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Author’s notes: I was right…One more part, people.^_^;. Oi…in case no one noticed, I’m still using RK soundtrack titles for the part names. I guess I’ll stop saying that until I finally come up with an original title again.
It wasn’t possible. It shouldn’t be possible.
But as Filia Ul Copt stood there in the ice encrusted cave, she had no choice but to accept what she was seeing with her own eyes.
Her father was here, standing in front of her. Exactly as he did so long ago, when she was still little. The same brown hair, deep blue eyes and majestic presence.
"Filia." He said simply.
She shook her head, her mind struggling with the conflict. Trying to figure out how he could be alive when she had seen him die a thousand years ago, trying to figure out how this dragon could be in front of her when she had buried his corpse herself. "Father, what…? How?" She breathed, confused. The ghost of the past that she had put to rest was now here, in her presence.
"You came. Just like He said you would." Her father said softly. "You are here to Unseal Dynast?"
He? She wondered. Before she could say a word, though, he continued.
"So the time has finally come." He sighed. Sadly, he unsheathed the sword at his belt. Filia looked at him, bewilderment in her face. "Filia, I am the Guardian of this Demon Lord. In order to free him, you must kill me first."
Filia opened her mouth, and then closed it for lack of anything to say. Her mind was still in a confused state and she almost didn’t notice the strange distortion around the sword her father was holding. Then she saw it.
The silvery blade of the sword was…coming apart…With a start, she realized what was happening. The sword wasn’t made of one piece of metal, it was, in fact, a chain with razor sharp blades as links. When the links were connected securely, the whole thing can be used in the same way as any normal sword. Then the blades were disconnected, the whole length of the weapon increased dramatically and the bladed, connected links serve as a long, dangerous whip.
She threw up a shield just in time to block the flurry of blows from the sword-whip. The blows bounced off her shield to dig into the ice and tear out chunks of it in the process. With a snap of his wrist, her father returned the blade to normal, his sapphire eyes sad but serious.
"Fight, Filia."
"No, wait-" She cried as he came at her again, this time with the sword. She barely managed to swing out of the way as the blade came down in a silver arc. "Father!"
"Storms like you." Sheela noted as the winds picked up once again, whipping her pigtail braid about madly. "You always seem to be in the middle of one, Xelloss."
Xelloss smiled from his point on top of the hill. "Why, it’s so nice of you to drop by, Sheela-chan." He said pleasantly. "You are too kind."
"I suppose we should cut this crap and get to killing each other," Sheela mused as she unsheathed her Demon sword, "But something’s up and I have a feeling you’re right in the middle of it. Then again, you’re always mixed up in everything, aren’t you? The War of the Monsters’ Fall, the Sealings, hiding our Masters and Unsealing them, you’ve been quite busy."
"I try." Xelloss admitted modestly. "After all, things get so boring when all you’re concerned about is survival." He sighed. "But you’re right, really. Talk gets us nowhere, unless you’re willing to forgive and forget."
"I don’t think so, Xelloss."
The Demon Priest sighed again with mock resignation. "Us Mazoku need to work on our social skills, Dolphin-dono had the right idea." He murmured. "Then we’d better get started, before this storm succeeds in burying us under it. Oh, would you like the human to come along too? I wouldn’t want him to feel left out."
Sheela watched impassively as he faded out, wondering once again what he was planning. A ward shaped like a star within a circle burned into the ground under her feet and she smiled, allowing the portal to take her to the other dimension. She could hear Beldon gasp as the circle expanded, taking him along. Maybe now she’ll finally find out what Xelloss is up to.
Filia leapt, straight up, using her speed to do a flip in midair and hit the ceiling with her feet. Beneath her, the silver blade continued to whistle as it sliced through the air in deadly arcs. Kicking off, she landed and rolled, coming to her feet with the pillar of ice between her and her father. Breathing room.
She tried to make herself decide on a strategy, to make herself fight, for heaven’s sake. But she couldn’t. Every time she saw her father coming with the blade…her feet moved on their own accord, retreating. She didn’t want to fight him. She couldn’t fight him.
