The bright star-like glow that appeared when Yuria activated her spell was immediately noticeable to those who were in the nearby area. Serafion was nearing the position of the group, she was now wandering aimlessly through the ruined town trying to search for him. She avoided contact with the husks and the survivors as she was running out of internal energy to use more of her spells to defend against the attackers. ‘If they’re still in this town, it’s likely that they’ve encountered these invaders. To what purpose they arrived here is unknown to me, it could be that they are searching for him and his group.’ As she skulked through cramped alleyways and ducked through and under burning and collapsing buildings, she worried. ‘I just hope that he’ll still be alive through all of this chaos.’ She still clutched the short, segmented spike cylinder which was the Ruler’s Regalia.

She immediately ducked down to the ground as the explosion caused by the husk thrown by Grisham into the fire and watched as the smoke rose into the air. “I couldn’t have prepared for this…” Serafion remarked. N projected his astral form to view the town from above once more, and immediately saw the bright flash of light as Yuria activated her spell. ‘That glow! It can’t be… Pharros! I can sense her energy all the way from here, definitely! I can sense her soul but it’s not exactly where the glow is… Infinity.’ He glanced at the road leading up towards where he was and saw Sethan and the white council knights running up. He quickly slipped back into his physical body and walked out of his hiding place to meet up with the group.

“A… Child!” Sethan remarked surprised as N walked in front of them. “Please they need help. There’s a crowd of people in that street, and they have no protection and some of them are injured.” He said to them as he pointed towards the street where Henry and the other civilians were. “We can help the other people too, but what about you, all alone out here?” Sethan asked. “I’ll be alright.” N said as his orange eyes seemed to glow. Sethan looked at his expression and he was suddenly convinced or felt that he was telling the truth. “Your brother is up ahead.” The boy said, with an awareness that slightly frightened Sethan. “Go to that street and help those people.” Sethan ordered the silent knights. They nodded and followed his command and he walked and proceeded down the road.

“Are you sure you’re going to be fine?” Sethan asked him once more. “Yes. Thank you for offering though. And helping everybody else.” N responded as Sethan ran deeper into the ruins of the town.

As Ellyn and Iris ran after the three bandit husks that were after Yuria, Felkin and Metas were the only ones left to face Grisham. Their first attacks against him healed almost instantaneously, but both noticed the corruption growing. They both looked at each other briefly before running towards Grisham who charged back at them with a smile. He quickly swung his hand horizontally and created a wave of blue energy that ran across the ground. Felkin and Metas quickly hopped over it, Felkin used his sword as a springboard and extended it pointed towards the ground and launched him into the air while Metas used his wing to give a boost to his leap.

Felkin was in the air, and used his already extended sword and thrusted towards Grisham who Felkin saw was charging up another attack to strike them midair. Grisham quickly punched away Felkin’s sword and sent out a blast of energy towards Metas, who flapped his wing once more and avoided the attack and gained sufficient height and distance to be directly above Grisham. He used the chain tied around his wing to wrap around Grisham’s neck, and as Metas landed behind Grisham, he pulled him backwards using the chain. Grisham quickly used his left arm to strike behind his neck and break free from the chain’s grasp, but as he did Felkin slashed at him with his extended sword.

Grisham blocked it and was wounded on his right arm but as he tried to catch Felkin’s sword with his left hand, it retracted quickly and thrusted back like a viper’s quick strike. Grisham swiftly sidestepped and retaliated with a blast from his hand, but his left arm was pulled backwards by Metas’ chain and the blast of energy shot upwards and missed Felkin. He reached for Metas' chain but was stopped by Felkin slashing horizontally into his side. Grisham struck Felkin’s sword hard downwards to the ground, ripping the blade of from his flesh and embedding it into the ground and causing Felkin who was holding the sword to slam into the road. Grisham pulled the chain with his right hand and rapidly pulled Metas towards him.

Metas used his wing to cut the chain and free himself from Grisham’s pull and used the momentum to keep running and slashing at Grisham with his wing. Metas’ wing cut into Grisham’s left arm, but he responded with quickly releasing energy from his arm, thus blasting away, and damaging the wing. Felkin slowly stood up and pulled his sword back to its original size. ‘At first, I thought I could be free to unshackle him, but now I think it’s going to take all of our strength to take him down without restraint Even if the source of the corruption is severed, is there still going to be enough left for him to survive?’ Felkin thought to himself. ‘To kill him, to free him. Any choice is yours to choose provided you have the strength sufficient for it. The strength I offer.’ The girl’s voice spoke to him in his head.

“I… Don’t… Want it.” Felkin said between heavy breaths. Metas and Grisham clashed, Metas relied on evading and attacking using his wing, flapping it to gain distance between him and Grisham’s attacks and slashing intermittently. Grisham was on the aggressive, striking with his fist and launching blasts with his hand swiftly, chaining attacks and performing follow ups to become unpredictable as each movement of his hand could release a blast or a projectile. Metas was evasive, only striking in narrow openings and trying to get out of Grisham’s punching range with his wing. ‘If this fight goes on longer, I’ll lose. If it’s a matter of endurance he can heal every hit he takes but its hard enough healing this wing, if he hits me head on I don’t think I can recover.’ Metas said to himself whilst avoiding and attacking Grisham.

As Grisham punched, Metas flapped his wing and went around him and slashed him on the back, but he only noticed at the last second as Grisham’s palm was facing backwards and he couldn’t react as energy blasted him. Instead of blocking the blast and receiving large damage to his wing, he swatted the blast away, which only resulted in partial damage. The whirring of steel could be heard as Felkin ran his sword’s long blade across the ground towards Grisham. The bandit leader turned around to intercept the attack, but Felkin quickly raised his sword from the ground, creating a shower of rocks and rubble onto him.

Enraged, Grisham punched the ground beneath him and created a blast that repelled the debris but as he looked forward, he could no longer see Felkin. Felkin’s sword then wrapped around and cut through his shin. Felkin’s sword was slack on the ground as he hid behind some rubble, and he quickly ran and pulled Grisham before he could reach down and grab the blade. He was knocked onto his back and dragged through the road and debris as Felkin ran and pulled him, and he struggled to sit up and grab the blade with his hands. The bandit leader raised both of his legs in preparation, and then Grisham slammed them into the ground, deeply embedding him beneath the earth and stopping his movement. Though Felkin ran and pulled further still, digging the blade deeper into Grisham's flesh.

Grisham immediately sat up to grab the wrapped blade with his hands, but his left arm was wrapped and pulled back by Metas’ chain. Thinking that Metas’ wing was attached to the other end of the chain, Grisham pulled hard but discovered that it was tied around to a stone tower which toppled and fell onto him. Felkin and Metas cautiously walked towards the rubble of the collapsed tower. A flash of blue light and then the stones from the tower rapidly blasted away due to an explosion. Felkin prepared to pull his sword and drag Grisham once more, but Grisham screamed teared and pulled his leg out of the bloody grasp of the coiled blade, but the grave wound healed almost immediately. Grisham then quickly grabbed onto Felkin's sword, but as he tried to pull his sword away Grisham pierced his left hand's palm through the tip of the blade and gripped hard with both of his hands.

No matter how hard Felkin pulled, Grisham's resilient flesh and persistent healing stopped him. "Come on..." Felkin remarked as he struggled. "Arghhhh!" Grisham was screaming through his teeth. "I will not let go!" He remarked as he started to pull Felkin forward. Felkin began to run whilst extending his blade, meaning that even though he could not free it from Grisham's grasp, he could make sure the bandit is as far away from the hilt as possible. Metas ran towards Grisham, intending to take advantage of his preoccupied state and to free the sword from his grasp. With a mighty yell, Grisham gripped the blade as hard as possible, blood dripping like a gushing stream beneath him. And then with one motion, he lifted the length Felkin's blade, along with Felkin and swung hard, sending Felkin away like a flail and smacking Metas away.

Metas was struck hard and was hurled through the air, but to ensure that he would not be thrown any further, he stuck his wing into the ground. He stopped his acceleration but the force snapped his wing off and smacked him onto the ground, ripping off his wing and leaving him lying on the road. Grisham slammed Felkin on the ground and dragged him through the dirt. He held onto his sword as best he could, but he was fatigued and could only hold one with just one hand. Grisham had the blade's tip stuck on one hand, and slowly pulled the blade closer and closer to him with his right. Felkin had not the strength to resist, he held on to the hilt of his sword as he was dragged forward.

Metas slowly stood up and was observing the scene from afar, he tried to run but he fell to the ground, beaten and bruised. "If only I... Could hit him from here." He looked down on his hand and snapped his fingers. Nothing happened. 'I... Always disliked this thing. They said that our flames were the representation of our conviction, and mine is frail and weak.' He snapped his fingers again. 'I knew it was. I detested them, what they did to people, no one meant what they said anymore. But I joined them and didn’t mind becoming them so long as the two had food to eat.' He snapped his fingers once more, and a faint spark flashed.

