Today's chapter is...
Prepare yourself. All I can really say.
Enjoy. I guess...
Elise stared at Keita for a long time, trying to figure out what it was he was talking about. Darkness? Negative emotions? None of it made any sense.
"I don't understand." She said, "What does any of that have to do with me?" Keita seemed to think about what he was about to say before he continued.
"My usage of shadow based magic allows me to be more in tune with 'darkness', as it were. It's usually not as bad as this, but when I'm around you all I sense is bad emotions. Why are you hiding it? Are you ashamed of it or something?"
"I'm not hiding a damn thing." Elise replied. "I don't know what you're talking about." Keita raised a hand to his chin and hummed quietly.
"That doesn't make any sense. You aren't lying, are you?"
"What reason would I possibly have to lie to you?"
"Fair enough." Both went quiet for a moment, and Keita seemed to be thinking. Elise sighed and put a hand on her hip.
"Look Keita, I don't really know what it is you're getting at here, but it's not that big of a..."
"Has your memory ever been rewritten?" Keita interjected, cutting Elise off. "That could be the key we're looking for." Elise raised an eyebrow and gave it a good long thought for his sake.
"I don't know." She answered honestly. Keita chuckled.
"I suppose it's a stupid thing to ask. If it was rewritten, it'd be for a good reason. It'd wear off if you became aware of it, too..." Elise studied Keita as he thought. Why was this perplexing him so much? From the way he talked about it, it sounded like it had been bothering him for quite some time. Why though, Elise had no idea.
"Can we just..."
"Let me think." Keita said, interrupting her again. Elise fumed silently as she allowed Keita more thinking time. "Does anything weird ever happen to you?"
"Weird?"
"I don't know, anything that seems like it avoided like the plague." Elise thought about it, trying to find something that would be the answer to what Keita was referring too.
It hit her, both figuratively and literally.
Elise raised a hand to her head as she thought about it. The bathroom at her parents house. The scars on Drake's back. Apocalypse.
That man she faced during the trials.
Her head was pounding.
"H-Headaches..." She whispered, making Keita perk up.
"Headaches?" He asked. "What do you mean?"
"W-Whenever I get one...everyone avoids me and the subject..."
"Hm, interesting. Do you remember what caused your last headache, so to speak?"
"...Apocalypse."
Ultear dodged another explosion and continued to run. She didn't have a specific location in mind, just to put some distance between herself and Kyoko. The Memory Make Wizard was right on her tail, throwing out more blasts of all different varieties.
And Ultear knew exactly what she wanted to do.
She could sense another blast coming right for her, so she braced herself. She turned and faced it, creating an ice shield to protect herself from the blast of white and lightning magic.
And it instantly dispersed. Ultear smiled as the white glow from her shield disappeared and she squared off against Kyoko.
"What exactly is your magic again?" Kyoko asked. "My attacks are being dispelled when they hit your shield.
"Maybe they're just shitty spells." Ultear fired back, keeping her real magic a secret. "I'm just using Water and Ice Make. What about yours? Memory Make?" Kyoko nodded.
"Indeed." She said. "Although my style is a bit different then my fathers."
"Hm?"
"Surely as a Make wizard you know what I mean. Each Wizard has their own style. Your own legacy, for example. Lyon creates living things, while your father creates objects. While my father memorizes magic types to create his own spells, I can do that and more." Kyoko raised two fingers to her forehead and a red magic circle spawned behind her. "I also memorize specific spells and utilize them whenever I please. Not exactly as viable as my fathers style, but It hasn't let me down yet."
"Yet." Ultear agreed. "First time for everything."
"So you'd like to believe." Kyoko replied, frost starting to flow from the magic circle. "Remember, I've watched you fight too." Ultear tensed and waited, and spears made of ice came from the magic circle and flew for her. She didn't need that magic for her trap, she could make her own, so she created her own spears and the two clashed before exploding simultaneously.
Her magic is still pretty impressive...But I just need to wait her out for right now.
"I've watched everyone in this tournament use their magic." Kyoko said as plants sprouted out of the ground around, as well as the wind starting to whip around her. "All you have is Water and Ice? How could you possibly beat me?" Ultear grinned at this.
Just keep coming at me, Kyoko. Then we'll see who wields all that magic.
"Damien, you need to listen to me." Damien looked up through his headache to find Xisplate and Vantros looking at him.
"Focus Dreyar, this is important." Vantros said.
