"Talking"
"Thinking"
[Status Magic or other reference to a system or power]
…
"Partly due to your timely alliance. Partly due to whomever is controlling m-the Spirit Tortoise." Ost answered.
Filo looked at Ost a moment and went to pull on her father's sleeve, just as she was told to do when someone was hiding something. However, just before she did, she stared at Ost for a moment. Then glanced at Monti before stopping herself entirely. She could read intention and wanted to trust Ost.
Wordlessly they continued further, reaching a new layer of the Spirit Tortoise.
.
Naofumi and Ost led the group further in. They turned a corner and the place seemed stranger than it already had been. They were traveling in tunnels that bleed, effectively tubs of meat. Yet the oddity of the environment was further increased; rounding the corner, they were greeted by red open walkways that were suspended, floating seemingly by nothing. Large, blue cell-like blobs floated about. Parts of the platforms possessed walls that seemed to rip open to allow the creatures to come and go.
"This is… These are blood cells, these are… veins?" Naofumi asked, as he saw it as an abstraction for some biological illustrations, similar to some of the textbooks he read in college.
"Yes and no. They are not, clearly, but they serve similar purposes." Ost replied, still leading the pack of them alongside Naofumi.
[Spirit Tortoise Familiar Cell Type]
They approached a wall, which opened for Ost. She took half a step through, then waited for everyone else to pass before moving forward herself. The wall promptly closed behind her.
"So, the body still recognizes you as a familiar and lets you move about as you want? Convenient." Naofumi noted.
They traveled uneventfully through several such doors, the surrounding cell-like familiars ignoring them. After enough time, Ost came upon a door like all the rest that she had opened, but it didn't.
"It won't let you in?" Raphtalia asked.
"So that means we have to be close." Naofumi posed.
Ost nodded. "Yes. It seems that entrance into the innermost section of the Spirit Tortoise isn't being granted to even me…"
"Hmm, brute force it is. Monti?"
"Right." Monti stepped up. He took a step back and balled his fist with his tail parallel to it. He was trying not to hold back. He used [Overdrive] and [Arc Discharge], tearing the flesh in front of him apart. The door remained, but a hole large enough for everyone to travel through appeared.
"I feel like that fake me could have done this much damage without even using a spell… so why?" Monti seemed quietly disappointed with his results, but it did ultimately work.
"How's tha-?" Monti went to seek approval for his attack but saw Ost clutching her chest. She was wincing in pain. He tucked his ears, forgetting that they were just hurting her.
Ost said through gritted teeth. Before anyone would move, the once passive familiars sprung into action, rushing toward them. The party readied their weapons, only for Ost to call out again. "Do not fight them! Just make it through the door!"
"Follow her instructions!" Mirellia added when she noticed that most of them seemed more willing to fight than listen.
As quickly as they could, everyone squeezed their way through the door. They turned around to fight the enemies as they tried to get through the small opening, but they never came through. They gathered at the door, but nothing else seemed to be happening. Then, slowly, the wound Monti gave the fleshy door regenerated.
"Good. They should only repair damages. If they saw you attack a familiar, however, they'd have attacked, or worse, call for reinforcements." Ost told them.
Godiva looked back at the door with concern. "I don't like this. We're blocking our exit."
"True, but we have made it. Look. The heart." Ost pointed into the large chamber they found themselves.
Inside a chamber as large as the entire castle courtyard in Melromarc's capital wasn't a heart as they knew it. It was larger than a carriage and seemed to have far more veins that wrapped and spread like the roots of a tree. Naofumi couldn't tell if the flesh coming down was suspending it or if the meager amount of root-like veins on the floor was somehow supportive enough. It looked like a wad of meat, layer after layer of thin but tough muscle wrapped around the organ while the chambers were still discernible. Lastly, and most obviously, the 'heart' featured a few eyes as large as an adult.
…
Outside, Fitoria continued to show herself superior to the Spirit Tortoise again and again. The blade of wind took out the front legs before turning skyward and tearing the guardian beast's stomach open. This, like nearly all of her attacks, would have been fatal under normal circumstances, but no mortal wound could more than slow the monster.