'Weak. But even if I had a small flame, it took a lot to put it out. This journey, I know it started because I wanted to protect them, but... Some part of it is me!' He snapped his fingers and a bright but albeit small blaze emerged above his fingertips. Felkin was dragged closer and closer, he feebly held onto his sword. Grisham raised him up and reached for the hilt of his sword with his right hand. Felkin blocked it with his left, he interlocked his hand around Grisham's and desperately prevented him from touching the hilt. Their grips tightened, they dug into each other’s hands, sinking their fingers into each other’s knuckles. Grisham tried to free his left hand to grab hold of the blade’s hilt, but Felkin used his right hand to hold his blade and embed it deeper into the bandit leader's left arm.

At first their teeth gritted as they struggled silently, but as they clasped down on each other’s hands, Grisham breaking through Felkin’s skin and flesh as well as Felkin slashing deeper and deeper into Grisham’s hand even as he healed, both uttered a fierce and animalistic bellow as they struggled against each other. Anger, struggle, revulsion, pain and rage, their howls and screams showed the chaos of emotions they felt, and their resolve. Felkin slowly lost his grip and the feeling from his left hand as Grisham crushed it, he used the nerves in his wrist and arm to push forward regardless. Grisham pushed back Felkin’s sword from digging into his hand, and used his ability to coat it in energy and to increase the force he was pushing it out of his hand.

Metas shot a compact blast of flame from his fingers toward Grisham, it staggered him slightly, but he healed from the burn. He walked towards the two as he fired shot after shot, he started slowly walking which turned into jogging, and into a full run, and the speed and frequency of his shots increased as he moved faster. Felkin’s yell was as loud as his thoughts, and the three of them were so focused in their struggle against each other that they barely noticed the two explosions occurring behind them because of Ellyn and Iris’ fights against the bandits.

‘Ever since I woke up in that barren land, I’ve known little about… anything at all. I’ve felt all kinds of emotions, the only thing I have is my sword. I’m going to… Struggle, and cut through… My own path!’ Felkin affirmed and screamed it in his mind, a force and thought that filled his mind, and a desperate attempt to push all thoughts from the pain. “Arghhh!” “Arghhh!” Grisham was overpowering Felkin, even as his power was partially diverted to healing and not to the energy bursting from his left arm, and he crushed and bent Felkin’s arm into bloody splinters, Felkin merely pushed back with all his strength, but as he could no longer move his arm, it went slack. Grisham then quickly grabbed the hilt of the sword with his right hand and kicked Felkin away, causing him to lose grip of the sword. “Ack!” He remarked.

As Felkin flew backwards, the pain in his arm overpowered all senses of discomfort or will towards his sword. Metas was still shooting blast after blast as he ran, but he paused as he saw Grisham snatch Felkin’s sword away. With each blast of flame only annoying him, Grisham swiftly lunged at Metas and slashed at him with Felkin’s sword. Even though he was swift in speed, he was not used to the weapon, allowing Metas to duck in time to dodge the attack, in which he retaliated with a blast of fire to the bandit's face. It blinded Grisham for a moment but he slashed forward in hopes of striking Metas, who had already gone behind him and blasted him once more with the flame.

Grisham turned around and swiped at Metas from afar, expecting the sword to extend but he only slashed without the sword lengthening. “I expected something to happen.” He stated, curious to test out his new toy. “I wonder, why do the others explode when they’re set alight, but you don’t?” Metas asked, out of breath. “Simple. I had them all have their fill of oil and flammable substances.” Grisham ran forward and slashed again, Metas rolled low below him and blasted him with flame, something which at this point he might as well have ignored. “What you did to them, did they allow you to willingly?” Metas asked once more. At this point, he was merely stalling and allowing Grisham to focus on talking and to become less serious about fighting.

“Many of them did, many of them didn’t. But in the end, they all believed. And they all followed.” He swung his sword at Metas once again, this time coating his left arm in blue energy. Felkin’s sword glowed with blue energy, the runes and segments were alight and as he attacked towards Metas, a blast of energy erratically flew from it and missed Metas entirely and created an impact on the ground. “I was hoping for something like that…” Metas stood, nervous. He snapped his fingers creating a spark of flame. He did not know if he could delay him any longer and doubted if he stood any chance at Grisham.

“Fate, huh. Did the grand idea of something like that allow you to do all the things you did without saying its your fault? That it was for some greater power?” Metas asked. “I know its true. When I look upon my hand I can see the future, the path laid for me by fate itself.” As Grisham swung the sword horizontally, Metas fired a blast to his face. The shot struck Grisham in the eye, but the wound passed and healed without Grisham caring. The slash of his sword created a shockwave of energy that sent Metas hurtling backwards and found himself nearby Felkin. The latter had clutched his split open and bleeding arm, looking down in despair.

Metas lost most of his energy and could only manage to stand by supporting himself with his hand. Grisham raised Felkin’s sword victoriously. “At long last, Fate has given me victory… With this tool, I will triumph over all powers. This kingdom… No, this world! Is mine to take.” He announced proudly as Ellyn and Iris emerged from the fog behind him. The two were agitated and froze, Ellyn’s prosthetic was badly damaged, and Iris had only one of her arms remaining and she carried Yuria. Iris whispered to Ellyn. “Take her-“ Grisham rushed towards them and slashed down towards them with his sword, barely missing as Iris used her boosters to move Ellyn and herself out of the way.

“Don’t think I’ll be letting any of you get away. It’s fated that I can remove many powerful foes at the same time.” Said Grisham as Iris dodged and pushed Ellyn towards where Metas and Felkin were seated. Iris handed over Yuria to Ellyn, and then walked towards Grisham. Metas struggled and panted, but eventually stood up as well. Grisham was smiling, confident of his victory and was curious of the next actions of his foes. “Can you walk?” Ellyn said to Felkin. He was still looking down, but he nodded. “Let’s go.” Said Ellyn. Ellyn ran off carrying Yuria, and Felkin followed. As Felkin and Ellyn moved towards cover, Grisham tried to intercept. He quickly ran in and said: "I'm not going to let you go!" Iris and Metas stepped in, Iris struck Grisham with her fist and used her boosters to dodge the slash of his sword and the energy that blasted from it, and Metas used his spark to blast Grisham, making him block the attacks with his hand.

"Just a little more... Just a little more and that corruption will take you, I believe it..." Metas muttered to himself as he observed the spreading distortion of Grisham's flesh, now reaching to his temple and near his eyes. His flesh stuck to his clothes and began forming spiky protrusions, and his hand started to resemble itself less and less. His long black and white tipped hair covered some of the visible damage to himself. Iris aimed her arm at Grisham and released a stream of flame that pushed him back. As she did so, she could hear a clicking noise as the flames sputtered out of her fingertips. 'This... Can't go on any longer. If I keep exerting myself and using my flames, soon there won't be enough energy within me to keep moving...' Iris remarked to herself.

Grisham slammed the sword on the ground, creating a blast of energy that pushed Iris backwards and threw Metas on his back. Ellyn placed Yuria behind some stone debris, and left her with Felkin who was still looking down downcast. As she ran back towards the fight Felkin spoke to her. "You're... Going back to the fight?" He asked. "Yeah, I don't think I can do much but... I'll try." She answered. "Don't you want to get back to your father?" Asked Felkin. "Yeah. But... Whether it's because of the bandits I encountered in the past, or that you saved my village, I'm indebted to do this." She responded.

While returning to the battlefield, she thought about what she had said. 'Maybe those actions, those events led me to what I'm doing now... A system that chains and connects causes to effects. No, if I start thinking about fate then I'll end up just like him... I'm doing this because I want to!' From behind the radius of houses they've created into a battlefield, Serafion stepped forward. She immediately saw the one-armed Iris and Metas get blasted away by the force of Grisham's sword. "That's... I need to hand this over to him!" She said to herself. "But how... There's no time left to think!" Her clothes were more ragged than before, her hair was dirtied and ruined, and rather than study or plan she only ran towards Metas.

He sat up, and saw Serafion running down the road from a distance and was surprised and mildly confused. “Hey kid! Catch!” She yelled as she threw the small cylindrical metal spike at Metas. His eyes widened as the metal object flew, even from afar he could see the segments on its body, as well as the symbols engraved on it, he immediately knew it was a relic. He mustered strength and stood up quickly and ran towards where the object was headed. As soon as Grisham heard Serafion and saw her throwing the relic he quickly sent a slash of blue energy towards her. The dark blue arc cut through the air like a crescent of light, it moved slower than Metas’ quick blasts of flame but was still swift. It struck her hard and blasted her into the ground.

The short spear fell and clattered nearby Grisham, Metas was watching where it landed and as he bent down to pick it up, Grisham reacted immediately, he pivoted to the side and slashed down onto Metas. As Metas turned his head it was like a glowing blue guillotine with its speed, he could feel the buzz of the energy and the cold emanating from the steel as his fingers grasped the metal relic below him. He could feel the sword inches from his face, he could see the sword moving faster as he could raise the weapon in his hand. Whizzing by him and blowing back his grey hair was Iris’ left arm.

