Tribunes raged, exalted spectators fanatically cheered, and blades collided in a thunderous clash. Bloodbringer, one of the Three Champions of Jioral, the loyal hound of the Faran’s church, battled Keyaru, the treacherous hero, who came to cause harm and bloodshed. Nobody cared for his righteous reasons, much less about the dying innocent people. One after another, they perished by poison, and the healer was too preoccupied with surviving to actually come and help them.
The boy met three initial thrusts with a set of flowing parries, fast and elegant, but even so, the last poke was countered with scaly skin on his right forearm. Then, the fencer aimed at the left leg — she almost scratched it, if not for the lad’s superhuman reflexes. Then the crimson rapier rushed toward the right hand. Although his rocky scaled armor spared him from wounds, Keyaru lost his sword. This was nothing but a probe. Catherine merely tested his defensive capabilities, and Keyaru already had to suppress his anxiety. The blood mage’s left-handed stance, along with her being a head higher than the red-haired challenger, was not something impossible to counter, but that creature was almost three times as strong as him, and had superior technique, no less.
"Move! My people are dying!" The lad snarled, picking up another blade.
"Make me! Prove you deserved Ahriman’s heart!" Bloodbringer replied, drawing red essence from under her mask. Is she speaking about the Philosopher’s Stone? No matter, I’ll just have to aven… PAIN!
Her next assault started fast; it looked like yet another thrust. But this time, the fencer didn’t even bother to break the distance. Instead, a long crimson pike impaled Keyaru’s left shoulder before he could even react. No, he did respond, otherwise it would have been his neck on the line.
Keyaru didn’t wait for another blow. Having rapidly restructured his body toward speed alone, he lunged forward, holding the sword blazing with yellow lightning. The healer didn’t like the idea of revealing his full arsenal, but the rescue mission had failed, and facing a Champion was a desperate enough situation.
Damn, you must’ve jinxed it, Freia!
Catherine met him with a thrust. The vile rapier passed above the hero’s head as he dipped under the poke. A thundering blade slashed the fencer’s hip. And while the cut wasn’t deep enough, it was meant to cover the extended left hand.
Got you! Keyaru slightly grinned. With mere millimeters left, swift victory was almost at hand. And suddenly… he lost his balance. The Bloodbringer slammed his feet with a levitating crimson puddle. It was boiling blood right from her own wound. The lad fell, and only a well-timed roll saved him from death. Still, it hurt. He couldn’t neglect defense stats in this fight.
"Have you not noticed? You shan’t save anyone holding back!" The blood mage exclaimed, much more agitated than Lorenzo could ever be.
"KILL HIM, KILL HIM, KILL HIM!!!" A chorus of raging audiences just wouldn’t shut up. Keyaru spared a glance toward the peak of the colosseum. The highest lodge hosted his only allies here. Setsuna and Flare. The Healer genuinely smiled toward them before casually dodging an upward blood slash.
"You’re right." The boy dropped the sword; it wouldn’t be much use. His right hand slapped the chest, rendering the healer into a full-fledged battlemage. He started with a series of thunderbolts from his palms. The onslaught of silent spells made Catherine dodge for the first time during their fight. She tried counter-attacking with spikes of bloody sand, but the avenger dodged a few before slamming the ground, summoning rocky land into his service. Now it was his stalagmites that pursued Bloodbringer, along with water spheres powered by the essence of wind. But instead of running away, she chose to get closer. Perhaps, expecting Keyaru to be defenseless, or deeming herself stronger in the close quarters, the hero met her rapier with a conjured ice blade, which was more than capable…
…
…of snapping in two, leaving Keyaru open to a fatal blow. Catherine impaled his stomach, the lad screamed his lungs off. Something was wrong, really, really wrong…
Freia, or Flare, stood motionless. Her emerald eyes didn’t blink, as she watched as Bloodbringer telekinetically tossed Keyaru into the air and cut off his right arm before he roughly whammed on the reddish sand. It literally took a miracle for the boy not to lose the other one. A miracle of acrobatics.
"No-no-no-no!" The girl whined, barely able to muster her emotions. She wanted to scream, or cry, or jump there, or… or!..
"Your Highness?.." Strangely, Buck was as calm as he could be. His eyes were blank, and after he told all of his acquaintances to let the princess pass, the knight mysteriously lost all of his temper.
"Calm down!" Fortunately, Setsuna was there. She grabbed her panicking friend by the shoulder and pointed to the arena. There, the healer regained his limb and once again clashed with the legendary Champion. "Master told you to be ready."
"No… He told it to you." The sorceress shook her head, tremblingly gripping her malachite staff. "This is wrong! This Isn't how it's supposed to be…" The princess shivered. At that point, Keyaru must have already evacuated his people for Flare to start her speech. But… how? This enemy, this inhuman abomination, was way stronger than anything they faced so far, and something told her Bloodbringer wasn’t even at the peak.
