#215’s head was swimming as this young man- Kydan, he’d called himself, put himself between her and her “owner”, and boldly declared that #215 was no longer his slave.
H-How can he say things like that? He's just a kid- He looks a little younger than I am...
This earned him the wrath of Lendras’ azure flame, as the Overlord reeled back and threw a punch. #215 jumped and rolled backwards to narrowly avoid collision with a dodging Kydan, who then moved in where Lendras had presented an opening and jabbed his flaming knife into Lendras’ other arm.
“GAAAAAHHHHH!” Lendras screamed out like a roaring beast, “You little worm!”
#215 saw the Ancient give a small giggle as she watched Kydan’s attack and the aftermath of it.
She... She's rooting for him...
Lendras soon regained composure, “Damned brat…”
“That was for Hayvren,” Kydan glared at Lendras and didn’t break eye contact, “That was for the people you had killed and enslaved. Those people were my family!”
Lendras’ lip curled with amusement and his eyes danced with cruelty, “Ah, your family, were they?”
“Yes!” Kydan pointed that flaming dagger of his at Lendras accusingly and its flames seemed to grow even more intense along with the young man's gaze, “They were my family… They took care of me because I had no real family left… Each and every one of them helped me out at some time or another… And you tore that family apart!
That’s a magic weapon… #215 thought, And a powerful one at that… She can’t take her eyes off it…
Indeed, the Ancient, watching events from behind Lendras, yet looking like she was ready to strike again at any moment if she needed to, couldn’t take her eyes off the dagger Kydan wielded. There was a look in her eyes… Could it have been longing? What connection did she have to the dagger?
Lendras chuckled at Kydan’s outburst, staring down the young man’s rage-filled eyes.
“That’s all well and good, lad. But I doubt you should really be hoisting the blame onto myself.”
“What?!” Kydan roared, “You’re not gonna be able to slither your way out of this, you bastard! WHO ELSE COULD BE TO BLAME EXCEPT YOU?! You gave the orders, damn it!”
Then Lendras laughed that booming laugh of overconfident malice that #215 knew far too well, a sound she wished she’d never heard.
He knows something… She thought, He knows something, and it’s going to destroy this kid…
“What’re you laughing at, you scumbag?” Kydan spoke calmly, “Are you mocking me? Are you mocking my goddamn FAMILY?!”
“Nothing of the sort,” Lendras spoke with a mock concern, “I just thought it might be… Pertinent for you to know… That the whole reason Hayvren fell that day was because one of your family ratted you all out!”
For the first time, Kydan’s gaze shifted from Lendras to the floor.
“Wh-What… No, that’s… That’s impossible…”
The dagger’s flames faltered slightly, and started to slowly burn out.
“None of them… No one would…”
He dropped the knife to the ground…
“NONE OF THEM WOULD HAVE DONE THAAAAAT!”
… And he charged at Lendras, with no weapon but his fist.
Lendras took a swing with his gauntlet, but the younger man deftly evaded.
#215 couldn’t believe her eyes. In the moment between evading and making his next move, Kydan’s hand… Became engulfed in flames?
His fist glowed with orange and yellow, and cracked him right in the face with force unexpected for a teenager much smaller and leaner than his opponent.
It had clearly caught Lendras by surprise too, and he fell back to the ground, clutching his burned face. He roared out, a bestial sound of anger and desperation.
“Y-You little shit! That’s two counts of attacking an Overlord!”
“Yeah? Well it’ll be a lot more of them,” Kydan stood over him, and the Ancient’s eyes had unstuck themselves from the dagger and were now transfixed on him, “If you EVER talk about my family again!”
“The naivete of youth…” Lendras grumbled, “…Is a tragic thing, sometimes. I’m telling you the truth, you know…”
Kydan had been staring at his hand, which showed no signs of burning, with a look of awe and bewilderment. #215 figured it must have been the first time he’d done something like that.
When Lendras was still down, the Ancient came over and kicked him swiftly on the back, in response to which he cried out in pain. #215 knew the older man must have been reaching his breaking point; The Dungeon had taken its toll on him, and even when fighting the Ancient earlier he’d been slowed down to the extreme. No amount of ogre-like rage could keep that man standing for much longer.
