Tales of Xalthia

Chapter 11: Arcanum

Tsuki and Lynette continued their way through the mines as they explored the third and final level to them. Much like the previous two levels, the paths were relatively straightforward with the occasional path branching out in another direction in which they explored when they could and eventually reaching dead ends. It took them longer to reach the hub for the third level as while the tunnels were straightforward, they curved off into various different directions with tunnels that had been attempted to be dug out but ended up caving in. Some tunnels weren't even finished as if work had suddenly stopped. The deeper they pushed on through the tunnels, the thicker the air started to become. Not only that but the sense of an intense evil grew stronger most likely due to the deposit of crystals. It only made the tension worse; you could almost take a knife and cut right through it.

After what felt like an hour with more intense combat encounters with monsters, they finally arrived at the hub for the third level of the mine. As they had suspected, the first thing they saw was that the service lift was, indeed, on their floor. Aside from that, the hub looked to be relatively normal. No dead bodies or signs of battle. Just like with the previous hubs, it had tunnels branching out. to go along with the main tunnel. Only this time, the main tunnel had practically hit its end point as there was clear evidence of active mining operations to extend the tunnel out further. All that was missing were the miners and foremen.

First thing Tsuki did was approach the service lift and inspected the panel that controls the lift and after a moment of examination, he discovered the cause of why the lift didn't respond to their earlier calls. "Well, here's why the lift had no reaction earlier. Someone had disabled it, most likely by the man that took the miners hostage to delay reinforcements" he said. He looked around for the missing key in order to get the lift working again. Unfortunately, his search around the area proved unsuccessful. "You know, we went through all that trouble to get down here. Now that we found ourselves the shortcut that we need, we can't use it? I feel like this is cheating a little bit" he said.

Lynette looked around the rest of the hub for anything that could resemble a lift key. "Logic dictates that there should be something around here to use for it but where...?" she asked, trailing off at the end of her sentence.

As she continued to look around, she walked up to a workstation with a bunch of tools and equipment lying around. As she looked over the workstation, a dark, shadowy hand reached out from the dark corner behind her. She was completely unaware of what was happening behind her as the undefined dark hand slowly extended out to her.

Tsuki was also looking around the hub area but didn't find anything that looked like a key. "There's nothing here. Knowing our luck so far, the man we're looking for has the key" he said, scratching the back of his head. He looked off towards one of the tunnels that had shattered shards of crystals lining the entrance. He could sense power coming from deep within the tunnel that the others weren't giving off. Nodding to himself, he started to turn around to face in the direction of Lynette. "This must be the tunnel we're looking. Lyn, let's-" he said. He was stopped in his tracks when he saw the dark hand reach out from behind her. "Lyn, behind you!" he shouted.

Lynette looked towards Tsuki, tilting her head. "Huh? What is it?" she asked. She then turned around and saw the creepy, featureless dark hand reaching out to her from the dark corner. This made her scream bloody murder from understandable fright, causing her to fall back off her feet.

Tsuki quickly drew the sword from his waist that he borrowed from Kurama and released an arc-shaped blast as he swung it out from its sheath. The blast cut through the arm belonging to the dark hand as it fell to the ground. There was a groaning sound for a moment before a figure stepped out from the corner. They couldn't believe what they were seeing.

Tsukis' mind was running a mile a minute as he tried to process what he was seeing in front of him. "W-what am I looking at...? A human? No...whatever that thing is, it's clearly not a human" he said.

Lynette was completely frozen with fear as she down on the ground, looking up at the figure standing in front of her. "B-but...it looks human. If it's not a human...w-what is it?" she asked.

The figure standing before them resembled a human. He had attire that miners would typically wear with just about any tool a miner would use at their disposal strapped to their tool belt. However, that's all the similarities the figure had to a normal human. Everything else about it was more along the lines of some type of demon. They showed no signs of decay which eliminates the possibility of them being undead. It was essentially a human-sized doll that had a similar feeling like the crystals, only on a much different and stronger scale.

The figure still approached Lynette, who was still paralyzed with fear, despite having half of its arm completely severed from its body. It showed no reaction at all aside from the earlier groaning. Tsuki shot off another black of arc-shaped energy and watched it make a full-body collision against the figure, kicking up dust on impact. After a few seconds, the dust settled and the figure had stopped its approach on Lynette. The figure was scathed and injured from the attack but showed no signs of it dying. It simply turned its head in a strange, un-humanlike manner towards Tsuki before the rest of its body followed.

Tsuki was in a mild panic as he tried to keep himself from freaking out. "W-what is this thing? It moves and acts like an undead and yet, it's not an undead entity" he said. He has had his fair share of undead encounters throughout his time as a knight but this was something he could safely say was not an undead. He has never seen anything like this before. It was something that seemed like it came out of some horror story.

The entity groaned a bit more before taking the pickaxe off its tool belt with its only other hand. Moments later, it let out a demonic-like shout and charged at Tsuki, holding the pickaxe over its head as it ran towards him. Once it got close to him, it swung the pickaxe in a straight, downwards motion. Tsuki blocked the swing and with a single powerful counter swing of his own, he was easily able to break the stand-off and knock the entity back. Using the opportunity, Tsuki swung his sword three times, inflicting three deep, typically fatal slash wounds across its torso. The entity soon became motionless for about a minute and Tsuki carefully examined the entity.

As Tsuki examined it, Lynette managed to gather herself and stood back up though was still extremely nervous. The entity stood still like a statue as if it could come back alive."I-is it dead?" she asked.