It felt like time was moving slowly for him, he could perceive the events happening before him in greater detail. He could see the tiny white shards flying as Iris’ arm which was launched from her body intervened and blocked the strike. Grisham’s sword was deflected, and his arm was thrown back along with it, due to the impact of his own strike. Less than a second later, a grappling hook attached to a rope wrapped around Grisham’s left arm. Normally, it would be nothing more than an annoyance and negligible, but Grisham was becoming more and more enraged with his attackers that kept interrupting and dragging him around. He slashed as he spun around and released another arc of energy. Ellyn quickly fell onto her back as the swift projectile barely missed her, it singed the ends of her hair as it flew upwards when she laid on the ground. Both the hook and rope were quickly burnt away and shattered by Grisham’s slash.

Immediately after his attack towards Ellyn, he slashed as he turned towards Metas once more. In that amount of time, Metas was only able to stand and raise the relic up towards Grisham, blocking and clashing against his sword. It pushed Metas back, and Grisham who saw the shining threat and opportunity in front of him, reached and lunged for the relic with his right hand. Metas out of instinct or to reassure himself in a crisis, snapped his fingers once more. The weapon in his hand suddenly went alight, its segments separated slightly and revealed the light of orange flames shimmering in between each cylindrical metal segment of the relic. Much like Grisham in possession of Felkin’s sword, the engravings and symbols glowed with the power that was imbued into it.

As Grisham’s hand neared the weapon, the snap of Metas’ fingers resounded in the air and the relic in his hand flew and tore through Grisham’s palm and fingers like cannon fire through wood. The short spear now turned flying lance flew past Grisham’s cheek and stopped behind him. Grisham’s eyes were wide with surprise and Metas was bewildered as well, but he felt a certain knowledge about the weapon’s usage as it glowed with his power. Grisham’s hand healed quickly but he was unmoving as he stared at the relic, not even considering Metas who was next to him.

‘What’s with this weapon? It’s as if I can feel it even though I’m not touching it.’ Metas thought as he closed his palm and pulled his arm away and the weapon responded by flying back towards him. Grisham whose gaze followed the weapon as it passed him and watched intently, jumped away as the weapon shot from its static position midair and impacted the road with great force. Metas then raised his left hand and aggressively swept his right arm forward, the motions of which enabled the relic to raise from the ground and quickly soar towards Grisham. He raised his sword and blocked the attack, the spear slid off the body of the sword as it continued straight forward.

A thin beam of fluctuating flame ran down the center of the segments and connected them together. The flames on the spear’s body congregated and focused near its tip forming a point towards the direction it flew to. Metas pulled his left arm back and the spear stopped and flew backwards to strike Grisham once again. Metas kept moving his hands to strike Grisham with the flying spear, Grisham could only block the attacks and was worried that the weapon could take his head off before he could heal. As he deflected it away once more, he glanced at Metas. ‘He’s undefended!’ He grinned.

Metas saw him not looking at his weapon and directed the flying spear towards Grisham. Grisham swung his sword towards Metas in quick succession as he ran straight towards him, creating arc after arc of energy towards him. Metas was startled and called back the spear towards him as he blocked the first blast of energy and struck away each arc of energy. Ellyn was entranced by the sight of Metas using the relic but was jolted back to her senses as Metas blocked the first arc of energy. “Uh… Hey, we need to help him!” She called out towards Iris but saw that she was standing completely still. Ellyn ran towards her and put her hands on Iris. “Are you… Alright?” She asked.

“I can’t move. Can you… Move me?” Iris asked, as she spoke without turning her head. “It’s fine, I’ll get you somewhere safe.” Said Ellyn as she put her arms near Iris’ neck and tried to gently drag her like she was pulling a statue along. When Ellyn ran back into the fray after leaving Yuria’s unconscious body near the injured Felkin, he simply sat and held his arm in pain. As blood trickled from his split apart arm towards the ground, he breathed and gasped fast short breaths, as he looked down in despair. ‘So… What now?’ He heard the girl’s voice once again.

“Go… away.” Said Felkin. ‘You could die, you know… I’m just trying to help. Are you going to throw it away for your pride? You don’t even know if you’ll survive death a second time.’ “I…” Their conversation was interrupted by Yuria who was beginning to stir. “Felkin? Is that you?” She asked faintly, slowly opening her eyes. “You’re injured! You need… Healing!” She spoke quietly, but in a surprised manner. “I… can heal myself.” He answered, pained. “Then… Is it working? Or…” “It’s not healing… Because I don’t want it to.” Said Felkin. “But… Why?” Said Yuria. “It’s my ability… Every time I use it, I become more and more under the influence of a corruption, the control of some other power. Even though I can get stronger, I get sick and… weak. And I haven’t remembered anything from before and… I don’t want the path I’ve chosen for myself to be washed away, the few choices I’ve made… They’re… All I have.” He said tearfully, with gritted teeth.

Yuria raised her hand towards him, and feebly tried to slap him but her arm simply gently brushed across his face. “I don’t know much either, but… I know that we all have to do things that we don’t want to… To do something else, we want. There’s so many things we want that… We’re bound not to get some of them. And even if someone else gets what they want if you do something… You get something from what you do too.” She said weakly. “You’re… Right.” Answered Felkin, standing up. “You all are risking your lives for others, and for me. While I was being selfish and carefree.” “Don’t worry… Just heal yourself and help the others…” said Yuria, trying to lean up but ended up lowering her head back and closing her eyes in exhaustion.

‘So, you’ve reconsidered?’ The girl asked Felkin. ‘Heal my arm. Give me enough strength and power to be slightly faster. Just enough to be better than normal.’ He said. ‘Oh, not going all the way? Isn’t that still being selfish?’ She asked. ‘I don’t want to take more than I need. And… I’m going to make up my selfishness, with my own strength.’ He looked down upon his person and found the ivory moon sickle strapped to his waist. He took it and held it firmly. He made a clenching motion with his left hand; a snapping and squelching sound was made as his hand melded together and healed. He flicked blood off from his arm and wiped the tears from his face. ‘Thanks. I guess.’ He remarked. The cloth wrapped girl returned to the lightless void. As she stood on the murky dark waters, she said to herself: “Tears… Have never suited you.”

As Felkin ran forward, he saw Ellyn dragging a completely still Iris. “Are you alright?” He asked, startled. “Energy levels are low… I’ll recharge in a while.” She said, straining as she talked. “We’ll be fine, go help Metas.” Ellyn looked towards Felkin’s healed left arm and his tear-stained face. “Take care of yourselves.” Felkin remarked as he ran towards Metas and Grisham in the distance. Ellyn dragged Iris and leaned her against the wall near Yuria. “Just leave me here, I’ll recover in a short amount of time.” Iris remarked.

“Hey, did you notice him earlier?” Ellyn asked. “Hmm?” “When he was injured, he was looking pretty down. I thought it was just because of the wound he had but… I guess we really knew little about him, and even now we don’t know what he’s been through.” Ellyn remarked. “He’s not very talkative, but anyway… You need to go back and help them.” Said Iris. “I… don’t know if I can help them now, I’ve run out of arrows and tools to use, and I think I might just get in the way.” She remarked. “Then… If that’s your choice. I’m sure they’ll accept it.” Iris responded. “I…” She closed her eyes and remembered the kind old man in the cold, snowy village. “I’m sure they can handle it without me, and I want to go back to my home but…” She looked at Yuria who was peacefully asleep. “I’m going to try protecting and helping them any way I can… I’ve acquired a new piece of myself, like something was missing all this time.” She said as she looked upon her battered prosthetic arm.

Metas was enduring the onslaught of Grisham’s attacks as he fended him off by himself. He held the flame lance in his hands and deflected and blocked against Grisham’s slashes and the arcs of energy he sent out. ‘He’s prioritizing offense over defense. He knows he can take more hits than I can, and if I focus on attacking he’ll find a way to deal a critical blow if I don’t defend well enough.’ Grisham did another downward slash onto Metas who blocked it with the spear, holding the weapon with both of his hands. Grisham slid the sword sideways along the spear’s body and Metas took his hand off the spear, but a blast of energy emitted from the sword struck Metas in his left arm. “Argh!” He took his other arm off the spear as he clutched his injured arm. Metas' gauntlet was broken open and blown off and Grisham lunged towards him to take advantage.

Metas came to his senses and quickly waved his right hand and made the spear that was falling to the ground to float and quickly slash towards Grisham. The bandit leader caught the spear with his right hand, the weapon continuing to thrust forward towards his throat. He clenched his grip and held the front end of the spear while most of its length stopped short of his neck. Grisham blocked the speeding spear with his sword, and as he gripped tighter with his right hand the flames that run down the spear concentrated and flared up, burning his hand. “Hmm…” Grisham remarked as the spear burnt his constantly regenerating hand, pained but not letting up.

