[Rex POV]
Immediately after Boris got us back to port, Meztili and I hurried to support our allies. I had to drop by the base to pick up Tiara and Vek, but if anything, that only sped up our arrival time.
Vek had latched onto my back and inserted his legs into my flesh, injecting the venom that flooded my body with revitalising strength, and my speed and stamina improved markedly.
Meztili urged me to go ahead of her, giving general directions for where the other sending stones were at the moment.
Not that I needed said directions. A massive bang and a violent gust of wind burst up not far from town, practically declaring Gustav’s battleground.
I made a beeline for his position, but came across the others engaged in their own fight first. Arnold was bleeding out, his wound was likely fatal. Frederick was unconscious, possibly paralysed, judging from the position the bolt was buried into his spine. And Donald was on the verge of death.
I tossed my axe to eliminate the man standing over Donald, though I knew this wouldn’t change his survival chances.
“Another one?”
“You take him, we’ll handle the mage.”
The attackers briefly exchanged words, and all but one turned away from me to face Lily.
Organised, unperturbed by their ally’s death, neither angry nor malicious, and sporting healthy builds.
I analysed them in a moment and came to the conclusion that these were professionals, not mere hooligans. It was a good thing I was already doped up to my eyeballs in visceranid venom.
But even if I were confident in protecting myself, I still couldn’t let Lily be targeted.
I lunged toward my surprised opponent, but his reflexes kicked in and his sword came for my neck immediately.
But I was too quick. Like a snake, I ducked through the attack and popped up an inch from his face before gripping his throat tightly. He tried to reorient his sword, but I was already too close, and I wouldn’t hesitate.
His windpipe was crushed, and I threw the body into one of the men who dodged Lily’s magic fire and came a little too close for comfort.
The final man quickly reassessed my threat level and realised he was the only one standing. I saw the quick glance he stole towards the crossbow on the ground.
There was no bolt loaded. I estimated he wouldn’t have time to get a shot off before I got to him.
With that in mind, I feinted as if I were going to lunge for him next, and the pressure forced him into action before he could reconsider. The moment he turned to go for the crossbow, I instead stepped up to the man who had been knocked over.
The man gurgled and spluttered as my foot crashed down on his throat.
A second stomp brought an end to his gasping, and I took the handaxe from him.
“Stop!”
The final survivor had the crossbow aimed at Lily.
“Move and I’ll sh—”
I threw the axe immediately, and just like his friend, his skull was split in two. He crumpled to the ground dead.
He was merely stalling for time. With my heightened senses, I could immediately tell the bolt wasn’t properly loaded; thus, I attacked before he could adjust it.
The immediate threat had been dealt with, but there was no time to relax.
Leon had channelled his mana into his hands, layering flames over them and pressing firmly against Arnold’s gaping wound.
I only offered them a brief look before checking the others.
Donald was, unfortunately, still alive and conscious. There was no hope for his survival; it would be merciful to put him out of his misery before anything else.
I took one of the swords that had been left on the ground and readied to slide it up under the ribs. His eyes locked onto mine, and I held the tearful gaze until his final moments. At the very least, he had someone friendly to see him off.
The only guilt I felt was in the knowledge of where his soul was bound. I could only tell myself that this sort of thing was unavoidable until the gods were dethroned. Many more would suffer the same fate, but so long as I stayed the course, they would one day be free to rest in peace.
Next was Frederick. As I initially suspected, his spinal cord had been too severely damaged. He would live, but until a particularly skilled healer could see to him, he wouldn’t walk again.
“Lily, you okay?”
I looked her over. She had no visible injuries, though she looked drained and kept subconsciously touching her head.
“Haha… still kicking.”
She gave a tired smile, dark rings already forming beneath her eyes.
“Mana exhaustion?”
I asked.
“Not quite, but I'm close to it for sure.”
We both glanced back at Leon and Arnold, then back at each other. Lily knew what I knew.
Arnold wouldn’t make it.
To put it bluntly, Leon took too long to act appropriately, and Arnold had lost far too much blood already to hold out.
My thoughts on all this were conflicted. On the one hand, I empathised with Leon and understood his position, especially given his age. It wasn’t unreasonable for him to make mistakes like this, regardless of his aptitude in classes.
On the other hand, I was annoyed. These opponents should never have gotten the upper hand to begin with. In fact, Leon and Arnold alone should have been enough to wipe them out. Even disregarding that, Leon should have been smart enough to close the wound immediately; all he had to do was stay calm, and Arnold would have lived.
Just looking at the state of my allies, I had a vague idea of what had happened prior to my arrival. Their inexperience and hesitation probably got the better of them, just as I suspected it would back in the carriage ride here.
Although I didn’t think things would go this horribly wrong.
