Arc 5: The Heart Within
Road to a Hero:
Three chances in another world
Chapter 15. King Arthur
Arthur stands in front of Edward, Rosemary, Soku, and Julius full of confidence and with an ego-filled smile.
Arthur: “FINALLY! NOW, where’s Gray?”
Edward stands tall and answers with pride.
Edward: “Gray is somewhere else, helping in the raid.”
Arthur chuckles, seeing past the obvious lie.
Arthur: “Yeah sure, I assume he’s just waiting for you to wear me down so he can come in and beat me. Which won’t happen by the way….wait a sec…EDWARD!? Damn, I hardly recognized you under that skull mask, you got way cooler.”
Arthur moves his head, looking right at Soku.
Arthur: “Oh hey Elf girl, sorry about your cat sister thing, I didn’t plan on burning her.”
Soku is filled with rage, sadness, and a want for blood.
Soku: “THING!? A THING!?”
Edward moves his arm, motioning for Soku to calm down. She takes a deep breath, letting the anger flow from her.
Arthur: “Ouch! That’s a nasty scar on your eye, huh Edward? Your name has been getting very popular lately. The man who killed Captain Moro. All of you have been getting popular, you’re lucky I gave you all good nicknames on your bounty poster. Wouldn’t you agree End Bringer?”
Edward thinks about falling deep into his mind and letting the warrior's spirit take over so he can fight full of rage and power. But he holds back, not wanting to become some monster who relies on rage. Then Julius promptly takes out his rapier and turns on his monocle.
Arthur: “Dammit, you’re still alive? I should have killed you first instead of your brothers. And your asshole of a dad gave me this scar on my eye, so I want some revenge. Kill you and that brat he's hiding.”
Julius: “It is not my fault that you are too weak to fight back. And that weakness is why we are here. We know we have the strength to beat you. You are nowhere near the powers of the future pillars of justice, not even their apostle forms. You are worthless and will be dealt with today.”
Arthur spits on the ground and slings his arm, throwing heavy fire toward the group. Soku is quick to react, tossing a large blast of wind at the flames, causing them to cancel each other out. Edward takes advantage of the opening and charges toward Arthur, swinging his sword rapidly. Arthur easily dodges, placing his hand on Edward's chest, and plans on blasting Edward with his black flames. And for some reason, the fire dissipates, fading away before it can build up.
Arthur mutters “Gray” before kicking at Edward’s head. Edward ducks and twists his body, spinning like a vortex of pure force. Arthur is surprised by Edward's power, having underestimated him. Arthur backs up but is stopped by Julius being right on his tail, quickly jabbing at him with his rapier.
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Arthur: "Cool skull mask Eddy, actually that armor set looks nice! Little too edgy though, just saying."
Edward only responds with a grunt, causing Arthur to roll his eyes.
Arthur: "Man, you guys are lame. Gray woulda made fun of me just now, come on guys I want the banter!"
Arthur focuses flames on his feet, but once again they fade away. This is due to something unseen by everyone in the room. The ghostly astral form of Gray Kyojin floats around, using his connection to the spirits to force them away from Arthur. Atop the Castle, Peter and Dema guard Gray's unconscious body. Peter goes through his bag on Demas's saddle, picking something heavy out of it. A wooden and metal body with a tube on the end, a trigger on the bottom, a small tube on the top, and a small string hanging down from the back of the body. Peter pulls out a screwdriver to tighten everything, making sure his invention is in top condition. Back down in the Castle, the group fights with all their might. Edward and Julius lead the charge while Soku and Rosemary sit back, awaiting their moment to strike. Arthur takes a deep breath and exhales a wave of flames, consuming the room. Soku and Rosemary cover themselves with mana, protecting themselves. But Edward and Julius do not have that advantage. Gray decides to protect Julius since his body is weaker than Edwards's, so he flies toward Julius in his astral state and then has to force the spirit flames away.
