I wanted to cry, looking down at her. It was just so hard, so hard to carry this burden. I knew it was necessary, I knew if we laid down our burdens, then the world would be destroyed, for whatever reason. It felt wrong though, wrong to fight like this. Monsters were fine, they were mindless creatures, even if they lived a long time, they remained nothing but destroyers, though some seemed to 'act' otherwise.
But those who lived here? They were people, living breathing people. Sure, I'd been angry when Glass had been injured, I'd known the woman for years, one of the greatest defenders of the people, along with King L'arc. Chosen by the Vassal Fan, to have her injured showed not only how strong the Heroes of this world were, but also that they did not have any compassion at all.
That Glass had lied…no she wouldn't lie about such, she'd just been in a lot of pain and stress at the time. To have one of the Heroes override her defense as a Spirit, a race known to take little to no damage from simple physical attacks. It must have put her on edge, especially since it was the first time she'd been so close to death, showing just how little the Hero of the Bow must have cared for her life.
But she hadn't known how much the Bow Hero had sacrificed to bring that about. Naofumi had told us that he'd nearly died as well, inflicting that wound. He claimed she'd been trying to kill them, but then, they were alive, were they not? If Glass had been trying to kill them…well she wouldn't have simply tried, they would be dead. The fact that he didn't see it that way, and instead thought the worst of her was depressing.
But now I'd had to kill that woman, Lucia. I had barely known her, barely known anything about her, save her name. And yet…she'd fought on. She'd kept coming, and finally I couldn't take a chance with her, not with my spells being used to maintain the twin barriers. I couldn't let the outer one fall, lest the others send someone to interfere with me, and I couldn't allow the Bow Hero out, he'd just get in the way.
Sighing, I straightened up. I was…I was a warrior, and this was unbecoming of that. I could think later. Mourn for my lost morals later. Right now, I had to maintain the barriers, and keep an eye on the others, who were not doing very well, if their HP bars were any indication. Glass was injured, not a huge amount, but far more than she should have been given her resistances, and L'arc, who was a powerhouse in either world, was even worse off.
Shocked, I was about to try something when a sound echoed over the ship. Like a bell being rung, and I recognized it instantly. Something striking the Light Wall spell, and at first, I thought it was coming from outside, but the wall there seemed fine. It was only as I looked down that I saw the wall ON the ship with me had taken a massive amount of damage that I realized what was going on.
The moment I spun around, it was too late, another hit, and then a third, struck the inside of the Wall of Light, shattering it, and leaving the Bow Hero standing there. He was tall, taller than anyone I knew back on my world, and most I'd seen on this one, though his build was…stocky I feel is the polite term for it. It would still have been intimidating for him to be there with a furious expression on his face.
His expression was anything but furious, however. No, it was…blank. The eyes looked around, barely seeming to see anything in particular, instead drinking in the whole of the world around him. I prepared myself, summoning my orbs again, letting my magic flow into them. But he didn't attack me. Not yet, he instead teleported, that (Blink) skill he had, and for a moment I was afraid he would turn this into a game of cat and mouse.
But he didn't. He simply appeared beside Lucia's body, his form towering over hers. A few minutes ago, she would have been able to pick him up and toss him around. Now? He was leaning down over her, like a giant picking up a normal man, his hands wrapped around her body, and he just…stared at her. One of his hands went to her neck, brushing aside some debris from it, pulling the tatters of her robes off, leaving her in the under clothes she'd been wearing beneath.
He then teleported again. Farther this time, but still in sight, as he laid her down on the upper deck, before coming back down, walking this time, his footfalls heavy and loud in the quiet of the (Wall of Light) spell I'd cast. It was almost like he was delaying this fight, and despite knowing his stats were simply not up to mine, the way he carried himself, the way he didn't express any emotion at all, had me on guard.
"She's broken," he said, at last, as he came down to stand before me, still across a wide distance, but now on the same level at least. He just stood there, looking at me, with that blank expression.
"She…I warned her that I couldn't keep holding back. If she…if all of you had just stayed back, had allowed the timer to count down, then this wouldn't have happened," I said, trying to justify what had occurred. I wasn't even sure he heard me, however, as he turned from me, and then leaned against the nearby rail, looking directly at the wall of light, his fingers reaching out to gently stroke it.
"She was my favorite, you know? She was…the first one I got. My first toy on this world. My first…she CHOSE to come to me. I didn't demand it, didn't buy her, didn't even know she was an option or select her for her skills. She came to me because she believed in me," he said, and I was curious about his words. He was still flat tone wise, but the words…the term 'Toy' did not really belong with the rest of that.
Still, he was stopped, not moving, and seemingly distracted, so I raised my hand, the 'Hope Ring' on my wrist glowing as I channeled my aura into it. I felt my core stone resonate with the jewel in it, thankful that my magic was back to what it had been with the 'Wave' impacting this world. It made casting so much easier, and with a flick of my hand, I cast another (Wall of Light) in silence.
The barrier appeared, around him, again, and I breathed a sigh of relief, hoping he would just stay inside, maybe to mourn for himself, maybe just be too stunned. Before I had a chance to turn, however, he…walked around the Wall of Light, having been beside it. Had I missed, somehow? Charging it again, I used my magic once more, only to watch as he 'blurred' for an instant, and even as the wall rose up around him, he was standing beside it.
"A useful spell, if your enemy is unaware of it, or too slow to escape it. Useless when they do," he said, that same flat tone as he rubbed his hand on the (Wall of Light) next to him, glancing at the larger one around the ship, like he was comparing the feel of the two. Then he punched it. No preamble, no long draw back, he just punched it swiftly, and I watched as the (Wall of Light) shattered light glass, turning into dancing motes before dissipating entirely.
