Shallow Victory

> ”People often overestimate their odds of success, when in fact, I decide whether they can win or not.” ~Alphazzel, the Corrupted Faunel

“Those are…” Katherine couldn’t finish. While they were multitudes more gigantic than their originals, and disregarding the fact that they both shared one body now, the Lady easily recognized Ashtine and Smyl’s yumas.

It was simply hard to believe that such fiercely loyal creatures, meiyal-bonded to their masters, would be forced to suffer such Nightmarification. Not to mention they had been turned in an unnatural way. Katherine could sense multiple sources of Nightmare and undeath jam-packed into their singular body. So much so that they would keep dying and living and turning in a roil of madness.

She felt disgust towards the faunel that was obviously involved in this cursed display of perpetual despair.

“Oh, so you recognize them?” he said, finding glee from reading Katherine’s expressions. “They were very obedient pups, accepted their fate once they saw me and didn’t even bother trying to retaliate.”

“Hey,” Katherine called out, patience growing incredibly thin. She relaxed, standing tall. Her eyes were trained towards the faunel, who stopped mid-gesture. “How do I kill them?”

“That’s not very nice of you, is it?” he asked in return, crossing his arms to act as the righteous person. “They’ve just been reborn and already you want to end their life.”

“I want to end their suffering, idiot.” She Drew a blade Meiyal Art. It was ridiculously outmatched by Vantera, but a super-condensed Rokudai-Kaimera enveloping it was a real threat that no sane person would simply laugh off.

“And what makes you think that I’ll tell you?”

“Because you’re a faunel,” Katherine said simply. “Brymeia made the faunels to help us mortals.”

“That’s arrogant thinking. And stupid. It’s like Elizzel being forced to help you, when in fact, she has the freedom to choose.”

For how mature Alphazzel looked, as long as Katherine was concerned, he didn’t speak like it.

“You’re not Eli.”

Negotiation tactics weren’t Katherine’s strong suit, especially now that she was almost out of patience. Back on Earth, she had often had to rely on her Heart’s Will to get people to talk. She knew she couldn’t rely on the Blessing against Alphazzel, so she decided to just appeal to his nature.

“At least prove to me there’s a hint of yourself still in there somewhere.”

The faunel narrowed his eyes, pondered for a moment before giving a drawn out sigh.

“Fine, fine. Just this once. It’s not like it’s difficult to figure out.” Alphazzel pointed at the giant two-headed yuma, who had been obediently staying put despite their constant growling. “The easiest way is to destroy every fiber of their being, much like how you kill lesser Nightmares.

“The unique thing about this masterpiece, however, is that if you leave even a spec of their body, they will instantly regrow in seconds.” The faunel threw his hands up, before plopping down to sit on a piece of debris that once belonged to the tower. “There. Happy? As a bonus, I’m giving you ten minutes to deal with them, before I actually join the fight.”

“I didn’t think you’d actually tell me.” Katherine narrowed her eyes, suspicious of the faunel.

“What? You don’t believe me?” Alphazzel leaned backwards and crossed a leg over the other. “I don’t lie, Katherine. I don’t know if you’re still using your Heart’s Will, but that’s on you. I said I’ll only say it once. I’m not repeating it again.”

Katherine, indeed, didn’t miss out on using her Blessing despite her wavering trust in it. She was only slightly wavering, and it was still better to have more information.

“And besides, I’m just as curious as you and Frein are.”

For the first time since meeting face to face with the faunel, Katherine saw genuine interest in Alphazzel’s eyes. A genuine curiosity. Whether it was for good or evil, the desire to know would always grip anyone in unison.

“You want to know if overwhelming strength can change Destiny?”

“You were not the first to try, or even the first to consider the option,” the faunel pointed out. “But those of you who did have always continued to be irresistibly interesting. It’s been a principle of mine to always give you guys a chance. Of course, none of you have succeeded so far.”

Alphazzel didn’t give her enough time to digest his words. The only thing Katherine understood is that he was trying to find ways and possibilities to redirect Destiny, just as she and Frein had been trying to figure out all this time.

“There. I did my part as a faunel like you asked,” he said, signaling the giant two-headed yuma to attack. “Now you do yours, Lady of the Void. Don’t think I’ll go easy on you just because you’ve lost your Magnum Opus. Just so you know, it’s part of your Destiny. There was never a possibility that you’d face these yumas with Vantera.”

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Katherine didn’t care. Neither did she care enough to point that out to Alphazzel. She dodged another set of Nightmare meiyal beams, trusting that by this point Sam would’ve stirred Tich well enough away. She couldn’t afford to think about them now as she dodged. Since blocking the beams of concentrated Negating Roar instead would absolutely rip away at her meiyal reserves.

At the same time, she Drew a Godai-Katastrofera, severing one of the heads from a distance. While the method to eliminating the Nightmare yumas just as Alphazzel had said was likely true, there were no indicators of other behaviors or interactions relative to how they operate. For all she knew, there could be multiple ways to defeating it, or making matters more complicated.

A new body growing out of a severed head for example.

The yumas wailed in pain. Katherine took the moment to refill her reserves, while observing if her hypothesis was correct. Fortunately for her, the severed head dispersed into pure meiyal. Unfortunately for her, however, the head regrew from the main body.

As soon as it recovered, the poor abomination howled, emitting large quantities of Nightmarish meiyal. It formed a dark shadow around the creature, mimicking flames of darkness.

Then it vanished.

No, it wasn’t Nature’s Favor, not even a pseudo version that Forest Jaws liked to use. It vanished because of speed.

