Traveling back through the forest felt a little bit more freeing. Without the worry of being caught by anymore Chimeras, the Cohort was able to move far more effectively than before, but even then it was way more risky. They could feel the tremors of the battle between tyrants taking place through the tremors in the earth.
Smile Of Heaven took back the lead of the Cohort since she was the only one who knew where the second exit actually was. She resumed inhabiting her sword so she could attack in case of emergencies.
Ki Song on the other hand, was feeling a little abrehensive. She didn't like what they were doing, but she had to admit that it was the most logical.
She glanced a little to her left, taking a look at Epsilon who seemed relatively unbothered.
Despite what his outer appearance conveyed, his head was full, occupied with thoughts about the memories he recovered. He wasn't able remember how he killed Seras before, but it seems that the King Of The Dark gave him that last hit. For some reason, he let him kill her, or rather forced.
'Promise... what promise was she talking about?'
Her last words still lingered in his head. He couldn't remember even making any kind of promise with her.
'I must still be forgetting something.. but what?'
For starters, why did the King let him kill her?
'It would've been easier for him to just kill her himself, and yet, he went through the extra effort of making me do it.'
'Wasn't she sealed because the King couldn't kill her in the first place? He won quite easily.'
Or maybe that was the thing. He didn't want to kill her, at least not yet, but he couldn't have her running off elsewhere too. She needed to stay in the hollow mountains, but why? And it still didn't answer why Epsilon had to kill her.
Well to figure that out, what was the difference between him and them to begin with?
Well there were quite a few, but the most notable ones being that, Epsilon was human, but he was also infected by the Nightmare Spell.
'So is it that only a Spell Carrier could kill her?'
Most likely. Or maybe there was something that only he could gain from killing her. Something that the King needed, or wanted.
'That memory..'
But still it was strange. If the King expected Epsilon to kill Seras and receive that memory from the Spell, how would he even know about it? The Spell was something that did not exist back then, so that couldn't've been the answer. It was even weirder because it would've meant the Kings plan would only work specifically in the Nightmare, and not the real world.
'But if I was the only one.. or rather the boy who was stuck there instead of me could kill Seras, why didn't the King do it sooner?'
Epsilon kept thinking, and thinking, answering more questions with even more questions, hoping that he would at least answer one of them. But no matter how much he tried to deduce the Kings thoughts, or what the promise and his relationship in all of it was, he could never reach a concrete answer.
As he slowly began being devoured by those thoughts, he felt something change in the environment. He felt something moving in the light, and terribly fast too. So much so, that it was hard to keep a proper read on it.
He froze for a moment to try and get a better feel without informing the others. So when they noticed he suddenly stopped moving, they were a little confused.
"Epsilon?"
Ki Song called out, but he didn't respond. Instead, just a few moments later, his face contorted into one of fear. Quickly, he reached out towards her before pushing as hard as he could.
She fell to the ground letting out a quiet yelp, but before either of the two could even say anything, a blurry figure zoomed right through where she was just standing.
In that moment Epsilon could also feel something tear at his face.
The object that moved past, crashed and rolled into the floor, slowing down before coming to a stop.
Although the first to react was Epsilon, Smile Of Heaven did not lag that far behind. Instantly, the tip of her blade lifted as it aimed at the now stationary Nightmare Creature which resembled a leopard. Although with exposed muscle and the lack of a pair of eyes.
Its flesh also seemed to be melting somehow.
Her blade zipped forward, instantly piercing straight through the creatures throat. Although it did seem to do some damage, outwardly, the creature seemed perfectly fine apart from looking a bit more melted than before. Her blade on the other hand, was slightly chipped.
Ki Song quickly got back up with her blade already in hand. The Chimera Fragment still locked onto her, charged forwards with its teeth bare.
Noting that the creature was ever more slower, she raised her blade to defend, but right up until the very last moment before they collided, she side stepped to the left letting blade cut across its side with ease.
It felt like she was cutting through mud, as her blade travelled through the leopard shaped Fragments back side. Blood instantly began to pour out of it, and so the creature quickly tried to cover it back up with its melted flesh.
And yet, the wound refused to close. In fact, it was growing worse ever so slightly, and its own deteriorating state did not help it at all.
It was about to attack again, but Epsilon's own blade amped by the power of his Aspect, quickly pierced it through its right side. It roared, it struggling to break free, but its form was already breaking down and it wound was too grievous.
Just before it melted into a pile of muck, Epsilons blade glowed with a faint white light before exploding, tearing the creature in two.
Wiping the sweat from his forehead, and the blood from his cheek, Epsilon looked towards Ki Songs.
"Your face.. I.."
He nodded. His voice cold and neutral, he responded,
"We need to keep going. I'll patch it up later."
Epsilon just saved her life, but she couldn't afford to have a spare thought right now. Quickly the Cohort began to pick up their pace once again, this time moving at full speed.
'Hang on...'
Epsilon felt that something was wrong. Something was missing.
'I didn't get the kill.'
He didn't hear the Nightmare Spell confirm it, but looking back slightly, he could see the dried up remains of what he didn't know to be the Chimera Fragment. Although it was dead, and that he was sure that he got the last hit in, he didn't hear anything.
It didn't even leave any Soul Fragments behind.
And then a few moments later, he could feel the ground tremble beneath his feet much more than before. The trees rustled all around them, and one by one, he could hear large groups of them each being knocked down in the distance. With the sound of them crashing getting ever closer and closer.
It was then that Epsilon understood that what he just killed was an extension of the original, and that the moment it found them, whatever it was connected too had noticed them too.
In otherwords, the Nightmare Creature that was now approaching them was more than likely the tyrant they were meant to avoid.