Arc 5: The Stars Against Anarchy
A new dawn was to fall over Walgonia.
For the last few centuries the Sect has reigned underneath Saga, for the last few decades they have risen against the countries to points of almost collapsing them all. Working their way into every network, every crack, every thought. And for the last year they've been increasingly present in Walgonia, in the South, and inside its capital.
"RUUUNN!""
In October, The Witch of Darkness Azalea killed the king, and Arthur took the crown in November. Now, in March, Walgonia has faced a flaming four months. It started with Kioshi and Musashi, then so many Knights in the Capital, then the Capital itself. The unleashed forces hidden around the South took hold, with the help of the Upper Pillars to take the nearby cities and area easier. Leaving so many Knights, Leviathan Soldiers, regular soldiers, and civilians in absolute chaos.
"GET AWAY!"
The rising Sect took the South and started to spread through the West when Gray traveled through. The East was contested by the North and has continued to hold itself with its prepared forces. Which only grew as many retretting soldiers went to the North for safety, and to guard the area from the Sect completely. Leaving the East to slowly chip away, the South to drown, and the West to almost collapse with the South. Its coast was heavily destroyed by Arthur and his anarchists. And with the surrounding cities, towns, and villages getting hit by the wave of anarchists coming from the South, it's almost doomed to fail.
"PLEASE NO!"
And yet, that dawn, that piercing chance still burned bright enough.
Prometheus: "Silence."
However, the dawn was still so far away. As the Upper Pillars have stopped trying to spread their message, to grow and control their people. They'd done that more than take the front lines for months, and now it was time to spread their physical grasp once more by force. Last month the Pillar of Sin Pandora went against a large group of Leviathan soldiers moving from the North to the South for reinforcements that destroyed the surrounding Town. Two weeks ago Severus besieged a large dense city near the Ever-Lagoon, a great Spirit Biome in the North corner of Saga. He took a large wave of anarchists whilst he stood between them all, sending out his enormous set of lengthy scale arms to crash into the towers to collapse them. Go beneath the street to rise and destroy the earth. Or begin slashing at the Knights and Leviathan Soldiers who took the town to leave them with a deep flashing green toxin. Chewing away at their body as an ice cold lair of stone etched over their skin. Then last week the Litch Lazarus burned down hundreds of acres of farm land in East Walgonia between three large cities in the shape of the Sects crest. The bright flames took over the earth, took the hearts of the knights and Leviathan soldiers trying to stop him once and for all, before he silenced them. And gave the hand selected anarchists a chance to test their skills in hopes to find proper candidates for the increasingly opening Lower Pillar spots.
Prometheus: "You're screaming is already useless, as we are already here. We have been for hundreds of years."
And yesterday Prometheus walked into the wide city of Astrea in the North. At the border of the North and South, surrounded with a square wall and filled with Walgonia's knights prepared to guard their collapsing country. There Prometheus walked. Alone under the tall towers dressed as any other woman, before her skin flared with a deep red mana beneath her veins. And as the blood drooled from beneath her body, her hand pierced the body of the screaming knight like it was water. Alive, feeling no pain at all, he stared at the hand soaked in blood right through his chest completely frozen. Before she pulled back, turning him into a pool of blood that splashed across the street to stop the rushing knights.
Prometheus: "FALL TO YOUR KNEES, AND TAKE THE LAND THAT WAS MENT FOR US ALL!"
Her skin turned white, her hair a mix of light, dark, and black blues, while her eyes tattooed over with a purple eye liner like a single burned deep into her soul. Awakening the resting spirit, and the two bite marks deep in her neck.
Prometheus: "PLEASE MY CHILDREN! HEAR MY CRIES!"
He took that blood and killed another. Then another. Another. Another. Avoiding the many rushing civilians, and solely targeting the mass of knights, Leviathan soldiers, and soldiers moving to try and keep their city. Prometheus didn't destroy the city, he didn't kill a mass of civilians, he didn't take a massive army with him. Prometheus fought for a few hours, walking through the city with a mass of blood constantly refining around him. Prometheus's hands were behind their back, humming a tune lost to time he didn't even know the origin of, as the remaining soldiers tried to fight back. Never managing to land a scratch on a being who'd instantly heal from it anyway.