Fitoria stepped back and allowed the beast to heal as she took a breath. Light surrounded her from below and she glanced at its source. Aultcray and the others were using supportive and healing magic to bolster Fitoria. The spells that recharged her stamina were the only ones she needed. She quietly dismissed them, yet this was the first time in such a long time that she could remember people assisting her. The odd person here or there, that happened. But this was thousands of people, with a dozen different banners amongst them and a heavy mass of both humans and demi-humans.
"I got that one!" The large bull therianthrope that Jaralis brought hurled another axe with everything he had.
Fitoria watched curiously as the axe sought out a parasite-type familiar that was rushing Fitoria's feet and buried itself into the face of the monster. Moments later, the axe shone with a light gold and scattered the monster into thin remains. Fitoria knew the creature was approaching her but it was so weak that she planned to simply stomp it. While they were next to no help, the actions of these people were something so rare that her memory failed to accurately recall such a time, though she knew such a time did exist at one point.
It was when she offered them the merest amount of her attention that she saw something and acted on instinct.
"E! X! P!" Came a voice only very few could accurately recall.
Wyndia's eyes shot open as her heart sank.
Ren was here. As in, he was falling into a crowd of people, sword ready to kill everything in sight.
"Knock it off!" Fitoria called, accompanied by a thin and fast wind that had great cutting power. Ren blocked the attack and was thrown away from the others. Several more attacks came, all while Fitoria kept the Spirit Tortoise at bay. She was holding back considerably.
The most annoying part was she couldn't force him out of his cursed state as she normally could; as that required her to create a domain and enforce rules that forbid its use. However, with the Spirit Tortoise here, it'd naturally challenge any such domain she'd attempt to make.
"You're big. I bet killing you will give me lots. Aaaarh!" Ren found a small opening between wind blades created by Fitoria having to attack the Spirit Tortoise again and launched himself at her.
He lunged with the grin of a murderer. Glee was clear in his eyes. Fitoria gave him a small glance and acted. Ren swung and hit nothing at all.
"Wha-?" Ren's confusion at seeing a small amount of white smoke and no giant bird in sight was swiftly answered in the next instant.
"I can't kill you, and I can't really subdue you as things are. So go be that thing's problem," the human form of Fitoria said from behind Ren before striking him in his back, sending him screaming into the Spirit Tortoise, crashing into one of the mountains adorning its back.
"Hm. Too bad. When he was crazy like that, I might have been able to take him myself." The bull therianthrope commented.
As swiftly as she took that form, she retook her real form. Staving off Ren, even as he was now and her heavy handicap was still something she resolved in a mere moment. "Be aware of your surroundings. I will not protect you again." Fitoria warned the united army.
Wyndia watched the entire short exchange stunned. After Fitoria addressed everyone, she snapped back to her senses enough to remember where she was. She quickly looked around herself, looking for something specific. The moment she caught sight of it, she ran to it.
Among all those who participated in the battles with the Spirit Tortoise, there were several riders of dragon knights. They were grounded by their restlessness upon seeing Fitoria. Even long-time riders couldn't seem to quell the rage their mounts bore towards the queen of filolials.
Wyndia ran up to one. "I need to get up there! Will you help me?" Wyndia asked the knight dragon.
"Quiet girl! They are all acting up, now of all times!" The dragon knight's rider commented.
Wyndia ignored him and stared at the dragon. "Please! I have people I need to help, one is a Dragon Emperor candidate! Do you intend to have Fitoria show you up? To show up the dragons here?"
The dragon stared at her intently, wincing at the mention of Fitoria's name. After a moment, it hesitantly lowered one of its wings to her. She climbed on and the two flew off. They nearly took the rider with them as he yelled for both of them to stop immediately.
"What is that girl doing!? She'll get herself killed!" The rider complained.
Wyndia was flying so fast that it felt like the air was stabbing her all over with needles, but she powered through. "I'm coming, Ren! I'll apologize, so please… turn back!"
…
They stared down the heart for a moment. They shifted around, jittery and panicking.
At the mere sight of it, many looked away and at least one of them gagged a moment.
