Chapter 4: the last day
I have a younger brother. He's so ordinary and plain that I can't help but worry that I overshadow him in the family. To make up to that, I swore to myself to always protect him and be by his side. Since the moment I saw him in my mother's arms as a baby I couldn't help myself and wasn't able to suppress the feeling of wanting to cuddle him as long as I can. I didn't want to waste any time and dedicated myself to my training, for the reason to protect my innocent little brother. I wanted these days of having fun with him continue on forever, but fate had some other plans with me.
I wasn't ready for the day for the day that I would wake up, sore and completely exhausted. At first I thought it was just the aftermath of my training yesterday, but that was quickly dismissed as I remember that I didn't train with my sword yesterday, but rather was buried in my studies that my parents and teachers gave me. When I tried to relieve my body of this uncomfortable feeling with magic, I realized something strange. My magic wasn't exactly blocked but had a strange feeling to it. It was as if my magic circuts were cut off in some parts in my body, thus disenabling my use of magic, or rather shrinking my magic output by a lot.
That worried me for a bit. What if I went to the academy, only for them to find out that I won't be able to use any magic in a school that precisely focuses on how to use magic efficiently as you can. But what really gave me the last blow, were the black spots on my body appearing on my arms and legs. They were big enough that you could mistake them as beating from an abusive parent household. Noticing the symptoms immediately, I went to my wardrobe to put something on that would hide these spots on my skin. I know what this phenomenon was, even though I like to refuse such an idea that, what was happening to me. Demon possession.
I only witnessed a possessed one myself only one time in my life and it was enough for me to wish and pray that something like that never befalls me.
But my prayers were unanswered.
It was on a trip with father to the capital to see the Bunshin Festival, when we stopped in a town to stay the night. Outside the inn on the main place of the town, an execution was being held there. Being the curious child that I was, I asked my father to come with me to watch what was happening there. As we came nearer, I could make out a elf girl, by her pointing long ears and her beauty, held in a metal cage, just barely big enough for her to fit inside of it. The citizens around me were throwing rotten apples and tomatoes at the poor girl. When I asked my father why they were doing this, he had a difficult and strange expression on his face, as if not wanting to tell me why. But after some time of thinking he gave up and chose to inform me.
"Listen, Claire. This elf girl, in her state right now, is what you call a possessed. Do you remember the tales of the demon Diablos and the three heroes?"
"You mean how they defeated the demon, thus saving the world?"
"Yes, but that's not the end of the story. You know, Claire, the possessed children are descendants of the cruel demon who ravaged around in our world a long time ago. It is our duty to report and bring them to the church where they will purge them out of this world."
"And how do you know if someone is a possessed one or not?"
"The possessed have black spots on their skin and in an advanced state, their body will grow rotten flesh out of their body parts."
While I didn't really understand the story that my father was telling me, I just nodded and refocused my concentration to the execution before me. Taking a closer look at the elf, I realized that my father was right. She really did have purple flesh growing and moving in a place where normally something like this would never come out like that. She was also bleeding from so many spots, where you could mistake her hair color as red. Not only black spots, but also purple traces and small cuts were seen on her body, she was most likely abused in her time when she arrived. It was truly a disgusting and painful sight to witness. Some of the people, I think they work in the church, brought the cage to the middle of the place where straw was sprawled in a circle. Next to it was a wodden podium, only waiting for someone to step up on it.
From the side I could see a priest approaching the podest and I remember the words of my father. He said, that the church is responsible for them. As I look in wonder, the priest gets on the higher elevated podest and I can hear him clearing his throat, before holding his speech.
"Denizens of Guellen! I plead you to give me some of your time. I have brought you together for you to witness the purge and execution of this sorry excuse of a living being, walking around in our peaceful land! Don't you agree that we have to make her disappear from the face of the earth?! Something like that shouldn't exist, don't you agree?"
"Yes, kill her!"
"Burn her on the stake!"
"She isn't allowed to be breathing right now! Hurry up and kill her!"
For the first time in my life did I see humans completely agreeing on something so cruel as the execution of a little girl. The bundled hate of this town, concentrated in just one person. Even the children were following the examples of the adults and were shouting and throwing horrible stuff at her. I saw some boys picking up big rocks somewhere around the road and chucking them towards the elf. It was truly a horrifying sight to see.
The priest, when he saw that everyone was in agreement, held up his hand to silence the people. Looking at the elf in the metal cage as if she was some stain on a expensive piece of clothing, the priest calls out to us, the audience, again.
"We are all in agreement that we should kill this thing. But just killing her won't be enough to cleanse our world!"
An assistant comes to his side, bringing him a sword in its sheath. The priest takes it out of his hands without looking, takes the sword out and holds it before his face and closes his eyes before muttering something. I can only guess that he was praying to the goddess Beatrix or something, but I wasn't able to hear it. Even though my ears were enhanced with magic I couldn't hear anything because of all the commotion around me. But I can swear that he was smirking for little moment before he opened his eyes again. Now holding the sword vertically towards the sky, the priest shouts something.
"In the holy name of our beloved goddess, Beartix-sama, I will smite and execute you on the spot, you foul being!"
Around me, cheering erupted everywhere and the priest wasn't even done yet. He looked at the poor girl for a bit, not a trance of guilt or pity in his eyes, and struck her in the chest. She had an painful and frightend look on her face, understandably. After that, he twisted the sword in her chest in one full circle in such a slow and cruel way that even I had to look away. If I didn't know any better, I bet the priest was silently enjoying tormenting her in the last seconds of her life. Additionally to that, he took the sword out of her body, thus creating a fountain of blood that only lasted for 10 seconds or so. Yep, she's defintely dead now.
"But we're not even done yet!"
The priest is given a bucket full of oil and dumps it onto her corpse and then throws a flamming match onto it. A big fire erupts from the place, where the dead body was supposed to be, and uses the remaining parts as fuel to live on. The cheering gets even louder to the point where I have to block my ears from all the noise happening.