Prometheus: "Please…just stop this madness…"
He made it through the center of the city, and cleared over a few thousand soldiers of all kinds no matter their Marks or Affinities. Eventually Prometheus stopped, and he faded away, leaving a fourth of the army left. As well as a large number who left the city. Leaving Astrea to be met with a building number of anarchists from the nearby towns, villages, and road ways to begin taking it. Walgonia was reaching a boiling point, but it was still holding on with so much more fight left. What should have been a true chance was Athens. A mass of Warriors, Elites, Red Arrows, along with the stand out figures of strength like Toll, Garly, Leo, maybe even Raylice and Lincoln. But a few days ago Mount Yelira was set off by the Sect of Anarchy, by Caesar The Immortal under orders of Arthur Williams.
That large island, holding Their Capital, Cretan, Panzer, the Coliseum City, a handful of towns and villages. So much ore, farmland, a thick set of small and manageable spirit biomes. So much history was all in the plume of ash rising over a land of black stone and magma streams. Nothing more than a graveyard, a tomb, a burning and harsh smelling signal that the Sect should be feared. Will be feared. And will do anything they have to for their message to spread.
"Did we do something wrong?"
Thousands of people had flooded from Athens. Some by boat, but mostly across the Great Bridge. Leaving swarms of refugees to move through the chaotic land for the past few days. The remnants of Athens, leaving to other family or friends. Hope in Ravoria or Valatroctius. Hope somewhere in Walgonia. Because of Beargard forcing all of the Demi-humans out of Athens throughout the years, there was already a mass of Athenians inside of the other countries. But after Lincoln and the Red Arrows helped so many escape on their way out, about a third of the surviving civilians remained to help. The same could be said for the Red Arrows and Warriors who escaped, together as a single group to help Walgonia. Maybe for a new home, maybe for their sins, maybe looking across the ocean at everything they ever knew lit in flames changed something inside of them. But why or how didn't matter to Walgonia, all it needed was this mass of helping hands.
"You didn't even try to come back to us. Why do you hate us!?"
So, on the Coast of Walgonia's West facing the ocean, facing the smoking Athens laid Walgonia's hope. Inside the burnt towers, crumbling homes, old shops all black from Arthur's flames and the Sects attacks now filled to the brim with people. Streets of camps separated throughout the ash blocks, with even more along the beach just resting with their wounds and families. For the last few days they've rested, away from the Great Bridge and Percilies to not draw direct attention from the Sect who were likely to check on Athens. However they needed to leave soon, and with all the carriages and bags ready, all they needed to do was wait for their Pillars of strength to awaken. And for the wave of reinforcements to arrive.
"WHY DID YOU THROW AWAY EVERYTHING WE DID FOR YOU!"
Until then, until he awoke, he felt cold. He heard the screams of his mother, his father, pounding over him as something oozing surrounding his body. When he resisted, he saw flashes of crumbling ashes. Had his ears pierced by the haunting screams of the dead, the people burned to a horrid demise all around him.
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?"
The only thing he could do under the stress was scream. Tear at the thick darkness covering him. And drag himself out of a somber black grave, out into a thick mist covered space. The ground was the Cloak, the walls growing toward them the Cloak. Connected to the soul rising in front of Gray, while he tried to adjust his eyes to the space around him.
Gray: "If you're here to insult me I'm done. Just let me wake up."
Gray looked like he was drunk. Tired, filled with sorrow and rage, wearing the clothes he was summoned in covered in dirt. His voice was soaked in that same sadness, a hatred fighting stronger by the second. What the Sect had done, what he failed to stop again and again. And he just looked at Azalea with a glint of that same hate before she even spoke. She just sat on her large throne of the Cloak and stared down at Gray, holding a face not of happiness. As even she looked tired of it all.
Azalea: "Why do you do what you do? I know what you're thinking, that when you wake up you're gonna try to fix this. You'll cry and scream about how it's impossible, and then you'll still break yourself to do it anyway. And you really do come so close to winning every time. I don't understand why somebody would do this. Musashi and those Helsings, Walgonia and every other country in Saga were just walking orders. Institutional suffering is masked as Governments with laws and beliefs so similar it hardly matters to name them."