He told her to wait, to stand and watch how the Hero of Healing completed his task. But… she couldn’t. The magician raised her staff, unsure if she could do it — drain the wild mana to conjure a Meteorite spell fast enough, but she had to. Freia raised her plain scepter and started the chant. Energy started to gather around her. The caster felt her sheer might gathering… only for her to get unceremoniously distracted by the wham of a fallen body.
"Setty?.. What… have you done?" The ice warrior stood above the murdered Buck. Her shiny claws were stained with his blood. His… black blood.
"BACK!" The she-wolf snarled, kicking the corpse. Not many can survive having their neck pierced all the way through… But this one did. The dark goo on Setsuna’s gloves turned into a fog before reuniting the fallen knight. He floated above the floor, and when the princess finally saw the face…
"No… Not you!.." It was not a youngster’s, but a bearded man’s. None other than Margurth Rikil Jioral stood before the girls. Even with no crown, he commandeered his reign.
"Look at her. Instead of joining hands with Panakea’s brat and my sister, she made yet another enemy. Foolish girl, to have power of god, yet use it so profoundly. Some people are just unable to grow up, however many centuries they live." The monarch (or his proxy body, in that regard) spoke, watching the fight between Keyaruga and Bloodbringer. The latter still held the upper hand.
"What… are you doing here?.." Freia fearfully asked, torn between the desire to stand up to her father and hide behind her friend. The latter grinned, aggressively showing off her fanged teeth.
"Clench your anger, child of Enuas. I came to see my daughter." The man dismissed the huntress, facing the heroine. "Now, have you enjoyed your little furlough, Flare? Because we must head home now. Come." He stretched his arm toward the girl. But the old king had no idea...
"No! My place is with Keyaru!" The princess stated, pointing her staff toward her father. "What have you done to Buck?"
"One at a time, little girl." Margurth’s copy waved its hand, and his apathetic gesture summoned a black rift in the space. A bottomless void looked through, extending its tentacles toward the sorceress. Setsuna snatched her out of the way of blackness before slashing the king once more. This time, the she-wolf literally jumped on the `knight` to rip off his head with her ice-clad hands. Before lightless tendrils could reach the huntress, she tossed the king's visage to the portal.
"Claudere!" Freia snarled, as her flow of mana started to close the rift. But even so, the blackened body refused to die. Even with the regeneration halted, Buck, or a headless corpse that remained of him, stood up. But before this thing could draw its sword, the ice warrior grabbed the undead with both of her hands and started covering it with a freezing crust. It didn’t take long for the carcass to turn into a cold statue.
"Haa… Haa… Haa…" The princess panted, her knees trembled, and Flare’s face got blightingly pale. Was this the end? No…
"I see now. The boy fared wise to veil your memories. If you wish to remember, return to my side." Margurth’s disembodied voice shared its last phrase before dissolving into nothingness.
"Go… fuck yourself!" The magician cursed, dropping her staff out of stress.
"Who’s that?" Setsuna asked, helping her friend to stay on her legs.
"My… father. I think, at least." Freia replied, turning her back to Buck. How long was that mad ruler watching them through his eyes? "Please, Setty. Don’t tell any of this to Keyaru. I… I’ll do it myself."
"Uh-huh." The she-wolf made a deep, considerate nod. It wasn’t that hard for her to tell there was a history between the two heroes. It may not have been that pleasant, but Setsuna had enough wisdom to not stand between them.
"Haa…" The princess let out a long exhale before facing the arena. "He didn’t lose… Yet."
"What do we do?" The ice warrior pondered, silently cheering for the Hero of Healing.
"You? Nothing. I? I’m gonna blow up this damned barrier for good!"
…
To say Keyaru struggled would be a great deal of an understatement. While his spells succeeded in causing substantial harm to Bloodbringer, and now the patches of her skinless, eternally hemorrhaging flesh had turned visible, the lad himself was not in the best shape. His clothes were torn, his limbs broken at least a couple of times each. Those two minutes almost cost him his life, trice at least! And even if the hero had the miraculous power to restore his flesh on a whim, his mana pool almost ended. Only Setsuna’s dowry sustained his energy reserve.
This time, the young man picked up a crude sword. Catherine sent a few semi-invisible balls of wind, but Keyaru countered it with a barrier, shaped like a large greenish aegis with the brand of a blue bird on it. Then, he slashed his own forearm to coat his blade with blood, which instantly turned into a brownish acid.
The Champion now sent crimson waves. She used the power of the wind to turn her condensed blood into deadly blades. But it didn’t stop the healer. He may not be the strongest human yet, but his unnaturally vast experience made up for that. Otherwise, he would not have survived that fight for so long.
