For relevance at the end of the chapter from Cid's perspective.
'Midgar languages'
'Earth Languages'
Serene and peaceful, unquestioningly faithful and loyal to friends and family alike. The third hero was all of these things as a moral paragon for the crowd to look up to.
If you considered the grave peaceful then it was even true in its own way, for in life she had brought many such peace in her times, until there were entire gardens blooming on the graves of her enemies.
When the war was over Lilli had closed her own sanctum herself, sealing herself alongside the darkness for an eternity. Blind to the world around her and running from her own failures amidst the disaster.
Much as she'd chosen in life to stand blindly by and ignore the atrocities carried out around her.
Or so Vafthrudnir had told him for he'd never met the girl himself. And it was for that reason that he would never come before her in person, For Vafthrudnir had such a wonderful time omitting things he felt you didn't quite need to know.
First he just needed to break into her cage and wake up the sleeping princess. The tools itself having been long prepared as he rummaged through his things for a simple beaker, and the blood contained within.
Writhing even without sentience, fighting without life. Even if the knowledge of where to find the gate to the twelfth realm was lost, or perhaps had never been found it would not matter.
For even in death, it would still rise again.
Loki let a few drops pour out into the ground around him, madness itself spreading through the soil and into the other side, into the minds of everything it touched.
The response was immediate as the Sanctum opened, devouring the entire school around them in an instant. Day fading to twilight as the world was subsumed in her dreams. As walking nightmares and the ghosts of the restless dead filled the school around them and the game was afoot.
Carefully he stoppered the beaker once again. For any more and Lilli might mistake him for an enemy as well, and why be the sacrifice when he could make a better one out of his enemies.
Now how to cover up his fake bodies disappearance.
Isaac Westcroft tugged at his suit, the white and blue display made to resemble the dragon that was all the rage these days. A symbol of light and purity, of confidence and trust.
Of deceit and lies for it was Loki for whom he wore it.
And today was his chance for he had been chosen. To hold the highest position to lure them in for Loki's goals and to create a sacrifice that would return the third hero Lilli to the Cult once more. With such an accolade it was only natural he would become a named first the next day.
And flush with success that could never be denied he might even manage to be given a position in charge of Midgar in the aftermath once they'd retaken it. His future was limitless. Perhaps he could even dream of becoming a Rounds.
Eliza was a fool to have passed off this opportunity to him. Afraid of a little effort and wanting to hide like a delicate maiden rather than wanting to seize the one chance at greatness laid out before them.
He cut down the first ghost before it had even materialised before him, a pirouette planting his sword into a second. A quick flick of his blade freeing it once more as he turned back to the class around him. "It would be easiest to barricade the classroom to protect only ourselves."
He looked out over the students. Many of them cowered and took heart at his suggestion, and he dismissed them. For they were not the ones that Loki wanted. "But that would be the cowards way, for we are nobles and destined to bravery that we can protect those weaker than us. If we leave these ghosts be they will spill out into the city and slaughter the innocent."
"I will be heading to the centre to put an end to this madness, for are we not soldiers of the dragon itself, to those of you who are brave, who seek glory, who know to do your duty as nobles come with me.
"Let us cut out the heart of this darkness before it has a chance to spread."
There were no cheers at his words. Not even the anticipation of glory he could expect from his fellow firsts in times of duress. How pitiful it was.
"My sword might not be much, but I'll fight." The boy was trembling, little Suzuki. Loki had introduced them, was it because he saw something more? It mattered not because there was already something he could use.
An outstretched hand falling on the shaking shoulder across from him. "Glad to have you on board Suzuki. For you are clearly the bravest here, and I would much rather that then to leave my back to cowards."
Three more people joined in the next moment, trying to prove him wrong and he welcomed them alongside Suzuki. Even as he planned for the other classrooms. Loki wanted a lot of people yes, but also a certain type.
For if they all died they could all be replaced.
Let the new queen save the worthless and useless nobles, for such men were a curse on whatever government allowed them to infest its halls. He would take only those who believed, those who were brave, those who in times of crisis knew to act.
And leave her with nothing but simpletons.
Eliza Dacuacain leaned on the windowsill of her little barricaded room, staring out over the plaza as she idly looked at the beaker in her hands. Gifted to her by one of Loki's hands in such a time with the promise it would bring her victory.
But she had listened to her father and still remembered his words from so long ago.
"For Loki is a fine patron for the Night Swords and he will promise you power and wealth beyond your wildest dreams. But he does not do so for our benefit, but only in the hope that it will further drive Fenrir to annoyance.
"If sacrificing you will ever benefit him in any way he will do so without a seconds hesitation."
Even with Fenrir's death such an ancient monster was unlikely to change.
She'd set up her own little test, before she stepped into the gauntlet. A 'friend' of hers who was important enough to be polite. But too vapid and dull to ever deserve real friendship when the very idea of it bored her. Gifted a single drop of the liquid soaked into a charm as a gift, to ward away evil omens and protect one from spirits.
If it did do as advertised and let her control them then losing one drop was a safe way to test it.
If it did something else well… she had no intention of joining the victims on the altar, only on celebrating with the victors with the triumph.