Edward swings his sword around himself, causing the fire to miss him. Once Edward should be able to see Arthur he’s vanished. Edward, Gray, and Julius turn around to see Arthur in the back of the room and head right toward Rosemary. Rosemary instinctively goes into the fifth stage, letting her dodge Arthur's swing. Though Arthur follows up his swing with a quick fireball. The weak ball of flames is easily put out by the pure power of the fifth stage, but being in this form of power is causing Rosemary great pain. She pushes past the pain and attempts to fight Arthur one on one. Arthur barely moves out of the way of each attack but is also unable to connect an attack himself. Edward and Julius regroup, letting Rosemary take the heat for a bit. Gray's body begins to sweat since his spirit has never been outside of his body for this long. Even though Gray's form should be unseen to the naked eye, Julius shoes Gray away, signaling him to return to his body. Gray is hesitant but reluctantly returns, giving himself a second to breathe. Gray looks both ways to make sure he’s okay and notices Peter freaking out. Peter shakes from fear, consumed with anxiety. Gray tries to snap Peter out of this anxiety-induced trance. Peter tries to tighten the bolts in the gun-like device he’s holding for no reason, due to them already being as tight as possible.
Gray: “CALM DOWN!”
Gray takes a second to calm down himself, understanding that when somebody freaks out you most likely shouldn’t tell them to calm down, which is something that especially Gray should know. Gray puts his hand on Peter's shoulder, trying to console him.
Gray: “What’s wrong?”
Peter: “What do you mean…”
Peter's lip quivers and turns to look Gray directly in the eyes.
Peter: “THIS IS WAR DAMMIT! SOKU, ROSEMARY, EDWARD, AND JULIUS ARE IN THEIR FIGHT A FIGHT THEY CAN’T WIN! AND WE’RE JUST SITTING HERE, WAITING FOR OUR TIME! ALL THE GODS ARE ELSEWHERE, AND THE ONLY THING THAT MIGHT HELP IS LEO! AND HE’S ALL THE WAY DOWNSTAIRS! WHY AREN'T YOU SCARED!?”
Gray bites his lip, unintentionally forcing himself back, but he pushes back his instant response to give a real, serious answer.
Gray: “I…I am scared…hell, I'm probably the most scared person here. All the people I care about the most are down there fighting for their lives. And I have to wait here, I need to trust them and not act on impulse...and believe me that’s a great feat for me. You are fourteen, the same age as Soku but without any powers. And yet without thought powers, you’re still here, in the most important place in the Capital. I don’t know what you are working on there but it’s gotta be important. I believe in you, okay?”
Peter takes a deep gulp, and lessons the tightness of the bolt.
Down in the king's quarters, Rosemary is barely able to keep up. The fifth stage is strong enough to throw the wind like a weapon with pure force, but Rosemary is not given any time to build up the force to do so. After a minute or so of fighting Arthur realizes that whatever Gray was doing is no longer in effect, so he blasts flames out of his eyes, dark black flames which strike and burn into Rosemary’s shoulder, passing right through the fifth stage protection. Gray turns his head, feeling something is wrong, and immediately enters the astral state, leaving his body and heading right into the room below. The sight of a heavily injured Rosemary sends waves of anger to Gray, so he deploys the first use of their trump card. He puts his hands on Rosemary's shoulders, flows spirits around her, and casts the spell.
Gray: “Knightic.”
Rosemary erupts in a gigantic rush of power. The golden and white aura blasts off of her body, and she vanishes from Arthur's sight. He panics, not understanding how she’s gotten this powerful this fast. And then a rush of wind appears right in front of him. He focuses his eyes to see Rosemary an inch away from him, hovering slightly above the ground due to the shire power she’s emitting. Arthur generates a powerful ball of flames and quickly blasts it toward Rosemary, but it’s too late. She hits Arthur right in the chest, sending him flying back into the back wall of the room, crushing it. The stones of the wall fall all around Arthur's body, and he catches one right before it hits his head, crushing it. He feels his cracked and broken ribs, clutching his side. Spitting blood out of his mouth, he plans on killing Rosemary right there, but she falls to the ground, completely broken. With Knightics effects she had effecitly gone into what should be her eight stage. Leaving her destroyed. Sending Gray into a full panic attack. The dark-wooden door of the room rumbles, erupting with sharp and yellow lighting. A loud battle cry is heard by probably the most impulsive fighter in the Capital, aside from Gray of course. Leo lands in the center of the room points his spear at Arthur and makes his declaration
Leo: “I’m here for a rematch, you red-haired buffoon.”
End of chapter fifteen