The moment Katherine turned, she elevated her Godai-Siffera to its utmost capacity, blocking a gigantic claw. Instantaneously, her Meiyal Arts were erased, but her instincts and self-preservation immediately re-Drew Siffera.

The dark meiyal around the Nightmare yumas was a cloak-version of the Negating Roar.

Katherine recovered, her feet scraping the dirt off the ground as she stopped her momentum. Godai-Samesia went to work, stitching her left arm, waist, and leg, before any of her muscles or innards fell off. A bunch of her bones snapped back into place and mended together.

She jumped and twirled right before another claw slashed where she had been. At the apex of her spin, she aimed her fingers towards them and snapped. A Rokudai-First Spark sparked a conflagration just before Katherine landed. This Meiyal Art, derived from the Expunged Blaze of a Forest Jaws, engulfed the entirety of the Nightmare.

The heads were disintegrated, the body turned to ash, but a small nub of its tails was blasted away by the force. Katherine observed, stunned as she recovered from the Art, at the rate in which the entire giant, two-headed yuma reformed in a matter of seconds.

It was unbelievably fast. By the time Katherine invested meiyal and Drew another Art, the poor abomination had already regenerated. She formulated a plan, but her opponent didn’t want to give her the time.

They disappeared again, but she already predicted their move.

“Peace Within The Chaos,” she uttered, Opening her meiyal core and enveloping herself with her own Influence. This time, she held out a hand, catching the entire claw with her Godai-Siffera. The Void Control Technique prevent the Negating Roar cloak from erasing her Art.

While she couldn’t confidently commit the same resolve against the beam version of Negating Roar, she could properly assess this cloak, and knew she could withstand it. Ridiculous though, how it looked. A single claw was just as big as herself.

She wasn’t done, however.

Her grip doubled, and paired with a second hand, Katherine pivoted and lifted the creature over her shoulder. She spun with just enough strength to throw the giant Nightmare towards Alphazzel.

The faunel, amused, simply smirked and casually gestured a wave. The two-headed yuma was flung to the side as if an invisible force swatted it away.

While he looked like he wanted to say something, Katherine was already Drawing her First Sparks. She ignored the faunel and brought both hands together. With a single sharp breath, she prepared her meiyal reserved and snapped her fingers in quick succession.

Seven Rokudai-First Sparks ignited the poor Nightmare abomination before Katherine completely ran out of meiyal. She quickly Gathered and Milled, ignoring the ever closing Art fatigue. Before she could turn towards the meiyal however, the smoke rising from the Nightmare was disturbed by its rapid regeneration.

Alphazzel held up a finger. “I was trying to say, its tail is immune to fire.”

“You’re joking…”

“Am I laughing?”

The two-headed yuma out of the smoke, snarling at Katherine with such enthusiasm, as if it hadn’t been reduced to ashes a moment earlier. It re-enveloped itself with its dark meiyal of Negating Roar, while preparing to use beams of it at the same time.

If there was one thing Katherine was thankful for, it was the straightforwardness of her adversary. Three tricks. At this point in time, if it had had a fourth, it would’ve used it.

The problem was, she was running out of tricks herself, and Art fatigue was really close. Brymeia’s Embrace was there, but hadn’t quite recovered yet to ease the fatigue away, compared to the rate she had been running towards it.

“The heads are immune to ice. Limbs are immune to slashing attacks. Wings are immune to water. Body is immune to rocks and piercing, but you don’t have anything like that. And tail is immune to fire like I said.”

Alphazzel counted with his fingers, making sure he had everything accounted for. In the mean time, Katherine busied herself with dodging and redirecting. The two-headed Nightmare shifted between beams and quick attacks. She was used to them by now, dodging the projectiles while deflecting the physical attacks.

“I guess I didn’t account for lightning, but that’s the one thing you don’t have.” Alphazzel shrugged. “Granted it’s technically, chemically speaking, fire and lightning have similarities, but that begs the question why do Meiyal Arts separate them? Like fra is for fire and tia is for lightning?”

“Because the patterns involved are different,” Katherine answered after throwing the giant, two-headed yuma. While she did so, she caught something in her I, Alone, Am The Center. She almost smiled, but the threat of Destiny being involved once again ripped the joy out of the discovery.

“Irista-style: Yondaitia.” Kristel’s voice echoed throughout Befall as thunder clapped from the skies. “Divine Judgement!”

Flashes of lightning struck down, concentrating on the two-headed yuma. It had no chance to react, no chance to retaliate. A quick, clean death.

“Tell me, Alphazzel,” Katherine started as she observed the Nightmare disintegrate into pure meiyal. “Is this part of Destiny?”

“You failing to win and having to rely on the Princess and her retainer?” Alphazzel clarified and stood, telegraphing well enough that he knew of the two’s fusion. “Of course.”

“Sorry,” Kristel said as she descended from the skies. She looked like she understood the situation completely, nodding towards Katherine to gesture her apology.

The Lady didn’t much care. The yumas hadn’t suffered for long. And with one less obstacle out of her way, she could get closer to finding Frein. She did note, however, that it had taken almost ten minutes for the Princess to intervene. Almost at the same time where the faunel said he would join the fight. It made her realize that he must’ve intentionally left out lightning from the Nightmare’s immunities.

“Now what?” Kristel asked.

“Now…” Alphazzel flexed his meiyal, creating a pressure equal to that of the Nightmare Lands. It forced the Princess down to the ground. Katherine, on the other hand, negated it with her Void Control Technique.

“Now we fight, two against one.”