Finally, Keyaru once again clashed his sword with Bloodbringer’s. Strangely enough, they drew no sparks, even though both opponents proved themselves quite formidable in terms of speed. The lad slammed and rammed against Catherine’s defense, while his left arm, still clad in stone shells (although quite chipped at that point), served as a shield against her retaliations. His onslaught got so desperate, so utterly hopeless, that his sword made a few dents in the fencer’s rapier, before corroding into nothingness. In the end, he saw it. Underneath the coat of reddish steel… was marrow. The blade was no more, the rapier turned into a whip, and if Keyaru didn’t make a couple of backflips, the red tentacle would surely end his life.
"Hey, that’s a nice toy! Whom do I have to kill to get one for myself?" The hero joked in an attempt to stall the combat. After all, he could definitely use a second or two to restore his mana.
"Seventy-four people. I spliced them in a ritual of flesh union." Catherine amused the boy. She too needed a breather. After all, it took a few seconds before… two massive crimson wings erupted from under her clothes. "I suggest slaves; nobody counts them. Of course, as long as you pay for them."
"I’ll think about it." Or not. Well, at least now I know this thing is alive.
Keyaru conjured a couple of ice spears. He sent both into the Champion. She backhanded the first, retracted the second with air magic, and then swung her whiplike blade, sending a volley of red blades with her wings. The projectiles crashed against the levitating stones, but the sinister weapon cut through the scales on the healer’s right arm, effectively cutting it, but the hero ultimately caught it with the left. The first moment the purple magic illuminated the arena. The second…
"A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A!!!" …was commemorated with Keyaru’s wild scream. Yes, that sharp, fleshy marrow was alive. But more than that, it was conscious. Dozens of souls, trapped in a vortex of perpetual suffering. The boy thought himself ready for any kind of pain possible. He was wrong. Seventy-four poor children were maimed, tortured, and flayed just to be turned into a living weapon feeding on their own unending agony. The lad fell down, hunched in a fetal pose. He whined and gasped, unable even to think about healing his bleeding arm. The hero didn’t even react when the Champion cut off his second upper limb. Tribunes yelled in awe.
"In the end, you’re just a stubborn child. Too tenacious for your own good. Your…" Before Catherine could finish her sentence, the world was painted in red. A massive meteorite appeared from nowhere and started falling into the arena. The calamitous boulder, cast in the red aura of fire, collided with the yellowish barrier; the latter had no chance. It was the dome above the building that took all the damage, so the watchers remained unharmed, but the magic machinery got brutally wrecked, along with the projecting crystals. As the rubble steadily dissipated in the air, the audience's gaze turned to the levitating girl.
"Princess Flare!"
"It’s Her Highness!"
"Princess!"
The curses, the hate, the bloodlust — it all evaporated, switched to blind adoration, as if the sorceress floated with two invisible angelic wings instead of a simple air trick. Fifteen meters above the ground, she drew an arc above her head, conjuring not two, not three, but ten massive ice spears. After all, magic is all about the will of a wizard, and Flare had plenty. She then started to send it in to Bloodbringer. One after another, the glass ballista bolts shattered against the crimson wings, but in doing so, they pushed Catherine away from the crippled hero, stripping the meat of her grafted flesh. And so, when the princess launched the last projectile, it went right through the brainstem, shattering the mask in half. Underneath it was a skinless, eyeless skull, attached to the rest of the body by a few grotesque tentacles. The sight could be described as nothing but horrendous, but Flare did not fear. She landed between the Champion and the Hero of Healing, and now her staff was pointed at the fencer.
"You will die here." The magician said, not threatening, not cursing. She knew what to do and would accomplish it, whatever it took her.
"Were you just as bold when he torched you with a fire rod?" Catherine smirked, slightly lowering her flayed jaw. The aim was to demotivate the girl, but instead, she just broadly smiled.
"Heh, maybe." Flare waved her staff, spraying an incinerating flux of pyromantic force. "ET FLAMMA NON DIMITTERE! ET SUBIICIAM SOLIS! IGNIS IMPERIUM!" And with a spell, the not so weak ray turned into a column of flame. The Empire of Fire it was called, but the princess was unable to realize the full extent of the ultimate spell. The seventh circle was still outside her reach. That’s why… Bloodbringer, although charred, survived the inferno behind the barrier of blood. Even slammed into the wall, the Champion upheld it. But Flare, prepared for such a turn of events, grabbed a bluish potion from inside her clothes, chugged the bitter mixture, tossed the phial away, and sent another deadly spell. This time, a spiral stream of boiling water clashed with the winged abomination. And if that wasn’t enough, the heroine added a lightning bolt to the onslaught to actually finish her foe for good. Would that finally work? Well…
It took an unimaginable amount of effort to snap out of the agony. Covered in blood and tears, Keyaru barely moved his body. But when he finally did regain control, the first thing he saw was Freia. Freia… She fought for him, draining not only her own mana but also the wild residue around. I… I must heal, I must regain my… strength… The young man tried reaching for his chest with arms, but he had none, only bleeding stumps. Still, he only needed a touch; his feet would do. Yet, the lad was unable to take off his boots. The legs didn’t listen to him. And what’s worse, Freia’s abuse of wild mana turned out to be too much. The malachite stone on her staff snapped in two. That would be the perfect acme for the end of the fight. But… it was not. Even as a pile of deformed flesh and bones, Bloodbringer still remained a threat.
