Chapter 22: We are Shadow Garden
It is now dusk. The Midgar Royal Spellsword Academy is still surrounded by the barrier and the Knight Order are still laying siege on the academy grounds when they heard an ominous sound. As I passed through a blood soaked hallway, I look outside the window and saw a monster emerging from the ground, sending debris flying around as it emerged.
"ROOOAAARRRR!" Roared a familiar beast, a beast I created myself. A beast that was once an innocent woman afflicted with Demonic Possession. No. 176 was the result of my attempts to create a dragon minion. I injected her with cells of lesser drakes in order to allow her to possess some draconic aspect but she ended up being a scaleless lizard instead. She can't even do the breath attack.
I eventually got my very own dragon in an abandoned lab near Laugus (a very fortunate and coincidental find) but that's a story for another time.
Now this very beast is currently rampaging around the school. How many people will die today? Oh? Iris? She actually entered the barrier? Oh, right. She possessed the Pseudo-Artifacts I made so she has some chance. As much as I would like to watch her and the knights fight my creation, I should go to where Sherry is.
"We are Shadow Garden."
"We are Shadow Garden."
"We are Shadow Garden."
*SLASH*
"UAAAAGHHHH!"
Annoying pawns. This is getting real annoying. I sliced them apart in an instant before stopping myself as I sensed an ominous aura.
"There you are." I muttered.
"And that's the situation I know of. I don't know if other students made it out yet." Rose finished her report to Iris.
"Mr. Claude…" Iris muttered as she realized the person she considered a friend, whom she entrusted her sister's life to, was now risking his life to save the students.
"Well. The lad is braver than I thought. We should go assist him, your highness." Remarked Glen, the Lion Beard.
"Indeed. Especially now that that monster has appeared." Iris remarked as she and the Crimson Order entered the school grounds, followed by the Knight Order, all armed with the Pseudo-Artifacts.
"Let me help!" Exclaimed Rose as she chased after them.
"No, princess Rose. You've done more than enough. If we let you into more danger, your kingdom will not let it slide. Please entrust it to us." Answered Iris.
"I understand. Please help the other students." Said Rose as she walked back to the gate.
Outside the gate stood Alexia near the students, who are unable to leave the barrier and thus was stuck at the gate, protected by a few knights.
"Are you okay, Pooch?" Alexia asked her dog.
"Pretty bad, as you can see here." Cid answered while pointing to his wounds which has stopped bleeding but still stained his uniform quite badly.
"But really, you can't even be a man enough to stand on your own that a princess has to carry you? In a princess carry no less!" Alexia teased with a somewhat mocking smile.
"Well, she did it without my consent though." Replied Cid, not affected by her teasing.
"Hmph. Typical Pooch. Bet you just pretended to be more injured than you actually are just so you can get yourself be carried."
"Yup. Let's go with that."
"Not even going to deny it, huh?"
I popped several blood bags to make the wounds look worse than they actually are. This, coupled with my 'supposed' blood loss from my fight against Rose few days ago, should've made me look like a lost cause but that Rose actually carried me all the way here! I need to slip away from this. Perhaps I need to do the usual. Thought Cid as he schemed his escape.
"Ahhh! I gotta poop!" Shouted Cid suddenly while clutching his stomach.
"Wh-What the heck are you saying in front of a lady!? And why do you have to defecate at this time!?"
"Sorry, but nature calls! Gotta go! Gotta go!" Said Cid as he disappeared towards the bushes while everyone else just ignored him.
"That Pooch…! He's injured but when he has to defecate he immediately regained his strength, huh." Said Alexia in disbelief as she was about to chase after him before stopping herself.
"Hmph. At least that coward can't possibly go anywhere near the danger zone… I hope."
I entered the vice principal's room and found Sherry there. A green board painted with white lines that makes it resemble motherboards from my past life surrounded by several stones with the flower shaped Artifact placed in the middle of it laid on top of a table.
"Sherry." I called out.
"Claude! I did it! I've finished the Control Unit's adjustment! I-It's indeed created as a countermeasure against the Eye and its Caging Unit! But we need to find the Eye of Avarice and get it close enough to the Control Unit in order to stop it!"
"I know where it is. It's on the Auditorium. You should head to the gate. I'll take the Artifact."
"I know of a secret passage to the Auditorium! Please let me help!"
"It's too dangerous."
"Please…!" Sherry pleaded while pulling my cloak slightly, her eyes almost tearing up.
"Very well. Show me the hidden passage."