"This happens to the sinners in our country. Not just here, but everywhere else in the world! Spread the word, Denizens! Spread the word!"
I burn this scene into my memory. The crowd cheering at the cruel death of a girl. The ever slight smirk on the priest's face. The dying expression on the elf's face before dying. Everything around me felt so rotten and disgusting that I vomited on the spot.
"Claire?! Are you alright, sweetie? I knew it wasn't a good idea to let her watch this."
My father brought me away from the already done execution. From this day on I swore to myself, to never ever be possessed by the curse of Diablos. It was more like wishful thinking, but that was the only way how I could sleep peacefully again without worrying, that it might also hit me one day.
And now, dooms day has come. Fate has a really cruel sense of humor, huh?
When I was just at the age of 15, an age where I could finally go to the capital and study at the academy like I always wished, I was instead cursed with this. For the first few minutes I couldn't believe it. I thought that it was a cruel nightmare playing my mind some tricks and so I lied myself back into my bed, trying to wake up.
But that didn't work.
After my attempt failed, I began to accept reality. I cried to myself for a bit, before making the next logical choice. Hiding the fact that I'm possessed. I quickly went to my wardrobe and searched for the biggest piece of clothing that I could find. Covering my black spots, only then I was able to go outside and meet my parents and my brother. Breakfast, lunch and dinner all tasted like sandpaper to me that day. I couldn't convince myself to act happy infront of my family nor my friends. So I secluded myself into my room, refusing to come out using the pretext that I want to study the history of Midgar before my departure.
After a lot of crying and mourning over the happy times that I had, I came to a conclusion. Although I wanted the fun and happy days with Cid to continue forever, I knew that, someday, I'll get exposed and be sent directly to the church, where they would kill me. I didn't want to spend my last days like that! Especially not using my last moments unable meet to Cid for the remaining time that I have left. I would never forgive myself, if he never gets to know what happend to his sister. I debated with myself for a long time, if I should really show myself infront of Cid, because I feared his inevitable rejection, but I put all of my courage together to meet him one last time.
Knocking on his door and getting permission to enter, I see Cid sitting at his desk writing something down.
"Hey..., Cid?"
"Yes, Nee-san?"
He doesn't look up from his studies as he continues to talk with me.
"Can you accompany me for a bit? I want to show you something interesting that I found."
Silence.
Of course he wouldn't go with me. I avoided him for a whole week. I'm such a horrible big sister-
"Yeah, sure. Give me a moment. I'll go and change my clothes. Ironically, I also want to show you something interesting, Nee-san."
Huh?
"Oh, okay. Don't take too long."
After changing into his new set of clothing, we make our way into the family garden to take a stroll. When we reach the point, where nobody can see us from the estate, I finally gather my courage to tell him the truth.
"Um, Cid, actually I am-"
"The perfect place you picked there, Nee-san. As expected of you."
"Huh?"
"C'mon, I'm going to show you something interesting and then we will compare which one was more interesting. Is that a deal?"
"Uh, sure?"
Since when did Cid become so assertive? Is that the influence of Amelia? Damn it! She was the first positive change in him!
"Sweet. Now if you please, Nee-san. Sit on the ground, while stretching your legs out."
I follow his instructions.
"Then, try to reach your toes with your hands."
As I do that, I can feel something in my body stopping me. It wasn't the possession, no rather it was my inflexibility holding me back. I try my hardest but only reach the middle of my shins.
"Don't worry about it. It is always difficult to do in the beginning. Come, I'll help you a bit."
As he pushes me forward, I can feel my body easing up and relaxing for a bit. When he tells me stand up again, I realize how my body feels much lighter than before. What is even more suprising, is the fact that I can't feel the strain of possession in my body anymore. I couldn't believe it for a moment before Cid calls me to get my attention.
"Nee-san? You have a troubled look on your face. Is everything all right?"
"Yeah, everything's fine."
"Okay. Now, I could continue to show you more stretching exercises or we see what you have to show to me."
That will be hard, now that it's gone now.
"You know what? Nevermind what I wanted to show you. Your stretching session sounds far more entertaining than what I had in mind."
"Ehhhh, but now I'm really curious!"
"Just do your thing!"
Cid accepts his defeat infront of his older sister yet again. I get a warm feeling in my chest and see some hope in the despair that I felt just a few hours ago. This fun time between us siblings is exclusively known to us. I would never exchange anything for that time and feeling that I have right now.
Did Cid heal me or was it the stretches? No, Cid isn't able to cure possession, or else he would have told our parents long ago. That only leaves me with the stretches. Seems like, I have to do them daily now. Not that I complain, if it gives me more time to live and not rot away.
I would have ended the day on a positive note, mostly because Cid cheered me up without him knowing, but there was, of course, an obstacle to my perfect day. As we went upstairs to go into our respective rooms, we find a certain noble girl standing before Cid's door, ready to kick it in. Cid stops her quickly and she asks him where he was and he tells the story how we spent some time together. Feeling proud and one step ahead of her, I don't actually listen to the conversation until I hear her asking Cid to do the same to her. I try to intervene but Cid dismisses my help in an instant and they go outside where Cid shows her the same things her showed me.
In the end the only difference was, when she didn't want to let go of him, while Cid was on her back for a stretch exercise. She even began to move away from our garden into a nearby lake. Seeing that Cid is trapped and can't free himself, I quickly jump down from my window to find the both of them. But Amelia is fast and so I lost them pretty quickly. However, that wasn't a problem, as I have obtained the ability to find Cid through his smell (after years of living with him, of course) and I discover them just before a deep lake. I run with all my might to stop them and just make it in time.
After a long process of hitting her head, with the help of Cid (sibling power!), she finally snaps out of her strange trance. She didn't look like she particularly regretted the experience though, and I have to admit, that I was a bit jealous of her, of having such close contact with Cid. But nobody will ever know that.
I can't help but worry for the future.
I hope, in the time that I'm gone, that Amelia won't do something stupid. Like convincing her and my parents to arrange a political marriage between Cid and her.