Gray: "I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU SAY! YOU WON'T TAKE MY BODY AND I WON'T JOIN THE SECT!"
He didn't really know why he was screaming. He just knew he had to, and the Witch of Darkness was the perfect vessel. Spitting back vile that she screamed at him over and over again.
Gray: "AFTER WHAT THEY DID!? NO NO NO!"
He walked through the Cloak, grabbed his head while shaking in desperation, and just cried into the darkness of their OD.
Gray: "CEASAR, ARTHUR, UPPER OR LOWER PILLAR I DON'T CARE! THEY KILLED OPHELIA AND MUSASHI, KIOSHI, ALL OF FUCKING ATHENS! I DON'T CARE I DON'T CARE! I DON'T WANT ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE SECT, I NEVER WANT TO SEE THEM AGAIN! I WON'T LET THEM HURT US! I WON'T LET YOU WIN! NEVER NEVER NEVER DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME!? DO YOU UNDERSTAND!?"
The Cloak instantly surged from around Gray, before it snapped around his throat. Lifting him into the air with all his limbs completely binded, and he didn't resist. He shook and screamed and gritted his teeth but that wasn't an attempt to free himself. They were just the results of his bleeding despair.
Azalea: "...I never cared for the Sects ideals, truly. I am what I am and I loved it. But…I can feel your pain. It's like posing, and I need you to just stop! Please! You're already holding me prisoner! I'm watching as you kill my family, listening to your rants while you spill their blood! I AM THE WITCH OF DARKNESS! I WILL NOT BE HELD DOWN BY SOME BOY WHO CAN'T MAKE UP HIS MIND ON ANYTHING! WHO DOESN'T EVEN KNOW WHO HE IS!"
Gray: "YOU WOULDN'T BE HERE WITHOUT THE SECT! ARTHUR GOT YOU KILLED DAMMIT! THEY ABANDONED YOU, HE TRICKED YOU! ALL I'VE DONE IS TRY TO SURVIVE AND YOUR FAMILY KEEPS DESTROYING MINE! BUT NEVER AGAIN! I CAN'T LOSE, WE WON'T!"
Azalea's eyes lit with dismay, repulsed by his words. And unable to shake her own rage to the Sect, for leaving her fate in such disarray. So holding her quivering lips, she swung her arm to swing the Cloak. Launching Gray far into the darkness to be overcome by mist.
Gray {...We can't lose, if we do, we can never come back -
He resisted for a moment. He could never shake the internal panic from being launched like that, especially with all the wind resistance. Until he simply couldn't see, couldn't scream out in fear anymore. He fell down and down. Far back into the abyss, before he flung up into reality. Screaming out from under the covers to find himself in a wide large tan stone room. A higher floor of one of the only Towers left partly untouched in the area.
Gray: "ROSEMARY!?"
Without thought he screamed her name. Dotting his eyes around to find other beds like the one he was laying in. To his left was an unconscious and heavily bandaged Rosemary, to his right a similarly bandaged Soku, and on the other side of Rosemary laid Edward. All tucked under light blue blankets on random beds they could find. Right after, Gray looked to his own slightly bandaged hands. Filled with memories of the hell he just lived through once he gripped his fist tight.
Gray {I don't feel sore, I guess I didn't break myself as hard as I usually did, but if I'm not even hurt how long has it been!? How much has happened while we've been out!?}
He wore a random black short sleeved shirt, black pants, and a mix of Elixir covered bandages to assist his already incredible healing factor. And after feeling his face, he finally noticed the people silently staring at him directly ahead.
Jong: "Dude!"
Gray: "Dude!"
Lincoln: "Ugh, not two loud ones."
To the tall and heavily armored old Captain of Walgonia, Jong Long. Accompanied by Lincoln, now dressed in a dense set of Red Arrow armor. Along with the Red Arrow flag over the left side of his face instead of bandages. A new look, matched with his old and full gourd of whiskey he's been sipping at all morning. And beside them in their circle was a muscular Leviathan soldier in thicker gear than usual. A woman Gray had yet to meet, with dark skin and bleached hair in neat, straight-back cornrows and a confident smile to match Jong's great wide one. All while Lincoln took another sip.
