to come forward when she felt comfortable.
"Very well. Far be it from me to force you to divulge your own secrets, especially in my own house."
"Laura…" Emma showed a small smile. "Thank you for understanding."
A knocking sound came from the door. "My lady. The bath is ready."
"Understood. Thank you, Prana." Laura stood up from the table. "Now then. Shall we be off?"
"I, uh, I think I'll go back to my room first! I need to drop off my glasses and…take care of some other things."
"Is that so? Very well. I will come by the guest room later."
"Are you sure you don't want to sleep in your room tonight? It could be the last time you'll be here in a while."
Laura looked around her room. "Being in this room feels nostalgic, yes, but sleeping here last night, knowing that there was company just a hallway away… I will admit that it was enough to make me feel a bit left out."
"Ah…" Emma remembered the conversation she and Morgan had with Laura over breakfast. The swordswoman insisted that she had spoken in jest, but perhaps there was some truth to her words after all. "Well, this certainly isn't what I would call the most conventional of sleepovers…"
"Perhaps." Laura grinned. "But when has Class VII ever worried about normal conventions?"
Emma giggled. "I suppose you're right."
"The next opportunity we get to come to Legram, we can do this the proper way. And when that time comes, I hope Fie, Alisa, and Millium will also be with us."
"That sounds lovely. Heehee! I'm already looking forward to it!"
…
Emma was greeted by two things upon opening the door to the guest room: the sleeping frame of Morgan Daraen, and a black cat that was looking down on her with yellow eyes.
When she entered, the cat turned its head to greet her. "There you are."
"I told you before that you shouldn't come out," said Emma. "What if someone else other than myself had entered this room?"
"Then I wouldn't have been here in the first place," Celine replied nonchalantly. "This mansion has one too many good hiding spots for a quick catnap."
Emma began unbuttoning her dress shirt and unzipping her skirt. "I hope you weren't planning on doing anything to Morgan while she's vulnerable."
"No need to get defensive. I plan on upholding my end of the deal, too. Although I have to say, you were cutting it pretty close in there. First, the unlocking spell you used to get them into the castle. Then, you used your most powerful spell, Lord Albireon, even though you have a less than fifty percent success rate."
"My options were limited," Emma defended herself. She laid her discarded clothes cleanly on her bed. "Neither of us expected a Nosferatu of all things to be behind everything. And…"
Emma looked at Morgan's sleeping face. It would take a while for her classmate to fully recover from her ordeal, but she was okay. The only person in Class VII that Emma entrusted with her secret was alive, and that was enough.
"You're getting too attached," Celine warned her, noticing the direction Emma's gaze was turning to. "Honestly, it's a wonder that they haven't hounded you with questions already. I can't tell if they're being considerate or if they're just plain dense."
Emma frowned at her familiar. Even if she didn't say anything outright, she still made her disapproval clear. True, dense was certainly a word that could describe some of their members, but they were by no means stupid.
"Well, as long as you gain the Awakener's trust. But don't forget: humans are driven by their propensity to ask for more. If they find out about you, they'll start to wonder about me, too. I won't be able to help you if that happens."
"I know." Emma nodded, putting on her pajamas. "Speaking of Awakeners, is it true that…?"
"No. The story about the Lance Maiden's ghost haunting the castle is bogus. But funny you mention that, because I could sense someone else's presence inside the castle."
"Someone else? Someone…other than Morgan?"
Celine nodded. "The Steel Maiden."
"What?!" Emma gasped. "You mean… The same one…"
"Yup. From the same band of snakes that your dear sister is now a part of."
"Then that means…"
"...We really are out of time."
*KNOCK* *KNOCK*
Emma almost yelped out loud. "Y-Yes?"
"It's me, Emma," Laura's voice said from outside. "I wanted to let you know that it's your turn to bathe. May I come in?"
"Oh! Uh, give me a moment! I'm, uh, changing!"
"Understood. Take all the time you need."
Emma breathed a sigh of relief. When she turned back, Morgan was still sleeping, but Celine was nowhere to be found. The one change in the room aside from that was that the door leading to the outside terrace was open, letting the night breeze flow in.
