«rp» Fate's Eye [7/7] ~arc 3~

I'm so sorry. Been busy again. Though its holiday.

***

"I agree with James. My full-power magic 'Al Clarista' couldn't even make a scratch on its horn." Diabel said as they walked. "Besides, breaking a witchfiend's horn only makes it become respectful towards the figure who broke it through fear, and not all witchfiends necessarily follow that nature. The attack won't kill the witchfiend itself, so overly focusing on its horn and suffering damage and increasing risks are foolish moves to make."

Day, who had been quiet until now, turned. "Do you have to fight it? Can't you like, bury it alive underground?"

"We don't know what kind of things the witchfiend is capable of. It'll be dangerous." Kayde explained.

As they conversed they were quickly making their way around the underground labyrinth towards an exit. Then—— Day and Tovias, who were leading them stopped suddenly in their tracks.

".....who's there!?" Tovias growled towards the front, as the four behind Day and Tovias saw who stood before them.

A child who seemed to have serious symptoms of malnutrition— that was the first impression the figure gave them.

Kayde was filled with a strange feeling, something like a premonition. He narrowed his eyes at the young child—with messy long brown hair that covered their face, they were crouched forward so their figure seemed smaller than it already was. Their dirty skin was filled with old scars — bite marks, whip lashes, cut scars, old peeled-off skin, burn marks, stitches..... and all that covered the child's painful skin was a rough leather clothes and a ragged cloak.

Diavel tensed first, as his spirits sent up a flare of warnings. As the child lifted their face, revealing pair of sharp grey eyes and a mouth lifted in a malicious grin, revealing their pointed fangs......

".......!?"

It was as if the temperature of the air dropped a few degrees—an unexplainable sense of chill went down all of their backs. A powerful and evil aura was being emitted from the child's grin.

"A—ha. I've been found out, isn't this kinda bad~? Hahah!"

And thus spoke the child, incarnate of cruel killing intent.

 

"Haah...haah..... just....barely...." Carol, getting up while holding her left shoulder and covered in her own blood muttered back.

Sphinx reared back and released an unearthly scream into the air.

"Knight Carol..... Scythe Archibaud..... I suggest you stand back." Roswaal called weakly from the back.

".....Margrave, you shouldn't strain yourself by speaking." Archibaud said back without turning his eyes away from the enemy.

".....a~ha. That's not it. You're in the way—"

Archi, jump back! Izanami shouted in Archibaud's head, just as the uneven messed-up floor beneath them cracked up even more. Kicking off the ground as hard as he can, Archibaud retreated back with Carol. And———

A giant lizard with bright red scales and a pair of folded wings broke right out of the ground, flames and steam covering its entire body.

***

I'm out—! Rathius thought as he broke through the destroyed ceiling to the room above them, letting out the heat mana surrounding his transformation.

Rathius, in his dragon form, gave a fearsome roar against the large alien shape built up of shadows which loomed in front of him. He faintly noticed Archibaud, Carol and Roswaal behind him, all injured heavily.

To think those three of all people would be this cornered....!

Rathius slid his body out from the whole he had made. Immediately a figure shot out, too fast for Rathius's eyes to follow— and collided into the shadow montser's body.

The monster was knocked back largely, but hundreds of arms, tentacles and spikes that came out supported it from falling down. The figure who had kicked the monster— the young blonde girl wearing an expensive red dress, Sirius's partner Velvet — leapt back into the air and floated down to the ground, where the rest of the members of the Eight Fingers and Marcus came out of the hole.

The hunter sucked in his breath and clenched his fingers around his bow as he saw the enormous monster looming in front of them. In his life, he had never met such a monster before——!

".....Margrave. What coincidence to see you here~?" Sirius called back mockingly to Roswaal who was slumped against the wall. The sorcerer smiled back mischievously while closing her blue eye and showing her yellow one, in a way as if she had known all along they would appear.

"Aaaaha. So you are that ability user in the Empire famous for his lolita complex...."

".....wow, that's the worst title anyone's ever called me in my life." Sirius answered, shrugging and making a surprised face. "You're not wrong, though. I'm head-over-heels for my own ability!"

"Shut the hell up, you middle-aged!" Velvet cried, blushing greatly. She grabbed at the chunks of broken floor and flung them towards the monster with her immense strength, keeping Sphinx at bay.

Sirius patted Velvet's head lightly, then grinned back at Roswaal, and at Archibaud and Carol who stood before her. "Leave it for us to keep this thing at bay, alright?"

Sphinx screamed loudly, and the shadows completely covered her tiny elf body. Now numerous grotesque mouths filled with rows and rows of sharp teeth appeared all over its black surface.

"Kraaaaaaaaaahhhh!!!"