The times flew by, the seasons were changing in an blink of an eye and my sister has reached the age to go to the capital to study there. The children of nobles are expected to go the Midgar Academy when they reach turn 15. I'm no exception to that. No matter what you are, the third son of a baron or even the prince himself, it is a must to go the academy for three years. When you graduate, depending on your grades and achievements, you can go look for a high paying job and live your life in wealth. Like in my old world.
Because of the massive talent that Claire has, to exceed in anything she does, did my parents only focus on her. She's the only hope in this family to make a name for herself and bring status back home. Whether it's through marrying a high ranking noble or just her own power to start a business or something, Claire is the shining beacon between us siblings, thus casting me in her shadow. But I don't mind that. On the contrary, it was my intention to make her shine this way. I wouldn't have any time for myself if I was the one inheriting the household and everything with it, so I pushed it all off to Claire.
While Claire is certaintly smart enough to breeze through all of her study materials, she's even more talented in the art of her swordsmanship. I know that her dream is to win the Bunshin Festival one day, since the time she went to the capital with dad. She was fascinated by it for a whole month and worked even harder with her sword. That affected me too, as she only sparred with me for some reason.
I didn't mind. When we were sparring, I would always look for ways to beat her in at least six different ways and then let myself be hit by her.
Dad sometimes tells us stories of him going to the academy when he was young, only for Claire and I to blur out anything he says, because he always strays away from the topic and then only talks about mom all the time. I know he means well, but we can't bother to listen to him ranting about how lucky he is to met mom in the past.
Until our actual mother from the present comes in, thus repeating a pattern that already happend three times. Dad brings us together to tell his tales from the past-> He sways from the topic-> Ranting about mom-> Mom comes in-> Beats him into a pulp for not giving any useful information to us.
These peaceful days continued on, making the family relaxed and looking forward to Claire's departure to the Midgar capital.
But something had to interfere with their plans.
On the day that Claire was supposed to go, she was nowhere to be found. No, more like, she was kidnapped from the looks of it. A broken window, complete disarray in her room and no traces of Claire left. Of course my parents were shocked. Their only hope disappeared and I was the one who was left. From my acting as a incompetent younger brother and son towards my family, they knew that I was a lost cause. And so they betted everything to finding Claire.
"What is the meaning of this!? Even attacking her in her sleep, how could they overpower Claire?! That must have been someone exceptionally talented."
"Then we have to accept this? If they were so skilled, then I suppose there's nothing we could have done?"
My mother comes into the scene, smiling gently as if nothing was wrong.
"Nothing at all. Thus, I can't be held responsible for sleeping through it all in the next room."
The balding head of my father shines ever so brightly. Even in such a situation, he must have kept it spotless.
Will I also go bald when I get older? I hope not.
A moment of silence ensues.
"STOP MAKING EXCUSES, BALDY!"
*BAM*
"Owwww!"
Mom gives him a powerful uppercut to the chin. Through magic, even women can be physically strong in this world. So a female heir isn't so uncommon here. That also gives my mother the strength to beat my father up when he does something stupid.
Meanwhile in the Hikari estate:
"Lady Hikari! It's time to get out of bed now! How long do you want to sleep in-"
The maid's scolding to her young mistress was abruptly halted as she looked into her room only to find nobody there. Instead, what she found was complete chaos that the young lady would never leave behind. The windows were broken in and it didn't take the maid one minute to come to the conclusion that she was kidnapped.
After immediately bringing the news to her master and mistress the whole household was in a panic. The servants were ordered to search every gap and corner in the Hikari domain, while the maids were given the instruction to turn the estate upside down to find her.
"Damn it! Even with all our defenses and securities, how was someone able to kidnap Amelia?! What would happen if something horrible ever happens to her?! I don't want to think about it."
Their masters, the duke and the duchess, were helping them searching. The young master convinced himself that he would be able to find Amelia on his own, and so set out on his own journey to find her. At first they were trying to stop him, because he didn't have any lead except his "instinct" that they couldn't rely on, but nothing could stop him, so they gave up and let him go. They were just hoping that he would come back safe and sound.
Back to the Kagenou estate:
"Take that and that and that!"
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
"Go find our daughter, damnit! What are we going to do if something happens to our poor Claire!?"
Choosing to ignore my parents and my mother's outburst, I went to the hallway with a certain maid behind me.
"Beta...?"
"Yes, lord Shadow?"
Transforming back into her original form, Beta puts on her glasses.
"Where's Alpha?"
"Searching for clues to finding Miss Claire."
"She moves fast. Is my sister still alive?"
"Most likely, yes. The kidnapper, as expected, belongs to the Cult of Diablos, a high-ranking officer."
We make our way into my study room. I go towards my window and mysteriously look outside while Beta remains at my desk spreading out a map.
"Why did they take my sister?"
"We believe they suspect that Miss Claire is one of the heroes' descendants."
"I see."
I guess when these girls get involved, even regular old bandits can instantly transform into members of the cult. As expected of Alpha! Hiring some bandits to take my sister away, only for us to rescue her and make our mini debut as Shadow Garden!
"Look at this map."
I turn towards her.
"We have determined the locations of their hideouts. But we don't know which hideout is the one where they're keeping Miss Claire."
Smirking to myself, I create a small knife out of slime and then throw it on a random spot on the map.
"That one."
The knife pierces the map but gets stuck on the table. While that would have been enough to seem cool, there was just one problem:
Darnit, I missed! Just play it off for now.
"That is where we'll find my sister."
Beta looks like she can't believe it. Understandable, because I just pointed out a random spot that is in the middle of nowhere.
"B-but there's nothing there.."
She then gaspes as if realizing something very important.
"It can't be! These cryptograms were a bluff?! In that case, if we compare it against this account... It all comes together! Lord Shadow, I believe there is a secret hideout in the location you indicated!"
"I knew it" Of course not!
"You took in this enormous amount of information and saw the truth in an instant! I'm so impressed!"