Even though Metas was not holding or pushing the spear with his own hands, he still fatigued from the movement of the weapon, and as he was pushing in the air with his right hand, he clenched his left with an intention for the spear to react in a certain way. The end of the spear which Grisham blocked with his sword suddenly curled and wrapped around the bandit's sword and neck, pushing, and locking his own blade to his neck. The sharp blade of the sword dug and started to cut into Grisham’s neck. He could not let go of the end of the spear with his right hand as if he did, it would have more of the spear’s body to tighten around his neck. He tried pulling and trying to free the sword from his neck, but as he pulled the spear pushed it back, slicing deeper into his neck.

Metas pushed and struggled further, and Grisham quickly released the grip of the sword and his arm glowed bright blue as he pointed his hand towards Metas. The former knight's eyes widened as the blast of energy flew towards him, he could only pull his arms backward to call the spear towards him to block it. Metas' spear flew towards him, and it floated in front of the blast’s trajectory to get in the way of it. The blast struck the spear, and it sent it flying towards Metas, whose quick reaction enabled him to catch the weapon right before it struck him between the eyes. As Metas caught the spear, he was thrown back due to the force. Grisham addressed him as he stood a short distance from him.

"From your scars and your hair... You are another cursed by fate. It looks like life has not been kind to you but rejoice being part of Fate's plan as your corpses will be the foundations to my reign." "Huh? So, you believe in that grey hair cursed omen nonsense?" Said Metas as he stood up. "What about you? With your hair aren't you cursed too?" He asked Grisham whilst reeling from exhaustion and his injuries. "I am both cursed and blessed. My black and white hair signify fate intervening in my ruined fate, making me it's servant." Said Grisham, raising his arms in exultation. Metas looked at the spear in his hands, he noticed that the flame within it was waning. "It looks like to me, that you're only serving yourself!" Metas exclaimed as he let go of his weapon and pushed his right arm forward to launch the spear.

Grisham imbued energy into his sword and then met the speeding spear by swinging upward, launching Metas' weapon high into the air. Grisham then performed a series of consecutive slashes, sending arc after arc of blue energy towards Metas. Out of the blue, Felkin ran up and grabbed Metas by the arm, and dragged him out of the way of the slashes of energy. As the two of them avoided the energy arcs, Grisham rushed towards both and raised his sword, intending to take both out at once. Metas pulled back his spear from the air and recalled it into his hands and blocked Grisham’s strike. Grisham moved his sword along the spear once more, intending to strike Metas’ hand but Metas released his spear and pushed it forward, sending Grisham forward along with it as well.

Felkin ran towards Grisham and brandished the moon sickle in his hand, Grisham quickly thrusted his sword towards him. Felkin dodged to the side and slashed Grisham above the arm, cutting a piece out of his shoulder. Grisham swiped horizontally and Felkin rolled under the range of the attack. Metas assisted and followed up, sending his spear flying towards Grisham. The bandit sent the spear flying away with a backhand but was still burnt by its searing flames. As it flew off, he felt the burn on his hand did not disappear. He dared a glance towards it, to confirm that the mark on his hand did not heal, but as he turned his head Felkin sprang up and slashed down onto his shoulder. Their gazes met, Felkin’s resolute and determined unbroken glare unnerved Grisham whose expression turned from glee to worry. Felkin’s sickle stabbed down onto Grisham’s bicep, who responded with slashing his sword upwards intending to cut Felkin in half.

Felkin responded by pulling his sickle backwards and pressing it down onto Grisham’s sword and being flung upward by Grisham’s slash. Felkin was left unharmed as he flew upwards feet first, regained his posture midair and landed on his feet a short distance away. Metas raised and brought down his arms and sent the spear towards Grisham once more. Grisham jumped back and slashed across the ground and created a shockwave of energy that repelled the flying relic, Metas and Felkin ran back towards Grisham. As the two were kept at bay, Grisham was huffing and puffing away. Felkin was breathing deep breaths, inhaling, and exhaling slowly. Metas caught his spear, he diverted the flames away and was holding his spear on its metal segment.

“Fate… We won’t follow its whims, or whatever you and the power you fall under plan.” Said Felkin. “Fate is the current of the world itself, it drives every action, every reason, every will. You cannot simply not follow it, for your choice is the choice of Fate.” Grisham answered. “If that’s the case then, will break free from its grasp, escape from its shackles.” Said Felkin. “Screw your fate.” Metas added defiantly, though his fingers were slightly shaking. He sent his spear hurtling forward towards Grisham. Grisham sent energy slash after slash towards the spear, intending to blow it away or knock it down. Metas ran around Grisham’s radius and separated himself from the direction of the spear he controlled as he made it avoid Grisham’s energy slashes to prevent it from being blown away.

Felkin circled around Grisham, and swiftly charged towards him. Grisham could not attack all three targets at once. As Metas’ spear and Felkin neared, Grisham slashed his sword in a wide circular arc around him, creating a circular slash of energy. Felkin reacted quickly and jumped upwards. He landed atop Metas’ spear and used it to jump once more as the spear was blasted back from the energy slash. After Grisham slashed around him, he immediately turned towards the defenseless Metas to send a blast of energy as he was still trying to pull his spear back. Grisham raised his sword it glowed with energy, and as he slammed it downwards Felkin quickly interrupted him from the air and pulled Grisham’s arm away using his sickle. The blast was redirected towards the sky where it reached sufficient distance before fading.

Grisham pivoted and slashed at Felkin, who avoided the attack by diving to the ground. Metas redirected and launched his spear speedily right back towards Grisham, who had raised his sword over Felkin. Felkin tried to stand up quickly, but Grisham tossed the sword to his right hand and slammed it down onto Felkin who blocked it with his sickle. Grisham grabbed the flaming relic as it shot towards him, it flared and burned bright searing his hand but he focused on maintaining pressure and pushing down Felkin with his sword.

As the spear focused and centralized its flames onto his hands, Grisham gritted his teeth as he clenched his fists harder. He began to yell as his entire left side which was covered in corrupted flesh, was glowing brightly. The harsh blue light Grisham was emitting was making Metas cover his eyes with one hand and was forcing Felkin to squint as he clashed with Grisham. The wounds and slashes on Grisham’s arm were healing as energy exuded from his flesh, but as he generated more and more of it, the corruption on his flesh rapidly grew. He struggled as he pulled down Metas’ spear, he could not control it but he was pushing it down towards Felkin. Tendrils weaved in and out of his skin and it crawled until it reached his left eye. Grisham closed it as it was engulfed and when he opened it again, it glowed bright blue.

Felkin was pushing himself from the ground using his legs and blocking Grisham’s sword using his sickle. Metas was trying to burn Grisham’s hand, but as his flames were repelled by the energy, he tried to pull it away from Grisham’s grasp. Metas weakened the flames in his spear for a moment and shot a blast of flame at Grisham’s face, the wound vanished as soon as it was made, and it only allowed Grisham to push Metas’ spear further down towards Felkin. Metas held his arms close to himself as he “pulled” the spear towards himself. Seeing the struggle between Felkin and Grisham, Metas ran to them, and he saw Ellyn running towards the two as well.

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“Help me pull him off!” Metas yelled as both reached the two. Metas focused on his spear and was also able to use his hands to pull Grisham’s spear arm back without losing the thrust of his spear. Ellyn clasped her hands onto Grisham’s right arm and attempted to pull back his sword arm. The energy coming from Grisham’s left side stung and was strangely hot to the touch to Metas who was pulling him back. Metas and Ellyn struggled, but it was as if they were trying to pull back solid stone, pulling back a heavy boulder that was moving downhill. Because Grisham switched his sword hand from his left to his right, the energy that powered it had disappeared, but he still wielded it well. Grisham pushed down slowly and continuously even as the three tried resisting, Metas’ spear and the sword still inched closer towards Felkin.

All of them struggled as they exerted every once of strength against the opposition, Grisham’s sword slowly slid over Felkin’s sickle and Metas’ spear lowered closer to Felkin's face, particularly his eyes. “You’ll… Die! You’ve chosen to… Die here!” Grisham managed to utter as part of his mouth and cheek were beginning to twist and turn crimson. As both metal weapons drew near, all four of the combatants were focused in their struggle and did not notice that there was a chill wind in the air. Metas noticed first, as he felt the flames on his spear get weaker and blow away due to the freezing breeze. As the spear’s flames waned, Grisham was able to drive the spear downwards with speed and using his left arm’s entire strength. When he slammed it downwards, there was a loud crackle and crash as it struck against ice.

Felkin barely noticed the ice that formed over himself as he was focused on the strain on his arms as he pushed Grisham’s sword back, and a fixation on the intent to fight and his ideals. His glare was serious and unbroken, the color of his eyes began to change but neither Grisham nor Metas noticed. Felkin's eyes became bright blue and gold for his left and right respectively, they widened as Metas’ spear was slammed down onto him by Grisham. The spear smashed the ice into pieces and threw Grisham’s arm back because of the recoil. Metas used the opportunity to make the spear move backwards, and as it pulled Grisham’s arm backwards in a way that it couldn’t go further back, the spear slipped through the bandit's grasp. Grisham retaliated by swiftly turning and gripping the sword with both hands, causing it to glow with energy. As he turned, he sent a towering wave of energy towards Metas and Ellyn who was behind him. Metas pushed his spear in front of him and jumped in front of Ellyn as the energy quickly razed and crumbled the ground below.