Naofumi didn't hesitate to approach. "Every moment we wait is another moment Fitoria has to fight this damned thing." Everyone followed him forward.
"RRRRAAAAKKKKSSSS!" The heart screamed out with the same voice as the Spirit Tortoise. The sound assaulted those there like the apex of a hurricane. Some could feel the rattling of their bones and the weaker members were fighting to stay on their feet just from the noise.
"So, all we gotta do is kill this thing and we're good?" Godiva asked everyone, trying to act tough while not so secretly worried.
"Killing it is necessary…" was all Ost said in return.
"Which means there's more. Always extra steps." Naofumi lamented sarcastically while palming his face. A moment later, he dragged his hand down and put on a more serious expression. "I'm taking point!"
"Right!" everyone acknowledged.
Without needing more instruction, most people filled the roles that made the most sense to them. Naofumi took to the front as he promised, but this wasn't as straightforward of a battle as they were hoping. With the heart's shriek came the door behind them opening up wide. From the entrance, many of the cell-like familiars started to pour in through the door that was just previously shut tight.
The shout was soon followed up by a ball of dark purple energy coming at them.
"Tsk. Should have used a skill." Naofumi blocked, but immediately understood that while he could easily block these attacks, they were best dodged, as the effects of making contact with this energy made itself immediately known.
Naofumi's body felt heavy. Heavy like when being far underwater, but still lacking what to push yourself up with. He, Ost, and Leon recognized it as being similar, if not identical, to Ost's magic.
Meanwhile, the cell-like creatures coming from behind ended up being more of a worry than expected. They could be struck down by a singular attack if it was strong enough, but anything less only split them. Renair tried using her chakram and chain, only to see it dissolve in an instant when making contact with their bodies. Teal dispensed her growing swords among everyone to use as disposable weapons as a means to keep up people's drives.
The truth was that while Teal's swords were welcome, they weren't all together needed. They noticed that higher-quality weapons lasted far longer. Filo's claws showed zero sign of wear, as did Raphtalia's sword, to say nothing of Glass and L'arc; the weapons of heroes weren't under any threat at all. This made the act far more manageable than the mimics from earlier.
Glass and L'arc took the lead on attacking the familiars flooding into the door. The pair took to each other's back. L'arc's wide sweeps were followed immediately by Glass' fast, precise strikes. They cut through more than a dozen familiars before Therese used magic to burn the area ahead of them. This gave Glass and L'arc a moment to catch their breath after swinging so frantically. L'arc and Therese were a seasoned duo, but it seemed Glass changed their dynamic. All three probably fought together as a trio countless times.
The cell-like familiars came back quicker than expected. They seemed to grow right out of the floor in moments. The pair seemed only mildly concerned they'd need to reengage the enemy before they could recover. Luckily, it wasn't just the three of them.
[Drifa Icicle Prison]! The queen created an obstruction of ice to force the familiars to bottleneck even further.
Meanwhile, most of the combatants pushed with Naofumi. Monti and Filo helped lift their father's encumbered body and kept him in the front of the pack marching at the heart.
What followed was far from strategic. Naofumi placed his shield against the heart as those following him fanned to the flanks. Spells, shots, and the rare melee attack began to rain on the target. However, the enemy wasn't just going to fall down and die. The heart shot multiple smaller variants of the purple orb it previously hit Naofumi with, striking a dozen others. Many of the victims were falling to the ground and having no means to return to their feet once hit.
That wasn't all. The heart freed some of its flesh to act like whips to lash its enemies away. Lightning sparked from all the fresh wounds, making physical contact even more dangerous. Naofumi could tank the damage all day, but those that he brought with him weren't proving that useful before the Spirit Tortoise's heart.
"Dammit! I can barely stand!" Godiva shouted.
"Same." Fitts added.
"Someone do something!" Werner called.
"I got this," Walter said proudly.
"And how in the world do you got this?" Godiva asked jokingly.
"It has eyes." Walter said with enthusiasm as he fired shot after shot into the eyes of the heart. It screamed out in pain, but the damage wasn't great. However, it was blinded. Walter dedicated himself to keeping it blind no matter how much it regenerated.