Frankly, the mission had been an embarrassment up to that point. Gustav nearly shattered the relations between Farrowgate and the empire due to a simple misunderstanding. I jumped the gun in dismissing Kipper before returning to land, delaying my arrival to support the others. And we split into three groups, two of which we knew were likely to face danger, for no real reason other than to try to solve everything at once.
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I had some reflecting to do myself, but this spoke to a larger issue. Gustav was a good guy and certainly strong enough to justify his rank. But he was inexperienced in leadership roles. Our intel already suggested the bandits must be outside the norm for Farrogate to be unable to get rid of them, so why was that aspect not thoroughly investigated beforehand?
Why was an envoy not sent instead of letters when the communication from both sides was uncharacteristically inflammatory?
So many missteps. It spoke not just of our failures as a team, but of the overall management from the higher-ups.
Incompetence? Laziness? Conspiracy? Probably not that last one, though there were signs of interference with the letter fiasco, most of our problems stemmed from our own failings.
It may be worth bringing this up with Ada. If we wanted the empire to remain strong, this was the kind of thing we should be nipping in the bud.
But I was getting ahead of myself.
I approached Lily and whispered close to her ear.
“Leon won’t do what is needed. Put Arnold out of his misery, subtly.”
Her eyes moved to greet mine, and a near-imperceptible nod was all the confirmation I needed.
Lily’s fingers rapidly began moving, and her shadow elongated until it came into contact with Arnold’s. From Leon’s position looking over Arnold, he couldn’t see the small, shadowy spike sprout from the ground right below Arnold’s neck. It swiftly entered his ear, and a moment later, his breathing stopped.
Lily’s shadow returned to normal, and she gave me another look to signify she was done. Was it her nature as a devil that made her so cooperative, or is she just an objective person at heart? Either way, she was useful to keep around.
“Help! He’s stopped breathing! W-what do I do? Rex, what do I do?”
Leon turned to face us and cried out in desperation. Lily kept silent and closed her eyes, playing the mourning bystander while I was left to salvage what remained of Leon’s emotional state.
I placed a hand on his shoulder and looked down at Arnold.
How to approach this? Was Leon the kind of person who would grow from tough love, or did I need to spare his feelings so he wouldn’t break entirely?
I chose to take a neutral approach, sympathetic, but not too soft. If Leon wanted to learn from this, he had to harden his heart to deal with these kinds of losses.
“He’s gone, Leon. You need to withdraw with Lily and Frederick.”
Leon’s tears continued to flow for his fallen friend, and he looked up at me with his mouth agape.
“No… He can’t…”
“Leon. There’s nothing more you can do here. But Frederick can still be saved. Carry him back to the base.”
My tone had grown firm. I could hear the sounds of combat not far from our position. Whatever Gustav was fighting, it must have been a serious threat to last for so long.
“We don’t have time. I need to support Gustav and Christopher.”
Leon flinched.
“Christopher’s dead…”
“...I see. Then Gustav is alone. All the more reason we should get moving.”
The absence of Christopher wasn’t lost to me, but I had assumed that since his body wasn’t anywhere to be seen, he must have either fled or gotten into a fight elsewhere.
Leon still knelt at Arnold’s motionless body, and I heard the quiet “tsk” of Lily’s impatience behind me.
“Leon. He’s dead.”
I pulled him to his feet and forcibly turned him to face me.
“If you don’t want his family, and yours, wondering what happened to you both, you need to live. You’re not helping him by lingering here.”
Lily came to my side to assist, putting her gentle girl mask on as she delicately wrapped her fingers around Leon’s arm and began leading him back to Frederick. He offered no resistance, but kept throwing glances back at Arnold’s body as he went. Finally, he got his act together and slung Frederick over his shoulders before walking back towards Farrowgate.
I exhaled and got back to business, approaching the one-armed corpse and removing my axe from his skull.
A thought came to me as I looked into the lifeless eyes. Technically, this was the first person I had killed. All the others were done in the Crucible, where they came to life anyway.
Still, this act didn’t carry the weight I imagined it would. It felt the same as ever, despite the knowledge that this man would never rise again.
“Whoa, boy! Did you already clean up before we could catch up?”
The relaxed male voice came from the same direction Lily and Leon had just left.
“Don’t worry, Sir Connor, the banshee is still unaccounted for.”
Marcus Connor arrived with Meztili and surveyed the scene with a low whistle.
I had sent her to pick him up from the Ocean View before rejoining me. I figured another knight’s sword would be helpful.
Looking at him in his official silver armour, complete with the Soleo lion’s head emblem, the man from last night was nowhere to be seen.
“She’s there…”
Meztili stared off into the distance. Marcus and I shared a look, knowing what she meant.
“You’re sure?’
He asked anyway to be sure.
“Yes. She knows we’re here. I can feel her magic at work. We should expect to face a horde of undead.”
Marcus eyed Meztili with a hesitant scepticism. He likely already knew what she was.
“Right… Let’s go then.”
