Baka-Tsuki - User contributions [en]

Dantega:Volume 2 Illustrations

2013-06-10T22:21:40Z

74.87.29.101:

[[Image:Blaire's Drawing of-Map.jpg|260px|thumb]]
[[Image:Messor_-2.jpg|260px|thumb]]
[[Image:Blaire's ANIME Project 1-Ash.jpg|260px|thumb]]
[[Image:Blaire's Drawing of Lelaine (1).jpg|260px|thumb]]
[[Image:Dv2-chp9_img004.jpg|260px|thumb]]
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| Return to [[Dantega|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Dantega:Volume2 Chapter 1|Chapter 1]]
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Dantega:Volume 2 Chapter 3

2013-06-10T22:19:20Z

74.87.29.101:

Chapter 13: Her and the King

(PART 3)

Zurvick is running toward the source of the arrow, from atop a tree he thinks he sees something move. As an instinct, he naturally looks at the area of sunlight that lies around twenty yards in front of him and spots the arrow moving towards him with great speed. He jumps forward, tucks and rolls and continues running, the arrow flies over his head and lands on the ground behind him.

"Hmph! You gave up your position!" He shouts at the man who is perched in one of the smaller sequoia trees.

Zurvick puts his hand in a pouch that wraps around his back and pulls out a thin diamond shaped blade with a metal loop on the butt end of it. He twirls it around his finger and gets ready to throw it when out of the corner of his eye he sees another man swing a large sword towards his face.

He slides on the ground and narrowly avoids a fatal blow. Now caught between a rock and a hard place, he needs to decide which man he'd be able to defeat without being killed by the other.

He chooses to run away from the man with the sword and go after the man with the bow. But much to his surprise the man with the sword doesn't chase him, on the contrary he turns around and rushes Ash who is closely following behind.

"Ash get out of there!" Zurvick shouts.

Ash hears this but her view is blocked by a tree, she keeps running toward his voice when she sees the enemy soldier Zurvick warned her about lunging his blade right at her torso.

Zurvick looks back but his view of the two is blocked that same tree.

"Damn it! Ash!!"

In this moment of worry, he takes his eyes off of the bowman. With his head still turned in Ash's direction, he feels the wind of something blowing through his hair. An arrow zooms past the side of his head and slams into the trunk of a banyan tree.

Other than a few lost strains of hair, Zurvick is completely unscathed.

The luck of this happening is duly noted in the back of his mind, if he had turned his head in the direction of the bowman just a second earlier, bits and peaces of his skull would be scattered all over the forest floor.

The bowman quickly tries to reload; Zurvick is now only around thirty feet from the man's position, he cuts to the right and jumps on a low hanging limb of a tree. In order to get a better angle on the man's twenty five foot high branch, he immediately careens off the limb and rises to about twelve feet in the air.

Zurvick is ready to throw his hand held projectile blade, and the bowman is just about ready to shoot his arrow. It's as if this moment in time stands still, the two look each other directly in the eye as they both fire their respective weapons almost simultaneously, the one who blinks, will be the one that dies.

Just as much as it seemed the moment was in a thunderous halt, it instantly resumes its natural speed but feels at least ten times faster than normal.

Zurvick falls to the ground but quickly regains his footing, he hears a loud thud and looks to the source of the noise.

The bowman is dead on his back with the diamond shaped blade protruding from his left eye. Zurvick checks himself for any injuries but finds nothing but a big slice in the outer layer of his dark shirt.

"Whoooaahh God damn I'm lucky!"

He takes a sigh of relief, but inhales deeply at the sound of Ash's battle cry.

Zurvick rushes to the other side of the tree that once blocked his vision. He sees Ash holding her sword in a readied posture for a downward thrusting strike and is standing over the man, she is in an obvious position of victory. But she's hesitating, her hands are shaking, her eyelids are wide open and her pupils are small.

'I see...' Zurvick thinks to himself.

He charges at her and knocks her away from the man, he switches his sword from his left hand into his right and slices mercilessly into the downed man's neck. The man lasts for a few seconds until he fades off into death.

Ash is sitting shocked on the floor with her eyes stuck on the man that Zurvick had just killed. Zurvick doesn't say anything to her and with haste begins to take the mans armor and uniform off.

He tosses it to Ash and bluntly says, "Put it on."

Ash looks at the armor with heavy eyes and sees that there is a good amount of blood on it, she tosses it aside and drops her head.

"Why?"

Zurvick replies in confusion, "Why? Well in order to sneak into their base camp, we're gonna need their uniforms."

Ash slams her fist on the armor and shouts, "Not that!!! Why didn't you let me kill him!?"

Zurvick takes a deep breath and exhales, he walks to her and lifts her head up to show her a stern expression as he replies, "That would have been the first time you've killed somebody right?"

Ash shifts her eyes away from his face and stays silent.

"Killing someone... It's the worst and most empty feeling in the world. I don't want you to experience such a thing, especially if I can keep it from happening myself, and besides... It's a man's job to kill... It's your job to lead." He stands up and begins to walk off when he says, "There could be more coming soon, so put on his armor. Use some water from your canteen to wash off the blood."

Ash doesn't say anything in return but does exactly what he said.

"Ooh! Speaking of canteen!" Zurvick takes out his sweet liquor and takes a quick drink. "Haaahhh! Delicious! Okay then, now I'm refreshed!"

He starts his walk to the bowman when the soft and innocent voice of Ash sincerely says, "Thank you."

Zurvick turns, puts on a stupid smile and says, "Your welcome!"

-------------------------------

Sturgess sits on a gondola on the mote that surrounds the castle of Troy; he is accompanied by two men, one in a blue robe, and the other is rowing the boat in a suit of armor.

Sturgess slides his hand through the water, because it is the Autumn season the water is fairly cold but it seemingly doesn't effect him. He turns to the man rowing the boat and asks, "So then Anders, you work the closest to the front lines. How is are King doing?"

Anders smiles and sharply replies, "On the fast track to death."

Sturgess laughs and asks, "So what is it this time?"

Anders takes a large row of the boat and lifts the paddle over his head and rests it on his shoulders. "Though it would be easier if I simply have one of my men kill him, that would be too obvious, so this will work out just as well. I sent him on a suicide mission behind enemy lines in the Liceiin forest. He was supposed to be by himself, but ended up being joined by his Captain at the last minute."

Stugress strokes his beard. "This Captain, will he be able to affect the outcome of this mission?"

"Hahahaha! Not a chance, the King's Captain is a weak eighteen year old girl who has no battle experience. Though she showed excellence in her training for both combat and leading, she is completely incapable of bearing the responsibility of being a Captain in a war like this one."

"So you specifically chose her to lead the King's division. Hahaha, very good Anders, that's why when I become King, you will have my job as the Commanding General of the Trojian army."

Sturgess takes his hand out of the frigid water and leans back in his seat, the man in the blue robe throws him a towel and says. "Don't forget about me."

Sturgess giggles a little in his chest. "Of course not Cardinal Luudnt, you are the country's spiritual adviser and the minister of propaganda. Without you, the people of Troy would be outraged at the fact that their King is involved in such dangerous missions. No one would ever doubt that the King is fighting safely alongside the 105th Specialist division if you say so."

Cardinal Luudnt smiles as he grabs a vine of grapes out of an ice chest that lay to his side, he tosses one in his mouth and says, "Also, don't forget the trouble of reading through all the letters that the division sends to their families, and that includes King Zurvick's letters as well. In order to secure classified information, I must make sure that my penmanship is in tip top shape for forgeries."

Sturgess gestures to Luudnt to toss him a grape and says, "For a man of faith, you sure are one corrupt son of a bitch."

Luudnt's face turns contorted with a wide grin. "I may be a man of faith, but I am more a man of money... With you as the King, I'll have enough to build a house of gold!"

All three men laugh aloud, Sturgess puts his hand back in the water and says, "That's correct, though the title of the King technically has no value now. With you two on my side, a coup d'etat will easily be obtained. The Queen will become my slave and this grand country of Troy will finally be ruled with the iron fist of a man."

Sturgess tosses a grape in his mouth and begins to splash his hand in the water when he suddenly feels a constriction on his wrist. He looks down and sees a snake binding his hand all the way up to his forearm.

"What the hell is this?" he turns to look at Luudnt and Anders, but they are frozen stiff with large smiles. Everything around them has the tint of red, the castle, the sky and all of Troy are red.

"Is only the title of King enough to satisfy a man such as yourself?"

This voice of an unknown man rings in his head like church bells.

"Who said that!?" Sturgess looks down to his hand, the source of the voice comes from this black snake with blood red eyes.

Sturgess is completely confused, not only at the fact that this snake is talking, but also at the fact that there are supposed to be no snakes in Troy. Because of its northern position away from the equator, the climate should be too cold for reptiles.

"This serpent? Is it you?"

The snake squeezes his arm a little tighter when another voice comes, "It is I... So would you allow me to ask you a question?"

"...What?"

"What if I said I could give you all the countries of the world?"

Sturgess's eyes are fixated on the face of the snake and answers curtly, "Then I would ask you how it is that you, a snake can do that."

The snake's tongue slides out of his mouth and back in ."Allow me to show you."

A flash of numerous scenes from a glorious future beams through Sturgess's head; the views consist of him as the ruler of Aires, he has Lelaine clinging to his side as they watch the execution of Zurvick. A sensational pleasure flows through his body as many more images of what he perceives to be pure bliss pass through his subconscious.

As quickly as the visions started, they stop, this moment of ecstasy dissolves and leaves him drooling for more.

The snake continues to speak as it slithers further up his arm. "Is that not the future you desire the most? Do you want it?"

Sturgess's eyes cock sideways as he speaks with a cracked voice, "YES!"

"Then I shall make it so."

Sturgess shakes his head and regains his composure, he asks, "What's in it for you?"

The snake postures up and puts its head on the same level of his. "Nothing whatsoever. I am simply a humble being who's compassionate to people of strength, a man such as yourself is a man I deem worthy of ruling my world. So will you take it?"

Sturgess closes his eyes to regain a little bit of the incredible feeling he had just felt, he takes a deep breath and answers, "Yes."

The snake slides back down his arm and says, "A wise choice."

It opens its mouth wide and bites the back of his hand violently, Sturgess flinches his arm and the snake flings into the water and disappears.

The red tint that surrounds everything instantly vanishes and the sound of Anders and Luudnt laughing aloud is once again heard.

Sturgess uses a rag and wipes the blood off his hand and says, "Why wait until the King dies?"

The two stop their laughing and look at him with confusion as he continues, "This is a volatile time for Troy, now more than ever the balance of power is at its most vulnerable state. As soon as we gather enough men, we shall immediately stage our coup."

Anders and Luudnt pause in silence as they think it over, they glance at each other and then back at Sturgess showing wide grins as if indicating that they agree.

Sturgess smiles and shifts his attention at the wound on his hand, much to his surprise, instead of seeing two teeth marks he sees a large black pentagram.

He laughs for a moment and stops abruptly, he puts his hand back in the cold water and with a grinning frown says, "It looks like I have just made a deal with the Devil."

------------------------------------------------

"Quite the hansom young man you make Ash." Says Zurvick with a contempt smile on his face.

Ash frowns and punches him in the back of the head and sarcastically replies, "Ohoho! What a comedian you are!"

The two of them are wearing the two deceased soldier's armor and uniforms. Since the Eiyalazonian military doesn't allow women, Ash has rubbed dirt on her face, tied her hair up and hid it with a bandanna and helmet making her look more like a pubescent boy rather than that of a teenage girl.

Zurvick rubs his head while he fiddles her helmet over her eyes. "Hey now, that was a compliment ya know."

"Considering the fact that I am a girl, being called a handsome boy is hardly what I'd call a compliment you idiot!"

He sighs and with somewhat of a teasing tone says, "Well, either way it's a good thing that you have no sex appeal, otherwise we'd instantly get killed once we reach their base."

This statement truly contradicts the actual appearance of Ash, though she is fairly short and her chest isn't that large, she has long legs and her tanned skin gives off a nice shine. Her facial features match her body perfectly in unison, one can't help but wonder how pretty she would look if she were to wear an expensive dress.

The aura around Ash turns black, a vein can be seen in her forehead and her eyes begin to burn like a raging fire. "DO YOU WANT TO DIE??..."

Zurvick's face drops in fear and he nervously tries to retort, "Oaahh! C-Calm down Ash! It was only a joke!"

"JOKES ARE SUPPOSED TO BE FUNNY!"

She viciously kicks him right on his butt, he shouts his ouches and screams as he runs away with Ash in hot pursuit.

After a few minutes of playing cat and mouse, the two are out of breath and leaning on a tree. Zurvick is breathing so hard that he feels like he is having a heart attack. He turns to Ash with a horrid face full of fatigue and says, "I- haaaaa- I'm- haaaaa- sorry!"

Ash, who is also tired, punches him in the gut with all of her remaining strength and he falls to the ground like a limp noodle. Being out of breath, combined with having the wind knocked out of him from her punch makes him feel like he is literally about to die.

Ash grabs him by the collar to lift him up, with a smile she says, "Now we're even."

The two burst into a tired laughter and they both share a moment of carefree relaxation.

With a little time to recuperate, both are close to being fully energized. Zurvick pulls out the map and sees that they should only be a few hundred yards away from the enemy base camp, he turns to tell Ash their position when they hear the approaching voices of a couple men out in the distance.

Ash stands up and holds out her hand to Zurvick to help him up, with a deeper, and more manly voice she says, "Let's go."

He grabs her hand and they walk toward the voices.

There are two Eiyalazonian soldiers; Zurvick and Ash walk up to them and give them their military's salute. The men both salute back and one asks, "Were you the two guys sent for guard duty?"

Ash replies in her deepened boyish voice, "Yes, we never spotted anything suspicious so we decided to return. Were you guys looking for us?"

The other man begins to speak, "Yeah, Captain Ditreig has called a meeting for our attack on the Trojans. It starts in an hour so he wants everyone to gather on standby until then."

Zurvick butts in and asks, "If that's the case, would you mind if we joined you guys?"

The men gesture the two to follow them and they all walk to the base.

Ash and Zurvick follow a few feet behind the two men that are leading them to their base. Zurvick grabs Ash's sleeve and whispers in her ear, "We need to assassinate Captain Ditreig before this meeting starts."

"What? Why that fast?"

"If the regiment gets the proper attack info, they will carry out the attack even if Ditreig were to be killed. But if he dies before he can give out the orders, the regiment will have no choice but to retreat and wait for further commands."

Ash glances at the two men to make sure that they aren't being heard. "That makes sense, but wouldn't the Captain have his orders and attack plan written down on paper already?"

Zurvick postures up, with a serious face he says, "No, he doesn't work that way."

By him saying this, it indicates that he knows Captain Ditreig personally. She catches this and shows an expression of wonder. He looks away and is about to answer her body language when they come upon the sight of the enemy base camp. Hundreds of soldiers are all getting ready to gather into one massive group, tents that wined throughout the trees give off the feeling of a small city.

The four of them begin to walk towards a large wooden stage carrying the podium for Ditreig's address; Zurvick grabs Ash's hand and they ditch the two men who are leading them and run into an alley way of trees.

"Hey where are we going?"

Zurvick doesn't answer her question as they keep on running.

They come across a lone soldier who is holding a notebook, Zurvick walks up to him, does the Eiyalazonian salute and asks, "Excuse me sir, but if you don't mind me asking. Would you happen to know where the Captain is?"

Through his glasses, the man looks through his notebook and replies with a question of his own, "If you don't mind me asking. Who are you?"

Ash jumps back and looks at Zurvick with weary eyes; he is standing astute and without a flinch he replies, "I am Sergeant Corbin Mizlesh." He gestures to Ash and continues, "This is Sergeant Applic Stellson."

The man scopes them up and down and then looks in his notebook, after flipping a few pages he says, "Oh, You are the two that were sent out on guard duty?"

Zurvick sternly replies, "Yes sir, some men told us to come back to base for the Captain's meeting, we wish to speak to him in order to give him direct report."

The man twitches his eyebrow. "You can tell me, I'll make sure he gets the report."

Zurvick bows his head and in a polite yet stern tone replies, "I'm sorry sir, but this is something that needs to be heard by the Captain alone."

The man clicks his tongue and walks away, he buries his head back in his notebook and says, "Every day around this time, the Captain bathes in the lake about a hundred yards that way. Keep walking and you won't miss it."

"Yes sir."

Zurvick nudges Ash and they walk towards the direction of the lake.

"How the hell did you do that?" Asks Ash with an astonished look on her face.

Zurvick looks confused and asks, "Do what?"

"The names, everything! How did you pull that off!?"

He grabs the helmet that looks three sizes too big off of Ash's head and points to the inside of it, a large tag with the name of the dead Eiyalazonian soldier is written in bold.

'''Applic Stellson'''.

Ash hides her face in her forearm from embarrassment and softly says, "Oh..."

He stuffs the big helmet back on her head and says, "The mission is almost over, so just hang in there."

Ash kicks him in the shin and yells, "Don't baby me!"

He sighs like usual and says, "Yeah yeah."

They have finally reached Captain Ditreig's position, they have arrived at the lake and are first amazed by the beauty of the scene. The lake is darkened with the reflection of the overhanging branches. The entire area surrounding the lake is much darker than most of the forest, thus making the light peaking onto the lake from the numerous gaps in the branches of banyan trees that lay overhead make it seem like they are looking at a night sky that is filled with stars.

On the shore of the lake is a tent, and laying to the side of that tent is the green and red Captain class armor. Zurvick sees this and looks out in the water assuming that Ditreig is in there.

"It looks like he is by himself." Ash says as she scopes out the area, she finds this odd because this lake is quite far away from the heart of the base camp so she figured that he'd have at least one guard to accompany him.

Their attention is snagged by the sound of splashing water, emerging from the darkness of the lake is a man with sparkling gray hair. It seems that the lake isn't too deep because he is fairly far out and half of his body is showing.

Zurvick and Ash hide behind a tree as the man walks out of the lake and gets dressed.

"I want you to go back and stand guard." Says Zurvick in a serious tone.

Ash frowns and replies, "No way! I'm going to help you."

He looks at her and reveals a frown himself. "I don't want you to get involved in this, so just do as I say and don't interfere."

She is taken aback by his reaction, she has never seen him show such a face, and for some reason seeing him like this makes her not want to be argumentative, she tut tuts and walks away.

"Don't you dare die."

Zurvick smiles and says, "Not a chance."

-----------------------

Lelaine walks through the innards of the Trojan castle, the hallways are lined with the portraits of past Kings, Queens, Princes, princesses and other royals. She is in an entranced state as she slides her hand on the wall as she walks.

She reaches a large oak door that leads to a room, on the door is a sign that has letters written in bold saying, ''''TROJIA''''. She grabs a key out of her pipe bag and opens the door.

She then enters and sees that Trojia's room is exactly as it was when she left to La'Juune in order to be married. Lelaine takes a deep breath and sits on the edge of a large bed.

"I knew I would miss you when I sent you off to be married... But at least I would have known where you were and that you were safe." She says to herself as she plops her back on the bed.

With her eyes she analyzes the room and sees all the framed pictures of many different things. On the dresser she spots one of the pictures that has been purposely placed face down, and decides to stand up and go to lift it upright.

To her surprise, she finds that the photo is of both her and Trojia embracing in a fun looking pose while they are both smiling, this causes her to reveal a strained smile. She thinks back to the reaction that Trojia had when she first informed her of the triple marriage between the tree super powers of the world.

"What!? You're sending me away!?" shouts Trojia.

The two are sitting on a dinner table that lies in a massive dinning room. Lelaine shakes her head and replies, "It's not like that, this is for the greater good."

"How is it for the greater good that you give away your only child, and only heir to your throne??"

Lelaine rests her head on her hand and with a sarcastic smile says, "Peace Trojia, think about what this could mean for our people, and the world for that matter."

Trojia slams her hands on the table and stands. "It means nothing! You have to be blind to see that this is a gimmick, you yourself used tell me that there is always a catch! The Kings of both Eiyalazo and La'Juune know that without an heir to the throne of Troy this country will become vulnerable and easy to manipulate. They will use this to destroy you mother!"

Lelaine clicks her tongue and pulls her pipe from her waist pouch. "I know all of the pros and cons to this situation. But I refuse to be the one who let the chance of world peace slip between her fingers. You are going to get married whether you like it or not."

Trojia grabs a one of the glass cups and throws it against the wall, it hits and shatters loudly. She pauses for a moment and takes a deep breath, in a much calmer manner she once again speaks, "Let this be fair warning... This will end up being the exact opposite of what your're hoping for... Mother, you whoring your daughter out, will lead you to nothing but grief."

Trojia walks out of the dining room and leaves Lelaine by herself, she takes a long drag from her pipe and blows smoke out abruptly.

After Lelaine reminisces this, she fast forwards to the last time she saw Trojia, and cringes when she remembers what the last words her daughter spoke to her.

Standing at the front gate is all of the castle's inhabitants wishing a departing Trojia a safe journey. Zurvick was on the other side of the country so he wasn't there to witness her departure, so the only two family members are Trojia and Lelaine. To say that this is an awkward moment is an understatement.

Lelaine walks to her daughter to say her goodbyes when Trojia turns her back, this sign of disrespect somewhat angers the Queen but in order to not make a scene she bites her lip to relieve her tension.

Trojia takes a deep breath and turns to her mother with a face much like a begging child and asks, "Please don't send me away."

Lelaine's gaze shifts away as she replies, "I can't do that."

Trojia's eyes instantly lose its shine, she pauses for a moment and her face turns cold. "Very well then... Since I am no longer your daughter, I can honestly say that for doing this to me... I hate you."

Her words pierce Lelaine's heart, she jolts in shock at this feeling, she watches her only child enter the carriage followed by her body guard and five nuns.

The carriage drives off into the distance while she still stands frozen in the same position. She never thought she would hear those words come from Trojia, but even more so, she never thought that if she were to hear it, it would affect her so much that her soul would feel like it has been sucked out of her body.

The current Lelaine is once again laying on the bed zoning out on the picture that depicts them in such a happy and loving state.