Gray: "Is everybody okay!? Leo, Julius where are they -
Before Gray could break down Jong stepped up with his loud wrinkled smile and patted his trembling chest a few quick, kinda painful times.
Jong: "Leo's recoverin and Julius always around, but I think he's somewhere in the building standing. I'm here because I split with my group to help all the people showing up when Athens just blew up! It was crazy! Never seen nothin like it!"
Dershia: "Names Dershia, and you all are quite popular."
Jong: "Yeah I've heard about all the stuff you guys did! That Athens stuff is crazy!"
Dershia: "You got bounties on yah by the King himself, hah, and didn't you guys do the Knight Exam? I was on a mission near the East at the time so I missed out on it, guess I lucked out in the end though."
Jong: " So Gordon sent yah in but did you learn anything in particular? Any stories? What happened with the Sect!? You fought that guy right!?"
Dershia: "What were their powers? Did you snag anything? What are your powers?"
They began to overwhelm the already disoriented Gray almost instantly with questions and statements, leaving Lincoln to separate them before staring Gray down. Putting an immense weight over Gray in an instant. Even if he'd never met Lincoln, he knew exactly who he was just by staring into his eyes. His presence was so overwhelming Gray had to look away right after, into his crossed and trembling legs.
Lincoln: "It's alright. Your friends suffered heavy wounds but you all seem to be inhuman when it comes to healing. A Helsing, an Elf, a Goldenwind, and some corrupted kid. Oh and that Valatroctius brat with the monocule. You all are a pretty dense team, with wills like iron. Edward killed Moro, that Elf killed his second in command, the Goldenwind girl took down that other Goldenwind, and I heard Leo managed to finally kill that bastard Raylice. We lost Athens, but don't go thinking you lost the war. As far as I care the Red Arrows won before the Sect destroyed Athens, so don't look all depressed. Now all you gotta do is fight the Sect."
Gray: "Easier said than done…I don't even know where to start."
Jong: "Don't act like it's up to you to even think about it man! Don't take it in a mean way but you're not even officially a Leviathan soldier, or really a Knight. And in terms of power we've got it. Musashi and Kioshi were Gods of War, but Walgonia isn't weak. You guys are strong but you're still growing, we have Leviathan soldiers stronger and more experienced out in Walgonia fighting right now. It isn't just us!"
Dershia: "The old man's right. I'm with a large group of Leviathan soldiers going to Godrick Mountain, and we're moving to group up all over. We've got our top Leviathans coming together for the first time in a while, a few are supposed to arrive any moment now. We're planning on leaving soon for Greenvale, so you'll have time to breathe safely until we act."
Gray absolutely hated feeling weak, but it felt great to be reassured so many people were fighting. And that people stronger than Gray's team were doing all they could to stop the Sect just as hard as he is. And have been for even longer. But that also made things seem so much harder. Because if they've only suffered great losses, they're only gonna get weaker and weaker until the Sect can finally take Walgonia without any struggle.
Gray: "Thanks."
And then he looked out of one of the many long rectangular windows in the wide room, to the large cloud of black ash out over the ocean in the distance. There his mind sank with sorrow, before his mind clicked with a memory. He darted toward his bags by the end of his bed to scrummage, doing so with such desperation that Jong and Dershia seemed hesitant to step forward. Until Gray swung his hand out of his bag, holding the golden Sect communicator tightly in his hand.
Gray: "Ceasar used this to ignite Mount Yelira. I don't know if it's different from the last one I saw but another Lower Pillar I met had one of these. It was able to connect to the other ones nearby to speak through, it might be capable of even more, or at least give us an edge."
Jong: "Great! Keep hold of that till you see Ryo, other than one of Valor's Scholars or Valor himself he's the best guy to break down things like that. And we're going to see him at Greenvale! Lucky huh?"
Gray: "Yeah, but I know Ryo and I live in Greenvale so it's fine anyway."
Jong: "...Oh. Well then let's get ready! You rest up and wait till your friends get up, we'll be out by mid-day my man! Ima go help, but really, just breathe. It's okay to want a break kid."