Monti and Teal leapt forward when the path was clear and struck the monster.
[Arc Discharge]! [Autumn Blow]!
Both their attacks tore the monster open and blood began to go everywhere, but it clung onto life somehow. Monti looked back to check something but saw Ost writhing on the ground, grabbing at her chest and crying. Monti immediately understood and tucked his ears.
"Did we buy enough time?" Teal asked.
"Yup~!" Filo called.
[Drifa Defense Down]! Raphtalia and Leon called out. Both gave Filo her green light afterward.
"Filo's turn!" [Spiral Strike]! Filo ran up behind Naofumi, who moved out of the way at the last second, giving Filo as unobstructed a path as possible. She spun like a drill and struck the center of the heart. With her first attack bonus on top of everything else, she bore straight through the heart and came out the other side.
That caused a few things. The Spirit Tortoise began to grow weaker, letting Fitoria capitalize on it and crush its head. Next, the familiars stopped trying to enter the chamber, allowing Glass and the others a moment to rest.
"Fitoria crushed the head too!" Filo reported to everyone.
The last thing this caused was for Ost to grow pale and panting, fighting to remain upright enough to point to an area near the heart.
"The-There." She struggled.
Monti sensed it too. He went to where she was pointing and prepared to break through the floor below, but he stopped. He saw her sweating, eyes drooping. His fist naturally opened and his shoulders softened.
Naofumi saw Ost and followed her gaze to where Monti stood. "Monti, hurry!" He called.
That caused him to flinch, but he didn't move. He didn't want to move. He refused to make a decision, so others made it for him.
[Carving Palm]! Godiva struck the floor in front of Monti. While her weaponized gauntlet sank through some of the floor at first, she ultimately could not outpace the regeneration of the area and had to pull back before her arm could be trapped by the reforming layers of flesh below her.
"Tsk, dammit!" She barked in frustration.
"..." Mirellia observed Monti's, Ost's, and Godiva's actions. "So am I to believe that even this, crushing the heart and the head at the same time, isn't enough?"
Ost did her best to meet the queen's gaze. "I'm close enough now to remember that there was a spell, or maybe a song, that could forcibly seal the Spirit Tortoise once it is in a state such as this… That'd normally be the end of it if this rogue hero wasn't messing with things… As things stand, we would normally need the seal just to progress to m-the core… So we have no choice but to tear open the way forward!" Ost finished, fighting herself to her feet.
The effects of the gravity magic from the heart began to fade from those affected.
Naofumi quietly watched Monti for a moment before he turned to the others. "Gather up."
"What do we do, Savior?" Fitts asked with more concern in his voice than normal. He and everyone else wanted a plan.
Naofumi began narrating his thoughts as he went through them. "We need a strong enough attack to break through that spot. Which we definitely have the firepower for. Then we need to maintain the opening long enough for us to pass through. I can handle that myself. The issue is having enough firepower while dealing with that." He said with thumb pointed at the Spirit Tortoise's heart.
"Dammit, the slime bastards are getting riled up again!" L'arc called Glass and Therese to help with the door again.
Naofumi hesitated, looking at his options. Everyone retook their positions as best they could and were in some ways performing even better than the first time. This was because they now knew about the nature of the gravity magic employed by the Spirit Tortoise's heart. Naofumi blocked the gravity magic with his skills when needed, while everyone else avoided those attacks even more than attacking.
Naofumi gave himself a moment between taking volleys of magic from the heart to glance around him. "Filo used up her first hit bonus. Leon can hit it hard enough, maybe, but can't do so without hitting everyone in this room. Teal's solar attacks are limited and will scorch and burn more than cut and carve. Monti is hesitating too much and if Raphtalia or I pressure him he may buckle. Dammit. Glass is the only one that can take them both but she can't be in two places at once."
Naofumi tried finding a way around the problem. "Ost, can we just get through the ground and abandon this fight?"
"I doubt it. While the heart lives, the regeneration and familiars are far more active. It'll seal back up before you can get anyone through."