She watched the peons below her even as the girl quivered in the face of madness. Not worthy of becoming a knight either then. Just a quivering mess in the face of danger unworthy of anything. Scrabbling for someone else's power to even stand up for herself.
The charm was thrust forward.
And every ghost in the courtyard turned as one to the girl. So at least it wasn't a placebo as she swirled around her own beaker.
The sordid screams stopped, the white turned to blood red, half formed hands turned to blades and the vacant expressions of the ghosts turned to one in predatory violence. Swarming forward like ravenous monsters as they ripped and tore into flesh and devoured the gaggle of schoolgirls helplessly.
She eyed the container in her hands once more. And then as carefully as she could she set it down, in a nice safe unseen hiding place and walked away. Let Isaac lead his little sheep on into the depths, ignorant and foolish as he offered his own head to Loki's glory.
She was going to survive first, for your life was always the most important thing, and without it she could enjoy neither power nor wealth.
Suzuki swung his sword with all the skill he could muster. The ghost caught it as it pushed the blade aside and long claws scrabbled towards his face. A terrifying moment as death stared him in the eyes.
Po's blade caught it from behind, splitting its skull as it disappeared.
He breathed in deeply, breathed out struggling to calm himself. And then he looked to the front, where Isaac was fighting and slaughtering three at once. His stride carrying him ever out of reach of their claws even as he cut them down one by one.
The two of them even working together weren't able to match it. Maybe if they had three, but Cid wasn't here himself, because he guessed he didn't have courage as he looked around again.
Po leaned in. "If you're looking for Cid he got injured taking three of them to get other people into a barricade."
Oh, that changed it. If he'd done his duty then it was fine.
As the latest confrontation started to die down as the last of this batch were mopped up. It was almost like he needn't have come even as the words died on his lips.
"The blade can only be used in warfare." Isaac spoke from the front, as those he'd heard his unspoken whisper. "For it exists to cut down the enemies of our kingdom, to fight back against evil and to cast out the wicked from our halls."
"Perhaps there are others who faired better in training, who have been lauded for their actions in the safety of a friendly duel. But if they cannot bring it out into the field, if they cannot wield their blades when lives are at stake then they may as well never have learned in the first place."
"You are the bravest, the good men who would stand for this country when all hope might be lost."
Isaac's voice thrummed with magic. "And it is better to be on hand with all that we have, then absent with a force a thousand times it."
The words held them together, and he found himself standing just that bit straighter. Even if his contribution was small it still made him better than all of those who hadn't come.
"If it is Noblesse Oblige then surely we are supposed to be protecting them as well, rather than demeaning our fellow students who all have their reasons." Ever the regal lady, his cousin Christina looked back at Isaac.
Isaac crossed glances with his cousin. "Perhaps there are some who had will but could not be here due to injury, marks of valour gained in the field. But yes, the nobles should protect the commoners, and so those who did not come can hardly be called nobles can they now?"
Christina stared back unbowed. "There is more to righteous rule than merely swinging a sword, and thus there are many among the nobility who have other skills and benefits to focus on as well. If you push them all you will only be pushing people away from you."
"But that is why the dragon left isn't it." Suzuki found that the voice was his own. It was an old fact he'd picked up long ago through reading books. "That the dragon found the nobles wanting as they lacked the spirit to stand against the darkness when it knew we should fight."
Isaac smiled at him at those words. "Suzuki is exactly right, only by keeping the ranks of the nobility pure and righteous can we hope to retain the Dragon's trust. That Midgar cannot be complacent from it's return but must continue to prove ourselves worthy as you have all done today."
And even if his cousin looked betrayed at him for taking the other side. The friendly pats and nods of approval from those around him made it all worthwhile. Made him feel important as well.
Flittering from shadow to shadow Sigma let herself be consumed by the darkness.
To be unswervingly loyal to the cause, a blade waiting in the darkness. Unseen and unheard by the mortal limits of the world around them, untouched by the world itself. That the only trace of her existence would be the corpses left behind in her wake.
That was what it meant to be a ninja.
Her lord had said that ninja were cool.
Which meant that by becoming the perfect ninja, her lord felt that she too was cool. Even more so than every other member of Shadow Garden who were sort of like ninjas but had never had the drive to subsume themselves in the role.
Thus, until it was time for him to take his place as the God of the new world they would create, she would serve in life to the best she was able.
She stood upside down on the ceiling looking down on the largest of the monsters she'd found. The perfect blind spot from which to make a single perfect cut and kill it in one move. The essence of a battle won before even the first stroke had been made and the truth she'd found for her own swordsmanship.
Except it had turned the moment she'd gotten into position and was now staring back at her. Nervousness and tension welled up and were crushed, because to be a ninja was to be without doubt.
She stepped to the side, bobbed and weaved and vanished out of the room to enter through another door. Each time it held her gaze as though even the best misdirection was simple in front of it.
If she could not hide then she would face it head on. From long ago it had been said that only Beta and Alpha had been taught Shadow's true style. But that just meant one had to sit on the ceiling and watch the two of them practice getting a glimpse of it.
And while her imitation could not match perfection, she knew it was the ultimate secret sword style obtained only through her own cunning.
