Chapter 24
Author notes: I've made some revisions in the prologue by adding a little story. Check it if u wish!
Felicia arrived at the temple to find it completely destroyed. "What? What happened? Elraven! Salvador!" She shouted to no answer. "It can't be...they died?! No way. Salvador, Elraven where are you?" She tried to search in the temple ruins abruptly, but she didn't find anyone there. "Damn! Nobody answered!! Impossible, they..?" She scarily thought to herself as suddenly she heard a sound.
"Kwak, kwak!"
The paladin turned back and find her peco is running towards her. "Kwak, kwak!" Salvador sounded happily as his masted hugged him. "Salvador you're alive!! Thanks god!! I promised next time I won't leave you in the stable again in times like this" Felicia almost cried seeing her peco alive and well.
"Hey wait, you're here, where's Elraven?" Felicia asked the peco and find another 'kwak' as an answer.
"Is he really...dead?" Again the wonder came to her mind.
"Angel of Darkness died because of an explosion? Even gay marriage between Big Foot and Poring sounds more possible, Felicia!" Elraven walked slowly to the ruins while readjusting his purple glasses. "El!! You're alive!" The paladin happily greeted her comrade.
"Who did this, El?"
"A gigantic white monster with a fire on his back!"
"Oh, it's Gloom Under Night. He's the leader of Lethe Guild."
"Gloom Under Night? What kind of name is that? That's the gayest name I've ever heard! Well, whoever his name is, that whitey pops just add his name on my list to kill, right after Beelzephir!"
"Oh, OK. Up yours, how did you survive?"
"Well, I felt an imposing aura suppressed me when I wanted to give you two a signal cause I heard George in trouble from the talkie. I quickly ran to the stable to grab Salvador, and used this to escape right before they whitey pops destroyed the whole temple. I ended up arriving in one of the abandoned temple inside the town" The gunslinger showed Felicia a fly wing.
"Wow, a quick thinker. Thank you for saving Salvador."
"Never mind, where's Alexandria?"
"She's inside the guild area fighting a big Atroce. Oh yeah, Frea and her Palamedes has expressed their desire to join us! This way we can win this town easier than we thought."
"Really?! That's awesome!"
"Thanks to you, you pretty much did the dirty job."
"What do you mean?"
"You killed two third of their soldiers. Their remaining soldiers are only 5 dozens monster soldiers. With Palamedes on our side, we don't even need to call our reinforcements in Alberta."
"Wow, is this for real?" Elraven seemed disbelieve in his own doings. "Scary, to think one man almost single handedly won us more than half of this war. It has never been this easy before, not even with Fio's strength or plans. Should I ask more reinforcements from his squad?" Felicia deeply thought to herself seeing the Angel of Darkness.
Their wondering was suddenly interrupted by Fiorentin's voice.
"Hey, what are you two doing there?!"
The two turned around and see the small princess approaching them.
"What happened? Why is the temple destroyed? When I asked you to lit a signal doesn't mean you have to destroy the entire temple, Elraven!!" The lord knight protested when she saw the ruins of the temple.
Elraven dropped some sweat on his head before explaining what really happened.
"Oh, so that's what happened. Sorry for accusing you then.."
"Never mind. Shall we go to the outer forest and find what really happened there?"
"Absolutely, let's go you two!" The former princess ordered as the other two (three, if you included Salvador whom Felicia used as her ride) followed her to the outer forest.
Later, in the outer forest near the bridge...
The three arrived and found Frea and her Palamedes was treating the injured residents. "Hey, you guys finally come! We've been waiting!". The injured residents are everywhere, some of them are unconscious. Looks like something has happened here.
"What happened? Where is George and Olivia? Where is Sohee?" Felicia rapidly asked seeing the battered residents.
"Calm down. The guy named George is there, near the bridge. Wendy is taking care of him. The high priest is unconscious, but she will be fine. She's there along with the champion." Frea calmly explained and pointed her finger to the broken bridge.
"I'll check them" Felicia ran to her sister, leaving the other two. Although Fiorentin is worried about her friends, she chose to prioritize this messy condition first. "So, what happened here, Frea?"
"Well, apparently judging by what I heard from the surviving residents, when they were about to march outside the Payon area, Eddga, Moonlight Flower, and Egnigem Cenia attacked them. Your friend George managed to defeat Eddga, but Egnigem Cenia defeated him afterwards. Moonlight Flower defeated the your high priest and killed all the monks, then she and Cenia took Sohee away from here. Not before attacking the resident they regarded as traitors first" The soul linker answered. "What? They took Sohee too? Oh, god! They will sacrifice her!" Elraven shouted hearing the story as Fiorentin widened her eyes.