You're quite the actress, Beta. You deserve an Academy Award. But thanks for covering me.
I hide my disappointed looking face by looking outside the window again. Before an idea shoots into my head that would fit in this scernario perfectly.
"*smirk* Contact the Seven Shadows. We move tonight."
Meh, I envisioned that better in my head. Execution: 7/10
"Yes, my lord!"
Beta smiles happily before noting something down her notebook. She made it her hobby recently to write the things down she spectates. My hopes of her becoming a writer seem to be coming true. I don't think, with all the amount she's writing and observing, that Beta will ever come short in coming up with stories. A lot of smart people from my old world said that reality is stranger than any fiction we could come up with. So I don't have to worry about her plagiarizing something from other people.
"We have also recieved the news, that Amelia Hikari, the little bitch, was also kidnapped along with Claire-sama. Do you think that they were abducted by the same people, Lord Shadow?"
Eh? Amelia was also taken away? I know that the girls don't like Amelia for some reason, I know, because Amelia herself told me that certain maids are ignoring her when she's in the estate. When I had asked her who these maids were, she pointed at my Shadow Garden girls specifically. I didn't realize that they hated her that much, to the extent to plan a kidnapping on my sister and my friend. And what was that backhanded comment from Beta?
"Absolutely. The beautiful daughters of a Duke and Duchess and a Baron are precicous material for the cult."
"'Beautiful' he said.... but we're even more pretty... what does our lord even see in her... I'm so jealous...!"
Beta stopped writing in her notebook before muttering some things I couldn't understand from my distance. The only thing that I could see, was a distasteful and disgusting expression on Beta's face.
Meh. I'm sure that it's nothing too important.
Somewhere, deep in a forest, in a underground facility in the south:
In a already molting cell, there were two girls, their wrists chained up to the wall. They were still in their sleeping attire. Obviously, they weren't pleased with their current situation right now. They couldn't even use magic to free themselves, because the chains restricted the flow of magic within their bodies, making them unable use magic as they were used to.
You could hear footsteps approaching in the background. A tall, well built and dressed man stood before the cell, looking at the girls with mild interest, before ultimately deciding to go in and meet the two girls eye to eye. His long and gray hair was tied behind his back. Looking down on the chained girls, he began to make the first move.
"You know, I had a daughter. I would prefer not have to resort to violence...
...Claire Kagenou and Amelie Hikari."
"I recognize your face... Viscount Grease was it? I remember you from the capital. I saw at the Festvival of the Gof of war. You suffered a disgraceful defeat against Princess Iris, if I recall. Viscount Grease, the loser of the tourney's first round of bouts..."
They both repectively looked up with disdain in their faces. A frown wasn't able to be suppressed on the behalf of all parties. The latter found the courage to first speak to her kidnapper. And even in such a situation was she able to find something against him.
He calmly went over to the younger and richer one before aiming a kick towards her face, only for her to dodge it with minimum movement.
"You can still dodge that while locked up in magic-sealing chains?"
"I was taught that it's not about how much magic you have, but how you use it."
Amelia smiled to herself. She remembered exactly the day and the person who has taught her that. While that sounded really cute for a 13 year old, what was not so cute is that she could exactly remember the date, time, the amount of breathing when talking to him and could even write a 20 page long desciption about the time he had spent with her that day. Scratch could. She did write 20 pages in her diary. Worth noting is that she did it every time after they had spent time together. Also worth noting is that it was already her eighth diary and was almost done writing with it.
"You have a good father and brother to teach you that."
That only gave the blonde girl a confused reaction to her face.
"These two? No, I was taught by my lovely childhood friend and my future fiancee if you didn't know."
"Your what now?"
"HEY! Who said that Cid is your future fiancee? Don't go deciding that on your own!"
After hearing such outrageous news, the sister of the "lovely childhood friend and the future fiancee" couldn't hold herself back.
"Why wouldn't I? The future that he has guranteed with me is better than anything that you could ever hope to achieve! I only want the best for him, you know? Unlike you, who forces him to do all kinds of things he doesn't like."
"I only do these things for him, so that he can survive the outside world without me! And also, I would be much better by his side than you could ever dream of. We are family after all. Nothing can break the bond between us!"
What am I watching right now?
The Viscount could only watch in disbelief as these girls continued to bicker with each other over a person very dear in their life. What made him even more speechless was the fact, that they were completely unbothered that they were still kidnapped and his hostages at his mercy.
I only can give my condolences to whatever boy who was in their mercy and sight of line for the time before the cult saw them.
Choosing to interrupt the two, he cleared his throat loudly to make a statement that it was his turn to speak now.
""WHAT? IT'S IMPORTANT!""
Ignoring the rude shouts directed at him, he continued on as if nothing just happend.
"That childhood friend of yours, you said. What makes him so special and what has he taught you?"
"Special? Oh, there's basically nothing that you call special about him. The only noticable thing would be that he's so ordinary, that you would lose him 9/10 times in a crowd. Speaking from experience. And what he has taught me? Let me think... Every time we spar, I always learn from his sword but he never learns anything from me. That's why I pick on him every day."
Both the Viscount and Amelia didn't pay attention to Claire, but if they had, they would have seen the most shocked and horrified expression that the girl ever had.
"Amelia, it's scary how you spoke out my thoughts exactly. Are you a mind reader?"
"Shut it, Claire!"
He couln't bear to watch these two bickering again. He himself just came to ask some simple questions about the possession that was cured from them, but now it's just a girl catfight.
"Stop bickering again! Okay, and who is this friend of yours? No wait, looking at Claire Kagenou's reaction to your desciption, I can guess that it's Cid Kagenou, am I right? I have heard some things about him. When you both showed signs of possession, he is the one who healed you, right?"
"Not that again. That's not what happend There's no way that boy could have healed me."
The sister denied it instantly, refusing the thought of her brother healing, thus saving her. The girl to her side however...