"You were right... Everything you said was right..."

She starts crying, she regrets more than anything that she gave up her only daughter for nothing but a war.

"If I had just listened to you, you'd be here with me and there would be no war. It's all my fault and I'm so sorry. I just want you back..."

She shuts her eyes and wonders where Trojia is, along with this thought she suddenly feels a bolt of energy flash in her body. She opens her eyes only to see that the entire room is of a red tint and the picture she holds in her hand is completely black.

"What if I told you that I know exactly where your daughter is?"

This voice beats on the back of Lelaine's brain, she is surprised at this and looks around the room to see where this is coming from. Out of the framed black photo comes a black snake with red eyes, she tries to fling it off but for some reason she cannot move her body.

The snake slithers down her arms and speaks, "It is I."

"Huh? Am I dreaming?" she asks herself aloud.

"I assure you, this is not a dream. Now will you consider my question?"

"You know where my daughter is?" she asks with a crack voice.

The snake continues its slow methodical slither. "Yes Lelaine, she is in a place that I can easily access. If i wish it so, I can bring her back to your arms."

With a needy smile she asks, "You're saying that she's alive right!?"

The snake pauses for a moment and answers, "I am simply stating that I can bring her back."

Lelaine thinks about this for few moments and asks, "What's the catch? What is it that you want in return?"

[[Image:Blaire's Drawing of Lelaine (1).jpg|260px|thumb]]

The snake sticks out it's tongue and smoothly says, "None whatsoever. I merely am a humble being that is compassionate toward loving parents who have been separated from their children. So what say you fair Queen? Will you allow me to bring your daughter home?"

Lelaine smiles with wide eyes, it seems like the snake's mouth is growing larger with a Cheshire cat grin as it awaits her answer.

Lelaines eyes sharpen, her brows steepen and the tips of her mouth rise up revealing her teeth, she bluntly replies, "I refuse."

The snake recoils back and the red tint of the room begins to fade away as she continues, "I used to tell my daughter to never believe in anyone who offers you a gift and says that there is no catch. Trojia reiterated this saying to me once, and it took me until now to remember how true it is."

The snake begins to slide back into the darkness of the photo, only the red of its eyes can be seen as it says, "A foolish decision."

The snake disappears and the red tint that once surrounded the room is no more, the photo of a happy mother and daughter can once again be seen. Lelaine rubs her tear filled eyes and says to herself, "That was some kind of weird dream..."

She takes one last glance at the photo. "I don't need anyone to tell me where you are Trojia, I know you're alive, and I know that you will be back one day. When you do, I can properly apologize."

She tenderly smiles, lays back down on her daughter's bed and gently falls asleep.

----------------------

"It's been a while Ditreig." Says Zurvick as he runs his hands through his hair.

The gray haired and blue eyed man has a scar on his cheek that can be seen through his five o'clock shadow and looks to be a larger than life type of character.

Ditreig looks at him and quickly turns away to put on his boots. "You know soldier, you look just like an old friend of mine. For a second there I thought you were him. So what do you want?"

Zurvick starts to laugh and says, "Your eyes aren't fooling you, it's me."

Ditreig ties his boot straps and turns around. "Holy shit it really is you!"

He smiles, runs to him and gives him a big bear hug.

Zurvick's face begins to turn purple from lack of air in his lungs. "O-Okay I get it! Let go!"

Ditreig drops him and says, "Sorry about that, you know how I'm not good at containing myself."

Zurvick breaths hard and says, "No kidding."

"Anyways, what the hell is the King of Troy doing here in an Eiyalazonian uniform?"

The reunion is cut short by the drop in the mood coming from Zurvick, Ditreig sees this and takes a few steps back. They look in each other's eyes for over few long moments when the silence is broken by the Captain.

"You have been sent to kill me correct?"

Zurvick shifts his eyes and replies, "Yes."

"I must commend you for your effort, it's quite amazing that you made it to me without being noticed. But I gotta ask, why is it that they sent you of all people to kill me?"

Zurvick calmly removes his sword from its sheath. "I don't exactly know myself. But I do know that I am the perfect man for the job."

Ditreig laughs loudly and asks, "You'd kill your old friend?"

Zurvick's eyes turn cold and he answers with neither a yes or no, "It's a King's job to protect his people; and it's a father's job to protect his daughter."

"Hmph, the funny thing is that I completely understood that, I have a daughter of my own you know? Then so be it old friend, let's make this fun."

Ditreig picks his sword up off the ground and they both charge at each other.

Ditreig slashes low and Zurvick jumps over the strike and leaps off his shoulders and over his head. Zurvick lands and pulls another one of his diamond shaped blades and chucks it; Ditreig swings his blade and knocks it away.

Being rushed, Zurvick is forced to back up all the way to the water, knowing that he has no where left to back away, he leans over and grabs some dirt and tosses it in Ditreig's face, blinding him momentarily.

Zurvick then swings his sword at his foe's neck but it is somehow dodged by Ditreig who jumps into the water to get the dirt out of his eyes.

Ash hears the two men fighting and becomes worried when the sound of water splashing rings through her ears, she sees that they are so far away from the base camp that she has no need to be on guard duty for now. She runs to the lake and hides behind a tree in order not to be seen, she sees the enemy emerge from the water as Zurvick stands on the shore with a body language of the utmost intensity. She waits and watches with the intention of helping him if he ends up needing it.

Ditreig comes out of the water wearing a wide grin, "It's been a long time since I've had my blood flowing like this. Not since the battle of La'Juune, do you remember King Zurvick?"

Ash hears this and thinks to herself, 'I knew it! They do know each other!'

Ditreig begins to step further away deeper into the lake as he continues, "It was you, Sturgess, and I at the gate of the city of grandeur, fighting together and winning! We were so close to destroying the kingdom of La'Juune, that is until that bastard Napoleon came in and put this horrid scar on my face. If I recall correctly, he gave Sturgess one as well, of course with your luck only you got out unscathed. Don't you remember? We shed blood together as comrades."

The reason he says this is because Troy and Eiyalazo were once allies in a war against La'Juune; leading the charge against the capitol city was the two of them including Sturgess. Victory was very close to being attained but once at the gate of the city, but Napoleon was there and fought all three of them personally. On top of that he was somehow able to hold them off while sending orders to the rest of the La'Juutian army, who eventually obliterated the allies under his leadership and forced them to retreat.

Zurvick rests his sword on his shoulder and smiles, "Yeah that was some kind of battle, it's quite a shame that things ended up this way. When I heard that you were the leader of this squad, I was excited that I'd have one last chance to speak to you. Though I am surprised that you only have the rank of Captain."

Ditreig slashes his hand in the water and laughs, "Haha yeah, since I was the Commanding General of the Eiyalazonian military during that failure of a battle, I was demoted all the way to Sergeant. It took me all of the ten years to even this rank back."

Zurvick smiles and sighs, "Well that's understandable, that was quite an embarrassment, being stopped by a fifteen year old kid like that. But I'm not one to judge you on rank, this is the highest rank I've ever had and I'm only a Specialist."

Ditreig smile is replaced by a frown when he says, "You have got to be blind to not see that there is something sketchy about that."

"Whether it is or not, I like fighting along side my men, I think all Kings should do the same. So I have no problems with being a grunt in the military."

Ditreig huffs air out of his nose and grins, "You are way too honorable Zurvick, it borderlines on stupidity... Anyways, enough with this idle chit-chat. Are you gonna fight me or what?"

Zurvick sighs, rubs his head and says "Alrighty then."

He jumps over the water and thrusts his sword down on Ditreig, a big splash causes the scene to be quite chaotic. Once the splash dissipates, the sight of Ditreig disappears as well.

"Where the hell?"

Zurvick suddenly feels a sharp pain on his left calf and it causes him to fall.

"Shit he's hiding under the water!"

He has been sliced so he swings his blade through the water blindly at the hope of hitting Ditreig. He cannot see anything through the water because the reflection of the trees above and lack of sunlight make it too dark, because of this he stands completely still in silence and waits for some kind of sound.

He shuts his eyes and feels the water flowing in an odd way towards him.

"He's there!"

He slams his sword downwards through the water and feels that he pierced something.

'Did I get him?'

He checks to to see if he did, he lifts his sword out of the water and much to his dismay, he sees that it is connected to Ditreig's heavy piece of armor.

From behind him a loud voice of a girl is heard screaming, "ZURVICK BEHIND YOU!!!"

An instant after this shout the sound of a loud splash startles his senses.

He turns around as fast as he can but it is too late, through the countless water droplets he sees his old comrade Ditreig thrusting his sword only inches away from Zurvick's gut. They stare into each other's eyes with intensity, one wears the eyes of desperation whilst the other shows confidence.

However, in this short time span Zurvick hears a piercing thud and Ditreig's eyes turn from confident to surprised. Zurvick thinks that he has just been stabbed but due to adrenaline he hasn't felt it yet. He shuts his eyes and with a battle cry pushes his blade forward until he feels that he has hit something.

Zurvick opens his eyes to see that Ditreig's blade has missed safely to his side, and sees that his own blade has impaled Ditreig right above his naval.

Ditreig drops his sword in the water, coughs out blood and says, "Once again... Your luck knows no bounds."

Zurvick is completely surprised about this turn of events, he completely thought that he was dead to rights. That is until he looks over Ditreig's shoulder and sees a different sword stuck into his back, and around twenty feet out in the distance is Ash, her body frozen in a throwing position while breathing very hard.

"It was you..." Zurvick says softly, he frowns and with a voice full of anger yells, "I TOLD YOU NOT TO INTERFERE!!!"

Ash drops to her knees, with her eyes stuck on him she says, "I had to... You could have... You could have!"

Before Ash can finish she is interrupted by Ditreig. "Come on Zurvick, give her a break... She just saved your life, haha I had you completely fucked."

Ditreig starts to cough and laugh loudly, he slides off of Zurvick's sword and into the water.

"I can't say that I'm happy to die in such a place, but I can say that I am pleased I was killed by the King of Troy."

Zurvick looks at him with saddened eyes as he helplessly floats on his back.

"I don't need your pity, so don't look at me like that."

Zurvick smiles and walks out of the water. "Sorry Ditreig, it's a shame that our friendship has to end this way."

Ditreig's face has become incredibly pale but he still musters up the strength to laugh, "Hey now, who said we can't still be friends?"

Zurvick laughs as well, "Haha I guess you're right."

The shine in Ditreig's eyes dissolve and grow dull, with his last bit of life he says his dying words.

"As a friend, allow me to give you a warning... General Sturgess... Be aware of that man, I've always known that fuck has had an out for you..."

With that, he slips into death and sinks in the water.

Ash is still on her knees in a frozen state, Zurvick walks to her and holds his hand out to help her up. She looks at him with eyes that are asking him if she did the right thing or not, prompting him to smile and pat her on the head.

"You did good Ash, thank you."

She smacks his hand away, with a melancholic tone she says, "I told you to stop doing that."

Zurvick laughs and walks away, ignoring her statement he says, "People might be coming soon so let's get going... I need to hurry home."

Ash gets up and tilts her head, "Home? You mean back to base?"

Zurvick turns and looks at her with a serious face. "No, I mean that I need to go back to Troy."

"What!? Why would you do that?"

He once again starts walking away and with his back turned to her says, "Something has been eating at me for a while; and after hearing Ditreig confirm it for me, I am positive that I need to get back immediately. Also, I haven't seen my wife in a few months... She may act tough when other people are around but by herself she is terribly fragile."

Ash runs to him and grabs his arm. "That means that you're going to leave us?"

Zurvick giggles at her begging expression and teases her, "Awh you're gonna miss me? How cute."

She punches him in the head and shouts, "Of course I won't miss you! That's because... I'll be going with you to Troy."

"Haaahhh!?!?"

Her and the King: (END)

<noinclude>
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| Back to [[Dantega:Volume 2 Chapter 2|Chapter 2]]
| Return to [[Dantega|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Dantega:Volume 2 Chapter 4|Chapter 4]]
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|}
</noinclude>

Dantega:Volume 4 Chapter 9

2013-06-01T16:37:44Z

74.87.29.101:

(PART 3)

The battle of Armageddon has been underway for hours now, Trojia has her eyes solely on Ubica but the sounds of agony and death reverberate through her ears as they hit from all around her.

Ubica has killed so many people she has lost the ability to fathom it once it got over her estimation of a hundred thousand, it most certainly surpassed that number tenfold by now.

Ubica is such a force that he is killing off Heavenly Beings without even clashing swords with them, it's as though his mere presence is enough to kill them in bulk. He viciously strikes down thousands of enemies at a time before they could even realize he was there.

He can do this because of the power that resides in him, the power that he is made of...

Evil.

As the human embodiment of all that is sin, he manipulates the evil and uses its energy as a weapon.

All of his attacks are manifested forms of energy from the evil of every human that has ever lived stored in Dantega.

And since there is more hate and ugliness than good in the history of humanity, it is only natural that evil reigns supreme.

None the less, watching the purest form of darkness in action is a sight to behold, he is unstoppable.

To get a proper grasp on this battle, one must know who the ones fighting are.

On the side of Hell, are demons fighting alongside humans that have been tempted by Ubica.

And on the side of Heaven, are humans that found the resolve to ally with God under the worst of times, past humans who died and are now fighting alongside the light, and lastly, Heavenly Beings.

There is a difference between past humans, Heavenly Beings, and Angels though. To put it simply, Heavenly Beings are in direct contrast to Hell's Demons. They hold many different forms of many different animals but are all a hybrid between humans, almost as if they were the first prototypes of man that were determined to be flawed and eventually paved the way for the final design. A horse with a man's body, a man who's arms are the wings of a dove, a man with a lamb's head, these are the type of beings that are the equivalent to Heaven as Demons are to Hell.

Just because the beings of such immense strength are fighting, it doesn't mean that the living humans hold no threat. They all have modern weapons such as guns and bombs, and in the sky are fighter jets and bombers the best human technology can offer.

Trojia has no clue what these things in the air are, she might as well be the Native-American that saw the first European ship and thought it was a god. The best way she can describe them is by comparing them to flying sharks made of metal. But the ruthless way these planes go about their killing shatters that innocent analogy to pieces.

The destruction the thousands of airplanes cause on the ground is something she could never have imagined, the lights and sounds of the blasts followed by the concussions they cause are deafening. The poor people below are being blown to nothing by ATGM missiles or brutally shot full of holes by 50 caliber bullets. On any battlefield that uses modern technology to fight, the sounds are as horrific and frightening as war can get, but when the numbers of people fighting are in the billions it turns into a scene in which the world has never seen.

Ubica leaves his army behind and runs through the crowd of ruin as he makes his way into the center of Heaven's Army, with simple swings of his sword his enemies turn to ash.

He's walking like a fire burning everything that is in his way until he reaches an area similar to an eye of a hurricane.

He is standing on bare land surrounded by a sea of white, the white being all of Heaven's Army, it is as though they all have spread out specifically for this moment. And it becomes obvious that this is the case once Ubica looks a few hundred meters in front of him and sees the sight of his opposite and 144,000 Angels standing atop of Mt. Zion.

The time for small fries is over, Ubica's battle now rests solely with the Son of God and his Angels, and this brings a wicked smile upon his face.

These Angels are the people who never swayed away from the lamb's path, the most righteous of man that avoided the temptations of evil.

In other words, these are the so called perfect beings.

Not every man who dies and goes to Heaven becomes an Angel, only the best of the best can be gifted with such an honor. These are the beings that Ubica despises with every last fiber of who he is. They all bear the name of Jesus and his God on their foreheads and are ready to fight for him, and the only enemy in their path is Ubica the Anti-Christ.

Amongst those Angels, are the ones that hold the title of Arch. Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. The three strongest Angels fly above in the sky triumphantly as they stare down on the Anti-Christ.

Gabriel, is the angel that blew the trumpet blast that initiated the end of time and the general resurrection at the Last Judgment. He is the Angel who's job as the messenger to man succeeded in changing the world in many ways, and as an Archangel his words are absolute.

The wind of the sky blows his light blue hair and his white robe sways in unison as he blows his trumpet once more. He then preaches to all who live on the Earth, and to every nation and in every tongue, every man on the planet hears his voice as he says loudly,

“Fear God, and give him glory. Because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens and the Earth, the sea and the springs of waters.”

Ubica scowls at Gabriel's voice, he speaks as though this is the moment of their victory. In the Book of Revelation, this same line was predicted to be said. Having it happen now before his eyes stirs up a deep resentment in his chest.

After Gabriel's words, the voice of another Archangel is heard, this one has long flowing black hair and bright turquoise eyes who goes by the name of Raphael.

He spreads his arms and declares, “Fallen is Babylon the Great! She who has made all the nations drink the wine of the passion of her immorality.”

When he says Babylon the Great, he means a certain person that Ubica knows very well. She is the great tempter of women and is known as the Idolatress. She is the one person who stands to the side of the Beast, and her name is Messor.

But what does Raphael mean when he says she has fallen?

The answer comes when a light shines from under Raphael's feet and the limp figure of a girl is seen floating from the mass of Angels up towards him.

It is Messor, Ubica can't tell if she is alive or not and watches in anger as Raphael cradles her limp body in his arms.

Ubica grits his teeth and a darkness spews from all around him.

“..."

His legs begin shaking as his hate causes his vision to become blurry at the mere sight of his Idol in that Archangel's arms.

But before he moves those legs to attack, Micheal finally speaks, both to Ubica and to everyone else in the world.

“Anyone who worshiped the Beast and his Idol, and received the Mark on his forehead or his hand... Will also drink the wine of the 'Wrath of God', which is mixed in full strength in the cup of his 'Anger'. And he will also be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the Holy Angels and in the presence of the Lamb.”

Micheal stops and looks to Jesus, he then points out in the distance at a massive crater in which a certain Angel named Abbadon created at the beginning of the battle.

Micheal holds a spear in his hand in which its blade is in the form of a cross about a meter high and a half meter across with a red ribbon tied across the middle of it.

He points his spear out at the crater and sends a flame that lights up the already crimson sky in its direction. The flame enters the crater and expands violently as if the air in the abyss was combustible, the fire burns so hot that the heat is felt on Ubica's face from almost a mile away.

“And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever.” Micheal continues, “They have no rest, day or night, this is the punishment of those who received the Mark of his name.”

“ENOUGH OF THIS!” Ubica shouts as he swings his sword, he stabs it into the ground and addresses all who stands before him. “You people warn my followers of their fate under false pretenses, your God has fooled you all into arrogance. I will destroy that arrogance with my own hands!”

The Angels look at him with pity in their eyes as if he is some kind of cornered animal baring its fangs, feigning strength to keep itself from being devoured.

These looks cause Ubica to smile, not a smile that says he enjoys being looked down upon, but a smile that says he can't wait to wipe those Angels off the face of the planet.

“Hahahahahaha you're looking at me all wrong! There's no fear in your eyes, but I'll change that, I'll make you look at me the way I want you to!!!”

He slams his hand down on the but end of his sword that sticks into the ground and in an instant the sky is blotted out and the entirety of Mt. Zion is engulfed in a pitch black sphere. The light that shined from the Angels is no more, they are all stuck in an individual state of isolation. The only thing they can see are themselves, all others have disappeared from sight.

Just like how Gabriel, Raphael, and Michael addressed everyone in the world with their voices, Ubica does the same to everyone in this large sphere that spreads miles wide.

“Have you people ever seen true evil? You are all so arrogant because your God has never shown you the darkness, he has sheltered you from it so you never find out how truly fearsome it is. So how does he expect you to fight the darkness if you have never witnessed it with your own eyes? Well then, allow me to show you what it looks like...”

-------------------------

Back in the second level of Purgatory, on a certain island, in a certain port city home, there is the sound meat being cleaved violently.

That sickening thick noise could be heard in every room, in every corner of the house, behind every door, and the sound comes from within the dining room.

There in the room that is supposed to hold happy moments between a family, lies the source of the noise. It is a certain girl swinging a foot long blade downwards in a stabbing motion repeatedly. With each swing blood sprays into the air sending the red fluid onto the wall as if using it as a canvas for creating a horrid painting.

The artist behind this is Amber, and the ink used at this moment is her mother. Her father Albert is already slumped over dead on the dinner table with a slit throat.

Amber is crying as she keeps stabbing into the lifeless body of her mother, she wants to close her eyes to not look at this terrible sight, but just like how she can't control her body, her eyelids refuse to shut as well.

But she can still control her mouth, it moves as her voice lets out a ghastly scream of agony.

“UUUAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!”

The point of begging herself to stop has long since passed, no matter how many times she pleaded to her body it never listened, her merciless assault on the parents who gave her life relentlessly continued.

After one final strike, her body finally stops. With eyes glued open she finally gets a good look at what she's done, Melissa almost has her head decapitated as most of Amber's attacks were focused on the head area. It is so bad that she cannot even recognize that the dead woman under her feet is actually her mother.

“T-This can't be happening...” Amber mutters, wet all over with the blood of her parents. “THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!!!”

Then, her body begins to move by itself once again, this time toward the exit, the machete like blade still in her hand as she exits her house.

Walking along the streets of the city at night she seemingly goes unnoticed.

It is an exceptionally dark night because the usual three moons that shine brightly in the sky aren't apparent. Even with three moons it seems that Purgatory has its own lunar activity, this one in particular being its version of a new moon.

This is somewhat fortunate for her, because if someone got a good look at her they'd certainly call the authorities due to all the blood on her clothes and face.

She has been walking in a zombie like motion for a few minutes when she reaches a building that she recognizes, it is a small medical clinic that doubles as a house.

It is her brother Nicklaus' home.

Amber walks up the stairs of the stoop and knocks on his door rather loudly, she knows exactly what is going to happen once that door opens.

The pressure in the hand holding the knife tightens and begins to shake in angst for the upcoming attack.

“No...” she begs as tears flow from her eyes and mix with the blood on her cheeks.

Amber happens to glance at the window to the right of the door and sees Nicklaus walking from the innards of his home towards her. He looks through the window from inside to see his sister covered in blood knocking on his door, suspecting the worst, his face turns frantic as he hurriedly opens his door.

