The Aura situation dealt with, the pair of us make our way back to the Guild so I can prove I'm capable of more than just showing off. That said...
"I made kind of a big deal about going after you." I admit. "So, if it's alright with you, I might need to do a little bit of posturing."
"Posturing?"
"Y'know, showing off."
"I know what posturing means, Darius, I am simply surprised you feel the need to do so."
"You weren't there for my big speech. I bigged myself up something fierce, and now I need to keep up the momentum. It's basic game theory."
"It seems to me you are simply using impressive terms without knowing their meaning, but I suppose I understand."
"Good." I say, realizing we've finally arrived. "Now then, if you'll excuse me." I swing the doors open, and feel the harsh gazes of everyone inside. "No need to thank or congratulate me, it was a matter of course that I'd get our girl back." As everyone continues staring, I look back at the empty doorway. "Aura, this is the part where you come in."
"Why do I constantly agree to waste my time on your foolishness?" She mutters as she makes her less-than-grand appearance, though judging by the cheers, she's popular enough to get away with it.
"Aura!" Emerald is the only person to dare approach her, and pulls the knight into a hug. "I knew this idiot wouldn't drive you off forever!"
"This idiot brought her back."
"Emerald, I appreciate that you were worried, but would you please respect my personal space?" Aura begs, her face turning an unattractive shade of purple.
"Watch out, she might run away again if you let her go." I joke. Emerald doesn't find it funny.
"So how'd you convince her to stay? Threaten her?"
"You wound me. I appealed to her sense of duty. It's the only thing she cares about."
"He was so upset at the possibility of my leaving, he didn't even realise that the woman he was pouring his heart out to was me." Aura snipes back. "I believe he finally noticed right before the tears began to fall."
"Like I would ever cry over you! Are knights even allowed to lie? Maybe I should've just let you leave after all!"
"Yo, I don't mean to interrupt." Emily pokes her head out from behind the crowd that's started to form around me and Aura. "But I sort of need to talk to you. Everyone said you'd be here."
"What's up, Emily?" I ask. "Want to join the party? Are you sure becoming an adventurer isn't gonna be too big of a workload?" Over the last few weeks, I've learned that Emily works not only in the book store, but also the tavern, the bank, the pawn shop, and on Kohvyll and Sohvdyll, she helps out at the market stall owned by Graham (with a beard), not to be confused with Bald Graham or Graham Jr, who is Graham (with a beard)'s eldest son, who normally helps out with the market stall, but is out of town on the days Emily does so.
"Nah, I've got enough on my plate. Doesn't mean I'm not apparently the town courier now, since some dude with stupid hair sent me to come get you for him."
"Stupid hair?" Already pretty sure who she's talking about, I ask anyway. "Did he give a name?"
"If he did, I would've told you, dude. He said 'that Unique bastard should already know who I am with absolute certainty' and sent me off."
Well, that settles it. With a sigh, I ask, "So, where does he want to meet?"
"'Where it all began.' Dude was cryptic as shit." Emily shrugs "He also insisted you come alone, if that matters."
Honestly, that's probably for the best. Any time he shows up when I'm with somebody, he takes a hostage anyway. If I were him, I'd insist I came with one person who couldn't defend themselves, since that's the only chance he has at beating me at this point.
***
Part of me wanted to head back to Inesrov, just to piss him off, but I figure if I'm late, he'll start terrorising the townsfolk. Okay, realistically, he'll start being a minor nuisance towards the townsfolk, but either way, I'd end up getting blamed for it, so I make my way to the towns food storage shacks. As expected, Max is stood waiting for me, but, as luck would have it, he hasn't noticed me yet. Well, now's as good a time to prove my superiority towards him for the third time, especially since I spent the time waiting for Sara's recovering learning a couple new spells, branching out of the elemental school to see how they mixed.
"Light borne on winds of entropy. Chaos forged within the stars. A union of destruction and salvation that shall tear the very world asunder and remake it in an instant; take heed, o cursed light, o blessed chaos, the fabric of reality itself is yours and mine to command! Luminous Discord!"
A flash of light erupts from my outstretched palms with enough force to knock me backwards and flies towards Max, who turns to little too late and is engulfed in the glow, black energy crackles around the ball of light that grows to swallow his form whole, before the entire thing explodes with him inside, sending shockwaves out that shake the buildings that surround him.
Well, no kill like overkill, I guess. That aught to discourage him from messing with me any more, if he's even still alive.
At least, that's what I think right up until the impossible happens. "Is that all you've got, Unique?" Max taunts me, the air around him still glowing with residual energy, which dissipates to reveal an utterly revolting sight. The arm that Max had outstretched in what I had thought to be a vain attempt to block the attack has been transformed into that of a wild beast. It's disproportionate to the rest of his body, and I'm pretty sure if he just let it hang it'd drag on the floor. Even worse, it's covered in scales and each of it's three fingers ends in a long claw. "Man, Vaxyll wasn't kidding. If I hadn't let him upgrade me, that attack would've killed me for sure."