“I choose not to believe you,” Kydan didn’t meet the Overlord’s eyes.
“I can even give you a name,” Lendras’ eyes didn’t lose their look of disdain. He still really wanted to hurt Kydan, even if he couldn’t physically.
“Don’t!”
It was the first time the eastern man, Hai, had spoken since earlier when he was talking with Kydan. He had walked over to them, his sword in one hand and Kydan’s dagger in the other. He threw the dagger to Kydan, who caught it and glanced down at it in lieu of looking Lendras in the eye.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“You?!” Lendras growled like a bear, “You think to order me around, you deserting scum?! It’s thanks to me that your head isn’t on a pike right now! If I want to say the name I’ll say it!”
“What would be the point in that- One final attempt at bringing someone pain? One more cowardly strike at someone you already wronged? I think it’s clear,” Hai began to speak, “That you won’t be getting out of here alive, Overlord Rosha… No, Lendras,”
“I am the man destined to inherit the world!” Lendras spat, “You think a cheap shot from some little street rat can stop me?! I have survived much worse than this, and even if I have to crawl my way to the top, one day I will be in control! I won't be told what to do by a man who cowers away in Dungeons, jumping at his own shadow, living in fear because he bit the hand that fed him!”
Hai raised his sword and #215 thought he was about to strike, but something seemed to stay his hand. Perhaps he deemed Lendras' blood unworthy of staining his esteemed blade.
“Is that so? Then why don’t you get up and move, ‘Overlord’?”
It was the Ancient who had spoken. She looked down at him, a solemn look on her face, “At first I’d been impressed that someone had made it to this, the final room. But now I see that you only made it here just as you made it out there in the world- Through the exploitation of human lives. It’s clear to me that the better candidate to bond with me… Is the one who values other people,” She cast a meaningful look Kydan’s way.
“Shut it, wench!” Lendras fumed, “Soon you’ll be taking lives with me! #215, kill that little shit!”
#215 knew that it would come to this- That he would eventually round on her and try to use her as his last, desperate trump card to turn the situation around. At the sound of him barking orders, her stomach curled like it always did, but there was something different about it this time. Instead of repressing her feelings, her inner urge to rebel and lash out at him instead, she glanced to Kydan, His eyes met hers and the kind young man nodded subtly as if to encourage her.
She couldn't kill him- Of course she couldn't. Not when he'd gotten through to her earlier, reminded her of something that had been trodden upon for the past year of her life and instilled her with the power to do what she really wanted.
She uttered a single word, “No,”
Lendras laughed incredulously, “So now the little Jureinian wench has grown herself a backbone, too? That’s rich.”
He moved to try and get up by himself, but he grunted with exertion and was unable to move himself. His breathing grew even heavier after that, and it was clear he was running on nothing more than hatred and probably fear, too. When #215 looked in his eyes, she saw a trace of what may finally have been acceptance.
Then he looked at her again and the all-consuming rage returned to his eyes.
“Filthy Jureinian scum… How dare you betray your master… Even if you get out of here… They’ll be hunting you…”
“I’m betraying you, because like you… I have a will to survive,” she spoke slowly, “You almost made me lose that completely, and I was on the verge of giving up so many times- but now it burns strongly, even stronger than yours. Your lapdogs can hunt me to the ends of the earth, but they’ll never take my will away from me ever again. I will return home.”
The Ancient looked at #215 with a proud expression, and Kydan gave her a reassuring smile.
Hai moved close to her, and said softly, “Well done. I knew you could do it since I set eyes on you…”
#215 gave him a smile- She couldn’t remember the last time she’d smiled. To her surprise, she felt tears come rushing out, “Th-Thank you,”
“Well, well, well,” the new voice that joined the group around Lendras sent a shiver down #215’s spine, “You seem like you’ve gotten yourself in a pretty tight spot, boss-man.”
There was V, walking towards them, and that other man he’d been fighting trailing behind him at a distance, looking weary and exhausted, sadness in his eyes.
“What do you want, you aberration?!” Lendras scowled.
----------------------------------------
Kydan’s mind swirled with thoughts about all that was transpiring before his eyes here in the final room of Alfad Remeris.