All her teachers, all her mentors…they all told her to fight with her brains. As a female, even though she was a Dragon and had the ability to use magic, she was at a disadventage when fighting other Dragons or Demons. So most of the time, she had to analyze her opponents and plan out something to counter. In this case, she couldn’t even bring herself to raise a hand against him…her own father that had died so long ago.
He died, so this can’t be him. So it wouldn’t be wrong to kill him. Her mind argued as she ducked under a horizontal swing, dancing out of the way of the next attack. But his appearance…
That can be faked. For all you know, he’s just an illusion.
…His movements, everything. Her father, alive again, returned to her. But he was trying to kill her, wasn’t he?
That confused her even more when she realized he wasn’t really trying to kill her. If the ex-General wanted her dead, he could have just used his sword’s unique abilities. The cave itself wasn’t too small for combat, but it didn’t leave much room to maneuver if he used the sword as a whip again. If he just used that all the time, then sooner or later she would be hit, and then it’d be over. She had no weapons on her and the only thing she could use was her magic.
Filia cursed as she retreated once again, keeping the Seal between them. This was getting her nowhere.
There were no taunts, no boasting, nothing that any normal combat would have. Her father, his face serious and his eyes determined, came at her with deadly efficiency. Filia found herself backed up against the wall.
"Oh, damn." She muttered as the blade came down, throwing herself to the left and closing her eyes. Forgive me, she thought. "Flare Arrow!"
…and gaped as the sword summoned up a shield of water.
She pushed herself to her feet, backing off a few steps to maintain the distance. That sword…there was something familiar about it. Like…
Nova?
Filia gulped as she remembered. The sword that her father supposedly used that was lost in the war. The Blessed Blade, Aqua. The Sword of Water.
I’m in deep trouble.
"Nice place." Sheela said nonchalantly. Behind her, Beldon was making confused noises as he looked around. "Did the decorating yourself? Or did you just pick this out of one of your memories?"
Xelloss shrugged. "A little of both, I’m sure." He replied. Almost curiously, he looked at the battlefield of his own choosing. Broken spires and crushed towers greeted his gaze, the ground torn and littered with the dead. Dead Golden Dragons. Now, why did he pick this particular place?
"So, shall we begin?" Sheela asked as Beldon regained his wits and brought Nova forth. Xelloss smiled a little, giving the landscape one last look before turning his attention back to his opponents.
Sheela tensed as Xelloss raised his arms so that his hands were out in front of him, palms up. "Sheela-chan, I think these Seals have been on long enough, ne?" Bands of gray power around his wrists slowly became visible as Xelloss’s smile widened. A loud cracking sound could be heard, and Sheela winced. Shards of the Seal fell to the floor, making a small, tinny sound when it hit, then disappearing.
Without wasting any more time, Sheela charged, her demon sword making a large arc as it came down. Xelloss sidestepped, and the blade went crashing into the already torn earth. Beldon dove into the fray, swinging Nova madly.
Xelloss kept an eye on Nova while he avoided Sheela’s attacks. Winning would be nice, of course, but he didn’t want to get himself killed quite yet. All he needed was to buy Filia some time while she Unsealed Dynast. With an enraged yell, Sheela came at him again, this time using both her weapon and her magic. Xelloss summoned up a shield, then teleported away when she reappeared in the dust cloud where he was a few seconds ago.
"Getting careless, Sheela-chan!" He warned her playfully as she cast another spell at him, an ice based spell intended to trap him. He counted it with a fire spell, smiling as the detonation sent up a cloud of steam vapor. Perfect cover.
Sheela looked around, every muscle at ready. With her vision obscured, all she could depend on were her other senses. Her sixth sense screamed danger and she ducked, a red beam of destructive light passing by overhead. "I got you!" she shouted as she turned and swiped at the place where the spell originated. Her blade passed through thin air. "Shit!" She gritted as the ground beneath her began rising with barely contained power. It exploded and she had to throw up her arms to protect her face. She could hear Beldon’s yell as he received the same treatment.