Dershia smiled to try and warm Gray. It was until Jong tried to do a small dance and hurt his incredibly old back in the process that he smiled, trying his best to stand with them. However they left before he finally did, so he stayed silent. Even in his mind. And walked toward a quivering Rosemary, struggling with the pain even in her sleep.
Gray: "I'm so sorry."
He sat on the bench beside her bed, held the heavy cast on her right arm, and repeated himself.
Gray: "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."
He held a little tighter, his voice choked.
Gray: "I'm so so sorry I led you into all of this, if I never came to this world It would all be different. You and Soku would still be with Ophelia, safe in her house. Maybe Musashi could have found you guys anyway or something! You would have made a better life, a safer life, away from all of this pain. Now you're broken again, because of me…I'm sorry I'm sorry I swear I swear -
Before he finally broke into tears that damped her bandages.
Gray: "I swear if I could I'd undo it all, I'd give up my mana, I'd go back home I'd let you..I'd let you find somebody who can live the right way. Who didn't kill everybody you loved."
He wasn't even eighteen yet. He never got his license, he never graduated. He never really said goodbye. He was a boy frozen in time, and yet with how much he's changed. The body that's grown more muscular, the hair that's grown longer, the small scars slowly accumulating, it didn't matter. He'd rise and fall and rise and fall and it never seemed to end. The Road to a Hero seemed endless. And he'd cry his way through it, he'd break himself, he'd lose so many.
Gray: "I'll fight for you, for you all, and maybe then you'll be safe."
Soku: "Are you cryin?"
Gray: "EEEEK!"
Gray lept with his scream until Soku took his hand. She was wearing a long white short and her old thick brown pants. Along with loads of bandages over the mana stitches she was given for the many cuts across her. All stinging with each breath. But still she reached to hold him, and he immediately calmed back down to stare at Rosemary. Where he wiped his tears and looked back at Edward -
Gray: "Woah! He got way skinnier!"
Gray seemed to jump right back into his loud tone while Soku struggled to make quips in her state, but she couldn't help herself with the sight in front of her. Edward, still incredibly muscular, just far leaner in his bandaged state.
Soku: "He dropped all his fat! I knew Helsings healed fast but I didn't know it took this much out of them, guess it's because he's now awakened right?"
Gray: "I don't really know much about that. Why are the Helsings a thing in the first place? Unique mana trait like Rosemary? A different race like you or Peter?"
Soku: "Nobody really knows, at least nobody alive that I know about. They just showed up when Walgonia was founded, but they started dying off before I was born. Most of them were dead when I figured out what a Helsing event was, then it was just down to Musashi, Kioshi, and Edward. Now it's just him."
They stared down at the silent Edward. Who seemed angry even in his sleep.
Gray: "I think I got it rough and then I look to guys like him, you, Rosemary. You all make it really hard to complain y'know."
Soku: "Glad to - ow, now I'm saved from, oww!, even more complaining then you already - OW!. Man this stings! You've got defense magic right? Can't you - ow! Use a healing spell or something?"
She sat beside Rosemary before looking out the window beside her bed. Watching in awe as hundreds roamed around the destroyed streets below, gathering their things in the many carriages and Carriage Lizards with them. She couldn't see the many waves of people who had already left, for either some large camps or savezones nearby. Or to go toward Godrick Mountain, for the coming attack for the country.
Gray: "I only know Cenic, or I guess I know Satic but that's banned. Either or you gotta sit, don't bust whatever those glowing stitches are."
Soku: "I'm fine! I can't believe I beat that shark guy though! He was crazy strong, he made this giant water shark! But I cut that dude in half! I hated that part but other than that it was awesome! I actually beat him! And I didn't lose an arm or somethin!"
Gray sat down on Rosemary's bed to stare out the window with Soku while he could rub Rosemary's hand, trying his best to just breathe.
Gray: "Well I'm happy for you. I…I killed somebody to if it makes you feel a little better -
Soku: "That's a terrible sentence."
Until he couldn't breathe, and let out a heavy exhale. Of all the anger he held for what he did, all while Soku just felt a little sick.
Gray: "I'm not happy about it either okay! I hate killing. I hate it! But, it was Caesar. The guy who triggered it."
Soku: "Ceasar did that!?"