It bubbled up writhing as its form twisted and broke a jagged storm of blades peeking through the flesh even as it coiled around the edges of the room.
She held her sword firm, ready for the moment it came to flow around its attack like the night she was and to swing the blade of judgement down.
The moment stretched on…
And on…
And on.
It didn't attack. Even as its grotesque form continued to cycle through an endless series of weapons, jagged edges coming and going. But the mind merely watched back at her from the edge.
It was only a guess, but it wouldn't take any effort to test it. The visible sword in her hand falling as she sheathed it, even as she pulsed her magic through the edge of her slime suit. If she was wrong she could always pull and endless tide of blades from it.
The jagged edges of the monster faded away in response. Lightly she bowed her head in respect to see what would happen.
It bobbed its head back in response whether in response or imitation didn't matter. Because the field of effect over this place wasn't an attack, as she stepped away from it back into the shadows racing back to their command post in the blink of an eye.
Kneeling before the miniature throne from which the operation was being commanded. And even if it was only Beta, and not her true lord she still followed through as a ninja should. Bowing her head and holding her pose as though in supplication.
Beta knew the game well as she called on her. "Report."
She relayed the altercation as quickly as she could. Beta watching over it. "The Cult is with the ones driving towards the centre of the madness, and they intend to drive it into a frenzy. But Alpha is at the core and the ghosts themselves aren't all that threatening so far. Keep evacuating for the moment, don't get lured too close to the violence."
"Duet." An echo pervading the room as it looked on at the two of them.
Immediately she stood between it and Beta, ready and waiting to deflect a blow. Even if it was unnecessary and Beta was stronger than her. This was something a ninja would do.
"Is it reacting to it as a conversation when it says duet or asking for one." Beta remained calm even as she spoke. A curious expression on her face.
The echo returned, not from the monster at all but from the world around them. "I hate you duet… because… because you are my friend. I'm not supposed to hate my friend am I?"
Beta stared back serenely even as she could see her hand shaping around a small ball of slime, waiting to turn it to a sword at a moments notice. "You aren't supposed to hate your friends. So how about I forgive you and we make up."
"Duet, you would still forgive me? Does Kronos not still rage at my name? Is father no longer disappointed in me? Because Duet I failed to become a God like I promised I would and so there is still suffering in this world."
Beta smiled. "Well, I haven't managed to erase all the suffering in the world either, so I guess we can be failures together then. I don't think any one person on their own can be expected to do such a thing anyway."
The presence glimmered back at them, the physical presence anchoring it forming something that seemed like a smile. "I could have done it, bring salvation to the faithful, bring mercy to the wicked and silence to the suffering." The smile faded at the words. "But now I hurt again, always hurting as they cut and cut and prod, just like the labs it hurts Duet. Why are you hurting me?"
Beta blinked and thought. "Do you mean the people advancing towards the centre are not a part of my organisation. But I will be putting a stop to them soon."
"Oh." A lightness returned to the voice and the smile returned. "The people hurting me aren't something you're doing then that's good. If they don't work for you then that means I can just kill them all."
To aid the Cult was to be evil, so even if all of them died it was fine. Still Beta it seemed was too soft hearted in many ways. "If you could give me a chance, we will be sending out a strike force to contain them nonlethally. Would you be willing to hold back and avoid injuring yourself?"
The mass bobbed up and down looking at Beta.
"It's okay Duet, I'm stronger now so none of them can harm me. Even if they're cutting and cutting all it does is make me wake up."
The final door stood before them, and while he was injured, a claw landing a glancing blow against him as someone else had stood up to kill it. He was still in the game, still fighting forward even against monsters.
Isaac had paused here, barricaded the way behind them with a simple order. "It wouldn't do well to be attacked in the rear when we enter, best to cut off any reinforcements they might rush to defend this place." And they had left those too injured to run to hold the line defending it.
It meant there was no way out, but he could feel it in the air around him. In the confident grins and the resolved glances. In the camaraderie that had grown, more than whether you were the son of a Baron or a Marquess, whether you were first or fifth.
Everyone here had chosen to fight. And alongside them he felt taller than ever.
Isaac took to the front by the door, for one final speech before the battle at hand. "We do not know what darkness lies ahead in the final room it is true. But I can look behind me and know the measure of those who would have my back."
"And seeing you all here to stand with me what in the world could be on the other side that I might be expected to fear it. I have not much to say I admit, but to brave men such as you, a few words are enough I think."
"Follow me into the breach once more, and we shall be heroes every last one of us."
The doors opened, as an entire horde of ghosts turned towards them, grasping hands reaching out to kill them all. And he charged forward regardless with fire in his heart to burn them all away.
The sounds of violence reached his ears hidden within a room like a barricaded fortress. A grin forming on his face as Loki reclined at ease. For even as everyone else stirred the hornets nest he alone knew the truth and was safe.
Yet still he had work to do, because it was not enough to let them kill each other until Lilli finally took notice. For he had to call her to him to set the tone for how she re-entered the world. For she was a dutiful girl and knew to do what she was told.
Supposedly at least.
It was a memory he was trying to invoke. For if everyone else here was an enemy who had come to attack her then he would instead call upon friendship. A childhood memory that she would know and treat like kindness even if she was not truly awake.