"Might as well give up, Sheela-chan." She heard him say from somewhere inside the fog. "There’s no way you can beat me here, in my own domain."
"Oh, really?" She said through gritted teeth. Summoning all her power, she forced it outward, the pressure blowing away the wisps of mist that had previously surrounded her. Her eyes immediately found the black-clad figure that caused so much trouble in the first place. "How’s that?" She asked, pointing her sword at him. Xelloss didn’t look too nervous as he opened his eyes and stared at the blade.
"Try harder." He advised, teleporting. Sheela spat out a curse and followed.
Xelloss rematerialized, calling up a shield to block her blade. Sheela strained against it, as hard as she could, and black electricity crackled between the two as any nearby object were blown away. Beldon struggled forward, finding that the sheer force of the energy between those two was enough to create a barrier around them. It pushed him back two steps for every step he forced forward.
And this is fighting him, weakened? He thought incredulously.
The two Demons pushed apart, each taking a few steps back and breathing hard. Sheela raised her sword again, sweat trickling down her face.
"Not bad." She admitted. Xelloss chuckled.
"I didn’t live this long to let you chop me into little pieces, Sheela."
Her green eyes flashed. "This isn’t over," She snarled as she prepared to attack again. "I will kill you. Make no mistake about that."
Beldon took that opportunity and lunged at the still smiling Demon. Xelloss didn’t bother teleporting since the Blessed Blades had the ability to cut through many dimensions, he just moved out of the way. The human continued, letting loose a flurry of slashes. The Demon was pressed back and Beldon found himself chopping through walls and broken pillars just to get at him. The damn Mazoku is playing with me! He realized as Xelloss once again eluded his grasp.
"Slippery bastard." Sheela muttered as she gathered a giant ball of energy in her hands. "Let’s see you sidestep this!" She cried as she slammed it down on the ground, pressing it into the earth. The land trembled, and then beams of blue light began to shoot upward from random places, erupting with deadly energy. Xelloss frowned, then faded out once more, evading the attack.
Attack together, Beldon heard Sheela whisper inside his head. His head snapped up as he saw her leap, bringing her sword down at what seemed to be empty space. The Demon blade clashed with something that phased back into view. The power behind the hit sending both Sheela and Xelloss flying down, still laboring to push the other back.
Here’s my chance! Beldon thought as they both hit the ground, then engaged again. Xelloss had no weapon, but somehow, he was blocking the sword swings with his arm. The human tightened his grip on the Nova, then charged.
Xelloss noticed the movement at the edge of his vision a split second too late. With a grunt, Beldon slammed Nova into him, the blade bursting into flames. The human used his momentum to keep going, sending the lighter Demon off his feet. Together, the two crashed into the remains of the Dragons’ Sanctuary.
"Yes!" Sheela shouted.
"Die!" Beldon roared, using all his strength to tear the blade up and out. No blood or bone… he thought, just black nothingness under the thin disguise of humanity. Xelloss staggered back and Beldon raised Nova above his head once more, a little disturbed by the smile that was still on the Demon’s lips. Doesn’t he ever stop smiling? He ignored that thought and brought the blade down, nailing Xelloss to the ruins of one of the towers.
Breathing hard, he waited.
Silence except for the pounding of blood in his head and the warm hilt of Nova in his sweaty hands.
Xelloss’s head fell forward, his eyes covered by his long bangs.
Silence. He didn’t even scream.
Sheela also waited, disbelieving.
Beldon jerked as he heard a sound. It was a full second before he realized it was …laughter. Deep laughter, with an almost echoing quality to it…like it was coming from inside a well. A hand tightened over his.
"Game over." Xelloss whispered, eyes still hidden. Beldon opened his mouth-
But the scream never left his throat. The human was instantly swallowed by darkness, and by the time the black tendrils dissipated, there was nothing left.
