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Chapter Text

"Late as usual, what can you expect from an Incompetent rookie."

I sighed, ignoring my superior's usual abuse, before sitting at my desk. The Knight's station wasn't exactly spacious, Stations like this were built on mass after the Witch Cult's attack on Pristella, everyone had their guesses on why but mine is they were built to show to the world and the kingdom's citizens they were still able to act and protect themselves even after dealing with such an attack. However, they failed to be able to have each station have the minimal amount of knights needed to man it. Because of this, they had to resort to having trained soldiers or militia led by one knight or someone who had shown command skills and fighting skills similar to a knight.

I hadn't minded the lack of space I enjoyed the neatly laid out structure of the building. No, what I hated most was that I could not avoid Damon.

"We both know I came on time, Damon.' I said exhaling, laying back on my desk chair.

"That's no way to address your superior, Zander!" Damon shouted,

"Damon, what have I told you about shouting?" Alden, our squad commander, questioned tiredly his face only being held up by a single arm.

Damon immediately quieted down, I couldn't help but smirk much to Damon's displeasure. Damon always seemed to be after me for no reason, he always made my life a pain.

"I was the one who told Lysander he could call us by our names. I won't have him be reprimanded for something I told him he could do." Alden calmly explained, after Damon nodded he once again laid back in his chair.

Damon was almost the exact opposite of Alden, he had always been kind to me and the rest of the knights in our squad. I always saw him as a perfect leader.

With an obvious frown, Damon sat back in his chair pouting. Rolling my eyes I looked back at Alden who was leaning back in his chair, his face covered by a pile of files.
Seeing this I used the time to grab papers from my desk and prepare myself. I took long deep breaths in an attempt to calm my nerves. Without realizing I had gained the attention of almost the entire station.

"Are you alright Zander?" Damon had been the first to speak up, I rolled my eyes brushing away his question, knowing full well he did not care.

Seeing this, Garret spoke up.

"If you don't want to tell him, mind telling me?!" He jokingly said

Garret was the only other Rookie in the station, and we quickly bonded because of that.

"I'm trying to show the captain this." I paused, giving Garret the file I was holding.

On it were reports of criminal activity. After Garret saw the file he closed it and handed it back to me, before sighing.

"You have to stop trying to push the captain on sending us out on expeditions so much, you know how he is." Garret explained

"We're knights!-" I tried to say before Damon interrupted, "Guards." He said, smirking, I glared at him before continuing, "We shouldn't just sit here while Criminals are out there. How can we claim to be upholding justice when we just sit he-" A loud sigh rang out from both sides of the station, coming from Damon and Garret both "This again Zander?" Damon and Garret asked almost in sync, I stopped talking immediately trying to hide the redness of my cheeks. After sighing Garret looked at me before responding, "I know you want to hunt them down and follow this justice of yours which you told us over and over. But in the end, it's the captain, and well, he's not the type to uh.. move." I sighed knowing well Garret was correct, but that didn't mean I would give up. The squad captain always had my respect. While I didn't understand his true strength, it alone is why our squad was allowed to only have four members. However...

Leaving my chair I walked up to the captain, his face still covered by a pile of papers. Nervously I called out,

"Uh, Captain. Can I speak with you?" I asked only to be met with silence.

I asked again but still, only silence answered me. Already tired of the lack of response I pushed aside the pile of papers, immediately finding out why he hadn't said anything.

However, putting it nicely he lacks.. prowess.

"Captain, could you please wake up!" I shouted, nudging him awake, his eyes slowly fluttered open, and he quickly straightened up in his chair, wiping the drool from his face. Before putting on his usual smile.

"Ah. Yes, what did you need, Lysander?" He questioned, still desperately fighting to stay awake. I gave him the folder before speaking.

"I compiled a list of all the sightings of potential sightings of criminal activity. I was wondering if maybe we could patrol those areas," I asked, knowing the answer.

After rubbing his eyes and looking through the contents, he placed it back on the table and slid it towards me, I sighed in defeat.

"Lysander, why are you so persistent? You should be happy our squad doesn't get assigned anything. Trust me it's much better that way none of us get hurt." Alden said, now fully awake.

"Captain, with all due respect, I didn’t take this job just to sit around. We need to do more than just exist in this station. Justice isn’t served by waiting—it’s something we have to chase, something I need to chase. If we just sit here, doing nothing then how can I-" I stop not saying anymore, I didn't even realize I was almost glaring at him. I never hated the captain, quite the opposite I had always respected him. But due to his laid-back behavior, we've never helped a single person, instead, we are stuck in the station doing pointless paperwork.

"You keep going on and on about Justice, stop trying to be a hero, Zander. To me, it seems like you're just doing this job for the fame." Damon loudly spoke out, irritating me even more. I glared at him, before turning back to the captain.

"Please just consider-" The captain stopped me, "Lysander please, I can tell you really care about this but can't you just be like Damon or Garret? I understand you want to help people. I sympathize with you. I do, that's why when you snuck out of the station without permission I hid the report." Alden paused, "But sometimes you need to learn when to lay back." He continued, I walked back to my desk dejected, I could hear Damon's snicker. Even though the distance from the captain's desk to mine was small, it felt as if the universe was laughing at me.

I sat on my chair and stared at the floor. My hands started to clench in anger, Garret's pity or Damon's snickers only added to the fire. I closed my eyes and lamented my powerlessness. Ever since I was younger I had always felt this way. I was born with a gift. A divine one from Od Laguna, if you could even call it that. It told me who was morally good and righteous and who was corrupted and wicked, however, it didn't give me the power needed to do it. All it did was tell me. My whole life I had been unable to do anything, I became a guard in the hopes of getting what I needed to finally bring justice. But even now I'm still as useless as I had always been. I didn't even realize I was crying, for minutes on end, until I heard Garret telling me to stop, but I couldn't it didn't matter how hard I tried.

"Sir, I have something to show you." I looked up towards where the sound came from. It was from Damon he was in front of the captain's desk.

"An anonymous tip of Witch Cultist in the forest." Damon explained his eyes which were on the captain shifted towards me. "Zander, you can tell the captain why he can't ignore this right?" Damon asked me [a small smirk replacing his usually scowling face, I couldn't help but smile as I eagerly responded.

"A law put in place after the attack on Priestella, if there's any evidence of the Witch Cult no matter how small must be investigated," I said, smiling from ear to ear. Damon nodded before turning back to look at the captain.

The captain looked at Damon thinking for a moment before raising an eyebrow, after yet another moment to think he looked at me, sighing.

"Why can't you all leave this old man alone? Fine! Fine! Get ready, we'll go patrol." He exclaimed in a defeated tone, his normal smile being replaced with a cartoony frown. I almost jumped out of my seat out of joy, grabbing my equipment which was only some armor and a sword before running to the exit. The others were much slower, Damon came out after me, followed by Garret, and finally, the captain who was moving at a snail's pace.

Though I wanted to lead, I knew I shouldn't push it. Instead, The captain led now moving normally, followed by Damon, me, and Garret behind.

Our station is located in a town far off from Priestella. Unlike Priestalla which is much larger than our town, no lake goes through the city. The only notable thing about our town is the large forest surrounding us, it's the most interesting part of the town so much so it was named after it, "Woodhaven". The only downside is the forest isolates us, making it rare for people to come into the town. Even worse crime is prevalent in the woods, the towns themselves are quite peaceful.

This made me confused about why we were seemingly wandering around the town.

"Uh, why are we walking away from the woods?" I asked,

"Oh uh, you wanted to patrol right? Plus, likely, we won't find them during the day." Alden said, his hands stretch behind his head.

Although confused I shrugged it off excited to finally be able to do what I've always dreamed of.

Unfortunately, however, as we walked by the first place that was on my list of criminal activity we were only met with nothing. This continued for a while until the silence was broken by Damon.

"Well Zander, I hope you're enjoying this." He sarcastically retorted, I rolled my eyes.

"He's right Lysander, I mean I don't know what you expected. I did see your report and yeah I'm sure those crimes did happen but they were probably sporadic and one-off events." Garret said, looking to Damon or the captain for confirmation. They both nodded almost simultaneously, sighing in response as we passed by more places that were on the list only to be met with the same silence.

"Hey captain, are those rumors true?" Garret said breaking the silence.

The captain continued to walk, as he answered.

"There rumors about me?" He said genuinely shocked, we slowed down.

"Did you beat Reinhard during a practice match?" Garret asked, suddenly both the captain and looked behind me towards Garret. Before Roaring with laughter their laughs were so loud they started to gain attention from bypassers. They even needed to lean on me for support. After they gained their composer, the captain spoke, his eyes still a bit teary from laughing. "Is that what people are saying? No, I lost, honestly I didn't even think it lasted more than a couple of seconds." After I pushed Damon off of me he spoke.

" Although he lasted more swings than most other knights who practiced with him," Damon added. ”lasted more so avoided.” The captain corrected before we started to move again. Garret who seemed to be slightly embarrassed was hiding behind me as we did.

"How long have you two known each other?" I asked, referring to the captain and Damon, despite seeming total opposites they almost felt like old friends every time I saw them talking.

“What? Damon? Maybe only a week before I knew the rest of you.” Alden said, walking uncaringly. I was slightly taken aback before Damon spoke. “The captain doesn’t show favoritism, Zander.” I only sighed in response.

“Captain, why did you decide to be just a squad leader of a small platoon like this?” I asked genuinely curious as my patrolling idea was completely a bust.

“So many questions. Can’t you just leave this poor man alone?” Alden groaned, slouching a little, his normal smile turned into a cartoon frown.

“Actually I’m curious captain, are you that much older than us?” Garret spoke up and, who had gotten over the embarrassment started to talk again. I had been curious as well. The captain looked to be around the same age as all of us. Even when it came to physique, he looked much more muscular and toned than all of us. Not one from an old man like he claims. The only one who could come close was Damon.

“I’d say I’m around 20 years older than you all.” The captain yawned as he did. I was fully taken aback, I could see Garret was even more shocked. We both looked towards Damon, who was essentially our expert regarding the captain. He looked towards us and nodded a smirk ever present on his face. And Garret both gave each other a look of amazement.

"But what about my other question?" I asked after the shock wore off. The captain just laughed it off before scratching the back of his head and shrugged, when I tried to bring it up again Damon nudged me in the shoulder. Even Garret told me it might not be best to talk about it. Finally understanding, I back off.

Suddenly, the captain stopped causing all of us to stop as well. This was followed by a similar sickening feeling I had gotten so used to. I turned my head realizing why.

"Did you notice it too, Lysander?" The captain asked looking genuinely impressed. I was shocked he had noticed but I nodded, Damon and Garret looked at us with confusion. I pointed towards the town's cavern. Two people were arguing, one was a young male who looked to be in his mid-twenties with short unkempt brown hair, and the other was a female also in her twenties with blonde hair.

Garret and Damon only seemed to be more confused, The captain spoke up. "One of them is concealing a weapon. Judging by how mad they're, I'm guessing they're gonna use it." The captain said I was taken aback by how serious he was. Even more so how he was able to pinpoint all that on a glimpse while we were walking, I only knew because of my Divine protection.

"So the Female?" I asked.

"It's the man," Alden said

I paused, Alden looked at me confused. The sick feeling I had was coming from the girl, I had been sure of it. My Divine Protection has never been wrong. And that sickening aura only I could see was flowing out of her. Alden and I looked at each other for a moment.

As the screaming of the two people grew louder the captain started to move forward before Damon stopped him.

"Alright Zander, time to be a hero." He said with a smile on my face I couldn't tell if this was an attempt to mock me.

I looked to the captain and he simply shrugged.

I didn't care at all, excited I finally got the chance I walked up to the two of them.

"Is everything alright?" I asked the two of them calmly. The two stopped arguing and turned to me.

"You called guards on me?" The man said tears were streaming from his face.

"They came on their own, scumbag." She said her face in a scowl. "Are you lying again? Why do you always do this?" He asked, his tears covering his cheek.

"I'll have to ask you both to calm down," I said, trying to sound as calm as possible.

Almost ignoring me they started to shout at each other even more. This went on for seemingly minutes when I turned to the squad for help. I was met with the captain pretending not to see, and Damon preventing Garret from helping. Their screams were incomprehensible, the kinds only a raging couple would understand. I tried over and over to calm them down but it only seemed to escalate things. Suddenly the man took out a small blade from his pocket and charged at her. I grabbed him and twisted the knife out of his hands. Then I knocked him down by sweeping his legs so he fell on his knees and forced his hands behind his back. I expected him to fight back or at least continue crying. But he did nothing, he only whispered. Not to me, or even to himself to something or someone who wasn't there.

"We trusted you, why did you?... If only we weren't at Priestalla at the time. No, I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt. Why do I always?" He murmured. It was so quiet only people who were essentially right next to him would hear it. Not only that but it was like a string of unrelated words. He sounded insane, despite that. The sick feeling only got worse as I forced him down. The feeling continued to become unbearable, everything was telling me I was in the wrong. I had to stop myself from gagging. As time progressed the feeling of sickness increased tenfold. I couldn't take it anymore and let go of him. To which he made a surprise grunt.

"Why did you let him go? Didn't you see he tried to kill me!" She screamed, and my hands were shaking. This curse of divine protection had always been a problem for me one way or another. I've always wanted to be a hero, that's why when I understood my Protection I thought it was destiny. But how can I be sure if that's the case when I'm restraining a girl who had almost been killed because a Protection is telling me to do so?

She kicked and spat, I only tightened my grip.

“Help me! This man’s insane!” She screamed but not to me, the captain and the rest of the squad without me realizing all ran towards me only stopping a few feet away. The captain was narrowing his eyes at me, his hand ready to draw his sword at any moment.

However, before the captain could speak Damon budded in.

“Zander, what are you doing? Leave the girl alone!” He commanded.

“Why are you doing this?” Alden’s eyes only narrowed further. Garret was almost in shock only staying near the two without moving. When Damon moved closer to the man who was still on the ground despite no longer being restrained anymore, I placed myself in front of him. The captain started to step in, I could see him unsheathing his sword.

To say this was bad, is an understatement. I don’t know how strong the captain is at fighting, but I knew he had to have some skill or else he wouldn't be squad captain he needed to at least be strong enough to be on the same level as some knights. There was no way I could beat him, even if I wasn’t handicapped. But I had to restrain the girl while fighting him, no chance. So I did the only thing I could do.