"So what, you've given up on being a Daylighter just so you stand a chance against me?" I growl, he's seriously pissed me off now. "I beat you twice and suddenly I'm worth reducing yourself to this?"
"Reducing? You still don't get it do you? I'm better now. More than human. Stronger than even a Unique could ever hope to be. I'm improving. And if I kill you, Lord Vaxyll will continue to improve me until I'm one of them!"
"That's... you're an idiot!" I shout back. "Why is beating me so damn important to you!?"
"It's a matter of pride! You've shown me up time and time again, and for what? Just to prove how much better you are than me? Just to make me feel like garbage? Well I've had enough! I will destroy you, Darius Crowley!"
I get a distinct feeling Max and I have a history I'm not aware of, but there's not much time to ponder that now he's rushing at me, is there? He swipes at me with that disgusting right hand, but it's so slow and cumbersome that I have ample time to dodge, something I'm finding to be a rarity.
"Entropy that burns away at all that is unfortunate to meet it, a miasma of burning chaos, engulfing all that-" Halfway through my chant, Max swings again, cutting me off. "Damn it, fight fair! Engulfing all that lives, all that has lived, all that will-" he swings again, catching and tearing the chest of my robes, but I can't stop now. "-all that will live, all that can never be permitted to live; Burning Pandemonium!"
There's no fire, just an instantaneous heat that burns away the very oxygen in the air. I cough and splutter, and hear Max do the same as the fight now turns into a contest to see who can take in the last faint trace of breathable air. Max pushes me away, his claws digging into my chest before the two of us fall the the floor, gasping for the air that has finally filled the void left by my spell. Damn it, why do fire fusions always end up screwing me over just as much as my opponent!?
"What the fuck is wrong with you!?" Max shouts with ragged breaths, his voice still wheezy. "You talk shit about me going too far, then you try to kill us both?"
"In my defence," I begin, but damn it hurts to breathe. "You knew what you were getting into with that... that thing on your arm."
"So you're testing your spells on me, is that it, asshole!?" Max grabs me with his human arm and lifts me into the air. I never actually noticed how tall he was, or maybe that's another 'improvement' Vaxyll made on this guy. "I'm just some worthless bandit who you can use as practice without any remorse?" With strength that I'd expect from his other arm, he flings me across the loading area, and I feel my arm break as I hit the floor. Shit... this is bad, right? Can a mysterious princess please come to my rescue again? I try to push off the ground, but it's completely useless, I'm a mage with no upper-body strength to speak of using my non-dominant arm, and I just end up flipping myself onto my back.
"Darkness-" I try to start chanting another spell, but I cough up blood almost as soon as I start speaking. It's do or die here, so I push on through the pain. -a primordial chaos." a wave of nausea hits me as the pain starts to sink in. "-A force beyond-" I hear Max' heavy footfalls as he approaches me to make the killing blow. -man's comprehension." I try to focus my mind on counting the stars in the sky to keep myself from losing consciousness. "The end of all." One, two, three. "Rend soul from body..." I realise it's pointless, I just have to finish casting before he reaches me, then maybe I can at least take him with me. "Black Ephemera."
The spell barely makes it a few inches from my hand before it fizzles out. Having completely given up on any chance of winning, even my magic has forsaken me.
"Y'know, I don't think I'll be satisfied with just killing you." Max taunts as his face enters my vision, looming down on me with a maniacal smirk, his hair falling from his face to reveal that his right eye has also been changed to a more reptillian appearance. "Those friends of yours... they're cute, I'll give you that, but if they've allied themselves with you, that makes them my enemies. Hey, help me pick. The Green haired chick, or the redhead? Which should I kill first? Or maybe that snivelling healer, or the crossdressing knight? How about that busybody who I sent to fetch you, or one of those freaks from the item shop? I'll let you pick, out of respect to the dead."
"At least I got one thing right... it was a mistake for you to separate us." I say, finally mustering the power to get to my feet. "Because they're not around, I can say whatever I want without worrying about how they'll see me afterwards."
"Huh? You gone mad from the pain or something? C'mon, just pick already."
"Because I really, really wouldn't want any of them to overhear me when I say this." I stare into Max's good eye, and it betrays his calm attitude and is wide from the shock of seeing me stand up. "You won't... I won't ever let you lay a hand on my friends, you son of a bitch! Pitch Black Ephemera!"
Silence. Not from willing lack of sound, but the inability for anything to make sound. The orb of black energy that fizzled out a moment ago reappears, only for a second, before imploding, sucking away all the sound that could have been made. Max instinctively tries to reach out to me, but the force drawing him in is too strong. I should just let it take him. No value would be gone from the world in his absence. He brings only suffering wherever he goes. He likes to consider himself my rival, but until now, it was barely even worth my time to remember his name.