"W-What?"Damien demanded.
"This girl, Bella, she's a Demon Lord too." Damien's eyes widened and he looked up at them in shock.
"What?! She is?!" Vantros nodded.
"She is, and a very volatile one at that. Do you know what a succubus is, Damien?" Damien gave it some thought.
"Yeah. Isn't it...A creature that seduces people?"
"A Demon, boy." Vantros corrected him. "That is what Bella Realight's magic is. The takeover for the Demon Lord from the 3rd Circle of Judgment, Meridia the Succubus." Damien looked past the two demons and met Bella's gaze, who still seemed to be waiting for him.
It was so obvious now.
She was seducing him.
"W-What do I do?" Damien asked weakly, looking away from the girl as he felt his resolve weaken.
"You run." Damien looked back over at Xisplate in shock, but the demon held his position. "Meridia cannot be defeated my a man. Not even a Demon Lord man. It isn't a skill you possess."
"But what is her weakness?" Damien asked weakly. "Demon Lords have so few weaknesses! If I can't fight her and Michael is already out of the competition..." Vantros sighed.
"There is only one thing you an do, and Xissy is right." he said. "You must run." Damien growled and looked down at the ground. He wasn't in the business of running away from an opponent, but if he had no choice in the matter. Bella clicked her teeth.
"Xisplate, Vantros." All three of them looked over at the girl in question as she called the demons out. Bella's beautiful smile had turned dark. "I'd appreciate it if you could not get in my way."
"How can she see us?" Vantros asked. Xisplate growled.
"She probably can't. Meridia probably told her we're here." Bella sighed and whipped her head, getting her hair out of her eyes.
"I can't believe this. You have two Lords, and they're trying to get in my way. I guess I can't stay in my base for to defeat you, huh?"
"B-base...?" Damien got his answer as Bella smirked and raised her hand above her head, a black magic circle appearing there.
"Takeover!" She shouted. "Demon Meridia!"
The whole area went dark as magic flowed inwards towards the circle. it glowed with power as the takeover progressed, and Xisplate turned to Damien.
"Avert your eyes!" he shouted. "Don't look at her when she...!"
The takeover was over. Bella had called Meridia forward.
She still had her golden blonde hair, but the tips had dyed red. She had curled blue horns adorning her head, red and black wings spreading from her back, ad her eyes glowed red.
The most distracting part was her body. Bella was dressed in near nothing save what looked like armored underwear, which was white and blue and covered her chest and lower body. Her arms had a similar kind of armor on them, which only covered her forearm. Chains were linked from the front and back of her underwear, and she leaned to one side and put a hand on her hip.
"Now." She said, voice as smooth as silk. "Come here, Damien."
Xisplate looked back at Damien to find the man getting to his feet and walking forward.
"Damien?" he asked, but the boy paid him no mind. "Damien!"
"It's no use, Xisplate. Vantros said. "He's been mesmerized by her beauty. Where's Quinxotic when you need her?" Xisplate ignored Vantros' question about the Demon Lord of Blood and watched as Damien slowly walked forward.
"She's gorgeous." He murmured. "I've never seen such a beautiful woman in my life..." Bella giggled, her wings folding up as he got closer.
"Come on, big boy." She purred. "You know you want me. Don't you?"
"I...I do..."
"What was that?"
"I do!" Bella smiled as Damien reached her and stood there quietly. She reached forward and traced a finger down his chest, before looking back up at him.
"How about you do me a favor and surrender to me? Hm?"
"..."
"Come on, Damien. What if I reward you?"
"R-Reward?" Bella's facial expression softened as she leaned forward and rested her head on Damien's shoulder.
"You know what I mean." She whispered in his ear. "Surrender to me and we'll go somewhere more private"
"Come on, Damien..." Xisplate hissed. "Don't fall for her tricks..."
"He's fallen already." Vantros said. "Meridia's magic is strong in and of itself without the full takeover, but with it...Damien stands no chance. He probably won't even get some." Damien's face was completely red, but he nodded weakly.
"O-Okay...I..."
"Hm? What do you say?" Bella asked, her face an inch from his.
"I...I surren...!"
A pillar of earth struck Damien right in the side of the head, causing him to fly away from Bella and into a nearby building. Bella watched him in shock before turning her head in the direction the pillar had come from, as did Xisplate and Vantros.
"You know Dreyar, I knew you were a guy and everything." Terra Neekis said as she approached the battlefield. "But falling for something as low as seduction magic? How was I scared of you?"
