“Raised Earth!” Alexandros shouted.
“Got it!” Alexandra called back.
Seiji tried to lunge for Alexandros but was stopped when the ground beneath them began to shake. He stepped back to Cora’s side, preparing for their upcoming technique. Rather than a direct attack, the entire corridor began to tremble as the entire hall groaned and creaked as though it was moving. It took only a moment to realize it was moving. The corridor they’d been in was underground, but now it was being raised back out to the Hell Pit – closer to the roaring demon.
In a moment they all stood on the obsidian ground of the Hell Pit. The tower was a fair distance behind them, though that wasn’t the thing that mattered to Seiji. No, he’d been focused on the creature just behind the tower. It was about half the height of the structure, with thin legs and a massive belly. It had the head of a goat but with many more eyes and sharp fangs jutting out of its mouth. In its hand was a red trident that it currently swept through the tower like a stick in sand.
“Don’t focus on the wrong thing!” Alexandros shouted, punching a distracted Seiji in the face. Cora called for him, but Seiji could only watch as Alexandra launched an armored fist at the girl.
Have faith in her! She can handle herself.
Seiji didn’t have time to worry about her. He had to worry about him–
Alexandros cloaked himself in fire and knocked Seiji to the ground with a single punch.
“Easy! This is way too easy!”
The boy unsheathed the serrated blade at his side, coloring it with his Fire Aspect as he slashed at Seiji with reckless abandon. Seiji guarded as best he could, but Alexandros was a Tier 4 Servant. He hacked chunks of Seiji’s armor off with each cut. The boy threw his sword to the side, leapt at Seiji, then launched a flurry of punches laced with darkened aura all over Seiji’s midsection – completely destroying the upper part of his armor to expose the simple black shirt underneath. With a burning kick, Alexandros sent Seiji flying off into the distance.
Seiji felt much the same as he did during the Botanist’s Bond Event. His mind roared at him to kill Alexandros, regardless of the difficulty. He’d resolved to do so mere moments ago. And yet, he still found himself hesitating.
“I blame… this whole damn Exam.” Seiji panted as he struggled to his feet. “I’m too used to being a Serv–”
“My turn!” Alexandra called from the distance.
The elvish girl barreled into him, her eyes filled with bloodlust as she punched him in his stomach.
It isn’t the Exam, it’s you. You’re ashamed of what you are. You’re afraid of what you are. Your weakness will remain as long as your apprehension does.
Seiji didn’t even fight it this time. The voice, it… he, was right. Endora, Thea, Cora. He’d made friends he’d grown to love. He didn’t want to scare them off by being… him. Sir Lasko’s words replayed in his mind.
“You have yourself to offer.”
Alexandros joined his Cadet, the two of them launching sword slashes and darkened punches at Seiji. They made sure to avoid attacking his vitals, but they struck him everywhere else. If his Health stat wasn’t a 30, Seiji knew he’d have been dead by now.
“Seiji!” Cora yelled. “Why aren’t you guardi–”
“Shut up!” The Twins shouted at the same time, blasting Cora with a burst of red flame.
Seiji remembered the first time he’d fought for his life. He was ten. He’d been forced to fight against a prisoner for that day’s training. If he won, he got to go home. If he died… he wouldn’t. Seiji remembered the thrill he felt when he’d finally killed the man. How fun it was to go all out against someone. How fun it was to get struck by the attacks of someone fighting for their life. Being the only thing in someone’s world while he focused only on his target. Though the Executor training him told him it was an educational exercise, Seiji had seen it as some sort of reward. He’d asked for more and more ‘serious fights’ ever since.
As Alexandros punched him to the ground with a fist of darkened aura, Seiji couldn’t help but notice something. Alexandros was a bad fighter. How had Seiji managed to feel threatened by him? Sure, he hit like a truck, but he left so many openings. How easy would it be to stab him in the neck? Did the boy even know his knees could be sliced open? If Seiji punched his armor at the right spots, he could break it and leave his entire midsection exposed. Besides, the boy threw his sword? Seiji could just pick it up and stab him. As the Alex Twins loomed over him, Seiji began to laugh. Hard.
“Goin’ insane?” Alexandra called, bending down to look him in the eyes. She placed a foot on his chest. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to break you.”
“Cora, you take care of Alexandra, ‘kay?” Seiji asked, his tone a bit too calm.
She moved fast, faster than he’d ever seen her move, and held her sword around Alexandra’s neck. Cora still looked nervous, like she didn’t want to be there. Didn’t Endora say Cora had a bit of bloodlust in her?