Sensing the moment speed up in almost a blur, her blade is thrust forward in perfect unison with the opening of the door.

Amber's agony is heard through her throat as she yells,

“NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!”

-------------------------------

“You... Piece of shit.” Ubica says as he drops to his knees.

He had just witnessed Amber commit the murder of her parents because of Leviathan's manipulation of the water in her body. This is sending him into a blurring state of many different emotions.

Anger at Leviathan for doing such a thing.

Sadness at the fact that Amber's parents had to be killed by their own daughter in cold blood.

But one that is steadily sending him into despair is guilt, this is the main feeling brewing in his chest.

It is his fault that Amber has to experience the emptiness of taking a life, especially the lives of her loved ones in such a gruesome way. If it wasn't for his carelessness, this would never have happened, he could have protected her and her family at all costs if he had just used his head. And thinking back further than that, he is overwhelmed with guilt because if it wasn't for him developing a relationship with her in the first place, this whole situation would never have unfolded.

When Ubica is overwhelmed with negative feelings, he instinctively uses a defense mechanism that discards anything that hurts him by replacing it with hate. Hate in turn becomes darkness, and that in turn becomes evil. The pain of regret in his chest goes away when he is consumed by this evil and he knows it.

However...

He's fighting it, it isn't too late for him to fight it with all he has and try to save her.

Ubica stands to his feet and rushes toward the city as fast as his legs can move.

Leviathan takes pleasure in such a pitiful effort and says, “I wont let you do that.”

He molds into a mass of water and shoots at the speed of sound right in front of Ubica, he forms back into his normal self and stands as a blockade to Ubica's advancement.

“Get out of the way!” Ubica shouts.

He pulls out his sword and swings it violently at Leviathan with enough force to rip anything in half.

The Demon of Envy holds his hand out and smiles, as soon as Ubica's blade touches his hand, all of the force that went along with its movement halts abruptly.

This should be impossible, a flesh and bone hand stopping a fast moving razor sharp sword should never occur, but much to Ubica's dismay it has been done.

“!?”

Not even having a moment to configure what had just transpired, Ubica is sent flying backwards in an immense shock-wave. He skims across the beach sand and like a rock being skipped he takes a few bone breaking bounces on the ocean surface before sinking into it with a giant splash.

Hitting water at such a speed is the equivalent of hitting asphalt and no doubt it certainly felt like it as well, to get out of this collision without major injury would be a minor miracle.

“Think about this Ubica.” Leviathan says as Ubica struggles out get out of the water and stand atop of it. “Do you honestly think you can save her?”

While coughing and pulling his dislocated shoulder back into place he replies, “Of course I do!”

“Why is that? What makes you think that girl isn't beyond saving? She has just murdered her parents and is in the process of slaughtering her brother as well. After this, she wouldn't even want to be saved.”

“It's not her fault! It's yours!”

“You're right about her not being at fault, but you're wrong about placing the blame on me.”

Ubica knows where he is going with this, it only clarifies the feelings of guilt already spreading in his body like a poison.

“SHUT UP!!” he yells to shake that off.

“So you get it? If you'd have just left that girl alone, where do you think she'd be in her life right now?”

She'd be happy...

“Damn it I said shut the fuck up!”

“Do you understand that the person you are now is better off being alone? Unless you are strong enough to protect the people who are unfortunate enough to meet you, being alone is the only way to keep them safe. That, or...”

Leviathan again sends his form into water and in an instant he reforms right behind Ubica.

He whispers in his ear, finishing off his statement,

“Become stronger.”

Ubica twists his body and swings his sword wildly, completely missing his target. But frustration overwhelms him and he continues to swing in a blind rage.

Leviathan stutter steps backwards, speaking while avoiding Ubica's wide array of attacks. “You said you've been training to be able to defeat me... But what I noticed is that no matter how strong you think you are, if I impose certain circumstances that send you into despair, the weak side of you shows its desperation and throws all strength gained out the window. You are at a stalemate with your own body.”

“What weak side are you talking about!?” Ubica inquires, a hint a desperation escaped his tone.

“You know what I'm saying, don't play the fool now. It's your kindness. Your kindness is sending your comrades on a fast track towards death, everyone you know and care about will die unless you change the way you are.”

“That's ridiculous!”

“Is it really? Look at what's happening before your very eyes, that girl is picking off her own family one by one because of your kindness. You told me a couple of days ago that the person you are now is much stronger than the you of the past. I'm doing this to test that claim.”

Ubica is trying everything he can to even lay a scratch on Leviathan as they speak, but no matter what attack he uses, Leviathan comes out unscathed.

His attacks become more desperate as Leviathan continues to speak.

“I recall a time in the past where you saved the life of Messor, your Idol, but not out of this pathetic kindness. It was out of hate!”

Ubica remembers this as well, sadly though, that was a situation that has brought him nothing but pain ever since. He can't conjure up strength from such an accomplishment because the strength he used then is the opposite of what he is trying to use now.

“You see Ubica!” Leviathan says as he reveals an unusual frown. “I have given you a test! To see whether or not your words are true, and guess what? YOU FAILED!!”

Leviathan avoids another one of Ubica's attacks and leaps backwards, he lifts his leg up and says, “As punishment!”

He then slams his foot into the ocean and a solid wall of water rises ten meters high and ten meters wide.

“I'll force you to watch how your weakness affects those around you!!”

On that wall is the projection of Amber reaching yet another house, she opens the door and her elder sister Alison happens to be the first person she sees.

Alison gasps in horror at the bloodied state Amber is in and rushes to her aid.

But while doing so, she is met face first with the now dull dagger being thrust forward by Amber.

The blade enters Alison's eye socket and exits out the back of her head, blood sprays as the force of the attack is like a sledgehammer to a watermelon.

Because of Leviathan's water controlling her body, she is likely twenty times as strong as any human could be.

Amber is in such a state of shock that her brain has pretty much shut down, she can't even mutter any words as her body pulls the blade out of her sister's skull and proceeds to walk up a flight of stairs.

Once on the second story she turns to the first door on the right and opens it. In the room are two twins at the age of ten, one a boy named Jeremy, the other a girl named Alice playing happily with toys and teasing each other in the process.

Amber holds her knife out and the attention of the two twins finally shifts in her direction.

What comes next are two innocent looks of horror followed by two high pitch screams...

-------------------------------

The Archangel Raphael is holding an unconscious Messor in his arms, just a few moments ago he was holding her like a prized trophy to show the world that the Anti-Christ's Idol has fallen.

But now he holds her close to his body as if protecting himself from something.

“Do you know what you are holding Raphael?”

The unmistakable voice of Ubica rings in his ears but no matter where he looks, he can't find him in the pitch black darkness. He stays silent and keeps his guard up wearily.

Out of the three Archangels, Raphael is undoubtedly the most soft spoken of the three. Throughout history he has been known as the great healer of man, and he has never found a need to speak while doing so. This has caused him to be almost robotic in his role as a servant of God, and this adds to his aura as a prominent figure, so when he does speak, it is certain that everyone will listen.

“I see you aren't much of a talker. Very well then, I'll do the talking. I'd like to tell you a little about myself.” Ubica said when he didn't get an immediate reply.

"...”

“As you know I am a man of every sin. However, there are two sins that more define me as a person than any other.”

Ubica's voice starts to surround Raphael and seemingly hits every corner of his brain as the embodiment of evil continues.

“My possessions is one, in turn that is my greed. Everything I own is mine and I won't let anybody or anything take even one item away from me. What you are holding is something that I own.”

This is only natural, greed is a human emotion that is felt without even realizing it, Raphael assumed that would be his reasoning for wanting Messor back.

“But.” Ubica added, “That isn't even half the meaning of what you are holding...”

“...?”

Raphael is a little confused as to where he is going with this, but lets him speak instead of interrupting.

“I want you to think about this. A person who has all of his possessions stolen from him has nothing material left to call his own... But with everything gone, what is the one thing that a person would cling to at all cost?”

Suddenly, Raphael is struck with a dull yet numb felling in his upper arms. He looks down and sees an odd black wire of darkness constricting them like a snake. It squeezes harder and he loses all feeling in the hands planted on Messor's back.

Looking down at them, it takes him a moment to realize that there is a presence breathing sharply against the back of his neck.

He knows this presence, the Anti-Christ is right behind him and with his arms bound and his hands on Messor, he is defenseless.

With each hand Ubica grabs onto each of Raphael's wings.

Ubica's face turns contorted with anger and says with a mighty roar,

“What you are holding... IS MY PRIDE!!!”

He pulls on Raphael's wings and the tendons and joints connecting them to his body begin to rip apart with each ounce of pressure on them.

Raphael grunts in pain and decides to abandon the thought that holding Messor hostage is the right idea. He tosses her aside and notices that the binding feeling from the string of darkness dissipates as well.

He readies to use his hands to pry Ubica's grip from his wings, he moves his arms that are now incredibly light with the weight of Messor off them towards his back when...

Something is odd.

His arms are too light, it's a feeling of weightless that cannot be described unless...

He looks down in confusion and his face writhes in horror as the answer becomes evident.

His arms below his triceps are gone, cut so cleanly he doesn't even feel the pain.

“WWHHAAA!?!?”

“So this is what it took for you to speak.” Ubica said upon hearing the angel's voice for the first time.

Instead of behind him, his voice comes from in front of Raphael, he looks toward the source and sees Ubica holding his pride in his arms as if this was happening the entire time.

“H-How!?” Raphael queries in shock.

“Look around you.” Ubica replies as he moves one of his hands free and grabs the lower arms of Raphael still clinching to Messor's back. “This is me... This is the darkness that your God has neglected to show you, in here, your light wont shine.”

He tosses Raphael's arms into the air and they are instantly engulfed in a black flame and disintegrated.

Watching his limbs burn into nothing sends his body into an incredible pain, Raphael grunts as the horrid feeling sends shock-waves of misery down every inch of his body.

“Oh yeah that's right.” Ubica smiles. “Your God has never shown you pain has he? Being in Heaven since your birth, you have yet to feel it. Here on the other hand, a being like you will be consumed by it... So, what do you think? Is it what you always thought it'd be?”

“Grrraahhhhhh!!!!? Why is this happening!?” Raphael shouts as his attempts at healing himself go unfulfilled because he needed his hands to do so.

By now blood is streaming like a fountain out of the perfectly cut veins that still think they need to send blood to the hands.

“It's happening because of your belief in God. He has lied to you all, forsaken you all. And I am the one who must act upon his negligence."

With his free hand, he points his index finger at Raphael's severed arms and the blood squirting from them forms into a little river and flows towards Ubica's fingertip. At the tip of Ubica's finger, a little ball of what looks to be black water forms, and when Raphael's blood and his finger tip make contact at its point, the blood becomes black as well.

“I will show you Dantega, I'll show you how you were fooled into believing I could possibly be defeated.”

The black water-like liquid from Ubica's finger tip flows upstream in Raphael's blood and slowly takes it over, it reaches the wide open insides of the angel's arms and shoots in as if being injected by a giant syringe.

“AAAAAGGHGGHHHHHUURRRAAAGGGGGHHHH!!!!!”

Raphael screams in agony as every vein has its blood turned black with Ubica's evil, a benevolent being such as an Archangel being violated by such darkness is more painful than any torture known in existence.

Ubica is taking pleasure in this sight, this is what he deserves for attempting to steal away a possession of his, this is what he deserves for attempting to harm his pride.

His presence grows ever more sinister as his eyebrows become steep in order to form a hate-filled frown while holding Messor tightly.

“SO TAKE A GOOD LOOK AT ME, ANGEL OF GOD!!! WATCH CAREFULLY AS DANTEGA EATS YOU ALIVE!!!!”

--------------------------

“Where is he!?” Gabriel shouts in confusion as he scours around the darkness for any sign of life.

The Archangel's question is answered by the voice of Ubica, “Is that the depth of comradery toward your fellow Angels? I think you should be more worried about them than me.”

With eyes still wary of Ubica's presence, Gabriel answers, “My comradery is immeasurable, because I'm more worried about where you are shows how much I trust them.”

“Hahahahaha how stupid. You have wasted your affection on worthless cattle, they are being slaughtered one by one as we speak.”

“I would only be considered foolish if I actually believed you.” Gabriel replies sharply.

“Is that so..? Then shall I show you a little collection of mine? I'd prefer to reveal the masterpiece once it's complete but I tend to pity ignorant idiots.”

Ubica appears in front of Gabriel and snaps his finger.

Gabriel instantly moves on guard and backs off a little to be safe.

“No need to be so cautious.” Ubica says as the darkness around him begins to brighten and what lies behind him can be seen. “Take a look Gabriel, tell me what you think.”

A bright flash of white temporarily blinds Gabriel and whilst in this state of immobility, he feels the gentle touch of something soft float across his face. A similar feeling follows but this time it is felt on his shoulder, and then that feeling multiplies by the hundreds and the tickles surface all over his body.

“What is this?” he asks himself as he grabs whatever it is that is touching him.

Even without being able to see, he instantly recognizes what it is he's holding. Not caring about the sting still present in his eyes he forcefully opens them anyway, and through a blurry haze he finds that what he's holding is something white with red stains all over it.

It is a bloodied feather...

Falling all around him as if raining from the sky are bloodied feathers.

“Don't get mesmerized by something as simple as feathers... Look behind me.”

Shifting his gaze to the area behind Ubica, he sees a sight that his eyes have never seen. Thousands upon thousands of of dead bodies stacked on top of each other. The bodies packed so close together it's as though it is a mountain of flesh climbing hundreds of feet high.

The dead bodies are all people that Gabriel knows very well, they are his Angel comrades that were supposed to valiantly join the battle of Armageddon and put a stop to the Anti-Christ's reign of terror. Yet here they are, lying dead and wingless in a pile as if they were trash waiting to be burned.

“!?!?”

Gabriel is speechless and in shock, seeing something that was previously so far from his mind causes a paralytic affect.

“Didn't I tell you? One by one, all of your comrades are being slaughtered.”

Gabriel still looks at him quizzically and Ubica answers, “You want to know how? It's happening all around you as we speak.”

Ubica points towards an Angel holding his head and screaming in agony as foam comes gushing out of his mouth. There is nothing anywhere near him, but it seems that something is attacking him, the way he writhes makes it look as though he's gone mad. The white foam spewing from his mouth becomes red with blood and his whole body turns limp. He floats motionlessly until his wings twitch unnaturally and move as if they are being pulled by something.

The skin of his back stretches until it can no longer withstand the pressure and his wings rip off. Right after that, his body is discarded and joins in the construction of the mountain filled with dead Angels. The wings that once graced his back float for a moment until they are enveloped by a black circle and sucked into it, disappearing from sight.

“Wha..?” Gabriel mutters.

“If you are wondering where the wings of all the Angels are, I'm saving them up to fulfill a little declaration I made to the Son of God. With that in mind, your wings are needed as well.”

Ubica rushes Gabriel and swings at him with his sword.

Although the attack surprised the Archangel, he still had time to parry and block Ubica's attack with a shield of water he formed in front of him.

“Interesting. I had heard you are the Angel of the water element.” Ubica says as he sheaths his sword. He then spreads his arms and two balls of black liquid form around his hands. “You know, I was birthed from the deepest darkest depths of the sea. Water is the perfect container for evil don't you think? So let's see which type of water holds the most strength."

The water grows into large spheres around his hands when he finishes,

"You, the water that gives life... Or me, the water that takes it away.”

-------------------------

The Archangel Michael is breathing hard and has been avoiding numerous attacks from beams of green light coming from the darkness all around him.

“This isn't going to work Anti-Christ! Show yourself!” he demands.

“I figured that would be the case, I just wanted to keep you occupied as I took care of a couple little pests.” Ubica replies as he reveals himself in front of Michael.

“Pests?”

“That's right.”

Michael frowns because he wanted more of an explanation than that, but frankly, he already knows the answer, and this makes him quite angry.

“If you even lay a finger on any of them, I'll turn you to ashes.”

Ubica leans his head back and laughs loudly, “Hahahahahaha! Too late Michael, they're all dead.”

“What?”

“Well actually that would be an exaggeration to some extent, there are a couple I left alive specifically for you.”

Michael swings his spear and grits his teeth. “Lies, you are nothing but a scheming liar.”

Ubica shrugs his shoulders, “I can't say that your assessment in me is wrong, lying is one of my best traits. But I am just as much of a liar as I am honest, how about I show you proof of my honesty?”

Ubica spreads his arms and out of the darkness behind them come two women that are bound and seemingly unconscious. Their whole bodies are wrapped in a barbed wire of darkness that is ripping their skin apart causing blood to stain their white gowns and white wings.

Both women are strikingly beautiful, one with blonde hair and the other is a brunette, the fair skin that isn't stained with blood lights the darkness around them.

These two women aren't just any average Angels, these two are the main companions of Michael and very powerful in their own right. The blonde goes by the name of Catherine and the brunette is known as Margaret. Throughout time these two have been at each side of the strongest Archangel, it is even said that the two of them share a romantic relationship with Michael, so Ubica has decided to see for himself if that is true.

Michael's face drops in shock when he sees his two closest companions in such a state, this look of his proves to Ubica that the rumors were true. He laughs softly and backs away from the two captive Angels, disappearing in the darkness.

His voice still echoes from all around Michael as he says, “Are you surprised Michael? Of course I'd target them, your relationship with them hasn't ever been a secret.”

Ignoring Ubica's provocation, Michael demands, “Let them go!”

“I just might do that, partially that is. All you need to do is answer me this... Which one?”

“...?”

“Which one is it? Who is the woman you desire most? Pick one and I'll release her... But the other one dies. You can't have both.”

“That's ridiculous! Your fight is with me! Just leave them out of this!”

Ubica's chuckle echoes all around the darkness as he says, “You're wrong, my battle is with all of Heaven. No being is more or less important than the other. In other words, I decide who lives or dies. However, this situation is different, I'm letting you make the decision, if you don't do it soon I'll kill them both.”

Michael, who is usually so calm and collected, is losing his cool with each breath.

Squeezing the handle of his spear with all his might he replies, “I can't do that, I love them both the same. I'll never choose one over the other.”

"Isn't polygamy against the teachings of God?” Ubica asks mockingly.

“In Heaven there are no boundaries when it comes to love, that is the gift he has given us.”

“Hahahaha a gift you say? Caring for more than one girl seems to be more trouble than it's worth. Given your circumstance now, it's going to result in the death of both the women you love.”

Michael becomes disgusted and it is written all over his face when he says, “I don't want to hear that from someone who doesn't even know what love is. If you did you'd be able to see why I can't choose between the two people I care about most.”

Ubica's voice halts for a few moments, and an eerie silence falls upon them until Ubica's voice resounds louder than before.

“The Archangel saying he can't do something!? The Archangel that defeated Satan with that right hand is admitting he can't even make a simple choice!? By this you are admitting defeat, are you willing to say that you've lost to me!?”

Michael swings his spear and thrusts the cross shaped blade under his arm as if trying to attack something behind him. And when a 'thunk' sound followed by the noise of a liquid spilling from a container, it becomes obvious that he had hit something.

“Love will never be defeated by evil. I used it during the war in Heaven to defeat Satan, and I'll use it again to defeat a weaker being such as yourself.”

As soon as Michael stops speaking, Ubica appears behind him with blood flowing from his mouth. Michael had somehow found out that Ubica was behind him and sent the holy tip of his spear directly into the gut of the Anti-Christ.

Ubica looks shocked as the blade of the spear goes from his stomach above his naval all the way through his torso and out of his back.

“How?” Ubica asks in a weak way.

Michael is about to explain how it was he defeated the Anti-Christ so easily but he is interrupted by the sharp laugh of Ubica.

As if he feels nothing, he takes a slight breath in and says,

"I'm kidding."

“Huh?”

“Hahahahahaha did you think you've won? You fucking idiot! I can never be defeated! Not by Satan, and most certainly not by love! This is what I think of that statement!”

Ubica vanishes from the tip of Michael's spear and leaves him wondering just where he went. He looks back toward Margaret and Catherine and sees two Ubica's directly behind the two.

“An illusion??”

Both Ubica's speak in unison, “This is no simple trick Michael.”

All throughout the darkness, dozens of forms of Ubica appear, all wearing a wide grin. As his numbers grow he speaks through all of their mouths and the multiple voices beat at Michael's ears.

“I am everywhere Michael, I watch everything, I am everything. You cannot escape me, and due to your poor decision, neither will your lovers!”

The barbed wire of darkness that wraps Margaret and Catherine constrict and their bones crack, their delicate bodies are slowly ripped to shreds as the barbs sink into their flesh.

“STOP IT!!”

“It's far too late! You've made your decision!”

The two Ubica's snap their fingers and both Margaret and Catherine are ripped into little pieces. Their body parts fall into the darkness and are engulfed in the pitch black.

The two women that Michael has been sharing his love with for so many years have been murdered right before his eyes and he couldn't do anything about it.

He was helpless.

But why is that? It wasn't supposed to be that way, it was said that the Angels will come out of this unscathed as the Anti-Christ was easily defeated.

Yet here, right in front of him, two of the strongest Angels were torn apart right before his eyes, and as the strongest Angel in Heaven he didn't even come close to stopping it.

Was this the arrogance Ubica spoke of?

Was this an underestimation?

No matter what it was, the fact is that they are dead, and the person who committed this heinous act is standing in front of him smiling in pleasure. The only thought now rolling through his head, is how much he wants to burn that wicked smile into nothing. His vision goes blurry and he only focuses his eyes on the two Ubica's that slaughtered his lovers with a snap of a finger.

With a roar befitting of a cry, the spear in his right hand bursts into an intense flame.

“OOOOOAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!”

He swings his flame spear and sends a towering wall of inferno directly towards his targets.

This is the fire of the Archangel, this is a fire that will never wither nor fade until his target is reduced to ashes. His flames are the absolute purest of any kind and are supposed to be used as the final resting place for the Anti-Christ in the eternal lake.

However, the purity of this fire is replaced by the newly formed hate brewing in his soul, the malice filled attack no longer has any meaning behind it.