As Tsuki carefully examined the entity, it suddenly came back to life as its power switch was flipped back on. It quickly made Tsuki take several steps back, resuming an offensive stance. Before the entity could take another swing with its pickaxe, Tsuki swung his sword and severed its other hand. The hand fell to ground as the clattering sound of the pickaxe hitting the ground echoed throughout the hub. Much like before, there was almost no reaction to having its other hand severed. He swung his sword several more times, inflicting more deep slash injuries on its body before taking his sword and piercing it through its' body several times. It was finally then that the entity made one final groan before it fell back and hit the ground. After several moments, the entity along with its severed arm and hands disappeared as if it exploded in a puff of black energy.

Tsuki was slightly out of breath mainly because he was freaked out by the whole unsettling encounter he just had. He stumbled back a bit before his back was pressed up against a wooden support beam. Tsuki dropped his sword to the ground as he could feel his legs start to give out. There was something very wrong about that entity. It didn't bleed and it didn't express any type of pain. Moreover than that, it vanished before his eyes like a cloud of smoke filled with truly evil energy. It was far more resilient than a normal undead. "N-now it is" he said. He bent over, placing his hands against his knees as he needed to take a minute to gather himself.

Lynette walked up to Tsuki and placed her hand on his back. "You going to be okay?" she asked.

Tsuki nodded at her, taking several deep breaths, picking up his sword and standing back upright. "I'll live. I was just caught off-guard" he said.

Lynette shook her head, looking down at the ground where the entity fell and disappeared. "Just what was that thing? I've never seen or heard of a monster like that" she said.

Tsuki didn't know how to answer her. Everything about what they just saw didn't make any sense. All he could do was shake his head. "I don't know. It had undead characteristics but it didn't look like one. It was a being of pure evil" he said. He then noticed something on the floor where the entity used to be. He sheathed the sword and leaned down and picked up the object he saw. "Hey, do you think this key is used for the lift?" he asked.

Lynette looked at the key and shrugged. "It's worth a shot. Let's try it" she said. She turned around and started to walk towards the lift.

Tsuki followed her as they approached the lift. He stepped up to the control panel once more and pushed the key into the keyhole. As it turns out, the key was for the lift. With the key inserted into the control panel, Tsuki was able to re-activate the lift as indicated by the lights that now appear on the panel. With a nod, he stepped back from the control panel as the rest of the lift whirred back to life. "That should do it. We now have ourselves a working shortcut" he said.

Lynette nodded as she looked up the shaft the lift goes through. There were now lights that illuminated the shaft. They were still pretty far down though so they couldn't see the top level. "Well, at least we don't have to take the long way back out again. Now, you mentioned something about a tunnel?" she asked. She turned around and walked over to the tunnel where Tsuki was at before. The shattered crystal shards and scattered debris around the tunnel entrance was a clear indication that the tunnel was blocked off. She took a moment to appraise the Aer around her in which confirmed what Tsuki said before. "I sense a dense, dark power coming from within. Although, I can't tell if it's the crystal deposit that I'm feeling or that man" she said.

Tsuki walked up to Lynette and stopped beside her. "I suppose there's only one way to find out. Let's get going but keep your guard up. We wouldn't want to be caught by surprise by another one of those things again" he asked.

They entered the tunnel and followed the straightforward path as it stretched on into the darkness beyond. The tunnel walls were lined with various minerals and ores, some of which sparkled by the lights that illuminated the tunnel. There were a few paths that branched off to the side but none of which yielded anything worthwhile to note, much like just about every other side tunnel they explored. The only thing that was different was the dark energy that filled the air. The feeling continued to grow stronger the deeper they went. It got so intense that even the local monster population started to become scarce. At this point in time, they had already been in the mines for a little over two hours.

Finally, after about twenty minutes of unnatural peace and quiet with almost no monster encounters, the tunnel soon spilled out into an environment that stunned Tsuki and Lynette. The chamber was much smaller than the hubs but the biggest difference was the fact that the entire chamber was filled with crystals of every shape and size. It was such a drastic change to their surroundings compared to the rest of the mine. The chamber was small but it ran deep into the ground.

Lynette looked around the chamber and was drawn in by all of the crystals embedded in the walls. It was like they stepped into a fantasy world. "Whoa, look at all this. Is this really inside of the mine still?" she asked.

Tsuki took a few steps forward into the crystal-filled cave and looked around. His reflection could even be spotted in some of the more larger crystals. "When they said that they found a crystal deposit, this was not what I was expecting" he said.

Lynette placed her hand up against one of the larger crystals and felt faint traces of energy. "I'm picking up faint traces Aer although it feels...pure and almost gentle. It's the complete opposite of the crystals we've been encountering" she said.

Tsuki walked around a little bit. He could feel the abundance of energy in the air but amongst all of it still had the lingering dark feeling. With all of the pure energy that filled the chamber, it made him wonder about how the crystals they've encountered could become filled with evil, assuming they came from the crystal deposit. "How could pure Aer like this become so twisted and evil?" he asked.

Lynette walked over to the nearby edge and looked down the shaft. It wasn't nearly as deep as the service lift shaft and there was a path that leads straight down. Moreover than that, she could see the bottom of the shaft and thanks to that, she was able to see what appeared to be the miners chipping away at a cluster of violet crystals among the large majority of clear blue crystals. She looked over towards Tsuki and motioned for him to come over. "Tsuki, come look at this" she said.

Tsuki walked over to Lynette who was crouching down along the edge, hiding behind a cluster of blue crystals. Tsuki crouched down next to her and looked down the shaft and saw the miners. "Looks like we found the miners. Which would mean..." he said. His gazed shifted off towards the center of the shaft and locked onto a figure with a jet-black, menacing axe attached to his back. "That must be the man that we've been hearing about" he said.

