Dozens of cloaked figures were barely seen with the absence of light. Tension filled the air as tens of members from the 3rd wing stood in front of the cave. Alongside me was William, who was clearly uneasy, the same could be said about me.
The other side did not make a move, as such the bishop walked and stood in front of us.
"It's understandable why the 2nd wing is here". With a cold tone the bishop addressed the cloaked figures.
"But I don't know what brings you here, 1st wing". The bishop directly faced the one with white robes.
"More so when both wings agreed on keeping this place a secret". They just chuckled as if amused by this whole situation.
"I only am a messenger of the 1st wing, these were nothing but empty promises". A deep voice was heard through the forest, the next instant all of my fellow cult members unsheathed their weapons. A mash of swords, spears, magic staffs, etc.
I myself unsheathed my twin blades as a confrontation seemed inevitable. The other side did the same as I got a sense of Deja vu from the last time I fought them.
Weirdly, I felt some sort of unease and repulsion coming from the messenger, as if they being there poisoned my very self.
"You're so quick to jump to violence, there's no need for bloodshed, if you silently surrender that is".
My mind raced with all sorts of thoughts as the silence prevailed. The main thought I had was just fleeing as it wasn't worth risking my life for the cult. But at the same time, it was a golden opportunity, if I could somehow manage to defeat the messenger from the 1st wing, I would get all sorts of information.
I chose to wait patiently as escaping would be easy, mainly thanks to the blinding darkness of the night. Rain still poured in, and the two sides remained in place. It was a matter of who would make the first move.
"Such a useless struggle, it seems nobody likes the easy way". With a sigh the messenger raised their arm. But before they could do anything I already casted fireball at them.
'Why the hell would I let them the first move?'
As the dust settled the messenger appeared unscathed as they casted a protective barrier
With that, the battle really started.
***
Dozens of weapons clashing and spells being summoned were heard, as the cries of a battle were silenced by the rain.
Between dozens of figures I could just barely see the messenger walking away.
"Stay close to me". With these words William stood right in front of me with a spear in hand. One of the cloaked figures approached William with a knife, I deactivated the magic symbol on my right eye as it would only make us stand out.
Klang!
William's spear clashed with the cloaked figures knife, appearing behind William, I struck them with my twin blades, forcing them to back off.
They seemed to back down, slowly walking away. 'Damn it', It was dark and the only thing that could be seen was the magic spells launched across the forest. Having Williams back, we were waiting for the cloaked figure to make the move.
Sensing something strange, I turned around only to see a beam of light going towards us. I pushed William and evaded the attack.
"Not so tough now". The cloaked figures voice was dark as they mocked us. When I turned to face them, I saw something that made my jaw almost drop.
A monster soul was conserved inside a glass container.
'How is that possible, monster souls disappear along with the death of the monster'.
But then I remembered the last time I faced them. 'They were trying to kidnap monsters, not kill them'.
I felt sickened as the equivalent of a life was contained and used as fuel. Preparing for another light beam the cloaked figure put the soul forward, but they let their guard down.
Slice!
"Ugh".
They were unable to see me throwing my blade towards their leg. In a hurry they launched another beam of light, but it was futile, I already moved away.
With the back of the handle of my blade I swung at their forehead.
"Gyah!". They immediately lost consciousness, grabbing the glass container I struck it open. I could feel the magic inside the glass and I understood what they did. Monsters fundamentally survive out of magic, if the soul of a dead monster was continuously infused with a little magic, even them could hold on.
With the glass gone, the soul started disappearing. Although faint, I could sense a will, even while dead, with their souls still there some of their emotions were carried away.
'thank you'
I was able to hear it, just faintly and for a moment but I was sure of it, the soul thanked me. My eyes trembled slightly.
William then approached me and gave me something, I couldn't help but widen my eyes as I saw what he had.
"Use it as a last resort and flee immediately, I don't want you to get hurt". With that he went on to help the other members.
I was angered at the 2nd wing, they were worse than I thought. I had the perfect opportunity to flee, but there was still something I wanted to know, 'I'll be gambling with my life, but still, I'll be a little reckless'.
Pointing my finger up I focused, magic wasn't just energy, is a way to communicate, is art, it's an expression. That's what makes it so malleable. I launched what seemed to be a normal fireball at the sky. The flame going against the rain created light. It then exploded in a million particles, slowly descending towards the ground while resisting the rain.
In the next few seconds, everything was made visible as the light of the flames dissipate the darkness. 'this is enough', I thought to myself as I scanned the area I found my target.