It is only there to destroy, to burn, to kill.

The great wall of flame hits the two Ubicas and they are instantly torched, but through the inferno Ubica is still seen smiling menacingly.

He laughs and says his final words, “Foolish man. Your righteous flame has now been forsaken... Look closely Archangel, look very close and see where you had just placed your anger.”

The flames become so bright that only the silhouettes of the two Ubicas can be seen, and the two silhouettes let out a ghastly scream.

But these are not the screams of a man, rather, they are two obvious screams of women burning to death painfully.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!”

“UUUUWWWAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!”

With their screams, the darkness disappears as quickly as it formed, and Ubica is standing without a scratch on him atop a mountain dead bodies.

Michael happens to catch sight of this and wonders in shock just what in the world he is burning, he quickly turns his head to the two people he thought was Ubica and finds something that turns him bug eyed in horror.

The two people being burnt to death in Michael's hate-filled attack are his two lovers, Margaret and Catherine.

Their flesh is literally being cooked, their once beautiful hair begins to char and their eyes start melting in the intense heat. They continue their screams and beg for Michael to stop his assault but this is the flame that won't ever stop burning until his target is turned to ash.

There is nothing he can do to save them.

“Hahahahahahahha! You were right about the illusion Michael.” Ubica says as he kicks his feet in humor. He then says something that was mentioned in an earlier conversation with the Archangel. “Although I consider myself to be an honest person... I am just as much of a liar!!”

Ubica had lied to Michael about the use of illusions from the very beginning. Because Ubica used illusions in his darkness, he made it seem as though Margaret and Catherine were killed by his two clones. When in actuality he was never really there to begin with, his two clones were just images of himself painted on the two Angels.

This was all apart of his sick plan to trick Michael into killing the two most important people in his life. A ruthless tactic to say the least, especially considering that Ubica is strong enough to kill them all off with his own hands, this was just for the fun of tormenting them before they died.

“NOOOOOOO!!!” Michael shouts, but it is far too late.

Both Margaret and Catherine have already breathed their last breaths, the only thing left now is to watch the dust of their former bodies blow away in the wind. Michael falls to the Earth's ground and sits on his knees as the ashes of his lovers slowly fade away.

Ubica jumps off the mountain of dead Angels and lands in front of Michael, who in his shocked state doesn't even look his way.

Ubica pulls out his sword and holds it to Michael's vulnerable neck. “Don't think that you're special, almost everyone else died in a similar fashion. None of you Angels could handle the true form of Dantega, you all were as easy to kill as foxes caught in a bear trap. It's a shame really, considering it was your God that locked your poor little fox legs in the bear trap in the first place.”

Ubica raises his sword and readies to lop off Michael's head when...

“Uaaaaaaahhhh!!!!”

A scream is heard behind him, he glances over and notices that the voice belongs to the Son of God on who is currently on his knees covering his face with his hands.

“Not even the Messiah could handle it.” Ubica says.

He turns back to inflict the final blow on Michael but is shocked to find that he is gone. In that moment of distraction, Michael had slipped away from right under Ubica's nose.

He clicks his tongue in annoyance and says, “Running from the inevitable is just cowardly Michael. I'll be sure to come after you once this is all finished.”

Ubica turns around and walks in the direction of Christ...

----------------------------

After Ubica gave the Son of God his 'Offer of Nothing', he is attacked from behind the mountain of wings he created by ripping them off from the Angel's backs.

He turns around to the source of the attack and sees that there are eight people looking up at him from the ground.

Eight people he knows all too well. The group consists of Belphegor. An older looking Mammon. Asmodeus, the woman Demon that represents the Original Sin of Lust. Amon, Beelzebub, Leviathan, and Satan. Joining the fearsome 7 Demons of Hell to their front is none other than Damien.

“Well if it isn't Damien and the Seven Demons of Hell all standing together and looking at me with such invidious eyes."

He stays silent for a few seconds, and then a green and black glow starts to shine around him, a huge smile surfaces on his face and he says, "HEY HEY! IS THIS WHAT THEY CALL A BETRAYAL!!!??"

The eight Demons all disperse and a battle commences as they all simultaneously attack Ubica.

Narrowly avoiding multiple attacks of insurmountable strength he somehow manages to build up a laugh. “Hahahahaha this is good! Great! This saves me the trouble of killing each of you one by one when this war is over.”

Satan frowns and speaks to him while they fight, “This is exactly why we're doing this, you planned on betraying me from the start!”

“What did you think would happen? I was going to serve you? I was going to give you all that I've obtained!? Go fuck yourself! You can see that this is my world now right?? I'll never hand it over!”

Satan becomes angry and charges Ubica, he holds a long sword and thrusts in toward Ubica's stomach. Ubica easily brushes the attack to the side with his katana and sends a fierce kick directly onto Satan's face, sending him flying off at an incredible speed.

Whilst flying back, Satan does some kind of hand signal and shouts, “DO IT NOW!!!”

Damien appears behind Ubica and with an open palm strikes him on the back, Ubica loses his breath momentarily and attempts to turn to strike back when...

“!?”

He can't move, his body is frozen, he scours the area with his eyes and sees the other 6 Demons, including Satan, floating around him in a perfect circle whilst holding different hand gestures. A bright purple light shines under his feet and Damien backs away from it, soon after he also joins the others in a distinct hand gesture.

The purple light turns into a hundred meter wide pentagram seal with an outstanding number of designs, the outskirts spin clockwise while the innards of the seal swirl counterclockwise. The intricate circle that binds Ubica is standing still.

Ubica knows what this is and is instantly angered, “You weak pieces of shit couldn't defeat me so you decided to place a seal on me! It's not going to work, doing this also seals your movements, none of you can attack me in this situation.”

This is a special seal that uses all the power of the casters, the fact that it has taken all eight of the most powerful Demons that have ever lived to simply stall Ubica's movements is amazing.

“You are right about us not being able to move.” Damien says with a confident smile, “But it doesn't mean that we aren't able to move you.”

The seal under Ubica's feet moves and with it so does all the others, they all float over the death-filled battlefield until it halts atop the eternal lake of hell-fire created by both Abaddon and the Archangel Michael.

The seal lowers and it becomes obvious what Damien and the other Demon's intend to do.

His paralyzed body is to be dropped into a place where there is no escape.

Ubica grits his teeth and his face turns contorted with hate. “You people... You conniving fucks.”

Damien laughs as he says, “I'd have to be foolish to not have thought that this would happen. In fact, I created this seal before you were even born Ubica.”

“So this is your idea.” Ubica hisses.

“Enough talking.” Satan demands, “Let's get this over with, it is finally time to destroy Dantega.”

Satan then looks down to the edge of the crater that the seal is dropping towards and sees Abaddon standing at the edge. He then orders, “Abaddon, the key holder to the endless pit, our new ally, prepare to lock this wretched man away forever.”

Abaddon smiles and replies, “Ts'all ready for ya boss.”

Ubica scowls and looks all of them in the eyes, before he is dropped into the fire, he declares, “I'm going to be back... And when I do, I'm going to kill you all.”

They all laugh at him as if saying 'good luck', and Ubica reveals the same kind of condescending smile and speaks once more.

“I must wish you luck in taking control of my army. Everyone who bears my mark will not serve under anyone but me. Even if they were to follow you, my mark will stop their hearts as punishment for betrayal. They wont escape that curse until this battle is over, even I made preparations in case of betrayal. So enjoy your miserable defeat Satan... There will be many more to come.”

“DROP HIM IN!!” Satan shouts angrily.

The seal shrinks and is now only seen under Ubica's feet, it lowers slowly as Ubica looks up at them all with a bitter frown.

On his way down he hears a familiar voice call his name, he shifts his gaze in that direction and finds Messor staring at him in shock with her bright gold eyes.

A comforting sight to say the least, his frown forms into a soft smile as the heat from Michael's flames hit his legs. He doesn't say a word, he just stares at his Idol while his descent continues. This is the moment the two are separated forever, but he feels that there really isn't much to say.

The same smile remains on his face until he is engulfed in the flames and he can no longer be seen. He is gone, and the eternal lake begins to close up rapidly as Abaddon turns a gold key he holds in his hand.

Inch by inch Ubica is moving away from her, not knowing what to do she glares at the great betrayers of her master.

Soon after they all disperse to go fight the rest of the battle and even Abaddon leaves after he puts his key into his pocket.

The lake has shrunk to such a size it couldn't even be called a small pool, once this closes all the way, it truly is over, she'll never see him again.

“Fuck that!” Messor yells, building her resolve. She takes a step toward the flame and says gently, “I'll never leave you, Ubica.”

With one final step, she falls into the lake just in time before it closes up for good.

The hate and evil that is Ubica is once and for all confined in a place where he can no longer harm anyone.

With that, the world can at long last, be at peace...

---------------------------

The current Ubica lays motionless on the beach sand as Leviathan stands over him. The two have been fighting for a while now and the winner is obvious, Ubica was once again easily defeated by his fellow Demon of the sea.

“Stand up Ubica, the exciting part is just about to begin.”

“.....”

Ubica doesn't move nor say a word.

Leviathan sighs and picks him up out of the sand by pulling the back of his collar, he tries to set him back onto his feet but Ubica's legs go limp and he drops right back to the ground.

“Is this all you have?” Leviathan asks in way that seems bitter and disappointed.

He hasn't used much effort at all in his fight, and yet here lies Ubica, the one person most feared in all of existence is collapsed in such a pathetic manner.

“Fine then, if I can't talk you into standing, maybe 'she' can.”

“U-Ubica...”

A frail voice of a girl is heard behind him and Ubica instantly opens his eyes and attempts to stand, but he can only manage to sit up. He looks behind him and discovers Amber walking toward him with a look of despair on her face. The blood that she was once soaked with is no longer there, it would seem that Leviathan has cleaned her up specifically for this moment.

“Amber...” Ubica says in a broken tone.

He had just watched her kill her ten year old niece and nephew, the last of her family with a dull machete like knife, he can't imagine how she is feeling at this moment in time. He can only look at her pitifully as his feelings are genuinely hurting for her.

“I've done something terrible Ubica... I've done something terrible.” she said as tears flow from her eyes.

“No! It wasn't you!”

“With my own hands... Mom, dad, Nicklaus, Allison and the twins... I killed them all.”

Ubica shakily gets to his feet and walks to her slowly, and when he gets within arms length she shouts,

“Don't touch me!!”

“??”

“I don't want to hurt you too! Please get away!”

Ubica halts but doesn't move back, and Amber swings her dagger at his face as a result. He barely avoids it in time and some of his silver hair is cut off in the process of dodging it, her calculated swings continue as Ubica maneuvers his body to keep himself from getting cut.

“Damn it Leviathan leave her alone!”

“No no, this is far too amusing. Why don't you stop her yourself?”

“How!?” he queries as Amber's blade skims across his cheek, causing him to bleed.

“It's simple, kill her.”

This situation is almost predictable in Ubica's mind, there is no way that Leviathan would just let her go after all this. The goal is and has always been to send Ubica into despair, by using a tactic as brutal as forcing him to kill his own friend, this can easily be attained.

“Don't look so disgusted Ubica, you have done something similar to this in the past haven't you?”

He is right, as the Anti-Christ he has thrown the weight of such an unreasonable ultimatum on a certain Archangel; it is only natural that what goes around comes around. Although killing off someone that he has only known for a couple of weeks isn't near as harsh as murdering two lovers blindly, this is still something he cannot do no matter what.

“What is he talking about Ubica!? Just who are you guys anyways!?” Amber asks as she swings the blade that is already soaked with the blood of her family.

“He is a bad man.” Leviathan answers in pleasure, “The kind of person that walks like a fire burning everything that's in his way. And you young lady, were caught in his path.”

Even though what Leviathan said is exactly how Ubica feels about himself, he still yells, “Don't listen to him Amber! This bastard is the one controlling your body right now, he poisoned you when you two met earlier.”

Amber instantly believes what he said, even though all of this is still happening, she still trusts him completely.

“So that's why you were so angry at me for bringing him in..?”

“That's right, although this never would have happened if I weren't around, at least let me explain all this once it's over.”

He tries to reassure her, to keep her fighting spirit alive, but Amber is too far away from ever being saved, and she knows it.

“There's no need... I don't want to live after this. How can I move along with any kind of normal life after all this!?”

Just as Leviathan predicted, she wouldn't want to live after witnessing and committing such atrocities.

“Don't talk like that!”

“Shut up Ubica!” Amber yells as tears fly from her eyes with each swing of her blade. “Please just kill me... I know you are strong enough to do it, I've seen it firsthand. Just do me this one favor.”

“What are you saying!? I'll never do such a thing!”

Leviathan chuckles as he watches the two fight over Amber's life, although this isn't quite what he wanted, to him this certainly makes for a good show.

He decides to interrupt their argument by urging them on, “You have to. If you don't, I'll make sure she goes on a killing spree the likes this island has never seen. I wonder how long it would be until she is stopped? My water blesses her with inhuman strength you know? She could hold out for weeks until the villagers finally catch her. Or perhaps I'll take away her strength at the last minute instead, I'm sure the villagers would be so angry that she'd be tortured and her mangled body would be paraded along the city streets.”

“Damn it Leviathan shut your fucking mouth!!”

“Do it Ubica! I don't want to hurt anymore people! Please!!” Amber begs as the thought of Leviathan's prediction runs through her head.

This is a dead end, Ubica has nowhere left to turn as his back is pinned between one unreasonable situation and another. The question now is what is truly best for Amber? Is it really okay to selfishly keep her alive and let her bear the pain of killing her whole family in cold blood? Or is it really alright to just kill her himself all because of Leviathan's temptations?

Just what is he supposed to do?

He avoids one final attack and grabs onto Amber's arms, he presses them against her body and squeezes her as tight as possible, keeping her from being able to move.

In this position he speaks intently into her ear, “I will never do anything to hurt you.”

He pushes her to the ground and turns to address Leviathan, “This is the only way to stop this. The only person I have to kill is you.”

“Oh? And how do you intend to do that?” Leviathan asks smugly.

“Dantega.”

“!?”

“That's right, all the training I've been doing has specifically been directed towards being able to control the power of Dantega to a certain extent.”

“Control Dantega?”

“This is what you wanted right? This is the corner you've backed me into! All I need to do is kill you and help Amber shoulder the burden of what has happened here tonight! My friends have helped me cope with everything I've done, I know I can help her through this as well!”

Ubica holds his hand out and his sword flies right into his palm from the beach sand, with his left hand he presses it against his chest and a thick black smoke forms around it and grows all over his body.

Leviathan can sense the strength growing within him, it is something he hasn't felt in a long time. But something is off, it still isn't the same as before, because Ubica is still the same frail person he has been since escaping the eternal lake.

Leviathan sighs at this and speaks, “That's not what I wanted, I'd hoped for you to resort to letting Dantega control you, not the other way around. This is disappointing, this is not the way I wanted to go about this, but I guess in the end it'll still have the same result.”

He moves his eyes from Ubica and looks towards Amber who is right behind him.

Ubica catches that and what follows immediately after is a 'thud' sound and a groan.

He abandons all thoughts of attacking Leviathan and turns around quickly.

Amber is on her knees with her hands on the hilt of the dagger impaling her stomach.

Leviathan has controlled the water in her body and forced her to stab herself.

Her blood falls onto the ground rapidly and the puddle that would normally form at her feet soaks into the sand adding intensity to the scene.

“Amber!!” Ubica shouts as he rushes to her aid and stops her from keeling over.

He holds her in his arms as her blood stains his white v-neck shirt, the warmth from it makes his body hot with angst as he watches the skin of her face grow extremely pale. He doesn't know what to do or how to treat her, the only thing he could possibly think of is pulling the knife out of her and applying pressure to the wound.

When he attempts to do this he is stopped by the gentle yet shaking hand of Amber, she looks up at him and smiles as blood drips from the edges of her mouth.

“Don't bother...” It would seem she now has control of her body since she was able to touch him. “It's all over now...”

“No I can do something! There's definitely something I can do!” he speaks frantically as he looks around desperately trying to find something that can help her.

“There's nothing.” Leviathan says, “I made sure of it.”

“SHUT UP!!”

“Come now don't be rude, this is all your fault after all. You could have stopped this, if only you had changed. This unfortunate fate will continue to be cast on all the people around you unless you forfeit the kindness that you are allowing to control your life.”

His words hit Ubica hard as he zones out on Amber's broken body.

Through a cracked voice he mutters,

“C-Change..?”

“You must change Ubica, look at what has happened here. That girl, and her whole family are gone. If you truly had the strength that you spoke of they would still be alive. So let go of that weakness! Save the people you care about! Change who you are!”

Ubica's face is clouded with distraught, it's as though he is in the process of giving up. Although he likes who he is now, the lives of the people he cares about most are far more important. If he has the ability to protect them, and he doesn't use that ability for selfish reasons, wouldn't that make him the worst kind of man?

With thoughts like these running through his head, Amber's hand is felt on the side of his face, he doesn't notice the blood transferred from her palm to his cheek when he looks down and sees her glaring at him with a serious look.

She uses the last of her energy to tell him the words he needs to hear in order to break him out of his broken mindset.

“Don't you dare change...”

Even though her life is fading fast, she still found it necessary to tell him her thoughts on what Leviathan said.

Looking back, she had never met anyone like him, he was easy to talk to, he made her laugh, she genuinely enjoyed every moment spent with him. If the person that made her so happy would give in and become someone he isn't, it would just make the tragic events of the night all the more sad.

Through her fleeting breath, she reiterates her statement,

“Don't... Ever... Change...”

With a long exhale, Amber loses the shine in her eyes and stares lifelessly up at Ubica.

This poor girl, who has suffered horribly for no reason other than the fact that she was in way, is dead.

He loses himself in her lifeless eyes as his body goes stiff with disbelief, the world around him has come to a halt and this moment in time is all that he cares about.

Leviathan laughs slightly, “What a shame. I bet you want to kill me right now don't you?”

Just hearing Leviathan's voice releases a trigger inside of Ubica, his head begins to ring as an odd pulsating noise similar to a heartbeat pounds in his chest. Each pump is pouring hate into every part of his body, the white of his eyes begin to grow black and the ground below him starts to shake.

“Now this is more of what I wanted.”

Ubica doesn't answer, he just shoots a glare that is filled with the overwhelming feeling of hate. It is apparent that Ubica is losing himself to Dantega but is doing whatever he can to stop it, on his neck the curse mark from Beelzebub is sending sharp pains coursing through every part of his body and is making his fight all the more difficult.

“This is what Dantega does, as its container you can never escape it. Any negative emotions or pains that you feel are fuel for Dantega's fire, it feeds off your hate and pain and you feed off its evil. It is a non stop cycle that can never be avoided, as long as you carry disdain inside of you, you will never escape it!”

This throws Ubica into twice as much anger, so much so that Leviathan feels it beating on his temples.

But this doesn't stop him from pressing forward, “But it is not enough! Like a fruit you are not ripe enough yet. What can I possibly do now to send you into the deepest depths of despair? Now that I have ensured that everything you built up slowly crumbled down around your feet, what is left for me to take from you?”

Leviathan raises his arms and from the ocean behind him comes his massive blue sea serpent. “Having said that, the one thing in this situation that will throw you over the edge... IS FOR ME TO TAKE AWAY YOUR REVENGE!!”

The dragon's mouth opens wide and Leviathan hops in, as it fleas back into the ocean, Leviathan lets out a laugh of victory. “Hahahahaha so let Dantega relieve its thirst for revenge on your own body. And once you do, you will be just like the person you were in the past. Except now, you and your power will finally be tamed.”

The mouth of the serpent closes and disappears into the dark of the sea, Leviathan is gone, and he took Ubica's revenge with him.

Paying the price for it is Ubica himself, his body writhes in pain as the thought of giving in to the desire to not care clouds whatever minute amount of judgment he has left.

His arms shake and Amber's limp frame convulses with them as he lets out a scream of anger,

“UUURRRRAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!”

He drops his head and stays silent, the sounds of the waves breaking signals the calm after the storm that had just occurred. It's an eerie silence that stings because even after all of this, the world still moves on as though nothing had happened.

The silence of the night is broken by the frightened voice of a man at the bottom of the stairs that lead back up to the city.

“I-It was you..!”

Moving his head slowly to see who is speaking to him, his eyes finally land on Tuscany, Amber's fiance.

Tuscany walks shakily toward the two, “I knew it... I had an argument with Amber back at her house and left.” Tears begin to fall down his face as he continues. “But I came back to make up and I found her parents there. Fearing the worst, I went to Nicklaus' house, and he was dead! After that I went to Alison's place, and found her along with her two kids murdered as well!!!”

Tuscany had just happened to walk down the stairs of the lagoon in perfect time to misunderstand what had actually happened. All he knows is that in front of him is Ubica holding the dead body of who is supposed to be his future wife with a dagger sticking out of her stomach.

Ubica just stares at him blankly in a state of incoherence; his eyes still have traces of black in them as his fight for control still continues. This is a volatile time for him, his mind is blank with the desire to release his hate on someone, at this point anyone would do.

“I knew it! The only person who could have done such a thing is you! How could you!? Even Amber... How could you do this to her?? “

Tuscany falls to his knees and weeps as he sends blame toward the innocent Ubica.

“You took everything away from me. Earlier today she called off our marriage, she said that her feelings had changed. Even though she wouldn't tell me why or how, I knew it was you! She left me because of you! Do you know how long I've waited to be with her!? Since we were kids I always tried to act like the cool guy just for her, just so she'd notice me. I tried so hard and I was so happy when it finally worked out... BUT YOU TOOK HER FROM ME!!!”

By now, Tuscany is in such a state of anguish the words he had spoken were slightly slurred, he wobbly stands to his feet and pulls a small pocket knife out of his pocket.

He grunts like a madman and rushes at Ubica while shouting, “I'LL KILL YOU!!!”

Ubica doesn't even bother to move, with Amber still in his arms he holds his position as Tuscany lunges the knife at him.