“Listen to me! I have divine protection! It tells me who is evil and who isn’t! And right now it’s screaming at me that this girl is horrible!” I shouted as the three of them stopped in their tracks.

“I wasn’t aware of this, why haven’t you told me before?” The captain asked,

“I assumed it wasn’t important. Nobody believes I have it anyway.” I answered.

It was a risky move, indeed, I never told the captain of my divine protection. I never try and tell anyone, as far as I know. I’m the first one to ever have such Divine protection. More than that, justice is a broad term and so is evil. What could be defined as evil and what could be defined as justice changes for each person. So whose definition of justice and evil does my divine protection work off of? Was it god? A divine protection like mine is unlike others, most just enhance one's physical abilities, the only one I knew of that could even come close was the divine protection of one of the king candidates Crusch who was rumored to be able to tell when someone was lying. However, something like a lie is often clearly defined while justice is a blur.

The captain took another step before, but to my shock, Damon unsheathed his blade and aimed it towards the captain. Garret soon followed.

“Wh-what am I doing!” Garret screamed he was confused and messed up, but he still stood in support. Damon narrowed his eyes towards the captain.

“Put it down, Alden.” Damon yelled, the captain tightened his grip on his sword.

“You’re blinding, trusting this? As it stands there is zero proof the girl has done anything wrong! Right now all three of you are traitors.” Alden said he wasn’t shouting, his voice was loud enough for us to hear but it was almost melancholic. His hands were shaking albeit only a small amount.

Sometimes seconds can last a lifetime, this was one of those times. Until finally after eight grueling seconds, the captain stomped on the ground before he sheathed his blade.

I felt a breeze pass by, I felt something grab the hand that was holding the girl. Out of instinct I rapidly slashed, but I realized too late it was the captain that had grabbed me.

The captain dodged it with only a slight shift of his body as if he had already known I would.

He freed the girl from my grasp and told the man to leave. The girl tried to punch me but Alden pulled me back before she was able to, as if he could tell it was coming. Both the girl and the man then ran in separate directions.

“I’ll hide any reports of what happened here. We’ll get the girl in trouble after we have proper proof. Until then I don’t want you to do that again!” The captain shouted he didn’t seem angry. Not that I would know what the captain would look like when he’s mad, but his voice said otherwise. We all nodded almost simultaneously, if you looked at us from the outside I could imagine we all looked like scolded children. He sighed before walking back towards the knight's station.

“I swear you’ll all be the death of me.” The captain said while walking.

“Thanks Damon, and Garret for having my back.” I asked, trying to hide my embarrassment. I had never thought the day would come when I thanked Damon for anything but he was the first one to come to help me.

Damon ruffled my hair, and Garret only chuckled. And even though he was facing away from me I could tell even the captain was smiling despite supposedly being mad.

Chapter Text

When we arrived back at the station the Captain seemed to lighten up. His ever-present smile hinted at that to us. I dreaded returning to the station. It was likely after everything that happened we were never going to be able to patrol again. I was desperate to stay even for just a second longer.

Then suddenly, the reason why we went on the patrol, in the first place. Flashed through my head.

“What about the woods? There was a report of cultist behavior right?” I asked, this caused Damon and the Captain to look at one another. With a sigh, the Captain started to speak.

“Look Lysander, Damon made that-.” Alden stopped talking midway, the sound of a child crying caused him to stop talking and turn to where it was coming from. Much to his displeasure it came from the woods.

Of course without looking I rushed headlong into the woods, looking back to see if they were following, the Captain caught up almost instantly, and Damon wasn't too far behind with Garret lagging.

When we walked in, the crying almost completely stopped, the deeper we went the more the sound got quieter, but you could still hear it. The more we closed in, the more I felt a strange feeling bubbling in my stomach. I felt despair and fear, yet I didn't understand why. Looking around, Garret had been much more scared than all of us. Was his fear spreading? Luckily the Captain's calm and shockingly happy look was even more infectious which helped to keep the fear down.

Suddenly we arrived, at the source of the crying voice. It was a young girl wearing a pink frilly ornate dress with white trimmings. Her hair was forcibly tied back into two small pigtails, though she didn’t have enough hair for them to be comfortable, causing her head to contort slightly.

When we saw it, the Captain immediately stopped me and forced me to duck using a bush as cover, Damon followed with Garret being the last to do the same. We all looked on at the young girl, she looked like any other crying young girl. Her pink dress contrasted the endless green of the forest. I couldn't tell if this was what the tip was talking about. Reports of cultists said they covered their faces and wore a black cloak decorated with red symbols and none seemed to be children.

Yet the young girl in front of them followed none of the reports. The thought crossed my mind that this could be a Sin Archbishop, but while there have been reports of child-like Sin Archbishop none of their descriptions matched the girl. Looking at how sad and unfortunate the girl was, I almost felt compelled to help. Help her! She's just a poor girl, a thought that almost feels forced into my mind. The only reason I hadn’t was that familiar feeling of sickness it made me all too sure that it was no ordinary girl. An average criminal tends only to make me a little uneasy. There were some expectations but that mostly remained true, I've never seen a criminal who made me feel so sick that I experienced fever-like symptoms, yet the girl did exactly that.

"Why are we just hiding here? This girl is in danger!" Garret said, a concerned look on his face. He said looking at the Captain before looking back at the girl.

The Captain just stared, I heard him murmuring something, and he was visibly shaking, his face lacking his usually animated smile, or that cartoony frown, Sweat beaded along his brow, his breath shallow and uneven, His murmurs grew quieter as his eyes darted around, searching for something—an escape? This was nothing like he normally is, he was in deathly fear of something.

"Captain?" I asked, I couldn't stop the concern in my voice. The Captain ignored me, Damon also seemed to notice as he desperately shook the Captain, but to no avail. After minutes of this Garret broke the silence.

"Alright I've had enough!" Garret said, getting out of the bush and walking towards the pink-dressed girl. I tried to grab him, but I couldn't without exposing myself in the process. I watched on, my heart beating out of my chest, clutching my sword. I was unconsciously slowly pulling it out. Even the Captain was watching Garrett.

Garret approached, reaching out. What happened next blinked by in seconds, two seemingly females dressed in maid outfits suddenly surrounded Garret and the girl, before he could react a giant shard of ice crashed into Garret's head. Immediately falling to the ground unconscious, his limp body was dragged into the bushes by the "maids' and the pink-dressed girl before disappearing once more.

"GARR-" Before I could shout Damon quickly covered my mouth. I turned to him and shouted.

"What are you doing? We have to go help him!" I yelled. Damon shook his head pointing to the Captain who was huddling himself, "You won't do that by screaming. The Captain is out of action. Even if he weren't, we wouldn't be enough to stop whatever the hell that was we saw, maybe if every squad in the town helped we could." He shouted back.

"So what's the plan? We just leave?" I spat.

But before he could answer people in dark cloaks jumped out of the greenery and surrounded us, I quickly unsheathed my sword with Damon doing the same. I had no chance to help the Captain as they charged at us. I managed to cut one down before another charged at me. Pulling out a crimson knife they slashed at me before I parried it and slashed them across the chest. One snuck up behind me and brought their blade down. My armor, despite being slightly damaged after, was left perfectly fine before counterstabbing. The world began to spin, all I knew was I had been repeatedly slashed and stabbed until I realized there weren't any more cultists. I looked down at myself and my sword and I realized the sheer amount of blood that stained it. I looked towards Damon who was also covered in blood, with only spots where blood was absent where you could see his actual body.

It was only now that I realized how sore my whole body felt, despite that I turned towards the direction Garret was dragged. Until something grabbed my leg

I was expecting it to be Damon, so I turned around to tell him he couldn’t change my mind, I had to go help Garret even if he could already be dead.

But to my shock, it was the Captain, he looked at me with a sad look in his eyes.

“You wanted to know? Right? Why am I the Captain of such a small squad and not a knight?” The Captain said.

His hands were shaking uncontrollably. His grip on my hand was weak. I could've broken out easily yet I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Someone I respected so highly being reduced to this.

” Is this the time-” I stopped, remaining silent as the Captain started to talk.

“It was a situation like this,” the Captain began, his voice shaky. “I led a small group on a rescue mission, the last one I needed to prove myself as a proper knight. At the time, we believed a small group of criminals had kidnapped a girl and taken refuge in the forest…” He trailed off, his gaze distant, and I glanced at Damon, who turned away, a pained expression etched on his face. He must have heard this story before.

“I was a much different person back then—smug, arrogant, and above all, a fool. I pushed my team into the depths of that forest, convinced I could handle anything that came our way. The thrill of the hunt blinded me. What we thought were just petty criminals turned out to be the witch cult, a force far more sinister than I could have ever imagined. They had laid a trap, and I was the bait. I led my comrades into a slaughterhouse. I experienced their deaths firsthand.”

The Captain’s voice wavered as he spoke, each word weighted with guilt. “I watched as one by one, they fell, their screams echoing in my ears even now. I had to bear witness to their deaths—friends who trusted me, who looked to me for guidance. I can still hear their cries, feel the weight of their blood on my hands.”

He lowered his gaze to the ground, tears streaming down his cheeks, splattering against the earth like a heavy rain. “How could I ever have the gall to call myself a knight after that? I failed them all, and now, I’m standing here, on the verge of letting another person down…” He stared into the dirt. Wetting it with his tears.

I paused, pushing his hand off mine and kneeling, placing my hand on his shoulder. Before slapping him, his tear-soaked cheek soaking my hand as I did. Damon and the Captain looked at me, both equally shocked.

“Are you an idiot? No, you absolutely are an idiot. I can’t imagine how it feels to do that, a decision you make leading to the death of people you care for. But your response to that is hiding away and crying like a coward when another person is in danger? Would your dead comrades want you to do that? This is your chance to make it up to them! Help me get Garret back, and send those damn cultists back to hell! Damon you too, Garret should be our priority not saving our asses.” I said almost screaming at the two of them got up and dusted myself off, then offered a hand to the Captain, which he accepted.

“I wasn’t saying that to- whatever.” Damon said with a sigh before smiling. The Captain looked at me before nodding, I could tell he was still scared. But I could see that familiar cartoony smile was starting to grow back on his face. Seeing this instantly boosted my mood, I never thought my speech would work. It’s not like I had any right to speak… I was fully prepared to go fight the cultist on my own and die trying. But with The Captain and Damon on my side, maybe…!

“MOVE!” The Captain said, backing away. As if to remind me of the reality we live in. I was knocked out of balance and I fell on the ground before being dragged deeper into the forest far away from the Captain. He faded from view as I was dragged further and further.

I turned to see what grabbed me, but there was nothing there. Despite that, I was being dragged along the ground. Bushes, twigs, and mud slammed into my face as I was dragged.

Arriving at a clearing, before being suddenly lifted off the ground. I was suspended upside down for a moment high in the air, I could see the tips of the trees far below me before being slammed back down to the ground. I heard a loud crack as I landed. My armor was almost destroyed only the shoulder piece being somewhat functional, luckily it had taken most of the crash. But My right leg was shattered.

The pain from my leg was unbearable, however, I forced myself up completely relying on my only unbroken leg to hold my whole body. Looking around, I saw Damon who had already been up and quick to face away from the Cultist who was watching the two of us. Unlike me, he was left unharmed; his armor was similarly unscathed. We had been surrounded, this time there was no more doubt, “Witch Cultist!” I shouted in pure rage. The pink-dress girl was in the center of them all, but the twin maids were nowhere to be seen. She walked towards us before stopping only a couple feet ahead of the other cultist, her small drill ponytails bounced as she did.

"Stay there! Are you the leader, are you affiliated with the witches' cult!" Damon Loudly shouted, but the girl looked on silently. Damon asked more and more things yet both the Cultists and the girl said nothing, only standing there and watching the two of us in dead silence. Suddenly the loud clang of metal rang out behind the young girl. Out from the forest came a woman, with a white and purple outfit and long flowing silver hair, on the hair was a white flower. Chains attached to her arms with hooks at the end dragged along the ground as she walked. A single red tear remained under her eyes. Her eyes were oddly alluring, yet disgusting and hideous at the same time. Just looking at her gave me a wave of disgust, and my Divine protection made it obvious. This woman was evil incarnate. My divine protection made me have the urge to vomit, yet I couldn't turn my head away.

"Forgive them, I apologize for their rude behavior. I often forgot to introduce myself, A trait I seem to have in common with my beloved," The woman smiled, pushing past the Cultist and the young girl, She bowed, then rose with a smile that was far too hideous to bring any comfort.

“Oh my! I'm so embarrassed, you really must forgive me.” The woman said, before finally introducing herself.

"Sin Archbishop Representing Wrath, Sirius Romanee-Conti." She said with glee, Damon aimed his sword directly at her.

"I understand I may be threatening but could you-" Before Sirius could finish Damon loudly interrupted, "Where the hell did you take Garret!"

She shook her head and shrugged, "My beloved handles recruitment, I dearly apologize." Sirius said with dramatized regret.

"Recruitment?" I had asked loud enough for her to hear me. But she put a finger to her mouth. I limped next to Damon, and we both gave a knowing nod to each other.

"Alright Sirius, Let me introduce myself then, Lysander Vale," I said glaring at her.

"Damon Darrow," Damon said with an expression matching my own.

Sirius narrowed her eyes doing yet another Courtesy bow.

"A pleasure-!" Sirius was cut off, the moment she looked away from us Damon and I unleashed our desperate surprise attack. The plan, if you could call it that, was simple. We expected the Cultists and girl to rush to her aid, staying back my goal was to keep them off of Damon, who’d push her into the forest. Damon was in a much better condition to fight an Archbishop than I was. And supposedly a better fighter, or so he claimed endlessly.

To my surprise, the Cultist simply watched on, as Sirius stopped bowing and her chain flickered to life. Like snakes, they glided through the air as the hook end closed in towards Damon who quickly ducked below and continued to run as fast as he could to her.

I couldn't just stand there, and seeing the other cultist had no plans to help. I saw the chains that Miss slightly slew towards me taking my chance, grabbed the chains and planted my foot in the ground. The force with which the chains pulled away was inhumane, despite that I stubbornly held on. I couldn't let my focus slip even a little. But I felt my whole body slowly shift forward, the force pulling the chains back. Yet I held on,

"LET GO ZANDER!" Damon screamed, as fire quickly engulfed the entire chain, despite letting it go, my left hand was caught in the flames for merely a couple of seconds. Despite that my hand became charred, and I couldn't feel it at all. I couldn't even hold my sword in my left hand anymore.