Freia! Shit, I have to do something! I must…
And then, a voice rang inside the boy’s head. Not speech, but a sassy, impudent chuckle. The annoying laugh, though, quickly turned out to be a genuine blessing when Keyaru felt his arms again. White flames took the form of his missing limbs, and with the last strength he had, the Hero of Healing slammed his ethereal hands on the chest. A short non-verbal command, and the green spark regained his vigor. The young man jumped back to his feet, and quite in time, as the sorceress stood helpless against the raging pile of hemorrhaging meat. A second later, and the girl would lose her head, but with the avenger back in action, Catherine had her bare skill clasped by Keyaru’s hand. He slammed Bloodbringer into the sand. Then…
"I’LL FUCKING HEAL YOU! KILL YA! HEAL!!!" It was not a moment of grace; the hero sent wave after wave of deteriorating energy. His raging casts mutilated the Champion’s flesh, broke her bones, lacerated the tendrils, and exploded the massive arteries. The blood mage lost all of her power while the lad bathed in her innards. Ultimately, after ensuring no piece of Catherine remained alive, Keyaru turned to Flare. "Ha-ha-ha-ha! We won this one!"
The princess glanced at her young man, whose face warped in a maniacal grimace of wrath, laughter, and relief. Still, she loved this broken youngster, despite what he did to her. What she did to him. Either way, the Hero of Healing nodded and walked toward the crosses. He had to make sure at least someone survived the poisoning. The sorceress, in turn, clapped her hands to activate loud-speaking magic.
"Greetings, people of Ranalitta! My name is Flare Arlgrande Jioral! The Hero of Magic and the First Princess of the Jioral Kingdom." The girl raised her emerald eyes toward the tribunes. She spoke in a much more subtle tone than Taretoya, even with spells involved, and that made everyone listen in silence. "As you can see, I am not afraid to face you, my people, and my powers are genuine. I am alive, for I was never killed! Keyaru, the Hero of Healing, is not my murderer, but instead a protector, a benefactor, and the love of my life! He showed me the worth of a simple, common life!" The magician spoke, making the audience boom in a gasp of astonishment. The red-eyed boy could be among them, for he felt no lie in such words, but he was too preoccupied. Twelve people he had unbound, yet none remained alive so far.
"Me and Keyaru merely wished to restore justice to our lands, but the only thing we succeeded in was an escape. Leonard was sent to kill me, and when he failed, they sent Bloodbringer to silence us for good. If not for the one, who you so cordially rooted for to get killed here, I would be dead right now. I left my kingdom, and that had its price. Alban never worshiped any demons or devils, but that barely spared them from their atrocious fate. My friends, for a long time I have been running from the truth and my responsibilities. But not anymore! We cannot do it all by ourselves! This country is abnormal, it is cursed, and you must stand against it! Otherwise, it would be you and your families next on the line! Rebel, protect those who are dear to you! I believe in justice, just like I believe in your courage!"
And so, the oil was spilled, and the wick was set on fire. Carrying the last and only surviving boy, Keyaru and Flare made their way toward the exit. Unfortunately, they had to leave the rest of the bodies. Setsuna opened the gate and waited for the heroes covered in blood, red this time. Not only did the tribunes burst into violence, but also the slaves, held in the cages, made their uprising thanks to the ice warrior.
"Take him and go to the meeting place. I’ll see you soon." The healer spoke, stopping right before the arena gate.
"Why?" The she-wolf asked, taking the dark-haired boy from the blood-soaked hero. He got lucky. The poison was produced by the concentrated venom of mottled bumblebees, one of which bit him recently. Still, losing the entire family in a matter of a few days was not so much of a stroke of luck.
"I have one more thing to do here."
Humans brawled, stabbed, and clattered against each other in a wave of violence. Demi-humans stood up to their masters. Although Keyaru failed to save his fellow villagers, the crimson drama did everything it was supposed to do — Ranalitta was on fire, and this infection of disobedience would steadily leave the colosseum and engulf the entire city, then the region, and then the entire Jioral. Now, Norn, how would you react to the little resurrection of your `beloved` big sister? Well, we’ll see after we unavoidably meet. For now, I’ll have to put that thing out of its misery.
Keyaru approached the sight of Bloodbringer. At least, what remained of her. He cared little for the uproar and screams above. For now, all he wanted was to destroy Catherine’s `rapier`. Such weapons must not exist, and that’s why the youngster killed it with fire.
And for them, Freia was supposed to sing? They don’t deserve any of it.