I always played with the thought, that it was Cid who cured me from possession. But there was no way for me to prove it. But now that I think about it, when both Claire and I showed symptoms of possession, it was Cid who showed us these 'stretches'. That can't be a coincidence, right? That would mean...
...Cid's stretches can cure people from demon possession!
Not exactly but the right direction.
But how has Cid found these techniques? I doubt that this lazy bum would even read a book voluntarily, so how?
While debating on wether Amelia should tell Claire her thoughts how Cid could be a messiah to save the possessed, she ultimately decided to shut up for her own good. They're still kidnapped after all. And when this Viscount gets to hear about someone capable of curing possession, there's no doubt that Cid will be targeted next.
"You've gone quit, Amelia Hikari. Not agreeing to Claire Kagenou just shows me that you do think that it was the boy who healed you."
"Amelia?! You seriously don't think it was Cid, right? I refuse to believe that!"
Suddenly drawing attention to herself, Amelia had to come up with something, fast. But there was nothing that came to mind. She was already preoccupied with thinking about Cid. All of the sudden a idea shot up in her brain. A small trick that she observed from Cid whenever he was in his dream land and was not paying attention to her.
"Huh? Sorry, I wasn't listening to your conversation."
"But I was interrogating you the whole time! How come you that haven't paid attention to anything I said?!"
"With all the things you were blabbering about, I just choose to let the words go in my ear and they flew right out my other ear."
That worked out really well.
"You.... But that doesn't matter anymore. It seems that you both are compatible."
""Compatible?""
"Yes, but that is none of your concern. I will look into this boy-"
Suddenly you could hear chains tear apart before the Viscount could even finish his sentence. If he had been one second too late, Grease would be hit and knocked out by the swing that came from the Kagenou sister. The chain was just short enough for it not to reach him. Both her and Amelia realized what Grease had in mind next and Claire was just the first one to act on it. Amelia was also just one step away from mutilating her own hands just to get one hit on this man.
"If you lay even a finger on my brother, I will end you."
"Wha- She ripped her own skin off!? You- you mutilated your own hands?!"
The Viscount was visibly suprised by the action from the girl and looked immediately at her hands. How was she able to almost reach him? The answer to this question would not be a long one for him as he himself commented on it.
"If anything happens to that boy, you'll have to answer me! I will kill you, slaughter your beloved family, your precious friends-"
Her rant about the future what would happen was cut short as the Viscount gave her a punch to the face, breaking her nose and knocking her out. But that would not be the only attack that he was going to see in this cage. After he was done with the Kagenou, a peble with high speed came towards his head, hitting him and making him stumble forwards for one second. That second was enough for Amelia to strike. Seeing Claire fight so brave against the evil guy that will be coming for her brother, Amelia herself decided that she would also not go down without a fight.
As Grease stumbled forward, Amelia would kick his leg away that was supporting him, thus making him fall. Bending her knee at just the right angle and reinforcing it with magic made it seem like there was a pike that made her little stunt to be a deadly one if the Viscount wouldn't have paid attention to his surroundings. But her attempt would ultimately fail as Grease woke up in the middle of his fall and supported his body on the wall using his arms before falling on the trap.
"You bitch..."
Although he foiled her plan, she was still looking at him with contempt that would never leave her eyes if not looking at his dead body. Grease didn't like that look and he had enough of these girls today. Kicking her to the chin with magic imbued in his leg, it wasn't long before Amelia was also knocked out in the end.
Her last moments before passing out were prayers that nothing bad would happen to Cid because of this man. She wouldn't ever forgive herself if it came to that. She knew that Claire was the same too.
"Cheeky little brats. No matter. I can examine their blood and-"
Behind the cell, a young man was approaching him at high speed to deliver urgent news.
"Viscount Grease!"
As his mood was already down from just talking to the two girls, Grease wasn't able to suppress his annoyance towards his subordinate who called out to him.
"What do you want?!"
But the news that the subordinate would bring were not happy ones.
"Intruders!"
At the entrance if the facility:
Several men were firing their guns at some targets. All of them missed as the young brown haired elf, a blonde cat beastkin and lastly a black wolf therianthrope would be the last thing they see in their pitful lives before being brutally sliced up like tofu. The elf with light blue hair would assassinate the rest of the cultists with a slime sword.
The subordinate from earlier continues to deliver the grave news to his boss.
"We think there are seven of them! They appear out of nowhere, like shadows!"
The brown haired elf and the cat therianthrope are shown to be covered in blood, not seeming to care that there are corpses everywhere lying around them.
"Our men are dropping like flies! We're no match for them!"
Three young girls, all specifically elves, are shown to be going forward leaving behind a trail of corpses of the same cultists.
"That's impossible! Some of our knight are good enough to be in the Royal Guard!"
After hearing enough, Grease would run in a tunnel towards the people who decimating his men as if they were nothing. They weren't nothing in fact. As he said, some, if not most, had enough talent and were capable enough to stand in the Royal Guard. But in the face of Shadow Garden with their Shadow Wisdom they were like average civilians who have never picked up a weapon before.
Suddenly a decapitated head was thrown towards Grease and he could only look in horror at the scene of what has happend to his men, who he was so confident in. There was blood everywhere, dead bodies lying on the ground, some cleanly cut while others looked like they were ripped apart into pieces before dying in the end. At the entrance he could see seven young girls wearing pitch black tight suits.
"Y-you... Who are you!?"
It was the golden blone elf in the middle who answered his question.
"We are Shadow Garden."
Next was the sliver haired elf speaking her part.
"It is our mission in life to annihilate the Cult of Diablos."
After that was the black haired elf's turn.
"We know everything."
To the left of the golden blonde elf in the middle, another elf, the light blue haired one, continued on.
"About the revival of the the demon Diablos, the heroes' descendants..."
Before the elf in middle completed their speech to the Viscount.
"...and the truth behind demon possession."
