Whatever life remained in Drexo, faded every second that passed by. Soon enough, the faintest sign of life dwelling in his body went away completely. He fell over harshly onto the rain-covered ground.
A strange glowing energy swelled up towards Noreko’s hand that he held in the air. The rain flowed down his face while he gazed towards the eternally dark sky.
Most of the banespawn ran away. The few who dared remain soon fled as well leaving just Kiran and Noreko alone in this grim environment.
“You’ve become aware of what you are, haven’t you?” Noreko lowered his hand and looked down at Drexo’s freshly made corpse. “It has taken you a while to become aware that you are a Soul Manipulator. I suppose you can’t entirely blame yourself for that. Your memories are a jumbled mess after all.” He turned around to face him whilst maintaining an unwavering glare. “I know just as you know, however, that the real you dwells deep inside of yourself. The version of yourself that you continue to suppress.”
Suppress? What is he talking about? “I’m not suppressing anything.”
“Are you absolutely certain about that?”
“I’ve been trying this entire time to recall who I was previously.”
While speaking with Noreko was the last thing he wanted to do, he chose to parley with him to buy him some time for the others to assist. If he could keep Noreko busy while he waited for backup to show, then he’d do everything in his power to do just that at the moment.
“Humans often like to think that the strong beliefs they supposedly hold are what they truly believe. Since I came to this world of yours and lived amongst your kind, I’ve become quite aware that you are all delusional.”
“Then you’re not from here?” What is he then? And where has he come from? So many questions were arising from what he was telling him. It practically made his head spin while he chose to not simply run away from this entity.
“I am indeed not originally from this planet. I came here half a century ago with the rest of my kin, except unlike them, I came with the intent to infiltrate your society and accomplish what the rest of them couldn’t. It turns out, that my infiltration accomplished what a century worth of their efforts could not.”
Kiran tightened his left fist. “So you’re just a monster wearing a bunch of human skin.”
“You can call me a monster all you like, but I’ve seen what your own kind are capable of. I don’t believe that you humans have the right to judge any other sentient being that exists in the universe.”
Noreko wasn’t entirely wrong, or at least that wasn’t his immediate gut reaction to him saying that. Noreko was a monster, at least in his eyes, but so many humans or even familiars could be considered monsters as well.
“Help me understand then,” Kiran said. “Why are you doing all of this? Why destroy Liall? Why murder all of them and the people here in Valak? Why do any of this?”
His wet face briefly became illuminated by the lightning above. Thunder roared, and sheets of rain kept pouring down on them both.
Noreko raised his chin a little. “For my amusement.”
“That’s it? You’ve done all of this just to amuse yourself?”
“Were you expecting a different answer? I don’t have any such delusion in thinking I have some grand purpose or justification for any of this. When I came to this world, I thought only to assist my kind, conduct my experiments, and help push things towards the direction it continues to inevitably flow towards.”
There was something truly wretched about people or beings like him. At least with Lady Meredith or even Queen Luvia Aenveld, he could somewhat understand their actions. They at least had some rationality towards their arguably evil actions. But Noreko, he wasn’t like either of them. He was evil in its most potent malevolent form.
“I see,” he said, “you aren’t so fond of my answer.”
Kiran lifted his sword. “I’ve heard enough from you.”
He lunged for Noreko who remained there unmoving. However, right as he thrust the edge of his sword a few inches away from his heart, his forward momentum completely stopped and he couldn’t move whatsoever.
Noreko stepped out of the way and then Kiran’s body continued going forward except rather than actually sending his sword straight through him, he simply cut through the air and stumbled onto the ground awkwardly.
“You shouldn’t bother trying to kill me unless you wish to toy with your own soul or mine for that matter. Only then would you stand a chance against me.”
I can’t do that. I told them all I wouldn’t. He made another attempt trying to attack Noreko. His attempt failed just as it previously had. A strange presence coming from Noreko entered through his body and forced him to remain unmoving yet again.
Kiran breathed in heavily whilst becoming frustrated with himself. These attacks were pointless. Yet he kept trying anyway. He regained control of his body and prepared for another attack.
With an arm held above his head readying itself to send it plunging into Noreko’s body, Noreko caused him to remain still once more except this time around, rather than step out of the way, he stepped forward, grabbed his neck, and hoisted him up in the air as his feet dangled above the ground by just a few inches.