He raised the pan pipes in his hand and blew into them. An old song he'd picked up long ago from Vafthrudnir, a surprisingly calming and kind piece utterly unlike the man who'd written it.
For the old man had played for all the heroes long ago, back in the beginning when they were just children waiting in the labs for an experiment. Before they had known who would live and who would die.
By the time he had finished the ghosts swelled around him not quite there yet and vacant eyed. But clearly treating him as one of them in his little barricade, and so he played another piece.
"Lilli, I've come to help you. Because there are enemies at the gate, and I know they're hurting you and so I've come. Sent by Vafthrudnir who of course still cares about you." The ghosts hovering in the air turned to him as one, and they couldn't speak but a hint of something like recognition existed within their eyes. "It's okay Lilli for we are friends, and you would help your friends wouldn't you?"
In the centre of the room something was slowly stirring. And even if she was not yet awake she soon would be, and the one who would tell her what was going on, who was evil and what she needed to do would be him.
He put the pipes back to his lips, a second song on the tip of his tongue.
"Hi hi." His 'sisters' garish friend appeared at the door sword in her hand even as she looked out over the room. "Claire was worried about you, so I went searching, don't worry I'll take care of them for you." In one fell movement she raised her sword and advanced upon the ghosts surrounding him.
"Wait." He raised a hand even as she eyed him softly. "I'm not sure why but playing this pipe seems to calm them down, and if you swing at them who knows what will happen." Ideally he could just convince her to leave. "Could you go and make sure Claire knows not to disturb me if she enters here by accident."
The girl tilted her head with a smile. "Ah well Claire isn't coming I kind of accidentally maybe sent her in the wrong direction." A laugh spilled from her lips even as she looked back up at the ghosts. "So don't worry lil bro Claire won't be coming no matter what. It's just me an you right now."
Well at least he could relax at that slightly. "That's good to here then, she can be a bit overprotective of me at times and I wouldn't want her to worry."
The thought seemed to please her immensely as she looked him up and down and stepped forward. "But really finding a way to turn them ghosts from enemies to friends, just what I would expect from you lil bro, just what I would expect." She nodded enthusiastically beaming up at the ghosts without a care for how they might have killed her classmates earlier. "You're sure you don't want me to kill em all though?"
She really was so dim that it needed to be repeated. "No." The sword in her hand lowered gently as she considered him, a soft smile on her face.
Then whipped straight up for his face.
Only built in reflex and the hand of one of the ghosts reaching out to divert it enough to save him, even as he poured what little magic he had out. Painting a glimpse of his image as it pushed itself right.
His real body hidden under an illusion as it moved left even as blood poured out of the gash on his face. Even as she caught and speared the illusion taking its head from it.
The ghosts stirred as one as they became violent, a horde of sharp edges and blades growing free.
And in an instant darkness spilled from her palm, a dozen scythe like blades stretching out and tearing the ghosts to ribbons around her. Then spreading out further to fill the room, searching for a trace of him even as he crawled away. A hungry blade reaching out over his head.
This plan was over then. As more and more ghosts were cut down and it became a place for her vengeance, it was time to change tracks. Lobbing the beaker and letting it leave the illusion for just a moment before it reached her.
A scythe like blade cutting it out of the air, letting the blood within spill free.
The girl casually stepping aside as the fluid failed to touch her.
As one every ghost turned to gaze upon her, the placid state he'd brought them to evaporating under the weight of Lilli's gaze upon the world. The tiny hole in the world he'd made the only safe place as he continued his escape.
As the monsters poured forward like a tide.
The nobility hated her it was true.
The peasantry loved her more, or at least could idolise her still. The return of the dragon, and the deaths of nobles went down with them so much better when to many the nobility had always been tyrants.
And as much as it might be best to eradicate the former and deal only with the latter going forward, such an attempt would be bloody beyond belief. There was too much invested in the current system, and too much support in other nations for the rule of kings to continue to do away with them entirely. Even if they were unworthy of being called noble when placed next to Shadow.
If she had started purging the academy without question, gutted the sons of who knows how many counts, barons without even a pretext. It would have been war, with even the nobles outside of the cults display siding to keep their powers and their lives.
And a victory gained by turning a dragon on the city wasn't worth winning.
So even if she hated them she bit her tongue. Because there were other ways to turn these things to her advantage. And to the nobles who still questioned her right to rule, a crisis was an opportunity for her. To compare her government and its response to the one Iris had done only a few months ago.
To put her best soldiers on display next to the knight order and demonstrate the vast difference between them. For five hundred shadows had converged in under and hour on this position, each the equal of even the best knights. And with but a hint that it was only those who could arrive on such notice… didn't that mean she had thousands more.
Even if really, it was nearly everything she had.
A display of benevolence to the injured nobles, swift proof of her decisive leadership in the face of adversity. Perhaps even a chance to tempt some of the more likable nobles to actually willingly support her.
People would remember the crisis yes, but alongside it they would remember her decisive response. That she had acted to save their children and had the force to annihilate them if they pushed too far. And they would see that she had taken the field personally, because in a warrior culture like Midgar that was important too.