“You gonna slit my throat, princess?” Alexandra smiled, eyes still trained on Seiji.
“Please, we don’t need to fight!” Cora pleaded. “We can all–”
Alexandra kicked her with enough force to send her flying toward the tower, trailing behind in an orange blase – leaving Seiji alone with Alexandros.
I’ll take care of Alexandra when I’m finished here.
“Hey, man. This probably isn’t a good time, but I hope you know that none of this is personal.” Alexandros said as he kicked Seiji’s body.
Seiji rolled with the attack, standing to his feet.
“You still kinda suck, though,” Alexandros said, stepping closer to Seiji. “You don’t fight like a Servant. It makes it easy to beat yo–”
“Are you trying?” Seiji asked, genuinely curious. When Alexandros gave him a surprised frown, Seiji elaborated. “Let me ask a better question. You clearly have no problem with killing, but you haven’t killed me yet. What's the holdup?”
Alexandros narrowed his eyes. “I really think you’ve lost it, buddy. Sorry if I hit you too–”
Seiji cloaked his entire body in Dragon Fury and, rather than kick off with it, he loaded Dragon Shots into his feet and kicked off with those. Though the explosions hurt like hell, Seiji didn’t mind. He sped through the air like a bullet, using the unreal momentum to slam his blade through Alexandros’ armor and into his shoulder. The boy cried out in pain, but Seiji ignored it. He sliced upwards, a loud crack sounding as he sliced through bone and muscle.
“What the hell is wrong with you?!” Alexandros screamed, clutching at his shoulder.
“Now you need to fight to kill. Otherwise, you know I can end you. Are you ready?”
“This isn’t how Servants fight!”
Seiji stared at him for a long time before he burst out into laughter. Of course this wasn’t how Servants fought. Servants fought with class and decorum. They were clean. This was how assassins fought. While he had met a few that treated their work like professionals, the good ones weren’t gentle at all. When an assassin was involved, the world needed to know an assassin was involved. Haven picked an assassin as Cora’s Servant. It was time to show them who they paid for.
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
“You’re crazy! You’re fucking crazy!” Alexandros shouted.
Why is he crying? Shoulder stabs don’t hurt that bad.
“Get over it.” Seiji shrugged. He scrunched his face as a realization hit him. “Wait, didn’t you two start this? Why are you complaining?”
“You weren’t this fucking insane during the Botanist’s Bond Event!”
“But what if I had been?!” Seiji shouted, squeezing his head in his hands. “Do you know how fun it would’ve been to cut through everyone with Cora?”
Alexandros, finally having had enough, cloaked himself in fire and launched a punch of darkened aura straight at Seiji. The boy ran with more speed than Seiji’d ever seen from him, punching with deadly force. If that punch landed, Seiji was done. Seiji smiled with glee as he dodged, though it was pretty easy to avoid. He only had one good arm.
“Good!” Seiji approved. “Perfect!”
“Shut up… and die!”
Seiji continued to dodge, directing the fight to the exact point he wanted it to be. He could destroy Alexandros’ armor with a few punches loaded with Dragon Shots. He needed something for when the boy’s armor was depleted, and, thankfully, Alexandros was stupid enough to give him something.
There it is!
As soon as Seiji saw Alexandros’ serrated sword in the corner of his eye, he loaded his body with Dragon Fury and shot off. He tackled Alexandros to the ground, stomping down on his chest over and over as chunks of armor flew off. The boy coated his remaining arm with darkened aura, but Seiji ignored it. With a smile, Seiji reached down and grabbed the hand of his broken arm. Alexandros grimaced from the pain, then groaned, then screamed as Seiji began to pull.
Unfortunately, the arm didn’t come off. Too bad. It would’ve been pretty funny to beat him with it. He stepped off of Alexandros’ body, turning his back to the Servant as he retrieved his sword. Seiji examined it fondly. The serrated blade was better for slicing, but its tip was still sharp enough for impalement. In fact, it’d likely hurt more due to the serrations.
Too bad for–
Seiji was cut off by a burning kick to his back that sent him to the ground. He laughed as rolled out of the way of a wave of furious stomps from Alexandros. Though his attacks were far weaker, they were desperate.
Seiji Otsuki was the only person that existed in Alexandros’ world, and such an honor couldn’t go unreciprocated. He loaded Dragon Shots from his back, using the momentum from the tiny explosions to carry him to his feet. Alexandros took a step back but tripped over the suddenness of Seiji’s recovery. Seiji twisted the serrated blade in his hand, carrying it like a dagger. He smiled as he crept closer to Alexandros, who’d resorted to pedaling backward with his hands and feet.