Their loud and constant talking caused Edward to grumble, finally lifting awake. He rubbed his eye like nothing had changed, and just looked around in pure disillusion. A harsh daze, like it wasn't real at all. Until he saw Gray and Soku rushing to him.
Edward: "Did we survive?"
Gray: "Hell yeah we did! You killed Moro dude! The Gravestone pirates are gone!"
Without a word Edward almost threw up, without any idea of how to react. He was happy, but he didn't feel joy. He was unable to accept it, and yet that's the only thing he wanted to do. He remembered everything, that he killed Moro with his own blade, and yet he still felt fear Moro was waiting for him. And then he saw a mirror beside his bed, which broke that dream. And made him remember just who he was, and what this world was.
Edward: "I didn't awaken? Even from that? I…I achieved the Dragons first though! I stopped Moro, I stopped the Pirates!? WHY!? WHY DIDN'T I AWAKE!? WHERE'S MY WHITE HAIR!?"
It felt like the Warriors Spirit had erupted, but it was solely Edward's own rage. Angry that hit and shattered the stone wall beside him, that ripped away the heavy bandages over harsh new slash scars from Moro. Then when Gray and Soku went to reach out he just smacked their hands away, left to scream at the ground. Until he just laughed. Laughed and laughed like he did against Moro, while tears fell out of his only working eye.
Edward: "I guess this is my destiny."
Gray: "Dude are you good?"
Edward: "I'm fine. I think…I think I just realized how nothing is ever gonna make sense. Play out the way you think. It's always gonna pull you along until you're already finished and you haven't even realized it."
Rosemary: "It took you that long to realize the world sucked?"
Edward just smiled, but Gray ran toward her to cause more pain with an awkward hug than her injuries were. Still she felt better because of it, before it did hurt too much and she pushed him away with his comically sad face staring her down. Which she waved away with flaps of her hand while speaking to the others with a smile like nothing was wrong at all.
Rosemary: "I have information from Calgary. Where's Leo, Peter, Dema? What's going on and what do we do to help?"
Gray was surprised by her quick shift to the mission, but he didn't waver. However before he could speak Soku made sure he added in a few more details.
Soku: "I know one thing. It was Caesar that caused this. He slipped under our nose…does that mean it was our fault?"
The room went silent. Gray felt that way the moment Caesar pressed that button, but the sudden news for the others had them frozen. Edward pushed forward, stern and trying his best to regain his composer. To do so he forced himself to speak first, and fall in line with who he thinks he needs to be in this time of hardship. They all did it, and it was the only reason they could survive, even with everything boiling under the surface.
Edward: "Even if it was, we can't stop Mount Yelira now. We can only act."
Gray didn't feel any better about his words, but it was enough to push him forward. So he spoke while they gathered their things of all he knew. And Walgonia moved around them. Over the next hour a few more mages checked up on them with harsh healing, even more of the refugees left, and the Leviathan reinforcements were nowhere to be found. It just gave Gray and the others the time to get ready, and move to the top of the tower with Lincoln. He stared out while the last of the Warriors and Red Arrows gathered their things to move out to Godrick mountain. While half of the large group of Walgonian Knights, and a handful of the Leviathan soldiers remained to await the other Leviathan soldiers. He did this while never turning around as Edward, Rosemary, and Gray walked beside him. As he was too busy drinking out of his gourd.
Soku: "Peter?"
Soku was lower inside the Tower in a small closed off room filled with medical equipment. It has the same light grey tiled floors and tan walls as the rest of the building, curtains to cover the patient, and two chairs inside. Where Peter sat half asleep in front of a tarp of popper paper and powder.
Soku: "Oh, -
Then she saw Leo. After fighting so hard for so long, in four years of terrible conditions, and all the damage Raylice did to him had left him completely comatose. Covered almost head to toe in thick black bandages deeply coated in herbs and Elixirs, doing all they could do ease any pain, heal him, and feed him with nutrients after the intense healing sessions. He laid, and just sunk in and out with his breath. His broken bones were healing, the large gash on his chest was healing, but there he laid. And Peter had been watching over almost the entire time they've been here, if he wasn't checking up on the others or trying to help somebody at least.