"Attack! And we are not losing a life here!!" Sirius shouted, his command echoing through the room. The ability users from the Eight Fingers gave a loud war cry in response— and the battle began.


(the healer ability user healed Archibaud and Carol's injuries, and now is attending Roswaal. Archibaud is pretty weakened than his original state.)

 

I ready my scythe and start drawing mana at a slower pace then normal and say ''Don't count me out just yet.''

 

Marcus decides to take a stealthier approach to the situation, finding a corner or place in the room that would be good for aiming a steady shot at a target.

 

Rathius breaths fire on the appearing mouths. While keeping his focus on the mouths, he moves over to Carol and Archibaud to give them some cover with his body.

 

I take two steps back and get the bow, rushing through my mind for ideas.
"So, if that one down there was Greed, I fought Lust and found a guy called Sloth..." I nock an arrow.
"You must be Gluttony, right?"

 

"Running into all the sins today aren't we."

 

Flames circled the room. Explosions caused by ability users erupted on the monster's surface. Chains flung around from the walls, earth spikes stabbing through the shadow substance. The shield ability user and hardening ability user created an area at the corner where the injured were being healed by the healer, Gabrigand.

Velvet fought at the very front, trying to attack its main body from all sides. But because of Sphinx's shadow extensions and snapping mouth, the blonde girl couldn't approach easily. Sirius, the boss of Eight Fingers, stayed on the ground taking attention of numerous shadow extensions, while dodging/deflecting them skilfully with refined martial art.

"That pair is really strange." Izanami muttered next to Archibaud as she gazed at Sirius and Velvet. "That girl is indeed an ability, belonging to that long-haired man. But his ability..... it's simply too strong. It even reaches the strength level of Authorities held by the Sins...!"

"But it doesn't seem to be enough to beat that monster." Carol said darkly.

Rathius narrowed his eyes at their conversation, then released a volley of fire at the monster's oncoming shadow attacks. A flare of extreme heat filled the air, but the arms came straight through and grabbed hold of Rathius's body, and with its immense gripping power dug its fingers into his hard scales, making blood splatter out.

Archibaud leapt up, taking Izanami's scythe form into his hand, and slashed away at the arms. They disappeared, but quickly reappeared and recoiled away from them.

"Rathius! Magical attacks are even more ineffective against its shadow!" Archibaud called out to the dragon behind him. "Physical attacks are still better off!"

Marcus fired arrows from his bow, aiming at Sphinx's snapping mouths, realising attacks onto its black surface was all but ineffective. Some of the attacks hit its marks, and the mouths gave howls of pain every time an arrow stabbed into its inner surfaces.

 

"Eeeh! You already know of me!? I got rid of that guy who fought me two days ago, but he already told everyone of me, huuh!"

"........wait, what do you mean, get rid of...?" Diabel widened his eyes.

The Sin grinned at the blue haired knight. "That man. Tyrinel, was it? We met it a while ago, so I made sure to finish it off. For a «bizarre-eater», letting a marked prey escape is an embarrassment! Ahahaha!"

Silence covered them all, as they understood the fact that Tyrinel had been eliminated. The Sin of Gluttony grinned.

"I'll introduce ourselves, though you might already know about us!" The child grinned, her voice echoing unnaturally by itself. "Cardinal Sin of the Witch's Order, representing «Gluttony». Our name is, Rey, Beelzebub, Farrenveitos!!!" She drew her two short swords, which was wet with blood already.

"Don't move!" Angela warned. She had her arrow pointed at Rey's head, Tovias his guns, and James his ice spears. They were all ready to fire the moment the Sin moved.

While everyone was getting ready for battle, Kayde could not move. His left eye burning with pain, he saw suddenly a scene flash before him.


He was in a town, with dragon carriages and boxes full of goods everywhere in sight. In the far distance loomed a gigantic tree hundreds of meters tall, reaching the space above the clouds. He saw a huge building at the edge of the town where many merchants and dragon carriages moved in and out.

A set of information flowed into Kayde's head: Lifaus Highway. Flugel's Tree. Merchant Town of Fleur. Ordo Trading Company's main warehouse.

Suddenly, Kayde found himself standing on a wide field, continuing to the horizons. The Flugel's Tree stood much closer, while he could see the town of Fleur a distance away in a soft valley.

Right in front of him stood a crouched-over small figure. Sin of Gluttony, Rey Beelzebub Farrenveitos.

"Aahahahaha! This is so fun! Loy and May would be overjoyed!" Rey was saying happily. She spread her arms above her, and laughed.

"Come——!!!"

Silence.

Silence.

Suddenly, a shadow crossed over the field lit by moonlight. Fog started to cover the entire sky.

