Giliath demands your power stones!
**
[-200,000!]
A big black text appeared over Ace as he finished colliding into several trees and shrubs, only to land on his back hard from the force of the falling. The trees did slow his speed down considerably, but it was already a miracle for a person to survive from falling from that height. His health was now around half gone, and the moment he got pummeled into the ground hard, Ace felt his organs shift, only for him to cough out a big splatter of blood. But if one had a close look at this blood, one could actually see tainted black spots here and there.
Aside from feeling pain all over his body, Ace couldn't help but blink his eyes, trying to observe where he was now.
"Ugh, what in the hell just happened to me?", Ace tried to say, seeing pierce marks all over his body. His blood was constantly dripping from his body. He really appeared to be a wreck now. Still he saw his sword was still alive and kicking. Ace went for his sword with what strength he still had, and tried to lift himself up from the tree branches that were beneath him. However, as he tried to stand up with his remaining energy, he saw quick movement out of trees not so far away. Before Ace realized it, Ace saw several steel wires suddenly get launched in his direction, only to squeeze over his body, and grip down on it, bringing his body into a bundled mess.
Seeing steel wires pierce into his skin, Ace coughed up some more blood as his body was now bound.
"Got you.", Sharon's voice said, only to make an appearance from one of the trees nearby. Sharon didn't appear alone either. Both Ennea and I stood beside her. Sharon used her wires on us to help safely descend the side of the Reinford Building, to which I was grateful for. I could have used Wings to assist in coming down, but that left Ennea. I trusted Ennea's strength, but seeing Sharon used her steel wires like that was the quickest route we could do.
As some time had passed, the large slash wound that stretched from my left shoulder down to my right hip was now closed. Splatters of blood still could be seen over my body though, but my Regeneration healed enough to a battle scar was already starting to form, and quite a large one at that. Much larger than the wound that was over Rean's heart in the games.
Ace could only blink his eyes seeing three figures standing before him with weapons drawn. Yet as for Ace, only confusion appeared in his eyes.
"Who the hell are you guys?", Ace said, calling out to us with such a remark. Ace's gaze then landed on Sharon. "You seem familiar too.", Ace continued to say, which caused Sharon to come to a sudden halt. He ignored the fresh blood that was still dripping from his body.
"Do you have any idea of the big mess you just caused for My Lady? Acting as if you don't know won't help you save your life. You endangered My Lady with your antics tonight.", Sharon said, only to reveal a cold look in her eyes.
"Seriously. I don't even remember what even my last damn five minutes were. I could kind of take an educated guess seeing that my body can't move much though.", Ace said, trying to move his body but thanks to the injuries he reaped from our attacks and the fall from earlier, but he was struggling greatly to do so. Hearing Ace say that, I couldn't help but blink my eyes.
"Are you saying you don't remember the battle we just had, not even a tiny bit?", I said, squinting my eyes at Ace.
"Damned if I knew. Where even is this anyways?", Ace continued to ask acting if he had truly not known what had just taken place several moments into the night.
"Outskirts of Roer. You sent in a group of assassins who targeted My Lady's life. You know that is punishable by death.", Sharon coldly said.
"Roer...? Are you telling me we aren't even in Calvard?", Ace said, revealing a look of shock in his eyes.
"Hmm...", Ennea began to utter, gaining interest. Ignoring Ace, I saw Ennea approach him, only to crouch her legs a bit, seeing the big pool of blood surrounding Ace. It was more clear now, but there definitely were black tainted spots in it. Ennea reached her hand out, and cupped a tiny bit of Ace's blood, only to get a sniff of it. It smelled a lot more pungent and rotten compared to the normal irony smell. Ennea only rubbed it off, letting the blood fall back down.
"It's likely Ace was being controlled. Don't know by who though.", Ennea said, which caused us to blink our eyes. Perhaps we did enough damage on his body to where Ace snapped out of him being controlled? But that also begs the question, who could actually control a powerful person like Ace? Thoughts began to swirl in my mind. Perhaps it was a toxin of sorts that was spreading throughout his body? I am not sure if those among the Emperor was perverse enough to induce Ace into a trance during a battle like this, but then again, it wasn't out of the question either.
"Controlled...", Ace began to say. "I wonder if that bastard found out I was trying to flee Calvard? I have a buddy of mine that I was going to relay to after scouting out a nice place. I was thinking of seeing how Erebonia was but hot damn I didn't think I'd actually find myself there.", Ace said, answering Ennea.
"I take it the mission was a failure then. I did hear a snapping inside my mind but if I was controlled, I probably caused a lot of damage.", Ace said, feeling a bit guilty after coming to such a realization. He then turned toward my way, and saw a huge slash mark on my body. "Looks like you took a pretty nasty hit too.", Ace continued to say.
"Well, yeah. That sword of yours is no joke. We're with Ouroboros, came to intercept you to try and mitigate the damage that happened tonight. You blew up parts of the Reinford Building, so even if we don't decide to kill you now, you will definitely be put on trial for your actions. Either way, it's not going to look good on you. And even if you manage to flee back to Calvard, if they find out where you came from, they'll likely use tonight's event as a catalyst.", I said, becoming more serious in my tone which caused Ace to look at me.
"That bad huh...Feels like you're putting me into a corner here.", Ace said. He wanted to move his body, but his health was still draining at a constant rate thanks to the bleeding. Ace's health was well under half now. On top of that, he barely had any energy left to move.
"That's because you are in one. Personally, I'd like to kill you myself. If you've been being controlled, perhaps you don't remember me.", Sharon said as she approached Ace, which allowed him to get a good look at Sharon and the wires she still had on her body.
"...Kreuger?", Ace tried to ask, only to have him blink his eyes in surprise.
"So you do remember days of the past then. Your silly little assassin garden kept pestering me to join while I'm actively in duty to the Reinford Group.", Sharon coldly said.
"I've got no answer to what I likely caused. Nor do I know why that bastard would control me. He could probably guess my intents. However, it would prove no good if you kill me here now, since I've been trying to seek death myself.", Ace said as his eyes turned a bit dead.
"How so?", I decided to ask, gaining interest on the matter.
"Been looking for a place out of that shithole, same goes for my buddy. However, one cannot betray the garden. Should they find out, they'll kill you without remorse. However, if your partner decides to kill you instead, they'll no longer be seen betraying the Factory.", Ace said, explaining the situation from his end.
"Are you saying you want your partner to kill you in an attempt to flee from the garden?", I asked Ace.
"Yes. Which is why my death now serves no purpose. At least if you give me a tiny bit of time, I could at least help my friend escape.", Ace said, suggesting us.
"Sharon?", I asked Sharon, looking back toward her way.
"Hmm...", Sharon began to utter as she saw the seriousness in Ace's eyes.
I too entered my thoughts. I recalled the main mission to this night raid. Apart from killing the assassins and subsequently triggering that emergency quest, the option was to save or kill Ace. I was a bit. I decided to keep quiet, only to wait for Sharon's response first.
I personally wanted to recruit Ace, and seeing that he was controlled, my earlier anger got a bit quelled. But seeing Ace determined to die to still save his friend like in the games, I was unsure of what to do here.
However, little did I or Ace know that at this time, Ace's buddy, or more specifically, Swin Abel, was already getting acquainted with a new trainee at the Factory, who was none other than Ace's little sister, Nadia...