Had Lendras been telling the truth when he said someone from Hayvren had sold the rest of them out? It didn’t bear thinking about, so Kydan forced that one to the back of his mind.
That left him with that powerful attack he’d used on Lendras. That definitely wasn’t any ability of his- The only way he summoned flames was through the Dagger of Sakhtras. Had the Ancient helped him somehow? She’d mentioned bonding with him, so had she allowed him to borrow her power to deal the blow to Lendras that had sent him to the ground?
And now, Auros had finished his duel with the mysterious V, and they had made their way over to the rest of them. By the look on Auros' face, Kydan guessed he'd been unsuccessful in getting V to talk. He was swaying slightly as he walked, so the fight must have taken a massive toll on him.
Even being called an aberration didn’t seem to take the wind out of V’s sails, as he laughed with genuine amusement in response, “You really think calling your one final hope an aberration is a good idea? I’m surprised you even know a word that big, you primitive cretin.”
His voice went from the usual aloof sarcasm to icy rage with those last two words. Hai, Kydan and #215 backed off, and even the Ancient moved to keep her distance, as the black-clad magic user stalked towards his employer.
“You… Insult my intelligence?” Lendras didn’t seem to have the energy to shout any more, “You dare to mock… An Overlord?”
“I do dare,” V looked down at the pathetic sight before him, “Because you’re not an Overlord. You’re a wretched little slug, trying to hang on the coattails of his superiors, trying to get crumbs from the big dogs’ tables. How does it feel, kidding yourself about being the strongest, when you fear every nation around you, and pander to their every whim? In some ways, you’re a slave too, Rosharien. And no matter how many lives you ruin in turn, you’ll never escape that mantle.”
The anger returned to Lendras, but it was only a brief spark, “You bastard… I’ll have you tortured and brutalised… I’ll have the Ancient burn you to death…”
“You really are an idiot,” V laughed again, “You still think you’re gonna make it out of here alive? I suppose it’s not too surprising given that you were too stupid to realise that your hired protection was actually sent here to kill you.”
For the first time, Kydan saw shock on Lendras’ face. That, and fear. He’d realised too late, and the colour drained from his face.
“You might want to try and choose some better trade partners next time, you delusional old bastard. You’re a minnow in a pool of sharks.”
He snapped a finger, and Lendras’ body erupted into those unnatural dark flames that V controlled.
"Oh wait," he said mockingly, "There won't even be a next time."
“P-Please, I…”
“They always try to beg,” V looked to everyone else, a wicked grin appearing on his face when he noticed “Pathetic isn’t it?”
He then turned back to Lendras, “Hear that? You’re pathetic. This wasn’t going to be too painful, until you started throwing your weight around and acting as if you were better than me- That’s the one thing I can’t abide. So now, you're gonna suffer.”
Kydan was shaking as the Overlord who had desecrated his home was slowly burned alive, unable to move but for writhing flaccidly on the cold floor, pitiful shouts of terror escaping him. He could barely watch, yet somehow he couldn’t turn away.
“You’re… An abomination… A pawn to be used…”
“Let them think that,” V scowled, “But I’m nobody’s tool. Not anymore.”
The screams of the Overlord grew less desperate yet more pathetic, for now he had accepted his fate. The wild beast was gone and replaced by a terrified mouse in the talons of a hawk.
Yet amidst the screams as the black flames were about to finish their horrifying work, Kydan heard something that would haunt him forever.
“Taryn!”
Auros and even #215 tried to stop him from running towards Lendras, but Kydan’s body moved on its own, running towards the flames.
“WHAT’D YOU SAY?!” He roared, tears already rushing down his face.
“TARYN!” Lendras roared, “He was the one… Who told me… Everything the people of Hayvren were planning against me… The uprising…”
Kydan fell to his knees, clutching his head in his hands.
“Th-That can’t be… You’re lying!”
Yet he knew it to be true. How else would Lendras have known that name at all?
“Time’s up, old man,” V moved past Kydan without so much of a glance his way and snapped his fingers once more.
The dark flames rose and grew more intense, and the feeble screams were drowned out by the roaring flames…
…Until they stopped completely.