Sheela had never, in her thousand years of living in the desolate, frozen North, felt so cold. Xelloss wrapped a hand around Nova, pulling it out. The flames on the blade sputtered and died, and he dropped it carelessly on the ground.
Something was…different. Very different. It wasn’t so much the strange, hollow tone of his voice, of the two words he said before he killed Beldon with a thought. It wasn’t the fact that his hair was now long, longer than she had ever seen it, long enough to be dragging on the floor. It wasn’t even the massive aura of dark power that she could see, surrounding him. She wasn’t sure what it was, but it made her stomach do flip flops with sheer terror.
As he walked towards her, the wound in his left side closing, she took another step back. Silky purple strands of his hair trailed over his shoulders, cascading over his back, hiding his eyes, still. Sheela felt a whimper rise in her throat as he stopped in front of her, leaning in close.
She couldn’t move.
Almost gently, he brushed his finger over her lips. "Those who displease us," He whispered softly, his voice hitting two registers in her mind. "Must be punished, Sheela-chan. We can’t let you break the rule, can we?"
Her heart pounded in her chest, her leg muscles protesting as she forced them to move and keep moving. Filia stumbled as she ducked under another slash, barely coming up on her heels as the blade came down. She flung her hands upwards and caught the blade with her palms. The two stayed still, only the finest tremors in their postures showing any indication that any force was being used.
She gritted her teeth and lashed out with her foot, catching him in the midsection and shoving him back as she hurriedly backed off also. Every movement sent wariness to her consciousness, every move slow and sluggish. He was wearing her down, slowly but surely.
The Dragon General took a deep breath as she changed her mind. Maybe she was going about it the wrong way. Quickly, she gathered energy in her open palms, casting it toward the pillar of ice. " Distim Plato!"
The silver-white energy expanded, then faded, to her surprise. It broke apart, seeping into the cave as she watched with her mouth open.
What?!
It was as if…the cave absorbed the attack. But how? If it was made of counter-magic material, then she shouldn’t have been able to use it at all…
Again, her father advanced, Aqua at ready.
She was running out of options. There were no choices left.
When he was within arms’ reach, her hands reached out in a motion too fast for the eye to follow. In one smooth move, she wrenched Aqua out of his hands and flung it away, following up her momentary advantage by throwing him over her hip and making sure that he landed hard enough to have the air knocked out of his lungs.
Maybe if she could get the sword…
She spun around and saw the silver blade gleam as the sword itself hovered in the air, much like Sheela’s demon blade. It pointed toward her and she threw herself out of the way as it streaked for her head. There was a solid sound of hilt meeting palm as Aqua returned to her father’s hand. Filia realized her mistake as she twisted around to see her death coming at her.
Her mouth opened, but no sound came out as the cool blade slid into her, right below her sternum. She looked at him with an expression of shock…and hurt. Then the pain made itself known and she screamed, her mind fighting desperately to be free of the agony. The darkness rose up to claim her…and she welcomed it with open arms.
Luna ran a hand through her hair as she sat down; the bustle of the restaurant had slowed down to a lazy trickle of customers, something that the other waitresses can easily handle. Xellas was already on her third bottle of the world famous Zephilian wine. "Drinking’s bad for you."
Xellas chuckled, lifting the glass to peer at it with an owlish expression. "Really? I like drinking, actually. And Zephilian wine is so exquisite." The Demon Lord laughed lightly, crossing her long, tanned legs. "Anyway, Luna. Are you finished with your shift?"
"Yeah." Was the short answer.
"So, can I talk to you now?"
Luna snorted as she leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. "Has anything ever really stopped you before?" she asked the petite woman. The Beastmaster pouted a little, and then took a sip of her wine. "What did you want to talk about?"
"Oh, various things."
"I heard Dolphin has been Unsealed." Luna noted. Xellas nodded.
"I’m sure Dynast will be Unsealed soon." She added, pouring a cup for Luna. "Then Xel says he’s planning to Unseal Shabranigdo-sama."
"And you’re telling me this because?" Luna said half-curiously.
"I thought you should know." Xellas replied simply. "The war is coming soon enough, and this is the least I can do."