If they had been seen by a certain chuni, who they call their master, he would have given a thumbs up, liking the act that the girls are showing in their bandit raid. But a lot of style points would be missing for him as the surrounding of corpses doesn't give a cool but horror look to outsiders. Luckily for them, he was somewhere else, killing and looting some bandits on his own.
After hearing the news of how strong these girls are and looking at the scene before him, Grease didn't hesitate to draw out his sword immediately. They were also holding some important information, that no normal person should have, especially their age.
"The Cult of Diablos?! Where did you learn of that name? How did you find that secret?!"
He rushed in with his sword, attempting to slash the girl in the center. But he was easily blocked with a black sword before all the girls surrounded them but were not initiating an attack. And so he tried to fight the elf before him, but was effortlessly overpowered by just the spacing and technique that she displayed, before being slashed across his torso.
"I won't kill you. At least, not before you tell us everything you know."
Seeing how powerless he is, he grunted and took out a bottle full of red beads before putting one into his mouth. A sudden spike of magic flowed in the room and he began his stance again. His first strike was evaded but in his second attempt the sword hit hit the slime sword of Alpha, knocking her some feet backwards, showcasing his rise in power through some pills.
"That was an interesting trick."
But the elf girl didn't even waver one bit.
Deciding on the only solution of surviving, Grease took his sword in his backhand grip and striked the floor, creating a huge hole that hid a secret passage.
"I'll go after him."
Beta, confidently, was ready to persue him through a dark tunnel.
"No need. He's headed straight for him."
After hearing Alpha's refusal of the persuit and the reason why, Beta only gleamed in happiness as 'he' would be the one to end things for the Viscount.
"Is that why we split up? Lord Shadow is so brilliant! (Sasuga Shadow-sama!)"
In another place of the facility:
A boy in a clad black hooded coat was standing alone in a tunnelway. Behind him was a pile of dead bodies beautifully sliced up into pieces. The person himself was just a young boy with the most innocent expression on his face but his mind was racing.
"I'm lost. I guess I got a little carried away hunting the small fry."
Also, I still have to find Claire and Amelia. More like Amelia, Claire is able to get home on her own but it wouldn't hurt to help out a bit. But if Amelia is hurt... That would really suck for the premise. We haven't even reached the main part yet, and if Amelia is dead or badly traumatised, she wouldn't be able to act as one of the main characters anymore. I need her and my sister to outshine so much that I can comfortablely do things in the shadows without worrying.
Suddenly a wall just some meters away from the young boy split in half horizontally and opened up for a slowly deformed man to escape through. It was Grease, who had just fled the unwinnable battle for him, and looked for a way to recover and strike back another time. What he didn't expect was to be encountered by a boy also dressed in black clothing just like the girls before.
"Dammit..."
Boss fight incoming?
"You knew I was coming this way? But there's only one of you!"
Seeing and sensing only the boy around, the Viscount didn't wait even one second to attack the boy with his sword and impale him. His strike however was blocked by the tip of the sword of his opponent. The impact and power of magic clashing against each other caused an air shockwave, damaging the bricks around them. The boys grey eyes were suddenly in a beautiful red tone looking at Grease with interest.
"In terms of quantity, you have more magic power than Alpha. But unfortunately, you have no idea how to use it. And yes... your lunge is weak."
Deflecting the initial hit, Cid drew closer to the Viscount just stopping his sword before his throat.
"Your fighting has absolutely no finesse. Allow me to give you a master class on the correct way how to use magic."
After putting his sword away, Cid was ready to give him a personal class that would make a normal dark knight strong enough to be one of the best in the Kingdom.
Feeling mocked and humiliated by just a boy, Grease began to slash violently with his new power. Because the felt the rush, adrenaline and a new magic capability in his body, Grease was confident in killing this boy and escaping afterwards. But all of his hits were dodged easily as if he was just swinging at air.
"Lesson one: Concentrate a minimum amount of magical energy in your feet for a burst of speed."
The boy began his lesson while evading all of his attacks, before appearing behind the Viscount, showing him the second chance to kill him already. It didn't take a moment before Grease realized that the boy was behind him and continued his onslaughter by just turning around.
"Lesson two: Once you've gained the proper distance from your opponent, speed and strength are unnecessary. You don't even need magic."
The boy didn't dodge the slash that was vertically coming down on him by stepping away, but by putting his hand on the blunt side of the sword and just pushing it out of the danger area that would threaten him, showcasing the example of what he has just taught.
"Lesson three:"
Materialising the slime sword back into his hand, the boy began his last lesson.
"I'm only getting started!"
Ramming his slime sword into the Viscount's shoulder, the boy didn't hesistate from his own slaughter on Grease. After making a 360° turn, Cid used his momentum to give his opponent a horizontal slash to his body, but wasn't stopping there. Several more strikes were landed on Grease, as he was completely helpless to defend against any of them.
Have I ever felt so overwhelmed in battle before? If I have, it was as a boy. When I was sparring against my teacher, after I had only just taken up the sword. But...
The Viscount is granted a few seconds of breaths and a break from the attacks as Shadow let's him monologue on his own.
"I don't care how strong you are, the darkness of this world is so much deeper than you can ever imagine!"
It was both a warning and a reminder to himself how he'll always be powerless infront of those lurking in the darkness. He just wanted to cope with it and so he also began to preach to the boy, hoping that he'll also fail like he did so many years before. Grease remembers the happy days spent together with his daughter, the pain of how he was unable to help her when she was suffering and the despair of working for those who are not only exploiting him but also experimenting on his precious little girl.
But the boy was completely unfazed by the warning about his inevitable death from the cult, as he only smiled. The Viscount couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"Then I'll dive deeper. As deep as I can go."
The boy stood before the man, confident in his abilities to challenge the world and its darkness and winning in the end. Grease had seen such an amount of arrogance from the higher ups in the cult but he was sure that the boy in front of him even had the power to back up his words, unlike some of the rounds and their commanders.
But that wasn't the main thought that he was having right now. His words, experiences, were just swatted away. His despair was not even a topic, as if it never was relevant in the first place. Feeling frustrated, he began to attack the boy one last time.
