> █████, Border Station #4, Lobby.
> 5th of New Conception, 1316;
> 6:10 Sol Time.
“We secure the area first, then we hit the northern wing and get Ari, after that we split; me and Ari, Régis, you and Aethel.” Karter commands as he lights a flame in his palm.
Grumbling for a second, Régis concedes, looking at Aethel, “Gah— fine, don’t die on us, idiot.”
Aethel only nods before they enter the fray. From where the trio is entering they are closest to the western wing’s entrance, and the stairs to the lobby’s second floor is on their left. The platform the group were disembarking from hours prior is on the upper-right.
Karter finds a vantage point, sending down fire on the daemons as he commands civilians to reach the New Bell platform; Aethel gathers items on the ground and in luggage to consecrate, handing them to people to ward off daemons; Régis busies himself cutting up any foes, several swords fly around him.
Their formation is rather spread out, as if three pillars in an arrow shape slowly advance through the lobby doing a sweep. Karter on the left side, Régis further ahead in the middle, and Aethel on the right. Conversely, the daemons themselves keep on coming, wave by wave.
It seems that for every one they kill, two to three more reinforce. Though, at the very least, it seems most civilians have evacuated. Aethel, now having helped as many as he did, takes a second to find anything that could be used to help fight more actively.
“Give me some cover! I’m looking for a weapon.” calls Aethel, looking at both Régis and Karter.
Régis replies quickly as he cuts down three at once, “On it!”
Rummaging through as much luggage as he can, one of Régis’ swords flying around him as protection, he finds a belt. Shrugging, Aethel takes it out to concsecrate, whipping it a few times to test its ergonomics.
Suddenly—! A daemon jumps out at him while the sword is cutting another one, at the same moment he lets the belt loose. As soon as it connects, with a crack, the daemon is sent flying back. Although, it does not look at all injured.
“It’ll do.” Régis’ says, still not looking in Aethel’s direction, he cuts down another one before continuing, “Guh— there’s no end to these bastards are there?!”
The underworld monsters begin to swarm more and more, Karter jumps up on a booth while providing cover support. Aethel retreats to Régis’ side as they both slowly approach the aforementioned booth. The trio is squarely in the middle of the lobby.
Aethel reminds, looking over to their right, “Wait— shit! The people on the platform, are they gonna be alright?!”
“I advised one of the employees who came in with me to shutter the gates and only open it for people… so… they should be okay for now.” shaking his head, Karter explains.
Régis attempts to argue, “ For now, but in time—”
“In time, we all die together, so keep your heads in the game! Fuck, buy me some time and I will look for where most of them are funneling in from, okay?” Karter interrupts, his eyes darting from one side to another.
Régis screams out, sending a large cleaver sideways through the horde, “Fine! But— die you fucking daemon—! I’m going to kill you again in the afterlife if you die.”
“Be safe, Karter— fuck.” Aethel whips without aiming, trying to push back as much of the enemy as possible.
Karter scoffs before jumping away to somewhere unreachable by most, he looks at Régis and nods, signalling something. Régis, in response, grabs Aethel by the wrist using his left hand and puts his right hand on the ground. “Arcane Thousand Armaments!” he cries out.
As soon as he does, a large radius covering almost the entire lobby, begins to glow a violent blue hue. Régis jumps up on the booth before jumping up futher on to the second floor, cutting a few beasts around him when he lands— Aethel, of course, can do nothing but trail behind him as Régis is clutching his wrist.
In a few seconds after landing, a surge of magical weapons come up from the ground, they ruin the horde and cut them up into pieces before flying around the lobby. Régis’ hand slips off of Aethel’s wrist as he falls to his knees.
Aethel crouches down and grabs Régis’ shoulder, asking, “Are you alright?!”
“I’ll be fine, the spell’s just a bit taxing on my energy… I’m not yet as powerful as Karter or Josie.” shaking Aethel’s hand off, Régis states as he shakes his head.
Aethel stays crouching as he asks another question, “Okay… but, how much time did you buy us?”
“Enough… you ask too many questions by the way, it’s such a dorky look.” Régis smirks a little before shifting to sit down on the floor.
Standing up, Aethel crosses his arms, saying, “...You don’t seem bothered at all.”
“Bothered by what exactly?” turning to look at Aethel, Régis frowns while responding.
Aethel puts both his hands on Régis’ shoulders before shaking him, “By how many people just FUCKING DIED?! AND WE DON’T EVEN KNOW HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE DYING RIGHT NOW EITHER!”
“What good would it do me to worry about that while facing the enemy, huh?! Besides, Karter gives as much a shit as I do at the moment. We have a mission, we need to complete it. If you wanna save people— don’t go lookin up to the Nihilica, we’re soldiers.” quickly rising from his position, Régis slaps Aethel.
Practically ignoring the slap, Aethel just looks at Régis for a second before replying, “Wait, you’re part of the Nihilica— the Magistrate’s army? I thought you were a student.”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Are you fucking stupid? Being in the Imperial Academy doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to join up with the rest— I’m not even that young. Shit, you’re running with a guy who’s done what I’m doing and you— who the fuck are you anyway?” crossing his arms, Régis frowns even harder than he was originally.
Aethel gestures in visible exasperation, “Someone’s who’s WAY out of his depth with this Magistrate shit, if you didn’t FUCKING realize by now!”
“So you aren’t fucking part of the Magistrate?! Why the damn are you here? I was fucking wondering what school you practiced— you aren’t even an amateur, you’re a civilian.” his jaw almost drops to the floor, but Régis composes himself before utterly exploding.