Felkin quickly lunged forward and brushed his sickle across the ground creating a large block of ice that was shattered as it blocked the blast of energy. Although the blast was cushioned by the ice, the shockwave from it as well as the small shards that were dispersed struck Metas, who held up his remaining armored hand to block against them. Grisham turned around to slash at Felkin. Felkin stepped back to dodge, and Grisham tried to run forward but found his feet frozen to the ground. The bandit raised his sword preparing for an energy slash, but he saw a volley of speeding arrows fly towards him. Grisham swung his sword and created a wall of energy which repelled the glowing golden arrows. Felkin was surprised as he looked at two wispy glowing spirits beside him which sprung from the ivory sickle in his hands which glowed with blue and gold light.

Felkin looked the two beside him with wide eyes. “You two? How are you-“ “There’s no time to explain, we’ll need to win this fight first.” Remarked the golden specter. “Actually, we’ve little knowledge about the situation at hand. But Solis is right, we’ll need to win this fight first.” The light blue specter remarked. Grisham was striking the ice at his feet, smashing the blockage into pieces freeing himself. “Arghhh!!!” He roared as he charged towards Felkin. He in turn, raised his sickle and ran to meet Grisham.

As Felkin ran he could feel the new power and weight of his weapon, he swung multiple times towards Grisham who used his supernatural agility to dodge each swift strike. But with each of Felkin’s slashes, a large shard of ice sprung from the energy that settled like a mist from the sickle. Grisham used the sword and his hands to flail around and break through the ice shards that sprung from the ground, injuring himself but healing quickly as his body shone with energy. He flailed wildly, breaking through the barriers unimpeded and making no openings for Felkin to attack. The two beside him were outlines, as if paintings drawn by outlining their detailed figure using paint were floating like smoke.

Solis’ specter manifested a golden bow out of the mist that enveloped her and shot another volley of arrows at Grisham. He swung the sword back and forth swiftly, deflecting the arrows. Some of them hit their mark, but he quickly used his healing to pop them out of his flesh. Grisham's corruption spread as he exerted more energy and roared wilder, his arm was starting to lengthen, and his hand was beginning to fuse with his sword. Ellyn and Metas were momentarily stunned watching the two fight, but Metas snapped out of it and grabbed his spear and turned towards Ellyn. “You need to run, grab Yuria and the other one and go. If she can stand, ask her to protect you.” “I want to stay, to help fight!” She replied. “You’ll be better off helping us alive rather than dead. And besides, whether we win or lose, the knights are going to swarm this place sooner or later, and I don’t want you two to be captured or killed by them because of me.” He answered.

Ellyn understood, she wanted to help still, but was silent and tongue-tied. She turned around and ran back towards Yuria and Iris. Metas swiftly turned back and threw his spear towards Grisham. Metas' flame spear flew and shot towards Grisham's back. It punctured through his shoulder, but he repelled it and healed his flesh and sent the spear speeding back towards Metas. He swiftly ducked out of the way and tried to pull it back as it zoomed by him.

"This person's relentless." Nox calmly remarked as he and his sister used their magic in tandem to Felkin's attacks. As Solis fired arrow after arrow, she saw that it was ineffective. The arrows could have been mere pinpricks to Grisham who even shrugged off shots to his eyes. "I'm going to imbue this weapon with my energy. When I tell you, swing it with all your might and release it." Solis said to Felkin. He nodded in response. Grisham lunged and thrusted his sword and slashed at Felkin. Felkin dodged and ducked under the attacks, though Grisham was striking at the spectral wisps above him. He was surprised as every strike he made would only part the smoke and could do no harm against them.

"Now!" Said Solis as she placed her hands on the sickle and it glowed gold. Felkin stepped backwards used both of his hands to swing his weapon, now weighty with powerful energy. The gold energy that surrounded his sickle coalesced towards its point and released a tiny brightly glowing orb towards Grisham. As it floated towards him, he was cautious and approached it cautiously. Though Grisham was reduced to an almost beastly state, his instincts and intuition were still sharp. His body glowed and was ready to release his energy at any moment given the threat he was facing. Suddenly, the small orb glowed brighter than any light he had ever seen and his response to meet it was to unleash his internal energy as it traveled speedily towards Grisham. His eyes widened as it approached and grew and he met its movement with his sword and stopped its advance.

The struggle pushed Grisham back and left tracks of his legs as he tried to anchor himself to the ground. The orb grew, and both its light and Grisham’s light clashed with one another. His energy grasped and slowly enveloped the golden orb of light and shook the earth beneath him. It then flashed with the light of an untold number of suns. Felkin covered his eyes and so did Metas, who with spear in hand, ran towards Felkin to meet him. With a loud bang, the light disappeared and left smoke in its wake. “Quickly, lower me to the ground!” Said Nox, he and Solis had covered their eyes even though they were spectral in form. Felkin crouched and stuck his sickle into the ground and froze the soil. Nox placed his hands on the road, and then a large glacier sprouted from the spot he touched and rose high covering Grisham. And as Metas neared Felkin, they stared uneasily at the silent ice block.

Both Nox and Solis were breathing as if they were exhausted, panting from the energy and effort they expelled. “It’s strange that we get fatigued as if we have physical forms.” Nox remarked. “Well, we still expend an energy from a limited source… And I don’t think that would hold him.” Solis looked towards the ice. As Metas met with Felkin, he had a bewildered expression as he looked at the wisps of glowing smoke chatting to each other as well as the new color of Felkin’s eyes, he felt a certain aura emanating from Felkin, not too dissimilar from when Felkin used his crimson eyes but clearly different. “What’s the plan?” He asked Felkin after momentarily putting his confusion aside. “It looks like it won’t be long before it overtakes him. Using that energy to this extent could have permanently bound and locked his shackle to himself.” Felkin surmised.

“I was hoping if we could push him enough, the corruption would spread and kill him, but even I admit that’s wishful thinking.” Metas answered. “He is correct. As he possesses power from the divine, it is very likely that the endless energy will destroy his mortal flesh. But it could be that he becomes an unstoppable harbinger of destruction before succumbing.” Said Nox. “Another possibility might be that the energy within him will sustain his flesh even if it is fully corrupted. It could be that he’ll never be stopped by any force.” Solis added. Metas’ confused expression returned, as someone who is unsure of how to approach the situation.

“So, what do you suggest we do?” Felkin asked. “If we could cut off his source of that energy, we can stop his healing and his power.” Nox suggested. “Source of energy… His hand! It originated from his arm but only spread further upwards when he kept using his abilities.” Felkin exclaimed. “So what you wanted could be the best thing to do after all… But it looks like its already spread to half of his body, maybe it would be better going for his head?” Metas asked. “Striking or cutting off his head might cause damage to his brain, he could be an even madder or more unhinged than before.” Nox added.

The large ice formation began to crack and crumble, and was falling apart. The ice began to break and the beast within was raging and emitted his unearthly blue glow, Metas and Felkin readied themselves in response. Ellyn reached the seated Iris and lain down Yuria as the glacier emerged from the ground earlier. "What happened?" Iris asked, slowly turning her head towards Ellyn. "Metas told me to get us out of here. He says that whatever happens in the fight, the knights will be here soon and he's afraid we'll get caught up in it." Ellyn answered. "Whatever happens... In the... Fight?" Yuria weakly asked. "So that means... They're not sure they're going to win?" She added, before coughing. "Hey! Don't try to get up, you shouldn't be even trying to talk right now, you should rest!" Said Ellyn, kneeling over Yuria.

"We should... Help them... So, they can win..." Yuria responded. "Help them? Right now, you're too weak to walk, and she’s…” “I can stand.” Iris slowly stood up. “If it’s to escape or to fight, I have enough strength. But I might risk a temporary deactivation, I might end up unconscious for an extended period of time.” She added. “I can still use my magic… A little. I don’t need to walk… If you can carry me. We might be able… To help, even a little.” Said Yuria. “This is crazy! We’re not going to make it, we’re risking our lives here! If we do this… It’ll lead to-“ Ellyn was interrupted by Iris. “Our chances are low, and I know its not logical for us to help. If our intent was to escape alive. If our intent was to turn the tide, to provide assistance, we may boost the possibility of that occurring.” The giant ice block then shattered, leading to a blood lusted Grisham to jump out and continue the battle with Felkin and Metas.

Iris then picked up Yuria. “I know… I’m in danger, and I might die… But, I’m going to take that risk.” Said Yuria. ‘I won’t let something like that happen again!’ Yuria thought to herself whilst recalling a painful memory. “I too acknowledge the danger. And even I have a purpose, something I want to do. But for the safety of others, the bloodshed that will occur if he is not stopped, that is something my purpose cannot abide by.” Iris replied. Iris carrying Yuria began to walk back to the fight. Ellyn stood and watched them walk, frustrated. ‘Ugh! This doesn’t make sense! They’re going to die! But… If they do it regardless… I want to help them, but…’ She then remembered a few words said to her by the old man when she was in indecision. ‘It might sound contradictory, but there are some situations where you should put logic aside for a while and do what you want, what you feel you want most to do.’ He said to a young one-armed Ellyn. ‘Ah wait, that might be bad advice. What was I thinking?’ The old man said putting his palm to cover his face. ‘Um… Alright. I’ll remember that, thanks.’ Little Ellyn answered happily, her confusion cleared.