"I'm serious, boy!"
Powering up by taking even more of the red pills from the glas bottle from before, the ground was reduced into rubble. His skin changed it's colors and so did his physique. He was even bigger and more muscular than before but his skin had also a grey tone to it. Grease's right arm didn't have a hand anymore and looked more like a abomination of clumped flesh mashed together. His sword from before was in it's place, being even bigger and heavier than before. Both of his eyes were bloodshot and didn't resemble any pupil.
"I'll teach you something! About the darkness of this world!"
His attacks were even stronger now and he didn't halt at any attack even if just hit the wall or the floor. They would break first in his current form and he was cutting through them like butter. So he was able to attack freely without worrying about his surroundings. The boy shot a slime arrow at him, only for it to be blocked by one hand of the disformed Viscount.
"We're all worthless! And fragile! That is reality! Taste it for yourself! Your own powerlessness!"
Although he had massive powerup and felt like he could take on anyone in the Kingdom, he still wasn't able to reach the boy before him. Literally and figuratively. None of his attacks landed on it's mark and he was ultimately stopped, by his sword being lifted up by his oppenent with relative ease.
"Disgraceful."
That was the only description that the boy could give in response to Grease's last ditch effort to defeat him. Deciding to end the fight, the young boy began to channel his magical energy into his sword, engulfing the tunnel in his purple magic.
"What is this? This enormous amount of magical energy!?"
Grease's couldn't believe what he was seeing. How was one boy even granted this much magical energy? Was he experimented on as a baby? Is he just a born genius that will shake the world once he's grown up. Such questions were coursing through the Viscount's mind but there was one thing he could say without a doubt:
It was a beautiful kind of magic.
"Playtime's over."
The magical strike hit him, thus sealing his fate.
Of course... It's not just his technique... It's everything! I was powerless against the darkness. But maybe this boy...
In his last moments, Viscount Grease began to place his last hopes in this boy to be successful fighting against the darkness and the shadows lurking. But he did think about his most precious person in the end.
Milia...
The young boy looked at the corpse of his former opponent and then looked at his necklace with mild interest. After deciding to go and search for the missing girls, he only left one last comment for him, before continuing his strive.
"He was pretty tough for a regular old bandit."
Back in the cell where the girls are kept:
Urgh... everything hurts... this bastard kicked me in the face! Wait... What about my beauty?! What if Cid is repulsed by my face in doesn't want to associate with me anymore?! If it comes to that... it doesn't matter where you are, Viscount Grease. I'll have my REVENGE!
Looking around me, I can see that Claire isn't there anymore. Did they take her first before me? I highly doubt that. I pissed Grease off more than Claire did with her attack towards him, so I think he would decide to eliminate me first before Claire. Or maybe Claire escaped first and left me behind!
That was exactly what happend.
Some minutes before:
Claire POV:
This son of a bitch. He punched me in the face! While I can heal it easily, it still hurt you know?
I see that he didn't repair the chains that I broke to attack him. So I was basically free right now. But there's Amelia right next to me. Should I free her too? I debate about it seriously in my mind before I reach the one and only conclusion:
No, I won't save her.
Reason being, she plans to snatch Cid away from me. She called him her future fiancee without someone, like our parents, approving. She most likely wasn't able to convince her parents either as Cid doesn't have any achievements to his name and is constantly overshadowed by me. So all of that is just her playful imagination that will never come true as long as I'm alive. The only reason why I debated so much was because of the fact that she was the daughter of Duke and Duchess Hikari, friends of our own parents. If I leave her behind, there's no doubt that they'll be sad about the loss of their daughter.
I stop the bleeding from my wrists with magic and break through the jail door. It's a dimly lit tunnel, only going in one direction, so I'll have to try that.
Goodbye Amelia Hikari. That's what happens if you try to take Cid away from me.
Back to the present:
While I don't want to believe that Claire heartlessly left me behind, it's sadly the only option that I can see her doing to me. I hardly blame her for this, I did annoy her and Cid a lot, but I never knew that I was this infuriating to the extend where she leave me to die in such a situation.
Hm? What is this necklace on the ground? Wait... that's the same one I gave to Cid?! I know that I have the same one, as I like to match the things we have, but I'm wearing my necklace right now!
Feeling completely perplexed by the situation I'm in right now, I collect my thoughts for the moment. First: I'm still chained up, but that's not a problem as I can do the same as Claire. Second: For some reason, Cid's necklace is here. Third: I still don't know where I am, I hope that I'm not too far away from home.
Time to handle the first problem. I can't use my magic right now, but my physical strength should be enough to get me out of here. Taking my hands out of the chains with brute force, I break my wrists and rip some parts of my skin off.
"Ow ow ow! I was ready for that, but it still hurts."
Conveniently I can use some healing magic on myself. That was the one thing that my father taught me in case of emergencies and I was never so grateful to him for teaching me that until this moment. But I still haven't mastered it perfectly, so it took more energy than I wanted and drained me for a bit.
About the second problem: My only theory is that I was knocked out so long that in the meantime, they kidnapped Cid and when he saw me there he left his necklace only I could recognize, so I would save him once I'm free. He knows that I can free myself in such a situation, he experienced my magic for himself. So my first priority is finding Cid in this maze.
Suddenly I hear footsteps behind me approaching. I don't have a weapon right now but I can use some of these rocks lying around here to throw them at the potential enemy reinforced with my magic. I expected a grown man to come up to me, but I wasn't prepared for a young boy, wearing a black hooded coat. From the first glance I can tell: He's powerful. Even more so than I've ever seen.
He comes near and stops right some meters before me. I can't see his face as everything beyond his hood is completely shrouded in darkness. It's probably his magic in concealing his identity as the light is shining right in his face but I still can't see anything. I make the first move.
"Who are you? Are you also here to take me away?"
I can hear him smirking and then crossing his arms.