"Terra." Xisplate said, smirking. "A woman."
"And thereby unaffected by Meridia's seduction magic." Vantros finished.
"...Apocalypse." Keita tilted his head at Elise as she spoke the simple word.
"What?" he asked. "Apocalypse?" Elise's body started to shutter violently as she stuttered.
"Apocalypse...The torturer...Phantom Dove..." Keita made a face at this.
"I'm not sure what any of that means but if I had to guess, I'd say the headaches are caused by the memories of them being overwritten to save you from..."
A bloodcurdling screech escaped Elise's lips. Keita's covered his ears as she screamed, her figure becoming outlined in black magic. What was happening?
"Apocalypse...Phantom Dove...I...I was..."
"Elise?!"
"I WAS THERE!"
The magic waves around the girl intensified as she screamed.
"I WAS THERE...! I WAS...! I WAS...!"
A wave of magic rolled off of her figure and soared towards Keita, who tried to defend himself from it with shadows.
But he didn't manage it in time, and the wave overtook him, causing his vision to slowly fade as his body hit the ground.
When Keita awoke, he didn't know where he was. He sat bolt right up, but he was no longer on the streets of Crocus, he was somewhere much darker. Standing slowly, Keita looked around, unable to see anything.
"Where...?" He asked, trying to see anything of importance amidst the endless darkness.
After a moment, the darkness started to fade, and Keita could more clearly see what was going on around him. He was in a dark, dank cell. Looking around didn't warrant much, just that it looked incredibly depressing.
"Come on, Nashi. Drink this, clear your throat." Keita jumped at the familiar voice, and turned. There, sitting on the floor covered in nothing but revealing rags fro clothes, was Nashi and Elise. Elise seemed to be trying to make Nashi drink something, and the girl did so.
"Where am I?" Keita asked, his voice sounding distorted. "What's going on?" The girls were talking to each other, but Keita ignored them as he looked around. Finally, after a few more minutes, a door opened somewhere. Turning, Keita saw a woman with white hair dragging Drake inside, who looked wounded. She threw him inside and the cell, and looked at Elise. The Iron Dragon stood, and walked out of the cell. Keita followed, wanting to know what was going on. He followed the girls through the halls of some building, not really sure where. After walking for quite some time, the white haired woman threw Elise in some room, and slammed the door. Keita reached for the knob, but phased right through it.
Shrugging, Keita phased through the door completely and wound up on the other side with Elise. There was silence, before a green light appeared on Elise.
"Rupture circles?" Keita asked, watching as they exploded against Elise's skin. The girl cried out in pain and was thrown to the floor, a man's voice booming in the distance.
"My name's Apocalypse." It said. "And I'm your interrogator."
Apocalypse.
It hit Keita at that moment. He knew where he was.
He was looking at the memories that had been rewritten.
"How?" Keita asked as the room and two figures started to disappear. "How am I seeing this? I don't understand..."
The wave of magic.
When Elise had started to scream, magic had exploded outwards from her. It all made sense.
"The magic was so strained trying to prevent Elise from remembering that when she finally did, it exploded outwards..." He said to himself as things started to come back into focus. "And caused me to be subjected to what was rewritten..."
Once things came back into focus, he was back in the cell with the three of them. Nashi was curled up in the corner, Drake was sitting against the wall, and Elise just playing with her fingers.
A deep voice chuckled.
"So which one do ya want?" It asked. Keita turned and saw a group of men standing outside the cell. Another voice chuckled.
"I don't know, they both seem so tender."
What the hell do you guys want?" Drake asked.
Nothin' to do with you, little Fairy" A voice snarled. "We just wanna take one of your attractive friends here too...talk." Keita felt a rock settle in his stomach. No, these guys surely weren't going too...
"How about the one with pink hair?" Keita looked up at this. That meant Nashi. But he had't sensed darkness from her...
The cell opened, and the group of men proceeded inside. Drake got in their way.
"Stay away from her." he said. The men just laughed and Drake got a boot to the face, and they kept walking towards Nashi.
"And what are you doing to do, stop us?" the men asked.
And Elise got in there way next.
"No, take me. She needs to rest." The cell was dead quiet, and finally one man chuckled.
"Oh, so now you wanna protect your friend? Fine, you'll do."
"No, no no..." Keita hissed as the men grabbed Elise and dragged her away. "Please, no..." Keita didn't want to follow them.