Damon backed far away grabbing me as he did when we were a good distance away. I took a look at him. Despite being unable to use her chains which I had assumed was her only weapon Damon looked awful. A piece of his armor closed in on itself as impact marks made it obvious where he had been hit. A small trail of blood fell from his mouth and his breathing was quick and sporadic. Did She do that by brute force alone?

Damon ran toward crashing into Sirius forcibly pushing her into the forest away from the clearing, a scream quickly rang out soon after. The cultist attempted to follow her, I limped as fast as I could to block any of them from exiting the clearing. If they wanted to get to Damon they'd have to get past me.

They all charged at me at varying speeds, the first to arrive did a wide horizontal slash, and I backed away enough to avoid it before counter-stabbing through the cultist's heart. I had to kick him to disconnect him from the blade, forcing me to stand alone on the broken leg wobbling as I did. After another arrived attempting to stab me in the chest, I managed to sidestep it and cut the cultist's hand clean off, they quickly clutched their arm while screaming before I brought my blade upwards and slashed their head clean off. A sudden jolt of pain ruined my attempt to finish the cultist all off as quickly as possible, as I realized a knife had been thrown and penetrated its way deep into my shoulder.

Grabbing one of the cultist's bodies I used it as a shield as more knives were thrown toward me. Running towards them I crashed into the group throwing the knives and letting go of the cultist I slashed and stabbed until my hands were too fatigued to do so. This went on for what seemed like hours, dodging before counter-attacking. Until the Cultist began chanting quickly dodging to the left a fireball flew behind me, and more and more marched towards lighting the forest ablaze. Two cultists had managed to catch me by surprise; however, A large amount of dirt had been thrown into the air as something crashed into the ground distracting the two cultists, allowing me to deal with the two of them quickly.

As the dirt settled I saw what it was that crashed into the dirt. It was Damon, I ran up to him and kneeled. His pulse was faint but he was still alive. But he was in an even worse state than me. Pieces of his armor were missing and the parts that were still on him were charred and completely burnt. Hook-like holes riddled his body. Most of his skin had suffered horrible burns and the parts that weren't were covered in other injuries.

"What happened? Damon! Can you still move?" I desperately asked, trying to shake him as if it would help.

"What happened was I got my ass handed to me." He said plainly, a small smile on his face. He tried to chuckle but more blood filled his mouth forcing him to turn to the side to drain it.

"This is not the time to joke Idiot! You can't die, there's no way I can handle Sirius and the rest of these cultists alone!" I said tears fell down my cheeks without me realizing, ironically cleaning a lot of the blood and dirt that had covered them. I tried to stop the bleeding by applying pressure yet it only seemed to get worse. He shook his head pushing my hand away. "You're not going to." He said placing his hand on my leg, suddenly a blue glow engulfed it. I could feel the fatigue and pain from my leg evaporate, and I could move it again. He then did the same for my left hand.

"You're going to run as fast as you can. Far away from here. Try to find the Captain, he will be able-''. I shook my head, "Shut up!" I screamed "I'm not leaving you, we're here to get Garret back, no way we are leaving you! Are you for Garret? What kind of messed up trade is that?" I questioned, "Zander, you can't save everyone no matter how much you want to. I always found you to be incredibly strong, but out of all of us, you were always one of the mentally weakest. Save what you can." He said looking towards the pain evident in his eyes.

Before I could disagree with him, a loud metallic ring rang out as each link of the chain scraped against the ground, I desperately looked around to find where it was coming from, where she was coming from. Corpses of cultists littered the area, Most of the cultists had been cut down, and the few that remained had all gone back to only watching the two of us. And then I saw her, behind her the fire that the cultist started spreading uncontrollably. Sirius's purple and white shirt had been torn in places and slight small gashes where the clothing had torn. However, compared to Damon, she was practically untouched. Yet the rage she was in was incredibly obvious.

"You ruined it, the clothes my beloved hand-picked! You destroyed it! YOU WORTHLESS TRASH!" Sirius yelled, "I'll kill both of you! By my own hands! Kill the troublemaker! I'll handle them!" She yelled once more, the cultists that were watching all quickly dissipated including the Girl. Suddenly with the flick of her wrist, the chains were animated once more, she raised her left hand before quickly bringing it back down. I rolled Damon over to the side before backing away myself. The hook end of the chain embedded itself to the ground, in the spot I had just been in. I was lying flat on the ground to dodge the second Chain aimed at my neck. Standing up I placed myself in front of Damon, I knew I had to protect Damon that was one win condition.

The second would be getting rid of Sirius, whether it be through killing or disabling her. I only know two things about her abilities, she can control those things incredibly well, and she has some kind of fire magic. I have no trump cards to speak of.

After thinking of all my options, I knew what I had to do, in all honesty, it was the only thing I could do. I charged towards her, as fast as I could. I needed to finish the fight as quickly as possible. She swiped as the chains quickly followed, forcing me to duck down. As I closed in, the chain's movements grew more fluid and advanced. Her control of the battlefield was painfully evident, a single wrong move and I'd get hooked. Even staying far away I could only barely hold my own. Despite that, I rushed forward when I could.

I edged closer and closer. But just before I could land even a single hit one of the chain hooks caught my leg before the other wrapped around my waist and effortlessly lifted me off the ground. Before long I could once again see over the treetops. I got a glimpse of how much damage was done to the forest. The fire had spread far beyond the point of being able to be stopped, the plume from all of it dwarfed anything I'd ever seen. It completely covered the night sky in soot and smoke. As I was raised higher and higher I felt a feeling of weightlessness, before a sudden and violent thug brought me closer to the ground.

"Not again!," I screamed as I came crashing down to the ground, my armor was what took most of the blow the first time, and even then I was left with a broken leg. Yet another situation where death was all but Guaranteed, In this situation I let go of myself and just relaxed. For a couple of moments, everything felt alright, it felt as if everything would be ok. As if they would find Garret alive and kicking, I found myself almost laughing at the naivety of that thought. The naivety of the hero stories I always read to myself, always thinking I could be like them! That this Divine Protection was proof I was destined to be a hero. I understood it all too well now that was just not the case. But I could still try!

Despite being told Divine Protections were a gift from the gods themselves it had never helped me, I could never help anyone. And after what I’ve done, I was worthy of either. Despite that, at this moment falling who knows how high. I would still strive to become those naive heroes in the stories, sure I would never have the strength those same heroes had, but I wouldn't let that stop me. With that, I was brought back from thought and curled up into a ball and tried covering my vitals. I had no idea how to survive a high fall especially not when there were hooks attached to my body. But I did my best to brace for the fall.

I waited and waited, expecting to feel even more unbearable pain or a loud crunch from my bones shattering from being broken. Yet nothing, instead I was caught. I felt the hook detach from my body and heard them grind against the ground as they returned to their owner.

Opening my eyes, waiting for them to adjust, I saw him.

"Captain!" I exclaimed in shock, the Captain was holding me, it wasn't some illusion.

"Apply pressure to where the hooks attached to your legs stop the bleeding." He said I did as he was told. I hadn't even realized my leg was starting to bleed, staining my already damaged pants.

"Can you stand?" He asked, after realizing he was still holding me I felt my cheek redden, but I quickly shook off that ridiculous thought before nodding, he gently placed me down and I quickly stood up. "Status?" He asked, almost star-struck by his seriousness, I managed to respond.

"Damon worse for wear, I don't know if he can-" The Captain interrupted me, "He never told you did he?" The Captain said, sighing, after seeing my confused look he pointed to Damon. Who was in an infinitely better state than he was before. Most of the injuries on his body were gone the burns had seemed to shrink or disappear altogether, and he was standing and staring right at me with a stupid smirk on his face.

"To my credit I did show you didn’t I?." Damon said softly while looking away from me. Scratching the temple of his nose. I ran towards him and the sound of a sharp slap echoed. "I thought... I thought you were going to die!" I yelled at him, not even realizing some tears had started to form before hugging him. "You're giving a lot of mixed feelings, no?" He asked, before patting me on the head. After I let go he fell back down much to my shock.

"Damn fire! I can never tell when it's fully healed!" He exclaimed.

"How long until you can walk again?" The Captain said. "It'll take most of my magic but 10 minutes." Damon answered.

The Captain suddenly forced my head down, before proceeding ducking himself, as a chain passed by both of our heads. He rapidly turned towards the direction the chain came from, When that all too familiar voice rang out.

"Another one, I can assume you're the one who ruined my beloved's toys?" Sirius questioned, her eyes narrowed.

"I have no clue what you're talking about or who you even are." Alden answered. I tried moving towards Sirius but Alden stretched his arm out instantly. I stopped, and he turned to me. "Protect Damon, she's a Sin Archbishop right? I'll handle her, take care of him, alright?" he asked, nodding I backed off, I couldn't help but be amazed. The whole time his guard was never down, he was calm and collected. Looking at him, there wasn't a single ounce of fear. A far cry from how he was before. No, it was more than that. He had absolute confidence.

I had never seen the Captain so serious, it was like he was a different person. It was nothing like how serious he was earlier with the girl in the town. I wasn't even fighting him yet I felt like I would be crushed from the pressure I felt. The battle started not even a second after I had this thought. The chains that me and Damon had so much problem with the Captain dodged it all effortlessly as if he knew exactly where they would be. It took everything I had just to get close to her

.

The Captain however closed the distance in only a couple minutes, once he did Sirius attempted to knock him away, but the Captain nimbly dodged it, once he was in the clear he swiftly brought his blade and sliced, in that moment I heard a thump and a ear piercing scream, but the Captain didn't relent this time slicing her across the chest leaving a large gaping gash. Suddenly flames started to form but the Captain kicked her back before the flames could reach him. Turning back he looked at me "Focus on Damon!" he screamed before charging at her again. As if in a trance I hadn't realized I wasn't trying to help Damon at all. Instead, I was staring at his fight like an idiot!

Turning back Damon was fine, he was completely focused on his leg. I walked up to him and stood by his side. He hadn't noticed me, which I was thankful for. I wanted him to completely focus on recovering, with the Captain and Damon. That naive dream of mine seemed like a possibility, no more than that, it seemed guaranteed.

The sounds of battle from Sirius and the Captain were deafening, however, unlike our fights with Sirius, the sound of chains was always complimented by her screams. However, for me and Damon, nothing was happening. Because of this for once I finally had a second to think. Sirius was only one Bishop, while I'm not exactly sure. Only the Captain was given the finer details but, four Bishops were alive. Sirius was one, but what about the other two? Lust and Pride were nowhere to be seen, and while Gluttony is alive he’s not known for teaming up as the other three. My Divine protection was not picking up anything other than Sirius. I couldn't even sense the Cultist anymore, had the Captain killed them all? And what about that Frilly-dressed girl? The more questions the less I feel I understood. All I knew for sure was I hated them, every single one of these cultists, I could feel it too, my divine protection screamed its support at this thought.

Wait since when did my Divine protection do something like that?

Through the massive fire that was once a forest, came a knight. His hair was as Crimson as the fire behind him, the flames seemed to part as he passed by, his white clothes were almost exactly like the one a white knight from the capital would wear, a long sword was there in his sheath, the swords hilt design was elaborate so much so I couldn't help but marvel at its beauty.

"Reinhard?" I asked in confusion, a man I had only seen once. During my coronation when I was officially made a soldier of the army, despite only seeing him once he made a lasting impression on me that I would never forget, I came to learn that everyone else at the coronation felt the same.

No response was made, he only walked forward edging closer and closer to Damon. Something was off, Reinhard had blue eyes, yet the person In Front of me had black ones. As I realized this. I began to notice even more that his hair while crimson seemed fake, like an artificial dye, and when I focused I could see the tiniest traces of black peaking through. And his outfit, it was incredibly well made that I couldn't deny. But the design was off, it's as if it was made by memory. The sword was overly decorated as if trying to distract from something. But more than all of that, my divine protection was roaring, screaming at me. This person is not to be trusted.

"Stay back!" I yelled, I stood In Front of Damon. The knight stopped, "Who the hell are you? Why are you impersonating the Sword Saint?" I berated. A pure evil masking itself as the sword saint only enraged me further. To my shock, it spoke,

"Sorry, I could've... it's my fault." The crimson knight's apologies were ceaseless, but they made no sense. They weren't directed to me, or Damon. They weren't even directed to someone I knew… a man named Subaru?

"Yet another stunning personality." I sarcastically blurted to myself, the cultists were nothing more than eccentric criminals.

The knight pulled his sword from its sheath, he hid one of his hands behind his back. He was underestimating me, it was clear as day. He didn't see me as a challenge, it looked as if he was trying to see past me. That's when I realized, the Captain. He's trying to see the Captain. I was nothing but an object blocking his eyesight from the actual challenge.

I sheath my sword as well, I stood my ground. One step, one step was all it took for me to lose him, he had seemed to vanish. A moment later his sword was inches away from my face, a downward slash. A simple downward slash told me everything I needed to know, this cultist. This Crimson Knight was far stronger than me. I managed to meet his sword with my own, perhaps because of luck or sheer instinct alone. I managed to shove him away, and our blades clashed once more. Every swing was heavenly, his technique was as if he was making a painting and I was the canvas, I tried desperately to see if I had anything over him. Speed, Strength, Technique, and instinct. He was far beyond me in every way, my only saving grace was he had chosen to not attack. He was toying with me, each time the sparks came from the meeting of the metal I felt a shockwave through my body. And then I felt a sharp chilling blade.

My hands trembled. It was a challenge to even hold my sword. I couldn't back away and leave Damon vulnerable, but it was like I couldn't charge in either, this man was far above me. My breathing grew jagged, my vision started to blur, and the man continued to ceaselessly apologize but a ringing sound completely enveloped my ears.

He crossed the distance I tried to make between us almost instantly, he managed to cut my sword leaving only a stud left before lodging that stud into my neck.

He didn't even want to use his sword to kill me, perhaps he felt it would have only ruined his sword.

This sense of helplessness, this familiar feeling.

"Promise me you won’t say a word about this, sweetheart. If you do, Mommy and Daddy could end up in prison—or worse."

It was just like those dark days from my past.

My parents... they were far from ideal. They revealed in their crimes, finding a perverse joy in the violence they inflicted. Their habit of killing made them more infamous as each day passed, and I was forced to watch it firsthand. No, it was more than that; it was much worse.