So she sat with them both, to sit with any bit of peace they had. But Gray couldn't stop, he wouldn't. Edward was filled with such an intense rage, but also such a large hole he didn't know what to do with. And it just piled up and up with everything he's been holding, away from just anger, and now to just despair. Because he can't kill Moro again, he can't get revenge again, but then when he looked out at the world he didn't see a single difference. He didn't feel his mother, or Bjorn at all. And with them, right beside Gray and ahead of Edward, was Rosemary. She kept a more gentle face compared to the others, kept a more composed stance, even wore her regular clothes while Gray forced out the Cloak and Edward dawned his Dragon stone armor. Yet under her eyes, under her words was so much more confusion than the others that even Lincoln could feel her soul shutter without a look.
Lincoln: "You shoulda left when you woke up, every second we wait it feels like something's gonna happen. And in your state -
Gray: "In our state we have hands, and we can still use them. There's still people here in worse states than us, without any abilities, so how could we leave?"
Lincoln: "Good point, but I don't care about that. You all are useful, together you're better than these Head Levithans I keep hearin about. I've seen and heard you all, and that's been way more than whatever those others are. Power, being blessed, it doesn't change how you act when you've got nothin."
Gray had on his jacket, without any armor but the Cloak he was holding onto in the cold winds. Blowing deep into the high bright sky clear of clouds. A town collapsed over itself, so many streets filled with ash, and yet it had still protected its people and even more people who needed it. Walgonia was standing, and they could see it over the horizon of green grass that connected to the rest of their home. But staring back through a tower scorched black by Arthur's flames at the edge of the town was the chaos infecting all of Saga. Inside a large meeting room filled with rubble and the remnants of expensive couches, paintings, tables. Things they stepped over without a care to sit in the ash and stare over land they've already ravaged.
Donte: "I know he's here, but something even stronger is too. Lincoln may be even harder to defeat than Kioshi, since he's not one to hold the fight back. We'd need the Masters -"
"Nothing is greater than my children, and they're awaiting my grasp. Lincoln isn't the target, and our masters have prepared. I'm not prepared to die either so don't expect this to be suicide. The loss of your siblings has cost us four lower Pillars, and it seems Caesar was lost with Athens, making that five."
Donte sat crouched into his knees. His body had grown far skinnier, his face almost skeletal with his weight loss. But his face was already noticeable, with the few scars, tighter eyes, crooked nose, and scar going from that nose over his right eye slightly hidden under his longer, messier straight black hair. Yet the words of the other Lower Pillar caused him to stand with an intense rage, taking hold of his iron spear before the Lower Pillar bashed him away.
"We are both Lower Pillars, but I am a far higher rank than you. Even if they are stronger than you and they're new recruits."
Donte: "Dammit Yoru they're stronger than you! Somebody who tried to fight Kioshi, and then one of the Legends!? But even they will fall if Lincoln strikes!"
She was shorter than Donte with a longer, oversized Sect coat. With a hood over her white mask, shaped like a plague doctor of her home and given a carved Sect crest. Over sixty, she was old, but spoke like an actor. Speaking past them all, but now she just stared back with the slim black eyes of her mask. Behind them was the incredibly large, tall, and stern Togi. The iron welded, bolted to her body was improved by a denser black iron possessing the Sects crest. Along with a white upper mask to go over her thick iron jaw and a new Cloak to submit her official status as a Lower Pillar of Anarchy. Yet, stronger than the room combined stood a frozen figure facing away from them all while playing her shamisen.
A half-elf who leaked power almost as bright as Musashi's without moving an inch. Dressed in a long silky black robe with a bloody flower pattern of Oni-mas, with pale white skin slightly darker than Azalea's vampiric state, and long sleek black hair kept in place by red pins. By her side lay a Great Blade of Oni-mas given to her by the Kami himself, an Aikuchi katana with the same bloody flower pattern.
Togi: "Are you even a part of the Sect, uh, Legend? You don't seem to be involved here."
Shioreta: "My name is Shioreta, and I told you when I first proposed to help you. When I heard Zhao joined I joined alongside to find him. Now that you and Donte say he's fled, I will help you here as I've promised before my search can continue. I understand and applaud your efforts, but I am loyal to Kami and solely him. Without Musashi, he is the World's Greatest Swordsmen once again."