And a deafening howl, belonging to a monster soaring through the air——————

 

"Dona!"
Marcus yelled, targeting beneath one of the Sphinx's mouths, sending a bludgeon upwards to hit it in the jaw.

 

"Damn it!"

He stops the fire breathing and looks at the surrounding mouths.

"Combat isn't easy in this form."
From where he's standing he'll try to bite and the mouths and he'll use his tail to attack those who are behind him.

 

Forgot to mention, Rey's a girl now. Happened somehow when there weren't enough females in the Sins.

 

I try to get to the back of the monster to attack

 

I focus on the Sin's eye, preparing to cast magic.

 

"Now what?!"

 

The battle continued on—with neither side getting an upper hand, for over 20 minutes. The many ability users on their side were losing their stamina, many retreating behind the «shield» and being healed by the healer ability user.

Marcus stopped firing his bow and stepped forward powerfully, focusing his earth mana into his leg, to the ground. "——Dona!!!!"

A pillar of hardened earth rose up straight up at one of Sphinx's open mouth, striking the inner upper jaw and lifting the monster's body up with an enormous impact. Archibaud kicked off the ground and reached the height of the open mouth, then sank his scythe into its flesh.

"Iza, now!"

All right!

The scythe let out a wave of shadow-like particles as it sucked in mana excessively. Izanami's scythe grew heavier and heavier until———

"Ack!" Archibaud felt sharp pain shoot up his entire body as the amount of mana went over his limit, and accidentally let go of the scythe. He fell towards the ground, rolled backwards to break the fall, then leapt back from the oncoming shadow hands. Archibaud reached with his hand, and the scythe reappeared amidst flame particles.

"She's weakened!" Archibaud managed to shout before he collapsed onto his knee. Because he took in corrupted mana into them, they were filled with immense pain.

Rathius roared and charged in front of Archibaud, shielding him and biting/slashing at the shadow extensions. He released a wall of flames straight into the mouth Marcus's magic opened, making the inside of the monster's mouth explode.

"Al Fula! Al Goa! Al Jiwald!"

A devastating wave of compressed wind, fire and light mana shot into the mouth, causing an even larger explosion. Energy and light escaped from all of the mouths, making the very air and earth vibrate. Roswaal lowered her arm and floated down to the ground near Archibaud. Sphinx thrashed around, holes starting to appear all over its black body.

And yet———

"Tch! It regenerated!" Velvet cried as she glared up at the monster, panting hard.

"Even attacks of this scale won't kill her, huh...." Roswaal muttered. "This form of hers won't last when the mana is depleted in the air, but if we let her be she would be rampaging for over an hour...."

Rathius gave a pained cry as numerous arms grasped around him; Archibaud and Carol jumped in and released him. Steam started to rise from the dragon's body as the battle drained him of energy greatly.

 

"We can't give her time to regenerate! We have to keep attacking her, constently."

Rathiu breathes a wall of fire in the direction of the Sphinx for aslong as he can, hoping it will stop her regenerating abilities.

 

Marcus snuck around the walls of the battlefield, hoping to find the right moment to cast Dona again to unsteady the Sphinx and tip it over.

 

Kayde staggered behind them—Diabel supported him, but the boy shook his head. "I'm okay. Don't hesitate to kill her.... or else we'll be wiped out."

Rey, crouching still, looked up with an energetic grin. "Oooh, I can't move. An archer who's gonna hit me no matter what and also readying wind magic, an yeti pointing many weapons at me, an ability user with guns, and a spirit user who's also a knight. Ehehe, aahahaha!! This is so exciting! I'm cornered! Ahaha, ahahahaha!!"

Without hesitation, Tovias fired his gun at Rey's shoulder, piercing through her shoulder. The Sin gasped, staggered a bit, then crouched forward again, blood dripping from the wound.

"....ahahahaha..........A........ity.......f....«Gl......ny......."

"Watch out——!!!!!" Kayde screamed. They all released their arrows, bullets, weapons and spells all at once directed at girl.

And the Sin rushed right at it, taking everything head on.

Rey manoeuvred her body so that the arrow missed her heart and hit slightly left. The numerous ice spears stabbed into her arms, legs and stomach. The magic spells exploded on her body and scorched her, the bullets made numerous holes in her body, and wind magic cut her skin all over without mercy.

And still—she was moving, brandishing her swords.

"«Unarm»!"

An invisible shock stopped the Sin's movement and made the knives fly away from her. The girl stepped forward, then swung her arm forward.

The ground shook. The walls cracked and broke apart.

An enormous earthworm dug out through the corridor between Rey and the rest, momentarily blocking their sight of each other.

 

Taking a few steps back and away from the earthworm, I put an arm in front of Kayde and turn my head.
"Are you alright?"