Lynette followed Tsukis' gaze towards the man who was watching over the miners with an intense stare. She did a quick appraisal of him but with the distance between them and the interference of Aer from the surrounding crystals, she wasn't able to pick up on much. "Well, one thing's for sure...he's not your average person" she said.

Tsuki looked over at Lynette. "What can you see?" he asked.

Lynette shook her head at him. "Not much from here, I'm afraid. Too much Aer interference to make a solid appraisal. I would need to get closer" she said. The closer she was to what she was appraising, the better the results she gets generally. There were two different types of appraisals: an area-wide appraisal which lets her scan the area around them up to a certain distance and direct appraisals which lets her scan a particular target.

Tsuki looked around at the surrounding area below and there was nothing they could use for cover once they got off the path leading downwards towards the bottom. His gaze soon settled back onto the man with the axe, shaking his head. "Then, we'd better be prepared for a fight. Even from this distance, I could feel something different from that man" he said.

Tsuki and Lynette started their way slow descent down the shaft along the pathway, doing their best to remain hidden as they went down. The sounds of pickaxes hitting up against crystal and stone got louder. Once they were about halfway down, a deep voice spoke out which came from the man with the axe on his back

The man sighed heavily, tapping his foot against the ground as he seemed to start getting frustrated. He soon tossed the pickaxe onto the ground with the pointed part stuck in the ground. This caused some of the miners to jump out of fright. "How much longer is this going to take?" he demanded in a deep, aggressive tone.

One of the miners nervously looked at him in the eyes. He looked completely exhausted and was covered in dirt and dust. You could barely make out skin color because of how dirty he was. "S-sir, you got to understand! Most of us here are on the brink of collapse from working all night! Ore extraction is a delicate process. One wrong action and you ruin the whole batch!" he said.

The man looked at the man and approached him with a very displeased look on his face. He reached out and grabbed the miner by the collar and lifted him up off the ground with ease. "I thought I told you that I didn't want to hear any of your meager excuses. I gave you all a simple task that should have been done with 20 minutes ago. My patience and goodwill has just about run out" he said.

The miner had slight trouble breathing as he was lifted up by the collar. He had no strength to fight back against him so there was not much he could do but struggle. "I-I just told you...! We don't have the strength or energy to do much more. Some of us have even collapsed from exhaustion outright!" he said.

The man gave the miner a threatening look before releasing and dropping him onto the ground. He then reached for the axe on his back and took it off, placing it against his shoulder. "Then, I suppose you all are of no further use to me. I do appreciate that you led me down here so I'll be sure to make your deaths as quick and painless as possible" he said.

The miner didn't have the strength to get up and move and the miners that were watching it all happen were either too afraid to take action or too exhausted to do anything about it. The man soon lifted up the axe over his head and was about to bring it down onto the miner to effectively cleave him in half in a brutal fashion. However, before he could start the swing of his axe, a familiar incantation and spell name could be heard as chains of light shot out from behind him and wrapped around the mans' arm, binding it in place. This caused the miners to look behind the man and saw Tsuki and Lynette standing there.

The man stood still, almost unfazed as he turned his head slightly to the left to look back towards Tsuki and Lynette. "What is this? More interlopers?" he asked.

Tsuki had his hand on the hilt of his sheathed sword, ready to attack or defend at a moments' notice. He just needed to get the man to turn around so that he could get a better look at him and be able to assess his combat capabilities. "Looks like we made it just in time" he said.

The man turned his body a bit to the side so that he could look over in their direction. He gave Tsuki and Lynette a brief examination and noted a couple of things. While Lynette wasn't very strong in the offensive side of things, he could see that she had untapped magical potential. Though, as she was right now, she wasn't even a threat to him as he could see her struggle to keep his arm restrained by her chains of light. Tsuki, however, was a different story. He could sense a very strong power sleeping inside of him. It was a type of power he couldn't identify which made him raise an eyebrow. "Interesting. It would seem that there's more to you both than meets the eye. However..." he said. Moments later, a red aura started to envelope his body as the air grew much heavier. He made an effortless swing of his restrained arm to break the chains that bound him. "You have a long way to go before you can compete with the big boys" he said.

Now that the man was facing towards him, they were able to get a better look at him. He had black hair and violet eyes with a pretty nasty looking scar going across his left eye. He had the eyes and general appearance of a true, battle-hardened veteran. The intensity in his eyes was on a level that Tsuki has never seen before. He looked to be roughly around the same age as King Taichi with a similar aura. He had a sense of regal to him and looked menacing and intimidating at the same time. The man wore armor with unique designs to it and looked to be made quite sturdy and durable. The axe he was wielding was also of a unique design. It didn't compare to any of Eresseas' battle axes.

Tsuki drew his sword and kept his focus on the man. "I'll keep him focused on me as best I can while you attempt to bring him down with your Artes" he said.

Lynette nodded at him, readying her staff. "Got it" she said. She's learned much more offensive Artes since leaving Crescentia so she was fairly confident that she was able to hold her own, at least for a little while. The dark energy the man was giving off though still caused some level of concern for her.

Tsuki soon charged at the man as his eyes started to glow a faint red with the same glow coming from the blade as Lynette started to her spell incantations. Tsuki swung his sword at the man a few times but he blocked his attacks with little effort. Meanwhile, Lynette shot off arrows of light that came from magic circles that formed in the air behind her. Tsuki clashed with the man once more before being forced off to the side. He stared down at the oncoming arrows of light and used his axe to destroy them some of them while the rest made contact with him. They didn't appear to have any effect on him at all.