Luna laughed quietly, no humor in the sound. "I didn’t expect gratitude, especially from you."
"I’m hurt, Luna-chan." Xellas said as if affronted. "Is that your attitude toward your best buddy?"
"Are we still friends, Xellas?"
Xellas smiled. "In private. Of course, if any of your Dragon Elders see us together, we’d have to blow up something to convince them we’re fighting."
Luna laughed. "Those old fossils." She giggled. "Ah, well. We can’t expect everyone to know what is going on." She sighed, rubbing her temples. "Sometimes I think the Gods chose their Knights just to torture them. They tell us things, and then swear us to secrecy. Being a Knight is overrated, I tell you."
"Hear, hear." Xellas agreed, raising her glass in a toast. "Being a general too, for that matter. Have you talked to Filia lately?"
"No, why? I expect you to have more contact with her since Xelloss is with her right now."
Xellas shrugged. "No reason. I just expected you two to keep in touch, that’s all."
Luna shook her head. "No, I suspect that she doesn’t know that I know about all this and why they’re doing it. I ought to talk to that girl when she gets back…"
It is so dark… Filia thought as she slowly sank in the thick, liquid blackness. Darkness on top of black, bottomless black….
What had happened didn’t seem important anymore. The world…her father…Unsealing Dynast. All those voices that represented what she needed to do faded away, swallowed by the darkness.
Is this death? She wondered dimly. Darkness with no end?
Filia.
A voice. A rather familiar voice. She frowned a little, trying to remember whose voice it was. A light, masculine tenor…
Who?
Filia!
A pale, ghostlike form shimmered above her, slowly gaining substance. Slowly becoming recognizable.
Xelloss? She wondered.
Filia, don’t fall any lower, I can’t catch you if you keep sinking… He called into her mind. His voice…it sounded so far away…and slightly panicked. Wait…he never panicked…
He reached out with an ethereal hand. Filia, hang on.
Despite the lethargy, some of her stubbornness floated back to the surface. I don’t need your help.
Don’t die, you’re not supposed to die.
I’m not going to die! She declared groggily, knowing that if she were on solid ground, she wouldn’t be able to walk straight. Was she drunk? She felt so fuzzy...
Yes, you will. Just take my hand.
You’re fading away, Xelloss, She argued. So how are you supposed to help me?
Whoever walks out of here alive is the winner, Filia. Somehow, his hand was within reach. She raised her hand, hesitantly. Live. Her fingers brushed his, then he gripped her hand.
Not a cold, icy grip like she expected. Warm. Strong…
I… she started, trying to figure out what she wanted to say as Xelloss continued to fade, but his hand still holding hers…
A light exploded in her hand, whipping around, lighting up the darkness, forcing it back. Gathering into a long, slender shape.
Aqua.
Wait a minute…
The darkness faded, but she was still sinking. Sinking in thick, liquid air. Brilliant light flashed, then faded away, just like the darkness, leaving here in limbo, floating, sinking, wondering.
What’s going on?
All around her, the walls of the cave because visible. But it was different. She was still unable to move with any kind of agility. It felt like she was underwater…she was confused.
I thought…I died?
The air pulsed around her, filled with latent power.
Latent, familiar power. A very familiar power. She frowned mentally, trying to place where she had felt this power before.
No, you’re not dead.
The intonation interrupted her thinking, and she tensed as she recognized the voice of her father, this time inside her head.
You are becoming complete.
Filia barely had time to try to understand that when the power began to fill her. She gasped voicelessly as her essence melded into the giant, softly glowing pool of still power. It filled her warmly, from head to toe, and her eyes opened wide as the knowledge that came with the power also filled her.
It was her power. It was her power all along.
What was once Filia melded into what was once the Cepheed General. Everything that caused her to be incomplete now returned with full force, filling her mind.
Without any warning, the scene in her mind’s eye changed. Filia blinked, disoriented for a second as she looked around, back in her body again.
"What?" She asked.