Karter storms in between the two, punching both men, causing them to fall to the floor, “FOR THE LOVE OF THE GODDESS, STOP, I HAVE THE FUCKING INFORMATION.”
Both Aethel and Régis dust themselves off before looking at Karter who begins explaning,
“I was at the control room, there was a damned Weeping Tree there but I got rid of it. Checking the cameras, it seems the rest of the team are holed up safely, they secured as many people as they could— BUT… there are Weeping Trees around the station… and an especially worrying one in the basement.”
“It was only a few seconds before the feed cut out, but, it was as big as a damn building down there, the place was completely devastated. More than just that, it did not seem to be a special one… it has roots in the ground. Killing it the way we did these last few ones will not cut it.”
As Karter finishes his explanation, Aethel puts his hands on his hips, while Régis crosses his. Both of their expressions darken… but not for long. A new, albeit smaller, wave of daemons begins to pour out of the wing and platform entrances, and the trio spring into action.
“Same plan, you two, kill them all and then shutter the gates.” Karter commands as they engage.
Both Aethel and Régis reply, “Right!” as they enter the fray, cutting daemons in two or sending as many of them back.
The trio, being able to manage this smaller wave, begin to rush to each door and shuttering them. Eventually after a few skirmishes, the lobby is secured, although they do not allow any of the civilians to enter it for the time being. After doing some double checking, the three gather at the New Bell platform.
> █████, Border Station #4, New Bell Platform.
> 5th of New Conception, 1316;
> 8:21 Sol Time.
“We should rest for a spell before heading to the western wing.” eyeing both Aethel and Régis, Karter suggests.
Immediately upon hearing that, Régis has an outburst, “Hell no. We have to fix this as soon as possible, Karter, you of all people should—”
“You look exhausted, kid. We are dead if you gas out in the middle of a battle.” Karter raises a hand to Régis’ face as he cuts him off. Then continues, “And, Aethel, we need to talk— also you look like shit, you need to take this chance and rest too.”
Sighing a long sigh, Aethel hits Karter’s shoulder as he walks over to a bench, “Gee thanks… Major asshole.”
After a few minutes of forcing Régis to lay down, Karter approaches Aethel with a bottle of water.
“Drink and listen, okay?” extending the bottle out, Karter sits next to Aethel as he takes it.
Aethel quickly opens the bottle while speaking, “If this is a lecture because I—”
“Drink and listen.” Karter insists while raising his voice, eyeing Aethel seriously. As Aethel sighs and takes a drink he nods and continues, “I appreciate you reprimanding Régis for his detached behavior.”
Aethel spits the drink out, coughs a bit, then in a rather goofy fashion… looks at Karter like he just killed a baby.
Karter almost laughs, immediately attempts to suppress it, fails, and then replies shakily, “W-hah-wow. I did not ex-expect you to do that, but heh, now whenever you tell that story to the others I will have to say I planned that hahaha!”
“Fuck… you… Karter… hah… hahahahaha!” Aethel joins him, at the same time he begins hitting his shoulder with rapid, but weak, punches.
Karter guards, replying, “Hey— but being serious, thanks. Régis is… not a bad guy— cocky sure—but really he just lazer focuses on the doing parts and not the feeling parts.”
“What does that even mean?” tilting his head a little, Aethel asks.
Shaking his head slightly, Karter explains with a solemn look on his face, “It means that he does care about people and the casualties, just like Fi and everyone, but he just chooses to act like it does not bother him. A lot of soldiers go down that path, believe me, to them it helps cope with seeing things fall apart— shit, even I can be that way at times.”
“Well, I guess that makes some sense, but… I just can’t see how that helps at all, doesn’t that just avoid dealing with—” Aethel expresses before being cut off…
Régis approaches them with an unreadable expression.
He reasons, a little hint of desperation in his voice, “I can’t just sit around, Karter, not while Josie’s— you know, in fucking danger.”
“...Well then, fair enough, I guess this is as much rest as we are getting.” sighing, Karter nods at Aethel before standing.
Aethel pumps his fist as he smiles at Karter and Régis, “This was a good, albeit short, rest. We’re sure to win now!”
“What’s gotten into you both?” Régis looks at them with visible bewilderment, he continues, “Weren’t you guys at each other's throats literally ten minutes ago?”
Smirking, Karter lays a hand on Régis’ shoulder, explaining simply, “A break does wonders for morale, kid, soldiers need a little R-and-R once in a while. Besides, Fi and the rest are some of the strongest bastards I know— the strongest bastards you know too.”
“That’s no excuse to sit around.” Régis scowls as he speaks in a harsh tone, beginning to walk to the lobby.
Aethel argues, stopping Régis in his tracks, “That isn’t fair, Régis, we can’t all go at a problem with a hundred percent all the time. Even you—”
“You know nothing about me, that little sitdown wasn’t even anything serious, just a reminder of how weak I still am. All I need to do is get stronger, otherwise, nothing YOU would know about.” immediately snapping back, Régis turns his already serious scowl into an even more venomous expression.
Aethel begins to scowl himself, Régis approaches with his hands balling into fists, the two begin to poise themselves before—
Karter steps in between them, ordering, “Hey, break it up, we should move while we have the energy to.”
Wordlessly but with heavy amounts of reluctance, Régis turns away, shaking slightly. Aethel’s expression softens as he mutters a quiet apology to Karter, the latter only nodding in affirmation as he gestures to continue moving. The trio make their way to the lobby in silence.
Arriving, they find that the miasma is slowly crawling to be taller, though, not as quickly as it would have were the Weeping Trees still in the area proper. Curiously, Karter and Aethel do not feel the temperature lowering like before, however through discussion they chalk it up to the size of the place compared to the rate of black mist spreading.