"Show me more," he…demanded? It was hard to tell, but as he came closer, I could feel an aura of menace, I just knew, somewhere inside myself, that if he came near me, I wouldn't survive. Luckily, I could switch out one of my two rings now, and even as I caused the Blue Orbs circling me to move towards him, sending them out, and gathering magic in the Bleak Ring instead.
He took both strikes, like they were nothing to him. One smashed into his chest, the other into his face, and neither strike even made him pause for a moment, but I didn't allow that to bother me as I fired an Aura Blast, blue lights exploding from my ring, twisting around my hand, and then flying out, growing in size until they were larger than the orbs that matched them, and they struck home.
The attack, magic rather than physical in nature, touched him. They exploded with all the force of my desire to live, and he was, if only briefly, pushed back, forcing his boots to grind against the wood. And yet, nothing more. His clothing was slightly more torn, but nothing changed about him. Not his stance, not his stride, and not his advance, with that same blank look on his face.
A switch again, my orbs turning green, and the ring as well. Two blades of emerald unfurled from the orbs, striking out in long swings, arcs that would have slashed through anything in this world. But not him. They just bounced off, like he was impervious. I then used the magic of the Scythe Ring, summoning a blade far larger than them, large enough to have cut the vessel in two if used right.
Again, he felt that one. He even reached up to catch it, the first time he'd done anything. But he didn't stop, and the larger blade, fueled by my aura, found itself fading away as he kept coming, making me desperate as I considered other combinations. The gun orbs, with their unique power, and the corresponding ring, they shot out their bullets, and he didn't even feel them, while I charged up, and then loosed the spell from the ring.
A weapon, like a bulb from a flower, but one that hummed with intent. I had been told, by Kizuna when she'd seen it, that this was a 'laser cannon' of some kind. The blast it fired was like nothing else in the world, however, and it struck home, driving him back, tearing at his clothing, but doing nothing else to him, leaving him to stare at me with those cold eyes as he kept coming on.
Again and again, I hit him, I pounded him. Hammers, fire, ice, the power of darkness. I even used the Forbidden Tomes again, summoning the blades of the underworld, and when they just bounced off him, I did the same with their master's fire, bringing the Djinni's Inferno to bear, an orb of molten fire, like a small star, and it pounded into him, driving him back a few steps, and singing the deck around him, leaving a few small crackling fires, but only a few small scuffs.
Finally, almost out of aura, I popped out one of the inhalers from my pocket, one of my emergency items, a Mind Refresher. It was a gamble to use such tools, but I was desperate, so as he stared me down, I brought the thing to my lips, and took a deep breath, the aerosol inside the tool filling my lungs, restoring my aura even as it made me feel like my insides were on fire leaving me coughing as I stared him down one final time, desperate to at least make him flinch.
Switching the orbs out for the Plasma Orbs, the Royal Orbs of L'arc's Kingdom, and drawing out the Royal Ring, I struck out. These orbs, unlike all my others, required me to use aura to attack with them, converting my magical energy into the lightning they attacked with. But that lightning was powerful, and as bolts struck the Hero of the Bow, I was rewarded, for the first time, with cries of pain from him.
Well…grunts of pain, but they left marks on his body, a scratch here, a burn there, causing him to stumble backwards for the first time, not just driving him back. With that knowledge in place, knowing this attack, which had slain one of the Hero's Companions, and now, I would slay this one with the same, as I brought the orbs back behind me, and then pointed my wrist with the ring on it at him.
A rune circle spun out of my outstretched hand, the lines of purple light tracing their way through the air, before finally, with a pulse that nearly knocked me off my feet, a purple column flared out from the middle, growing until it was wider than he was tall, engulfing his whole form, and I watched as he wasn't just knocked backwards, but completely knocked off his feet, vanishing into the purple light.
When it was over, I was out of aura, my power drained completely, and I collapsed onto my hands and knees, tears coming from my eyes. Again these…these IDIOTS forced me to kill one of them. Wasn't it enough to feel like murderers because of all those who would die on their world? Did we have to look them in the face as we did it ourselves because of some cosmic joke?
"Interesting. Nostalgic, in a way," came his voice, and I looked up, through bleary eyes, trying to blink away the coming tears, and I found him standing there…his clothing completely gone now, just the underwear remaining. How? And why just those for clothing? And what was he talking about, nostalgic? I wanted to ask, but he didn't give me a chance, instead he 'moved' in front of me.
I might have mistaken it for him using (Blink) again, but I felt the burst of air, knocking me backwards, slamming me into the railing, as he stood in front of me. This was impossible. He wasn't that fast…he wasn't this strong either. Something had changed, something was letting him do that, and looking at his wrist, I had to assume it was his Bow, which looked…ornate now, more so than what it had before, with gold and silver inlaid with gems.
"If that is all you have to show me, then it's time to break you," he said, that flat tone still in as he reached down, and I did the unthinkable. I dispelled the barrier around the ship, causing it to flash brightly as I went about gathering the aura from its casting back to myself. Did he even notice, as that hand of his came down, and wrapped the fingers around my shoulder, squeezing it so it hurt, as he yanked me to my feet?
I had one last card to play, however, one last thing I could do in this situation. I took a deep breath, and I let out the loudest, most ear piercing shriek I could imagine, allowing it to ripple over the world, before he, wincing at it, used his other hand to grab my side, and with a crack, squeezed my ribs until one of them broke, piercing my lung, I thought, as blood started to fill my mouth, and pain exploded through my body, even as I saw L'arc and Glass were coming to save me…I hoped.