Meanwhile, in the deepest level of Payon Dungeon....
In one of the large chamber inside the dungeon, Assassin Cross Eremes is seen standing besides an imposing white orb as Gloom Under Night, Sniper Cecil, Egnigem Cenia, Moonlight Flower, and Do entered. Cenia carried the unconscious Sohee on her shoulder.
"Master Eremes, it's an honor to meet you!" Do tried to lick to the assassin, who gave no answer to him. "Well, well. What is the great Quarter Kings doing here, I wonder?" Moonlight Flower mocked the cold assassin. "Direct order from Lord Beelzephir, if that pleases you." Eremes replied to her. "DIRECT ORDER TO WHAT? WATCH US DOING THE RITUALS? OR MAKE SURE WE WON'T SCREW THE PLAN?" Gloom Under Night asked as he stood in front of the assassin. "Both, I presume." A short reply for the gigantic monster.
As if she didn't care about the situation, Cenia put Sohee in a wooden coffin under the orb. "Well done, Cenia. You are more useful than your master, indeed" Eremes said to the swordswoman as she closed the coffin. Suddenly, the calm Cenia gave a worried expression on her face and asked the assassin, "Master Seyren? What happened to him? What happened to him?!". "Well, he pretty much failed to live up to the expectation fighting the Schwaltzvalt Republic soldiers, what a shame to the Dark Lord's Helm wielder. I suppose it was a mistake to give him the trust in the first place" Eremes cynically replied, much to the anger of Egnigem Cenia. Cenia pulled her Schweizerschabel and slashed it towards Eremes, but before the sword could hit the target.
"CENIA, STOP!! REMEMBER YOUR POSITION!!"
Cenia stopped her sword just an inch from Eremes neck,who gave a sarcastic smile to the mad swordswoman. "Well anyway, how do you plan to take on Sagramore and Palamedes, Gloom Under Night?" The assassin asked the guild leader. "I'VE SENT GONRICH WITH THE REST OF LETHE'S SOLDIERS TO THE BRIDGE. EVEN IF SOME OF THEM ESCAPED AND TRIED TO GET HERE SOMEHOW, I'VE PREPARED MYSELF AND LETHE TO BATTLE THEM PERSONALLY." The giant monster replied.
"Quite convincing" The assassin nodded his head. Do approached him with a greedy eyes and asked, "So, Master Eremes. What about my prize? I've helped you to gather enough sacrifice in this 5 years, right?". "Well, what to say? You betrayed your own kin to get some luxuries. So, this is all I can give to you" Eremes replied while staring right into Do's eyes. "What? What did you give me?" Was the last word from the head monk as all of a sudden his body has been cut in half as his blood splattered everywhere. Do didn't even realize his own dead because the attack was too quick.
Lethe guild didn't seem faze of the killing. "He deserves it" Eremes calmly explained. "ALRIGHT, CECIL! COME WITH ME TO THE UPPER LEVEL! CENIA AND MOONLIGHT, GUARDTHE ORB AND THECOFFIN AS THE RITUAL BEGINS." Gloom Under Night ordered his guild as he and Cecil goes up. Eremes said, "Good luck", before he disappears.
Back at the bridge....
"This is bad, I don't know whether our plan to attack them and take over Payon will work perfectly now." Fiorentin muttered in worry. "Well, princess. I know this is not the right time to say this, but I'm feeling something strong coming from the territory behind the guild area of Payon, if I'm not mistaken it's the Payon Dungeon. Based from my predictions, Lethe guild is doing something dangerous there, very dangerous." Frea told the former princess, making her even confused more.
But before she decided on what to do, suddenly they heard a loud roar.
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!"
The sound came from a giant green skinned three headed dragon monster. He was running from across the city, destroying everything on his pat as he slowly approached the bridge. He was surrounded by 5 dozens General skeletons who followed him. "What is that?" Elraven shouted seeing the monster. "It's Zmey Gonrich! He's from Lethe Guild. I bet those skeletons are the guilds remaining soldiers." Fiorentin answered.
"Well, whoever he is he doesn't look friendly. And I bet he doesn't intend on coming here just to pay us
a visit. Let's take him out!" The gunslinger replied as he readied his Tristan and Lancelot." Wait Elraven. If what Frea said is true, then maybe Lethe is preparing something more dangerous for us. And Gonrich is only a decoy!" Fiorentin tried to hold him.
"So, what's your suggestion?" The gunslinger asked back. Fiorentin looked at Felicia for a moment, who was checking her sister and gave her a thumbs up, which Felicia replied with a thumbs up too. "This is some kind of a secret code between the two for saying 'you take the lead', I guess" Elraven thought to himself seeing the two.