However, before the knife can reach him, Tuscany hits some kind of barrier around Ubica's body. Tuscany's movement grinds to a halt and the blade in his hand shatters, the wave of energy that broke the metal weapon to pieces slide up his arm and in turn breaks his bones in a few different directions.

Tuscany instantly passes out from shock and is sent flying away into the sandy side of the cliff.

Ubica gently lets go of Amber and walks toward the grounded Tuscany, each step of his seemingly shakes the ground below him. The killing intent spewing from him is enough to blot out the shine from the stars above him; it is becoming increasingly obvious what he intends to do to Tuscany as he holds his hand out to touch the downed man.

One simple touch is enough to rip Tuscany to shreds and such a cruel fate is only a few inches away as Ubica's fingertip gets closer.

The unconscious man before him is the perfect person to release a fraction of the pain and anger being spread through his body by the power of Dantega. Like an addict, he feels that just one will suffice. All it will take is just one person and he'll be relieved.

But Ubica stops, he retreats his hand and walks silently toward the ocean, this is such a struggle for him to do as his body twitches unnaturally as he tries to fight his urge to kill.

With his body half in the ocean, the water suddenly splits and gives him space as if opening a passageway for him to walk.

His head slowly turns back so the sight of the injured Tuscany and the dead Amber reaches his eyes. It seems as though he is holding back tears as he looks at the scene of his regret.

“Don't ever change huh..?” he says to himself. He turns back towards the wall of ocean and once again speaks in a saddened voice, “...It's not working.”

The wall of water closes in on him and the dark of the ocean engulfs his presence, he finally departs the island, leaving a trail of tragedy in his wake.

---------------------------

Trojia opens her eyes and finds herself on a bed being pounded by the sun shining through a window to the left of her. The brightness stings her eyes momentarily and she slowly recollects where she is when she glances down to her hand and it's actually visible.

She is back on the boat, and in one of the rooms in the barracks for that matter.

Her terrible nightmare is now over and what's left is to contemplate just what she saw in her sleep.

She sits her stiff body up and notices a certain girl sitting on a chair staring out the window at the foot of her bed. The sunlight reflects off her white hair and sends her skin into even more of a gorgeous tint than usual, it's as though she is looking at a doll with glowing gold eyes that are there to captivate people.

This is a girl that she has gotten to know quite well without even speaking so much as a word to her. This astonishingly beautiful person sitting just a few feet away from her is none other than the False Prophet Messor.

“Oh, you're finally awake?” Messor asks as she feels Trojia's glare beat on her cheek.

Trojia rubs her eyes and asks softly, “How long was I out for?”

“It's been a couple days. That Captain said we're only one day away from the second Gate.”

The young Princess's expression almost looks displeased.

“I see...”

She then takes a deep breath and asks, “Has he come back?”

“You mean Ubica? No... There's been no sign of him.”

“I see.” she says again.

The two sit in an ominous silence until Messor speaks, “Don't you want to ask me anything else?”

Trojia's shoulders twitch and her gaze shifts away to the wooden wall of the room.

“Are you expecting me to ask you?”

“Kind of.” Messor replies, “You saw everything right?"

"I did."

"Don't you want to know more about it? Or hear my side of the story?”

“I'd have to be stupid to ask you anything more about your relationship with Ubica. What I saw was more than enough.”

Messor chuckles a little, “I'm glad you understand, but I must ask you something.”

“What is it?”

The slight smile Messor had fades away and a serious face takes its place when she asks, “Now after seeing all of Ubica's past... What do you think of him?”

Trojia is somewhat surprised at this sudden question, it takes her a few seconds to even think of how to answer it, and in that time frame all of the horrific images that were streamed into her mind play before her eyes like a projection screen.

She starts crying and throws her wet face into her palms.

“H-He's...”

Trojia struggles to speak as the only sound escaping her mouth is that of a sharp moan that goes along with crying uncontrollably. The image of the kind and smiling Ubica is overrun by the images of his atrocities as the Anti-Christ. The Ubica she thought she knew fades into the deepest corner of her mind and can no longer be seen.

With these emotions running through her head, she answers with words she had never thought she'd say...

“He's awful.”

666 The Mark of the Beast: (END)

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| Back to [[Dantega:Volume 4 Chapter 8|Chapter 8]]
| Return to [[Dantega|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Dantega:Volume 4 Chapter 10|Chapter 10]]
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</noinclude>

Dantega:Volume 1 Chapter 5

2013-05-23T01:58:56Z

74.87.29.101:

Chapter 5: The map to the Gates

(PART 1)

“Gehhh! It’s so damn hot!!!” shouts an irritated Daey.

The entire group is feeling the same heat as well, that is except for Ubica who is cold blooded, for him this heat is welcomed. Ubica is comfortably wearing his hoody and long sleeved v-neck shirt that makes the others hot just by looking at him. Not to be outdone, Rage, who is walking in the front of the group is still clad in his heavy black coat that nearly drags to the floor. These two are so oblivious to heat one can’t help but be envious in this situation.

Daey is progressively becoming more frustrated with each passing step in this heat. “Hey! Rage! Can’t we just fly around on your cloud thing? Why do we have to walk all the time!?”

It has been four days since they left the large Italian like city. Heading north, along their walking trail they have passed through a small village or town each day. It is quite convenient that they find these so close together, but the catch is that each of the stops are at least four to five hours of walking distance away.

“I can’t do that, my cloud is where I store the souls of people before I send them off to their rightful destination. If a normal human stood on it for too long your soul would be sucked in as well.” Rage replies. Daey doesn’t look too convinced until he finishes his statement off with, “That means you’ll die.”

The group was a little creeped out by this because they remember riding that cloud for a decent amount of time when this whole thing started. Rage’s cloud is truly something remarkable, the majority of souls that leave people’s bodies when they die are not taken personally by Rage himself, unless it’s a soul like Ubica’s, or someone who has an abnormally strong will are the only times he uses his scythe to obtain souls. They automatically gather directly into the cloud, while there, they are in an open view of the beings that control the judgment branch of Heaven, and the Demons that work the salvage area in Hell who pick and choose who they want and where they rightfully belong.

In a basic form, you can say that the cloud is somewhat of a flask, and its contents are drank by both sides of the afterlife.

“Ehhhh?? Why are you giving me that, ‘I wanna ride on your back again’ look!?” shouts Ubica who is being glared at by the wide eyes of Tsubiri.

“Oooohhh! How did you read my mind!? A-Anyways please!!! Just once more! I’m dying here!” replies Tsubiri as she starts clinging to Ubica in a desperate fashion.

The two are shouting back and forth at each other in the view of a jealous Trojia, it’s not just her who is feeling this way, the rest of the girls are also green with envy. They think, ‘Why didn’t I think of that too!?’

They know that Ubica is so kind that it would be an impossibility for him to say no to such a request.

All that was needed was a few moments of 'convincing', with that Tsubiri is now resting on Ubica’s back with a content look on her face.

Ubica on the other hand is wearing strained smile until he feels something soft pressing on his neck, causing his face to drop.

“Oaahhh! They’re on my neck!!”

“Huh? What’s the difference between your neck and your back? It shouldn’t matter where I put them! Besides I can’t see if I’m too low."

Ubica looks in Trojia’s direction and feels like he can see a killing dark aura surrounding her while she looks back at him.

(I’m so dead….)

Daey is looking at Ubica’s direction while walking beside her little sister Niera. “Hmmmm, that Ubica guy really catches my interest.” she said while pressing her finger on her cheek.

“Really? Well, he is really cute.” shyly replies Niera.

Daey looks very surprised upon hearing that. “Huh?? I didn’t know that you even thought of things like that!”

“W-Well I-I am a girl after all.. But I’m too young to worry about these kind of feelings.” said Niera while twiddling her thumbs in an adorable way.

Daey grabs her, “Awww you’re such a cute little sister! I really just wanna steal him away from Trojia, but if it's you I’d be fine with that too!”

“W-What?”

“Can’t you tell that she likes him? Oooh the look on her face will be so funny when one of us steals him!” Daey exclaimed with a large smile on her face.

In an instant, a shadow is cast over the heads of the two sister princesses.

Their conversation halts and their faces turn cold, a frightening voice sends shivers down their spines,

“I HOPE I JUST MISHEARD THAT.”

“Ahh Trojia!? That evil aura is coming from you!? Niera run!”

“HEY! COME BACK HERE!”

The three princesses are running around like school children, somewhat reminiscing on past events when they were younger, but perhaps now the roles are now reversed.

After a few minutes of chasing Daey and Niera in the intense heat, Trojia is worn out and gives up. Breathing rather hard she says to herself, “Damn they’re fast!”

Trojia regains her breath and is about to continue the chase when she feels a hand grab her shoulder, she turns around and sees the concerned face of her precious bodyguard Niomyo.

“You don’t need to be so worked up over a monster like Ubica.”

Trojia frowns and replies, “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Don’t you get it!? That man is the Anti-Christ! You should not get yourself involved with someone who is nothing but evil.”

Trojia slaps Niomyo’s hand off her shoulder and shouts. “That's not who he is!!!”

Niomyo, taken aback by the sudden surge of emotion begins to explain, “You… You didn’t see what I saw. You didn’t hear what I heard… Please princess, if you have any kind of trust in me you will listen. Unless you distance yourself from him… He will be the death of you.”

A silence falls over the two, Trojia is furious, but is speechless while looking at the dead serious face of Niomyo.

Trojia’s frown shifts into a gentle smile as she says, “I trust him with my life. If that is truly the case, then I’m prepared for it.”

Trojia walks away toward the rest of the group, Daey and Niera are still hiding somewhere around the rocky desert area so Niomyo is left standing alone in silence.

Niomyo clinches her fist and grits her teeth, “It looks like I don’t have a choice… I’m sorry princess, but in order to protect you. I must kill that monster myself.”

-----------------------------

“C-C-C-COLD!!!! It’s so cold!” shouts Ubica.

Being cold blooded, the cold weather instantly saps his strength and awareness.

Within a few seconds, the weather shifted from the hundred degree heat of the desert to the freezing bitter cold of a tundra.

“Woah! It was just hot a second ago.” said Tsubiri who is still riding on Ubica’s back.

She can feel that her weight is now affecting Ubica, whereas before it seemed he didn't even feel her.

“Hey.. Are you okay?” she asks with a clueless look on her face.

The two of them are lagging fairly far behind the rest of the group.

Ubica is shivering quite a bit, his whole body has somewhat of a comical expression. “I-I’m not good with the cold.”

“Hahaha-whaaaaaa!!?”

Before Tsubiri can find the words to make fun of him with, Ubica stepped in a rut and fell awkwardly to the ground with Tsubiri in tow.

“Ouch! Sorry about tha- eeehhhh!?” shouts Ubica when he feels his hands are touching something incredibly soft.

Ubica is on the ground flat on his back with a stunned and blushing red Tsubiri on top of him. His right hand is pressed firmly onto her chest, and his left hand is grabbing the right side of her butt.

“Kyaaaaa! Y-You really are a pervert!!” she screams as her face is becoming more flustered.

Ubica tries to calm the situation. “N-No I’m not! This is an accident!!!”

Tsubiri is now frowning, she is not buying his excuse.

Ubica begins to panic, and with a nervous smile he continues, “And besides, didn’t you say it doesn’t matter where your chest is?? There is no difference whether it's my neck or my hand!”

By all means this method in calming her down is an utter failure on Ubica’s part.

Tsubiri is so hot headed it's as if steam is coming out of her ears like a train.

“T-T-There is a huge difference you idiot!!!” with those words come a thunderous slap noise.

“Nnngggyaaaahh!!!!!”

---------------------

Ubica and Tubiri are now walking side by side, the hand print on Ubica’s face is more outlined due to the cold weather. He looks absolutely miserable as they walk and Tsubiri begins to feel a little bad about the situation.

Trying to put on a cute face she says with a smile, “I’m sorry about that Ubica, I know it was an accident but I’m just not used to being groped ya know?”

After being patted on the back rather hard, Ubica slowly turns his head to her and gives her a bitter glare.

"You make it sound like I'm the bad guy here.”

“Well you are a pervert.”

“That again!? Gimme a break!”

Tsubiri giggles and latches on to his forearm, sticking it right in the center of her chest.

Thinking that he is being teased, Ubica freezes as if expecting another slap.

But to his surprise Tsubiri rests her head on his shoulder and speaks in a serious tone. “Being touched... Only If it’s you... I-I don’t mind.”

Oblivious to this sudden sexual advancement, Ubica thinks to himself, (Man, she really likes to tease me...)

The two share a few minutes in silence as they continue their walk. The temperature is seemingly dropping with each second, and with it lowers Ubica’s health.

“Hey… You seriously look bad.” Tsubiri points out her concern.

Ubica is rather pale and his eyes are half shut. He looks her way as if he is trying to say something but no words come out, he moves his head closer to hers, so much so that the warm stream from his breath softly beats on her face.

“U-Um your getting too close...”

Her words fall on deaf ears, Ubica and Tsubiri’s foreheads are now touching, Tsubiri is completely flustered by this and her mind is floating around blankly until she grabs a random thought from her brain.

She grabs Ubica’s face and gives him a long kiss on his lips, when she finishes her blank thought process returns.

(Eh!? Why in the world did I do that!?)

Ubica’s head slides from her face down her neck and her shoulder.

“D-Don’t get cocky just because I kissed you! T-That was just a waaaaaaa!!!!”

The entire weight of Ubica presses against her body and forces her to the ground.

“Uaahhhh! Again!?”

There is no reaction to her words from Ubica, she was expecting him to say this was some kind of joke but judging by his silence she believes he is truly serious.

“S-Stop. That was my first kiss... I-I don’t know if my heart is ready for something like this so suddenly.”

Still no reply, she is fully expecting the worst and her face is bright red, but much to her surprise he remains completely still, rather than that, his body is completely limp.

“Ubica? Hey... Ubica!?”

She shakes him but to no avail, it is obvious that he is unconscious. Tsubiri struggles to get out from under him and puts him on his back, she shakes him repeatedly and begins to frantically shout.

“Wake up! Wake up! UBICA!!!”

-------------------------------

“This is some kind of drastic climate change.” says Napoleon.

To which Rage replies, “You’ll find that this will happen a lot in the near future. There isn’t a set weather environment like on Earth where there are four different seasons.”

“That’s odd.”

“It's because the sun and the three moons, and everything else in space for that matter are all artificial.”

Napoleon looks somewhat confused as to how or why that is and is about to ask Rage when the scream of Tsubiri is heard about a hundred yards back.

“HELP!! THERE’S SOMETHING WRONG WITH UBICA!!”

“What!?” says a frightened Trojia, when she hears this her face turns pale. The group rushes to his aid and once there they see a unconscious Ubica.

“What did you do to him Tsubiri!?” shouts Trojia as she grabs Tsubiri’s shoulders.

“I didn’t do anything! He just collapsed all the sudden!”

“Calm down you two.” says Rage in his usual monotone voice, “This is simply his body's natural reaction to the cold.”

Trojia grabs his ice cold face to try to keep him warm, his breathing is spotty and slow. She knows that he is cold blooded and is literally freezing to death right in front of her eyes.

She looks at Rage with an afraid look and asks, “W-What can we do to help him?”

“.....” Rage is silent as he ponders her question.

The surroundings are spotted with bits of snow, the foliage that lay around the tundra like area seem flammable but actually aren’t.

“This isn’t good, it seems like it is the beginning of summer here. The plants around here can’t be burned because the permafrost, so we’ll have to somehow get out of here quickly.” he says as he clicks his tongue.

The temperature is around 40 to 45 degrees, not enough to harm a regular unprepared human, but for something that is cold blooded this kind of weather can kill. The tundra is a bleak and treeless place. It is cold through all months of the year and summer is a brief period of milder climates when the sun shines almost twenty four hours a day, thus the reason it is called ‘Land of the Midnight Sun’.

But even the sun can’t warm the tundra much, the short summer lasts only six to ten weeks. It never gets any warmer than fifty degrees. The warmer weather causes a layer of permafrost, ice that never goes away in the ground to melt, creating bogs and shallow lakes that don’t drain.

But since it is so early in the summer here the permafrost has not completely melted yet, so the breeding of dozens of species of stinging bugs have not yet arrived. The winter climate on the other hand has a temperature averaging between negative twenty and negative thirty degrees. If the group was unlucky enough randomly stumble across this tundra during a random winter season, Ubica would not have made it even ten seconds without freezing to death, for that matter, the deaths of the rest of the group would shortly follow.

Napoleon is carrying Ubica on his back and is running as fast as possible to escape through the tundra.

Rage would have carried him away on his cloud if it weren’t for two different reasons, the first is that it would be far too dangerous to leave the rest of the royals alone without the strength of himself or of Ubica. And the second is that Ubica’s soul would quickly be sucked into his cloud since Ubica is unconscious and weakened, while in such a state he has no control over his body or soul.

Napoleon begins his trek, he recalls doing this kind of thing numerous times before, all be it through training when he was a teenager or helping injured comrades in one of the countless battles in which he fought.

But no fewer than a thousand yards away from the rest,

BOOOOOOOMMMM!!!!!!

An explosion rips through the ground only a few feet in front of him.

Napoleon flies back by the force of the blast knocking Ubica to the ground.

“What the hell was that!?” Napoleon exclaims to himself as he removes the shards of ice permafrost sharply sticking out of his legs.

He unsheathes the sword that he carries on his back and is waiting for an enemy to appear out of the hazy aftermath of the blast when the unfamiliar voice of a man and woman is heard.

“Geez Aria! What’s the point of planting these mines if they just blow the people we are supposed to rob into bits!?”

“Oh shut up! It works doesn’t it?”

“No it doesn’t, your stupid mine blew up five feet before the guy even got there!”

“Whatever Strauph... Lets just rob the guy like we planned and get the hell out of here.”

Napoleon was always trained to take the incentive in ambush situations, so he charges toward the sound of the voices.

He wildly swings his long sword through the dust cloud, and the girl's voice is heard again.

“Woah! Looks like we got a feisty one on our hands!”

Napoleon points his sword and thrusts violently at the mocking sound of the woman’s voice.

“Haha no kidding! Well its not like it’s gonna matter anyways.”

This sound comes from the man, now focused intently on sound he senses something and moves towards it.

Out of the corner of Napoleon’s right eye he sees the flow of the dust cloud change slightly.

With it comes a blade closing in fast on his face, Napoleon quickly ducks underneath the attack and reaches out his right arm as if to grab whatever is behind the sword.

He feels a soft object and instantly recognizes this as a human arm, from here his natural battle instincts take over and he throws whoever he is holding downwards into the ground, and with a large ‘thud’ noise the man's voice is heard.

“Gruaaahh!”.

He knows for sure that he has taken the advantage of this situation and twists the enemy’s arm violently while he slams his knee into the back of the enemy’s neck.

On a normal day, Napoleon would have stabbed his sword into the back of the man's neck, but he stopped himself once he remembered that a certain lad is lying defenseless on the cold tundra floor.

By now the dust has cleared, Napoleon can clearly see the man who he is on top of, the man looks like he is in his early twenties and has odd colored light turquoise hair and orange eyes. He is dressed warmly wearing some kind of purple get up with black boots, a thick black scarf and head band.

“Uh-oh, I sure have got my self in quite the pinch here.” said the man with a wide smile.

“Wow!! This guy is really cute!”

Napoleon shifts his attention to the woman’s voice and sees a girl with apple red hair with the same colored orange eyes standing over Ubica while pinching his cheeks.

She on the other hand looks like she is in her late teens and is dressed rather skimpy, especially considering the cold weather. She is wearing a lightly clothed white skirt, with golden circular designs over black nylon undergarments that stretch from her waist down to her brown and gold boots. The skin of her belly is seen as there is a gap between her skirt and her small white long sleeved shirt.

Napoleon clicks his tongue while confirming the fact that he knew this would happen.

It is virtually a stalemate between the two because both can instantly kill the hostages they hold if needed.

With a monotone voice, Napoleon tells the apple haired girl who is holding a large broadsword to Ubica’s neck,

“How you want this to end is entirely up to you woman.”

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| Back to [[Dantega:Volume 1 Chapter 4|Chapter 4]]
| Return to [[Dantega|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Dantega:Volume 1 Chapter 6|Chapter 6]]
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</noinclude>

Dantega:Volume 3 Chapter 12

2013-05-23T01:29:07Z

74.87.29.101:

(PART 3)

"How did I end up getting paired with you as a guinea pig?" asked Lennox. He is walking right in the open of the city alongside Jessiah. "Oh yeah that's right, it's because you volunteered me to join you!!!"

Jessiah smiles as the light from the fires they leave behind shine on his bald head. "Come on Lennox, we're not guinea pigs, we are diversions."

"That's the same thing you meat head!"

"Whaaatever, either way this is definitely the best job because all the action comes to us, stop being such a pansy."

Lennox lets out a sigh of exasperation and stops talking, the two walk in the middle of the street with weapons in hand, each building or house lights on fire the moment they pass. This isn't their doing though, flame tipped arrows land perfectly into windows, lighting the curtains on fire and sending the structures ablaze.

"Wow, Allia sure is a good shot ain't she?" says Jessiah when he looks at the destruction in awe.

Lennox scratches his head, "No shit, that's her job. If she wasn't the best she wouldn't be here."

"You sure are in some kind of a piss ant mood aren't you? You seem a lot happier around everybody else."

"That's because you are by far the most annoying out of everyone."

Jessiah is about to reply to this subtle insult when he sees a group of a few dozen soldiers running up the road toward them.

"Hey hey, no cavalry?"

Lennox pulls his sword out of its sheathe and says, "Beggars can't be choosers."

Jessiah swings his long spear over his head readies himself in a battle position. "I ain't begging, I just wanted a little bit more of a warm up to start off the night."

At the end of his words he fearlessly rushes at the group of soldiers. Lennox holds a straight face as he follows closely behind.

The soldiers have no clue what to think about this situation, they look around in confusion trying to find more intruders, but instead of over thinking it they let their instincts take over and they run to attack the two.