Tribunes raged, exalted spectators fanatically cheered, and blades collided in a thunderous clash. Bloodbringer, one of the Three Champions of Jioral, the loyal hound of the Faran’s church, battled Keyaru, the treacherous hero, who came to cause harm and bloodshed. Nobody cared for his righteous reasons, much less about the dying innocent people. One after another, they perished by poison, and the healer was too preoccupied with surviving to actually come and help them.
The boy met three initial thrusts with a set of flowing parries, fast and elegant, but even so, the last poke was countered with scaly skin on his right forearm. Then, the fencer aimed at the left leg — she almost scratched it, if not for the lad’s superhuman reflexes. Then the crimson rapier rushed toward the right hand. Although his rocky scaled armor spared him from wounds, Keyaru lost his sword. This was nothing but a probe. Catherine merely tested his defensive capabilities, and Keyaru already had to suppress his anxiety. The blood mage’s left-handed stance, along with her being a head higher than the red-haired challenger, was not something impossible to counter, but that creature was almost three times as strong as him, and had superior technique, no less.
"Move! My people are dying!" The lad snarled, picking up another blade.
"Make me! Prove you deserved Ahriman’s heart!" Bloodbringer replied, drawing red essence from under her mask. Is she speaking about the Philosopher’s Stone? No matter, I’ll just have to aven… PAIN!
Her next assault started fast; it looked like yet another thrust. But this time, the fencer didn’t even bother to break the distance. Instead, a long crimson pike impaled Keyaru’s left shoulder before he could even react. No, he did respond, otherwise it would have been his neck on the line.
Keyaru didn’t wait for another blow. Having rapidly restructured his body toward speed alone, he lunged forward, holding the sword blazing with yellow lightning. The healer didn’t like the idea of revealing his full arsenal, but the rescue mission had failed, and facing a Champion was a desperate enough situation.
Damn, you must’ve jinxed it, Freia!
Catherine met him with a thrust. The vile rapier passed above the hero’s head as he dipped under the poke. A thundering blade slashed the fencer’s hip. And while the cut wasn’t deep enough, it was meant to cover the extended left hand.
Got you! Keyaru slightly grinned. With mere millimeters left, swift victory was almost at hand. And suddenly… he lost his balance. The Bloodbringer slammed his feet with a levitating crimson puddle. It was boiling blood right from her own wound. The lad fell, and only a well-timed roll saved him from death. Still, it hurt. He couldn’t neglect defense stats in this fight.
"Have you not noticed? You shan’t save anyone holding back!" The blood mage exclaimed, much more agitated than Lorenzo could ever be.
"KILL HIM, KILL HIM, KILL HIM!!!" A chorus of raging audiences just wouldn’t shut up. Keyaru spared a glance toward the peak of the colosseum. The highest lodge hosted his only allies here. Setsuna and Flare. The Healer genuinely smiled toward them before casually dodging an upward blood slash.
"You’re right." The boy dropped the sword; it wouldn’t be much use. His right hand slapped the chest, rendering the healer into a full-fledged battlemage. He started with a series of thunderbolts from his palms. The onslaught of silent spells made Catherine dodge for the first time during their fight. She tried counter-attacking with spikes of bloody sand, but the avenger dodged a few before slamming the ground, summoning rocky land into his service. Now it was his stalagmites that pursued Bloodbringer, along with water spheres powered by the essence of wind. But instead of running away, she chose to get closer. Perhaps, expecting Keyaru to be defenseless, or deeming herself stronger in the close quarters, the hero met her rapier with a conjured ice blade, which was more than capable…
…
…of snapping in two, leaving Keyaru open to a fatal blow. Catherine impaled his stomach, the lad screamed his lungs off. Something was wrong, really, really wrong…
Freia, or Flare, stood motionless. Her emerald eyes didn’t blink, as she watched as Bloodbringer telekinetically tossed Keyaru into the air and cut off his right arm before he roughly whammed on the reddish sand. It literally took a miracle for the boy not to lose the other one. A miracle of acrobatics.
"No-no-no-no!" The girl whined, barely able to muster her emotions. She wanted to scream, or cry, or jump there, or… or!..
"Your Highness?.." Strangely, Buck was as calm as he could be. His eyes were blank, and after he told all of his acquaintances to let the princess pass, the knight mysteriously lost all of his temper.
"Calm down!" Fortunately, Setsuna was there. She grabbed her panicking friend by the shoulder and pointed to the arena. There, the healer regained his limb and once again clashed with the legendary Champion. "Master told you to be ready."
"No… He told it to you." The sorceress shook her head, tremblingly gripping her malachite staff. "This is wrong! This Isn't how it's supposed to be…" The princess shivered. At that point, Keyaru must have already evacuated his people for Flare to start her speech. But… how? This enemy, this inhuman abomination, was way stronger than anything they faced so far, and something told her Bloodbringer wasn’t even at the peak.