"My name is Shadow. The one who lurks in the shadows to hunt the shadows. I'm here to take you home, young lady. Also, I lost my necklace around here somewhere so I came back to pick it up."
He had a mysterious tone to his voice and an aura that wouldn't allow anyone to talk back to him. I knew that my status as a future duchess is useless infront of him, so I couldn't bribe him with money of anything. But he seems to be on my side, because he wants to get me out of here. But...
"I can't go right now. My precious friend is also here. I have to save him!"
"Your precious friend?"
"Yes, my future boyfriend and husband to be. I can't let him die here!"
His posture changes a bit. From a confident stand, it changes as he crouches a bit forward, as if he was tired.
"... Don't worry, young lady. Everone who was captured by the rotten ones were already freed. You're the only one left here."
"So you saved a young boy with black hair and ordinary build, right?!"
"Yes..."
"Okay, then take me home."
"Always the same with her no matter in which persona I am."
I can hear him muttering something, as if he was tired from something. But I ignore him, and follow this mysterious person outside. He only accompanied me to the entrance to a cave where I was being kept, showed me the direction where my home was and then disappeared. While I still had a lot of questions for him, I decided to hurry home first. My parents are probably worried to death. I don't know how long I was gone so I let the last reserves of my magic into my legs and ran home.
But there was one disturbing thought that clouded my mind during my way home. Shadow had some similarities to Cid, if you just look at the body structure. The height, the length of his arms and legs, his back. All of these things, I'm sure of, are something I've seen in Cid before. But I discard that thought. After I'm home and settle things that I'm okay to my family, I'll immediately go to Cid to check if he's okay and give Claire a piece of my mind.
Well that's pretty much how we successfully pulled off this rescue mission. After breaking out of her chains, Claire showed up back home the next day in a very bad mood. She's ridiculously tenacious. And her injuries were more or less healed overnight. She set out for the royal capital as if nothing had ever happend. Amelia also came back as soon she was done being checked by her maids and her family. I heard that her brother went missing for two months as he was searching for her in the completely wrong direction, but that isn't my problem. She brought me back the necklace that I dropped during the rescue mission. She then proceeded to fight Claire for some reason that didn't concern me, thus delaying my sisters departure for another week for her to heal.
After their fight, that had no winner, I had to decide that, if I didn't they would have fought on for the rest of eternity, Amelia came to me and said that she had to train herself and wouldn't have any time for playing with me. I didn't mind that, but I had to act like that would hit me very gravely. Seeing my reaction, Amelia did tear up for a bit before giving me a hug and telling me that she would definitely come back for me. I relcutantly told her she didn't need to but she wouldn't take a no for an answer. So now I had two years to prepare my mob techniques, perfectioning the prototype of the atomic move and lastly ways how to dodge a girl that stalks you.
I put those thoughts away for the moment and think about other things.
I wish I could go to the capital. It's a giant metropolis that doesn't even compare to this backwater village. There's bound to be some character there in the position of main protagonist. And I bet there's a last boss too. Well I'll get to go there in two years. In the meantime, I'll put Alpha and the girls to work...
"Shadow..."
Alpha calls me from behind. We standing on the highest point of the estate right now where no one could hear us.
I turn around towards her and the girls.
"The hour has come. It is time for us to leave you."
What?
"This is goodbye."
Whaaaat?
Two years later:
I'm currently sitting in a train right now, on my way to the capital. Unlike my sister, I wasn't kidnapped before my departure. That's probably because nobody wants this mob character from a baron family anyway so nothing interesting happend in those two years.
According to Alpha and the girl's story, the Cult of Diablos is an enormous organization that runs on a global state. Wow, that's pretty impressive. They said something about having to fight against it, then they scattered to the four winds.
But I get it.
They're all grown up now.
'This cult doesn't exist.'
'We can't play along with this travesty forever, so we're setting ourselves free.'
That's what they really meant. I guess I can't blame them. It was the same way in my old life. As everyone gets older, they forget about their superheroes. Even back then, I was fighting my solitary battle alone. It's always the same. Even if I end up the last person left in this world... I will keep striving to be the Eminence in Shadow.
That reminds me...
My parents informed me about something I had to attend as soon as I reach the capital. It was an marriage interview. I don't know what my parents thought when they decided on this decision, but that will be my first chance to use one of my mob techniques in the capital.
'Bombing the interview and fumbling when talking to a girl' is the 13th technique I developed in my hard training exactly for this moment. After exiting the railroad station, I see someone holding a sign that reads: "CID KAGENOU!"
A smile forms on my face. But not the good kind as the edges of my mouth and my eybrows are twitching uncontrollably to showcase the people around me that I'm not amused by this. Another thing I trained was my facial expression to let me exaggerate the situation. I quickly go towards the chauffeur holding the sign and tell him that I'm the person he's looking for. He blinks at me as if what I just told him was a complete myth but shrugs and opens the door to his carriage.
We didn't travel for a long time, and before I knew it, we already arrived. He leads me outside and told me to go up the stairs and go into the room at the end of the corridor. I go through the door after I reach my destination and see nobody there. Seems like I'm the first one to arrive. There is a table in the middle of the room but it's elevated low enough for the people to knee if you want to sit in it. Like a kotatsu in my old world.
I sit down on side of the table where I would be seen first when someone enters the room. I wait for a long time, but I don't mind. It gives me time to think about my act that I will display in just a few minutes.
The door opens, and I'm ready to see an average girl, probably the daughter of a baron like me, so I can begin. But my expectations are betrayed as a very familiar face comes through the door. A well rounded body, blonde hair, sky blue eyes and face that would strike the hearts of all men she encounters. It's the person I wanted to avoid the most while I'm here besides Claire.
It's Amelia Hikari.
"Long time no see, Cid. I have waited for this day since the second time we met."
God really hates me...
I finally realize the uncomfortable feeling that was sometimes nagging me when I was talking to Amelia.
THAT'S THE PLOT OF AN ROM-COM PROTAGONIST! NOT THE ONE OF THE EMINENCE IN SHADOW!