Something Forgotten
”Relying on the Blessing is a big mistake. But at this point, I have nothing else.” ~Kristel Irista
Kristel pushed Smyl out of the way and removed the effects of Monarch’s Law from Frill and Katherine. The Lady quickly pulled the Aria away from the scene, but with her Art fatigue, they didn’t get far. Especially since the other one didn’t want to go away.
The traitor, on the other hand, struggled to get up, as if the gravity itself was too much for him to take.
“Kneel,” said the future Monarch.
Smyl’s efforts softened and his knees gave way, bending down to the weathered stones of the ruined tower.
Alphazzel raised his sword, but Kristel turned to him as well.
“On your knees.”
The faunel, despite his excessive shaking, stomped one of his feet deep into the floor. He bent a single knee, leveraging the rest of his weight over his greatsword to prevent himself from going down completely.
“You don’t control me!” he yelled, growling as he struggled. “Even the Law of the First Monarch isn’t absolute!”
“Glad to know,” Kristel replied. “Now, Shut up and stay there!”
The Princess stomped over to Smyl, grabbing the traitor by the collar of his shirt. He looked desperate, not even hiding his desire to retaliate and his frustration of not being allowed to do so by the Blessing. She didn’t care.
“Did you kill Liona?” she asked.
Smyl’s lips began to shake and his jaws clenched as he did all he could to turn away. Kristel invested every ounce of meiyal her reason and logic allowed her to use.
“ANSWER ME!”
The world shook at her command as the Law of the First Monarch indiscriminately forced Kristel’s surroundings to follow. And while she didn’t ask anyone else a question, it was as if reality itself wanted to provide her with an answer. Still, it was only Smyl who could satisfy that command.
“Yes,” he whispered, choking on his own words. The Blessing forced him to speak louder. “Yes, I did.”
“You bastard!” Frill screamed. She had enough cognizance to attempt healing herself, now that Katherine had talked some sense into her. Her glare, something Kristel had seen numerous times throughout her life, was now rid of any of the usual warmth that went along with it. Only anger and rage and vengeance were in those eyes.
“I’ll kill you! I swear it, I’ll make you pay!” Frill growled in between pain and fury.
Katherine was doing her best holding back the Aria. Without Meiyal Arts to back her up, however, she was easily pushed back. Still, she never stopped getting in the way.
“Heal yourself first, Frill. You’ll run out of blood if you don’t.”
“I’m fine,” Frill retaliated. “If I can’t close the wound, I’ll just replace my blood with Samesia.”
“That’s…” Katherine, despite herself, stopped trying to reason with her. Kristel knew why. It was the exact same thing the Lady had done back when she had faced three Forest Jaws on her own in Minaveil Province. Samesia and Siffera working hand in hand to keep the injury from taking her consciousness.
And since the Nightmare Influence had no effect on Frill, there was no stopping her.
Except for Kristel herself.
“I’ll hold them back,” she said. “Please heal your wounds first, Frill.”
This command—request—she made sure didn’t have an ounce of her Blessing’s authority in it. Instead, she looked at her retainer directly in the eyes.
With that, Frill wordlessly focused her efforts on healing. Katherine, on the other hand, sat on the ground, trying to recover.
“You’ve never used the Monarch’s Law before,” Alphazzel said, struggling to utter each word. He was giving his all to break through the Blessing.
“I believe I told you to shut up.” Kristel tossed a glare towards the faunel, and his lips clamped on each other like they were held on by pincers.
Kristel had been aware of the Law of the First Monarch since she was a toddler. Back then, it had been something she couldn’t control, to the point that she had changed people’s emotions through simple words. Fortunately, she had caught on it early in life, and had made a vow to never let her emotions take advantage of such a dangerous Blessing.
She had almost forgotten about it, after all these years. Until Frein’s initial plan to move out of Irista Nation had caused her so much an emotional turmoil, resulting for the Blessing to accidentally resurface. Kristel had almost let it.
At least, to some extent, she believed this. But in her heart, she wasn’t exactly sure if her subordinates believed in her herself, or it was because of her Monarch’s Law leaking out without her knowledge.
Of course, she kept these thoughts to herself, not wanting the faunel or Smyl to know any information that might help them.
Kristel turned to the five-headed Forest Jaws. “Leave or die. I don’t care. Just stay away from here and never return.”
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This command, she carefully and cautiously delivered specifically towards the giant Nightmare. She absolutely made sure, for she had allies nearby.
The Nightmare closed its snouts. Black scales tore off from its back and formed two pairs of wings. It turned away and flew east towards the Nightmare Lands.
The moment Kristel turned her attention towards the Nightmare, her hold against Smyl wavered. The traitor immediately grabbed his Forged axe and charged. She was quick to recover, merely looking at him. In an instant, he was back with both knees on the ground, dropping his weapon beside him.
“Don’t think for one second that I’ll show you mercy, Smyl.” Kristel began to feel a numbing sensation on her chest, exactly where her meiyal core was located.
The Law of the First Monarch allowed her to impose her will beyond the limits of Monarch’s Law, but it required an incredible amount of meiyal. It was similar to Verdict in this sense, but since it was tied to her destiny, and the fact that it was a Blessing of Brymeia, allowed her more access to it than the Meiyal Art.
Commanding the Nightmare to leave and never return had taken a huge toll on her. Granted, Art fatigue was no longer a concern, but trying to supply her commands with continuous meiyal was proving to be a challenge. At this rate, she would run out faster than she could Mill. And she knew trying to resort into faster Milling forms would result in the Blessing failing completely.
Kristel made sure not to let her struggles show on the surface. She intended to hold them back until Frill recovered. Until Venry and his friends retrieved Frein.