He told her to wait, to stand and watch how the Hero of Healing completed his task. But… she couldn’t. The magician raised her staff, unsure if she could do it — drain the wild mana to conjure a Meteorite spell fast enough, but she had to. Freia raised her plain scepter and started the chant. Energy started to gather around her. The caster felt her sheer might gathering… only for her to get unceremoniously distracted by the wham of a fallen body.
"Setty?.. What… have you done?" The ice warrior stood above the murdered Buck. Her shiny claws were stained with his blood. His… black blood.
"BACK!" The she-wolf snarled, kicking the corpse. Not many can survive having their neck pierced all the way through… But this one did. The dark goo on Setsuna’s gloves turned into a fog before reuniting the fallen knight. He floated above the floor, and when the princess finally saw the face…
"No… Not you!.." It was not a youngster’s, but a bearded man’s. None other than Margurth Rikil Jioral stood before the girls. Even with no crown, he commandeered his reign.
"Look at her. Instead of joining hands with Panakea’s brat and my sister, she made yet another enemy. Foolish girl, to have power of god, yet use it so profoundly. Some people are just unable to grow up, however many centuries they live." The monarch (or his proxy body, in that regard) spoke, watching the fight between Keyaruga and Bloodbringer. The latter still held the upper hand.
"What… are you doing here?.." Freia fearfully asked, torn between the desire to stand up to her father and hide behind her friend. The latter grinned, aggressively showing off her fanged teeth.
"Clench your anger, child of Enuas. I came to see my daughter." The man dismissed the huntress, facing the heroine. "Now, have you enjoyed your little furlough, Flare? Because we must head home now. Come." He stretched his arm toward the girl. But the old king had no idea...
"No! My place is with Keyaru!" The princess stated, pointing her staff toward her father. "What have you done to Buck?"
"One at a time, little girl." Margurth’s copy waved its hand, and his apathetic gesture summoned a black rift in the space. A bottomless void looked through, extending its tentacles toward the sorceress. Setsuna snatched her out of the way of blackness before slashing the king once more. This time, the she-wolf literally jumped on the `knight` to rip off his head with her ice-clad hands. Before lightless tendrils could reach the huntress, she tossed the king's visage to the portal.
"Claudere!" Freia snarled, as her flow of mana started to close the rift. But even so, the blackened body refused to die. Even with the regeneration halted, Buck, or a headless corpse that remained of him, stood up. But before this thing could draw its sword, the ice warrior grabbed the undead with both of her hands and started covering it with a freezing crust. It didn’t take long for the carcass to turn into a cold statue.
"Haa… Haa… Haa…" The princess panted, her knees trembled, and Flare’s face got blightingly pale. Was this the end? No…
"I see now. The boy fared wise to veil your memories. If you wish to remember, return to my side." Margurth’s disembodied voice shared its last phrase before dissolving into nothingness.
"Go… fuck yourself!" The magician cursed, dropping her staff out of stress.
"Who’s that?" Setsuna asked, helping her friend to stay on her legs.
"My… father. I think, at least." Freia replied, turning her back to Buck. How long was that mad ruler watching them through his eyes? "Please, Setty. Don’t tell any of this to Keyaru. I… I’ll do it myself."
"Uh-huh." The she-wolf made a deep, considerate nod. It wasn’t that hard for her to tell there was a history between the two heroes. It may not have been that pleasant, but Setsuna had enough wisdom to not stand between them.
"Haa…" The princess let out a long exhale before facing the arena. "He didn’t lose… Yet."
"What do we do?" The ice warrior pondered, silently cheering for the Hero of Healing.
"You? Nothing. I? I’m gonna blow up this damned barrier for good!"
…
To say Keyaru struggled would be a great deal of an understatement. While his spells succeeded in causing substantial harm to Bloodbringer, and now the patches of her skinless, eternally hemorrhaging flesh had turned visible, the lad himself was not in the best shape. His clothes were torn, his limbs broken at least a couple of times each. Those two minutes almost cost him his life, trice at least! And even if the hero had the miraculous power to restore his flesh on a whim, his mana pool almost ended. Only Setsuna’s dowry sustained his energy reserve.
This time, the young man picked up a crude sword. Catherine sent a few semi-invisible balls of wind, but Keyaru countered it with a barrier, shaped like a large greenish aegis with the brand of a blue bird on it. Then, he slashed his own forearm to coat his blade with blood, which instantly turned into a brownish acid.
The Champion now sent crimson waves. She used the power of the wind to turn her condensed blood into deadly blades. But it didn’t stop the healer. He may not be the strongest human yet, but his unnaturally vast experience made up for that. Otherwise, he would not have survived that fight for so long.