While the man was focused on Lynette, Tsuki rushed at him again with the blade of his sword glowing brighter. The speed and intensity of his attacks were getting stronger in which the man was soon forced to take a more serious defensive approach as some of his attacks were starting to knock him back slightly. He gave Tsuki a look almost as if he was suddenly enjoying himself. They soon had one last clash with enough force behind each attack that it send out a minor shockwave on impact.

The man gave Tsuki an almost pleased look with a slight chuckle soon afterwards as their weapons grinded against the other. "I'll give you credit where credit is due. You've got more edge and bite to you than you appear to have. I don't come across people like you very often" he said.

Tsuki looked up at the man. "I'll take that as a compliment then" he said.

The man scoffed at his remark. "Don't let it get to your head. You still have much more to learn when it comes to combat" he said.

As the two of them clashed, Lynette started an incantation as a magic circle formed in front of her. The Arte that she was casting is one of her more recently learned Artes. A white aura formed around her as you could hear something charging up from the incantation circle. After about another minute, she was ready to unleash it. "Energy Burst!" she shouted.

Soon, a blast of energy shot out from the incantation circle and went straight towards the man. Once it drew close enough, Tsuki jumped out of the way of the blast. The man slowly turned around to face the oncoming blast and closed his eyes. His body started to emit a red aura once again as the blade portion of his axe started to glow a pulsating deep red color. He then held his axe with two hands and swung it in a diagonal motion as the blast approached him. The blade of his axe cleaved through the blast and sent the two halves of it shooting off towards each side of him and colliding into the crystal wall.

The man looked at Tsuki and Lynette for a moment as dust and dirt was kicked up from the impact of her attack against the wall. "I commend the effort you both are putting in but I think it's time for you to see just how much you are out of your league" he said.

The man then held his axe up close to his face, taking in several deep breaths. The red aura soon turned violet as the entire chamber had a sudden and drastic change in gravity. Black sparks started to form around the area as the miners and Lynette were immediately forced down onto the ground. They were unable to stand up due to a strong, downwards force. The magic he was using was known as Gravity-based magic which fell in the category of the Darkness elemental aspect. There wasn't much people could do against Gravity-based magic unless they were on a similar or higher level than the person or creature casting it. With that said, everyone in the chamber were bound to the ground by intense gravity. Everyone except Tsuki who was still standing although he was struggling to maintain it.

Lynette struggled the best as she could to try and stand up. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to even push herself off the ground. "Gravity-based Artes!? I...can't move!" she said. Not only was she unable to move, it also had an Arte Suppression effect to it which prevented her from being able to cast anything.

The man looked at Tsuki and was intrigued by the fact that Tsuki was able to remain standing while showing signs of free movement despite having strong Gravity-based magic in effect. "Hmm. You impress me, boy. Maybe you're not as weak as you look, after all" he said. As he stared down Tsuki, he started an appraisal of him and noticed various different shifts in his Aer. "Now, this is interesting..." he said. He then readied his axe and after a moment, he shot towards him, swinging his axe in a sweeping motion at the same time.

All Tsuki could manage to do was bring his sword up and just barely managed to block his sudden attack. The sheer force of the attack, however, sent him off his feet, flying back and hitting against the crystal wall behind him. Dust and dirt was kicked up on impact as the nearby crystals fell from the nearby wall. After about a minute, the dust began to settle and once it did, it was revealed that Tsuki was struggling to get up onto his feet, bleeding from his forehead. He looked up towards the man as his eyes had brief flashes of red, violet and yellow colors to go with his natural blue eyes.

Lynette, who was still forced down onto the ground, looked over towards Tsuki. She was unable to help him out due to the fact that the Gravity-based Artes were suppressing her own abilities. When she saw that Tsuki became a sudden target for attack, she felt powerless. She wasn't able to assist him. "Tsuki!"

Tsuki wasn't sure how he was able to bring himself to defend against his attack, let alone be able to stand and have some range of free movement with Gravity-based Artes in effect. "Damn...he's strong, alright. If it weren't for this sudden change in gravity..."he said.

The man took note of the change of color in his eyes and rubbed his chin a bit. To be able to defend against his Brutal Swing attack while he had Gravity-based Artes in effect, he wasn't just a typical knight. "There really is more to you than meets the eye. I sense a great power within, trying to break free. In fact, I'd say it's near the boiling point" he said.

Tsuki struggled quite a bit but managed to get back up onto his feet. He took a moment to analyze his situation and made a quick note about something in the aura he was emitting. "This power...it feels so unnatural. What are you?" he asked.

The man chuckled a bit as he faced towards Tsuki. He held his free hand out as violet-colored flames formed above the palm of his hand. "Very perceptive. Yes, it may be considered unnatural to you who can't begin to comprehend it. What you're feeling is a power that the world hasn't seen for centuries. A power that could topple cities and strike fear into the hearts of even the toughest of fighters. A power unlike any other that comes before it. That power is known as Arcanum" he said.

Tsuki had never heard of a power called Arcanum before. Based on what he said, it was something that the world had known about before. A power from an almost forgotten time where stories became legend and myth. "Arcanum...?" he asked.

The man closed his hand in a tight fist as the violet flames scattered before lowering his arm. "Granted, the power itself is not easy to control. Thankfully, I've had some good targets recently to practice it on. It was a rewarding experience" he said.

His words rang through Tsukis' mind as he couldnt help but think back to the reports of dead, high-ranking officials such as President and Vice President of Saiyaka. They pretty much confirmed what he had already suspected. "So, you're the one behind the recent murders" he said.

The man chuckled, resting his axe on the ground as he held onto the handle. "Cayhill has some decent fighters despite being in a neutral state of affairs. Fighters that would pose a risk to my plans. Why not eliminate potential obstacles standing in my way on the side of training?" he asked.