“The only thing keeping you alive is the fact that your death belongs to someone else,” she said to Smyl, making sure she made her bluff as convincing as possible. She turned to Alphazzel next. “But you… You I can take freely.”
“I’m a faunel,” Recozzel began, laughing. “A living meiyal incarnate of Brymeia. Commanding me is tantamount to commanding this world. You think you can keep me down for so long?”
He slowly rose from his feet, wielding his black sword with ease. The faunel was aware of her struggles. She expected as much from someone who could see Destiny. For all she knew, he was just going through the motions while acting shocked.
Alphazzel, from the brief time she had known him, showed much dedication to making a good story, after all.
“If you really think you have a chance of getting out of this, Monarch Kristel, then by all means, try to kill an immortal.”
She ignored what the faunel said. Kristel knew they could be killed, otherwise, there would be more of them. True, the method eluded them, but there could be more than just one way to deal with Alphazzel. Even if it was just him specifically.
No use standing around. Kristel Drew Kaimera, Freemesia, and Ascensia all in a single motion, closing in on the faunel in a blink.
“I’ve never placed my hopes in chance!” She swung her blade down.
“This world will never bend the knee to Monarch like you!” Alphazzel arched his sword upwards.
The two blades collided and Kaimera shattered without any resistance. It took Kristel a split second to muster as much meiyal as she could to defend herself from the incoming blade, raising her arms with as much Siffera as she could enforce.
The sword made of Nightmare meiyal sliced into her arms, breaking through her defenses. She was thrown back by the force, but her arms, though bleeding, were still intact. She ignored the pain, spinning and recovering on the ground on all fours.
“I don’t need the world to bend for me. I just need to get rid of you.”
Kristel rushed back, Drawing five Kaimeras. She threw each one with all her might, while keeping a smaller one clamped between her jaws.
Alphazzel parried them, the speed of the blades forcing him to step back. Kristel took advantage and Drew a Dai-Kaimera in both hands. With a strong step, she swung the large meiyal blade. The faunel had no time to recover for a defensive strike, his block falling completely to the mercy of the impact.
This time, the faunel was thrown back. Kristel quickly gave chase, Drawing more Kaimeras to keep the barrage going. She didn’t want to give the faunel any second to rest.
A quick glance to her side confirmed that Smyl was still struggling to get on his feet. Denying a direct command from the Law of the First Monarch was something not just anyone could do.
Knowing she was free to move around, Kristel picked up the pace and zigzagged towards a recovering Alphazzel. The faunel raised a hand, intending to freeze her in place. She went out of the way, leaving behind a copy of herself with Solomera. She had not used this Art since the Battle of the Vanguard.
An idea formed. If Alphazzel was truly caught off guard by something she had not used for a long time, then maybe her old way of fighting would work. It was worth checking out.
Kristel moved quickly, snapping her fingers to Draw Ganfra. A sudden flash of light, blinded the backpedaling faunel. His disoriented state gave her a huge opening. Dai-Kaimera slashed through his waist, parting him cleanly from his lower extremities.
She didn’t let up, jumping at his upper half. Just as quickly, she grabbed the dagger in her mouth, letting go of her giant sword. With both hands, Kristel stabbed the dagger straight into Alphazzel’s skull.
The faunel’s shocked face gradually relaxed, as both arms fell to the ground, lifeless.
Kristel breathed. Her mind caught up with her actions, and the realization hit her after a moment. The faunel wasn’t moving. She frowned, checking her surroundings.
It was already too late.
“You cannot kill faunels, foolish Monarch,” Alphazzel reminded her. He was quite a distance away. The copy of him in front of her vanished into meiyal residue. “And don’t forget, I helped create Meiyal Arts.”
Kristel motioned to move, but the faunel raised his Nightmare sword in front of a large object. In front of a closing portal, was an orb. She immediately recognized it.
“So that’s why we couldn’t find any of them.”
The question of why Alphazzel had to smuggle the orbs and not just transport them using his portals became a distracting afterthought.
“I must admit, you made it really difficult to slip these things through. They were meant for something far greater than this, but I think you’ve earned this part of Destiny anyway.”
Alphazzel stabbed the orb. Kristel braced for impact, but no explosion came out of it. Instead, it hissed, expelling from within black meiyal. It rose like smoke and dispersed through the air.
“Want to know how we can control a Nightmare Incursion?”
The realization came in an instant, but it came too late.
Countless Nightmare Signs appeared throughout Befall. In a single moment, the small respite from the Incursion that Katherine had made was gone. It was a mockery of her efforts.
“What did that Death’s Wish person warn you about, again?” Alphazzel asked as two more orbs beside him began emitting black meiyal. “Three Incursions, right?”
Nightmare Signs appeared from the skies. Rotten trees grew from the undead sand. Meiyal was screaming, transforming into something Brymeia would never allow to exist.
It was repulsive. Kristel’s body rejected it instantly. For the first time in a long while, Art fatigue slammed her. Evanclad and Norazzel’s urgent voices were nothing but desperate muffled noises.
She fell to her knees, coughing and caving in from the excruciating pain on her chest. From her meiyal core. It felt like something was wrenching it out of her body. Her world spun, and she began to hurl. Blood mixed with her vomit.
In the far distance, her blurry sight could barely make out the faunel’s silhouette, rejoicing by himself.
“Look at you Iristans,” he began. “Just because you endured a simple Incursion, a simple Nightmare Influence, you think you can conquer everything? Your precious Lady Katherine had to spend her entire life succumbing into this foulness just to comprehend and withstand its powers! She is the gifted one here, not you!”
He approached with glee, black sword in one hand. “Young Solfey is a rather special case, as you know. And Frill is just so loved by this world, you don’t even know half of it!
“But you…” Alphazzel crouched down, staring at Kristel with crazed eyes. He raised his weapon.
“You’re nothing.”