The last of the civilians were out, only the group that had wandered towards the heart was left. It was time to head out in force and lead the final charge herself.
The path forward clear as.
The wall crumbled further up the pass, a titanic monstrous ghost swinging wildly at a member of Shadow Garden desperately swinging her slime blade around. A single massive sweep ripping the girl out of the air and sending her crashing back into the ground in the distance.
"Duet." The horrifying abomination paused in its attack, eyes fixating around back to face her. It really did mean her when it spoke like that. "You and Olivier and Freya are all here. You've come to kill me now haven't you?"
Two arms stretched out towards her, the fingers twisting awkwardly as it became more monstrous. Firing forward in all directions to spray around her.
She blocked the only one headed towards her. "If you are going to be a threat to the people of this city, I will put you down right now. If you can stop yourself I will let you."
It stared back across the divide. "Foolish foolish little Duet, always dreaming never doing. As though the world would fix itself if only you believed. But the world won't be fixed, can't be fixed and now we're broken too."
Its hands rippled and dozens of whirling blades tore themselves free, swinging round to entrap her from all sides. Like a net closing in on all sides. Yes even as it was strong the space between them was barely touched, only a light web blocking her path.
She swung once, tearing a hole through as she dived out of the entanglement and hearing it slam shut behind her. A second flick of the sword lashing out and severing the wrist of the monster. Even as she hopped up and over the second hand reaching out to crush her.
The two sides of the severed limb bubbled reaching across the divide as if to regenerate. And a simple step from the greater being tore them apart the distance becoming impassable even as it spoke again. "Duet, can you run before the tide, can you pray to your father and hope he saves you?"
She danced out of the way of a single massive swipe from the remaining arm, an overextension that shouldn't have been needed leaving its limb exposed as she slashed through its wrist severing it.
Did it think it could regenerate endlessly? But it wasn't and yet even still it pulled the limb apart from the regenerating flesh. As though deliberately harming itself even in its madness.
No even as the attacks were strong beyond belief, even as it was a blistering pace whenever it moved. There was no follow up, only a brief pause and hesitation in every strike. Even as she found herself time to easily catch her breath.
Enough to prove she could be a threat, not enough to actually be one.
"You can't stop yourself attacking can you?"
It paused staring back at her in a silence that answered everything. The head itself slammed forward to crush her even as badly telegraphed as it was. The neck bared easily to her blade.
"If we wake up we won't be ourselves anymore. Please Duet."
Beta swung carving the head free of its shoulders as the ghost slowly began to fade away before her eyes.
The chaos outside was enough. For without the dragon here nothing could hope to beat Lilli once he'd freed her. The library was empty of course for the mist here was thickest as the hiding place of the true entrance to Lilli's Sanctum.
Victory hanging in his grasp if only he would seize it.
"You have arrived at last." She sat on the table in the centre of the room. Long flowing golden hair cascading down around a perfect face, a sword of some black metal hanging lightly in her hand.
The most ornate uniform of the black cloaks he had ever seen. Festooned in gold and purple the flowed around her as Olivier stood before his eyes.
No Olivier was supposed to be in the Lawless city. Only a resemblance as he let the mask of the man he was take hold. "Ghosts are attacking the students outside you have to go and help them."
A stern glance answered him. "You are the one who summoned them and yet all you do in front of me is pretend. Not even a good resemblance in the end for one of Loki's hands to come out all this way just to play the fool."
The Dacuacain girl? But she hadn't known his goal nor would have had the time to put this in place. "I don't know what you mean but they're dying out there."
"Oh." It meant she didn't believe him in the slightest as she drew the word out. "Then would you perhaps like to restrain yourself, if you are truly as you appear then you have nothing to fear from me."
Who would ever believe something like that. No, he was wasting time when he might only have so much, and even if this body was so much weaker than his own that was something that only mattered against a peer opponent.
He let himself deflate. "You've really decided I'm guilty here from the beginning, so anything I say will only fall on deaf ears then."
"And I am judge, jury and executioner here, of that I can guarantee." She wasn't even pretending.
He surged forward sparks trailing in his wake as they waited to ignite, the pinnacle of a stolen swordsmanship style rocketing forward to carve her head in one move.
Blown away as a gust of wind tore through the room around him, the sparks smothered outside his reach even as she casually caught his empty sword with her own.
He pushed back recentring himself even as he pulled from what little reserves he had.
An illusion painted upon the air with magic, a simple trick of the light leaving him appearing all throughout the room for a fraction of the magic a real body would take. Even if only a single sword was real until you knew which one they all had to be treated as such.
And the real sword was invisible as he let the light trail around it never touching the world as he set his stance.
In response she merely kicked down as magic poured into a bowl at her feet. Reflective and surreal as it channelled it back up like a wave. The simple act washing away his masterpiece like the dream it was as reality was laid bare.
She came, left arm swinging as a dozen droplets of fluid blasted forward like bullets. Power coursing through them as the sword was ripped from his hand. Even as she advanced sword swinging round to meet steel.
His own blade broke under the clash, even as he ducked around the follow through, the jagged edge of his own blade barely enough as he surged into the gap.
Found her cloak buried through his chest.