"What if I stalled the door and Glass and the others added their firepower over here? …But if I'm not near, I can't secure the path to stay open long enough." Naofumi didn't see another option. He'd have to pressure Monti and get Glass to handle the heart.
"With this." He pulled out his last SP potion and went to call out to Glass.
[Drifa Rancor X]!
A black beam pierced open the door Glass and the others were guarding. They had to retreat as the door gave way. There, surrounded by the last of the cell-like familiars were Liviccic, Sophia, Silvius, and Vasteel.
Naofumi's stress lowered considerably. "Oi! We need you to blast this thing. Glass, you get ready to clear the path forward." Naofumi directed.
"I'll do both. Vasteel," Liviccic ordered his hulking weapon to attack and it rushed forward with speed far from impressive, but so out of place on a creature that was easily a literal ton of steel.
It brought down its sword on the heart without interference thanks to Walter still keeping the heart blind and Werner challenging the lighting of the heart with the flames of his wings. The sword cut the heart nearly in two.
"..." Naofumi was rendered silent for a moment. Naofumi wasn't usually this impressed with his allies. As he was now, he had the power to lift the Spirit Tortoise. He knew he was beyond common sense in power. But seeing someone who wasn't a hero or a royal monster nearly match Filo's best was eye-opening.
This… thing that Liviccic made could almost match Filo's strength. Granted, Filo was far more focused on speed than power, and this thing seemed to favor strength as possibly its highest stat. For something to nearly be on their level was eye-opening.
Raphtalia gave a nod to the new arrivals while pointing. "While the heart is dead, we need to open up a hole here." Naofumi and Liviccic nodded to confirm.
Liviccic was putting up a tough front, but he wasn't doing so great himself. He forced himself to move to the spot. "I'm nearly at my limit…" He was breathing heavily.
"I get that. You open the way up and we'll take it from there." Naofumi assured him. Raphtalia, Ost, the kids, Glass, L'arc, and Therese gathered.
Sophia flashed a worried look and placed a spider leg on Liviccic's shoulder. His heavy breathing softened on cue.
"Fine, then I'll hit it with everything I've got left." [Drifa Wicked Nirvana X]!
He stabbed the floor with the vassal staff before unleashing a pitch-black stream downward. The attack cut through the floor with ease and even cursed the surrounding area to heal slower. When the ability ended, Naofumi peered down, seeing a light source. It was enough confirmation for him and he lacked time to waste.
[Air Strike Shield]! [Second Shield]! [Dritte Shield]! [Shield Prison]! [Shooting Star Shield]!
Naofumi used every skill he could to fill the hole up to stop it from healing, as well as place a layer around himself, just in case.
"We'll handle things up here. Please, end this." Sophia said.
Wordlessly, Naofumi jumped down, Raphtalia right behind. Teal and Filo waited a moment for Monti and Leon to put Ost's arms over their shoulders before the four of them followed. Glass, L'arc, and Therese followed right after.
Glass was confused as to how they were supposed to get past Naofumi's skills. Her face went from confusion to momentary shock, to curiosity as they all passed through Naofumi's skills as if they weren't there thanks to Naofumi's skill [Security].
Werner, Renair, and the other council members attempted to follow Naofumi further, but the heart healed itself again, causing the regeneration to heighten. Naofumi's numerous skills were crushed under the mounting pressure of the reforming body.
"RRRRAAAAKKKKSSSS!"
Without a way to follow their god and with the heart of the Spirit Tortoise once again screaming for blood, they had no choice but to hold their ground where they were.
…
Rishia had been running for some time. She entered the cave and was able to navigate the tunnels by correctly identifying what damage was fresh versus damage done a week ago during the Spirit Tortoise's initial awakening. She'd also been down here before with Itsuki. Most of the familiars were already defeated by Naofumi and the others, so she was able to maintain a good pace.
She was trying to simply outrun the few remaining familiars that showed up after the others were cleared out.
"I can do this at the very least." Rishia told herself.
She came upon a section of the hall that was trying to move. The tunnel was rearranging itself to be even more confusing. However, since she caught it mid-way through the change, she could see which side it was changing from. The hall now ended in a fork in the path. On the left, the new path. On the right, the correct one. As she ran, the hall continued to shift, shrinking the remaining gap she had.