"What did we say about keeping our secrets? We’ll discuss this later. For now, just handle your own mistakes."

"Lysander?" Her scared voice haunts me.

"Yes, Ma'am." Why hadn't I stopped them?

Hero? Justice? What was I on? I had known what true justice was the whole time as I helped them. I wasn't a hero, no I was just like this knight In Front of me. I was a fake, perhaps that's why I despised this knight and the cult so much. They were just like me. I became a knight as an apology, no matter what I convinced myself of before this was the real reason. I needed a way to punish myself, to repay what I had done. Trying? What nonsense!

The son of two murderers given such a Divine protection? Was I being taunted? What a cruel fate.

I'm not a hero.

However, despite this even if it cost me my life, Damon, Garret, and the Captain they weren't like me. They were what I strived to be, something I could only wish to be a fraction of. I wanted to die, but if I did I would be avoiding punishment, the gift they gave me. The gift of being able to stand by them. I had to help them, if just by a little. Even if their burden is only lessened by mere fractions, that would be enough.

I managed to grab the stud and push it away from my neck. Before damage could be done, at the cost of my hand, which was now a bloody mess. Clearly, I had shocked him, using my chance I quickly went for a stab, but the crimson knight regained his focus in a matter of seconds managing to parry it. He had both his hands on his sword, his expression changed as well; it wasn't the same uninterested frown he had, but a twisted grin. He went for another clean cut aiming for my limbs, I couldn't move back and leave Damon vulnerable, I was doomed, or so I thought but?

He was moving slowly. I managed to meet his sword with my own, before knocking it away and landing a cut on his chest, a small minuscule meaningless cut. Then another and another. It wasn't his speed that decreased but his strength as well, for the first time during the fight the knight was sweating.

Parry, block, dodge, slash. In a fraction of a second, all those moves were done in succession, the talent of the knight was undeniable before but I started to realize the whole world seemed to be slower, the knights' movements seemed predictable and flawed, a far cry from what it was before. But it was much more than that, my hearing was incredible. I could hear every breath the man took and the crackles of the fire raging behind him. I saw things not only slowed down, but I noticed every little flinch and muscle movement the knight made. It was as if I was looking through him.

As our blades clashed once more a loud ring roared as the metal collided, but his blade was far from matching mine. I had surpassed him in speed and strength in a matter of moments. His technique alone was what kept him in the fight, but I was still getting stronger. I could feel an energy surging through my body. It’s as if it was trying to compensate for my lack of technique. My body was actively getting stronger to overcome the Crimson Knight. He backed away, allowing me to cut at his legs, it came clean off. He raised his head and opened his mouth wide, but I had dislocated the knight's head before he could scream.

Blood poured like a fountain where his head should've been. Covering the area in red. It seeped into the dirt.

As I looked at the dirt, I was hit with a wave of Nausea, My legs gave in like a house of cards and I crashed into the ground with a loud thud.

My body was on fire, everything inside me was under a burning sensation I never experienced before. When I tried to get up, I only came crashing back down. My eyes teared, I felt the energy in my body was being sapped. I felt as if it was being taken away and the strength I was given was only temporary. I couldn't breathe at all. It felt like a rock had been lodged into my throat.

As time continued I finally managed to get a hold of myself, my breathing became normal once more, and my heart rate returned to normal as well. That burning feeling had also dissipated, but I could tell I wasn't unscathed.My whole body felt weaker. A few of my hair turned white, it felt as though I had physically aged by years.< /p>

That feeling of power, entering my body and then leaving it again. It felt similar to when I got that feeling of sickness from my Divine protection.

Then suddenly it hit me, this whole time, every second of my life. Every time I saw someone evil two things happened, I would feel sick and fight them and fail miserably. Especially after helping my parents, I felt that sick feeling coming from myself, I had never thought of myself as someone who could give out justice and deliver it. Never worthy of having the right to do something like that.

I still don't but now, I don't care about the evil I did. I just want to help Damon, Garret, and the Captain in any way I can. I unconsciously want to be the "deliverer of justice" the divine protection wants. So it gave me strength. But perhaps this was the price of such power. Forcing my body to grow exponentially like that so quickly. I was dealing with the consequences. I knew I couldn't do that for too long or risk overextending my body.

I looked back at the Knight's body, it refused to fall completely. Instead, it remained on the floor upright with his knees preventing him from falling, holding on to the well-decorated handle of his sword. Which was now slightly coated in blood due to cuts on the man's hands.

"He stuck to his Reinhard act till the very end." I blurted out but when I looked at the man's decapitated head. His expression was full of regret and fear, his body refused to give up the Reinhard act even though his mind didn't want to.

"Was he… being forced to do this?" I asked, it never made sense to me why the people in the Witch Cult were willing to do the awful deeds they do. Was he being forced into it? In that way, I and the Knight could be even more alike than I thought.

I gently laid the knight on his back, placing his hands on his chest before removing his sword from its sheath and replacing it with my own, placing his sword in my sheath. I hated the Witch Cult, but if this knight was forced into doing this just like I was all those years ago, roped into someone else's evil schemes then I could at least do this much to respect him.

Something was bugging me, why was that cultist impersonating the Sword Saint? His skills were undeniable, but comparing it to Reinhard would be a joke. Unless the strength given by my divine protection was that great.

This question only led to more, the biggest being. If the Knight was impersonating the sword saint, had the twin maids and that girl been impersonating someone? But who?

After racking my brain as much as I could, I could only find one other person that matched the young girl in my head. The king candidate, Emilia’s great spirit Beatrice. I couldn’t be for sure as I had never seen her in person but I was certain from what I heard she would match the girl perfectly. As for the maids, I had no clue.

I grabbed at my hair, trying to find any reason as to why the Witch Cult would impersonate those two people, but there wasn’t any I could think of. There was no connection between the two either. Other than that they both served under King candidates. I started to feel a headache coming on so I sighed and gave up.

Turning back, I saw Damon had already finished healing his leg, but he just looked at me in awe.

"Did something happen?" I asked, after getting close enough for him to hear me.

After a couple of seconds he shook his head, "That was…-N-nothing." Damon stammered, stumbling before getting up. The fire was quickly getting out of hand, the amount of smoke in the air was suffocating, and the heat was even worse. I felt like at any moment I would be burned alive. Under the thick cover of Smoke, I saw the glint of a golden chain, I quickly grabbed Damon and laid flat avoiding it. Then I saw a bandaged figure running past us, Sirius, holding onto what looked to be an arm. She ran desperately into the burning forest. Chains awkwardly swung behind her as she did.

"Get back here!" I shouted before covering my mouth, I looked around, at the Captain. He was nowhere to be seen. My heart was racing, I couldn't see anything except for the black smoke and Damon, before long I was starting to panic. But then the glint of a sword shined through the smoke.

"Looks like I missed the party!" The Captain said, a smug smile. He was completely unscathed, even his hair wasn't even so much as sung.

"H-how did…" I was in shock, I saw Sirius holding an arm, was that... her own? Had she lost the fight that badly? I couldn't help but gulp, just how strong was the Captain?

"Damon?" the Captain asked. Damon quickly nodded.

"Then…" The Captain said, looking at both Damon and me.

The air was thick, with black smoke, but somehow, at that moment, it tasted sweet. The Captain glanced at both of us, leisurely stretching his hand above his head. "This is it," he said, before quickly straightening himself. "Shall we go get Garret?"

Even though he tried to hide it, the fire in the Captain's eyes burned brightly. I could imagine it even brighter than the burning forest.

Damon cracked a grin, the fire in his eyes mirroring the Captain's. "Zander?" Damon asked, I could hear the smugness in his voice.

” Hell yeah!” I exclaimed before the Captain ran towards the direction Sirius went, me and Damon following closely behind.

Chapter Text

” I want you too to follow every step I do, exactly or else you'll be hurt. Got it?" The captain was never the type to order us around, even now he was simply asking us to follow him. We both nodded at me and Damon, before the captain started to run in the same direction as Sirius.

The forest was a death trap, even without the Witch Cult, it was far too vast. It was almost impossible to map out due to its size alone. Many people from our town go missing for days because they made the mistake of venturing too far. And often don’t return because the forest is infested with Mabeast. Often around every corner waiting to kill some unlucky soul that runs into them. But now that vast forests became a vast fire, one that would be fed by the hundreds of trees. And It spread with nothing to stop it, bouncing from tree to tree. Every branch falling off turned into a fireball which would spread the fire even more. The smoke was suffocating, it was almost impossible to see what was In Front of me.

If we didn’t have the captain who navigated through it perfectly. Avoiding each fire and even going through the paths that had the least amount of smoke. We would have been in much more trouble.

It's one of the things that made me respect the captain more. And I couldn't help but wonder while running how he was able to seem to dodge and predict every move.

But that put into question how an injured Sirius managed to get through this on her own?

There was simply no way this fire was planned and even if it was, fire is unpredictable, you couldn’t plan its direction especially not when it could spread so far thanks to the trees.

However there was an obvious problem, there was no way of knowing where Sirius was. As we went deeper into the blazing inferno that was once a forest, chains started coming from all directions, while the Captain was able to avoid each one it was impossible to know which direction they were thrown from. We couldn't pinpoint Sirius's location at all. Not only that but soon Knifes started being thrown at us as well, Damon and I just couldn't keep up, and when we thought we finally cornered her, we heard her awful voice from a different direction. It felt like she was everywhere.

"Captain, we can't keep up!" I screamed as another knife flew past my face.

"Lysander, can you use your Protection to find them?" The Captain asked, sweat beating down his face. By far most of the knives and all of the chains were aimed at the Captain, very few were aimed towards me and Damon. But even then it was too much for the both of us, we were only holding him back.

"I can't! it's coming from every direction!” I yelled back, my Divine protection gave me a sick feeling every time it sensed one that was morally corrupt I would get a feeling of sickness. This helped me identify which direction that person was, but all it was telling me was that I was surrounded.

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" Damon said stomping on the ground before avoiding another wave of knives, "Captain, I think we might need to use my-"

"Absolutely not!" the Captain berated, completely interrupting Damon.

"Do you see any other way out of this?" Damon asked, the Captain grabbed at his hair, "And what? Blow everything up? What about Garret!" he screamed.

I was completely confused, what could Damon have up his sleeve and why was the captain so against it?

Their conversation was cut short when the chains focused on the captain once more. Forcing him to back away from us, as knives flew in our direction. I managed to deflect a few with my sword but more arrived. I felt some of them penetrate my skin.

My whole body had been pushed to its limit for so long. It felt as though my body was screaming at me to rest.

We needed to find a way to find Sirius, she somehow knew where we were, how else would she be able to attack us with her chains? We were at a massive disadvantage. She knew our exact location, and we had no clue where she was at all.

Even if by dumb luck we could get near her she could always run further away and avoid us completely. How were we supposed to find her?!

[I’ll have to use Divine Insight.]

I answered my question as if it was common sense.

A Sudden and sharp, stabbing pain shot through my eye, and I was forced to shut it. When I reopened it, the pain vanished, but something had changed—I felt like I could see more than before. Looking at my hands I felt like I was seeing through them, I could almost see the ground beneath my hand..

"Lysander!" Damon worriedly shouted, I hadn't even realized I collapsed. "What the hell was that!" Damon asked, before pausing. Examining my eyes "What happened to your eyes!" He exclaimed.

Damon also looked to be transparent to me, but the strangest part of me was when I looked at his chest. In the center of Damon's chest where his heart should be I instead saw a sphere. The sphere was a wild burning red, a cool blue swirled inside the sphere relaxing that fire. Glancing at the Captain I saw he too was transparent, a sphere once again where his heart should be. The Captain's sphere was a muted gray, with white streaks that shone through, and a deep blue shade that covered it all. Looking down at myself, there was another sphere. It shined a swirling green, with golden streaks breaking through. Yet a shadowy black managed to take a small portion of the sphere but it was beating back the golden Rays, before occasionally popping up once more. A glowing thread was connected to my sphere which spread throughout my body.

"What-" I blurted out, before immediately understanding what I was looking at. As if it was common knowledge, whenever I asked a question the empty gap would automatically be filled, and I'd answer my question.

"What are those sphere things?" I thought

[The sphere located at our hearts are our souls.]

"What are the threads connected to my soul then!" I thought, slightly panicking.

[The glowing thread is my Divine Protection, the Divine Protection of Equilibrium]

Looking at the Captain again, I saw not glowing threads like mine, but two smaller orbs, one located at his brain, the second was wildly moving throughout his body every time he dodged a knife or deflected the chains. Both were connected to his soul by a glowing vein, which pulsed wildly.

[Divine Protection of Precognition and the Divine protection of Evasion, Precognition warns of any and all attacks that are directed to the Captain, Evasion shows him how to dodge any attack as long as he knows its coming.]

I was shocked, just how many things can my Divine Protection do? Was I holding myself back this much?

And even though it seemed like I was answering my questions in my head. I could instinctively tell, it wasn’t me. I had no idea of any of this.

Turning to look at Damon who was helping me up, I saw his soul had pitch-black tendrils that would swirl restlessly, some occasionally attempting to stretch before being seemingly pulled back as if it was forced.

"What the hell is that?" I thought, expecting a proper explanation like with the captain, but I was met with only three words.

[Curse of Repulsion]

Getting up, I realized we left the captain completely alone. Despite that, he was still fine, untouched. Admittedly I was less impressed now, knowing that it was a Divine Protection allowing him to do something like this, but I knew the simple drawback of his Protections. You'd have to be incredibly agile to even make use of it effectively.

I felt a head-splitting headache wash over me and collapsed once more.

I screamed, grasping my head. My vision was blurred and an overwhelming feeling of needing to vomit came over me, but no matter how I tried I couldn't. My eyes watered, I was struggling to breathe. Bile and blood were completely clogging my throat.

"H...help." I managed to blurt out before the pain overtook me, I couldn't even think straight.

Then Damon grabbed me, shoving his fingers down my throat, turning me to the side, vomiting. It had temporarily eased the pain.

"Why is this happening!" I thought another thought answering my question.

[I'm overusing my Divine Protection. My eyes haven't gotten used to looking at the souls of other people. I need to stop using Divine insight by closing my eyes, I’ll do the rest.]

I did exactly that, when reopening my eyes, everything was back to normal, I could no longer see through Damon or the Captain. I slowly got up regaining my breath. The way that thought answered my question, only proved to me more that something else was answering all my questions. My Divine Protection was infinitely more complex than I understood. It was all so confusing.