Fighting with the bishop in the middle of the battlefield, I could see the messenger from the first wing. I ran towards them while summoning a bunch of fireballs towards them.
My attacks phased right through the messenger as if they were never there. Suddenly they disappeared and I saw them right beside me, whispering.
"You've caught my eye". As soon as I heard them, I swinged my blade, but they disappeared yet again.
"What's wrong with your soul?". I heard them right behind me, but when I turned around, they weren't there. 'They're playing with me', Their teleportation and reaction speed quickly made them almost impossible to detect.
Then, they stood in front of me.
"...What are you?". I asked them as their power was overwhelming.
The messenger just laughed as if amused and told me:
"Afraid already?". The messenger mocked me, right after they summoned a dozen fireballs mimicking my own towards me.
"Latte watch out!".
The bishop jumped to protect me and at the same time he summoned a magic barrier, It was able to withstand the attack.
"Latte? what a silly nickname".
'Fuck', It was made clear that they were powerful, I alone wouldn't be able to beat them.
The messenger applauded us, like this was just a performance. Then they summoned even more fireballs than before as the whole forest seemed to be light up.
Trying my best, I evaded almost all of the attacks but was struck by one fireball. As I greeted my teeth at the pain, I noticed something weird, although the fireball did hurt like hell, it wasn't as hot as I expected?
Right after the attack, the bishop struck at the messenger, lunging forward with their mace, but it just phased through them like they never existed.
Meanwhile, I was strategizing. 'The enemy is practically untouchable, it can teleport, duplicate and has a lot of magic reserves, it's like they are playing with us'. It almost seemed unfair as the enemy still remained unscathed, but I had a triumph card, a one-trick pony, the moment they let their guard down I would use the object William gave me.
"Don't tell me you're hopeless already? It's funny watching you struggle". The messenger treated us as we weren't even a threat.
"Shut up, you asshole!". The bishop, who's usually calm and composed, started cursing at them. On the other hand, I felt lucky that they were playing with us, that at least gave us a chance to retaliate.
The messenger started walking towards us, strangely, I didn't feel any uneasiness coming from them, unlike before.
Something was up, I only felt that thing when I was facing the messenger before the fight, but I'm sure that the one in front of me doesn't have this uneasiness, that meant...
I threw a fireball at them, but as expected it phased through again. 'It's just a fake'. Then, I felt as if I was enlightened, maybe this was all just a ruse, a lie, maybe the messenger isn't an overpowered freak, but just a faker.
Maybe that fireball that hit me didn't feel as burning as it should be because it wasn't a fireball, maybe it just looked like one.
'We have to find the true body'. With this theory, I just needed to find where the messenger truly was. But before we could react the fake messenger clicked their fingers and summoned tens of spears.
As tens of spears appeared, I chose to ran away. 'Fighting is pointless if I can't damage them'. While I ran across the battlefield I stumbled across friends and foes, recognizing them was quite hard as I could barely see what was in front of me, but I had a clear goal. Finding the source of my uneasiness.
Clank!
Klang!
SWOOSH!
Fighting my way through I felt closer to my objective, also I learned another thing. The whole time the spears followed me as if they knew exactly where I was. 'How unfair'. While everyone here struggled to see anything, the messenger seemed to be able to perfectly see me.
The spears chasing me never stopped as I had a risky idea. I turned around and braced for the impact of the spears, before tanking them I managed to count how many were there.
As I tried protecting myself with my blades, the pain of the spears coursed through my body, but I managed to learn something. I felt the hit on my left shoulder and leg, what could be the effect of two spears hitting me. 'There were 8 spears'.
I smiled as I discovered that 6 of the 8 spears were false, even the one that went straight to my face and I blocked with my blades was fake.
When the spears disappeared, a small light was left, looking at my own reflection with the blades I checked myself.
*check.
[Zen
ATK: 29
DEF: 27
HP 325/545
Magic: 475/800
* Be careful.
]
I was separated from the main battle as I stood alone.
"Messenger, you truly are a faker". I spewed those words into the nothingness of the night, I couldn't see anyone around, it was too dark anyways. But I could feel their presence, the true messenger was here.
"... How did you catch on this quickly?". The voice came from behind me, but I already knew it was fake.
"If you want to talk, use your real voice". I heard laughter as the true messenger made its presence known. With a soul contained in glass in their hands and a white cloak, they were completely unharmed
"I'll let you know my identity before I defeat you".
Then, they slowly took their pristine mask off, letting me even more shocked than before. then, for a moment, I wavered.
I saw Asgore's face and flinched. that alone was a fatal mistake. From the soul, a beam of light emerged and hit me at blank-point.