And yet...
And yet, I find myself reaching out and grabbing his outstretched hand. That ugly thing that shows that , no matter who he used to be, no matter if there was some long-lost connection between us in the past, he'd fallen so far as to willingly give up his humanity for the sake of power, I grab it, and plant my feet so that I don't get dragged in with him.
"Tch, you idiot." Max snaps through gritted teeth. "You think I want to be saved by somebody like you?" He digs his claws into my wrist, and I let go instinctively, the force twisting him around so that his lizard arm swings straight into the singularity...
And just before it makes contact, the spell collapses in on itself, releasing a shock wave that sends both of us flying.
***
"Aha! I have found you, vile bandit!"
"What? No fair, you always get to play the adventurer!"
"But you like playing the bandit."
"No I don't! I want to be the good guy for once! Please?"
"Really? Okay... but just this once!"
"Yay! Okay, uh... I've finally tracked you down! You're the one who's been stealing... uh... you've been stealing everyone's undies!"
"What? That's gross! Why would anyone want to steal people's pants?"
"That's what I want to know, you... dirty panty thief!"
"Max! Don't call me that!"
"Darius the panty thief! Darius the panty thief!"
***
"Claire, are you sure you can do this?" I hear a familiar voice cut through the murky depths of unconsciousness. I feel like I was on the verge of realising something, but whatever dream I might have had fades away as soon as I wake up. "He's lost so much blood..."
"Truly, the simple fact he still lives is a testament to how hardy our leader truly is."
"Please, let me focus. Right now, I'm not sure if he's waking up or slipping away."
I want to speak, to tell them I'm okay, but my body won't respond.
"Dude's tough. He'll be okay."
"You've only spoken to him once!"
"I've seen him around town a few times. Enough to get a decent sense for that sort of thing."
"I must agree with Young Miss Claire, perhaps if all of you would quieten down, our young hero may stand a better chance of awakening on this side of the Eternal Dawn?"
"Seconded." I mutter, and everyone goes quiet, before I feel myself being lifted up and pressed between two lumps of metal and constricted by a family of pythons. Opening my eyes reveals that Aura and Emerald are hugging me for some reason. While Aura's wearing full armour, I quickly realize that the second lump of metal must be Emerald's abs.
"I didn't survive my fight with Max just to get crushed between team freakishly strong, thanks."
"Shut up." Emerald mutters, before, just barely loud enough for me to hear, adding "We're glad your okay."
"Well I'm not gonna be okay for long if you two don't...let...go!"
That seems enough to convince them, as they let me fall back to the floor. I look around and see that the whole town came to make sure I pulled through. Seriously, didn't they all hate me like half an hour ago? What's with that? Is the whole town bipolar or something?
"Dad found you dying on the floor." Callie tells me rather unceremoniously. "He went to find Claire, and she told the rest of your party. All of a sudden, the whole town's freaking out that you'd sacrificed yourself for us."
"That's ridiculous."
"That's what I thought, but Dad also overheard you yelling 'you won't lay a hand on my friends!'"
I look over to Vhe, who sticks his tongue out like a little kid. Why do I get the feeling he was listening in the whole time?
"I totally didn't believe him, by the way." Callie finishes, still completely deadpan.
"But we did." Claire adds, tears welling up in her already red eyes. "We all know that, no matter how much you hide it, you really care about-"
I pretend to vomit, which shuts Claire up real quick. "Don't get all mushy on my just because I almost died. Kind of makes me wish you got here a little slower."
"Oh, why are you always like this!?" Claire pouts. "Any nice moments between us and you have to go and ruin it!"
"I believe we must simply accept that Darius shall never be one for, as he puts it, 'mushy stuff'" Aura says with a sigh.
"Hey, Marie?" I turn to the clerk, partly just to avoid whatever's happening with my party. "Don't suppose you could retroactively consider dealing with Max as a quest?"
"Only because you're dying." Marie says, with an uncharacteristically gentle smile on her face. "And just this once!"
***
"I give you a job. You fail." Vaxyll mutters, pacing around the broken and defeated Max. "I give you a second chance. You fail. I give you power. You fail. What will it take for you to finally defeat this Unique?"
"I had him beat." Max complains. "I'd won! Then he gets this... power boost out of nowhere, I can't explain it!"
"You taunted him." Vaxyll says. "Don't act like I'm wrong, I know you, hybrid. You got cocky, and paid the price. Now I have to choose to betray an oath to my Princess, or my duty to my king, all because of your repeated failures."
"Lord Vaxyll-"
"Get out of my sight, Hybrid. Perhaps one day the power I've granted you will serve the Night King, but you have proven that day to be very distant."
With a hushed curse, Max stands up and leaves Vaxyll's camp, and the General takes a seat, clenching his fist as hard as his metal hand allows.
"Forgive me, Esmeralda. My duty must come before even you."