However, the instincts and adrenaline that go along with hand to hand combat would never be felt by either side of the opposing forces. The reason for this is that the group of a few dozen Trojan soldiers are brought to an abrupt halt when a bundle of flaming arrows hits the front line of the men square in the chest. The front men drop and the back men fall over them, the ones that fell struggle to get off of their dead and flaming comrades without lighting themselves on fire.

Lennox and Jessiah stop their attack and have looks on their faces like, 'No fair!!'

The two look at each other and Jessiah says, "We can't let her have all the fun."

Lennox smiles as if he hates to agree with him and the two rush towards the remaining men. But once again they are stopped, this time it's by something that makes the two have no choice but to jump backwards in fear for their life.

The remaining men burst into a swirling inferno.

Running along the rooftops is Allia, she had just thrown a makeshift molotov cocktail into the center of the group of soldiers whom had flaming arrows sticking to their chests.

The result of this is the painful death of of every last one of them.

Allia smiles and waves at the two as she jumps from one rooftop to another and disappears out of sight.

The two men stare in amazement toward the direction where she ran off to, the only thing of her that can be seen is her flaming arrows flying through the night sky and the sound of the screams after they land.

"Ahh fuck that! She snaked us!!" shouts Jessiah.

Lennox scopes the area and wonders which way is the best way for a strategic attack, that's when he realizes that from the beginning, the two of them are the only ones of the Ten Knights that aren't hidden.

They are out in the open to lure the brunt of the Trojan army occupying the town while the rest of the ten pick them off in stealth like attacks. it would seem that it has worked because of Allia setting all of those fires and leading soldiers to their position, it's only a matter of time before a full fledged defense force is sent to counter the intruders.

"Alright, now it's time for the marathon to start." says Lennox as he keeps his hearing set on the approaching footsteps of countless soldiers.

Jessiah smiles wholeheartedly as his anxiety rises more and more with each passing second. "On the count of three?"

Lennox runs his hands through his hair and pulls a mirror out of his pocket, he makes some faces like he is some kind of model and then says, "I'm too damn good looking for this kind of grunt work."

Jessiah twitches his eyebrow. "Hey, we kind of have a tense moment here, why the hell do you always do that before a battle? Is it some kind of superstition?"

Lennox smiles and says in a cocky tone, "Superstition? Na, I just need to keep the look of my pretty face stuck in my mind so I make sure it doesn't get scratched. I guess you can call it extra motivation."

Jessiah smacks him rather hard on his back and laughs, "That's a little gay but whaaaaaatever. Do the damn countdown already."

Lennox frowns and shouts, "It's not gay at all!!"

Jessiah laughs aloud causing Lennox to start his countdown in frustration.

"3! 2! 1! GO!!"

The two split up and run in opposite directions down two different alleyways, as soon as they do this, hundreds of soldiers run down the street to confront them.

All of the soldiers stand battle ready as they scour the surrounding area in silence, the sound of the fire cracking a wooden post breaks their focus and they all shift their attention toward the source of the sound.

When they see that it was nothing, they turn back to their original post.

But something is odd, it feels like they are missing something.

The left, and the back flank each have four or five downed and dead men, how this happened is certainly a mystery. They all ask themselves a question of how and try to come up with an answer, in the time it takes them to think of what could have happened a few more of them are dead.

This time the men died on the front and the right flank. By now, the soldiers realize that they are dealing with a formidable foe; little do they know, they are dealing with the best that La'Juune has to offer.

----------------------------

Celestia Letrova is inside a house directly in the center of Tronoble, this area is surrounded by homes, condominiums, restaurants, shops, and even an outdoor theater. All of these living areas cast over a town circle that has a fountain with a statue of a large horse standing in the middle of a man-made lake. Close to a thousand soldiers are packed in the town center and are being debriefed from a few higher ups as to what is happening.

Celestia carelessly pokes her head out through the window as she wears a smile and listens to them. One of the soldiers is standing on the platform to the outdoor theater, he has decorations all over him so it is obvious that he is a man of rank.

He holds his arms out as he addresses the men, "As you all know, enemies have intruded Tronoble. Though we don't know how many intruders there are, it is safe to assume that the country of Eiyalazo has commenced this attack to assassinate the King. What we all need to do is start our search from here, and work our to the outskirts of town, there are seven more battalions of our size occupying the city so they will be searching as well. Our job is to protect the King at all costs, the manor in which the Ball is being held is completely surrounded by our soldiers so all that is left to do is find, capture, and kill our enemies."

The address is cut short by the sound of a giggling girl heard from above, all of the soldiers look up and see a cheery looking pink haired girl standing atop a rooftop a few houses away with a smile on her face.

She moved through the house to the roof so she can be heard much easier when she declares, "Haha, you are all so cute when you're confused like that. You all really have no clue what exactly is going on, but luckily for you I'm here to give you the answers!"

The mass of soldiers all glare at her in a serious confusion, they don't know whether to take her as an intruder or just a girl, that is, until she speaks to the man in charge standing on the platform.

"This attack isn't by Eiyalazo... Take a look behind you."

The decorated man looks turns his head to the wall behind him and that is the last thing he would ever see, the man's head is decapitated at his shoulders by what looks like a golden rounded shield and it slams into the wooden wall and sticks. The edges of this shield are razor sharp and over six inches long, its shape faintly bulges up towards its center and a small hole with an extremely thin wire flows out of it.

The men all jump in shock, the shield then slides out of the crater it was in and falls to the floor next to the man's body.

A few soldiers quickly rush to the scene and find an emblem embedded on its center, it is the simply designed crest of La'Juune.

One of the men has a cold sweat run down his temple when he says, "No way."

Celestia laughs, "Hahaha that's right! You are way off on your deduction, the attacking country is La'Juune and there are only ten of us committing this act. So.."

Celestia jumps off the roof top and lands in the middle of a road that's just outside of the town circle. With a flick of her hand the shield jumps from the platform and slings itself all the way back to her position.

She can do this because of a silver-mail glove she is wearing that connects to the wire of the shield.

With a simple flick of a finger she can control the distance, direction, and angle in which the shield travels. Despite her air-headed attitude and demeanor, Celestia is actually a full blown genius, she invented and made this weapon herself and has been making many other weapons for the La'Juutian military since she was the young age of ten.

"Let's see if all of you muscular men can put up a fight against a small girl."

The soldiers become infuriated and a group of about twenty rush at her, Celesia smiles and doesn't even attempt to move.

The sprinting men show no sign of wavering until they are cut to pieces and their body parts fall at Celestia's feet.

Every last one of the twenty men were decapitated before they could even comprehend what had happened, and the rest of the soldiers look at the gruesome scene in shock.

Celestia cheerfully laughs and twirls her blade shield over her head when she says, "This is one of my very own inventions, this is transparent piano wire. Well now you can see it because of their blood." She points at the area where this string is tied, the entire length of the gap between the houses and buildings are bound with this invisible wire. Celestia stretches her arms and back as she finishes, "Every last alleyway is covered, don't even try to cut it, it's pretty damn close to unbreakable. And wouldn't recommend trying to ease your way in between the gaps either, one wrong move and you'll get stuck and be cut to bits, as you can tell it's razor sharp ya' know."

After her stretching she swings her shield and throws it atop a building, the wire retracts itself and it shoots her up like a bungee cord.

"All of you are trapped in my web and none of you will escape! Hahahaha I hope you guys are ready!"

Celestia starts sprinting across the roof tops, the majority of the gaps in between the houses aren't too big but the bigger, street side ones, are more then thirty feet across. She easily jumps that distance with length to spare. A bold attempt considering she just got done saying that there are razor sharp invisible cable wires below her just waiting to chop her into pieces. She flings her shield downwards and attacks a group of fifteen or so men that are separated from the rest, they are picked off like they were made of cardboard, limbs fly all over and the area and just like that, a small chunk of the battalion had been defeated.

She continues her run and continues her assault, taking out large numbers of men as they scurry around in panic, some try to run into a house to get to the rooftops but find that they are completely useless once there. They cannot jump half as far as she can and are killed instantly from one of her long distance attacks. Some try to cut the wire that holds the shield but their steel swords are sliced in half as if they were sticks of butter.

Many other desperate attempts are being conjured up and attempted but none of them seem to work, the water of the pond in the middle of the town center turns red with blood as many more men are systematically being eliminated.

All of this carnage carries itself out while one cheery pink haired girl dances atop rooftops and laughs loudly in pleasure.

----------------------------

"Let go of me." Rain viciously says with an abundance of hate in her eyes.

Noah squeezes her even tighter and says, "Keep watching Rain, this is a once in a lifetime experience for someone like you."

"Tch, I don't know what makes you think you know me so well."

"I have a spy in Eiyalazo who is very close to you, and he has informed me of every last quirk of yours."

Rain's eyes grow large in shock. "Spy!? Impossible!"

Noah ignores her surprise and continues, "I have grown very interested in you Rain, so much so that one of the reasons I chose to invade this town was specifically in spite of you."

Rain grits her teeth, "And what is it that makes a lowly member of nobility such as myself so interesting to the extent that the only remaining member of the royal family of La'Juune has a personal interest in me?"

Noah smiles and presses her body up against the balcony railing as he looks out at the destruction of Tronoble. "Quite a few things actually... One of them is what goes on in that head of yours, the way you think as a Battle Strategist intrigues me to a certain extent."

"Hehehe, I see, so you are hoping that I'd give up some information if you torture me... I doubt an idea like that will work, I'll bite my own tongue off before I ever offer you a single word."

Noah faintly laughs until his face turns solemn and his demeanor turns cold, he squeezes her hand extremely hard and says, "That isn't what I want to do... What I really want to know about is this disgusting hand of yours."

Rain is once again in shock, 'It can't be...' she thinks to herself. Then she thinks back at how she hasn't been able to use the powers bestowed on her by the tattoo of the pentagram on her hand, it was only a few days ago that with its help, she easily killed off nine men.

"What are you talking about?.." she wearily asks.

Noah leans into her ear so close that she can almost feel his lips rub against it when he replies, "You are being used... And there is a reason why this is so. The one pulling the strings definitely needs you to fulfill something, and it is that pathetic thought of revenge flowing through your head that makes you so much easier for him to control."

Noah turns her around and holds her right hand with his left and her neck with his right, it would seem that he is confident in his strength to kill Rain if needed so he lets her left hand hang free. Sensing this, Rain doesn't try to fight back, without the use of her right hand she is just a regular girl.

Looking into his cold eyes makes her very angry, it's as though he is looking down on her. She halfheartedly smiles and says, "My pathetic revenge? You contradict yourself Prince Noah, weren't you the one who declared war on my country and Troy as vengeance for the death of your father and disappearance of your two brothers? I don't want to be frowned upon by a hypocrite who has sacrificed so many lives for his own revenge."

Noah holds a straight face until his lips faintly rise. "I must say, you are indeed wrong in that assessment."

"What?"

"I don't bear feelings of such trite, as a child I modeled myself after a person who held nothing towards his enemies and felt close to the same for his friends and family. If one can do that, revenge would be the last thing on their mind if a situation like this occurs."

"Then what the hell did you declare war for!?"

"That is simple, whoever killed my father, kidnapped my two brothers and our great General Napoleon has committed an act of war."

Rain stares at him in silence, she can't understand how his mind is so set on military and political actions that revenge doesn't even matter when his father is murdered. All she can do is mutter in sarcastic disbelief, "Is that so..?"

Noah looks down at the ground behind Rain and then his eyes shift back at her. "But... There is something that has been bugging me. How is it that the intruders murdered a heavily guarded King, kidnapped eleven people, demolished a large castle room, escaped the city and then the country without anyone noticing their presence?"

An interesting question to say the least; according to Rain, it could have been the Trojans who did it cause she certainly knows it's not Eiyalazo. But in all likely hood she figured that had to be La'Juune, they were the only ones capable of such a feat.

She stands in silence as Noah continues, "There is something not right about this whole war... And I'm closing in on its source, starting with you."

"I still don't get what you are talking about."

"Are you familiar with religion Rain?"

"Huh?.. I can't say that I am, I don't see how that has anything to do with-----."

"That putrid tattoo on your hand is a religious symbol, and according to my numerous spies in both Troy and Eiyalazo, you aren't the only one who has it. Prince Dice has one obviously, and another is General Sturgess of Troy. This is becoming more and more intriguing as the numbers of higher up players in this war begin to have their souls swallowed by their Deadly Sins."

Rain glares at him in confusion, "You've lost me here Prince, Dice has nothing that I have... I don't understand where you are going this."

She is genuinely bewildered, she doesn't know that Dice has the same tattoo of a pentagram on his hand so she thinks that what Noah is saying must be false.

Noah pays no mind to her clueless attitude as he keeps adding, "You are controlled by Wrath. Prince Dice is swallowed by Lust... And General Sturgess is consumed in Greed. Only one person is capable of controlling all of these sins and is able to tempt people into letting themselves be devoured by them. People like you who can hold influence on the world are needed to fulfill this puppet master's plan, and I truly believe that you three have met one of the real culprits behind the disappearance of all three of our country's royals."

Rain tries to piece together what he is saying, it takes her a few moments but it is slowly starting to hit her as her eyes grow larger. In an instant her perspective as gotten much wider and her mind begins to move more towards his direction, she can't discredit his theory because she knows that the impossible and far-fetched has already begun to happen starting with her hand.

Noah looks like he is about to speak again when he is interrupted by a voice from above saying, "I recommend that you take off now Noah, things are going to get really sketchy in a minute." Jeffrey is standing on a rooftop and nonchalantly scratching his head as if the danger doesn't apply to him.

Noah doesn't turn around when he responds, "Alright then, you know what your job is."

Jeffrey cracks his neck and replies, "Yeah yeah, kill the King of Troy right? That shouldn't be too hard."

All the thoughts of the bigger picture that Noah has presented in Rain's head snap and turn to nothing but black. Her face contorts and she shouts, "Don't you dare touch him! He is mine to kill!!"

Jeffrey smiles and waves at her, his figure disappears as he jumps off the roof and walks into the balcony door.

Rain pleas in anger, "WAIT! WAIT!!!"

Noah squeezes her neck so she can't speak and says, "Hmmm, I see that this hatred runs even deeper than what I've imagined. It looks like you'll be coming with me for some intense rehabilitation."

The white of Rain's eyes turn red, not only out of lack of oxygen but also out of pure anger, the thought of someone else slaying the King of Troy has gotten her blood running so hot that it could heat up an entire room if she were standing in it. Another thing that adds on to this is the fact that the powers in which the snake gave her are mysteriously non existent, she is bitter that she cannot blow this pestering Prince to pieces.

Noah is amused at how much her psyche has deteriorated due to the pentagram, he lets go of her neck and picks up her mask that was hanging on the balcony, he puts it on her face and then pulls his own mask out of his pocket and does the same.

"You'd be wise to hang on to me."

Noah hops up atop the ledge of the three story balcony and jumps off, pulling Rain along with him.

--------------------------------

"What's going on Dice?" Ash asks as quietly and as calmly as possible.

"Do you remember fighting an Eiyalazonian Captain by the name of Detreig Von Ronheim?"

"Huh? Why does----- geeechhkk!"

Dice interrupts her by pushing the knife so hard into her back that it breaks her skin. "Just answer the question."

Ash winces and replies, "Y-Yes I do.."

"Which one of you killed him? Was it the King?"

"I-I don't understand what's going on? Who are you?"

Dice slowly starts walking her away from the rest of the dancing crowd when he says, "My name is Dice Di'Vore, I am the Prince of Eiyalazo."

"What!?"

"Quiet down.." he says as he presses the knife further into her back.

Ash is really starting to feel like a slip of his hand would result in a fatal injury, she takes deep breathes and calmly asks, "Why is someone like you threatening me like this?"

Dice politely smiles at a few people passing by as their numbers become smaller and smaller the more the two walk deeper into the castle. His polite smile turns sour when he says, "If you just answer my question, you might be able to live through this... Who was it who inflicted the fatal blow on Captain Detreig?"

Ash has no choice but to oblige to his question, this threat is very real and like any hostage would, the demands of the hostage taker come before anything.

"I-It was me... I was the one."

Dice viciously frowns and he explains, "I'm in love with that man's daughter... But she cares more about her revenge on the ones who killed him than she does about my feelings. So what do you think I have to do to get that devotion of hers turned towards me?"

A sickening feeling surfaces in Ash's chest, she knows the answer to his question and doesn't need him to clarify it before she realizes that she has to do something. Ash is trained in martial arts and is actually an extraordinary fighter, but do to the surprise of Dice's attack and the manner in which she is being held, there isn't much she can do without running the high risk that she'll be stabbed.

The only thing she can think of doing is something that will certainly not work, her only hope has been shut out and despair surfaces upon her face.

Dice notices this and smiles when he whispers in her ear, "I can tell by the look on your face that you know what is going to happen... Hmph, I bet you never would have thought in the beginning of the day that this night would be your last."

-----------------------------

Ebihara Seiri and Haas Avandale are sitting atop the roof of a building; no matter where one goes in Tronoble, the large castle that holds the Ballroom can be seen.

Seiri has a smile on her face as she stands atop a chimney. "Just a little bit longer."

She is anxious about what the scene that awaits them will look like; this girl is much like Aria, she gets very excited by explosions. The one difference between the two is age and the way they go about making their bombs. Aria can turn any object she touches into a bomb, but she is clumsy when determining how big and what kind of an explosion that object will have when she uses her ability. Seiri on the other hand uses bombs she makes from scratch with her own two hands, most of her explosives have a sole ingredient of alcohol, but being the genius she is she has created something that is far more flammable and once it is deprived of oxygen it turns into something so combustible that it is even stronger than dynamite.

She carries this liquid in little flasks that she always carries with her, some aren't very dangerous at all, and some can level dozens of city blocks if not treated with care; one of the semi harmless flasks was given to a certain man just a couple ours earlier. She calls these potent flasks of destruction 'Light shows.'

When someone asks her why she brings up some kind of nonsense about how bombs and actors are similar to each other.

Haas looks at his watch and struggles to say, "...I... Need to go... Help... The others..."

Seiri flips her hair at him and says, "Fine fine, my mission is accomplished for the night, so I'm just gonna stay here and watch the light show."

"...Understood..."

Haas pulls two small swords out of his duffle bag and jumps off the roof, leaving the twelve year old Seiri by herself.

She pays no mind to his absence, instead her eyes grow large with the reflection of the castle as she repeats what she said earlier,

"Just a little bit longer.."

----------------------------

The knife that Dice holds is about to sink into her back and Ash knows it, she shuts her eyes and shouts the only thing that comes to mind,

"ZURVICK!!!!!"

Dice lets go of her arm and covers her mouth with his palm, with his knife wielding hand he readies to make a huge thrust forward when

BBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!

The roof atop the ball explodes and thousands of pounds of debris and flames fall on the patrons who are dancing on the Ballroom floor. The frilly dresses worn by the women ignite and they all panic and run about, lighting table cloths and curtains on fire as well. Literally within a couple seconds of the explosion, the entire Ballroom is ablaze.

"What the fuck was that!?" Dice yells in an angered surprise. He shakes off those thoughts of surprise and switches it to the assassination of the girl in front of him. "First thing's first."

As soon as his arm moves to stab her, his vision goes black and a loud thud can be heard, he senses that something has just hit him square in the eye and pain quickly follows. His body flies away from Ash and crashes into a pillar that stands on the outskirts of the Ballroom.

Ash falls to her knees with the mindset that she has been fatally wounded and just hasn't felt it yet; from her knees she again falls to the ground but she is caught in the arms of a man before she lands. As soon as she feels the security of the man's arms it hits her, she hasn't been stabbed and she will survive.

'But how?' she asks herself.

She shifts her eyes upwards to look at the person who's arms she rests in and sees a sight that fills her with the utmost of joy.

The man is Zurvick.

The King of Troy has come to save this lowly eighteen year old girl when he heard her yell his name in horror. A switch went off in his head and his heart dropped when he heard her frantic voice, so much so that he instantly rushed to her and almost completely ignored the explosion that had just occurred. Once he saw what the shout had indicated he unhesitatingly clinched his fist and struck the assailant to get him off of her.

On the King's face is a frown full of anger. He lifts Ash to her feet and steps in front of her, guarding her intensely.

Addressing Dice, who is holding his eye and glaring at him furiously, Zurvick speaks, "I don't know who you are and what you are intending to do... But anyone who dares to harm Ash in any way, is an enemy of mine."

Dice clicks his tongue and takes his hand off his already swollen eye, the bloody knife he holds in his right hand shines ominously with the light of the surrounding flames. He stands straight on his feet and his lips begin to rise.

"Hehehehehe.... HAHAHAHA!!!"

He squeezes the hilt of his knife with all of his strength and an odd black smoke surfaces from the back of his hand and flows up his arm.

"There isn't a doubt that she'll fall for me now! All I need to do is kill the both of you and she's mine!!! Hahahah she'll be all mine!"

Dice's words hold a severe tinge of insanity and it seems that the mysterious black smoke feeds off his cockeyed expression when it wraps around his whole body.

His arm is so covered that it is not visible, Zurvick and Ash look at him in disbelief at what their eyes are seeing. The black smoke around his arm stretches to the ground, spreads wide and then dissipates in a small blast, what comes out is a three meter black sword he holds in his hand.

Dice smiles widely and declares, "The both of you will die and I will finally be able to hold her in my arms!"

He readies to rush forward to slay them, just by standing there in the fearsome presence of such insanity it is blatantly obvious who would win the fight in this situation. Ash's knees are shaking wildly and even Zurvick is feeling somewhat afraid at the aura of evil surrounding him.

Dice takes his first step forward but is stopped by the figure of a man in a stylish black suit with dirty blond hair. The man steps in between the two and says, "I doubt that you'll be holding anyone at the end of all this."

Dice frowns and spits at the ground. "Who the fuck are you?.."

The man standing in between the three is none other than Jeffrey Durbin.

He shrugs his shoulders and says, "I don't really matter all too much, but the person that matters the most to you is being taken away as we speak."

"What?"

Jeffrey points to the window behind Dice and says, "Take a look."

Dice turns around and looks out the window to see Rain being held tightly against her will and taken away by the same orange haired person he saw with her earlier.