His sword fell from his hand. “Why do you hesitate to use your true power against me?” His fingers tightened around his neck. “Use it. Why deny the courage and talents that your past self rightfully earned? Use it right now as you so rightfully desire.”
“B-because—” He struggled to even speak as they kept choking him. “It’s not right.”
“Not right?” Noreko propelled Kiran’s body forward. Kiran slid against the wet ground. “There is no such thing as right or wrong. There are only the choices that we make and the consequences thereafter. Go ahead and ascribe meaning or morality to your actions when there is none. All that matters is that if you choose to abstain, then you will die.”
His foot pressed down on his body as he lay there breathing every bit of air that he could. Noreko bent down towards his face and grabbed his collar. “You are so much more than this Kiran. I’ve seen the real you that exists in those memories of yours that you are so eager to suppress. Why fear what you once were? Embrace it! Revel in it!”
He tossed him once more. His back hit up against a wall causing a sharp pain to erupt through his shoulders.
“For one who has already died once, you don’t seem so eager to prevent it from happening again.”
“I would rather die,” Kiran stated as he wiped the blood from his lips, “than be whatever you are.”
Noreko nodded his head. “So be it then. If you wish to die, then I shall grant it.”
A violating sensation thrummed within. It was unlike anything he had ever felt before in his life. His eyes widened, and he couldn’t move whatsoever. Is this what it feels like to have your soul manipulated in such a way by another? It was hard to describe how unusual and unsettling it felt. There was not a worse way to go than to depart this world from a malevolent being taking hold of his very soul.
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However, just as he kept feeling like his soul was being violated rather than his physical body, Noreko dodged out of the way as Lar’s fauchard swiped where he once stood.
From all directions, Noreko found himself surrounded by not only his companion, but Abigail, Frederek, Juna, and Silvy. One other person was here as well. Aphelia found herself here as well but unlike them, she immediately came rushing towards him with the sword he had dropped earlier.
She bent down and lent him her hand. With her help, he got right back up to his two feet, and without saying a word to each other, he knew she knew he appreciated her coming to help.
“So you’ve been hiding as Zorge this entire time, huh?” Abigail said as they all began to surround Noreko.
“Not entirely,” he said as he took a good gander of where they were all positioned. “I’ve only worn his face for the last few days. It’s a pity really. I wanted to wear it for a little while longer, but what can I say? We can’t always have our way.”
Kiran briefly wondered when he might’ve killed Zorge and violated their very appearance. It saddened him to think that Zorge fell victim to him like so many others.
Abigail pointed one of her red swords towards him. “You’re never going to receive the opportunity to wear another person’s face ever again.”
All at once, they went for the attack. But much like previously, their attempts to strike him faltered. Not only could he cause Kiran’s body to remain motionless, Noreko could do it to all of theirs at the same time as well.
Noreko went to Abigail and began pressing his fingers across her face. “Oh Abigail. You’ve been so eager to kill me for quite some time. How does it feel to realize you’re incapable of it?”
Abigail tensed up and tried with all of her might to move, and yet she couldn’t. All she could manage was to have an enlarged vein pop out of her forehead.
Kiran tried to break through Noreko’s manipulation, but he couldn’t of course. All he could do was remain in place with the rest of them.
Noreko began motioning over towards Frederek and then over towards Silvy, Lar, and eventually Kiran once more.
“Are you still unwilling to use the power that you possess? I know you want to use it against me. The temptation perfectly exudes off this face of yours.” His hand caressed the front of his face. His fingertips felt incredibly cold causing chills to run through his body. “It’s because of all of them, isn’t it? You wouldn’t want to possibly ruin your reputation.”
He relinquished his grasp of their souls allowing them to attack. But much like before, it was all pointless. The moment any of them were just about to land a strike, he would cause them to remain motionless and step out of the way to avoid their strikes.
Noreko began to crack a smile as Juna tried to move. He eyed Kiran and moved over towards Juna who wielded both of her daggers. “Perhaps if I kill one of them, you’d be more willing to become unleashed.”
Kiran ran to Juna but his body forcefully froze.
Stop it! Stop! He couldn’t move whatsoever. He couldn’t even speak. His mouth was forced shut, and nothing except his own mind could act in accordance with his own will. Don’t hurt her!
Noreko summoned a dagger of his own and did an upward swipe across Juna’s torso. A sliver of blood began to slip out of her torn clothes as she remained completely still and unmoving. He hadn’t done a lethal strike against her, but he appeared willing to.