“Alright.” Ellyn said to herself after remembering the old man’s words. She ran up to Iris carrying Yuria, and continued forward with them. “Let me carry her!” Said Ellyn. Iris then handed Yuria over to her. Ellyn had her hands behind her back and lifted Yuria up, with Yuria’s arms around Ellyn’s neck. They stopped for a moment and continued running to hand Yuria over to Ellyn and before proceeding forward. “It would be better for me to carry her. You’re an able fighter and it would be a waste logically for you to avoid combat. I’m… Not like you and the others, I want to be as useful as possible so…” Ellyn remarked. “I understand.” Said Yuria, she could barely open her eyes, but her expression was resolute. Iris nodded in response.

Grisham roared and flailed wildly towards Metas and Felkin who were careful and circled around his attacks. “You! All of you! You took everything I had! I’ll take them all back! Take, take, take! I… Am a taker! I… Have to! I have nothing! I’ll take everything back!” Grisham yelled, as the corruption seeped into his body and into his throat making his screams raspy and intertwined with inhuman gurgling. He bent his knees and lunged like a cannonball towards Felkin. Felkin then slashed upwards from the ground and created a wave of ice to impede Grisham.

Grisham used his sword to shatter the ice but was surprised that Felkin was no longer behind it. While he was distracted, Metas’ spear flew and struck through his shoulder. The spear thrusted and drilled through his flesh and bone, and as he turned towards Metas to attack towards him Felkin then jumped from below Grisham and stuck his sickle through his arm. Nox quickly used his magic to cover Grisham’s arm in frost, and froze it in place as his arm holding his sword was extended forward. Grisham tried to strike Felkin but could not as his rigid arm could only slash from left to right, easily evaded by Felkin who jumped out of the way, or crouched below, all the while maintaining a grip on his weapon with one hand, switching his grip when needed.

Grisham tried to grab Felkin with his right arm, and Solis shot arrows towards Grisham to drive him off. Grisham blocked, swatted away the arrows, but with Felkin evading in combination of the volley striking him, he could not land a hit. He tried to grab Metas’ spear in his shoulder, but Metas pulled the spear back out of the bandit's shoulder from behind. Grisham tried reaching behind him and Metas sent his spear forward through Grisham’s shoulder. Grisham had stamped on the ground and roared. He then quickly spun around and threw his left arm upwards, tossing away Felkin who was surprised at the sudden action. This removed the sickle from his arm, the magic that was starting to freeze his entire arm solid stopped as Felkin was thrown away.

Grisham picked up a rock with his right hand and turned around to throw it towards Metas. In reflex, Metas called his spear back towards him to block the thrown stone. But as the spear flew from Grisham’s shoulder back towards Metas, Grisham swung his frozen arm at the spear, shattering the ice encasing his arm and swatting the spear away. As the speeding rock flew towards Metas, he quickly raised his arms to protect himself from the quickly approaching projectile. Before he could be struck by it, Iris jumped in and kicked the stone out of the air. Metas began to talk but was cut off by Ellyn who was carrying Yuria behind her. “I know its risky, but you two alone can’t take the risks by yourselves. And besides, we have a better chance doing this together.”

Metas stared down the beast-like Grisham, and remarked: “Just don’t get careless.”

As Felkin was in the air, he quickly tried to orient himself and slashed his sickle behind him to create a wall of ice to stop his descent. It shattered as he collided with him, and although pained he quickly stood up to rejoin the battle. He ran forward, and Grisham engaged and dashed towards the three in front of him. Metas recalled his spear and pushed it towards Grisham, Ellyn carrying Yuria ran out of the way as Grisham charged forward, and Iris stepped to the side and raised her remaining fist. Grisham deflected Metas’ flying spear, and then used his sword to block Iris’ strike. “We’re going to cut off his arm! We need some way to immobilize him!” Metas exclaimed, as he returned his spear into his grasp.

Grisham swung downwards towards Iris who caught his elongated, fleshy arm with her hand. She struggled to hold it back for a few seconds, before Grisham punched her with his right fist, and Iris was forced to let go and block the strike, before stepping backwards to avoid Grisham’s slash. But as Grisham ran forward, vines suddenly emerged from the ground and constricted around his elbows and knees. Yuria held a piece of wood in her hand that promptly disintegrated, but Ellyn could feel her go limp and weigh heavier before Yuria clenched her fist and tried to maintain consciousness.

Grisham’s arms and legs were pulled backwards and towards the ground, but he resisted and quickly broke through the vines that wrapped around his left arm using his blue energy. He snapped the vines around his arm and quickly reached to cut through the other vines that were around his other limbs but Metas quickly sent his spear slamming down onto the bandit's forearm and brought Grisham down kneeling on one knee. Grisham quickly tried to lift his arm back up but Metas himself ran and pushed it downwards, pressing down his spear to keep the bandit's arm to the ground. He quickly tried to strike Metas with his right hand, but Iris grabbed and pulled Grisham's arm from behind.

Grisham then tried to raise his leg to kick Metas away, but Iris pressed down on the bandit's leg with her own. Her flame-powered boosters roared as she used them to hold Grisham’s great strength back. Felkin ran and neared Grisham, and Solis offered a suggestion. “Imbue the weapon with my power instead of my brother’s!” “Why? Wasn’t my ice going to be used so that he can’t move his arm?” Nox quickly asked. “Metas’ flame will melt the ice and besides, the faster his arm his off, the faster he can’t use it!” Solis remarked. “Alright.” Felkin replied as he stabbed his golden light-bathed sickle into Grisham’s shoulder. As Felkin’s golden sickle seared Grisham’s flesh, he struggled by flailing his sword hand from side to side, alarming Metas who narrowly avoided them by using his spear embedded in Grisham’s forearm to steer the strikes away.

Grisham jolted his head to the side and bit Felkin’s shoulder. Grisham chomped down and ripped off flesh as he threw his head side to side, splattering Felkin’s blood across the ground and some splashed on the sword Grisham was holding. Nox fired icicles towards Grisham’s face, who closed his mouth and eyes, and turned his head away from the ice blasts. Felkin sucked in air through his teeth as he maintained his force and effort into cutting into Grisham’s arm. Grisham’s entire left side suddenly glowed a bright blue hue as he screamed and charged his energy. “Guys! I detect that there’s a high amount of energy that’s about to be released!” Iris exclaimed. “Everyone, close your eyes!” Felkin announced to the others. “Heh. Finally, you’re going to use those eyes!” Grisham gurgled excitedly.

From the moment Felkin's blood splattered onto the sword of infinity, he felt a connection to it once more. Like nerves had reattached and he had regained a limb that he had lost. He tried to ignore all else, Grisham’s words and the gnawing pain on his shoulder, which felt like he was still getting bitten repeatedly. As his eyes flashed bright crimson, all his allies became uneasy with a bead of sweat running down their brows, excluding Iris. All of them closed their eyes except Felkin, and all of them wavered and were nervous for a moment before exerting great effort once more. But Grisham relished the moment in a mixture of rage and elation.

As Felkin’s eyes glowed red, one of his black pupils formed a twisted draconic lemniscate, the same shape on his sword’s hilt. He opened his eyes once more, their color returning back to normal. Grisham grinned, having closed his eyes as wekk, But his smile quickly turned as he felt the sword leap and break free from his hand and coil around his bicep. “Argh!” He exclaimed as the sword was no longer in his grasp and was now wounding him. “Hnngg!!!” Grisham remarked as he tried to release his energy but found the blue energy within him was suddenly waning and disappearing.

Felkin looked at his sword, which was emanating a faint steam as his blood was splattered onto it. He recalled the time he used his blood on the sword to melt and shatter the multi-armed abyssal king’s ice. ‘My blood… On the sword…’ He remarked to himself. Grisham struggled and pushed every muscle in his body to break loose out of the others' grasp. He uttered an ear-aching scream that made his foes turn their heads away in discomfort. He started to stand up and struggle further and harder, stretching and starting to break apart the vines on his knees and right arm.

Ellyn could only watch as she carried Yuria, and all the others struggled against Grisham. Another fragment of wood disappeared in Yuria’s hand as she grew more vines to constrict around Grisham’s three limbs. She was pale and devoid of color and was breathing heavily from exhaustion as Grisham was beginning to break through the newer vines. ‘I need more… strength…’ Yuria said to herself. ‘Necromancy comes from the animating and transforming the residual energy of the dead. Using your own energy may be an option.’ She heard the witch’s words in her head, though real or imagined she accepted them as truth. “Then… I accept.” Yuria said to herself.