She wasn't too worried. She was moving faster than the shift. She was going to make it.
And then one of the turret-like familiars formed out of the right side of the shifting hall. It not only started shooting at her, but it blocked her ability to travel further.
"If… If it's just one!" Rishia grabbed the shortsword at her side and tried to control her breathing. She unsheathed the blade and leveled it at her target. Her left hand aimed the blade, her right palm behind the pommel of the sword to apply force. For a brief moment, Rishia saw slight inklings of a bright green energy coat her blade. She thrusted the sword forward while she kept advancing.
She was shot twice by the familiar, blood running freely before her blade struck. For just a moment, her blade invaded the enemy's flesh with as little resistance as it did cutting through the air. But then the green sparks stopped and so did her blade.
"Fuee." An audible disappointment escaped her lips as the familiar went to shoot her again.
She briefly thought of Itsuki and took another step forward. She wasn't giving up. She used the little bit of leverage she gained in piercing the familiar to swing herself over the familiar with an accompanying leap. She cleared the enemy and safely made it past the hall before it could close her off. She stumbled on her landing.
"...Not good enough." Despite being able to overcome that situation, she looked at the wounds on her right shoulder and left upper leg. "Couldn't keep up the life force. Couldn't kill it, took two hits. Couldn't even land on my own feet properly…"
Rishia picked herself up and went to go further in, but she saw a sight that took her back to her knees. Before her were the corpses of dozens of people and not just random victims. She saw the faces and clothes of Naofumi, her own queen, and the entire invasion party.
Her breathing became rapid and shallow as she searched all over. She was hoping to find someone missing, someone who'd therefore be alive. But as she scanned the room, her hopes dwindled. She began to cry and was on the verge of screaming. Then she heard something.
Something behind her.
She knew nothing should be able to reach her from behind with the way back closed off, but she instinctually spun around. What she saw was far outside her expectations.
It was her. It was an exact copy of her. Rishia eyed it quickly. It didn't possess the battle damage she had nor did this version of her have any signs of dehydration as she did herself. She hadn't the time to say or do much of anything before the mimic swung its sword at her. She stumbled back, barely dodging the attack. The fake opened its grip on their sword and used both hands to support its weight as it followed up with a front flipping-into-stomping Rishia with both of her legs.
Using Rishia's natural flexibility that she never used herself, the familiar sent the poor girl skipping across the ground. Rishia had let her sword go, allowing the familiar to take both swords in its hands as it approached.
A small rumble was felt.
The mimic approached, but Rishia took to her feet and tried casting a spell.
[Zweite Heavy Fan]!
The mimic merely put up one hand. [Anti Zweite Heavy Fan]
Another rumble happened, this one being much larger. The mimic went to stab Rishia, but missed because of the rumbling. Rishia scrambled away, fleeing in no particular direction.
"I-I can do this! It's just me! It's just as weak and worthless as me!" Rishia reasoned.
The clone placed its arms horizontally, pointing both blades at Rishia, and was about to lunge forward when-
BOOOOOMM! The wall that stopped Rishia from retreating was shattered like glass. Rubble rained around the large room, half burying Rishia. The clone swatted the stones away. However, in the middle of clearing the flying debris, her swords were both cut cleanly through. The cause was a sword swing that had enough force behind it to throw the cloud of dust away, revealing Ren. His armor was darker than before, spikes adorning his shoulders. His eyes looked dead and stared a hole through the copy before him.
Lacking fear, the mimic attempted to cast a spell.
"I don't have time for small fries." Ren opened up his hand and proceeded to push the fake Rishia's head off of its shoulders, a blunt-force decapitation.
"Fuee…" Without meaning to, a small noise escaped Rishia as she saw the image of herself being killed in the most pathetic and easiest ways possible.
Ren's eyes didn't even look her way. "I need more. I'll never be strong enough if I just waste time on things like you." Ren lept instantly to the other side of the room and shattered another wall. He went through wall after wall without any sign of slowing down.