Now is the time, for that which had been hidden will now be revealed. The fate of the world will now hinge on this.
Broken spires. Ruined towers. Dragon corpses littering the ground like the rubble from the shattered structures. Smoke rising in a thin trail up to the red sky. "No…" she whispered.
You must face your fears, Filia.
"No…" She whispered, louder this time. More desperately. Raising her shaking hands and holding her head, raising her voice louder, as if she could out-shout the disembodied voice of her father. "I don’t want to see this!"
Acceptance.
Her mind knew what it meant. What the voice of her father and the voice of Cepheed wanted of her.
Yet her heart cannot accept the things that happened. It cannot accept the slaughter of her people and the loss of her father. She just couldn’t…knowing that the Demons killed so many and so fast, without mercy. She couldn’t forget. It would desecrate their memories…the ones that died, to forget that atrocity. She couldn’t forget that nightmare, so long ago.
It was one scar that she couldn’t erase.
You must see this.
"And prove what?! That I have a REASON to hate Mazoku!? That I…" She stopped painfully, choking back tears. "That I’m just a bitter, hateful person in the end?" her voice rose once again, urged by anger and a dash of shame. "I DO hate them! I hate them! So what if it makes me like them!?"
You cannot willingly help the rise of Darkness without knowing the reasons behind it. You cannot know the reasons or understand them unless you accept what you are shown.
"I don’t want to see it!" She repeated, covering her eyes.
With a jolt, she was out of her body again. The landscape reformed, darkened, and she had to watch as it dimmed to a pitch black. Slowly, almost weakly, pinpoints of light materialized, flickering.
This was the world, at the beginning.
The light intensified, expanding outward, filling her vision. The edges almost seemed to fray, then weave together. White-hot gases swirled and congealed, forming at an incredible speed, planets, suns, moons.
Life was created and balance dictated by our Lord, The King of Darkness. The Lord of Nightmares.
She was standing on a grassy plane…then she shifted to the Astral Planes. The pure spirit forms of God’s and Demon’s race began to shape, out of light and shadows. White winged angels along with batlike demons.
And along with the Gods and the Demons, out Great Mother created another race, a race not ruled by the dictates of good or evil. A race whose actions were dictated by chaos. The humans.
"Beings who are between light and dark."
At the end of the first war, Cepheed fell into a deep sleep while Shabranigdo was split into seven and sealed in the land. The world fell into a peace born of exhaustion.
Then came the War of the Monsters’ Fall.
The eerie silence was pierced by a baby’s wail and Filia jumped, her sensitive ears protesting the loud and sharp sound. In a lighted room, she could see a purple haired woman cradling a baby to her chest. A soft, foggy golden light enveloped the whole room. She caught sight of the two birthmarks on the baby’s forehead before the scene faded.
The Child of Chaos.
The purple haired woman, who Filia recognized as Luna, brushed her bangs out of her eyes. For the first time, the Dragon General saw the Cepheed Knight’s eyes, a clear, bright blue. Filia fancied that if she squinted hard enough, she could see the white, feathery wings extending from the Knight’s back. She realized this scene was from one of her memories, when her father had taken her to visit Luna, a long long time ago. She saw herself, only a child then, timidly hiding behind her father, retreating from Luna’s stern and hidden gaze.
The Children of Light.
Multiple footsteps echoed hollowly in the long hall. A tall man with dark hair led a boy into what appeared to be a throne room, draped with furs and hunting trophies, the floor littered with countless wolves that were lounging.
Beastmaster Xellas Metallium gently breathed out a stream of smoke, smiling as she stood and bowed to the man. "What honor do I owe for this visit, Lei Magus-sama?" she purred, her whole demeanor different from the times that Filia had been in contact with her. More secretive, more preditorial…more dangerous.
"I need you to take care of someone for me."
The boy took a step forward, raising his head. Filia took a sharp breath. Although his hair was a lot longer, and darker and his eyes were more blue-violet than amethyst, there was no mistake that the boy was a younger Xelloss. She watched as Xellas came forward, running her long, manicured nails lightly over his pale skin, smiling secretively.