Tsuki glared at the man. His words gave him significant alarm about the purpose behind the murders. It caused a flashback to when Lynette suggested an impending invasion when they met up with Lucas. "What are you plotting?" he asked.

The man shook his head and fell silent for a moment, lowering his head. After several moments of silence, he raised his head and looked towards Tsuki, gripping the handle of his axe once more and lifting it up and holding it off to his side with two hands as he leaned forward a bit, putting himself into an offensive stance. "A reckoning is upon us and I must eliminate any and all who would pose a threat to it. That great power sleeping within you poses a great risk and I shall snuff it out before it has the chance to awaken" he said.

He then shot towards Tsuki with great speed. The distance between them quickly closed as he soon swung his axe in an upwards diagonal motion. Tsuki didn't have much time to react and could only defend himself. The blade portion of the axe clashed against his sword and snapped the blade off like a twig as Tsuki was sent back against the wall with greater force than before. The broken blade of his sword spun in the air and clattered against the floor across the chamber.

Lynette felt totally powerless as she laid there on the ground, unable to act. Whatever the man was plotting, it would seem that Tsuki was now his new target. "Tsuki!" she shouted.

The dust eventually settled with Tsuki down on one knee with yet another broken sword in his hands. The impact and force of his attack was much stronger than the previous one so he had the wind knocked out of him a bit and now that Tsuki has a broken sword once again, he found himself in the exact same situation as with the Rhino. However, despite having a broken sword, he managed to stand back up onto his feet and give the man a defiant look.

The mans' opinion of Tsuki continued to improve in some degree. The fact that he was still able to stand up to him after all of this shows just how resilient and tenacious he was. "It's a shame things had to be this way. You could have become quite the powerful force if you hadn't run into me" he said.

The man lifted his axe up over his head as red sparks started to generate around its double-sided blades. The pressure in the chamber grew heavy as he focused an incredible amount of Mana into the head of his axe. Once he generated enough energy into the head of the axe, he held it off to his left side. The intensity of the sparks could be felt by everyone in the chamber.

The man gave Tsuki one last look as he chuckled at him. "It's time we bring this charade to a close. Grand Spark!" he shouted.

In one quick motion, the man swung the axe in a diagonal motion, releasing an arc-shaped blast of electricity towards Tsuki. The attack came at him with force and speed and Tsuki hasn't been able to regain himself yet, leaving him completely defenseless. All anyone could do was simply watch as the blast of energy fast approached Tsuki. A blast that would surely kill him. Just as things seemed lost, however, a shield-shaped barrier formed in front of Tsuki. The blast slammed into the barrier and came to a standstill for a few moments. Soon, both the barrier and arc blast exploded, filling the chamber with dust and smoke.

The sudden appearance of the barrier caught the man off guard. "What's this!?" he shouted.

Before the man could react, the sound of running footsteps could be heard running through the kicked up smoke and dust. Moments later, someone carrying a large, heavy two-handed greatsword shot out of the smoke like a bullet and slammed their shoulder against the man before swinging his greatsword from his right side up in a diagonal motion as the face of a lion in the form of energy shot out. "Lion's Barrage!" the person shouted out in a semi-deep male voice.

The sudden force of the two-pronged attack sent the man back into the smoke, his axe skidding against the ground as he used it to stop himself. It was moments after that the Gravity-induced Artes along with its Suppression effects faded away, giving everyone a chance to breathe a heavy sigh of relief to have all of that pressure gone. Lynette quickly got up to her feet, grabbing her staff and ran through the smoke over to Tsuki, who had taken a beating.

Lynette started to use her Healing Artes on him right away while she had the chance. "Tsuki, are you okay!?" she asked with slight panic in her voice.

Tsuki felt the pressure lift which ironically made him fall to the ground with his back sliding against the wall. He felt all of his energy leave his body as he looked up at Lynette who was healing him. "Lyn...I'm fine, don't worry" he said. He was far from fine. He was in quite a lot of pain and it was plainly seen by the look on his face.

Lynette shook her head as she concentrated her healing on the injuries that were most severe. "I'm so sorry. I couldn't do anything for you again" she said. This was the second time she was unable to provide assistance to Tsuki in which he almost ended up being killed. She couldn't have felt anymore powerless than she did now.

Tsuki saw that she was emotionally struggling with this by her shaking shoulders as if she was about to cry. He lifted his hand up and placed it on her shoulder, giving her a reassuring look with a smile. "Gravity Artes are hard to fight back again especially if they have Suppression effects to them. You have nothing to apologize for" he said. It was the first time he's encountered someone who was able to use Gravity Artes which made him wonder even more about how he was able to fight against it. He then looked around the room as the dust and smoke started to settle. "In any case, what just happened?" he asked.

The smoke and dust eventually cleared from the chamber after about another minute and everyone was able to see what had happened. There was a new addition to the crowd at the bottom of this shaft. It was a tall man, well-built with dirty blond hair and brown eyes. His attire consisted of a mix between heavy armor and light clothing. The torse was of a light cloth material with metallic plating running along his arms up to his shoulders. His lower half was a blend between the two as clothing and plating ran down his legs to his feet where he was wearing brown boots. The sword he was carrying had a long and wide blade that gave the sword itself a length of almost a fully grown adult. Meanwhile, the man who wielded the axe had been knocked back against the cluster of crystals he was trying to get the miners to excavate.

The man wielding the two-handed greatsword swung the sword off to the side with one hand with little effort as he placed it over his shoulder, looking over towards Tsuki and Lynette. "Hey kid, you alright over there?" he asked.