Thinking back to her conversation with Laura, Emma had to admit that though she had responded cheerily at the time, deep down, her thoughts didn't truly match up with her emotions. Given the turbulence that was surrounding Erebonia, Emma figured that it wouldn't be long before everything would turn to chaos. When that happened, would she still have a place in Class VII?
The guilt gnawed away at her, almost as if the Nosferatu's hands had a choking grip on her soul.
…
"...Hm?"
"What's up, Gaius?" Rean asked.
"I thought I heard the sound of a bell ringing."
"Seriously, man?" Crow groaned. "We just left the castle; don't tell me we gotta go back."
"No, no. It wasn't the castle bell. If anything, I'd say it's more like a jingle, like the kind of noise Celine's bell makes whenever she walks around."
"Oh yeah, Emma's cat."
"Technically, it's not her cat, Crow."
"Eh, details, details. Emma gave her the name, so she might as well be hers." The laid-back upperclassman then leaned in closer to the other two guys. "Speaking of, what do you guys think is going on with her?"
"What do you mean?"
"You know, all of those crazy abilities she was showing off! Come on, I can't be the only one who thinks that's totally not normal!"
"Yeah, well…" Rean looked at Gaius. "Is her past really something we should be speculating about behind her back?"
"My thoughts exactly," Gaius concurred. "Emma is an honest person; I have no doubt that she will talk about it when the time comes. All we can do is wait in the meantime."
"Man, you guys are WAY too passive!" Crow complained. "Where's all the fun in guys' talk if there isn't any gossip?"
"Well, what's your idea?" Rean asked.
"Mine? Heheh…" Crow flashed an all-knowing grin, which immediately made Rean regret even asking. "So there's this niche genre that's been gaining traction as of late. There's these girls that encounter these talking animals, and after they make a contract with said animals, they gain magic powers. Then, they use powers to transform and beat up bad guys once every week. It's totally cheesy and filled with cliches like love and peace, but if you get into it-"
"Okay, time out." Rean made a 'T' shape with his hands. "Why do you know about this?"
"I just do. A man's gotta have hobbies, I'll have you know."
"Sounds like a really…out-there hobby, even for you."
"Yeah, you try saying that to Alisa's face. Word is that she's into this sort of thing, too."
"Seriously? We're talking about the same Alisa, right? Alisa Reinford?"
"Yup. A closet geek, that one. At least, that's what Gelica told me."
Rean rolled his eyes. Of course he heard about it from Angelica. And that, naturally, meant that it should be taken with a grain of salt.
"So these…magical girls…" Gaius uttered the alien phrase. "Are you suggesting that Emma is one? But they are fiction, correct?"
"Yeah, they would be, but…" Crow tapped a finger to his head. "We thought the same thing when we heard about ghosts, and look how well that turned out. Who's to say that a magical girl is off the radar?"
"Well…" Rean's voice drifted off. Crow did have a point with that last part. Tonight, they had witnessed personally that the line between fantasy and reality was not as rigid as they initially thought. That was already too much information to wrap one's head around; Emma's…crazy abilities, as Crow put it, was just one more thing to add to that pile. Rean and the other Sevens knew based on previous excursions that the bespectacled girl had an uncanny aptitude for sensing the higher elements of time, space, and mirage, but they thought that was the extent of it all. If he wanted to dig deeper… No. Rean was a man of standards. Prodding any further would be an invasion of privacy.
"If we're on the topic of magic…" Gaius spoke. "Wouldn't Morgan also be a point of consideration?"
"Now that I think about it, she calls the special moves she does with her orbment 'spells', doesn't she?"
"It does sound pretty fishy. That girl's always been a bag of tricks. Makes you wonder what sort of creature she made a pact with to get those kinds of powers."
"You're making it sound like she made a pact with a demon or something!"
"Hey, you can't deny that red line trick she pulled off isn't doing her any favors, Rean!"
"Yes, that…" Gaius's expression grew serious. "I hope that doesn't have any lasting consequences on her personality."
"What do you mean, Gaius?"
"I'm sure you could feel it too, Rean. When she called upon that red aura, the air around her felt different. If I could find a word for it, it would be…malevolent."
Rean and Crow were a bit taken aback by Gaius's classification. It was a particularly harsh word for someone like him to say.