"Are you alright now?" Damon asked turning me back over. I managed to stand up, I was feeling fine at least compared to before.

I completely forgot about everything, this Divine Protection thing completely distracted me.

"The Captain has their focus on him completely, but we need to find a way to kill Sirius or else he's going to run out of Stamina first." Damon answered, he must have noticed my confused look, what he said was true. The chains and knives have completely stopped being thrown at us, instead, it was all focused on the Captain. He was moving so fast I couldn't keep up, yet I could tell he was slowing down.

I took a long breath, I didn't want to do this especially directly right after I was told I overused it. But it was the only way to locate Sirius. If we could find where she was, there was no doubt in my mind that the Captain would be able to catch up and finish her, then do the same to the Cultist.

I closed my eyes, before reopening again, looking past the Captain and Damon and into the burning forest. I saw many Souls, however, they were all virtually the same. Instead of shining they were the exact opposite, pitch black. The only difference was it appeared some of them had Chains wrapped around them. One stood out from the rest, however, which constantly moved about. This soul was not perfectly spherical but jagged, with a fire that was deep crimson which raged brightly. That ever-so-familiar sick feeling creepy up again. Slightly below the soul seemed to be chains, these chains were the same ones that wrapped around some of the Cultist's soul.

"Chains?" I asked.

[Authority of Wrath] an immediate answer.

"Found you!" I yelled, "Damon!" I shouted, before running as fast as I could towards Sirius.

We had to leave the Captain behind, if Sirius focused the chains on me or Damon a repeat of our previous fights with her would occur.

I ran towards her, as fast as I could. But my body was too exhausted. I was confident in my speed, as a guard we were more fit than an average person. And after that fight with that Crimson knight, I was certain with the help of my protection I could surpass the Captain's speed at least. But my body's exhaustion affected me to the point where my walking and running were virtually the same. It felt like I was being weighed down.

I was holding them back, Damon and the Captain too. I saw her soul, etching ever further away. My legs gave in and I fell to the ground. The headache from using Divine Insight was creeping in, also forcing me to turn it off.

"I..I-I can't!" I said, slamming my hand into the ground. I wanted to apologize to Damon. The names he constantly berated with me weren't wrong at all. It was all true, every last thing. I couldn't even speak more, my throat felt like it was clogged as I gasped for air. I felt the sweat fall from my face and wet the ground beneath me.

I heard a loud chuckle, turning my head, I saw it was Damon. I could see him rubbing tears from his eyes. I clenched my fist, I started to grow angry even now he was mocking me.

But as he continued to laugh, I felt rage boiling over. I wanted to slap that stupid grin off his face. But when I lifted my hands it felt it was being weighed down by hundreds of pounds. After rubbing the tears from his eyes he knelt before gently placing his hand over my legs. A warm feeling ran through them, as the area started to glow a blue. I tried propping myself back up but Damon gently pushed me back down.

"You reopened the wounds on your legs. It's a wonder you could even move at all." Damon said, before going back to healing.

"You shouldn't get back up just yet." He commanded, before suddenly feeling something trickle down his mouth, he quickly wiped it before looking at his hand.

It was blood.

"Damon!" I said trying to move his hand away so he would stop the healing.

"Relax, just a little mana-overuse. Nothing I can't handle. You on the other hand need to rest." He said, rubbing his hand on the ground to clean the blood off. He only ended up replacing the blood with dirt.

"How else are we going to get her, only I can find her!" I said I knew I wouldn't be able to catch up to her. But what other choice do we have.

He sighed, stretching.

"Of course I’d have to carry your sorry butt," he muttered, standing up. With a surprising gentleness, he lifted me, settling me carefully on his back.

"Wah- What are you doing!" I yelled mostly out of embarrassment. "Calm down," Damon said before continuing,

"Look, I have no idea why your eyes look like that, or how you even know where that bitch is." He explained, slightly wobbling while trying to get used to the added weight on his back. "Hell, you could have no idea where she is at all for all I know." He said when it hit me. Damon had just been blindly trusting I knew where she was, as far as he knew I had no way of finding her. But followed me anyway.

"You starting to get it? I'm sticking my neck out for you because I trust you. I can be an arse sometimes, but.." He said, pausing a moment. Despite being unable to see his face I could feel him heating up of embarrassment. "I wouldn't do that if I didn't care for you Lysander." He said finally standing straight.

"So you going off and tryna do this all on your own is pissing me off!" He exclaimed, almost dropping me in the process.

This whole time I saw Damon's soul, the fire seemed to flicker and reach toward my soul, as if being drawn in.

[Friendship can even be seen affecting the soul.]

I didn’t even ask a question this time but I was once again immediately answered. I looked at Damon who was still holding me on his back, he was completely silent waiting for me to respond, and his face was still heated.

I started to laugh uncontrollably. This time it was Damon who was getting mad.

"HEY! I can drop you, y'know you stupid rookie!" He yelled in embarrassment. I wiped the tears from my eyes and held onto his back.

"Thanks. Damon." I said slightly embarrassing myself in the process. He stopped screaming, and even though I couldn’t see his face I had a feeling he was smiling. I never thought I'd ever say thanks to Damon once, never mind two times in one day. And mean it, perhaps this whole thing has driven me just a little insane.

"Alright Magic eyes, show us the way." Damon said readying himself.

I closed my eyes, activating Divine insight once more. There I saw a single jagged soul, rapidly moving far away.

"Straight!" I yelled, Damon automatically started to move. I felt the wind brush past me as he started to move.

Damon was much faster than I imagined, even while holding me on his back. I continued to shout about which direction to go. Unlike the Captain we couldn't avoid flames. It prevented us from going forward, every time Damon tried, he was forced to jump back as another flaming tree branch fell.

But the worst part hadn't even came yet, as Sirius's jagged soul stopped moving. Then the Crimson fire contained in her soul started to pulsate like a beating heart.

[I need to move.]

"Damon! Move!" I yelled, Damon jumped back in response, as a chain crashed down lodging it into the ground we were standing on a moment before.

"Would you stop doing impressive things, I still haven't caught up!" Damon complimented. Although I had the feeling he was being sarcastic, he seemed genuinely impressed I had predicted her.

But I was far too caught in my thoughts to care. Although that warning felt like it came from myself. It feels more like another person or thing is in my head warning me, there was no way for me to have known Sirius was getting ready to attack.

"What are you?" I thought, as expected I answered my question once more.

[I am Lysander Vale.]

I was disappointed with the answer, but I couldn't focus on that now, I needed to know how "I" was able to tell when to dodge.

"How did you know when to move?" I thought.

[A person's soul shows everything about them. It can tell plenty of things, like when someone is going to attack or how.]

The chain rips out of the ground bringing chunks of dirt with it.

Once again her soul started to pulsate once more. It became obvious that she was going to attack, but I couldn't tell where it was coming from, or even when I just knew she would.

[Right]

"Right!" I screamed, Damon responded in kind as we managed to avoid the chains once more. "Damon move forward! I'll tell you when to move." I yelled, and Damon did as told.

We were once again making progress, I'd be warned what to do and then relay that to Damon. However, I had failed to consider my Divine protection could do nothing to help us when It came to the falling debris.

We were able to hold on our own but we weren't able to push forward. Worse, I felt something drip from my eyes like tears and land on my hand. My vision became blurred and all I could see was a red haze. It felt like my eyes were inflated like they'd been filled with liquid.

[I'm overextending my eyes, I need to stop or ill risk being blind.]

I covered my eyes, it became painfully apparent that they were filling with blood. The blood poured onto my hand eventually spilling onto Damon's back.

"Damnit!" I yelled, If I wasn't able to see I wouldn't be able to warn about Sirius. I would just be deadweight.

"Damon!" I started to scream, but he immediately interrupted. "Not happening!" He said with an even louder yell. All the while a chain flew past his hair taking a cut of his hair with it.

I was going to suggest that he'd leave me. There would be zero point in carrying me if I couldn't help.

I felt my body jerk, Damon continued to carry me, all the while dodging Sirius.

There was only one way for me to close the distance, that I could think of.

[My body is far to injured, using Limit break again would paralyze me.]

My idea was to activate whatever power I used against the Crimson knight. Which was supposedly called limit break; but the idea was immediately shot down.

"What if I tried to use it in a short burst?" I thought.

[...]

[I cannot advise myself to do such a thing. But, the limit break allows me to do things far beyond my limit, the further beyond it I go the more the cost I'd have to pay.]

[As long as I don't go to far beyond the damaged should not be as costly.]

"Thank you. It's because I have something tell me all this that I've been able to help Damon. It'd be impossible for me to find out the intricate details of my Divine protection alone." I thought

[I'm thanking myself.]

If I was able to roll my eyes I would.

I tried opening my eyes, Just long enough for me to see where she was before closing them I felt my eyes going back to normal. Before pointing to where she was.

I couldn't risk using it immediately, I wanted the cost for whatever I was about to do to be as minimal as possible.

"Throw me." I said keeping my eyes closed.

I was suddenly jolted upwards, as Damon grabbed me by my feet, spinning to gain momentum.

"Wait! You aren't even gonna question me! Shouldn't you be against this!" I said, opening my eyes slightly without even realizing it.

Damon wore the biggest shit-eating grin I’d ever seen right before he tossed me.

I was flung straight forward managing to meet the distance between Sirius and me halfway. Before colliding with a tree with a loud thud.

I couldn't even feel the pain as I readied myself for what I was about to do. I didn't want to risk injuring my legs anymore, so propping myself up with the tree. I pushed myself off of it with as much power. A warm and energizing feeling washed over my arms. Almost exactly like when I fought the knight, but much shorter and even less strength comparatively.

Launching myself far enough to cover the remaining distance and crashing into Sirius. She was caught completely off-guard as we both came tumbling down. We were in a small ally, with two walls of fire blocking our sides.

She quickly managed to wrestle her way on top of me and started to strangle me. I unsheathed my sword and lodged it into the side of her throat with all the strength I could muster. But my arms went limp, letting go of the sword only the top section managing to lodge into her neck.

"Seriously, now!?" I screamed as I was grabbed before being slammed onto the ground, a loud thud rang out. Before being hit by a ferocious kick to my side flinging me into a nearby tree. I quickly pivoted off it to avoid the fire spreading onto me.

But I felt the chill of cold metal wrap around my waist as I was lifted and slammed into the ground repeatedly. Just when I thought it was over dark flames started to edge itself towards me starting from her hands and spreading onto the chain. Pulling at the chain I managed to push it off of me, the fire narrowly missing me.

She pulled the sword out of her neck. And she gently placed it on the ground. And by seemingly nothing at all, it started to be dragged by the hilt. Before it could escape though I ran by Sirius and managed to grab it by the blade. Making sure not to injure myself. An almost instantaneous tug of war began, and I managed to win, before grabbing the sword, as I felt something lodge into my back.

I yelled in pain as I pulled the metal hook out of my back, turning to face her. I was sure of it, the Captain had cleanly cut her hand off yet here she was now, perfectly fine. As if she was never in a fight at all. Excluding the recent wound from her neck which was dirty her torn purple and white outfit staining it in red. The only proof that remains of her battles before.

"All of you scum! You Ingrate Parasites! Who ruined my beloved's carefully picked clothes? Now you have the gall to touch the sword he worked so hard on making!" She yelled as carefully flicked her hands, causing the chains to launch forward. I managed to meet them head-on, slashing at them reflected them.

Rushing forward I slashed downwards, Sirius stepping to the side to avoid it, this time changing up my tactic. I aimed for her hands, but her chain quickly wrapped around them, and my sword harmlessly bounced off. Not even a second later, she punched me in the stomach. Involuntarily coughing blood pulled as she pulled her arm back this time aiming for my face. I jumped back, only to get caught in a tangle of chains falling backward onto the floor.

I looked up, as I saw her walk towards me. Her face was full of disgust and rage.

"Get away from him!" I heard a shout coming from behind Sirius before a sword lodged in her arm. Taking my chance I got up and stabbed her through the chest, doing my best to aim for the heart before kicking her away. She screamed in pain, as I untangled the chains wrapped around my legs. Damon proceeded to grab the chains before throwing them and forcibly wrapping them around Sirius.

"Give me something strong!" Damon shouted, Sirius was attempting to escape from the Chains and she had almost completely escaped. Suddenly what I could only describe as little red spheres surrounded Sirius and Damon.

"Come on! Is that all!" Damon said in dissatisfaction.

"Lesser spirits! Is Damon a spirit-user?!" I exclaimed internally. He suddenly pulled on the Sirius chains bringing her towards him, almost hiding behind her as all the lesser spirits unleashed a volley of fire.

A blood-curdling scream came from her mouth, it was so loud I felt the need to cover my ears. As she fell to the ground, limp. But before either of us could react Sirius was suddenly lifted off the ground and dragged just like my sword had been. Something was trying to help her to escape.

I jumped up, managing to grab onto her leg. Planting my foot into the ground I pulled back with all my might. Unlike with the sword, the force that was pulling Sirius away was inhuman, even as Damon joined in grabbing onto me and pulling me. We were at a stalemate, neither side was making any ground. I tried to see what was even pulling her but there was nothing there. The stalemate came to an end as we were forced to let go as the lesser spirits started another volley this time aimed at Damon.

"Damon what are you doing!" I screamed as the lesser spirits started to dissipate but not before unleashing another volley of magic towards the both of us. We managed to jump out of the way once more.

While catching my breath I angrily punched the ground, my knuckles quickly started to bleed as they did.

"We were so close! Why did your spirits start to attack us!" I said, unconsciously glaring at Damon as I did. He shook his head, looking down at the ground, tightly clenching his fist. I stopped berating him and immediately stopped trying to ask him about the Spirits. He was as angry as I was, there was no point in screaming at him.

I got up and started to run forward. There was only one way for her, to go. And this time she was knocked unconscious. If we were to run forward perhaps we'd be able to catch up, or at least try to find whatever had helped her escape.

Arriving at a clearing which formed a perfect circle. The fire had yet to reach this part of the forest. It seemed almost calm. On the opposite side of the clearing was a young man. The boy was lying back on one of the trees. He had unruly black hair that fell over his face, casting shadows over his features. Yet I could still see his menacing eyes despite the fact the boy was in clear pain. Parts of his leg had been smashed and twisted in abnormal ways. Holes and cuts riddled the poor boy's body, and his clothes which looked to be made to travel were covered in blood and dirt. A massive section of his body

I continued to stare at the boy, even as Damon arrived standing beside me. He too seemed to stare at the boy.