Rishia took a moment to catch her breath. She looked at the corpse of the mimic that copied her. "It still looks like me. Even with it dead…" She scanned the room again. "Then all of these are also fake." She had no way to know that but chose to believe it.
Rishia looked at both the shattered walls. The way forward was made clear by Ren…, but he also made it clear what would happen if she tried to fight him. The other was the way back. She had more than enough time to retreat. She tried. "Naofumi, Ren, and many others all going to rescue Itsuki. He'll be safe either way. I can't help… So I should…" She took a step towards the exit and stopped. She paused for a moment as she balled up her fists, the leather stretching as she squeezed them as hard as she could.
She spun on her heel and chased after Ren, unaware that another person wasn't too far behind her, chasing with similar conviction.
…
Naofumi landed on the ground loudly. He stopped carrying Raphtalia and waited for the others to land. Despite not being the last ones to go down, Monti and Leon were the last ones to reach the bottom, softly flying Ost down.
"Head count." Naofumi barked. His eyes shifted to each face. "Good. Then we need to hurry."
Ost pulled herself to her feet. The color returned to her face rather quickly. She gave everyone a quick glance. "There are no more obstacles, follow me!"
One slightly curved hall later, a bright light like the end of a tunnel revealed a large, circular room, slightly larger than the Spirit Tortoise's heart chamber. Near the back of the room was a silver-haired younger man. Belts, vials, and large round glasses clearly made him look like the nerdy type. He sat leaned against the wall, reading out of a blackened tome. He paused a moment before loudly shutting the book, revealing the gem adorning its cover.
"Well, you reached here faster than those two. So at least you're not in last place." The man said in a light, slimy voice.
The light in the room shifted, revealing his narrow blue eyes and the two glass chambers behind him. They contained the bodies of Itsuki and Motoyasu.
"Moto!" Therese called out.
"What the hell have you done to them?" L'arc asked.
"..." The man eyed Naofumi for a moment. A sly smile grew on his lips, as if taunting Naofumi with the information he needed. Several of those present wanted to attack, but Naofumi put up a hand.
After a pause, drinking in the silence, he replied. "Just putting these idiots to use. They both ruined my plans and killed my best pawn. So I'm using them as a battery as recompense."
Before anyone could comment on that, Glass fought her way in front of Naofumi. "Kyo, why are you doing this!?"
Kyo's smile washed away immediately. "The fan hero, huh? That's a pretty stupid question, isn't it?" He asked.
"Kyo!" Glass shouted for him to answer.
"I'm doing what you did. Only better. And I won't give up halfway like some people." How he currently regarded Glass was clear in his tone.
"We were going to kill one person. You are killing thousands. Potentially millions." Therese argued weakly.
"Hehe, c'mon. You're not that naive. You know that killing the holy heroes is a death sentence for a world." Kyo talked down to them, but he wasn't wrong either.
"..." And they knew that. Their silence was the admittance to that.
"And, therefore, your actions would lead to the exact number of deaths as mine. With one big difference." Kyo hammered Glass verbally.
"Kyo…" Glass was finding it increasingly harder to find the right words. " We've already decided that we'd work alongside this world to find a solution."
"You can agree to whatever you want. You do not speak for me, nor my nation. Both of those are my job." Kyo rejected her offer again.
"This guy is in charge of an entire country?" The kids could not believe that.
"Listen to me! We have two entire worlds worth of resources to work with. I've looked into the ancient text on the matter and similar records from the same time don't agree that killing one world necessarily saves another! This is pointless genocide!" Glass revealed.
Kyo returned to a sly smile. "Oh, so you figured that much out. The difference is my actions will actually save our world." He said matter-of-factly.
"...What? What do you mean by that?" Now it was Glass' turn to receive information.
"Glass. You should already be aware of it, right? This world isn't the only one that connects to ours. We are suffering waves from multiple worlds at once. You already killed a hero in some other world, right? You know you'd need to doom every single one of those worlds to survive at this point. And that's because all our Guardian Beasts are already slain." Glass took two steps back when confronted with her actions.
"So Glass killed heroes in other worlds before us…" Naofumi thought.