"Aaagh!".
I screamed as I felt my whole body burning.
"Idiot". The messenger mocked me as their face began changing, that was just another illusion.
"You totally drained all my magic asshole, but whatever. the knight order and the Royal guard should be here anytime".
I gazed at them as my body couldn't move.
"Don't look at me like that, I'm not gonna kill you anyways". Their voice shifted and their height shortened, as all the Illusion's unraveled, what I heard was a soft and feminine voice, unlike the deep one. Before I could gaze at their identity, they put the mask back on.
Mustering up strength, I gritted my teeth and talked to them.
"Why are they coming?". This should've been a struggle between the wings, how could Authorities like the knight order and the royal guard come?
"I called them, having the fear and darkness wings attacked at the same time sure feels like a perfect deal".
Everything clicked, this was just a play the 1st wing made to attack both wings at the same time, using the authorities as allies.
The messenger then turned to leave leaving me behind.
"That was a good fight though, hope you enjoy your life at prison!".
I could feel myself losing consciousness, but I persevered. Green flames surrounded my body as I used every ounce of magic I had to heal myself.
+33
'Fuck'. After using all my magic left, I could only heal 33 hp, but still I thanked Lyanna for teaching me basic healing.
As I got up. The messenger turned around.
"Give up, we both are in no condition to fight, just flee before getting caught on this mess".
I put my hand inside my cloak, without magic fighting is useless as they are probably in perfect condition and I 'm struggling to stand up. But I had the object that William gave me, my triumph card. Man's greatest friend, a gun.
Being pointed at with a gun, the messenger put their hands up as they surrendered. They seemed a lot more distressed than before.
"Oh shit, that was unexpected".
I made sure that they couldn't leave by getting closer to them.
Using the reflection of the mask, I checked myself again.
*check
[Zen
ATK: 29
DEF: 27
HP 47/545
Magic: 0/800
* Badly injured.
]
"Put down the mask". After they removed their mask, I could see their true face.
With bright purple hair, black eyes and pale white skin, the messenger was a human girl, with the looks of a teenager. For a moment I was surprised before remembering in what situation I was.
"What is the 1st wing and who are you?".
"can't tell".
"Do you think I'm just playing?".
Putting the gun on their forehead I threatened them as they still kept their smile, although with a hint of worry.
"You won't shoot, you can barely move, if the sound of a gunshot is heard the first ones to come will be the authorities, can you deal with them after murdering a poor little girl?".
Certainly, this was a shitty situation, but I still couldn't let her have the edge.
"I'll shoot if you don't answer". I insisted as I started counting down.
"one". Nothing
"two". Silence
"thr-".
"Okay, okay I'll tell you!". Finally giving up, she started talking.
"I'm looking for someone, that person is very... strange, I'm not even sure if they exist. The only one that knows about that person is the leader of the True Fear Church, but as you probably know, he disappeared".
"What are you getting at?".
"I joined the first wing to find him, as to what that wing is, it's just a bunch of loyal dogs searching for their owner".
Ready to ask more questions, I was interrupted by chatter.
"I see some magic being thrown".
"So the call was true after all".
"Finally, we get to capture those weird cultist guys".
"I just hope Undyne gives me a raise".
"Dogamy and Dogaressa, don't you two live close to this forest?".
Realizing that the Royal Guard had already arrived, I pondered on what to do next.
"..Let's keep this a draw".
The messenger started walking away as she realized I couldn't shoot her.
"I'm not done, you'll respond all of my questions once we escape". But she didn't seem to care as she just walked away.
"You won't kill me... probably". Gambling her life on my choice, she just kept walking away as the chatter of Royal Guardsmen was getting quieter.
"Fuck you".
"Goodbye Latte~".
I put the gun back into my cloak as I also started walking away.
***
As I evaded the human knight order and the monster Royal Guard I started heading back to William's cabin. Luckily there wasn't anyone there.
When I reached the cabin I changed my clothes and put bandages all over my body, covering burns and cuts. Using my phone, I checked the time, '22:16, They should be asleep already'. Thinking about Lyanna, I read her message.
21:56 = [Zen, tomorrow you have school, don't forget to return soon 😤].
Knowing how far away this cabin was, I would probably arrive at the orphanage at 12. I hope no one is awake when I get back.
While returning, I thought about William, hopefully he's alright.
The night ended that way, as my tethered body returned to what I could call home without knowing if I would see my boss tomorrow at work.
|Thanks for reading this chapter! The prelude is almost done, we only have one miniarc left and we can head straight into Act I, the story is just beginning|
*Vote and comment what you thought*