"Please.. help!" The boy said, in a sickly weak voice. He tried to lift himself only to fall back weakly.

I stepped forward before stopping myself, this scenario was almost identical to the one when Garret was attacked. I jumped back and took out my sword aiming it at the boy.

"Damon!" I yelled, trying to warn him to stay away from the boy. But he continued to stare. I never let my focus slip away from the boy, yet nothing happened. There was no surprise attack no, ambush. The boy seemed to look at me pitifully asking for help.

"Have I gotten so paranoid I thought an injured civilian was a witch cultist?" I thought. A pang of guilt washed over me, sharp and unrelenting, cutting deeper than any wound. I could barely stand to look at him, every movement he took was another reminder of the twisted agony he was enduring. Why did I wait? Why did I hesitate when he so clearly needed saving? Was I so cowardly, so self-centered to ignore the request of a boy in pain? I felt something hot and wet on my face and realized I was crying. I didn’t have the luxury of wiping the tears away, didn’t even have time to steady myself.

I fell crying as tears fell from my face uncontrollably. Then, a sharp thought cut through my despair, searing its way into my mind.

[I'm being affected by the Authority of Wrath! I need to look away before it consumes me even more!]

A thought forcibly entered my head, even when I did something so wrong. I was still trying to convince myself it wasn't my fault. But the fault of Sirius is a stupid idea.

[I need too... I can cut the connect-]

The thought was cut off, slowly getting quieter and quieter until it became incomprehensible and I could no longer hear it. I looked towards Damon who was in the same sorry state as me. He was equally guilty as me. It felt as though our guilt was being multiplied, I felt as though we were both connected. Connected in guilt.

I felt something grab me, and I felt a sharp slap to my face. Before I was shaken wildly as if somebody was trying to wake me. Shaking my head, I saw the Captain.

"What the hell happened Lysander! What are you and Damon doing!" He asked me a concern covering his face.

[I need to cut the connection! Damon is still under its effects!]

I turned to look at Damon, he was sobbing loudly.

I closed my eyes, before opening them again. I saw Damon's soul, it was the same as it had been before, except for one difference. Just like the other cultists. Chains coming somewhere from behind the boy linked up to Damon's soul. It had wrapped around it dimming the light radiating from it. Damon stood up walking to the boy, his arms out, as if trying to comfort him. I ran towards Damon, bringing my sword down at the chains. They spilt apart falling to the ground before dissipating. To any onlookers, it'd appear like I just slashed at nothing but air.

I heard a thud. I quickly turned towards Damon, to my horrible was on the floor. I couldn't believe my eyes. I turned back towards the boy, confirming my suspicion.

The same injuries the boy had previously were all gone, yet Damon had those same injures. Only Damon’s right legs were left intact, and the boy's right leg was still brutally broken.

"My was my acting that convincing!" The boy exclaimed a bright cheering smile on his face contrasting with his disturbing eyes.

I aimed my sword towards him, "What did you do to him!" I yelled angrily, like venom spitting from his mouth.

"I merely offered him a chance to help me. To so passionately take the pain away from someone, with no hesitation! The pain, the wounds—they’re meant to be shared! That is love! Love! Love! Love!" The man passionately screamed to the sky, his arms raised high above him.

Before bringing them down, placing it on his chin, "Is it? It is. It is ~tsu!" The man confirmed to himself before laughing. “Hmph, but it looks like he caught on near the end.” He said disappointed staring at his still broken right leg.

I stared at him, my hand clenching my sword so tight I felt the blood in my hands. I took a step forward, but I was suddenly pulled back it was the Captain. A moment later the spot I was standing on was crushed as if something massive stepped on it leaving a massive hole.

"You can see it? My unseen hand?- Oh what am I doing? Forgive me. I hadn't even introduced myself! I can't stand that, you agree no? At least I can do that much. Apologize when I've done something wrong. The people who can commit such obscenities and then go on as if it were a matter of course. Violating people's rights trampling on them and leaving them thoroughly destroyed. I can't stand those kinds of people!" The man said, rubbing the back of his head with feigned embarrassment.

"Sin Archbishop of the Witches Cult representing a multitude of sins! Subaru Natsuki!" Subaru said with one last smile aimed at the two of us.

“Do try and not forget it.”

Chapter Text

I stared at that man smiling back at us, with unadulterated rage.

A hot fiery rage, that only grew more as I looked at him. The only thing stopping me was the fact I cared far more for Damon. The injuries the boy "Shared" with him were not light. My main concern was the fact Damon had already lost so much blood. His eyes were barely opened.

His single leg couldn’t hold his weight and it gave in as he tumbled to the ground.

“This is the second time—getting real tired of nearly dying over and over,” Damon muttered with a forced smirk, frowning down at his injury-ridden body.

I arrived by his side. I kneeled to be at the same height as him.

Despite my worries before he didn't seem to be very injured. The injuries seem to only really be centered on his chest. Aside from the injuries to his leg. And Damon seemed to have the bleeding under control. But he looked in pain. That became even more obvious as he vomited, he turned away from me stopping any of the bile from touching me. I didn’t understand, even if he was under some poison why hasn’t he just used his healing magic and healed himself?

"Can't you heal yourself!" I asked, but he only responded by lifting his head and shaking it. Even that action was too much for him as he was forced to lay his head back down.

[If I want him to die faster, that'd be a wonderful Idea. These symptoms are undoubtedly Mana sickness. Using magic is the problem.]

"Mana sickness?" I thought back, I found myself grateful for whatever this "thing" in my head was. But as I stared at Damon's injured body it felt more like it was mocking me.

The moment I thought this, I felt that familiar pain in my eyes. And I could see Damon's soul, although the pain was far more dull than last time. Before it was like my eyes were ripped out and forcibly turned to stare at the sun. Now it was like I was slightly pricked. But I realized I hadn’t activated divine insight on command, it had been done for me.

But I hadn’t cared about that, as I looked on in terror. Damon’s soul had noticeable cracks on it.

“What did getting rid of Sirius's control damage his soul?” I almost exclaimed in terror.

[No, I believe Damon overused his gate.]

“His gate?” I questioned, I had always been clueless when it came to anything magic-related.

[What I see when using Divine insight, is someone’s Od or their soul. But there’s more to it than that.]

I listened quietly, I didn’t see how any of this would help in any way. However, what could I do? I had been completely reliant on my divine protection.

[The soul is made up of different parts, if I were to simplify— The light or flame you see would be their Mana, and their gate would be like the sphere encasing it. Right now those cracks are the signs of a broken gate.]

I could only sigh at this explanation, I have always ignored magic, ever since I was young. That wasn’t to say I hadn’t tried it, however after learning the only affinity I had was Yang magic. A type of magic that was looked down on. I just assumed I was no good at magic, although I knew it could be powerful, any relation to my parents I tried to burn. Instead, I choose to follow the sword. Understanding I was confused, “I” elaborated. [Damon force himself too much when using magic, which ordinarily would be fine, albeit harmful in the long run. But that curse of his isn’t acting like any curse I know of.]

Looking at Damon’s soul, I saw the dark tendrils, that seemed to be seeping into the cracks, dimming the light from it. It drained him like parasites, they grew in both size and number. This was his “Curse of Repulsion” or that’s what my divine protection called it.

Unlike when I saw the Captain's divine protection I was never given any explanation on what it could do. Taking a guess I assumed it was because whatever was telling me this had no idea.

“What is it doing to him?” I questioned, I couldn’t understand any of this.

[The curse is draining him of his Mana, and sending it elsewhere. Before the curse seemed harmless but thanks to overextending himself it must have activated it. Or perhaps it always has been and he’s been preventing it?] “I” theorized. It sounded seemingly impressed.

[If that’s the case Damon is incredibly talented.] it continued.

“What can I do to help him!” I thought, frustrated. No matter how hard I tried I couldn’t wrap my head around anything. The more it talked, the more I’d get confused. And it was more than that hearing something that claimed to be me praising Damon made a strange feeling wash over me. I didn’t hate it but it simply didn’t sit right. I just wanted to know how to help him.

[There's nothing I can do.]

The answer I received was a tipping point. I just stared blankly into space before asking once more. But I was given the same response. I punched the ground, in an attempt to release my anger that was building up.

“So I just sit here and watch him die?” I thought back. The distress even though it was in my head was painfully obvious.

I got no response back.

I stared at Damon as he wallowed in pain. He was uncomfortably shifting around. I couldn't just sit here, I refused. Not after coming this far. Damon couldn't die, the Captain couldn't die, I couldn't let anybody die!

If Mana was the problem, then I would simply have to give him some of my own. I placed my hand on his chest, the nearest place to his soul.

I took a deep breath before visualizing a flow of energy leaving me and entering him.

Although I was completely clueless when it came to magic, I knew imagination and visualization were key.

I looked on, but nothing. Not a thing was happening. Only Damon’s soul growing dimmer and dimmer. And the sounds of battle roaring behind us.

“Why! Please, do something!” I exclaimed although it was meant only to be kept in my head I couldn’t hold it in.

“You seem to care way more than me.” Damon said, his hand placed on my head. He was ruffling my hair, staining it red. The blood seeped from my hair onto my face. Much to his displeasure, he tried to undo his mistake by wiping it off.

If I hadn’t known any better I’d say Damon was obsessed with my hair, even before he’d constantly ruin it, making it look sloppy. It was almost like he was treating me like a child.

I couldn’t hold back anymore, it was a wonder to me I hadn’t been crying already. I’d lost count of how many times I had cried in this one day alone.

Ironically it was also in a situation exactly like this one.

[…]

I suddenly felt my body weaken, a feeling entirely similar to when I fought the crimson knight.

I looked on in shock, as the glowing threads that were connected to my soul, and spread throughout my body like veins, condensed. The ones located at my hands that were resting on Damon seemed to come together. Before it entered him.

To outside lookers, nothing would appear to be happening. But to Damon, he had understood at the very least something had entered his body. That much I could tell from the look on his face.

“Zander!?” He asked, with a tone of confusion. He looked worried like he was heartbroken.

[Tell him to relax.]

I saw the threads appear to be being pushed back or rejected, I had no idea If Damon was resisting consciously or not.

“Just trust me.” I smiled back at him. “Felt like I’ve been doing too much of that lately.” He joked, a weak smile on his face before closing his eyes.

The threads now unimpeded went directly for his soul. It then proceeded to wrap around it.

An unpleasant moan leaving his mouth as it did.

The threads carefully pulled the tendrils out of the cracks, before splitting into two. One part of the threads quickly left returning to my own body before spreading apart and returning to normal.

The other part of the threads remained, covering the cracks in his soul.

Damon seemed to let out a sigh of relief, whether it was because his soul was no longer injured or because the threads were no longer in his body, I couldn’t tell.

I just smiled at Damon, letting out a sigh of relief myself. He raised his hand enough to wipe my face.

I took a breath in and then out, I was doing my best to hide it. But I felt my body weaker, more than that I felt like I aged a little. It was the same feeling after I fought the Crimson Knight.

[I had to use my Od to fix his gate. However, I suggest we don’t use my Od any longer.]

I figure out that much on my own. It felt like any more of this and I’d collapse.

The threads started to regenerate, regaining the lost threads that stayed in Damon.

“I’m willing to use it if the only other option is for one of them to die.” I mostly kept that to myself. I needed to steel my resolve. The best way was to reaffirm it to me I’d stop it from getting to that point.

Going in already willing to sacrifice myself, is a horrible mindset. But I had to keep that in my mind, no matter the consequences I had to be willing to do it. Without hesitation, that second could mean death for Damon or the Captain. I had said all that more to remind myself, but I never expected for it to chip in.

[Using Od wouldn’t kill me, but it might as well be death. I’d be placed in a state of suspension, like a coma. I’d wish for myself to prioritize myself over others.]

I couldn’t help but smirk, I imagine anyone looking at me could easily mistake me for Damon.

“Not fitting for a Divine protection that seeks justice to want to save itself.” I thought. I had a running theory on what it was inside my head, obviously it wasn’t me as it constantly claimed. No, it was more likely it was my Divine protection speaking to me.

Although I have never heard of such a thing, it wouldn’t be outside the realm of possibility, especially considering everything my divine protection can do.

[…]

I took the silence that was given as an expression of guilt and as confirmation.

I stood up, helping Damon in the process. Although his wounds weren’t life-threatening they were heavily affecting his mobility. This was likely the goal of the Sin archbishop to begin with.

But Damon only collapsed again, I immediately knelt back down, placing my hand on his chest once more.

[Already? Surely I am not planning to?-]

I cut off the thought with a loud confirmation.

[That will not be necessary.]

I felt a hand wrapped around my shoulder and pull me. I instinctively went to grab my sword.

“Calm down Lysander.” The captain calmly answered. He held his hand up, but I wasn’t able to stop the blade, having added too much force to the swing. But the Captain held his hand and a force pushed back against my sword, just enough to stop it from hitting him and kept my sword in place. I immediately placed my sword in its hilt once this had happened.

“Captain!” I accidentally shouted, I had completely forgotten about the Sin archbishop and the Captain.

He had placed his hand over mine. His hand was now covering the hand I had on Damon's chest. He closed his eyes for a moment before patting me on the back.

“Excellent job.” He applauded, and I looked on in amazement. The Captain was doing what I could not, he was transferring mana from him to Damon. Damon picked himself up and started to heal his wounds. His leg remained incredibly injured, but at the very least he was able to get up on his own.

I heard a laugh, a madman’s cackle, I turned around. As fast as I could, only to see a sight I never expected.

“Don’t tell me you-“ Damon stopped talking as the Captain turned us both around.

“Yep.” He smiled, as he offered his hand to Damon.

He laid out on the ground, with each of his limbs missing excluding his right arm and leg which had been turning into mere stumps. Was the Sin Archbishop, Subaru Natsuki. Multiple craters surround him. The earth was riddled with cracks and uprooted trees were tossed and thrown about sporadically and had landed in an irregular pattern. Blood tracing the area.

I was slack-jawed. Utterly stunned, even if this Sin Archbishop “Subaru” was half as competent as Sirius. There was simply no way for such a feat to be done. And as always the Captain was unscathed.