His feet leaving the ground as even her armour was shown to be a weapon. Watching the life flow free of this wretched clone that wasn't even enough to handle one person.
With a final gurgle he died like a wretch.
Loki woke up. The fleeting dream passed along by his shadow real in his mind as he observed the failure from the highest tower in the cathedral in Orum. Light filtering in through a dozen stained glass windows as he let the full feel of his magic return to the fore.
Bathing the world in the light around him as he began to glow like the God he was. Even if she could no longer hear him he made a promise, to himself instead.
"Little girl you may have bested me today. You will regret it, for next time I shall show you my true splendour and you will know what it means to be blinded by the light."
Cid had gone into this library even as thick with mist as it was. It had taken Alexia so long to find him and yet he was still safe. Even as there was no exit she could find and yet he was not here.
Until the bookcase itself swung open at the far end of the room.
"Olivier." The voice on the other side of the door echoed and reverberated through the world. As though it came from everywhere and nowhere at once rather than from the room ahead. "Has your sanctum already fallen that you would come to see me."
"Lilli." A single word coming from the room in front of her.
"Or have you become my jailor after all this time. It seems like the thing that you would do even to your own sisters." The pause hung in the air for a moment before a laugh reverberated back. "It's true then you are keeping me locked up here even after you found a way to release yourself from your own torment."
She crept closer curious and yet terrified. The mist growing ever thicker around it as it seemed to pour out of the gap. But was there anywhere else Cid could have gotten to?
"Thank you, it's probably for the best. For I am to be locked away for an eternity so even this last chance to speak with you would seem like a blessing. And to see Freya is here as well and I met Duet outside its almost like we're together again."
"Freya?"
"Yes she's standing just outside the doorway, won't you come in Freya?"
She bit her lip, because there was no one else out here but she also wasn't and had never been called Freya. And from the names being given, the three heroes? It wasn't the most uncommon set of names exactly for that reason.
Still the other voice came back. "Come in." Unlike the other dreamy girl this one came like an order.
Cid's corpse sat in the corner of the room. Lifeless eyes staring back at her as she bit down a scream. She had been supposed to protect him, and now all that was left was a corpse. Pooch.
Slowly she turned to the two girls in the room alongside her. The normal one was beautiful and clearly Shadow Garden, even as the ornate uniform even seemed to put Natsume's to shame. And she centred herself on that normalcy for a moment, as though it could quieten the absolute terror building up inside her.
For the second girl was clearly dead. Blood pouring freely from her eyes and mouth even as she seemed not to notice. Draped around the member of Shadow Garden as though they were friends even as the other girl was barely concealing her discomfort.
The corpse giggled unheeding. "To think we three heroes are together again even after the world fell into chaos. I've missed you all."
A soft pat on her head was returned from the girl who was certainly not Olivier. "It has been a while since we last met how have you been."
"There is so much to tell." The world seemed to flow around her as the scent of flowers filled the room around them. "Each time we tore something out of it Diabolos changed. Olivier you would remember how the scream died in its intensity after Freya was gone, and when you left it lost something more. He thought it was reason, I thought it might have been kindness because you were always kind to me."
"But you see they were only fragments, and so we made a plan. Because if I could take a piece, without a mind of its own and bend it to my will. I could become Diabolos and turn its own power against it. I was going to use its power then to break the rest of you out as well, and we could truly have a peaceful world." The voice was growing until it seemed to swamp the entire room, a heavy thud inside her head as she watched on at it in horror. "I was going to take Diabolos hope and become the new god, a kinder god upon this world."
Olivier thought for a moment even as she kept her voice calm. "That seems like it was always doomed to go wrong."
Lilli vomited blood in response. "Kronos and Ares both thought that too and said I shouldn't do it. But Uther and Father both thought it was a great idea and the three of us worked out how to do it and then decided not to tell anyone else."
This was not how her history lesson on the subject had gone. Still, she asked herself. "You failed to fuse with Diabolos then, and that's what left you in your current state."
Because she must have become just one more ghost amongst all the others here that Diabolos had killed, it would certainly explain the number of them.
"Why would it have failed?" There seemed to be honest confusion. "I am the only person trapped inside, prisoner and jailer all in one, Lilli and Diabolos stopped existing a long time ago, and now all that's left is me."
'Olivier' looked as unsettled as she felt. "The ghosts then?"
She nodded calmly enough even as her smile left blood pouring all over her corpse. "Those are just my whims, the whispers of my own mind stretching out to kill you all. That's all there is to it."
She stared blankly at the monster who had just admitted to rampaging about killing people without a concern in the world. Even as 'Olivier' calmly patted the girl on the head. "You can rest assured I have everything under control here, so please go back to sleep."
A giggle escaped from Lilli. "I'm not going back to sleep for real, this is just me rolling over. Five more minutes until I end the world." The corpse began to fade away from the world even as the mist started receding.
"I'll be awake soon, and then I'll complete myself and end this worlds suffering." The giggles faded away with the last of her body.
Leaving her alone in the room with Cid's murderer.
They gathered as one, a sea of blue and white and silver around a corpse. Isaac had done something, either a threat to the ghosts to put an end to the nightmare or a trick of magic that they hadn't been able to understand.