"Rain!!" he shouts out the window.

Rain hears his shout and turns to look at the source of the noise, she shows him a face that screams out, 'Help me.'

All of the thoughts that he had of engaging Ash and Zurvick go screaming out of his head and only one thing remains. Dice's eyes widen and he takes a few steps from the window, he lifts his black sword and swings at the wall; with that simple motion the wall holding the window violently exploded sending debris flying into the night sky.

Dice hurriedly jumps through the large hole in the building and abandons his aspirations of exacting Rain's revenge on the two; the black smoke that surrounded him gently leaves the hallway and eerily follows him outside.

A strange feeling of calm reaches the two with Dice's exit. Ash takes a deep breath and doesn't know which of the numerous questions in her head to snatch out and ask, Zurvick's tense shoulders loosen up as he looks at the destruction that had just taken place. That feeling of calm is short lived when the sound of screams coming from the burning Ballroom are heard.

Zurvick knows that he has to go into the fire to help as many people as he can, he lets Ash out of his arms and turns to Jeffery.

"Thanks for your help, you really saved us back there."

Jeffery shrugs his shoulders and says, "Just doing my job for my King."

Zurvick smiles and lifts his hand for a handshake as if to say thanks again. Jeffrey smiles softly and grabs his hand, the two's eyes meet for a moment and it becomes obvious that something is wrong.

The second this becomes evident, Zurvick feels a dull pain in his gut, he looks down and sees an eight inch knife stabbed deeply into his abdomen. His eyes shift from his wound and back to the eyes of Jeffrey, who sighs when he says,

"There's only one problem, You are not my King."

Zurvick drops to his knees and blood begins to puddle below him, by looking at how much red fluid is flowing from him one can't help but think that his is a fatal wound. Ash is taken aback by this, so much so that there was a delayed effect in her comprehension speed; now that she sees his face growing paler and paler, she is thrown into a blind rage.

She turns to Jeffrey and glares at him with her bright crimson eyes, the anger that brews in her frown is more then evident when she rushes him for an attack. Jeffrey sidesteps and easily avoids her wild punch, he grabs her arm and brutally kicks her in the stomach, the air flies out of her lungs and her whole body becomes limp when she falls face first on the ground, completely unable to move.

"Easy there little lady, I don't have orders to kill you... Granted, you'll probably end up dying in this Ballroom anyway, two of my men set up a fuse bomb that will systematically destroy this entire castle with a different explosion every five minutes." Jeffrey looks at his watch and says, "The next one is going to happen way before you get a chance to escape... That's too bad.."

He turns his back to the two and ganders out of the massive hole in the wall that Dice made, there he sees Dice chasing after Noah and Rain. He releases a sigh of exasperation and says, "I guess I'd better help him, it sure looks like he'll need it."

Without paying Ash or Zurvick any more mind than they are worth, he jumps out of the hole and disappears out of sight. This is the way the Ten Knights of La'Juune work, once the job is complete then it is on to the next one.

Ash is desperately trying to breath as she attempts to stand, she shakily reaches her feet and moves to tend to Zurvick, but to her surprise he is already standing there with a broken smile on his face.

"We gotta escape Zurvick, we gotta get you some help." she says with a begging tone in her voice.

Blood falls from his tilted lips when he replies, "No... You have to escape."

"Huh? What are you talking about? Can't you see that this whole damn building is on fire!?"

Zurvick stumbles when he walks toward her. "That's exactly why you are the one that needs to leave."

Ash becomes suspicious. "Why do I have a bad feeling about this..?"

Zurvick grabs her shoulders and walks her to the ledge of the hole that Dice created, "I need to help them..."

"N-No that's ridiculous! You are injured and you can barely move! What kind of help do you think you can accomplish!? You may even need it more then they do!"

He smiles and pushes her out of the hole in the wall, it's only about ten feet to the ground but she definitely felt in when she landed square on her back. She quickly rises to her feet and glares at him with desperate eyes.

Zurvick salutes her and says, "I'll be damned if I didn't do anything."

He turns and gets ready to walk into the blaze; watching the back that she adores so much become smaller with each one of his steps leading away from her, she becomes more and more distraught. She knows that if he goes into the burning Ballroom, there is no way he'd survive. He has an eight inch dagger sticking into his stomach and is losing incredible amounts of blood, that along with the strange man's warning that there will be another explosion any moment pretty much signifies exactly what will happen.

She puts every last bit of her strength in her voice box when she yells, "DON'T DO IT!!! YOU'LL DIE YOU IDIOT!!!"

Zurvick keeps walking as he replies, "You know me well enough to know that I'm extremely lucky Captain Ash... There's no way I'll die."

And with that, the injured and bleeding Zurvick waves her goodbye and vanishes in the bright light of the fire.

Ash is devastated, "He left me..." she says to herself as tears begin to fall from her eyes, "That idiot really left me..." She bites her lip and frowns, "I'm not letting this happen!"

She runs to the ten foot wall below the hole and begins to climb, with all her might she is going to give chase to him. But these efforts are fruitless, before she can even get half way up the wall it is obliterated.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!!

The second explosion rips through the area where Zurvick just was and knocks her more than twenty feet back, she slams into the manor lawn and her body makes a loud thud.

For the most part she is unscathed, just a few scratches around her arms can be seen and one would say she is extremely lucky that she didn't lose a limb in that blast. She shakily lifts her upper body up and opens her dazed eyes. The only thing she can see is orange and red blurs and she smells through her nose a bitter smoke; it takes her a few moments to recover from this out of body experience she is having and when she does, one of the first thoughts in her head is how badly she would like to have that feeling back.

The reason for this is the horrifying scene that stands before her, the area that Zurvick just walked through is now non existent, only rubble and flames remain. The Ballroom is just about utterly demolished and the rest of the castle begins to deteriorate as well. Not much of anything is left of the Ballroom and there is no doubt that everyone who hadn't escaped yet is dead, and that includes the one person she cares about most in the world.

Her body starts to shake wildly and her breathing becomes very spotty. "N-N-No... This isn't happening right?"

As if to add insult to injury, dozens of smaller blast suddenly wrap around the circled tip of the castle and blow their way down until the seven hundred year old structure is nothing more than dust.

Ash throws her hands on her face as she looks at the destruction in horror. "This isn't happening..."

All of the smiles and happy moments between her and Zurvick flash through her head like a old movie and eventually turn to despair when she thinks about that smile of his going to be gone forever.

She can't do anything but deny that this ever happened and scream at the top of her lungs,

"ZURVICK!!!!"

----------------------------

Dice is running after Noah and Rain who are entering a horse drawn carriage that was supposed to be guarded by Trojan soldiers. Those soldiers are now all dead and their bodies are scattered all over the area, a large battalion of them has been slaughtered within the time frame of the Knight's assault only an hour earlier. But that is not the most amazing thing about it, it's the fact that only ten people are the ones that handed all of those men their deaths.

In the carriage holding the reins is one of those ten, Elise Whittier is covered in blood and is looking annoyed about how long it is going to take for her to wash it all out of her hair. Once Rain and Noah enter she says, "Sweet now we can get out of here! I'm dying to take a shower.. Ooooaah she's cute! This is gonna be a good ride after all."

Rain recognizes her from the dress shop and mutters in surprise, "Y-You?.. Wha?"

"Keep your pants on and drive." Noah replies.

Elise sticks her tongue out at him and asks, "Where to boss?"

Noah glares at Rain and then out to the burning city of Tronoble, he slightly smiles and blows a sharp breath of air out of his nose. "To La'Juune."

"Roger that!"

Dice is gaining on the carriage, each step of his that lands on the ground carries so much hate mixed with determination that it almost sends shock waves into the ground as though it was an earthquake.

"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!!!"

Noah stares at his abnormality with a straight and unworried face, he holds out his hand and simply snaps his finger. With that, Dice is surrounded by the weapons of Jeffrey, London and Allia.

The carriage begins to move and Dice's rage becomes seemingly unstoppable, but the black and evil aura surrounding him doesn't seem to faze the three. Without a hint of nervousness, Allia points her bow and arrow at him, Jeffrey has another dagger pressed against his back, and London has a long fencing sword pressed against his neck.

Rain stares at the evil aura around Dice and has a different reaction to it than the others. "That power..? He was telling the truth?"

Through the window Noah speaks to the three, "I don't think it'd be too wise to waste your energy on that abomination, it's already far too late for him."

London pushes up his glasses and asks, "So what do you want us to do?"

"Just keep him here for a little, we'll be out of the city soon. I don't want that pest to follow me."

Rain is sitting in the moving carriage gritting her teeth, just by looking at how these knights had damn near killed off an entire city, she feels that there is no way Dice will win with his mind in such an out of control state. In a normal circumstance like this, one would worry about the other comrade's well being but in this case, Rain is only thinking about how she can somehow benefit from this situation.

She throws her head out of the carriage window and shouts, "Dice! You have to go back to our regiment! We can still win this battle if you tell them to invade!" With an unwearied look on his face, Noah leans his back into the leather carriage seat as she continues, "There are only ten La'Juutians who caused all this, we can defeat them by shear numbers when we attack."

Dice looks surprised and asks, "La'Juune? They are the ones who did all this?"

Rain is becoming further and further away and her voice gets fainter. "There is a spy that knows of everything in the higher ups of Eiyalazo! Find that spy and kill him! Once you're done..."

By now she is so far the carriage she is riding in can barely be seen, but her voice rings loud and clear in Dice's ears when she finishes with,

"COME FIND ME!!!"

Dice watches her drift out of sight, she has been taken from under his nose against her will and there was nothing he could do except watch. He flares his nose and frowns when he glares at the three La'Juutian Knights. "I'm coming back to kill you all."

The black smoke envelopes his body and blows outward, slightly knocking the three back allowing him to get some room so he can escape.

Dice begins to run with all his might, but this time it is in the opposite direction of the person he wants to be with the most at this moment. With his head down he begins to shout obscenities, "Damn it all! Damn it all!!" he then lifts his head up and screams at the sky with all his might, "DAMN IT ALL!!!!!!!!!"

-----------------------------

Allia has been raining down fire on just about everyone she saw in the town until she made her way back to the now destroyed castle and ran into Dice, so she isn't well informed as to what is going on so she asks, "Should we really just let him go? If he gets that regiment to attack us I don't like our chances of winning."

London pushes up his glasses and smoothly says, "Don't worry about that."

Then Jeffrey lets out a tired sigh of exasperation, "That regiment is long gone by now."

-------------------------------

On the outskirts of Tronoble lies the thousands of men that belong to Rain's regiment, Dice's division is stationed there as well and they are all watching the city burn in awe. The soldiers all ask questions about this occurrence but there is one man who is not surprised about this in the least, this man with two different colored eyes is the second in command, his name is Heinrich Zimmer.

He is so calmly watching from afar because he has known about the looming destruction of Tronoble for a while now, he is Noah's spy from La'Juune.

One of the soldiers wearily walks to Heinrich and asks, "What should we do?"

Heinrich doesn't turn his way and answers, "We retreat."

"What? But Rain and Prince Dice are in that town!"

Heinrich stands from a sitting position on top of a large rock and coldly states, "Can't you see that they are most likely dead? It's obvious that the city was attacked by La'Juune, if we head in there carelessly without a plan there's a high possibility that we will lose."

The man looks troubled and says, "But Rain told us to attack the city if she isn't back by 10 o'clock."

Remaining calm, Heinrich rebukes, "Yeah but she didn't plan on the city being sacked by an enemy army before that time. As far as I'm concerned this whole mission was a lost cause, and as the new Captain of this regiment my orders are for us to retreat."

The soldier shifts his eyes away for a moment and then back. "Yes sir."

With his new command due to Rain's absence, the entirety of the Eiyalazonian army that are present all leave the burning city and head back home.

Heinrich can't help but smile at how great things have turned out for La'Juune, with this, the approaching La'Juutian army can easily occupy Tronoble with no conflict. This has been a successful mission, everything has gone exactly the way Noah had predicted it would go, La'Juune now holds the reins to this bloody world war.

--------------------------

"What do you intend to do to me?" Rain asks and breaks the awkward silence in the cabin of the carriage.

Noah simply answers, "I don't quite know yet."

Rain clicks her tongue and begins to pound him with questions. "How do you know so much about the powers of my hand?"

Noah is holding her right hand and hasn't let it go since they were dancing. "I know a lot of things."

This angers her and she shouts, "God damn it would you just give me an explanation already! How can you suppress the powers that I now have!"

Noah glares at her and replies, "You just said it yourself... God."

"God?"

"That's right, I am a person who takes in knowledge very well, before the war started there was a certain priest who preached to me the word of God. You told me earlier that you know nothing of religion correct?"

Rain huffs air out of her nose and looks out of the window. "People rely on religion just like a fairy tale is used for children who are afraid of the dark."

Noah mockingly laughs and replies, "It seems that your lack of this knowledge will be the end of you."

"That's ridiculous."

"Is it now? Who do you think bestowed you with those powers of yours? Have you not realized that the one who did now controls your soul? You are damned forever Rain." he squeezes her hand and looks her in the eye before finishing, "That is... Unless I do something about it."

Rain doesn't know what to say about this, it takes her a few moments to ask, "And how are you going to do that?"

"That priest of mine was not an ordinary priest... Before he was kidnapped along with the rest he revealed his deepest secret to me, and soon after, with the touch of his hand... I was blessed. Though I am not benevolent to say the least, I have still been given a gift. I guess you can say that I hold the opposite kind of power that you do. I was born into this world specifically to stop wretched people like you, so I will begin to negate your powers and in due process I will find the whereabouts of my loved ones and put an end to this war."

Rain turns her head and tries to ignore his statement, but his words ring in her mind; in order to contrast these thoughts she uses her instincts as a Battle Strategist and conjures up the many different ways she can get out of this.

That's when it dawns on her, a perfect plan.

She smiles and softly says, "Not if I kill you first."

Noah hears this and smiles as well, these are two bitter enemies sharing a carriage for a long ride, and the atmosphere between the two shows it as plain as day.

---------------------------

Dice is running to where his comrades are supposed to be, and when he reaches the spot he finds that they are long gone. Not knowing which direction they went off to he becomes confused, and that confusion turns to anger when he shouts at the pentagram on his hand,

"How did you let this happen!!? How did you let her be taken from me!?"

The snake's voice takes a few moments to appear and then it rings in his head. "This is all in due process my fair Prince."

"How!? I don't see how her being kidnapped will make her fall in love with me!"

"You need to open your eyes... This is the perfect opportunity to show her how devoted you are... She told you to find the spy and kill him correct?"

Dice sits on the ground, it would seem that he is exhausted from all of the effort he has put into the night, he lays on his back and points his hand to the air.

"That's right."

"Who do you think that spy is?"

"How the fuck am I supposed to know that!?"

The presence of the snake becomes more and more heavy with each passing second. "That is what you have me for... I can tell you."

Dice becomes irritated and demands, "Then tell me."

"Who do you think has the power to make all of today's events possible?"

"......"

"Since you have to assume that it was La'Juune who commenced the attack on that city, you must know that the spy who is able to work with the elites of that country must have an immense pull amongst the soldiers of Eiyalazo."

"I just don't see who can do something like that..." Dice says while clinching his fists in wonder.

The snake's voice reverberates wildly as it begins to inquire, "Let me ask you something... Didn't your parents oppose you coming along with Rain on this mission?"

"Of course they were hesitant at first, but I convinced them that it was time to let me out on the battlefield."

"Hmmm, If I'm not mistaken... They had somewhat of a grudge against Rain's father right?"

Dice's face moves as if he is starting to realize something, "Now that you mention it... They disgraced her father ten years ago after the Battle of La'Juune in which Troy and Eiyalazo lost embarrassingly to General Napoleon."

"Then do you think that they still hold some of that animosity towards Rain? Wouldn't it make sense that if they did, they would do anything to sabotage her efforts in reinstating the Von Ronheim name? Wouldn't that make them look bad and embarrass them if honor was to be once again instilled in that name?"

Dice sits up and his eyes widen. "You don't think that---"

The snake's voice interrupts, "That's right... There is only one type of person that would betray her with such trivial reasoning..."

"It can't be..."

"It makes sense doesn't it? The spies.... The true betrayers are..."

Dice stands to his feet and frowns, "The King and Queen of Eiyalazo... My parents."

"It couldn't be anyone else... Now is your chance to show her how much love your bear towards her... What will you do my fair Prince?"

Dice grits his teeth and puts all of his strength in his clinched fists.

"I have no choice... I must kill my parents."

--------------------------

The sun has almost completely risen over the destroyed city of Tronoble and the majority of people are either dead or they evacuated the town.

But there is a certain girl that is searching frantically through rubble.

Ash Alworth.

She is moving away the brick and stone of the castle with the remaining of her sleep deprived strength, trying to find one person, Zurvick Niveusvenia, the King of Troy.

But sadly her search is of no avail, all she finds are burnt and crisped bodies of the former nobles who died in the blast the night before. The destruction is so bad that she hasn't even found a hint of life in the many piles of broken castle; the dress that she wore so beautifully the night before is torn and stained and her hands are bruised and bloody. This shows the belief she has in Zurvick's survival, but the longer she searches she understands that the possibilities of his survival are close to zero, there are no signs of life around and La'Juutian soldiers surrounding the area begin to grow by the hundreds.

This is it, the end of her search.

'It's all over...' she thinks to herself as she lets her tired body finally take a break.

She begins to weep wildly and tears fall rapidly from her tired eyes and slide off her cheeks like flowing river. It has finally hit her that he really is gone, the only man this young Captain has ever loved has now ceased to exist. It would seem that all of the energy she put in crying has gotten to her both physically and mentally drained; after hours of back breaking work, her frail body finally succumbs to exhaustion.

Her crying stops and her body falls limp onto the manor lawn, sadly for her, she will eventually have to wake up once more to bear the same pain of her loss.

--------------------------

The next day the afternoon sun shines over the castle that resides in the Capital city of Troy.

Queen Lelaine walks down the hallway and reaches the bathroom door. Once inside that unnecessarily large room with a pool sized bath she takes off her clothes and gets ready to enter, the reason why she is bathing herself so late in the day is because she had stayed up late the night before and slept in the morning after.

Walking past the expensive looking vases and other decorative items, she finally reaches the warm water that fills the bath and takes a step in; she has been overly stressed the last few weeks so the soothing aroma of the shampoos and soaps calm her mind.

She sinks in the water and thinks to herself, 'Here comes another tiresome day...'

With these thoughts of weariness and self pity running through her head she becomes completely disinterested at how her life is going. That is, until she hears an unusual knock on the bathroom door, she can tell it isn't one of her maids knocking to see is she needs any kind of assistance simply by the force of the knock.

She lifts her head out of the bath water and asks, "Who is it?"

A familiar voice comes from behind the door.

"It's Sturgess."

"What do you want?" she replies in haste so he can leave her alone.

He pauses for a few seconds and says, "I have terrible news to report to you."

Lelain raises her eyebrow, "Is it so bad that you have to tell me while I'm bathing?"

"Unfortunately... It is. I hate to come to you with such bad timing but I'd assume this is something you'd want to hear immediately."

"Then spill it already."

The pause between Sturgess' words are far longer than before and this makes Lelaine become quite anxious.

After what seems like a few hours Sturgess finally speaks, "The King is dead..."

Lelaine grows silent and remains that way for quite some time until she asks with not much concern in her voice, "Really?"

Sturgess replies in a professional manner, "Yes... From what our reports say, King Zurvick was on his way back to our Capital when he stopped in Tronoble, while he was there the La'Juutian army attacked the city and defeated all its military occupants. The city held a Ball last night for the King's arrival, but the Ball was cut short by more than a few massive explosions, King Zurvick was caught in one of those blasts and as result, he was killed."

Lelaine remains silent and just glares at a well done painting in the bathroom as if she is in a trance when Sturgess continues,

"A few soldiers found a charred body that held the King's flask, they are sending it here to the Capital for burial."

When no reaction comes from this, Sturgess takes a deep breath and begins to smile, but this smile of his is broken by the sound of pottery smashing against the bathroom door he leans on. He takes a few steps back and the sound of heavy and sharp objects breaking becomes more frequent.

"I'm sorry Queen Lelaine, but you must calm down and stay rational."

Another pot was thrown in his direction and shattered against the wall.

"Rationality!? Bullshit!!!"

With the sound coming from the inside of the bathroom one can't help but think of the destruction occurring inside, Sturggess tries to suppress a laugh and realizes that it would be best if he just walked away. But not before he leaves her with some final words, "I'm sorry for your loss."

Another vase is thrown into the door due to Lelaine's temper tantrum, she is searching for something to destroy when she shouts, "This is bullshit!!! FUCKING BULLSHIT!!!"

She grabs a bath stool and chucks it into a window, completely shattering it. Now out of things to break, she herself begins to breakdown, she falls on her knees and then lays on her side in a half angled fetal position.

"No...... No..... This is.... False information or something, he has to come back."

Lelaine starts to shake uncontrollably and her wet body slides on the smooth tile floor, she remains like this for minutes and all of the moments between her and Zurvick pass through her head much like Ash's did, but Lelaine's is different. She once again remembers the day they met when they were children, the day they got married, the day when Trojia was born, but what hits her hardest is the day when Zurvick left as part of the lowest rank of the military after their daughter disappeared.

She remembers the last time she was held in his arms and the look on his face when he said, "Don't look so worried, there is no way I'm not coming back."

She put her head into his chest and replied, "You never break your promises... So promise me."

Zurvick lifted her head and looked at her square in the eye, with a sincere smile he said, "I promise I'll come back for you."

With the thought of that day running through her head she desperately clings for hope and tries to talk herself out of the facts by saying,

"He's not dead..."

----------------------

Sturgess walks down the hallway with a huge grin on his face, his mission to dispose of Zurvick has finally been accomplished. Though this wasn't his doing, his death still brings all of the same benefits.

At the corner of the hallway sits a set of stairs, he readies to walk down them when he sees the faces of his comrades Anders, and Cardinal Luudnt.