That means…Filia swallowed. Xelloss must be… "The Child of Darkness." She whispered.
The Chosen ones, whose purpose is not to participate in this conflict, but the next one. The Children of the Gods, the ones who will decide the future.
It made sense, all of a sudden, why they were the ones doing this.
The war raged on and she could see ferocious fighting, but it was a dimmed, as if from far away. It faded, and she couldn’t hear the din of clashing weapons and the screams of pain anymore…
The War was but the beginning, the catalyst that is leading the world to the brink of the new war. The war that will decide the fate of the world, once and for all. Without cooperation between the Children of this world, the Revolution will not come. The world will end in stasis or in chaos, returning to nothingness. It is your duty to play your part in this, your duty to participate because you are one of the Chosen.
Filia stood, silent, as she was returned to the darkness of the beginning. Her father materialized beside her.
"You must accept, Filia."
Accept that there is no right or wrong, good or evil. In the end, there is only existence, there is only survival, there is only chaos.
Accept that what she was doing wasn’t for the better for the Dragon Race, but for everyone who is living.
She took a deep breath.
Accept that everything that she had ever believed in must be given up for this…
She must accept.
"I’ll do it."
As if her words had dissolved all the barriers and separations, the power Cepheed granted his General flowed fully into her again as it intensified. Filia stood like a statue in the thick currents whipping about her. She closed her eyes, and by the time she opened them, she was back inside the icy cave. With a thought, Aqua appeared in her hand and she eyed the pillar of ice that encased Dynast indifferently. Filia pointed Aqua at the base of the pillar, and the base exploded in shards of ice, the icy prison that kept Dynast trapped for a thousand years crumbling on the power of a thought.
After all, it was her power that Sealed him in the first place.
Everything was so clear to her now. Why her father was here, why everything seemed familiar, and why Xelloss had said that she was the only one who could do this. Her father, in Sealing Dynast a thousand years ago, left most of his power here, in the Seal. Because the Seal is actually his power, only a Cepheed General could break it by taking back what was originally his. Or hers, in this case.
The air slowly cleared and she found herself facing Dynast. The Demon Lord remained unmoving, an ominous figure in the dark armor. There was silence, and then the Lord opened his eyes. Ice blue eyes that studied her carefully. Filia didn’t really care. With all the things that had happened, she knew she was now perfectly capable of taking on Dynast, even by herself.
"Welcome back." She said quietly. Common courtesy? She wasn’t sure. Certainly, leaving him here and walking out wasn’t an option.
Dynast Grausheela raised one eyebrow at the almost casual tone in her voice. He didn’t quite recognize this blond woman in front of him, but her aura was familiar. "And what a nice welcome it is. Were you the one that killed my General, Sheela?"
If Filia was surprised by the question and what it implied, she didn’t let it show. "No, wasn’t me."
"You’ve changed."
Filia shrugged. "The General of Cepheed is a title passed down from the generations. My father died a long time ago, Dynast."
"Killed." Dynast corrected absently. "I never expected to be Unsealed again, especially by the same power that Sealed me."
"Circumstances have changed." Filia said quietly. "I would suggest you go speak with Xellas, she’s the one knows most of what’s going on."
"Xellas is out?" Dynast would almost seem surprised, except for the coldly calculating gleam in his eyes. She could tell that no, he wasn’t surprised at all. "I see."
"Now, if you’ll excuse me," Filia murmured, "I will have to go pick up a certain colleague of mine." She stopped by the mouth of the cave, throwing Dynast a look over her shoulder. Somehow, she had the feeling that he shouldn’t be trusted. "And don’t try anything funny. If I can Unseal you, I can Seal you again, just as easily." She warned.
He smiled archly, in an expression that was too similar to Xelloss’s for comfort. "Who said it was easy?" he asked, but she could tell he wasn’t going to argue. Dynast was even more calculating than Xellas, it seemed. Doing something out of the blue would not give him any notable adventage, and she knew that he never did anything without some sort of ulterior motive in mind.