Grisham struggled as he was overwhelmed by several attackers and was using all his limbs to struggle against forces from all sides. He uttered a low growl as he tried to struggle and heal past the blades stabbing and cutting into his left arm. As he used his other three limbs to nearly snap through the second set of vines, darker spiked vines emerged out of the ground and lashed onto his knees and elbow. “Ack!” Grisham remarked as the barbs drew blood from him.

Ellyn could only watch on in disbelief, and she turned as she suddenly heard weak coughing from Yuria. “Yuria!” Ellyn remarked, as she turned her head and looked towards the one she carried behind her. Yuria was paler than ever, and thin streams of blood were running down her face from her eyes, and her mouth. She could barely open her eyes, but she had her arm outstretched and was clenching her fist as hard as possible which meant that she weakly clasped her fingers. ‘I… can’t do anything…’ Ellyn said to herself as she watched the suffering Yuria. Grisham’s arm was slowly being cut and torn apart by Metas and Felkin. Although him receiving cuts and slashes on different areas of his elongated arm slowed and diverted his healing capabilities, because the damage was not concentrated on one point, his arm was still halfway from being cut off.

“We have to focus slashing on one spot!” Felkin yelled to Metas. “I… Need to hold him down!” Metas yelled back, as Grisham tried to move his forearm around. Grisham’s elongated fleshy fingers started to separate, small puffs of blue energy flared up from his palm as he began to slowly open and close his fingers. Ellyn noticed as he began to move his hand, and pointed it towards Metas, trying to blast him with his waning and feeble energy. “I… Need to do something!” Ellyn said to herself, as she gently lowered Yuria down to the ground and rushed towards Grisham and the three others. Yuria’s concentration was not broken, she stared forward and did not seem to mind or notice her change in elevation.

Iris struggled to hold Grisham back. Her boosters were again losing strength. “Power levels… are low!” She exclaimed. Ellyn grabbed and slammed down Grisham’s hand left towards the ground using her wooden prosthetic. “Quick, help him slice it off!” Grisham’s hand tried to lift, but both Ellyn and Metas forced it to the ground. “But-“ Metas was quickly cut off by Ellyn. “Go!” She said and Metas quickly pulled his spear out of Grisham’s forearm and stabbed it into Grisham’s shoulder. Grisham clenched and tightened his fist as hard as possible, cracking Ellyn’s prosthetic hand in the process. She held on still, even as her fingers barely functioned, she pressed down the wooden arm down onto Grisham’s hand.

Grisham was still being blasted in the face with small shards of ice, he turned his head away and swiftly rammed it towards Felkin. Nox quickly created a wall of ice, which Grisham shattered as he headbutted it. Both Nox and Solis were tiring and “out of breath”, and while Nox was keeping Grisham away, Solis was infusing her energy in Felkin’s sickle. She placed one hand on the sickle and the other on Felkin’s sword, causing the searing energy to flow through both weapons. Grisham’s flesh tore, unable to compete with the strain of the damage that was being inflicted onto him.

Felkin’s grip was unsteady, blood dripped from his shoulder to the ground and his hands were shaking. Metas’ teeth were clenched, and gritting against each other, he screamed through his teeth as he was tearing at Grisham’s arm with all his might. Yuria used her life force to give strength to the vines, cold sweat and warm blood running down her face. She mustered the last of her strength before her eyes rolled to the back of her head, and she fell backwards to the ground. Grisham snapped the vines instantly and began to pull his left arm away and tried to escape. “Arghh!!!” Grisham, Metas, Felkin and Ellyn screamed loudly but Iris was silent and was preserving her energy.

Grisham tried to wrest his arm free from Metas and Felkin’s blades, and as he pulled his arm back, he started to tear his arm unintentionally in the effort. A sickening “crack!” was heard as Grisham completely shattered Ellyn’s wooden arm, sending her flying backwards. He quickly raised his hand to strike Felkin and Metas, but not before a loud tear echoed through the battlefield.

“W-wha-what… What?” Grisham staggered and walked backwards, clutching his torn off arm, a twisted stump of flesh was left and as he moved backwards a trail of blood dripping onto the ground. Blood dripped down his knees and down his right arm as he clutched his shoulder. Felkin held his arm tightly, his legs gave way, and he only minded his wound as he felt seated on the ground. Metas could barely stand and was wobbling while he tried to lift himself up using his spear, his sweat dripping in droves and his panting breath was unceasing.

“It- It… It can’t be…” Grisham remarked as he stumbled away. Ellyn slowly stood up, her wooden arm now shattered to splinters, and she was in a daze. She shook her head and then saw Grisham stumbling and shuffling around, and Ellyn quickly ran towards Yuria to stand over and protect her. To her surprise, Grisham barely noticed any of them around him, and was only erratically walking around whilst muttering to himself. Felkin quickly ripped off cloth from one of his pant legs and wrapped it around his shoulder before spotting Iris with her eyes closed and laying motionless on the ground.

Felkin checked Iris and shook her, but she was unresponsive. He quickly dragged her heavy metallic body towards where Metas sat. Metas who was out of breath spoke to Felkin saying: "Get ready, it might not be over." As he and Felkin slowly stood, they raised their weapons, and observed Grisham. His left half still appeared to be twisted and crimson in color, though the blue light that glowed within him had disappeared. "No... No... This can't be! My fate... I need to see my fate!" He said to himself, trying to move his remaining stump of an arm, and looking towards it expecting guidance. "My... Fate!" He exclaimed as he looked back towards his severed arm before running towards it.

Felkin quickly bolted and reached it before him, quickly picking it up and holding it behind his back and pointing his sword towards Grisham. Grisham tried to attack and raised his left arm in instinct, but as nothing occurred, he let out a faint cry before stumbling and scurrying off. Felkin quickly gave chase and ran after him. He caught up to Grisham quickly, and as he raised his sword to strike him down, he saw the despaired expression in his eyes and hesitated.

"They're here!" Metas cried out, distracting Felkin and allowing Grisham to slip past and retreat into the ruins of the town. "Quickly, the knights are here!" Metas called out to him, and Felkin glanced towards him and glanced back but Grisham was nowhere to be seen. "Hurry!" Metas yelled again, before Felkin rushed back towards Metas. As Felkin returned, he saw Ellyn slowly and carefully carry Yuria towards where Metas and Iris was. "Where is he?" Ellyn asked. "Without his arm, and without his powers, I doubt he'll be of much harm." Felkin answered. "Is she alright?" Ellyn asked as she looked towards Iris. "I'm not sure, since she isn't human. How about Yuria, is she... Alright?" Felkin asked as he grimaced looking at Yuria. "She's weak and she's cold..." Ellyn said worriedly.

Metas started to appear anxious as the sound of shuffling metal footsteps approaching from the edge of the road. A crowd of dark cloaked figures ran across the road, led by Helia, her gold and silver armor gleaming grimly from the firelight. The knights behind her were like shadows following behind her. As he looked towards Helia's grinning face, the flames on Metas' spear suddenly went out and it slammed back into its original length, the cylindrical segments sticking back together without the flame energy between them. Metas then snapped his fingers frantically before the spear went alight once again. He and Felkin stood guard over their other allies, as the shadows and Helia approached. But they both turned around as they heard running behind them as well. Felkin and Metas turned around with their weapons pointed and raised towards the sound of footsteps.

"Please don't attack me!" "You're alive?" Metas asked her. "Yes, I managed to create a last second barrier using my magic and I was out for a while. But anyway, we have a problem and we need to leave!" Said Serafion, her face and hair covered in soot and was slightly burnt. "A problem worse than them?" Metas said as he turned back towards Helia. "Possibly, quite so!" She answered back, as her pursuers emerged from an alleyway between burning buildings.

"So your intuition was correct..." Alroc remarked as he, Enjou, and Seruvia emerged along with a handful of shadows at their side. "Naturally." said Enjou. As Seruvia stared at Serafion and Metas' group as well as Helia, Alfred and the other shadows, a sly smirk formed on her face. "How curious that our paths cross here!" She called out towards Helia. "It might be that the traitors you and I are hunting are colluding!" Helia answered back towards her. "Hmph." Alroc remarked as he recognized Metas and a few others and paid little attention to the "friendly" greeting the two were saying to each other.

"Do tell, was it that difficult to take care of a single measly witch that you need my help to do it?" Asked Helia. "How about a mere boy and his group of friends, whom I remind you, eluded you for days and whom you let slip past your grasp?" Seruvia answered back. Helia bit her lip and for a moment her expression was a scowl but quickly returned to her wide grinning visage. As the two insulted one another, the group was weary and on guard.

"Should we escape while they're busy bickering?" Asked Serafion. "Carrying the injured in our current state will be hard..." Felkin remarked. “Can you carry her?” Metas asked behind him. “With one arm, I don’t think I can…” Ellyn answered. “I… can barely lift a few books and… I don’t have enough magic to lift her of move us out of here.” Answered Serafion. “Hmph.” Metas said as he slowly picked Yuria up with one hand and gently slung her over his shoulder. Felkin pulled up by the arm the heavy and immobile Iris on his shoulder and had his sword arm free while he wrapped a piece of cloth to the sickle and attached it to his waist.