"So how did it go?" asked Anders.

Luudnt looks at him as if asking the same question, Sturgess chuckles a little bit and answers the two, "Better than expected."

Luudnt laughs and replies, "Well I have more good news for you, the financial aspect of our coup has now officially been completed."

Anders added, "If you consider the royal guard as our main supporting force, you can say that they are more then prepared as well."

Sturgess' body is brewing with pleasure and excitement. "This couldn't get any better... Give me a week, I'll set up a battle plan and we'll begin our coup the second I'm finished."

Anders leans his back on the wall and asks, "Should I set the schedule?"

Sturgess walks down the stairs and past the two, he turns to them and shows a confident grin when he responds, "Mark the day on the calender, one week from now, the country of Troy will be ours."

Aders and Luudnt smile and salute him. Simultaneously, they both shout, " Yes sir!"

The three go their separate ways to prepare for an epic betrayal.

Now by his lonesome on the outskirts of the castle and resting on a grassy bank by the moat is Sturgess. Though one would not think that he is alone when he begins to talk to someone.

"I must say, you are indeed fulfilling those far-fetched words of yours snake."

The snake's head appears from the back of his large hand and says, "I do not lie General Sturgess. My words are gold if you wish to work with me."

"I can't believe it, I finally get to have Lelaine all for myself, and along with her, the entire country of Troy. Both of them are in my grasp."

"Believe it my fair General, not only will you have the two desires you wish to have most, but you will also take rule of all the Kingdoms of this world."

Sturgess' face becomes distorted with an insane smile, the thoughts of such grandeur extend his greedy nature tenfold as a sickening pleasure grows in his body.

"That's right! It will all be mine!"

The snake slides up his arm and speaks,

"With me by your side, anything is attainable."

--------------------------

In a dark room sits a man on a throne with a large chessboard in front of him. Unlike the last time where there were few chess pieces that were positioned away from its original starting point, today almost every piece, both black and white have been moved and some of them are on the floor by his feet signifying that they have been defeated.

Though his face can't be seen due to the darkness covering the upper part of his body, his red eyes glow and it becomes obvious that a menacing grin has surfaced under them.

"Prince Noah... You certainly have a troublesome ability, but little do you know, everything you had just done made things much easier on me."

Once again there is a man who stands at the base of the throne, this man is not Beelzebub nor Damien, he has dark blue hair and bright blue eyes. His name is Leviathan and he ranks second in the Hierarchy.

Leviathan is glaring at the chessboard and asks, "Judging by the atmosphere surrounding you, I'd assume everything is going great."

The man on the throne simply replies, "That's right, I am only a few steps away from owning the human world."

"How so?"

"Take a look at the chessboard, look at the position of the chess pieces ."

Leviathan looks at it and finds that the two white pieces, along with a bishop and a knight are surrounded by numerous black pieces.

"Is it relevant?"

"Of course it is, the white pieces represent the only obstacles that are in the way of me dominating the world... The white pieces are Noah of La'Juune, Lelaine of Troy, and King Gile and Queen Diana of Eiyalazo."

"I don't know much about this game, but basically, this means 'check' right?"

"Yes, that's exactly what it means. I have made my moves perfectly and everything is starting to fall into place."

"What do you need to have done in order to win this game?"

The man leans his head on his hand and says, "It's not what I need to have done, it's what will happen... The Prince of La'Juune was foolish enough to kidnap one of my pawns, with my help, Rain Von Ronheim will kill him as soon as the opportunity presents itself. General Sturgess lusts for Queen Lelaine, but now that King Zurvick is dead, a weak minded person like her is extremely vulnerable, so I will have him kill her during the coup. And Prince Dice is already on his way to kill his parents thanks to his foolishness in believing in my lies when I told him that King Gile and Queen Diana are actually the spies that sabotaged Rain."

Leviathan gently smiles in amusement, "Humans truly are easily manipulated."

"Especially when you offer them their wildest dreams on a gold platter, all one has to do is show them the fainest of results and they drool for more."

"With temptations like that, no man can deny you, the master conniver."

The man agrees and speaks, "Once the leaders of the three largest countries are dead, the ones left in line for power are the ones who's souls are bound to me under contract. Once their contract is fulfilled, I will damn those three and make their bodies my own. Once that happens, with my powers finally returned to Earth, I will be able to topple the leadership Troy, La'Juune and Eiyalazo and firmly plant myself as ruler."

The man laughs and unexpectedly stands to his feet, he walks down the three steps and past his chessboard; the dim light begins to shine on him and his blood red and black overcoat can be seen. Once the light hits his almost pale face, his features shine the room with a red aura. He has black hair that falls far below the nape of his neck, and has shining red eyes and a menacing smile on his face. He looks almost exactly like Damien except for the the two lines that fall from his eyes that make him look older.

This is Damien's father, this man is Satan.

He spreads his arms and states, "Soon enough, no man on either Earth nor Heaven will deny me as God. I am four deaths away from 'Checkmate'... And I am only four deaths away from holding all of the world in my hands."

The world has changed for the worse as the people in the shadows move in secret against the people of the light; tragedy awaits those who don't conform and that truth has already been self evident.

The future holds nothing but despair and all of the pleasant memories of the past fade away into nothing.

This sudden difference in every day life, all changed after the Night of the Ball.

Night of the Ball: (END)

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Dantega:Volume 2 Chapter 4

2013-04-28T14:39:48Z

74.87.29.101:

Chapter 14: Northbound Reunion

(PART 1)

The group of Ubica, Napoleon, Tsubiri, Daey, Trojia, Strauphius, and Niomyo have been walking north for a couple days. After staying at a couple towns along the way, the group has exhausted their supply of money and are now resting by a rather small lake.

It is a beautiful and sunny day, and the scenery around this lake seems like a perfect occasion for a picnic. Green grass occupied by numerous colors of poppy flowers stretch as far as the eye can see and few trees spot the grassland and the areas around the lake.

Ubica walks to the flowers and intentionally falls on his back, he sighs and shuts his eyes to let the warmth of the sun beat on his face.

Tsubiri walks up to him and says, "You're not wearing the jacket I bought you you jerk."

He looks up at her and can see right under her skirt, he flinches and turns away quickly. "Because it's not cold out, and I'd prefer not to look like an idiot wearing that thing unless I absolutely have to."

Tsubiri frowns, "Haven't you ever heard that gifts should be cherished!? You seem to like that stupid beanie that Trojia got you!"

Ubica is wearing the beanie, though there is no need for the jacket, it is still somewhat cold to him so he feels the need to keep his ears warm.

"I don't like this thing either! It's just that my ears are cold!"

Tsubiri reveals a lecherous smile and her eyes twinkle, "Your ears are cold huh?"

She pounces on him, takes off his beanie and chucks it away.

"Uaaaahh! What are you doing!?" Ubica desperately shouts as he's being manhandled by this nineteen year old girl.

"Muhuhahahahaha! Allow me to warm up your stupid ears!!!"

She grabs both of his ears and begins to yank on them extremely hard. The loud screams of Ubica mixed with the evil witch like laugh of Tsubiri causes a scene and everyone gathers to witness the carnage.

"This is all fun and dandy, but the problem is we're broke." says Napoleon as he huffs air out of his nose in annoyance. He and Niomyo are leaning against a tree.

"So what are we going to do?" asks Niomyo as she takes off her shoes.

"When we get to the next town, we all have to look for jobs."

She hears him say this and says what comes to her mind first, "We don't have time for something like that!"

He looks at her and then back to Ubica and Tsubiri, because of their wrestling, different colored flower pedals are flying all over and makes him giggle as he says, "We also don't have a choice. Let's just hope that there will be some high paying jobs that won't take too long."

Niomyo walks into the shallow end of the crystal clear water. "Yeah, I guess your right."

Napoleon sees her in the water and asks, "How does the water feel?"

She kicks her legs, splashing the water she turns and smiles, "It's great!"

He chuckles at her kid like reaction and proceeds to take off all of his clothes. Niomyo is instantly flustered at the sight of Napoleon in his briefs, though he is quite tall and thin, his body is perfectly toned so one can see all of his muscles clearly. Napoleon jogs into the water and floats on his back, he smiles and shuts his eyes.

Niomyo is zoning out on his abs like a pre-teen school girl seeing her favorite Idol shirtless in a magazine. Napoleon sees her staring at him and with a confused look on his face asks, "What?"

She jumps in surprise and scrambles to find the right words to say. "Eh uh nothing... It's just that this kind of thing... It doesn't seem like you."

Napoleon back paddles in circles as he says, "These kind of carefree moments..."

He once again glances to Ubica and the rest. Now Trojia, consumed with jealousy is trying get a relentless Tsubiri off of him, Daey is picking flowers while laughing and Strauphius is wearing eyes that seem to enjoy this scene in an envious way. Napoleon slashes his hands in the water and loudly laughs, an occurrence never before heard nor seen by the group.

Tsubiri halts her vicious attack and they all stop to stare; they wonder what is so funny that he would actually show a non General like emotion. Napoleon never really had a childhood, he was the son of a military man and his mother died shortly after his birth, so he was raised by a strict father who demanded discipline.

His father grew ill from an old wound and on his deathbed, asked a then fourteen year old Napoleon to fulfill his wish of joining the La'Juutian army. Naturally Napoleon agreed and after a full year of living on the streets, he joined the army when he reached the required age.

These events made his childhood rough and rotten, he doesn't remember the last time he actually had fun, but seeing the others kid like rowdiness makes it feel like they are all sharing a moment of enjoyment similar to the way the common youth would.

After a few long moments Napoleon finally stops laughing, he looks at Niomyo who is stunned just like the others and says with a smile, "I guess they're starting to rub off on me."

"Woah I think the sky is falling!!!" shouts Ubica who is completely shocked about Napoleon's laughter.

"Really!?"

Like an utter idiot Tsubiri took him seriously and looks up to the sky.

"Hahahahahah! You're such an air head!"

Tsubiri, knowing that she had just made a fool of herself can just frown in embarrassment while Ubica mercilessly laughs in her face.

She readies to slap him and swings her hand down, but Ubica grabs it and shows a wide grin, revealing his large canines.

"Hey hey, why don't we join Napoleon?"

"Huh?"

He grabs her waist and lifts her from her mounted position, he then stands up and throws her onto his shoulder.

"Whaaaa! What are you doing!?"

"As revenge for the death of my ears, you're going for a dip!"

Tsubiri starts pounding on his back and shouting, "Don't you dare! Don't- kyaaaaahhh!"

Ubica takes off running with Tsubiri in tow, he takes a giant leap and before she knows it, she is under water in the middle of the lake.

Tsubiri pops her head out of the water and what she sees is Ubica laughing at her in a mocking tone. They are both soaked with all of their clothes on, she is actually quite bitter about this but these feelings of anger quickly disperse when she thinks to herself, 'Chance!'

Since the split of the group a few days ago, Ubica has been paying most of his attention to Daey due to the death of Rudo. All be it this is a good reason for her being ignored, she feels that even when he wasn't with Daey, he ended up being around Trojia. So at that time, she promised herself that if they ever were to be alone together, she'll go to any lengths to seduce him.

Tsubiri throws her arms over his shoulders and clings to him, she wraps her legs around his back so he can't get her off. Their faces are only a few inches away from each other and this makes Ubica extremely nervous. He tries to move his head back but she pulls the back of his neck closer to her, thus making it impossible for him to get away.

"W-What are you doing Tsubiri!?"

She runs her fingers through his hair and says, "I can't swim."

Ubica raises his eyebrow, "Are you kidding?"

"Nope."

"Pfft... Hahahah what are you three years old??"

She yanks his hair back causing him to abruptly stop his laughter. "THAT'S WHY I TOLD YOU NOT TO THROW ME IN THE DAMN WATER!!"

"Ngggyyaaaahhh that hurts!!!"

-------------

Daey and Trojia are watching the chaotic scene of Ubica once again getting beat up by Tsubiri. Daey is still merrily picking flowers, "They sure get along well." she says as she spots a multicolored purple daisy and like an excited child, grabs it and marvels in its beauty.

Trojia folds her arms and sharply replies, "They get along too well if you ask me." She sits down hard and as a result kicks up a batch of flower pedals.

"Geez Trojia, you're such a baby when it comes to Ubica." Daey says while wrapping the stems of a few dozen flowers with a piece of string she pulled from her dress.

Trojia pouts and says under her breath, "I can't help it..."

To tease her a little, Daey flashes her self made bouquet in Trojia's face and says, "Hey take a look, it's pretty right? I wonder what Ubica will say when I give it to him?"

Trojia turns slowly and looks at her with eyes that scream bloody murder.

Daey backs up and nervously says, "Okay okay I was joking, relax."

She wonders how angry Trojia would be if she found out what occurred between her and Ubica back at the stone house. Ubica's voice rings in her head and she tenderly smiles as she looks at the colorful bouquet. This tender smile suddenly turns into a 'I'm already ahead of you and you don't even know it yet!' smile, and with a subtle competitive tone she says, "You don't need to get so worked up all the time. It's not like you guys are lovers or anything, you haven't even kissed yet."

As soon as the word kiss leaves her lips, Trojia's face turns beet red and her shoulders rise.

Just by seeing her reaction, Daey drops her bouquet and along with it her jaw. "Have you!?"

------------

"I get it I get it! I'm sorry so stop pulling my hair!" shouts Ubica.

Tsubiri releases her death grip and tries to tidy up the scruffy look of his hair after almost being torn off. Ubica wraps his left arm around her back and says, "Well then, since you can't swim we should get out of the water."

Tsubiri gestures as if she is about to say something but then stops, she can't find it in her heart to say that she just doesn't want to let go of him yet. He gently moves her hand away from his shoulder and in a dream like motion he steps on to the surface of the water and stands like he would be if he was on land.

He is holding Tsubiri's hand to keep her afloat and she is looking up at him from the water as the sun shines behind him making his wet white long sleeved v-neck shirt transparent, and making his silver hair glitter like a diamond.

He lifts her up out of the water and holds her close, she embraces him tightly as if she is afraid to fall in the water and sink.

"It's okay... Put your feet down." He says with a soft smile that oozes the sense of security.

Tsubiri looks at this beautiful smile, she hesitates at first, but she puts her feet on the water surface. Much to her surprise she finds that she can stand perfectly.

"Huh?"

"Don't let go of my hands or you'll sink."

"Okay."

Ubica tosses her right arm over his shoulder and grabs her waist with his left hand, his right and her left hand are interwoven and now they are in a position for the waltz.

He pulls her close to him and with a funny accent asks, "Shall we dance?"

He begins to hum a tune, and with his lead they begin dancing.

"Ooh you're pretty good." says Ubica.

Tsubiri is speechless with awe; though she can't seem to find words, her feet are moving perfectly in motion with his. This surprises her because she hasn't danced since she was a kid, and now she's doing twirls like she belongs in a ballroom. She wears a large smile full of happiness when she thinks that this unbelievable moment in time is happening because of a little white lie, she actually can swim, and very well for that matter.

But since she said that she couldn't in order to cling to him, she is now participating in a romantic dance that should only belong in a fairy tale.

The song Ubica was humming ends, and with it the trance that Tsubiri was under through this whole process. It suddenly hits her that what had just occurred defies the laws of gravity, it is impossible for a human to stand on water, and she remembers a story in the bible when it once said that the Son of God once did to prove that he was no normal man.

"Ubica... What are you?" she asks with eyes full of wonder.

He doesn't answer, instead he just stares at her with a strained smile which makes her want to ask more.

"Those two demons back at the stone house, it seemed like you knew them pretty well. Also...The way you saved me when I was falling in the abyss, and now we are standing on water."

She rests her hands on his chest, much to Ubica's surprise she is not freaked out by any of this; on the contrary she is wearing smile that exudes acceptance. He takes his hand and gently moves the wet magenta hair that covers her gold eyes to the side, he gently slides his hand down her face until he rests it on her cheek and softly says, "I guess I can't keep my past a secret forever."

It looks as if he is about to say something, the tension feels like it can be cut with a dull knife and she can't contain her excitement in hearing him tell her who he really is.

"But I can't... Not yet."

As if wanting a certain present for Christmas only to unwrap it and find that it is the complete opposite of want you wanted, Tsubiri is gravely disappointed at his words. She is about to say her buts when Ubica holds his index finger up in front of her face to halt her speech.

He looks disappointed as well when he says, "I'm sorry... Just know that it is a past that fills my heart with grief by just thinking about it, I don't have the strength to explain it with words just yet..."

Tsubiri grabs his hand and moves it away from her face. "What are you so afraid of?"

He smiles and shifts his eyes over her shoulder toward Trojia and Daey. "I don't even know, to be perfectly honest with you."

Tsubiri starts laughing and it catches Ubica off guard, she pushes off him and falls in the water. He scrambles to get her out of the water thinking she can't swim but to his surprise she is already swam more than ten feet away and is now floating effortlessly on her back.

"Hey! You can swim!?"

"Hahaha of course I can swim."

Ubica frowns and is walking after her while she back paddles away. "Then why did you?---"

He is sharply interrupted by Tsubiri's laugh. "You're so damn dense Ubica, just think about why I'd fib about it for a moment."

Ubica holds his chin as he ponders, and in his usual oblivious state he comes to the conclusion that she was just teasing him again.

While Ubica was wondering this, he lost track of where he was and walking is now directly over Tsubiri, she grabs his pant leg to keep him from stepping on her and shouts, "Watch where you're going!"

"Ahh sorry about that, I was zoning out."

She huffs air out of her nose and smiles, she's looking up at him with amazed eyes that are large with pleasure at the fact they are seeing something worth remembering.

Throughout her whole life, Tsubiri has never had anyone that she felt she could call a friend, and only until a couple of weeks ago she would say that she'd rather have it that way if someone were to ask her why. That would be an obvious lie however; the truth is, she has always been alone, her parents abandoned her as an 4 year old toddler at the La'Juutian castle gates. In La'Juune, this kind of thing happened often and was shunned upon as a death sentence for the child, the reason being that the castle guards were ordered by the King to send them to be raised in a ruthless labor camp, or just kill them on the spot if the camps were overcrowded.

These labor camps forced men, women, and children of all ages to work unreasonable hours for mere slave wages. There is a branch of government called the Exes, they are in charge of monitoring peoples wealth, debt, and other financial matters. If they find someone they deem fit of being below the poverty line, they will send out Collectors to get them. If one were to be caught by these Collectors, they would be sent away to do whatever amount of time the Exes executives feel that is needed in the camps.

Even when Napoleon's father died and it left him homeless, he had to spend a year running away from them until he was old enough to join the military. Joining the armed forces is the only way to avoid persecution. The problem is that La'Juune very rarely allows women to join its ranks, thus making it very hard for women to escape such a fate, and the children are already doomed no matter what gender if younger than fifteen.

This tactic to send the poor and homeless to do hard manual labor was thought as an ingenious plan to keep the country wealthy and save people from an impoverished life; and for the most part it worked. 'The City of Grandeur' can be called this only because there is literally no poor that resides in its walls.

When Tsubiri was abandoned, one of the guards at the gate thought that she resembled his daughter and felt pity, so instead of handing her over to Exes, he brought her onto the castle grounds and gave her to the head of maintenance who was his close friend.

From then on she was raised to follow orders and would do odd jobs in and around the castle, though she was always working, it wasn't a fraction as bad as the camps, at least at the castle she had a stable diet and a roof over her head at all times.

She grew up as a servant until she was 8 years old, when on the fateful day of the Battle of La'Juune, she happened to stumble upon a panicked Xavier who got separated from his family during the attack. Not knowing that this crying kid was the Prince, she grabbed his hand and took him through a barrage of flaming arrows and led him to the innards of the castle.

At that point in time the castle was already infiltrated by a few Trojan, and Eiyalazonian soldiers who were killing anybody they could get their hands on, so the two of them spent most of their time desperately trying to get away from them and hiding.

By sheer luck they stumbled upon a secret passageway that allowed them to escape from the soldiers, after following the dark tunnels they eventually caught up with a fleeing royal family. As compensation for saving Xavier's life she was given royal status and not too long after was getting trained in a prestigious martial arts school, upon her graduation she was offered the job as the royal body guard of the Prince.

Though this sounds like she has had a blessed life, she hated her upbringing because she never had anyone who truly cared for her except that guard who saved her from an even more miserable existence. But much to her dismay, she found out that the guard had been killed while protecting the castle during the battle, and as a result she had no one. No family and no friends. So she shut herself in and avoided conversations with others unless she was given some kind of order.

That is until she met a certain lad who showed her unconditional kindness when he defied the Prince and lent her his back, this lad who's smile warms her to the core and can somehow make all of her past negativity towards people vanish with the sound of his voice. The lad that she is looking up at is the one person that brought out her true personality and integrated it into her daily life as if she was never hiding it in the first place,

"I can't speak for the others..." she says with a soft smile. "But for me, I would gladly stay by your side forever... No matter what you are Ubica."

Tsubiri smiles and gently back paddles to shore leaving a shocked and somewhat flustered Ubica in her wake.

He puts his hand on his chest and can actually feel something beating. His whole body expression turns happy and excited, that is until the heartbeat quickly stops, and this results in a pained and guilty expression.

He bites his lip and shows a strained smile, "Those words are too kind to be directed at me... I know... That if you knew what I've actually done, you would come to despise me..."

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| Back to [[Dantega:Volume 2 Chapter 3|Chapter 3]]
| Return to [[Dantega|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Dantega:Volume 2 Chapter 5|Chapter 5]]
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Dantega:Volume 1 Illustrations

2013-04-27T20:35:15Z

74.87.29.101:

[[Image:Blaire's Drawing of Tsubiri and Daey.jpg|260px|thumb]]

[[Image:RAGE.jpg|260px|thumb]]

[[Image:Blaire's ANIME Project 06-Nero.jpg|260px|thumb]]

[[Image:Blaire's ANIME Project 12-Daey.jpg|260px|thumb]]

[[Image:Blaire's Drawing of Beelzebub.jpg|260px|thumb]]

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| Return to [[Dantega|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Dantega:Volume1 Prologue|Prologue]]
|-
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