"So even if the texts were right, your method wasn't very useful. And if the texts were wrong, then it's beyond useless. That's why I figured out a way to save our world with information that is actually credible!" Kyo seemed very impressed with himself.
He continued. "I can save everyone! I can take all the energy this stupid brute collects and use it to make a barrier. But not for these idiots! For us! Then the waves just simply stop! It won't matter that the Hunting hero is MIA, it won't matter that the Jewel, Blunt, and Ofuda heroes have their heads shoved up their asses! Katana hero being dead? Harpoon and Mirror being uncooperative? None of it would matter!" Kyo seemed more excited than anything. His arms moved around dramatically as his voice raised higher and higher.
"But you'd doom this world!" Glass yelled.
Kyo barely seemed to react to that. If anything, he looked annoyed. "And? You were doing the same. Hell, you have done it before. How can you judge me for doing the same things as you when my actions will actually work while you killed some hero for no reason!?"
Glass clenched her chest, her tears soon followed. "Be-Because it's not right! Yes, I did awful things! Yes, I have no right to lay down judgment, for this above all others! B-But when I find Kizuna… when the world is safe… I want her to not regret living in that world, our world. And that means we must survive without falling any further! " She declared resolutely.
"..." Kyo said nothing.
Believing he was at least considering their words, Therese added to the conversation. "Please! Stop this! We can get the other heroes to agree. 24 heroes, countless nations, we have the means if only we choose to!" She passionately begged.
That got a reaction out of him. "Our heroes are weak, stupid, missing, or dead! All of our Guardian Beasts are dead! We have no other hope and no other options!" He argued.
Glass tried again, tears falling freely now. "I know that we have been acting selfishly. I can see you put a lot of time into this, finding a way to save our world. But if you do this, you'd be doing less. We can do more. We can save two worlds" She offered her hand.
Kyo eyed her hand, but instead crossed his arms. "And we could fail. You want me to gamble the guaranteed survival of our world on saving another world?"
"..." No one had a quick response to that.
L'arc saw no one else was going to clap back at that, so he reluctantly did so himself. "My country and yours can ally together. Katana and Mirror will be forced to the bargaining table. If we do things right, it's not just survival we'll win."
"Peace, huh…" Kyo sounded interested, but his body language stayed the same.
"Please. We are so close to taking the first steps to something truly worth pursuing." Glass begged.
"You know that if Kizuna were here she'd ask you for nothing less." Glass added, about to fall to her knees.
"…" Kyo slowly uncrossed his arms, holding his book firmly. He looked like he was fighting something.
"Hehehe…" The next thing everyone saw was Kyo clasping his hand over his mouth, fighting to not laugh.
"Hahahaha!" He failed immediately and just let himself laugh up a storm. Laughing so much he had to wipe away tears.
Kyo's facial expression switched on a dime. Now it was twisted with some sort of obsessive glee. "I can't fake it anymore. Not after how seriously you're taking this. Are you all completely retarded? I'm obviously just fucking with you. You'd have been lucky if I used any of this power to save any damn thing. You come to me at the tail end of my plan and ask me to stop winning? That's the whining of a loser! You're just mad you were too stupid to come up with a winning plan!" He yelled at them all.
Ost used gravity magic to launch a section of rumble at Kyo. He simply smirked and activated a barrier, defending himself easily.
"Y'know, Glass ain't your only guest." Naofumi said, stepping forward.
Kyo then eye'd Naofumi while opening his book.
"I've had my fill of banter. Eat shit." He said with a twisted smile, energy flaring up around him.
.
[Author's Notes]
Eh? The chapter came out… … … eventually.
No real excuse. I was just depressed and focused on other things. But I am not abandoning FotS. No way. At least not until I finish Monti's plot.
Fitoria actually took the time to protect the armies from Ren. Of course, she'll argue this was just her dealing with a cursed hero.
What do you think of the setup? About to fight Kyo, Ren is on his way, Rishia not long behind him.
Did you like Kyo's introduction? I liked the idea of him pretending to make a moral argument but after Glass acts far too genuine for Kyo to continue, he drops the game and reveals himself as the piece of shit he is.