“Can I leave her to the two of you? To be honest, I won’t be much help against undead opponents.”
I wasn’t lying. Vek’s venom would be useless, slashing attacks were inefficient, and I had no magical attacks to call upon besides simple mana reinforcement through Tiara.
“Is that right? Very well, you go help your boss.”
Marcus followed Meztili as they hurried to the source of the necromantic energy she claimed to be feeling.
“Tiara, time to get out.”
Tiara hopped out from my clothing and looked up at me.
“It’s probably going to be dangerous from here on out. Stay close, but out of sight.”
“!”
She vanished with a .
“Vek, ready to step it up a notch?”
“
There was no need for him to remove his legs from my flesh. We’d be even closer in a moment anyway.
***
[Gustav POV]
As round two began, my spell collided with the horned man’s arm as he tried to blow it away with a punch that sent shockwaves through the air.
The result was his arm being shredded to ribbons and blown away completely.
But as the battle raged on, his regeneration gradually returned his fourth arm to its original state.
I held the upper hand in terms of speed, and he had yet to score a clean hit on me, but this was a battle of endurance that I could not win. No matter how many cuts and severed limbs my attacks created, they were all healed within moments.
Meanwhile, I was burning through my mana reserves at a rapid pace. I had to alter my approach and preserve mana, relying instead on my aura for offence.
I withdrew my crescent blades, sending them to sheathe themselves on my back. I would stick to using mana solely for evasive manoeuvres from here on out.
My eyes and veins began to glow as my aura reinforced my body, and a swirling mass of orange light wrapped itself around my shortsword.
Aura blade, a staple of every knight’s arsenal.
A colossal red fist swung at my head, but I was able to duck under it and weave between the following onslaught of pummelling blows that descended on me.
A quick thrust here, a spinning slash there, and red fingers were sent flying, only to be replaced shortly after. The aura blade not only cut through the absurdly tough skin better than the sword itself, but the swirling nature of its form would dig into the severing points and scoop out chunks of flesh.
“Well done, little knight!”
The horned man’s voice had become even deeper and carried a threatening growl behind each word spoken.
“That actually hurts. How long can you keep it up, I wonder?”
He chuckled and delivered a backhanded strike from a fingerless hand. I was too late in falling back, and for the first time, I felt the strength behind his blows with my own body.
“Ack!”
I managed to stop myself from going airborne, but my feet still skidded across the ground as I was pushed back. Even with my reinforced body, my bones shook under the weight of the attack.
I was uninjured, but the massive red body was already charging towards me to keep the pressure on.
But moments before he could collide with me, an incomprehensible occurrence took place.
Two barely visible glistening wires flew past, and as if they were sent ahead to deliver death, a many-legged creature swooped in and drove a knee into the horned man’s face.
My original foe was knocked off balance, and a flurry of stabbing attacks from sharp spider-like legs succeeded in toppling them to the ground.
The creature that had come to my rescue was hunched over, and if not for the recognisable white hooded cloak it wore, I would have thought a second demon had come to kill me.
“...Rex?”
The creature cast a glance back at me. Shining green eyes devoid of emotion and a face of chittering pincers greeted me. The voice that came from beneath the hood felt like nails being dragged across the inner walls of my skull. My very skin began to itch with discomfort.
“Sir Falk. I have come to assist.”
Eight purple spider legs sprouted from his back and loomed like javelins ready to descend on me, and two humanoid hands carried some sort of metal wire that looped around his fingers. I knew about this fusion skill of his, but seeing it in person still triggered a sense of revulsion deep within me.
For a human to alter themselves this dramatically… how was he still sane?
And from what he told me about how it works, the spider’s mind was still active in him, too. Could I function under the same conditions?
“A bug? What the hell is this thing?”
I had no time to linger on Rex. Our foe was rising from the ground once more.
“Esmee never said anything about a freak like this. This job has been a wild ride.”
He grumbled to himself, but showed no sign of wanting to retreat. He aimed the axe at Rex instead.
“You. Who are you?”
Rex cocked his head, his eyes trembling.
No, that wasn’t it. They were moving at a staggering speed, analysing the giant before him in minute detail. After a second’s silence, he spoke not in response to the question, but to me.
“Cut him. Don’t mind the where or when, just open him up as much as you can. I’ll do the rest.”
“...Oi. I’m talking to yo—”
Wires suddenly flew out once more with a swing of Rex’s arm. They wrapped around one of the horns, and with a firm tug, the man’s head was yanked to the side and knocked against a boulder.
Rex withdrew the strange weapon and, with the assistance of his other legs, he skittered swiftly across the ground to a safe distance.
The horned man slowly looked back at him, a vein ready to burst from his head as he narrowed his yellow eyes.
“I’m done with this. I’ll grind you both to dust!”
He threw his shield away and gripped his axe with two hands.
It looked like this would be the final round.
Rex/Vek fusion