“Do you know why you lost?” Seiji mused. Alexandros didn’t answer, merely shaking his trembling head.
Seiji pierced Alexandros’ heart with his own sword, posting the boy to the obsidian ground. Blood spattered everywhere as the boy let out a blood-curdling scream.
“You don’t have enough bloodlust. I wanted you dead more than you wanted me dead.” Seiji removed the blade from Alexandros’ body. “Thank you for the entertainment.”
Alexandros tried to stand, but Seiji was already done with him. Seiji formed a claw in his right hand and slashed at Alexandros’ body. Dragon Claw, his Tier 3 technique, formed three razor-sharp lines of blue fire, fatally slashing Alexandros’ entire midsection. Blood splattered everywhere as Alexandros’ eyes began to gloss over.
Seiji looked down at Alexandros’ corpse and sighed.
“He didn’t give me any last words. Too ba–”
“Brother!” a familiar voice screamed from the distance, louder even than the roars of the demon beyond the tower.
A ball of orange fire shot through the sky as Alexandra landed beside Alexandros’ body. She held his head in her hands.
“Big bro! What are you doing?! ” Alexandra wept, lifting Alexandros’ head from the ground. “We were supposed to go to your home country and save everyone! Big bro! I need you here!” Alexandra placed a hand on Alexandros’ chest, his blood coating her fingers. “Alexandros… I need you. Please don’t leave me. Please!”
Seiji watched Alexandra cry over her brother in horror. Nothing changed. Nothing had changed. Faster than he could’ve even realized, he’d reverted back into the bloodlusted lunatic he’d been his entire life. This was the man that ripped families apart, that took friends from loved ones, that found satisfaction in the obscene. Seiji stared down at his blood-soaked hands and tried not to be sick.
“I… I-I’m sorry.” Seiji stammered with a quaky voice.
Alexandra turned to him, eyes red with vitreal, tears, and bloodlust. She didn’t say anything, she just stared at him. Seiji found it difficult to look her in the eye, guilt and grief making it impossible to hold her gaze with any sort of conviction. Slowly, she rose to her feet, cloaking her body with a blazing inferno.
“When you see him,” Alexandra whispered. “Tell him his little sister sent you.”
Before Seiji could respond, Alexandra shot at him with a speed he’d seen only from Endora and slammed a fist of darkened aura into his face. He slammed into the ground with enough force to leave a crater.
“Get up.” Alexandra spat.
Seiji didn’t feel like moving. He didn’t feel like doing anything. Even so, he stood to his feet. The girl launched a darkened punch at his shoulder, the same one he’d broken on Alexandros, and kicked him to the ground.
“Alexandra!”
Seiji heard Cora’s shout from the distance, but neither he nor Alexandra turned to her. He didn’t feel like thinking or moving at the moment. He just wanted this to be over.
“Forgive me!”
Seiji glanced up at Cora. She’d been speeding over to Alexandra cloaked in Dragon Fury. When Cora approached, she had tears in her eyes. She’d clearly been bawling. Speaking of eyes, her left eye was slashed and bleeding. Alexandra turned to her, eyes still filled with hate. They widened as Cora shot a palm at her in a move Seiji recognized. He wanted to stop her, but he didn’t have the energy to.
Cora blasted Alexandra with the largest Dragon Burst Seiji had ever seen from her. When the burst faded, he saw… nothing. Alexandra was gone, leaving only himself and Cora.
----------------------------------------
When Cora had fought against Alexandra, she’d focused on convincing the girl not to go down the route she was going. Not only was it incredibly foolish, but it was also incredibly unnecessary. Sure, there was no way they’d become Valkyrie and Cadet now, but Sir Lasko had a soft spot for people like the Alex Twins. Perhaps they’d have a home in the Royal Guard?
Her plans had begun to shift when she’d seen Seiji turn into a madman against Alexandros. She’d known Seiji was an assassin, heard stories from him firsthand about the work he’d had to do. Even the justification they’d give, ‘Fate Has Decided’. All of it painted the picture of an emotionless drone that killed due to necessity. When she watched Seiji toy with him and treat their fight like some sort of game, she’d started to think he’d been sugarcoating his stories.