Filia teleported out of the pocket dimension that held the Sealed Demon Lord for the past thousand years. Reappearing outside the physical entrance of the cave, she took a deep breath and gathered her thoughts.
Sheela’s dead. That much was certain, based on Dynast’s rather abrupt question. The only logical conclusion is that Xelloss killed her. How he managed that, she had no idea. Sheela must have had Beldon and Nova with her, and she and Xelloss are evenly matched in everything else…Then again, Xelloss wasn’t the type to go into a fight with just bare bravado. Obviously, whatever he did, he won.
She had just Unsealed Dynast, one of the most powerful and dangerous of the five generals of Ruby Eye. And gleamed, from the process, the assurance that he was indeed, as dangerous as the legends say. Besides Dynast, she had also, in turn, regained all the power lost in the Sealing and learned more about what had happened and their purpose. Why she, Lina, and Xelloss were involved in this mess in the first place.
Where is Xelloss? What will happen next? Will Dynast try to stop them from leaving? Is the Dragon Army coming, like Xelloss feared?
The cold, bitter wind gave no answer and she shook her head. One problem at a time, she decided. And the first one was Xelloss’s whereabouts.
Quickly, she hopped over the narrow river that disappeared into the cave’s mouth and summoned a Raywing around her. Gaining altitude, she headed toward the general direction of where she had came from, when he had…She cut off that thought abruptly and concentrated on squinting at the white, snow covered land.
It wasn’t hard to find. Filia frowned as she saw the smoke rising in the air, halting her flight. "How in the world…?" Touching down, she approached the ledge by foot cautiously, looking around. The snow seemed dirtier than usual, but other than that…The Dragon was just about to go forth when some instinct made her freeze in midstep. She looked around without moving a muscle, trying to pinpoint the source of the sudden lump of apprehension in the pit of her stomach. Nothing, nothing except the sound of her heart pounding.
Her foot hit something as she willed herself to move again. Looking down, she covered her mouth with her hands and looked away, trying not to gag. It was a charred piece of black matter with smoke rising from it, and it smelled like burnt dung. The black chunk burned weakly, like wet wood, and only the small bit of blue cloth that remained untouched by the dying embers gave her any clue to the identity of the victim.
Sheela.
With horror, she realized that there were similar pieces strewn around the ledge, and that there were dulled silver chunks of metal lying around that reminded her of the Demon’s blade.
Someone had tore her to pieces and broke the blade, scattering them all over in a grotesque rendition of littering. Filia bit her lip, remembering another time when she had seen such a sight, except that she had figured out the identities of the victims a lot faster last time…
A shadow darkened the ash-covered snow that she was staring at. All her senses screamed and Filia’s head snapped up, seeking danger.
Xelloss smiled, his eyes hidden underneath his long, long hair, and she fought back a shudder. There was something…sinister about that smile. Something that wasn’t…Xelloss. She got an iron grip on her nerves and stood up, telling herself that she was being paranoid. "Hello." He said simply.
"What happened?" She asked, gesturing to the remains of Sheela, looking at him in an attempt to meet his eyes under the dark shadows.
"Sheela-chan and I…came to an agreement about things." He answered.
"Fair enough." Filia agreed. "What happened to your hair?"
Xelloss fingered the long strands. "Oh, that’s a secret."
She wasn’t expecting a straight answer anyway. "Okay." Feeling his unseen gaze (rather like Luna’s), she frowned a bit. She could feel the hair on the nape of her neck standing on end. "What are you looking at?"
"Is that…Aqua?" He asked. She looked to see that the sword had unlinked itself and wrapped itself around her waist, like a metal belt.
"Yes." Xelloss accepted that answer without any more questions. Instead, he turned and looked off into the distance. "What?"
When he turned back to face her, the normal smile was back and she relaxed, a little. "Shall we go, Filia-chan? Or do I have to kiss you again?"
Stunned silence.
"You-YOU NAMAGOMI!!!!!!!"