Tsuki could tell at a glance that the newcomer was also a veteran on the battlefield. He looked like someone who's seen more than his fair share of combat. It was obvious by the way he was handling such a heavy weapon. Greatswords, weapons that required the use of two hands to be able to use to their full extent, were incredibly tough to master. It takes great strength and control to be able to use a weapon like that skillfully and not be a burden to others. While weapons like those greatly lack speed and handling, they make up for it with sheer, raw power and force.

After examining the newcomer closely, he nodded at him. "All except my pride" he asked in joking tone.

The newcomer chuckled before turning over to face the man he had knocked back against the cluster of crystals. He gave then man a sharp glare. "You're a long way from home. What do you think you're doing in a place like this?" he asked.

The man pulled himself out of the cluster of crystals. As he did so, he had a a small cluster of violet crystals in his hand, chuckling menacingly. He seemed to return the glare towards the man. You could almost taste the hostility in the air between them. "Hmph. I could say the same thing about you" he said. He brushed himself off and held his axe up over his shoulder.

The newcomer continued to have his staredown with the man. "I'm not sure what brought you here but you must understand the severity of the implications of what this all looks likem, given everything that you've done." he said. He then held his greatsword out with one hand, extending it out towards him. "If you think we're going to let you do as you please, then we'll be forced to take action" he said.

The man couldn't help but laugh a bit at his statement before taking his axe and extending it out towards him to meet his greatsword. "Are you sure that's the right course of action? If I recall correctly, you've got your own set of problems to deal with. Do you really think getting tangled up with affairs from another kingdom is a wise idea when you have your hands full already?" he asked, giving him a menacing look. Moments later, the blades of his axe started to glow violet.

Lynette felt the familiar energy that the crystals gave off. Only, it was much more potent. The energy that she's felt before always felt strong but what she's feeling now is on a whole different scale. "This feeling...it's powerful. Terrifying even..."she said.

The newcomer held his ground as his blade soon started to glow with light. He kept his gaze on the man as he did his best to analyze him. "It appears the rumors of your sudden power boost were true, after all. Your actions here cannot be ignored no matter who you may be" he said.

The man chuckled with a slight grin on his face. "The dog has a tough bark but tell me something: are the actions you've taking here sanctioned?" he asked in a way as if he was mocking him.

The newcomer remained silent at his question. "..."

The mans' grin soon disappeared from his face as he had a more serious expression. "I didn't think so" he said. His eyes suddenly glowed violet before he shot towards the newcomer, holding his axe off to his right side. Once he was close enough, he swung his axe down in a vertical motion.

The newcomers' eyes glowed yellow as he gripped the handle of his greatsword with his other hand and swung it from his left side in a horizontal motion to block the attack. Moments later, the blades of the axe clashed with the greatsword, letting out a loud, metallic clang that echoed throughout the entire chamber. Sparks of violet and light shot out from the two opposing forces. Two weapons known for their sheer, raw power and force boosted by whatever Artes they were using. Despite this, the newcomer didn't seem to budge an inch though there was a struggle amid the two clashing weapons.

The newcomer was pretty surprised by the level of strength the man had. He may not have budged from the clash but he didn't expect power levels of this magnitude from him. "Such raw power...!" he said. He could see the look on the mans' face and hear his evil chuckle. "But it's not your own and that will serve as your downfall!" he said. He then put more force behind his swing and managed to break the clash.

By breaking the clash, the man ended up stumbling back with his defenses wide open. The newcomer used this an opportunity to strike again and charged at him with his greatsword off to his right in preparation for another horizontal slash.

Lynette saw the newcomer charge at the man and sensed something coming from the ground underneath the mans' feet as the newcomer rushed towards him. His defenses were not down and used the knockback to lure the newcomer in. "Hey, watch out! The ground under his feet!" she shouted.

The newcomer heard Lynette shouting at him but it was too late. The man continued to chuckle as a black and violet blade shot out in a swift, vertical motion. The newcomer was too close to be able to defend against it but he was just barely able to dodge it by quickly stopping and jumping back. He was able to get out of a potentially serious injury with nothing but a cut across his cheek. "Phew, that could have been bad. Thanks for the heads up!" he said, giving Lynette a thumbs up.

The man scoffed at them as his trick had failed. "Wretched girl" he said. He soon prepared himself to charge at the newcomer once more.

Moments later, sounds of many armored footsteps soon entered into the chamber. An average sized platoon of soldiers stormed down to the bottom of the crystal chamber and surrounded the area with their weapons drawn. Others tended to the miners and those injured including Tsuki.

The newcomer had his greatsword down at his side as he gave the man another staredown. "Looks like the cavalry finally arrived. What's your next move going to be? It'll be quite difficult for you to fight against me while also dealing with numbers like these" he said.

The man looked around at his surroundings. He wasn't intimidated by the sudden appearance of soldiers and could easily take them down on his own but he did have a point. It would prove to be more of a hassle for him than it would be a challenge. The man scoffed and lowered his axe to his side. "It would seem that you've achieved checkmate" he said. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out one of the crystals that he was holding before when the newcomer first appeared. "I wasn't able to locate the sword I was looking for but at least I was able to retrieve some high quality crystals" he said.

Lynette could feel the powerful dark force inside them. It was somehow much stronger than any of the crystals that they've seen up to this point. It was almost as if the power within those crystals were amplified. She felt a similar reaction with the mans' Aer as well. "No, the crystals!" she shouted.

The man gazed into the crystals and felt the raw, untapped power within them. After a moment, he attached his axe to his back and looked over at the newcomer, Tsuki and Lynette. "Count yourselves lucky this day. You won't get away from me so easily the next time we meet" he said. Just then, an incantation circle formed underneath his feet as a cylinder beam of light shot out from the sides. He gave Tsuki one final look with a grin on his face. "The name is Caius Ames. Remember that. The real fun hasn't even started yet" he said. A surge of energy could be heard whirring up and moments later, the man disappeared in a bright flash of light.