For the full weight of the ghosts had turned on him and those who had broken away with him at the end. A single moment of relief that had given those of them left behind a respite from the carnage.
It had come at too great a cost as they gathered around the fallen hero. His face ravaged by claws such that no expression could be seen, his body torn to pieces until it was almost unfit for even a burial.
Already one member had apologised, because they had been weak. Because if they were stronger they could have supported him in that final moment. Driven back the tide long enough for the ghosts to finish dispersing.
It stung because he hadn't been strong enough either. But that wasn't the man Isaac had been. Wasn't what he would have wanted. It wasn't the ones who had followed who had failed him.
"No." Suzuki almost withered as all the eyes fell onto him. But Isaac wouldn't have wanted him to back down in this moment. And wasn't it obvious who was at fault? "Isaac wanted to protect us, just as he was thankful we followed him. We were not the ones to blame for his death."
"It was those who cowered and walked away, those who hesitated and refused to come that killed Isaac. The unworthy who forsook their oaths as knights and hid before the darkness who killed him."
Po was holding back tears beside him, even as blood poured down from a gash in his right cheek. "We're gonna prove Isaac right."
He could hear the murmurs spreading out, even as the rest of them held their vigil. Anger and rage and resentment. Deserved resentment for those who would never be worthy to take up their cause again.
Ten members fully in the throes of possession. She had them taken to a bed, treated them as bed as she could.
Learned that as bed as she could still wasn't good enough. Because there was only so much a simple cloth and wiping away the rot would do when the flesh itself would not heal.
Gamma sighed once again, because it wasn't a lack of magic that meant she was helpless to save them. But a lack of skill, for both Epsilon and Alpha had learnt to work their lords magic and save the weak.
And she was still weak and unable to change things. Once again stuck waiting at home for one of the two who could fix it to return. The empty sky a familiar sight as she sat by the window.
A voice came from the door. "Lady Gamma the Orianna expedition have been sighted on the outskirts of Alexandria."
Delta, Epsilon, Zeta and Eta.
And with them perhaps the news of why Cid had said he could not return.
They would travel kilometres, She had only a few hundred metres to go to meet them. So even if she rushed they would get their first no matter how hard she hurried. Still maybe one day she would beat them to the front door and be there to greet them when they came home.
She took off out through the door of her office as fast as she could, moved with all the grace of a charging elephant through the corridors and resolved to take the stairs two at a time on the off chance it would give her that last dose of speed she needed.
Then as her feet missed a step ten at a time, the bottom of the staircase reaching up to slam itself into her face in a single moment. The stares of those few members in the room alongside her almost like a palpable force in their concern.
With a faint laugh she shrugged it off. "I'm fine I'm fine."
And in a way she was the trivial injury not something to care about. Just one more fall was nothing as long as she got back up once more. Her race to the door resuming in a matter of moments even as she stepped into the empty foyer.
For they had not arrived yet. As for the first time in memory she stood by the door and watched them come in.
The others were not fine.
Epsilon waved with a mass of slime that didn't quite look like her hands at all. Too few fingers stretching awkwardly for a few moments before she looked away embarrassed about it.
Zeta and Delta both refused to meet her eyes, and neither even had the energy to fight against each other. There were several other named numbers present, and Nu was being carried.
Eta hadn't come home at all, and she crushed down the part of her mind that feared the worst. Ignored the part that wanted to ask Epsilon to fix the injured in the medical wing.
For right now they were battered and bruised, and the start had to be making sure they were well again. For only after you had looked after yourself could you look after other people.
She turned to her helpers and arranged for the very basics. Food, baths and warm beds for even if they dared resist she was going to spoil them first. Then turned back to smile at them as they reached the door. "Welcome home."
Epsilon and Zeta glanced between each other.
After a moment Zeta stepped to the fore. "Cid and Eta have been trapped through a gate between worlds as far as we could tell. We were unable to reopen it." She looked down with a bitter expression as she thought on how to continue.
"I know." Well, she didn't know the specifics, but she knew the important part. "He sent a letter beforehand that it was going to happen and I'm sure if we check he probably left us more instructions to what to do in his absence."
Zeta paused staring back confused for a moment. "You're sure."
She put on her best impression. "Due to the machinations of our enemies, and the actions I must take to counter them I will be unable to return in short order." A stern look returned to her face. "Our lord is safe I can assure you of that, and perhaps if we go through his things we will learn more about the why. Right now, I am going to take care of the three of you, because you look like you need it."
And she would hear no excuses on the matter. Dragging them off to pamper them until they were well again.
Hours later they reconvened around the table, even as Zeta smiled in triumph. "These ten books were left for us written by a Morgan Le Fay and while I have not had time to go through them fully. A brief inspection suggests they are about the portal above Orianna." They could all feel the power emanating off of them, magic seeping into the very pages. "Clearly our Lord intended for us to read them and sent them back with us."
She nodded her head because that was exactly the kind of thing Cid would do. Reading an entire book and memorising it in moments, just to leave them with the written copies to do as they wished. "See our Lord knew about the portal the entire time, and merely let the enemy think they had him trapped."
The words were as much a spell on her as to the rest of them. Because as long as Cid knew what he was doing then everything was fine.