“Come on Kiran. Do it.” He sliced her long-sleeved arm and then across her left shoulder. He then pulled his arm back and prepared to send it straight through her neck. “Do it Kiran! Embrace the side of yourself that you’re so eager to deny!”
“That’ll be enough.”
The voice came from behind. Noreko stopped his attempt to kill Juna so that he could instead see who came to greet them. Kiran could begin to move again allowing him to see who it was.
Lucias approached with Halmond at his side. “You’ve been a real thorn in my side for a while now. You murder dozens of my own people and then, I assume, sneak a group of banespawn into my city so that they could seize the front gate. Or am I wrong for assuming that?”
“You’re not wrong at all. I am responsible.”
“I figured.” Lucias pulled off his gloves and handed them to Halmond. Much like the rest of them, Lucias was completely drenched and appeared entirely without fear. His red eyes even appeared to glow a little in the dark. “Halmond.”
“Yes master?”
“If I lose control, make sure I am killed before I end up targeting my own people.”
Halmond placed his hand to his heart. “I will do whatever is necessary.”
Noreko stretched out his arms as Lucias approached from afar. “I’ve never faced against a Divine Familiar before.”
“I promise it’ll be the last.”
While Kiran and the others backed away from Lucias and Noreko, he started to become aware of how Lar must’ve felt when they first met Lucias.
While otherwise appearing as a human, there was far more to him than meets the eye.
Noreko appeared a bit distraught for the first time as Lucias kept approaching.
“Your soul manipulation isn’t going to work against me.”
Lar pulled Kiran away as she appeared the most fearful of Lucias out of all of them. A symbol began to appear over Lucias’s left eye. All of the rain trying to fall upon him blew back as swirling energy formed at his feet and forced its way up.
He stopped moving and his eyes brightened like that of the sun.
Kiran covered his eyes as the ground itself began to shake. When he could pull his hand away, he began to see Lucias’s form turn into a golden silhouette without any prominent features on his body or face.
The silhouette began to change as Noreko began to unleash a multitude of powerful arcane spells at him.
Kiran began to run away with the rest. Lar’s hand shook as he kept grasping it. “Are you alright?” he said towards her.
“Y-yeah. I’ll be fine.”
Halmond ran ahead of them as they fled from this area. The ground kept shaking and a terrifying roar reverberated out as more violent spells went out.
By the time they distanced themselves quite a bit away from Lucias and Noreko, he looked over towards their direction only to see a giant red serpent standing up in the air.
No wonder he is so feared.
“That is his divine form,” Halmond said as they all observed Lucias from afar. “If he cannot defeat Noreko in this state, then none of us will be able to.”
“Let us pray that he can,” Aphelia said with her hands clasped together at the front of her chest.
Kiran went over to Juna who was distracted by what they were all witnessing. “Juna,” he said getting to her attention. “Are you alright?”
She had taken a few nasty strikes from Noreko. Although, as he examined them, they didn’t appear too deep although her clothes made it hard to entirely tell.
“It’s nothing a bit of alcohol and bandages can’t fix,” she said assuring him of her current condition.
She was an inch away from being killed. If it wasn’t for Lucias coming when he did, she would be dead. He wanted to console her in some capacity, but he became distracted as Lucias’s giant serpent body began slamming into numerous structures within the lower sector of the city.
Much like himself, Lucias had done everything in his power to limit himself. But in this moment when they finally had Noreko in their sight, he saw no other choice, than to use this own power of his that he too feared.
To see him destroy many of the buildings within his own city however, was undoubtedly a tragedy. Not everyone had escaped this sector of the city. The banespawn certainly hadn’t gotten the chance to search through every dwelling so some of these buildings that he was destroying in his attempt to kill Noreko would likely cause his own people who were hiding to be killed by him.
“Halmond,” Kiran said.
“Yes?”
“What are the chances that he loses complete control of himself?” If he keeps fighting like this, there won’t be anything left of Valak.
A forlorn look dwelled in his eyes. “I fear he already has.”
A chill ran down his spine.
“What does that mean then?” Abigail said. “Are we seriously going to have to kill him if and when Noreko is dead?”
“If I or someone else cannot get through to him, then I fear we might.”
“That’s not exactly ideal,” Abigail said stating the obvious. “What’s even the point of him taking this form if it’s potentially even more difficult to deal with than that bastard?”
“At least with Lucias, there is a chance for success.”