I could only imagine such a feat to be performed by the fairy tale heroes I obsessively read about, heroes like the sword saints or the great spirit that guards our town. I believe even the King candidate Emilia had trouble when subjugating the Sin Archbishop of Sloth and that was with the help of two other candidates.

I couldn’t help but shiver at the thought of fighting the Captain.

All the while a loud laugh was let out from the Bishop, I was shocked he remained alive. The Captain seeing both of our faces tried to explain.

“You two didn’t think I’d kill our only chance of finding Garret did you?” The captain asked.

“Oh! How wonderful, how truly wonderful! Even now your friend's life is put at the foremost!” Subaru loudly interrupted. “To think, to think, to think! Oh, such love! You three must be, are you? You are, true believers in love!” The boy declared with glee.

“Oh, but you made a mistake! An undeniable mistake, even though you could, you failed to do what you had to do! And just before the finish line!” The boy yelled.

His words were oddly stiff, something I realized long before was Subaru’s lines were finely crafted, a certain forced weight on them.

All of us stared at the boy, I was slightly on edge. As the bishop talked unsettling atmospheres started to form. To be able to make things like this despite being nothing more than a head attached to a chest. I felt a shiver down my spine.

I felt my throat clog, I tried to stammer out words but my mouth refused to open. I felt beyond just caution as my body started to twitch. I looked around endlessly, it felt as though my heart was going to burst.

Before I was on guard, now I was full-blown paranoid, and that was escalating into cold dead fear. I felt this feeling before. I closed my eyes opening them again. Just as I suspected. There were chains wrapped around my soul. I’ve seen it enough times to know what this was. Sirius Authority of Wrath.

I couldn’t move my hands or my body, it was strange. I knew there was nothing to be fearful of, yet my body was refusing to move.

I was able to see Damon, that’s when I understood. Damon his fears were being shared with me, my slight paranoia was being combined with his unconscious fear and was being amplified.

I had fallen for it twice, I couldn’t move paralyzed with fear, my eyes watered and my legs gave it. As if I was genuinely being weighed down with chains.

At that moment that was no Damon, no Lysander, no Garret, and no Captain. Fear was all that existed, fear was all that ever would exist. It had gripped my very fabric of being. At this moment I genuinely felt that fear was all there was.

[If my heart beats any faster I’m going to…… die.]

I had only just realized that my divine protection was speaking to me, but that too was drowned out. Fear was no longer an emotion but my entire existence.

Alarm, angst, anxiety, apprehension, awe, concern, despair, dismay, doubt, dread, horror, panic, scare, terror, unease, worry. Fear, fear, fear, fear, fear, fear, fear, fear, fear, fear, fear, fear, fear, fear, fear.

“Oh, but that only serves to entice. The aroma of a meal is important too, finely crafted. I can tell you alone could serve a full-course meal I simply cannot wait!” Subaru said hungrily as he now licked his lips, biting into them. His body language almost completely changed. He stood still hungrily eyeing the captain and ignoring us completely. Like a kid waiting for dinner.

“Would you shut up!” The captain loudly yelled. In that moment the manically laughing from the Bishop ceased. As the the chains suddenly broke, I collapsed to the ground grabbing my chest. I could hear every beat of my heart. It felt as though it was thumping against my chest before it finally calmed down and I managed to catch my breath.

“Talk, talk, talk! That’s all you Sin Archbishops do!” The captain scoffed. “At least Sirius was original, you’re not fooling anyone!” The captain shouted once more.

“Which one are you now Gluttony?” The captain asked unimpressed. Subaru stared dumbfounded.

“I haven’t even met others outside of you and Sirius. Hell, I’ve only skimmed reports! They're too damn long. But it’s so painfully obvious.” The captain paused scratching his head like the bishop was making it itchy.“You’re trying so desperately to act like the other Sin Archbishops it’s laughable pride!” The Captain was now the one laughing.

“Come on, first you lie. Claiming to be Emilia Knight, now you’re claiming to be other bishops? Just be honest Pride!” The Captain spat.

I stood by the Captain, finally regaining myself, and fully recovered from Sirius's authority.

I tried understanding the Captain. He clearly understood more about the Sin Archbishops than any of us.

I understood that the Captain was reported of the witch cult doings. I had seen it with my own eyes, knights would personally come to deliver the captain the reports. Even if I hadn't seen it, there was no reason for me not to trust him.

I had always felt that Subaru’s actions seemed forced to a comical degree. I had written it off as just another eccentric Bishop just like Sirius. It was hardly the strangest thing about the witch cult after all. But the Captain was mocking this man. Judging by his face, it was where it hurt the most.

I expected the Bishop to retaliate somehow, so I prepared myself. But Subaru only stared, before bursting into tears.

I was taken about, as Subaru sobbed uncontrollably. The tears rolled off his face onto the dirt as he wasn’t able to wipe them. As he still lacks any limbs.

“What now you’re throwing a tantrum because I called you out?” The captain said a look of pure disdain in his eyes.

But Subaru only cried louder. The air grew thick and uneasy. Like the air itself was recoiling at the captain's words.

I was half convinced that Sirius Authority was affecting us. But those fears were crushed as I looked toward our souls and saw them all, shining as normal.

To think, even while limbless and crying he still managed to make the air feel heavy.

But I had realized quickly what that feeling was, that sick twisted uneasiness in my stomach I had grown all too used to. It wasn’t from the crying bishop. I had forgotten it, ever since my divine protection changed that sick feeling I got seemed to weaken.

Only when I looked at a soul that was truly evil when using Divine insight would it come over me. It was no longer a passive thing. Or that’s what I had l believed.

But if that ability had never disappeared, it would mean that Subaru—a Sin Archbishop, the literal embodiment of sin—had never caused that feeling.

Which meant something else was causing that feeling to come over me. I immediately activated Divine insight.

There I noticed something strange, I could not see the soul of Subaru. I was genuinely unsettled by this, Divine insight had never failed. Not even when looking at other Sin archbishops.

[If I see that man’s soul, I and everyone else here will die.]

It was a clear warning, and before I would have tried to press it for more answers.

However I had refrained from doing so. My divine protection had always replied in a calm voice, the most reaction it ever gave was a shout. No matter the situation, and even then it would only do that sparingly when warning me about something major.

But, this time Its voices trembled.

Pinpointing the area that was irradiating that feeling of sickness I saw a soul. Despite there being no person there, I saw a soul. It too had been wrapped in chains, just like countless other cultists. But what I found more interesting was the souls themselves.

It was uncannily similar to Damon’s to a disturbing degree. It was nothing like the empty voids of the other cultist, or even the soul of Sirius.

I had turned my head towards Damon and just as I thought. They were nearly identical.

[The soul belongs to a Yin user.]

A thought forcibly entered my head. This time the voice had been calm. I was relieved to hear it was back to normal. Regaining myself, I pointed towards the soul.

“Captain!” I shouted the captain's response was instantaneous. He slashed as if cutting through the air with his hand in the direction I had pointed.

Even though I was unable to see anything, my hair spun wildly as if in a hurricane as I felt a gust of wind flew by.

Suddenly a hand stretched out as the gust of wind was stopped, the sound of glass shattering rang out as it did.

“Hmph! Betty would have rather you called for her earlier. From what I’ve seen these guards are scum, I suppose.” The girl said with an obvious pout.

The full body soon followed after, as the girl took a few steps forward. It was a young girl, with blonde hair, and an incredible frilly dress. It was a girl we had all seen before.

I clenched my sword, as the girl was the exact one Garret tried to help before being attacked.

The girl had knelt helping the limbless Archbishop up, wiping his tears.

“Betty truly does have a worthless contractor I suppose!” The girl said, despite the hurtful words I could tell she only meant to comfort him.

“Another one!” The Captain said with obvious displeasure.

“You can keep your mouth shut.” The girl said as she aimed.

“Minya”

Purple shards had appeared launching forward, but they were all slashed to pieces by the Captain.

“Betty has no idea how you managed to hurt her contractor so heavily, neither does she care. Disappear I suppose!” The girl yelled in frustration.

Suddenly a hand reached out towards the girl and patted her head, the small twin drill tails on her head bounced as the hand did this.

“Sorry beako, I can’t believe you had to see that!” The boy said embarrassed.

As if never injured, to begin with, the boy stood upright. His limbs were perfectly intact. It looked as if there was no fight at all. Only the boys' torn clothes and the condition of the clearing served as proof of the fight.

“Betty wishes you could stop trying to make her worried!” She shouted with a pout.

If I hadn’t known any better I’d assume that I was looking at a child and their incompetent parent.

[That girl’s personality is completely off.]

“What do you mean?” I thought.

I hadn’t even been shocked as that thought entered my head, I began growing more and more used to my Divine protection. So much so that It began to feel like a fact of life.

[Her personality does not reflect her soul.]

I assumed this was due to Sirius. Anyone under Sirius's control would never act as themselves, something I experienced firsthand.

Subaru dusted himself off, as he grabbed the young girl's hand.

The captain pushed both me and Damon back as he walked forward one final stretch as he did.

He gave a thumbs-up to the both of us.

Crystals were fired at him, each one being expertly dodged, as the captain jumped forward, and the ground he was standing on a moment before was crushed.

He spun around dodging seemingly nothing as more crystal flew towards him.

Subaru clenched his hand into a crushing motion, as the ground caved in on itself. This forced the captain to retreat several steps, undoing all his prior progress. The immense force pressed into the ground, carving out a hole large enough for a person to fit into.

The captain glanced at the newly-formed crater, then back at the Sin Archbishop.

"Compensating for something, Pride?" he mocked. Though his face was obscured, I could almost hear the smirk in his tone as he began closing the distance once more.

His movements were calculated, and efficient—dodges executed with minimal effort, each motion designed to conserve energy. Or at least, that’s how he had been fighting so far.

But then his style changed. Each dodge became extravagant, riddled with unnecessary flourishes and exaggerated motions. What had been precise and deliberate now looked almost reckless. He spun, twisted, and dipped as if defying the very meaning of combat efficiency.

"You’ve got to be kidding me!" Damon groaned, planting a hand firmly on his forehead in exasperation. My reaction was the opposite—astonishment.

The captain wasn’t dodging anymore. He was dancing.

He twirled out of the way of one strike, sidestepped another with a pivot, and dipped low, sweeping his arm like a performer. His feet tapped and glided in perfect rhythm to a beat only he could hear.

"Come on! It’s no fun if you’re not even trying!" the captain complained, his voice light with mockery.

"How utterly revolting, I suppose," the girl spat, Another barrage of gleaming purple crystals surged toward him.

The captain only leaned further into his dancing mockery, his every movement showing his control. It was hard to believe this was the same man who had once collapsed in terror at the mere mention of the Witch Cult. Now, here he was, joyfully taunting them as they threw attack after attack his way.

The duo didn’t relent, unleashing another relentless wave of strikes. But the captain closed in.

"Murak!" the girl cried out, and with that, both she and her partner began to rise into the air.

“Stay still! You irritating fly!” Subaru yelled shouting in the air.

There was one massive problem, every time the Captain came close. The two of them would simply float and go to the other side of the clearing.

And the Captain would have to meet back up again, and the cycle went on and on.

Both me and Damon were simply left watching the battle.

It became obvious if we had tried to intervene we’d be crushed by that invisible force.

The captain was rather unique in this way as if he was meant to fight this kind of opponent. It didn’t matter if he couldn’t see the attack, his divine protection would simply tell him when and how to dodge.

So the battle between these three titans continued, and this stalemate dragged on.

This was another rare moment where I had time to rest. Of course, I wanted to help the captain, but it would be stupid if I were to just jump in, considering this bishop was even giving the captain trouble.

I had activated Divine insight, and to my surprise, I had felt no pain in doing so, it felt natural. It was as easy as walking, and now all I had to do was think and it would work.

I was beginning to wonder if this had meant my eyes had been able to adjust. If I could do the same with something like a limit break, perhaps I would even be able to keep up with them.

Shaking that ridiculous thought away, I started to look. There was nothing new, but an idea came to me.

A way for me to help the captain. If I was able to see that invisible force Subaru uses, then I could join the fight.

I looked at the duo, it was the same as before. I was unable to see Subaru's soul, and the girl's spirit remained the same. Chains were still wrapped around it.

I did notice something interesting, however, every time the girl cast a spell the in her soul would flicker before a stream of it would exit her body and form the crystals.

But whenever her soul remained unchanged when she cast Murak. The spell I believed was what allowed them to float and glide in the air.

“She’s not casting the spell?” I thought.

The young girl was merely acting like she was using the spell.

For someone so young I was shocked she was able to even use magic at all. Something like that was an incredible feat within itself, but “Minya” must be the only spell she could use. That and that invisible type of magic and the barrier she had cast. But she made no use of those now.

But why act like you’re capable of using a spell you’re not able to?

Thinking of it more only brought me to a dead end, I looked around to see if I could find anything else. My attention was caught when I took a look past the trees that surrounded the clearing.

It was cultists, they had surrounded the clearing, but they did nothing. They simply remained out of view as if they were hiding.

If I hadn’t been able to use Divine insight there was no possible way for me to have recognized them. But if they were preparing to ambush why hadn’t they done so?

They were constantly moving shifting from left to right, refusing to stay in one place. It kind of looked like they were trying to stay away from one another.

One of them caught my attention the most, this was because aside from having the same pitch-black soul as the other cultists, I saw that it had a slightly gold shine. It looked like there was a gold sphere in the center.

[Authority of Greed]

My eyes widen in shock, was this what my Divine protection had been so scared of?

With Sirius's authority it was easy to at least have some grasp of what it did, obviously I couldn’t tell the finer details but it was clear her authority had been one that could take control of another.

But with this one, it seemed more like the cultist soul was supporting the gold sphere. As it shined brightly when it remained in the soul.

I decided to stop trying to get answers on my own and just ask my divine protection directly.

“What are you so scared of? If I was able to see into the Bishop's soul would it not help us kill him?” I thought

[If I was to see that man’s curse, I would be killed there would be no question, that includes the Captain and Damon.]

“Curse? Not an authority?” I thought. My mind had thought of Damon, did the bishop have something similar to what he had.

[Both]

I sighed, this had been useless. But there was one other thing I could do, perhaps bypass and at the very least see whatever that invisible force that Subaru has been using to fight.

“Show me everything but the curse! Just block that!” I demanded if I could help I had to.