"At any rate, it didn't feel like the Morgan I had come to know. In fact, it almost reminded me of your transformation when you use your power, Rean."
"Really?" The swordsman placed a hand over the spot where his scar was. Could Morgan be going through the same thing he was?
Crow let out a loud sigh. "Well, like you guys said. No use in speculating about it now."
Rean couldn't help but let out a little snort. "Oh, NOW you decide you don't want to gossip."
"Dude, the girl has amnesia! Why worry about her past if she can't even remember half of it anyway?"
"I can't even tell if you're being insensitive or incredibly considerate."
"Morgan places a great deal of trust in you, Crow. I would advise that you not throw that away."
"Yeah, yeah…" Crow threw himself back into his bed.
The fiery heiress to the Reinford Group. The stalwart daughter of the Radiant Blademaster. A former jaeger. A former servant of the Imperial family. And a totally-not-a-magical girl with a black cat as a pet.
Crow shuddered at the thought of having to face all five of them at once.
What can he say? Girls were scary.
Author's note: Finally, the group's stay at Legram is coming to a close. I have not had a lot of time to write lately, and this arc has dragged on for far longer than it should have. For that, I apologize, but at least now we're getting somewhere.
There are a few things that I want to highlight. First, readers may notice that the description of the mooks that were summoned to fight against Morgan and co. bear a visual resemblance to a certain enemy class featured in another Fire Emblem title. Getting this out of the way: I am not implying any connection between the two games. I chose them as the basis for the enemies on account of another language joke. Their Japanese names are coincidentally the same as the boss of this chapter. The original draft was to include phantom warriors that more resembled the Risen, but given the unique process of how Risen are usually created, I couldn't find a way of making them work.
Next is the unveiling of another one of Morgan's skills. If the blatant namedrop a few chapters earlier wasn't enough to cue you in, it's Anathema: a passive skill that reduces avoid and critical avoid to opposing units in a radius around the user. Like with Galeforce, I wanted to get creative with possible combat applications aside from being a passive ability, and so the "red line of fate" was born, allowing Morgan to hone in on a single target similar to the Hex ability. Overall, not a bad tool for an evasion-focused unit like Morgan to have. Of course, I also have to address the elephant in the room: Morgan has always had Anathema since the start of the series, and it is in fact the "curse" that Emma identified. The Japanese name for the Anathema skill is literally "red curse", hence why the color red has been associated with the curse being inadvertently activated. But why all the extra effects like being bad at cooking? Why does Morgan have this skill when she should have been studying to be a pegasus knight? And what does this mean for Morgan moving forward? You will have to find out later.
Hopefully I will be able to write some more in the future. Thank you for your continued patience. Until next time.
She had returned to Legram because she had heard that there was a disturbance at Lohengrin Castle. It was not often that she visited her old stronghold, but given its close proximity to a cluster of septium veins, she could only surmise that the disturbance was nothing good. Being its former lord, she still felt some degree of responsibility over it.
What she did not expect was an anomaly wandering the hallways alone.
She had heard whispers from the other members. That there was an alien whose existence defied all reason. Imagine her surprise when she found that the alien was just a teenager, albeit a teenager who was wielding a battle axe. Then she saw her fight.
She opted to watch the alien's journey up the castle from the shadows, assessing whether or not she was connected to the strange happenings. She watched as she was saved by another group of teenagers who had entered the castle in search of her, led by none other than…
When they faced certain doom against the Nosferatu, she was about to personally step in and destroy the source of the evil herself. Before she could hurl her lance, the alien used her power to weaken its impulse, giving the rest of them the opportunity they needed to triumph with their own strength.
In the end, there was nothing for her to worry about, but something still did not sit right. Could the power she displayed even be called her own? It carried such a sinister aura.
For now, she could rest easy knowing that HE placed all of his trust in her.
And so, she departed the old stronghold, the old city. She had pressing matters to attend to in Crossbell, after all.
She decided against eliminating the anomaly for now, but should they ever cross paths again, she would be sure to exact her own kind of vengeance.
After all, the anomaly did nearly set fire to many things in her stronghold. Even if it was all in self-defense, that sort of act was something that would not stand.
Don't worry. I didn't forget about her. (^_-)