Finally, Keyaru once again clashed his sword with Bloodbringer’s. Strangely enough, they drew no sparks, even though both opponents proved themselves quite formidable in terms of speed. The lad slammed and rammed against Catherine’s defense, while his left arm, still clad in stone shells (although quite chipped at that point), served as a shield against her retaliations. His onslaught got so desperate, so utterly hopeless, that his sword made a few dents in the fencer’s rapier, before corroding into nothingness. In the end, he saw it. Underneath the coat of reddish steel… was marrow. The blade was no more, the rapier turned into a whip, and if Keyaru didn’t make a couple of backflips, the red tentacle would surely end his life.
"Hey, that’s a nice toy! Whom do I have to kill to get one for myself?" The hero joked in an attempt to stall the combat. After all, he could definitely use a second or two to restore his mana.
"Seventy-four people. I spliced them in a ritual of flesh union." Catherine amused the boy. She too needed a breather. After all, it took a few seconds before… two massive crimson wings erupted from under her clothes. "I suggest slaves; nobody counts them. Of course, as long as you pay for them."
"I’ll think about it." Or not. Well, at least now I know this thing is alive.
Keyaru conjured a couple of ice spears. He sent both into the Champion. She backhanded the first, retracted the second with air magic, and then swung her whiplike blade, sending a volley of red blades with her wings. The projectiles crashed against the levitating stones, but the sinister weapon cut through the scales on the healer’s right arm, effectively cutting it, but the hero ultimately caught it with the left. The first moment the purple magic illuminated the arena. The second…
"A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A!!!" …was commemorated with Keyaru’s wild scream. Yes, that sharp, fleshy marrow was alive. But more than that, it was conscious. Dozens of souls, trapped in a vortex of perpetual suffering. The boy thought himself ready for any kind of pain possible. He was wrong. Seventy-four poor children were maimed, tortured, and flayed just to be turned into a living weapon feeding on their own unending agony. The lad fell down, hunched in a fetal pose. He whined and gasped, unable even to think about healing his bleeding arm. The hero didn’t even react when the Champion cut off his second upper limb. Tribunes yelled in awe.
"In the end, you’re just a stubborn child. Too tenacious for your own good. Your…" Before Catherine could finish her sentence, the world was painted in red. A massive meteorite appeared from nowhere and started falling into the arena. The calamitous boulder, cast in the red aura of fire, collided with the yellowish barrier; the latter had no chance. It was the dome above the building that took all the damage, so the watchers remained unharmed, but the magic machinery got brutally wrecked, along with the projecting crystals. As the rubble steadily dissipated in the air, the audience's gaze turned to the levitating girl.
"Princess Flare!"
"It’s Her Highness!"
"Princess!"
The curses, the hate, the bloodlust — it all evaporated, switched to blind adoration, as if the sorceress floated with two invisible angelic wings instead of a simple air trick. Fifteen meters above the ground, she drew an arc above her head, conjuring not two, not three, but ten massive ice spears. After all, magic is all about the will of a wizard, and Flare had plenty. She then started to send it in to Bloodbringer. One after another, the glass ballista bolts shattered against the crimson wings, but in doing so, they pushed Catherine away from the crippled hero, stripping the meat of her grafted flesh. And so, when the princess launched the last projectile, it went right through the brainstem, shattering the mask in half. Underneath it was a skinless, eyeless skull, attached to the rest of the body by a few grotesque tentacles. The sight could be described as nothing but horrendous, but Flare did not fear. She landed between the Champion and the Hero of Healing, and now her staff was pointed at the fencer.
"You will die here." The magician said, not threatening, not cursing. She knew what to do and would accomplish it, whatever it took her.
"Were you just as bold when he torched you with a fire rod?" Catherine smirked, slightly lowering her flayed jaw. The aim was to demotivate the girl, but instead, she just broadly smiled.
"Heh, maybe." Flare waved her staff, spraying an incinerating flux of pyromantic force. "ET FLAMMA NON DIMITTERE! ET SUBIICIAM SOLIS! IGNIS IMPERIUM!" And with a spell, the not so weak ray turned into a column of flame. The Empire of Fire it was called, but the princess was unable to realize the full extent of the ultimate spell. The seventh circle was still outside her reach. That’s why… Bloodbringer, although charred, survived the inferno behind the barrier of blood. Even slammed into the wall, the Champion upheld it. But Flare, prepared for such a turn of events, grabbed a bluish potion from inside her clothes, chugged the bitter mixture, tossed the phial away, and sent another deadly spell. This time, a spiral stream of boiling water clashed with the winged abomination. And if that wasn’t enough, the heroine added a lightning bolt to the onslaught to actually finish her foe for good. Would that finally work? Well…
It took an unimaginable amount of effort to snap out of the agony. Covered in blood and tears, Keyaru barely moved his body. But when he finally did regain control, the first thing he saw was Freia. Freia… She fought for him, draining not only her own mana but also the wild residue around. I… I must heal, I must regain my… strength… The young man tried reaching for his chest with arms, but he had none, only bleeding stumps. Still, he only needed a touch; his feet would do. Yet, the lad was unable to take off his boots. The legs didn’t listen to him. And what’s worse, Freia’s abuse of wild mana turned out to be too much. The malachite stone on her staff snapped in two. That would be the perfect acme for the end of the fight. But… it was not. Even as a pile of deformed flesh and bones, Bloodbringer still remained a threat.