Even now, while me and I were sitting back the captain was fighting, while I wouldn’t say he was giving it his “all”. As he was still dancing, his dances started to be less dramatic and more like the way he was dodging before. They were actually to force his hand.

There was a slight gap. Not in skill and fighting strength but abilities, a gap I didn’t know if the captain could get over. If he had more help though, even just the slightest push I believed he could finish them.

[I will do so, but blocking certain things is many times more difficult than just blocking everything. If I say look away I must without question. If I don’t the best punishment I could get is a painless death.]

I inhaled closing my eyes, I nodded. I couldn’t lie when I said I was a bit nervous, unsurprisingly my Divine protection was never scared when it came to punishing evil. However fact was this scared at the mere idea of seeing this “curse” wasn’t making this less stressful.

Opening them, I saw Subaru, there was no soul. This was probably what my Divine protection was blocking me from seeing. Instead, I saw three things that piqued my interest. A purplish-black ball, it looked to be tentacles that were neatly wrapped into a sphere. Suddenly one escaped the entanglement, there I saw it was actually a hand. It attempted to crush the captain, slamming into the ground. However, he swiftly moved back, before doing a mocking twirl as if the hand was what gave him the momentum to do it.

[Authority of Sloth]

This was exactly what I was hoping for, as I was now able to see the invisible force.

The second thing, was see-through. It was right above where his soul should be, there was a shining molten gold sphere.

[Authority of Greed]

"He wasn't kidding-?" I thought to myself, but Sloth and Greed were dead. Killed by the King candidates, was it a lie? He was a Sin Archbishop that represented multiple sins...

The last thing I noted was his right leg and arm, where a black substance seemed to course through the two.

[Curse of the Dragon's blood]

This confused me greatly. It was my favorite hero from all the tales I’ve ever read. And that was the Divine dragon. But surely this Bishop was not cursed by that dragon.

I couldn't dwell on that for too long. In a battle when there's a tie, the easiest way to break that tie would be adding another factor, a wild card. Currently, both Subaru and his partner have completely been ignoring the two of us. Naturally, you'd ignore the weakest of the group and focus on the strongest.

Luckily this meant I was free to act however I wanted, a rare luxury in a fight.

I waited for the Captain to get close, and on cue, the girl "cast" Murak and they started to rise from the ground, defying gravity. But now I could see through the trick, one of the shadowy hands had grown massive and simply carried them upwards.

I smiled, before inhaling. And as loud as I possibly could I shouted.

“Can I catch a ride!”

The words tore from my throat, sharp and mocking, cutting through the chaotic fight. For the briefest of moments, Subaru and the girl’s attention snapped to me the natural reaction when someone shouts is to turn your attention.

It was all I needed to force a reaction.

Two massive, invisible shadow hands lashed out, their movements wild and erratic. I sidestepped the first with ease, feeling the rush of displaced air as it whooshed past me. The second came down with a thunderous slam, striking the ground so hard it cracked and splintered beneath the impact. Dust and debris flew upward, clouding my vision for a moment.

I stepped back, keeping my distance as the hand remained embedded in the earth, I grabbed my sword stabbing through the hand while it was struggling to free itself. It now struggled helplessly.

They were still mostly ignoring me—just enough effort to keep me out of their way.

My eyes fell on the shadow hand pinned in the ground. It was enormous, and wide enough to support a person. My lips curled into a grin as an idea sparked.

Without hesitation, I placed one foot on the massive, shadowy surface. Then the other.

The hand pulsed beneath me, the strange, inky force resisting for a moment before settling, almost like it wasn’t used to anyone to stand on it, absurd considering I could see the bishop doing just that.

I balanced myself, feeling the tension ripple beneath my feet. A wild plan, reckless and stupid.

"Wild cards aren’t meant to follow the rules." I blurted out, the stupidity of what I was about to do was not lost on me.

I pulled out my sword, before charging in headlong, using the arm as a path right up to the duo.

I heard a loud overly dramatic gasp, as I ran up the arm.

“You can see it!” Subaru’s voice cracked with shock, the disbelief written all over his face. Behind him, the shadowy hands writhed erratically before surging toward me with renewed fury.

“I’m counting every finger!” I shot back, my tone dripping with heavy sarcasm.

His expression twisted into something both furious and desperate, a crazed smirk spreading across his face. “Then come and prove it! Let’s settle this—a duel for her love!” he bellowed, his voice echoing with manic fervor.
The shadow hands lashed out, erratic and desperate, but they were sluggish—far slower than Sirius chains had been. Once I could see them, it was almost laughable how simple it was to duck, weave, or sidestep their attacks.

Every step was a gamble as the hand shifted beneath my weight, it was whirling about wildly as it finally freed itself. As it desperately continued to try and shake me off.

I reached the duo, wasting no time as I swung my blade at the boy. Before the strike could land, the young girl stepped forward. She must have attempted to erect another barrier, but I swung through it, and she remained taking the hit in his place.

Her body crumpled to the ground, lifeless, shielding him even in her final moments. Without hesitation, I kicked her aside, her body tumbling over the edge and falling below.

“Beatrice!” Subaru shouted, his voice breaking as he stretched his hands toward her, but nothing came. No shadowy hands. No power. Nothing to save her.

Seeing this, I seized the opportunity and swung my sword again, this time aiming to finish him. But just before my blade could connect, Subaru revealed a dagger, narrowly intercepting my strike.

A flurry of slashes followed, our weapons collided again and again. I noticed something as our blades collided a last time, the boy's fighting ability was completely dependent on his Authority, were it up to his abilities I doubted if he was even better than an average man.

With one final thrust, I stabbed through his heart.

Subaru looked down below, before turning back to me.

"Victory," Subaru muttered, with a final laugh my grip on the hilt tightened as he said this.

However, being caught up in the moment I hadn't realized the hand holding us dissipated.

"Again!" I yelled as I started to plummet, I braced myself. As I glanced up at Subaru, three massive shadowy hands took form, materializing from his back. With a decisive motion, he clenched his real hands making a striking motion, and the shadows followed, getting ready to slam into the ground.

"Damon!" I managed to yell as the hands crashed into the ground, a loud roaring ring like that of artillery overcame my ears. Columns of dirt had flown into the air. I closed my eyes, hoping my meager warning was enough to help Damon.

I was thankful as Instead of the ground, I was met with Damon's face, his legs buckling slightly before he stabilized, gritting his teeth against the weight.

“You crazy maniac!” he barked, his voice a mix of exasperation and relief. Before he dropped me to the ground, I hit it with a solid thud.

“Hey!” I shouted indignantly, pushing myself up.

Damon shrugged, rolling his shoulders. “You’re way too damn heavy!” he said, though a sly grin betrayed his irritation. He reached out and patted me on the head. “You did alright,” he added, his tone lighter.

I looked at him, he looked to be uninjured, the only thing that desperate last attack did was cover him with even more dirt.

“Where’s the Captain?” I asked, now that I knew he was fine, I wanted to check on the Captain who seemed to have missed.

It hadn't taken much to find him, but he wasn't himself.

He had been standing still on the other side of the clearing, his eyes looked dead. Standing completely motionless, yet there was a certain alertness to his stance. His senses had been robbed from his, sight, smell, and touch all gone.

[He is under the effects of Shamac.]

Even I had known that spell. The most basic of Yin magic, but how could the captain have gotten hit by it? "How! We need him!" I exclaimed, [Stop the Caster from continuing the spell.] "Without the Captain?" I questioned. A chilling thought crept into my mind the Captain was our ace. That much any could tell was obvious. What would happen to us if we had to fight without him? A sudden crash stole our attention. Subaru’s body hit the ground nearby, the impact kicking up a cloud of dirt and dust. It landed remarkably close to "Beatrice".

As the dust settled, I squinted through the haze, and my stomach dropped.

There he was. Standing. Perfectly unharmed.

“Crap…” I muttered under my breath. I had been sure of it, I was the one who caused the wound, it was a lethal one.

Subaru’s face twisted with crazed fervor as he spread his arms wide, the stab wound gone as though it had never been there. The only proof of it was that there was a single tear in his clothes.

“How can this be?!” he bellowed, his voice filled with anger and betrayal. “How can this be?! After I so diligently, so thoroughly, so loyally worked to kill you! But to say my work was fruitless wouldn’t be incorrect, for the juiciest of the fruit is out of the picture!”

His eyes glinted with unsettling madness as he took a step forward, The stab wound, the blood—everything—had been erased, leaving him untouched.

"Would you just shut up and die!" I screamed as I gripped my sword. I tried to hide the shaking in my hands, it was entirely stupid to say me and Damon would be useless without the Captain.

Both me and him have proven that simply by tying down Sirius while the Captain was nowhere to be found. But it was obvious we’d die more times than I could count without him. And now he was effortlessly taken out of the fight.

"Betty wishes for you to do the same, I suppose." Beatrice said, now standing next to Subaru. Her comment was aimed at me, as she was once again holding onto his hand. She too looked fine despite the fatal crash and wound I had given her.

"Why! Why are you doing any of this damnit!" I yelled venting my frustration, "Why kidnap Garret? Why dress Cultist to be like the sword saint or Emilia's great spirit? I don't understand!" I yelled.

"Do not question me! What does it matter what I do? All I ask is to be left alone! Oh believer in love, what a foolish question to ask, whether it is to kill a god, or fulfill myself it doesn't matter. For isn't the point of a feast to indulge? It doesn't matter the taste nor the prep but the experience to gorge yourselves, for I am Subaru Natsuki!" Subaru yelled back.

There was a deep unspoken sorrow in his voice, and even in his eyes. I couldn't describe it, his words were utterly meaningless but there was a kind of brokenness to it. He was desperately putting up a front. But I shook off any thought of pitying the witch cult.

I ran towards him, if we were to fight without the captain I'd need to finish the fight quickly. Ducking under the pitch-black hands as they swiped at me. As I got closer their movements began to grow more desperate, and some managed to grab onto me, tearing a chunk of my flesh out, but I ignored the pain. Before long crystals started to charge toward me as well, I prioritized those over the hands, my instincts told me it would only take one of those to kill me. I arrived at the boy, and he opened his arms wide as if to offer me a hug.

I immediately slashed at his hands, cleaning and slicing his arms off with two fluid slashes, before impaling him. I hadn't even realized Damon had charged me and had managed to put Beatrice in an equally terrible state.

“I was right, you are nothing without that Captain of yours.” Subaru taunted, before continuing.

"Did you purposefully take longer Nee-San?" Subaru asked, but not to me. As the shadowy hands quickly wrapped around my legs. I looked back at Subaru, once again, he had pulled the sword out of him. His limbs now back onto his body as if they never left. And perfectly intact.

I felt the rush of wind behind me, I turned I felt the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. Without thinking, I spun around, and there it was—slicing through the air a blade of wind shimmering like a shard of ice. It cut through the atmosphere with incredible speeds.

I quickly grabbed my sword stabbing the arms freeing my leg and kicking the other free before I jumped out of the way.

My hair was blown around wildly as the blade missed me and hit Subaru, quickly managing to cut halfway through his throat before dissipating. Blood sprayed about some of it landing on my face.

But the next moment I felt it was no longer there, and Subaru stood his throat uninjured.

"We're on the same side!" Subaru said in an overly dramatic way.

"Oh sorry, that revolting face I believed it to be a punching bag, do the world a favor and cover that up Barasu." A voice replied in feigned disgust.

"But this is just my normal face!" He screamed back.

I immediately back further away from the two, making sure to keep them in my line of sight.

"You were having trouble with this? How unapologetically pathetic can you be Barasu?" The pink-haired girl asked.

“Not them! That guy!” Subaru explained pointing to the Captain who was far away, still wandering avoiding the occasional tree.

I saw Damon, he had been in an even more precarious situation. As Beatrice was now fully healed, forcing him to keep his distance. This left us separated, with the pink-haired girl and Beatrice being the closest to him.

I shifted my focus to Subaru. It made sense—I was the only one who could see through his tricks, I had no idea how he kept recovering from every wound, but there had to be a limit. There had to be.

But I knew that wouldn’t be possible without getting the Captain Back, so I would have to keep Subaru down and then help the Captain.

But then Damon shook his head, urging me not to.

I didn’t hesitate. Without a second thought, I stomped on my heel and stopped.

Damon had trusted me completely, even when the odds were stacked against us. It was only fair I returned that trust now, even if I wasn’t sure he was right.

In the middle of this thought, I felt a blade of wind blitzing towards me. I managed to deflect the blade, and in the next second side stepped a swarm of purple crystals.

There was a slight pause in the attacks, a fleeting one as a three-pronged attack came my way. Crystals, wind, hands. A swarm of each marched to me. I closed my eyes, I hadn't accepted my faith, however, this came as a natural reaction, and I wanted to curse myself for doing it.

[Spirit contact]

My chest tightened as I turned toward Damon, as the air seemed to be sicken, I opened my eyes as the attack I expected to hit never did.

I was greeted by the sight of lesser spirits, in front of me. My eyes turned to Damon. The dark tendrils of his soul, which had been contained, stretched outward, far beyond his body, reaching outwards aimlessly in every direction of the world. Quickly they began to change, thinning and lightening, their dark weight dissolving into something... spiritual. Within moments, they transformed into streams of pure, radiant energy—countless streams, too many for my eyes to track.

And then, I felt it.

A presence, no. Something much more than that.

[Spirit contracts]

From the glowing streams, they emerged. Spirits. Hundreds, covered the entire clearing, their forms shimmering like fragments of light in all different colors from green to red. They filled the space around us, I swore I could hear silent voices as they appeared their gaze—if you could call it that fixed firmly on Damon.

We all seemed to pause, the world holding its breath as the spirits converged.

"Lysander, don't tell me you've forgotten what I said to you!" He said his head aimed at the ground as he started to wobble.

"Stop taking everything on by yourself damnit! I don't need your protection or the Captain's! Don't think you've gotten to that point! You overconfident rookie!" Damon shouted in displeasure.

“Who said we needed the Captain anyway, that old man? That lousy guard can’t even file a report without help!” Damon proclaimed once more this time to Subaru.

He lifted his head, a weak grin on his face.

"You both took too long! Watch me do what even you and the Captain couldn’t—take down a Sin Archbishop!" He declared as the spirits began to shake violently.

Chapter Text

I’ll be truthful, progress is being made, but it’s been done so slowly it might be months to a year before the new chapter comes out. And as much as I would want everyone who read this to see the ending, no hard feelings if you drop the fic. See you at the next dip of the sun.