Yoru: "That's no matter. All we need is for you to handle The Dragon of Athens, we will kill the herd."
Donte: "As for the others? Is it really just us against the what, two or three, maybe four hundred people down there? If those were Knights then maybe, but even with a Legend Lincoln is too far above us."
Yoru pushed past them all to open the door to a few Potential Pillars ready to be unleashed. Awaiting Yoru's command, one that fell upon them all while she unleashed a surge of her corrupted mana. She connected to the minds roaming in trees and tall grass around the town, and her voice fell on the three Potential Pillars she faced.
Yoru: "Go, go my children, all of you."
The anarchist Marker and Conna, far more disheveled since they last say Gray, and a large Demi-human who only responds to the name Titan. Wearing a large tight black leather coat with a tall collar over his stern head, pale white skin, and pitch black eyes. They cracked towards his forehead and his cheeks, along with three black marks on his lips like a skeleton. Resembling Gray's own mask, a mask that unknowingly resembled a Titan Spirit Beast.
Marker: "The Phantom Knight's head is gonna be on a pike. There's nothing in the world he can do this time!"
Conna: "Shut up and move!"
And they did. Gray, Rosemary, Edward, and Lincoln watched in a mix of horror, anger, and a hard feeling that it was all expected already.
Lincoln: "Told you -
Before any of them moved Lincoln vanished, causing the edge of the tower to break in as he vanished through the sky. Facing out at the edge of the town came Yoru's children. Not the Lower Pillars, the anarchists, instead it was the roaring and raging Spirit Beasts of the nearby Biomes. From the Mid-tier Spirit Bat, Ogre, or A Large four armed, two headed bear with glowing spiritual claws known as a Multi-Bear. Or even the High Tier Regile, all infected by an oozing purple and pink infection deep across their bodies. Into their glowing, burning veins. Yours touch, and that control spread those beast and even more across the edges of the city to mindlessly crumble the remaining roads.
Lincoln: "REALLY!?"
Lincoln was mid-air as he felt a familiar, dangerous aura. Shioreta, flying through the air toward him with a smile, before sliding across a barely standing burnt tower to throw all her momentum into a flashdraw slash. Unsheathing and sheathing in a second while unleashing as much power as she could. It wasn't a massive attack that shook the world, even the city, but it split everything in its path. The air, the spirit mana, the spirits, even grazed Lincoln's shoulder with a deep cut, as an incredible slash struck the large central Tower they were all resting at. Standing on, sitting inside, left to her might.
Gray: "What was that!?"
The building screamed until it slid onto its side, as the top half of the tower had been sliced all the way up its side. Gray roared with fear, Edward lost himself to thought, and Rosemary pushed out the second stage with a wave of intense pain alongside it. They quickly rushed forward to the edge, leaping without any idea of where they were going. Yet, inside the building Soku and a squealing Peter looked up at the new sun staring them down through the broken Tower. The large number of soldiers still left rushed to evacuate, but the rampaging Spirit Beast and the multiple Pillars rushing to anybody they saw would make that quite difficult.
Yoru: "Oh Prometheus, I know you'd congratulate me on the beautiful canvas I've painted."
The knights, Red Arrows, Warriors all took their blades, staffs, bows, spears, wands, armor and anything else they could carry. Onto dire wolves and carriage lizards, on wagons or on their back, while they prepared to fight through anything. All thrown into the chaos instantly, as it never really stopped. Gray, Edward, Rosemary, and Soku were right back into the fray weaker than ever. Lincoln may get contested by such a strong opponent, and with the thick supply of Pillars, every life in the destroyed coast may be at an end aside from the Strongest Man in the World. While the smoking Athens watched over. The hope, the dawn of Walgonia that it was fighting so hard for was on the brink before even a shed of light shed over. But in the darkness, the stars would shine the brightest.
Gray: "MOVE FORWARD! TO VICTORY!"
They feel into the collapsing Tower, off into the same hell over and over again. And Yoru just stared on from a far off rooftop controlling her beast, smiling as the screams began to pour out.
Yoru: "Move forward, to victory my children!"