Cora had tried to keep Alexandra from noticing the borderline torture Seiji was putting Alexandros through. She’d made sure to yell to Alexandra whenever she heard Alexandros cry out in pain, or direct the fight away from them when they’d gotten a bit too close to them. Unfortunately, Cora wasn’t able to stop Alexandra from watching Seiji stab Alexandros and then slash him with Dragon Claw. Alexandra slashed at her left eye, leaving her to stumble around while she tried to gather her footing. She didn’t want to kill. She wasn’t like Seiji. She would’ve rather tried to find the best outcome still available to them and salvage the mission. When Alexandra started beating on a catatonic Seiji, she knew she had to cross that line. They were far beyond the point of negotiation. Cora wept for the life she was about to take, but she steeled her resolve. Valkyries had to stay strong.
“Seiji, are you alright?”
Seiji stared into the crimson sky, unmoving. Cora wasn’t sure whether his body was too injured or he was just traumatized by his own actions. Judging by the distant, horrified expression on his face, Cora guessed it was the latter. Seiji was far easier to read than he thought he was.
Seiji sat up, a feat that surprised Cora somewhat, and stared down at his bloody hands. He grimaced as he looked into them.
“Did you… see me?” Seiji muttered, eyes trained on his hands.
Cora recalled what Seiji had told him about his First Evaluation. She knew how he felt about his old self. So far during the Exam, everything he’d faced had been relatively tame. This, though… While the thought gave her a fair bit of guilt, she hated the Alex Twins for forcing this out of him. They backed Seiji into a mental corner, and he was forced to rely on the only skills he knew. There was no other outcome for their actions than this.
“Seiji, our lives were on the line. I can understand needing to fall back into your old ways. It was a fight or flight reaction.”
She truly believed that, too. Cora didn’t wake up today wanting to kill someone, but she did what she had to in order to keep the one she cherished alive. Sure, Seiji’s fight or flight reaction was terrifying, but he’d been made to be terrifying his entire life. It wouldn’t be fair of her to judge him for it.
“I killed her brother.” Seiji buried his head between his knees. Though he didn’t cry, he did tremble. “I took her brother–”
“I killed too!” Cora blurted. Those weren’t the exact words she wanted to use, but she didn’t correct them. Tears slowly stung her cheeks as she threw her arms around Seiji. “I killed Alexandra. We have both taken lives today, and we can carry that burden together.”
Seiji turned to her with a face like a lost puppy. Though the thought was wildly inappropriate, she thought it looked adorable. She tried not to smile, but she failed. Thankfully, she had her father’s quick wit. She let out a fake laugh.
“I guess I really am your apprentice, hmm?”
He managed a scoff.
Better than nothing.
“Yeah. You’re… Yeah.” He rose to his feet, but immediately fell to his knees and coughed up blood.
Alexandra was nearly as strong as Cora herself, and she knew no amount of Mist Breathing would heal Seiji fast enough to bring him to fighting shape. Cora knelt to his side, allowing him to lean on her for support as they walked… anywhere.
The tower was destroyed. The demon had long since fallen asleep, which looked horrifying considering it was still standing, and they hadn’t found anywhere outside the tower to rest. Perhaps they could call for someone from Haven to pick them up?
As if on cue, two balls of white aura sped through the air to their position. On any other occasion, Cora’d be filled with annoyance. Now, though? She felt a wave of relief wash over her as Selene and Lirio descended before them… right in front of Alexandros’ corpse.
Cora hoped Selene would be quick on the uptake. She couldn’t afford to fight against her right now, especially over a misunderstanding.
“Lirio,” Selene muttered.
“Got it.”
It was just then Cora noticed Lirio was carrying a cloth sack. The boy dug through it, revealing two finger-sized glass vials of green liquid Cora recognized as high-grade healing elixirs from Haven.
“They were on the top floor,” Selene said as Lirio handed vials to Cora and Seiji. “When nobody showed up, we thought you all got into a fight. We would’ve joined, but the Pit Demon woke up and put us in a bad spot. I had faith you two could handle the Twins, so Lirio and I focused on scavenging what we could from the Tower and searching for alternative accommodations.”
As Selene continued to explain what she’d been up to, Seiji turned to Cora with the eyes of a nervous puppy. Cora found it hard to pay attention to Selene after that. She thanked the Tauran girl for her honesty and removed the tiny cork from her thin vial.
Oh, Seiji. What’ll you do without me?
Cora smiled weakly as she chugged the vial. She felt her eye stitch itself back together as cracks and bruises all around her body healed themselves. Her first experience with a healing elixir was unpleasant. Now, it felt refreshing… in an uncomfortable sort of way. Like acupuncture. She watched Seiji take his vial and did her very best not to laugh as he squirmed like a fish on land.
Selene pointed down at Alexandros, her eyes growing apprehensive. “Now, can you tell us the story here?”