Once the man had taken the dark-filled crystals and disappeared, the pressure in the chamber lifted like a curtain rising. The dark energy that had filled the air by the power of the crystals also disappeared as well. All that filled the chamber now were the pained, tired groans of the miners that could now breathe and relax. The miners that still had some strength left to them went over to those who didn't to check up on them and make sure they were okay. The soldiers that arrived to help them sheathed their weapons and dispersed around the area. Thankfully, they were able to get away with scratches and other various light injuries that were easy to treat with first aid. Tsuki was the only one had the worst of the injuries but most of which had been treated already by Lynettes' healing.

The newcomer placed his greatsword on his back and sighed, scratching the back of his head. He then turned and walked on over to Tsuki and Lynette on the far side of the chamber. He soon stepped in front of Tsuki, who was sitting on the ground and offered him a hand to help stand up. "You two got guts, standing up to a man like that. Very brave but very reckless at the same time" he said.

Tsuki looked up at the man as he approached him and offered him a hand to stand. He reached up and took it as he was pulled up back onto his feet. He could still feel the ringing pain throughout his body but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. "Well, it was either standing on the sidelines and watch as he kills innocent people or attempt to intervene. There wasn't much of a choice" he said.

The newcomer shook his head, dropping his arm down to his side once Tsuki was back up on his feet. "A choice that would have added more to the potential body count but I suppose a knights' duty is to protect the innocent" he said. His armor may be in need of some repair but it was easy to distinguish who he was and who he was affiliated with.

Lynette gave Tsuki one last look over to make sure that his injuries were all healed before placing her staff on her back. She faced the man and gave him a slight bow. "Um...thank you for coming to our aid. Things were looking pretty bad there for a minute" she said.

The man looked at the girl and patted his chest. "No need to thank me, Miss. It's what we do. My name's Ramza Tokatsu. I'm what you would call a mercenary" he said. He then folded his arms in front of him and fell into a bit of thought. "The crystals were one thing but what was that about a sword...?" he mumbled to himself. It was the first he's heard of it.

Tsuki tilted his head when he called himself a mercenary but introductions came first. "I'm Tsuki Himura, one of the Royal Eight of Eresseas. This is my friend, Lynette Suzaki" he said.

Ramza nodded at them as he made their introductions. "So, you must be the special guests that was supposed to meet up with Lucas" he said.

Tsukis' hunch ended up being true after all. "And you must be the mercenary that was carrying out a task for Lucas. What brought you down here?" he asked.

Ramza pointed his finger up towards the ceiling. "We were waiting for you to show up at Saiyaka when Kurama came and informed us of what was happening. A team of soldiers and medics are being stationed at the mine entrance as we speak. I went in ahead to provide back-up if needed since I knew what kind of situation it was turning out to be. Thanks to a functional service lift, I was able to get down here rather quickly. It was pretty convenient, if you ask me" he said, giving Tsuki and Lynette an almost mocking expression.

Tsuki felt a few strings being pulled as he poked fun at them because of their earlier comments about the service lift. "Gee, you're quite welcome for the convenient ride down" he said.

Ramza let out a loud laugh at their expense. Based on their looks and all of the accumulated dirt and mud on their shoes and clothes, he could see that they were forced to walk all the way through the mine. He couldn't help but poke fun at them a little. "Anyway, let's get these miners out of here and out into some fresh air. We can continue our conversation later" he said.

They nodded and walked around the chamber to help the miners. Lynette provided minor healing to those who needed it before they started to move everyone up the shaft and out through the singular tunnel leading back towards the hub. They eventually reached the hub which now had soldiers and medics that were already brought down by the service lift. The medics quickly got to work on the miners that still needed treatment while Tsuki, Lynette and Ramza guided those who didn't onto the service lift. After a moment, the gate to the lift closed and stared to ride up the shaft. It only took a few minutes for them to reach the first level hub as opposed to the several hour trek it took them to get down to the bottom level by foot. It only further rubbed salt in their wounds.

Once they were back on the first level hub, they stepped off the lift and proceeded to make their way along the main tunnel with the able-bodied miners in tow. After several minutes, they stepped back into the sunlight that was almost blinding to them because of how long they had been down underground. Outside of the mine where squads of soldiers and medical tents lined up around the area. Medics and soldiers took notice of their emergence from the mines and approached them. The miners went their separate ways after giving their gratitude to them as Tsuki, Lynette and Ramza were guided by one of the captains and brought over to where the main operations area for the mine was. It was there that they saw Lucas and Frey, directing people to different areas with separate tasks.

Lucas looked over towards them as they approached the operations area. He felt a sense of relief wash over him when he saw them."You guys are okay...well, mostly okay by the looks of you" he said, examining the state that Tsuki was in. Lynette got off easy this time with no injuries, just covered in dirt and mud.

Frey bowed at them. "I'm sorry you had to get involved in our affairs but thank you nonetheless. If it weren't for you, we would have lost good men today" he said.

Tsuki shook his head, waving his hands in front of him. "You don't need to be so formal. It was my duty as a knight, after all. If it weren't for Ramzas' timely arrival, things would be much different" he said.

Lucas shook his head at them. "Regardless, we're in your debt" he said. He then looked over at Ramza standing next to them. "I would like to thank you as well" he said.

Ramza held his hand up as if to signal him to stop. "It's all part of the job. A mercenary sees their job to its full completion. You were the one who hired my services and as such, I was bound by oath until the services are no longer required" he said.