"Yes!" Sherry exclaimed, regaining her smile. She then walked to a bookshelf and pressed one of the books like a button. The bookshelf then moved away, revealing a hidden passage behind it.
"Here it is! U-Um…"
"Let's go."
"Yes!"
And so we descended the stairs together while carrying a lantern. As we walked through the dark passageways, Sherry grows more and more uneasy.
"What's wrong?"
"I-It's nothing!" Sherry denied. I ignored her afterwards. We silently passed through the tunnels until we reached the Auditorium's second floor. There we see an armoured man holding the Eye of Avarice which is contained within a four fingered claw shaped Artifact, the Caging Unit that modifies the barrier generated by the Eye of Avarice to become inescapable once you're inside. He is surrounded by a bunch of 3rd Children and is also holding a group of students hostage. Among them is my sister, who looked like she is in absolute despair.
"There he is. The culprit for this whole attack." I whispered.
"Is he… Necromancer?" Sherry whispered too.
"No. The Necromancer wears a skull mask and black robes."
"What should we do now?"
I was about to tell her to disable the Eye of Avarice immediately but I see they have hostages. Good boy Claude won't let them get killed. Especially with my sister there and when there are witnesses. "Hmm… They still have hostages. If we disable the Artifact now-"
"It is fine." Whispered a female voice behind us.
"Huh!?" Exclaimed Sherry.
"Sssh!"
"Sorry…"
"We'll handle the hostages. You should do your part." Said Nu, still in her student disguise.
"Very well. I'll trust you on this." I said as I took the Control Unit from Sherry's hands, activated it and throw it to the direction of the armoured man whereupon it shined brightly, breaking the Eye of Avarice's barrier while also shattering the Caging Unit. Using the breaking of the barrier as a cue, a group of black cloaked women emerged all around us, with Nu joining them while wearing the same cloak they do, led by a man wearing black hooded coat who entered the Auditorium by shattering the roof glass and jumped to the center of the Auditorium. Quite the entrance I must say. The students and the 3rd Children gasped in awe at his arrival.
"We are Shadow Garden." He shouted while raising his black blade up in the air.
"We lurk in the shadows and hunt the shadows." Continued the black cloaked women in unison before they attacked Sir Gaunt's men at their leader's command while Sir Gaunt himself escaped through secret passages while no one but me is looking.
So that's Shadow. Heh heh heh. To think you would come here personally. I'd love to fight you here and now but I have some old grudge to take care of first.
"Sherry. It's over. You need to go to the gate. The knights will take care of you there."
"What about you!?"
"I have something to do. Just go!"
"But my father…!"
"I'll search for him too. Just go!"
"Yes! Thank you, Claude! And…" She paused.
"What is it?"
"A-Are we still friends?"
"What are you talking about?"
"F-Forget about it! It was just a silly thought of mine! Thank you for everything today!" She said with an uneasy smile as she ran outside, joining the group of students who's running away from the chaos of the fighting between Shadow garden members and the 3rd Children.
As I was about to re-enter the tunnel, the building's lamps and energy pipes started releasing steam uncontrollably before finally bursting in flames. The flames engulfed the whole school building, halting the fight between Shadow Garden and the 3rds, forcing them all to evacuate. Sir Gaunt must've overloaded the steam energy generator to burn the whole school down.
"Heh. It seems that we would get a very long vacation after this." I say before jumping through the rooftops to reach the vice president's office before he does.
When I arrived to the vice principal's office, which has not caught on fire yet, I waited for Sir Gaunt himself while browsing curiously through folders on his desk and bookshelves and ended up finding some interesting documents.
"Hmm… Forged evidence to incriminate Shadow Garden. Not enough men to execute the plan for now. Interesting. I suppose this whole stunt takes priority over Shadow Garden." I muttered while collecting all the relevant folders and storing them in my subspace inventory before the flames reached the office room. When I sensed him approaching, I donned my Necromancer mask and robes in order to greet him.
Author's Note:
This arc is close to ending now. The next chapter will be the fight against Lutheran. Also, at the time I posted this, I finished the draft of this arc's aftermath. I'm so excited to publish them so I guess I'm gonna release 4 chapters in one day.
TheVirtualPug: Christina Hope and Isaac. God, I love Volume 5. It's my favorite volume thus far.
Answer: Glad you enjoyed their cameo. Since they are Cid's classmates, I thought adding them won't hurt.
Zero: Well if shadow going punch him in the face then Necromancer must respond in kind by kicking him in the dick to even things out it be hilarious they both thought "Ow he punch me in the face/Ow he kicked my dick!".
Answer: Well, no dick kicking in plans for now.