"Well, Frea. If your words are true, then please help us here. Lend us your Palamedes to fend him while we finish our business with Lethe, I'll leave Felicia here to take command." The former princess asked the soul linker, who replied with smile. "Kirigi!!" Frea called her 2nd in command. "Yes, leader!" The ninja arrived in matter of seconds. "I order you to lead Palamedes assisting the paladin to defeat Gonrich and his goons. I'll guide Alexandria and Elraven to the Payon dungeon. Do I make myself clear?" Frea gave her order. "Yes!" The ninja replied.
As Frea, Fiorentin, and Elraven goes to the dungeon, Palamedes surrounded Felicia, "Paladin, our leader has ordered us to take your command! We'll help you defeating the dragon and his armies!" Kirigi loudly said to Felicia, who quickly grabbed her saber, her mirror shield, rode on Salvador, and replied, "Very well! Under my command, I'll guide you to victory!!".
At the same time, in Payon Dungeon...
"We're here! I can feel something powerful inside!" Frea said as she, Fiorentin, and Elraven arrived at the dungeon's entrance. "Where's the source of the power?" Fiorentin asked the soul linker. "Deep inside the dungeon, I guess it comes from the deepest level of the dungeon." Frea replied as the three dashed inside. They didn't find anything or anyone as they go deeper to the dungeon. When they reached the fourth level of the dungeon, Frea warned them as she prepared her mighty staff, "Wait! I sense an imposing soul here!". "Yeah, me too. It's the same as the one I felt on the temple. It's must be the whitey pops!" Elraven agreed as he prepared his double handguns.
"THERE'S NO NEED TO BE SUSPICIOUS LIKE THAT. I DISLIKE SURPRISE ATTACKS!" Gloom Under Night appeared in the corner of the dungeon. Fiorentin drew her Claymore, "My, my. Look who's coming? The leader himself. You really want an all out battle, I presume?". "SO BE IT. COME AND HAVE THE TASTE OF MY FIRE BALLS!!" Gloom Under Night readied a gigantic fire ball. But before the monster or Fiorentin could make a move, Elraven interrupted, "Alexandria. You shouldn't take care of him. You want to safe Sohee, right?".
"What are you trying to say, Elraven?"
"Go with Frea to the deepest level of this dungeon and help Sohee. I'll take this whitey pops out!". Fiorentin widened her eyes hearing Elraven. Moreover, Frea expressed her concern, "Elraven. I can sense some other soul here. It's hiding itself. I assume this one is Sniper Cecil, the vice leader of Lethe Guild. If we leave you alone here, it will be 2 on 1."
"Well, so be it. His name has been added on my list to kill, Miss Frea. I won't let anyone interfere."
The former princess disagreed, "Elraven, this is no time to joke! I won't leave you here! Why don't you two leave me here and go help Sohee!".
"Alexandria, please remember! We have no time to hesitate! Besides, what did I tell you last night?"
Fiorentin again remembered Elraven saying, she shouldn't burden everything by herself. She came to a thought that, maybe Elraven did this to lightened her burden.
"...OK, in one condition."
"What is that?"
"You must return, alive!!" The former princess asked him with fire on her eyes. He knew she meant it.
"Copy that!" The gunslinger replied with smile.
"Let's go, Frea!" Fiorentin said as she dashed deeper to the dungeon. Before she followed the lord knight, Frea whispered to Elraven, "I don't know what's going on between you two. All I know, you have a dance with me! So, you better get back in one piece, hero!".
After the two left, Gloom Under Night spoke. "YOU STILL COME ALONE EVEN AFTER YOU KNOW CECIL IS ASSISTING ME? IS THAT FOOLISHNESS OR COURAGE?".
"Well, you failed to killed me before. So, I guess you shouldn't talk that big, whitey pops!"
"I SEE. SO YOU ARE THE MAN IN THE TEMPLE. I'LL KILL YOU FOR SURE THIS TIME!!"
In the ritual chamber....
"My, my. The blind and the princess, doesn't seem to be a good couple, I guess?" Moonlight Flower mocked seeing Frea and Fiorentin entering the chamber. "Princess, I'll do a quick work with that yellow midget. Can you fight that girl?" Frea asked Fiorentin to no answer. "Princess?" She said as she looked at Fiorentin. The lord knight was widening her eyes, seeing that her enemy is human. Again, she was hesitating. "Welcome, Alexandria. It's an honor to see you in person. Let's have a fair fight, shall we?" Egnigem Cenia said politely as she drew her Schweizerschabel.
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Well, that's it for this chapter. Next chapter will be Felicia-Palamedes vs Gonrich-skeletons! Don't forget to R & R!^^