Frey looked over at Tsuki and Lynette, leaning against the table in front of him. "Now, tell us what happened down in the mines" he said.

Tsuki and Lynette looked at each other with a nod and proceeded to tell them everything that happened since entering the mine. From the aftermath that they witnessed in the second level hub all the way up to their encounter with the name who called himself Caius Ames. Once he brought up the mans' name, it sent shocks through both Lucas and Frey.

Lucas had to sit down in a nearby chair to collect himself upon hearing the mans' name. I held his hand up to his forehead and rubbed it with an expression on his face as if someone told him his dog died. "Caius Ames. So, it really must be true then..." he said.

Frey sighed heavily with his head hung low, staring down at the table and unable to form words for a good minute. "What do we do now? How should we inform the King and Queen?" he asked.

Tsuki tilted his head at them. "What do you mean?" he asked.

Lucas looked up at Tsuki. "You mean, you don't know who he is? Caius Ames is the king of Honegroth, Empire of Dreams located in Menorion" he said.

The realization of the identity of Caius stunned Tsuki and Lynette. Frey looked at them with an understand look on his face as they tried to cope with it. "We had heard rumors from travelers coming in from other continents pertaining to other kingdoms. Word has it, there's been an inexplicable shift in Honegroths' behavior that sprung up out of nowhere several months ago. It's been causing quite a stir with the kingdoms of Esseand and Dolothlond." he said.

Ramza nodded at them, looking down at the table which had a map of their corner of the world. "One such rumor is that he's preparing to invade one of the kingdoms though no one is sure which one and considering the actions he's been taking here..." he said.

Lynettes' own words of a possible invasion she spoke a while ago rang through her head. She reached for her left arm and held onto it as she looked down towards the ground. "But we don't know that for sure...right? Maybe he is plotting something else?" she asked.

Lucas shook his head with a heavy sigh. "What other possibility could there be but invasion? You don't just enter another kingdoms' territory and start killing off 'potential threats' if it wasn't preparation for invasion or something else of that scale" he said, scratching the back of his head.

Tsuki couldn't help but think back on his original mission. Everything started with the discovery of unknown cargo. "I think we'll be able to find out the whole truth once we get to Basilwell. It all started from there" he said. He didn't want to consider invasion as a possibility until we was absolutely sure.

Lynette nodded at him. "We still don't know what this unknown cargo is and yet it caused enough alarm to request a formal investigation. It couldn't just be a coincidence that these crystals and Caius suddenly showed up in the middle of all this" she said.

Ramza nodded at them both. "I have to agree with your assessment. Everything started with Basilwell" he said.

Lucas looked at Tsuki and Lynette before shaking his head. "Well, we know what our next plan of action is now. We need to increase security around Basilwell on the off-chance that they're all connected" he said.

Tsuki rolled his head across his shoulders as his body was still a bit stiff from his encounter with Caius. "As much as I would like to head out immediately, I think I should take this chance to recover. Besides, I'm still waiting on that sword and it looks like operations around here will take a while before they're put back into action" he said.

Lucas bowed slightly at him. "I'm sorry. We'll try to get things going around here as fast as we can so we can get your sword made for you. In the meantime, try and make yourselves at home at Rhym's place. Once things have started moving again, I'll bring you in so that Ramza can fill us in on his report" he said. He then looked over at Ramza who was leaning up against a nearby pole. "Is that alright with you?" he asked.

Ramza had his arms folded in front of him as he nodded at him in agreement. "I'm still bound by contract. I'll go with whatever you have to say or do, so long as it isn't anything dubious" he said.

Lucas bowed at him. "I appreciate it" he said. He then walked around the table and started to make his way out of the operations area but stopped for a moment to look back at them. "I must be off then if I want to get things working again. If you'll excuse me" he said. He then continued to walk past them and left.

Ramza pushed himself off the pole as he watched Lucas walk off. He turned his head and gave Tsuki and Lynette one last look. "Looks like we're on standby in the meantime. If you need anything from me, I'll be at the local inn" he said. He motioned goodbye to them with a hand gesture and then made his exit, walking towards the Buisness District.

Lynette watched them both leave before scratching her head. She then looked over at Tsuki and tapped him on the shoulder. "We should head back as well. I'm sure Rhym is worried about us" she said.

Tsuki nodded at her. "Sounds good to me. We both could use a shower anyway" he said.

They were both covered with dust and dirt from head to toe. Thankfully, it was pretty common for people to see people this dirty around the area considering that it was an everyday thing for the miners.

Lynette looked over herself and laughed nervously as their appearance. "Yeah..." she said.

Tsuki and Lynette started to make their way back into the Business District. Despite being an ordinary sight for most people, they still managed to somehow draw attention to themselves. People could be heard whispering to each other as they walked through the streets and this kind of thing would continue as they made their way back through the Recreational and Residential Districts that Rhym has guided them through before. They eventually arrived back at Rhyms' house where they were treated as suspicious at first because of them being completely covered by dirt and dust but once everyone knew who they were, the mood changed. Rhym welcomed them back but kept her distance so that she wouldn't get herself dirty as well. The first thing the both of them did was taking a shower so that they could feel refreshed and clean.

As Tsuki washed himself off in the shower, he couldn't help but have several flashbacks of his fight with Caius and what he learned from Lucas and Frey. Their words echoed through his mind as he could feel that something was looming over the horizon. The rest of the day was spent relaxing at Rhyms' house where they talked about what went on within the mines and other various things. They both kept up their usual appearances and looks so they didn't cause Rhym anymore worry but they both worried about what was still to come. With the way things were going, they had a feeling that things would only get much worse before they got better.

To be continued...