“So!” Helia yelled to Metas’ group. “The havoc and destruction you’ve wrought here today… I’ll say that it is more than I expected from you lot, but I suppose the practice of wicked and heretical arts can give power to the undeserving.” Helia mocked them. “We… Aren’t the ones who caused this! We have injured with us… We’re… The ones who drove them back!” Mets shouted back at her with conviction. “And?” Seruvia chimed in. “An entire town burnt and brought to ruin, and wanted traitors found at the center of it all. The people will want fires at the stake, and we will gladly provide it to them. Your words are those of rebels, lies and deceit to trick us noble citizens of the kingdom.” She added.

Watching from the sidelines, was Sethan. He had ran to witness the battle that had recently just occurred, but he did not interfere and was only watching from the sidelines as Grisham was defeated by Metas, Felkin and the others. He was at awe of their abilities and powers, but also there was a sense of hesitation and confusion as he did not know if he would intervene. He was surprised to see Felkin there as well, and a sense of indecision gripped him as he hid and kept still.

‘My brother… And him… Should I help them… The kingdom says they’re traitors but…’ 'What I'm seeing right now... It's out of my league... I want to intervene, but...' Sethan gripped his spear tightly. 'Those horrid creatures that seemed not to be human...' He thought back to his encounters with the husks. 'They glow and have flesh burned like that man they're fighting. So, I should...' He remembered his conversation with the quadrumvirate flame council.

"You may have heard the news, that Siegmund has been killed in a mission in a village near the icy wilds and that there are rumors that your brother has defected." Said the cloaked old man. Sethan looked up at him from below with a concerned expression. "Such rumors are factual. We have sufficient evidence to say that the two are not only connected, but directly related. We have reason to believe your brother has indeed betrayed the kingdom and conspired with a few others to murder Siegmund." "No..." Sethan said under his breath. "As a member of the knights' special order... Punishment is death if he is encountered." The bearded man in furs added. "We... Have nothing to do with this! My sister has nothing to do with this!" Sethan answered. The old man raised his palm towards Sethan to silence him. "We have monitored you closely and we've observed no contact with you for the longest time." "Then..." "But you two might be able to provide vital information on how to track him down." The old man continued. "Me? But-" "We don't owe anything to him! He might as well be a stranger to us and we know naught about him!" Asralyn said barging in after overhearing the conversation. "Hmm..." The bulky general remarked, "Oh?" Seruvia exclaimed.

The ivory knights raised their weapons in response, and Asralyn retreated backwards, alarmed. The old man once again raised his hand and the knights stood down. "It's interesting that the mutt that Siegmund raised himself would be the one to tear his throat out." Helia remarked, the old man looked at her with a blank stare. Sethan gritted his teeth but could not utter a response back. He opened his eyes in the present and looked upon Metas and the others struggling to pin Grisham down.

"I... Don't know the world you're in now. I don't know if I can still help you..." As Sethan turned around to leave the situation be in his indecision, someone quickly ran towards him and he quickly raised his spear towards them in response. “Y-You followed me?” He said alarmed, as he pointed his spear towards Asralyn. His sister paid him no mind and only stared at the primal conflict occurring as all the combatants before them struggled with every ounce of their strengths to contend against each other. “Woah…” Asralyn quietly said to herself as she looked ahead in awe. “That’s!- And That’s!” She remarked, unable to finish her words as she became stunned after seeing both Metas and Felkin, her eyes moving from one after the other.

“We need to get out of here and try to get more of the civilians out of the town.” Sethan said to Asralyn, whilst turning his back towards Metas and the others while walking away. “It looks like they have someone injured with them, We need to-“ Sethan quickly turned around and answered: “I’m certain, that every one of them is a combatant, even the girl with them seems to match the descriptions of the witch that the wanted posters describe, we’d better leave them to whatever their business is…” “Seems? What if they’ve rescued some civilians and they’re trying to protect them from the invaders?” Asralyn asked. Sethan stopped, squinted, and gritted his teeth, and turned around towards Asralyn.

“For… All I know, they might have caused this mess themselves!” He angrily responded. “Look, I don’t like our brother but even I-“ Asralyn was interrupted by Sethan with a sigh. “I… Don’t know him anymore. I hoped the rumors weren’t real but… All we can do now is either try to stop him or leave, anything else will be against the kingdom.” Sethan replied despondent. Asralyn looked at him, and back towards the battle as Grisham’s arm had been cut. She almost said something but was silent and looked unsure. Triumph, anguish, agony, struggle. She observed and saw their exhaustion and effort displayed and obvious from afar. But as she followed Sethan and began to walk out of the area, they both noticed dark shapes swiftly whooshing past around them and encircling the area.

Sethan was immediately alert. “Wait. They’re here.” He said to his sister as his eyes focused and his expression became more serious. As the shadows encircled the area, Sethan and Asralyn saw Helia’s group and Seruvia’s group approach from both ends of the road. “We… Shouldn’t be here.” Sethan said to his sister, who understood his concern.

Felkin had his sickle on his waist, as well as Grisham’s arm which he had picked up. He and Metas stood backs toward each other uneasily, awaiting the attacks from the enemy shadow knights. “Hmph…” Metas grunted to himself out of some discomfort, whilst on edge waiting for the attack from the still shadow knights. Metas then held his hand close to his chest, it was clenched around his spear, and he appeared to be feeling some form of internal malaise. “Metas?” Felkin asked as he sensed something from within Metas. Asralyn suddenly dropped to her knees and clutched her chest with both hands in discomfort.

“Ral? What’s wrong, are you okay?” Sethan quickly lowered his weapon and then crouched to check up on her. Asralyn had cold sweat and went pale, she could not muster words to answer his question. Helia walked forward, but her grin quickly turned into a grimace and as she raised her sword, she lowered it as a wave of discomfort washed over her. “What’s wrong Lady Helia? Is it that time of the month again?” Alfred asked. “Hmph.” Helia glared at him. “Well, what are you all waiting for, dispatch of them at once.” She ordered to her shadow knights. “Well, follow her lead, I’ve been too long in this fiery dung heap.” Seruvia ordered to the knights around her.

Enjou drew his sword and prepared to charge along with the others but as he did, he squinted, and his expression changed slightly. It was imperceptible to most except Alroc whose keen eyes noticed. Iris whom Felkin was carrying, began to stir and was murmuring something.

“They’re coming from all sides!” Metas yelled as the group of shadows from both ends of the road and a few from their sides swiftly ran towards them. “Get ready.” Felkin remarked, as Serafion and Ellyn retreated and stepped back behind the two of them. “F-Fire…” Iris muttered. Felkin became alert as he could feel a tremendous amount of energy surging from her, as well as a few more individuals in the area. It was as if all the hairs on his body stood, as he could feel an invisible force permeating the air.

As Alroc and Enjou ran alongside each other, Alroc suddenly noticed Enjou beside him glow with a bright orange light from within his torso. “Soldiers, retreat!” He commanded, as he saw that the eastern warrior’s entire body was covered in the orange light and then disappearing entirely a moment after. Seruvia’s confident smile turned into a frown as Enjou disappeared and as she looked across the street in response to another bright orange flare of light which covered Helia as she ran towards Felkin and Metas’ group as well. Helia’s expression turned from caution to shock as she was covered in the orange light and then disappeared.

“Lady Helia!” Alfred exclaimed as he reached towards her, and then turned towards Felkin and the others. The shadows jumped back and paused, trying to analyze the situation. “Iris!” Felkin cried out, as she disappeared in his arms. Her distant removed arm also glowed bright orange and disappeared in the flash of light. “Catch… Her!” Metas said as he disappeared and faded, making Yuria fall before Felkin quickly caught her.

“Metas! What’s… Happening?” Ellyn asked, confused. “I… I don’t know!” Serafion remarked, confused. “What… What kind of sorcery is this?” Seruvia remarked, baffled. “Seems like Enjou and Lady Helia have disappeared. What are we to do now, Lady Seruvia?” Alroc asked her.

“Hey Asralyn, where are you?” Sethan asked as his sister disappeared.

“We should escape now!” Said Ellyn to the two before her. Felkin looked around at the cautious shadow knights and then said: “Let’s go.” As the three of them began to rush towards the side and tried running in between the rubble and debris, Seruvia looked at them and yelled: “After them!” The shadows quickly rushed towards them, and Felkin quickly slashed at them and drove them back. His slash created a trail of ice which surprised and blocked off their pursuers.

As Felkin ran carrying Yuria, his momentarily gaze met Sethan’s who was dismayed and despaired, he felt a significance but put it aside as they ran away. “Quickly! They’re going to catch up to us soon.” Said Ellyn looking behind them. “Hey!” Kieron remarked as she almost bumped into Felkin. “You followed me.” He remarked. “You..?” Ellyn said quietly. “There’s no time!” Serafion exclaimed, before the group made their escape.