Cid poked the patch of air where the portal had been, the full might of his enormous wisdom coming to bare against the problem. "Right that's it I'm lost guess I'll go do something else for a while."
Aurora laughed behind him. "Hasn't it only been five seconds that you looked at it for?"
Of course, and it was five seconds he was never going to get back. "Rather than waste my time not understanding something, I intend to advance and explore the new sights of this world laid out before us." He did not call it home, because even if it had been once Ishinomaki had changed in ways he'd never expected. "Does it not excite you to see a whole new world, or for instance to investigate that building over there."
He pointed to the faraway skyscraper.
From his shadow her voice echoed. "It does look to be more than ten times taller than any building I've ever seen. It really is an aberration to be able to manage something like that."
"Not quite that, it's normal for it to be that tall but." He paused considering his words. "The top and the bottom are supposed to still be attached." And given the gash that had torn through it seemed to pass through the entire structure he wasn't quite sure why it hadn't fallen.
Well, the only thing to do was explore as he pushed himself off the edge of the building, falling to the streets below. "You might want to be quiet in front of the locals, who knows how easily scared they might be."
And by the sounds of things there were even locals nearby once he hit the ground.
And Japanese sounded similar enough for him to make it out. "Don't recognise any of those symbols either."
"Hey, wait isn't that Alpha, Beta and Gamma."
More voices answered. "It is, so she's Greek then?"
He turned the corner to see Eta facing off against half a dozen soldiers in JSDF gear all with guns pointed not at her, but close enough that they could raise them if needed. And now that they'd recognised it Eta was scribbling out an entire message in coded Greek symbols to show to them.
Which given that his codes were only vaguely based on actual Greek was doomed to failure. "I see you too have successfully crossed the border between worlds as I expected."
"They know your symbols." Eta turned to him, a smile on her face. "Master I think we may have found the ruins of the ancient city of Atlantis."
He looked out at the ruins of what he knew to be Earth, and nothing to do with it. "Yes it is, truly I thought I might never see these shores again after it was cut off from magic the last time, but yes this is definitely Atlantis."
Atlantis was in his heart.
And while he revelled in the thought and posed the soldiers had their own words to give. "So, everyone else just heard Atlantis in all that as well didn't they."
One of the soldiers turned to the others. "So Greek then I take it. Do we have a Greek translator anywhere."
It would certainly be embarrassing if they found one. Because Eta didn't understand a word of it. He decided to help them along. "Atlantean and Greek are only vaguely similar so it wouldn't help you all that much in the first place. Oh, but I do speak Japanese if you need anything."
He grinned at their dumbstruck expressions, then continued to strike while the iron was hot. "Welcome citizens of Earth, me and my companion come from the great city of Atlantis, the city within the gate, the shining beacon lost beyond the tides of magic itself. It has been so long since your world has been connected to the greater multiverse, have you met many others yet or are we the first wanderers to enter your care."
AN: Is posting on the day Apocrypha part 2 coming out a good idea. Who knows, I don't care.
For I have returned to getting out a chapter in less than two weeks and that achievement is more important to me than anything else.
This was a rather meaty chapter, all of my chapters are rather meaty.
Probably going to have one scene back at Midgar world in each chapter through the Atlantis arc, just to tie up some loose ends and show some things going forward.
But it is now time for us to head off towards the Atlantis arc, as it has been named in my notes for such a long time.
I haven't really been mentioning Atlantis much, the last time I did was in Chapter 3. But I probably should have, and just didn't find time to place it. Oh well.
And todays arcs unneeded and unnecessary complexity addiction is Cid lying as a translator between two different languages. If the bold unbold isn't working I am open to suggestions that make it clearer.
Fateful Twilight: Yes Vafthrudnir is made to be oh so hateable. A paragon for all the Cults evil, and a monster that even when he is being nice all his jokes have a victim.
Epsilon is going to have her prosthetic slime arms for a while.
Claire and Alexia both want to believe Cid can be better than he shows himself as. But they also want to be involved in his improvement and were both caught up in that to see the cracks.
But as it is out of the bag now, Nina did know and spent the entire scene standing between Loki and Claire.
Aniisomeone: Cid and Aurora really are fun for me to play off against each other.
I really do intend more fluff fluff as well for Eta.
The fluff parts don't get exact details in plans and get a much more as the writing flows I realise this moment could totally give me a cool fluff scene so I shall write it all in one go. I definitely intend for much closer casual stuff, but I will only finalise those details when I am writing it.
Though there shall be no lemons, for all sorts of reasons like the fact that I like not getting banned.
Also to clarify for anyone. The Knights of the Round Lilli mentions aren't people you have to remember, because they're all dead and have been for a few thousand years.
Kronos: Old Knight of One who got eaten by one of Aurora's fragments in the tail end of the Three heroes era.
Ares: Old ruler of Vegalta who died when he lead the army that got ten thousand demons dropped on it in the Black Rose incident.
Uther: Old ruler of Orianna, eaten by a dragon while he was trying to fuse with Ragnarok.
I probably will do a few wise ups for people to help keep track of the current Rounds in a bit, just considering how to frame and run it.