Freia! Shit, I have to do something! I must…
And then, a voice rang inside the boy’s head. Not speech, but a sassy, impudent chuckle. The annoying laugh, though, quickly turned out to be a genuine blessing when Keyaru felt his arms again. White flames took the form of his missing limbs, and with the last strength he had, the Hero of Healing slammed his ethereal hands on the chest. A short non-verbal command, and the green spark regained his vigor. The young man jumped back to his feet, and quite in time, as the sorceress stood helpless against the raging pile of hemorrhaging meat. A second later, and the girl would lose her head, but with the avenger back in action, Catherine had her bare skill clasped by Keyaru’s hand. He slammed Bloodbringer into the sand. Then…
"I’LL FUCKING HEAL YOU! KILL YA! HEAL!!!" It was not a moment of grace; the hero sent wave after wave of deteriorating energy. His raging casts mutilated the Champion’s flesh, broke her bones, lacerated the tendrils, and exploded the massive arteries. The blood mage lost all of her power while the lad bathed in her innards. Ultimately, after ensuring no piece of Catherine remained alive, Keyaru turned to Flare. "Ha-ha-ha-ha! We won this one!"
The princess glanced at her young man, whose face warped in a maniacal grimace of wrath, laughter, and relief. Still, she loved this broken youngster, despite what he did to her. What she did to him. Either way, the Hero of Healing nodded and walked toward the crosses. He had to make sure at least someone survived the poisoning. The sorceress, in turn, clapped her hands to activate loud-speaking magic.
"Greetings, people of Ranalitta! My name is Flare Arlgrande Jioral! The Hero of Magic and the First Princess of the Jioral Kingdom." The girl raised her emerald eyes toward the tribunes. She spoke in a much more subtle tone than Taretoya, even with spells involved, and that made everyone listen in silence. "As you can see, I am not afraid to face you, my people, and my powers are genuine. I am alive, for I was never killed! Keyaru, the Hero of Healing, is not my murderer, but instead a protector, a benefactor, and the love of my life! He showed me the worth of a simple, common life!" The magician spoke, making the audience boom in a gasp of astonishment. The red-eyed boy could be among them, for he felt no lie in such words, but he was too preoccupied. Twelve people he had unbound, yet none remained alive so far.
"Me and Keyaru merely wished to restore justice to our lands, but the only thing we succeeded in was an escape. Leonard was sent to kill me, and when he failed, they sent Bloodbringer to silence us for good. If not for the one, who you so cordially rooted for to get killed here, I would be dead right now. I left my kingdom, and that had its price. Alban never worshiped any demons or devils, but that barely spared them from their atrocious fate. My friends, for a long time I have been running from the truth and my responsibilities. But not anymore! We cannot do it all by ourselves! This country is abnormal, it is cursed, and you must stand against it! Otherwise, it would be you and your families next on the line! Rebel, protect those who are dear to you! I believe in justice, just like I believe in your courage!"
And so, the oil was spilled, and the wick was set on fire. Carrying the last and only surviving boy, Keyaru and Flare made their way toward the exit. Unfortunately, they had to leave the rest of the bodies. Setsuna opened the gate and waited for the heroes covered in blood, red this time. Not only did the tribunes burst into violence, but also the slaves, held in the cages, made their uprising thanks to the ice warrior.
"Take him and go to the meeting place. I’ll see you soon." The healer spoke, stopping right before the arena gate.
"Why?" The she-wolf asked, taking the dark-haired boy from the blood-soaked hero. He got lucky. The poison was produced by the concentrated venom of mottled bumblebees, one of which bit him recently. Still, losing the entire family in a matter of a few days was not so much of a stroke of luck.
"I have one more thing to do here."
Humans brawled, stabbed, and clattered against each other in a wave of violence. Demi-humans stood up to their masters. Although Keyaru failed to save his fellow villagers, the crimson drama did everything it was supposed to do — Ranalitta was on fire, and this infection of disobedience would steadily leave the colosseum and engulf the entire city, then the region, and then the entire Jioral. Now, Norn, how would you react to the little resurrection of your `beloved` big sister? Well, we’ll see after we unavoidably meet. For now, I’ll have to put that thing out of its misery.
Keyaru approached the sight of Bloodbringer. At least, what remained of her. He cared little for the uproar and screams above. For now, all he wanted was to destroy Catherine’s `rapier`. Such weapons must not exist, and that’s why the youngster killed it with fire.
And for them, Freia was supposed to sing? They don’t deserve any of it.