He didn't want to see that.
But he had no choice, these were Elise's memories, not Nashi or Drake's.
So he followed. He walked behind the men dragging Elise around, his whole body feeling like lead. The men passed some of their guildmates, but they all turned a blind eye. Keita gritted his teeth at this. How could they? From the looks the others had on their faces, they all knew what was happening.
They had reached their destination.
The men went inside a room with Elise, and Keita had no choice but to follow.
"Now, show us a good time, little Fairy" One said.
All the men laughed as the rags were ripped around Elise's body. What was left could no be classified as clothes.
He didn't want to watch.
He wanted to look away.
But he couldn't.
Because this was what she remembered.
So he watched. Because he had too.
Why?
Why was no one stopping this?!
Why could he not reach through the fabric of memories and stop this instead?!
"Stop..." Keita hissed, still unable to look away. "Stop..."
"Come on girly, try a little harder!"
"STOP TOUCHING HER!"
It lasted way too long.
But it was over.
And Elise had not uttered a single word during the whole thing.
All she did was sit on the floor, trying to keep the remnants of her rags around her as the men laughed.
"Best get her home to her cell, before Master Jose finds out."
"Yeah, that'd suck big time..."
The scenery changed. Keita went from the dark room to a humid bathroom. Looking around, he saw the shower running. And sitting in the middle of the tub as Elise. The girl was wearing nothing, obviously, and Keita watched in confusion.
"Elise?" It was Drake's voice, coming from the other side of the door. "Are you in there? Elise? Come on girl don't make me break the door down."
"Elise please!" A woman shouted. "Let us help you!" Elise curled up into a tighter ball.
"Are you okay?" In was Drake's voice again. Silence, then, "You've been in there for six hours." There was more silence, but then the door was broken door. Drake walked in, looking like shit himself, and much less ragged than Keita knew him to be.
"Elise?" He asked.
"Elise?" The woman asked, whom Keita guessed was Elise's mother. Drake turned the water off, took off his coat and wrapped it around the girls shoulders, covering her up as best he could. he sat down next to her and silence resumed.
"I'm going to lead everyone back to Phantom Dove" He told her. "We're... gonna get all of them. You hear me?" Still no response. "I'm going to make sure whoever hurt you... WON'T make it out alive, not after that" Elise still didn't respond, and Drake sighed. he looked about ready to leave, but Elise rested her head on his shoulder, making Drake stop and look at her. He didn't say anything, but Keita could see his ears twitching.
"Your parents were worried about you...Elise, you can't just..." Elise got up, out of the tub, and walked away. "You still have my coat." Drake called, but she ignored him. The memory started to disappear as Keita did not follow Elise right away, and as he did, he could hear Drake say something.
"You want to help her? Go see Mest and get her memory erased, as soon as possible. Tell her Nashi and I got captured, she wasn't with us, whatever you have to do. Because believe me, she'll never speak again if you don't."
These words ringing in his head, Keita was ripped from the sequence, his vision fading once more.
The sky was blue, as per usual.
But Keita was no soothed by the sight of it.
As a matter of fact, he felt unclean. Violated.
The things he'd seen...
He slowly sat up, closing his eyes. He replayed it in his head, unable to stop thinking about it.
What they did to her...
He could hear Elise making labored panting sounds near him.
"Elise..." he started. "I'm...I'm so so sorry..."
"For what?" She asked innocently. Keita looked up in surprise and Elise was struggling to her feet, hunched over in a rather odd position. "it happened for a reason."
"Wha...?" Elise looked up, and Keita's blood ran cold.
Her eyes were pitch black. She giggled. but no innocence was in such a sound.
"I was raped." She stated. "That much happened. Why? Because I deserved it. But you know what?" Elise laughed as Keita watched her. "I sorta liked it."
What was happening?
Elise's eyes were...black.
Keita's mind started working a million miles a second, trying to figure out what had happened. His eyes widened as he figured it out.
He tried to protect himself with his magic when Elise's memory rewrite wore off.
In that moment, as the magic fled her body, Elise was left incredibly vulnerable.
And his shadows filled the void. Keita got to his feet and watched as Elise hunched over, darkness now actually leaking from her figure.
"My shadows tainted her weakened resolve...She's fallen to the darkness."
..Yep. Fun fact, it's been 160 chapters since Elise was raped. What a coincidence, huh? I hope you enjoyed, leave a review! Let's try and get five!